[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

What 'great' novels, and by great I don't mean literary triumphs (there's plenty of them), have been published in the last 20 years?

Define "great novels." Part of the reason it's hard to answer a challenge like that is that the impact of a novel is often removed by a generation or so from its origin--it's only in the lives of the children of those who first read it that its full relevance is noticed.

But if you're willing to say what makes a novel "great," I'm willing to try to find examples. (Or, potentially, concede that I can't think of any.)

Print will die out, it's inevitable. Libraries will close, also inevitable. Everything will move into the digital, there's no stopping that now.

I think print will change, but isn't going to go away anytime soon. (Not within the next hundred years.) Among the reasons:

• There are still plenty of parts of the world that don't have digital tech, and they can use books;
• Print is a *stable* storage medium; it still works 20 years later after everyone's OS has changed seven times and Wordstar isn't available to anyone;
• The format wars and security issues involved in digital content aren't going to settle down for a while, and print will remain the backup format for data;
• Dismantling an industry--several industries--takes time; every time one publisher/printer/paper mill goes under, some new startup is going to try to jump into its niche with a small, leaner, more customized approach to get its customers.

Probably other reasons as well. Print's going to be around for a long time. But it will be changing, and much faster than current publishers like.

The novel, the short-story depend upon a cultural agreement and, let's face it, the paper-bound book to contain the form.

It's possible that the novel as literary form is going to die out; it's been around for a couple-hundred years, and possibly is tied to paper. However, the short story's been around much, much longer, and it adapts very well to the blogosphere internet.

Ten years from now when we have 3D holographic immersion, why would anybody read a book (apart from a romantic notion)? Why stare at text when you can interact with the story?

1) Not rich enough to afford a holodeck; not urban enough to have one nearby.
2) Physical disability: eyes can't focus on holo-images; ears find the high-pitched whine endlessly distracting.
3) Personal belief that holo-images are immoral.
4) Personal belief that self-directed imagery is superior to visual cues (people read instead of watching movies now).
5) Lack of content in the genre of choice; it's easier to create a book than a full-surround multimedia experience that includes all the data in the book.

(Do you really think every novel is going to be a holo-immersion program in 10 years? We can't get Harry Potter in legal ebook form.)

Originally Posted by Moejoe

I believe the publishing companies are directly responsible for the amount of terrible writing that is self-published, and why? Because they publish so much garbage themselves. The absolutely worst written dreck is a the top of the best-seller lists

No, it's not.
Really. REALLY not.

Have you seen the fanfic at Fanfiction.net? Or, godshelpusall, at Quizilla.com? Some of the atrocious blogs at Myspace?

Anyone who thinks the "worst" writing has been published, has not considered the amateur teen & college student writing communities online. And it's that, not great literature of history, that people are comparing to when they say "publishers offer a vital editing function."