The Dangers of Social Reliance
Several years ago, I received a message from a popular social network telling me I had been unilaterally banned. It came out of the blue. There was no appeal process.
S.A. Cosby – All the Sinners Bleed
S.A. Cosby is building, brick by bloody brick, a place, as he describes it, that is at once “beautiful and brutal,” a landscape of sprawling fields and deep-rooted churches, where the long shadow of the past is not a memory but a malevolent and living thing.
Megan Abbott – El Dorado Drive
In El Dorado Drive, Megan returns to the terrain that has become her calling card, places where social rituals are precise, femininity is choreographed, and beneath the polish lies a festering urgency.
What Crime Writers Can Learn from Jill Leovy’s Atlantic Essay
Jill Levoy offers not only a critique of modern American policing but, inadvertently or not, a field manual for the conscientious crime writer.
Penn Jillette – Felony Juggler
With “Felony Juggler,” Penn Jillette offers up a second enticing story. The magic legend’s follow up to “Random” juggles autobiography with crime.
Let’s Dump “I Appreciate You”
There’s a phrase creeping around modern speech like a well-moisturized spider of vague sincerity, and that phrase is: “I appreciate you.”
Why Aren’t More Kids Reading?
Why aren’t more kids reading? One observer says analytical reading seems to overshadow the organic enjoyment of storytelling.
Your Big Book Fair Mistake
Do book fairs depress you? Here’s some advice from a marketing guy with over four decades of experience selling stuff. You’re doing it wrong.