“A sign of the times; it is now quite common for an ambitious writer to announce that they will prepare their new proposal and/or sample chapter in time for Frankfurt or London. Nothing here about the inspiration of the jealous muse, but everything about the expectation of a quick sale in the feverish atmosphere of the literary marketplace. In the past, one of the perils facing the success ful novelist was the risk that he or she would make the mistake of writing to satisfy the public, ‘dishing things up like short-order cooks’, as Graham Greene observed towards the end of his life. In today’s marketplace, there is more pressure than ever to come up with the literary equivalent of the Big Mac.”