OK, I’d better qualify that headline. In this survey, I’m not including science fiction written before World War II. Or, for that matter, short stories or anthologies, comic books, or manga. And definitely not fantasy: zombies, vampires, witches, dragons, superheroes, and magical powers all leave...
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In his second historical espionage novel featuring Christopher Marlowe Cobb, Robert Olen Butler has enlisted the war correspondent as a secret agent for the United States Secret Service. World War I is raging in Europe and the Middle East, and Cobb has been assigned to trail a German-American...
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Imagine you’ve just wandered into the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. You run into the museum’s historian in the hallway, and for some reason he opens up to you. In the coffee shop downstairs, he starts telling you about all the crazy stuff that never made it off the...
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What does it take for a novel to become iconic—to embody the essence of an era and become a classic in its genre? Clearly, a book needs to feature some aspect of style, characterization, or plotting that sets a new trend. For example, take The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. Sam Spade and Philip...
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Estimated reading time: 3 minutes I should have guessed. The signs were all there. A strangely troubled 11-year-old girl who talks to an imaginary twin. A retired professor of religion who’s written a bestselling book about God’s connection to quantum physics. Yes, I should have known...
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Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review,
with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review,
with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.