A reviewer used the word "interstitiality" in a review the other day, and our lovely copyeditor flagged it: "Readers will know what this means? (Awfully academic word.) Or are following descriptions sufficient explanation?" The review goes on to describe one story as "equal parts fantasy, coming-of-age tale and unconventional ghost story" and says another "wraps social commentary in sardonic science fiction".
Am I too steeped in criticism? Is "interstitiality" an obscure term that will confound our readers, who do after all work in publishing and bookbuying and presumably stay hip to current subgenres and trends? Or is it a perfectly useful and appropriate word, especially with the added context?
While I'm on the topic,
today's blog post over at Notes from the Bookroom inaugurates International Reviewer Appreciation Day, March 21st. In
the reviews section, we have reviews of The Inhabitant's
The Great Romance, John C. Wright's
Null-A Continuum, Brian Lumley's
Haggopian and Other Stories, Ken Rand's
Pax Dakota, and
Melissa Melinda Snodgrass's
The Edge of Reason, as well as a review of Jacquelyn Frank's
Damien: The Nightwalkers in the mass market section and the suspiciously genre-esque
Promise of the Wolves by Dorothy Hearst in the fiction section.
