now, avoidance of "novel"

[Jonathan Lighter]

An ancient memory has surfaced, which will likely be dismissed for being so
belated, but I'm quite sure it's accurate.

In 1969 I was working for a literary agency in New York. One day an
unsolicited manuscript arrived that was described by its author as a
"fiction book."

That created a degree of welcome mirth to burnish, however briefly, our
Bartleby-style existence. I have reason to remember it, because I was
reproved for creating a memo that followed the author's own odd-sounding
description.

Certainly I never noticed the phrase again until the time I reported
in 2007. I've heard it several times since.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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