Fiction Replacement

In a N.Y. Times essay Rachel Donadio questions if Truth Is Stronger Than Fiction, a nice little play on the cliche that says truth is stranger than fiction, citing the near-death experience of fiction in the Atlantic Monthly and other magazines, and the dominance of nonfiction in book publishing.

Fiction may still be one escape of choice -- along with television and movies and video games and iPods -- but when it comes to illuminating today's world most vividly, nonfiction is winning. Not for nothing has ''The 9/11 Commission Report,'' a government document that reads like a thriller, sold more than a million copies. [writing fiction nonfiction]

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