Past and Present

There's a spat among Brits over the use of present tense in modern novels.

From Laura Miller in Salon:

What reasons do writers give for opting for the present tense? According to Hensher, they've been assured by "creative writing tutors" that it will make their writing "more vivid" and immediate. Philip Pullman — author of the bestselling series of young-adult novels "His Dark Materials" — also jumped into the fray in the pages of the Guardian, blaming an aversion to the past tense on the "timorous uncertainty" of "sensitive and artistic storytellers" afraid of the "politically dodgy" implications of seeming to know too much about their own story: "Who are we to say this happened and then…