Hadley Colt, author of Permanent Fatal Error and The Red-Handed League Forget Nancy Drew: Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise was my Christmas-gift light-bulb moment of finding a thriller series with a strong female lead, and inspiring my own heroine-driven novels for Betimes Books. Colin O’Sullivan, author of Killarney Blues and The Starved Lover Sings This is … Continue reading Christmas nostalgia : Our authors about the best book gift they have ever received (Part 3)
Christmas nostalgia : Our authors about the best book gift they have ever received (Part 2)
Patricia Ketola, author of Dirty Pictures One Christmas, when I was about ten years old, I received a copy of R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island. The book was an unusual choice for a little girl, but I was so thrilled by the marvellous tale of adventure that I could not put it down. Jim Hawkins and … Continue reading Christmas nostalgia : Our authors about the best book gift they have ever received (Part 2)
Christmas nostalgia : Our authors about the best book gift they have ever received (Part 1)
Jackie Mallon, author of Silk for the Feed Dogs It was a copy of The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy. A certain someone knew I'd appreciate the paperback's many idiosyncrasies: the title, so goofy and slapstick-sounding, in direct contrast to the elegant Hitchcockian blond stretched out nude on the cover in an image by Erwin Blumenfeld, a fashion photographer … Continue reading Christmas nostalgia : Our authors about the best book gift they have ever received (Part 1)
“In praise of James Ellroy, 2015 Grand Master” by Craig McDonald
"A writer’s public persona is one thing; the solitary craftsman who lives in his head, and works very much alone, is another creature entirely." Happy birthday to the great James Ellroy! Read Craig McDonald's tribute here: http://crimespreemag.com/ellroy-grand-master/ Watch James Ellroy's interview with Craig McDonald: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etgBzObQX9k
Today: Sam Hawken’s choice
The book I read the most often might not necessarily be my favorite book, but it is the book which speaks to me the most: No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy. When I first read the book in 2005, I knew I’d found the key to unlocking my own voice in writing. Up … Continue reading Today: Sam Hawken’s choice
Today: Jackie Mallon’s choice
There is a passage from classic literature so vividly macabre yet fantastically romantic that it seared itself into my girlhood brain. Nothing Hollywood’s big budget pyrotechnics or CGI wizardry has ever produced has come close to replicating it: the image of Miss Havisham catching fire in Great Expectations. Unlike some little girls I didn’t grow … Continue reading Today: Jackie Mallon’s choice
Today: Donald F. Mayo’s choice
Anyone doubting the enduring power of the social realist novel need look no further than Tom Wolfe's 1987 masterpiece, still as relevant today as it was almost 30 years ago. Set on Wall Street in the midst of the 1980s boom, it charts the downfall of Sherman McCoy, star bond salesman who struggled to make … Continue reading Today: Donald F. Mayo’s choice
Today: Craig McDonald’s choice
The book that changed my life was a humble, second-hand paperback reprint of an old pulp magazine story written at the height of the Great Depression. On a cold autumn day, my maternal grandfather handed me the second Doc Savage novel, The Land of Terror. I was always a reader, always had one or more … Continue reading Today: Craig McDonald’s choice
Today: Colin O’Sullivan’s choice
“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for?” Franz Kafka In an alternative translation of the above Kafka quote, “wound” and “stab” are written as “bite” and … Continue reading Today: Colin O’Sullivan’s choice
Today: David Hogan’s choice
Not one of my three sisters is a loud, dirty, boozy girl. That’s probably a good thing for them -- as well as me. But if one or two or all of them were, I would give them this book if only because Dylan Thomas, that loud, dirty, boozy poet, said I should. Even without … Continue reading Today: David Hogan’s choice
Today: Richard Kalich’s choice
Reading The Fall was a life-changing experience. But let the novel speak for itself: “Don't lies eventually lead to the truth? And don't all my stories, true or false, tend toward the same conclusion? Don't they all have the same meaning? So what does it matter whether they are true or false if, in both … Continue reading Today: Richard Kalich’s choice
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