Books for Writers: A Look at Ballard's Super-Cannes

         The hero of  J.G. Ballard’s Super-Cannes is Paul Sinclair, a magazine editor who moves to the gated community of Eden-Olympia with his young wife. Paul was once a man of action but a flying accident, and the fact his wife is the primary breadwinner and the impetus for  their move, has rendered him largely impotent. Paul turns his attention to a mystery: Why did the young doctor, whose house they now live in and whose job Paul’s wife now has, go nuts and shoot ten people?

Books for Writers: Super Sad True Shteyngart

-->             Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story  (SSTLS) is equal parts satire and social prophesy.

The author, a scant year younger than me and a native of Russian, has created an American dystopia that feels like it's only days away. Our hero, Lenny Abramov, is one of the few readers left in a post-literate age and chronicles his life in what may be the last diary in the world. Lenny is well-off – he sells life-extension plans to the wealthy – but he's at least two large, social steps behind his media-savvy friends who broadcast their every move and interaction for the at-home audience.