We are proud to announce two new additions to our Maize Books imprint, Portals: A Treatise on Internet-Distributed Television, by Amanda D. Lotz, and Life Writing in the Long Run: A Smith & Watson Autobiography Studies Reader, by Sidonie Smith & Julia Watson.
Life Writing in the Long Run gathers twenty-one essays by Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, written in collaboration or solo, and published over the last quarter-century. It includes the introductions to their five edited collections; essays focused on such autobiographical genres as autoethnography, Bildungsroman, diary, digital life writing, genealogy, graphic memoir, human rights witnessing, manifesto; and essays engaging the key concepts of authenticity, performativity, postcoloniality, relationality, and visuality. Available in print, eBook, and open access versions, this collection captures decades of exciting developments in the field, making it indispensable reading for courses on modes and media of self-presentation in cultural, gender, and literary studies and feminist theory.
Portals pushes understandings of the business of television to keep pace with the considerable technological change of the last decade. It explains why shows such as Orange is the New Black or Transparent are indeed television despite coming to screens over internet connection and in exchange for a monthly fee. It explores how internet-distributed television is able to do new things—particularly, allow different people to watch different shows chosen from a library of possibilities. This technological ability allows new audience behaviors and new norms in making television. It explores the business model—subscriber funding—that supports many portals, and identifies the key differences from advertiser or direct purchase. Portals considers what we know about the future of television, even though we remain early in a process of transformative change.
Both books are freely available to read online, and may be purchased in print and eBook formats on the Maize Books site.