RSS 2.0 FeedJuly 2010, Featured Articles, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupe
Paolo Bacigalupi's writing has appeared in High Country News, Salon.com, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. It has been nominated for the Nebula and Hugo awards, and has won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best SF short story of the year.
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Dimiter by William Peter Blatty
William Peter Blatty, the writer of numerous novels and screenplays, is best known for his mega-bestselling novel The Exorcist, deemed by the New York Times Book Review to be "as superior to most books of its kind as an Einstein equation is to an accountant's column of figures." An Academy Award winner for his screenplay for The Exorcist, Blatty is not only the author of one of the most terrifying novels ever written, but, paradoxically, also co-wrote the screenplay for the hilarious Inspector Clouseau film, A Shot in the Dark. New York Times reviewers of his early comic novels noted, "Nobody can write funnier lines than William Peter Blatty," describing him as "a gifted virtuoso who writes like S. J. Perelman." Blatty lives with his wife and a son in Maryland.
*The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell is the author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller Agincourt; the bestselling Saxon Tales, which include The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, Lords of the North, and Sword Song; and the Richard Sharpe novels, among many others. He lives with his wife on Cape Cod.
Gallowglass by Barbara Vine
Barbara Vine, which is a pseudonym for Ruth Rendell, is the author of Blood Doctor, Asta's Book, The Brimstone Wedding, A Dark-Adapted Eye, A Fatal Inversion, The House of Stairs, King Solomon's Carpet and many more. She is the winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award. She is also the recipient of three Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America and four Gold Daggers from Great Britain's Crime Writers Association. In 1997, she was named a life peer in the House of Lords. A Dark Adapted Eye is the most famous book. She lives in England.
A Whisper to the Living by Stuart Kaminsky
Stuart M. Kaminsky was the author of more than 60 novels and an Edgar Award winner for his Rostnikov novel, A Cold Red Sunrise. He was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. In addition to the Rostnikov series, he was the author of the Toby Peters, Abe Lieberman, and Lew Fonesca series. He died in 2009.
High Deryni by Katherine Kurtz
Katherine Kurtz has been writing fantasy for well over three decades. She is happily married and lives with her husband.
*Three Plays by Ayn Rand
AYN RAND (1905–1982) was born in Russia, graduated from the University of Leningrad, and came to the United States in 1926. She published her first novel in 1936. With the publication of The Fountainhead in 1943, she achieved a spectacular and enduring success and her unique philosophy, objectivism, gained a worldwide following.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an essayist, poet, philosopher, and anti-slavery activist. Among his other notable books are A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. He died of tuberculosis and he is buried in his family's plot near the graves of his friends Hawthorne, Alcott, Emerson, and Channing on Author's Ridge in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
Warrior by Allan Mallinson
Allan Mallinson is a former infantry and cavalry officer of thirty-five years' service. He is also the author of Light Dragoons, a history of four regiments of British Cavalry, one of which he commanded, and which has recently been revised and updated. As well as writing on defense matters for The Times (UK) and formerly for the Daily Telegraph (UK), he is a regular reviewer for The Times, the Spectator and the Literary Review.
Tales of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong
Kelley Armstrong lives in rural Ontario with her husband, three children, and far too many pets. She is the author of nine bestselling Women of the Otherworld novels, as well as a crime series featuring female hitwoman Nadia Stafford, and a young adult trilogy, Darkest Powers.
Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Dolen Perkins-Valdez's fiction and essays have appeared in The Kenyon Review, African American Review, North Carolina Literary Review, and the Richard Wright Newsletter. Born and raised in Memphis, a graduate of Harvard, and a former University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Perkins-Valdez teaches creative writing at the University of Puget Sound. She splits her time between Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Washington. This is her first novel.
Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber
Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) was equally adept at writing science fiction, fantasy and horror. His works were honored with the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy awards. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and received the Gandalf Grand Master Award for fantasy writing.
The Patience of the Spider by Andrea Camilleri
Andrea Camilleri, a bestselling author in Italy and Germany, is the author of the Montalbano mystery series and several historical novels set in nineteenth-century Sicily. His books have been translated into seven languages.
Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell
STEPHANIE COWELL is the author of Nicholas Cooke: Actor, Soldier, Physician, Priest; The Physician of London (American Book Award 1996) and The Players: A Novel of the Young Shakespeare. She is the also the author of Marrying Mozart, which was translated into seven languages and has been optioned for a movie.
*Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
Lois McMaster Bujold burst onto the SF scene in 1986 with SHARDS OF HONOUR, closely followed by BARRAYAR, and THE WARRIOR'S APPRENTICE, which introduced the physically handicapped military genius, Miles Vorkosigan. Since then she has won four Hugo Awards and two Nebulas. The mother of two, Bujold lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Black Tide by Peter Temple
Born in South Africa, Peter Temple is one of Australia's most acclaimed writers, and has worked as a journalist, magazine editor, and teacher. He is the author of eight novels, four of which have received the Ned Kelly Award for crime fiction. Black Tide is the second title in his celebrated Jack Irish series.
A Rainbow in the Night by Dominique Lapierre
Dominique Lapierre is the author of numerous best-sellers, including City of Joy and A Thousand Suns. He is coauthor with Larry Collins of Is Paris Burning?, O Jersusalem!, and Freedom at Midnight.
Ms Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
Author note: Bynum's first novel, Madeleine Is Sleeping, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2004. Her fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, Tin House, Georgia Review, and Best American Short Stories. She teaches writing at the University of California, San Diego, and lives in Los Angeles with her family.
Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb
J.D. Robb is the pseudonym for Nora Roberts, New York Times-bestselling author of more than 150 novels, including the futuristic suspense In Death series. There are more than 300 million copies of her books in print.
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. His three volumes of short fiction, The Happy Prince (1888), Lord Arthur Savile's Crime (1891) and A House of Pomegranates (1891), together with his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), gradually won him a reputation as a modern writer with an original talent, a reputation confirmed and enhanced by the phenomenal success of his plays. Success, however, was short-lived. In 1895, when his success as a dramatist was at its height, Wilde brought an unsuccessful libel action against the Marquess of Queensberry, the father of his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde lost the case and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for acts of gross indecency. He was released from prison in 1897 and went into an immediate self-imposed exile on the Continent. He died in Paris in ignominy in 1900.
The Fire Engine that Disappeared by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, her husband and coauthor, wrote ten Martin Beck mysteries. Mr Wahlöö, who died in 1975, was a reporter for several Swedish newspapers and magazines and wrote numerous radio and television plays, film scripts, short stories, and novels. Maj Sjöwall is also a poet.
Cahokia by Timothy R. Pauketat
Timothy R. Pauketat is a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His books include Chiefdoms and Other Archaeological Delusions and Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians. He lives in Illinois.
Death of a Valentine by M.C. Beaton
M.C. Beaton lives in the Cotswolds with her husband. In addition to the Hamish Macbeth series, she writes the Agatha Raisin mystery series.
*Mrs. Adams in Winter by Michael O'Brien
Michael O'Brien is Professor of American Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of Conjectures of Order: Intellectual Life and the American South, 1810–1860, which won the Bancroft Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History.
Fireworks over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff
JEFFREY STEPAKOFF has been writing professionally since receiving his MFA in Playwriting from Carnegie Mellon in 1988. His credits include the Emmy-winning The Wonder Years, Sisters, Major Dad, Disney's Tarzan, and Dawson's Creek (as co-executive producer). This is his debut novel. He lives with his family north of Atlanta, Georgia.
Making Rounds with Oscar by David Dosa, M.D.
Dr. David Dosa is a geriatrician and an assistant professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. An essay he wrote for the New England Journal of Medicine was the basis of this book. Dr. Dosa lives with his family in Barrington, Rhode Island.
*Still Midnight by Denise Mina
Denise Mina is the author of Slip of the Knife, The Dead Hour, Field of Blood, Deception, and the Garnethill trilogy, the first installment of which won her the John Creasey Memorial Prize for best first crime novel. She lives in Glasgow.
Fragment by Warren Fahy
Warren Fahy has been a bookseller, a statistical analyst, and the managing editor of a video database, where he wrote hundreds of movie reviews for a nationally syndicated column. He currently is the lead writer for "Wow-Wee," generating creative content for their line of robotic toys.
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Award winning Canadian writer Steven Galloway is the author of three novels. The cellist of Sarajevo was heralded as "the work of an expert" by the Guardian, and has become an international bestseller with rights sold in 20 countries.
Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
J. Courtney Sullivan’s work has appeared in The New York Times, New York, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Allure, Men’s Vogue, the New York Observer, Tango, and in the essay anthology The Secret Currency of Love. She is a graduate of Smith College, lives in Brooklyn, and works in the editorial department of The New York Times. Commencement is her first novel.
*A Frag Box by Richard A. Thompson
Richard A. Thompson is a former civil engineer and construction manager who traded his hard hat for a laptop and now writes full time.
Jane Slayre by Charlotte Bronte and Sherri Browning Erwin
A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Sherri lives in Western Massachusetts with her nearly-perfect husband, and their charming actor son, amazing violinist daughter, a crafty corgi (Pembroke Welsh), and a very special pug. Sherri writes historical and contemporary fiction, often with a paranormal twist.
*Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
Walter Scott (1771-1832), considered the inventor and master of the historical novel, wrote The Heart of the Mid-Lothian, Rob Roy, Old Morality, and Waverley, as well as narrative poems, a nine-volume Life of Napoleon, and a history of Scotland.
*www.Wake/www.Watch by Robert Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer was born in Ottawa, Canada. He has won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel.
*A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters
Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Mertz aka Barbara Michaels) earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute. She was named Grand Master at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986 and Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1998. In 2003, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Malice Domestic Convention. She lives in an historic farmhouse in western Maryland.
*Eiffel's Tower by Jill Jonnes
Jill Jonnes is the author of Conquering Gotham, Empires of Light, and South Bronx Rising. She was named a National Endowment for the Humanities scholar and has received several grants from the Ford Foundation.
Of Bees and Mist by Erik Setiawan
Erick Setiawan was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents and moved to the United States in 1991. He is a graduate of Stanford University and currently lives in San Francisco.
A Night Too Dark by Dana Stabenow
Dana Stabenow, New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award winner, is the author of sixteen previous Kate Shugak novels, four Liam Campbell mysteries, three science-fiction novels, and two thrillers. She was born, raised, and lives in Alaska, where she was awarded the Governor's Award for the Humanities.
One Good Dog by Susan Wilson
SUSAN WILSON is the author of Beauty—a modern retelling of Beauty And The Beast which was made into a CBS TV movie—as well as four other novels. She lives on Martha's Vineyard.
The Fitzgerald Ruse by Mark De Castrique
Mark de Castrique grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina. Mark is a veteran of the television and film production industry, and he serves as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Mark and his wife, Linda, live in Charlotte.
*The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky
FYODOR MIKHAILOVICH DOSTOEVSKY (1821–1881) was born in Moscow, the son of a surgeon. Leaving the study of engineering for literature, he published Poor Folk in 1846. As a member of revolutionary circles in St. Petersburg, he was condemned to death in 1849. A last-minute reprieve sent him to Siberia for hard labor. Returning to St. Petersburg in 1859, he worked as a journalist and completed his masterpiece, Crime and Punishment, as well as other works, including The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov.
61 Hours by Lee Child
Lee Child is the author of fourteen Jack Reacher thrillers, including the New York Times bestsellers Persuader, The Enemy, One Shot, and The Hard Way, and the #1 bestsellers Gone Tomorrow, Bad Luck and Trouble, and Nothing to Lose. His debut, Killing Floor, won both the Anthony and the Barry awards for Best First Mystery, and The Enemy won both the Barry and Nero awards for Best Novel. Child, a native of England and a former television director, lives in New York City, where he is at work on his next thriller.
Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Loren Willig
Lauren Willig is the author of five previous Pink Carnation novels. She received a degree in English history from Harvard University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, though she now writes full time.
Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian
CHRIS BOHJALIAN is the critically acclaimed author of twelve novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Skeletons at the Feast, The Double Bind, and Midwives. His novel, Midwives, was a number one New York Times bestseller and a selection of Oprah’s Book Club. His work has been translated into more than 25 languages and twice became movies (Midwives and Past the Bleachers). He lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.
Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri
Andrea Camilleri is the author of many books, including the Montalbano series, which has been translated into eight languages. He lives in Rome
Small Wars by Sadie Jones
Sadie Jones's first novel, The Outcast, was published to wide critical acclaim and won the Costa First Novel Award in Great Britain. It was also a finalist for the prestigious Orange Prize, as well as a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction. Jones lives in London.
Tom Sawyer Detective/Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain
MARK TWAIN (1835–1910), was born Samuel L. Clemens in the town of Florida, Missouri. His masterpieces, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), are not only classics of humorous writing but also a graphic picture of nineteenth-century America.