A detailed look at the creation of characters in various writing styles.

Quoted: From Jane Eyre to Jean Brodie, David Copperfield to David Brent, whether solidly realised or lightly sketched, fictional figures can be as vivid to us as real people. But just what, exactly, is a character, asks James Wood

I had not heard of Laura Albert but apparently she got in trouble for creating a fictional identity to publish her fiction. That seems like an extension of artistic license to me. I mean, she's not overtly lying in a memoir like some other authors of recent memory. What's the hubbub?

This seems like a handy service. You can select a Public Domain book from the Internet Archive or Google Books and have it printed by Lulu for you.

I'm excited about the new io9 Science Fiction blog. This is their manifesto explaining the site purpose.

Quoted: Earth is full of people who want to sell you cheap ways of seeing the future They tell you tomorrow will be more of the same, with shinier toys. Or that work as we know it is about to end. io9 is the visionary watchdog who calls those charlatans on their shit. We're going to show you a new world that's shockingly different from what you're used to. And it's not always going to be a shiny happy place.

A work of short fiction by David Foster Wallace writing for "The New Yorker," about two "good people" trying to come to a joint decision.

Quoted: The New Yorker

The New York Times Book Reviewers each select their personal Top 10 for the year. There is lots of good reading to be found here.

Quoted: Janet Maslin, Michiko Kakutani and William Grimes pick their favorite books of 2007.

Bookgasm posts a list of the "5 Best Sci-Fi Books of 2007."

Quoted: In formulating this year's list, I took a long, hard look at my nominees and made, perhaps, a bold choice: I left out William Gibson. It's not that SPOOK COUNTRY isn't a good book – it is. What it isn't, however, is science fiction. Mr.

Online graphic novel set in Paris - "The Killer." Looks great playing in Flash. I definitely want to check this out later.

A complete transcript of Doris Lessing's outstanding Norbel Prize for Literature speech. A wonderful read about the state of reading and the hunger for knowledge.