A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century.

Further definition of the genre is historically difficult. The construction of the narrative, the plot, the way reality is created in the works of fiction, the fascination of the character study, and the use of language are usually discussed to show a novel's artistic merits. Most of these requirements were introduced in the 16th and 17th centuries, in order to give fiction a justification outside the field of factual history.

The fictional narrative, the novel's distinct "literary" prose, specific media requirements (the use of paper and print), a characteristic subject matter that creates both intimacy and a typical epic depth can be seen as features that developed with the Western (and modern) market of fiction. The separation of a field of histories from a field of literary fiction fueled the evolution of these features in the last 400 years.

Simon Van Booy is a British author who lives in the United States. He grew up in rural Wales, but has lived in Kentucky, Paris, Athens, New York City and the Hamptons.

He has written two collections of short stories, The Secret Lives of People in Love (2011 Finalist Award for The Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature) and Love Begins in Winter, which won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the world's richest short story prize. The New York Times said that “Incurable romantics will savor Simon Van Booy’s tender, Maupassant-like fables....” While the Los Angeles Times said of Van Booy’s, The Secret Lives of People in Love” [that], “One worries, after reading a debut short-story collection this breathtaking, what Simon Van Booy could possibly do for an encore. Write something longer?”

Van Booy’s first novel, Everything Beautiful Began After, is set for release in the U.S., and the U.K. in July 2011.

Love Begins in Winter

Van Booy is also the editor of three volumes of philosophy, entitled Why We Fight, Why We Need Love, and Why Our Decisions Don’t Matter, which The Economist said “have an instinctive appeal.” The Wall Street Journal described Van Booy’s books as “brimming with thoughts from history's pre-eminent ponderers.”

Stacie Joy Orrico (born March 3, 1986) is a Contemporary Christian and R&B singer, songwriter, and occasional actress. In 1998, she signed to ForeFront Records when she was 12 years old, and recorded her first album Genuine (2000), which sold 13,000 in the first week of release.

After her first album she signed to a new record label, Virgin Records, and started to record her self-titled album Stacie Orrico (2003). The album, which debuted at No. 59 on the Billboard 200, was certified gold with over 500,000 sales in the U.S. The first single "Stuck" reached number No. 52 on Billboard Hot 100, but achieved greater success worldwide. Her second single "(There's Gotta Be) More to Life" debuted at No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her self-titled album has achieved sales worldwide of over 3.5 million. In the same year, she made her first television appearance as an actress in two episodes of American Dreams.

She lost her label ForeFront Records in 2005 after 7 years and decided to concentrate on her music career and began writing her third album, Beautiful Awakening (2006). The first single "I'm Not Missing You" was released in August 2006. The second single, "So Simple", is the last single from her third album which never charted in the U.S.

Fredric Joseph “Rik” Cordero was born and raised in Queens, New York and is known for applying unusual, non-traditional shooting methods in his work. He was nominated for Video Director Of The Year at the 2009 BET Awards and was the recipient of the Best Film Award for his feature film, “Inside A Change” which made its world premiere at the 2009 HBO New York International Latino Film Festival. In 2010, Cordero was seen in Sprite’s print and television ads for their “Spark” campaign. The ads featured him as a Hollywood director discovering inspiration in very unlikely ways. He recently wrapped his latest feature “Starla”, a thriller executive produced by Chris Robinson and “The World Is Watching”, a documentary about the culture of New York City high school basketball produced by Nike and narrated by Spike Lee. Cordero was also a featured director for SHOOT Magazine’s 9th Annual New Director’s Showcase held at the DGA Theater on May 10, 2011. He is currently the executive producer of Channel Three/21, a YouTube partner channel with over 50 million views worldwide.