So, realistic contemporary fiction is written and set more or less in the present

[conuly]

But time moves on. What, exactly, do you call "realistic contemporary fiction" once it's no longer contemporary? It's not exactly historical fiction either, since writers of historical fiction generally make specific choices in bringing the past to life, ideally with few or no whoppers of mistakes.

I sometimes say "then-contemporary", but... well, it sounds a bit silly, doesn't it?

(On a related note, it looks like now people are less likely to say "issues book" and more likely to say "social issues book", is that accurate? I'm not loving a change that involves using more words to get to the same meaning, but okay.)

*******************

Cub found alone in US woods now being raised by wildlife staff in bear costumes

Case quacked: Flying duck caught by Swiss speed camera is repeat offender

The USA’s First Black Female Doctor Blazed a Path for Women in Medicine, But She Was Left Out of the Story for Decades

Paleontologists discover a 500-million-year-old, 3-eyed predator

When memories from fiction become part of who you are

Helene’s Unheard Warnings

German troops start first permanent foreign deployment since second world war

The Resistance Will Not Be Televised

Trump administration blocks Harvard from enrolling foreign students, threatens broader crackdown

Stop making cents: US Mint moves forward with plans to kill the penny

Moody's downgrade intensifies investor worry about US fiscal path

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

I'm not loving a change that involves using more words to get to the same meaning, but okay.

I like using words to mark what used to be the unmarked state. That seems to be a valuable use of words. Caffeinated coffee. White male protagonist.

I call The Grapes of Wrath a "novel from the time of the Depression," and Uncle Tom's Cabin a "novel from before the Civil War." But I don't have a good word that encompasses both of them. Not like a story could be be set 100 years ago or 1000 and still be called a "historical novel."

And of course I'd call Ivanhoe a historical novel, even though it's full of whoppers because it's 200 years old and readers of the time were less concerned with rigorous authenticity.

[conuly]

I call The Grapes of Wrath a "novel from the time of the Depression," and Uncle Tom's Cabin a "novel from before the Civil War." But I don't have a good word that encompasses both of them. Not like a story could be be set 100 years ago or 1000 and still be called a "historical novel."

Ah, well, we could always borrow a phrase from one bookseeker: "These books are set in a time when things were bad for black people in America".