We know what “women’s fiction” means — or what the book industry has made it mean, anyway: family novels or girl-in-the-city tales with pink covers and swirly font. But what puts a book in the “men’s fiction” category? Well, we only have to wait until June to find out — that’s when Esquire will release the first volume of their new e-book series entitled “Fiction for Men,” which has a pretty self-explanatory purpose. So if “women’s fiction” is based on stereotypical ideas of what women are most interested in — family, romance, Cosmopolitans — will Esquire’s series of “men’s fiction” be rooted in beer, sports, and cooking outdoors? Well, maybe, but if so, they’re not telling.
Esquire editor in chief David Granger explains his idea of fiction for men as prose that is “plot-driven and exciting, where one thing happens after another… And also at the same time, dealing with passages in a man’s life that seem common.” The first volume in the series will feature new short stories by Aaron Gwyn, Luis Alberto Urrea and Jess Walter (don’t get excited: Jess Walter is a man), so they’re definitely working with some quality authors — but will that make this moniker any more useful? Or do you think the series might actually get a few previously fiction-shy guys to read? [via Media Decoder]