In Ona Russell’s latest novel, Rule of Capture, we are in Los Angeles in 1928. One of the victims of a Ponzi scheme, Ohio probate officer Sarah Kaufman is in the city to attend the trial of the perpetrators, in particular of the “friend” who convinced her to invest. Sarah is eager for justice and committed to seeing the trial through. But when a Mexican woman she barely knows winds up dead, Sarah’s plans are […]
Like many readers, I expect, I first heard of Kevin Baker following the publication of his 1998 novel, Dreamland. That book, set in New York City in 1910, was “a wild amusement-park ride on a continuous loop,” to quote from Thomas Mallon’s review in The New York Times. Dreamland, he continued, “is historical fiction at its most entertaining and, in a number of spots, most high-handed.” Kirkus Reviews, meanwhile, focused on the book’s “generous display” […]
Seventy-six-year-old Irish crime novelist William McIvanney, the so-called Godfather of Tartan Noir, was recently interviewed for The Rap Sheet by Australian-born Scottish author Tony Black. The results of their discussion can be found today in our sister blog. Here’s how Black sets up the piece: A good friend of mine recently described McIlvanney as “like meeting a statue that’s come to life,” and that does kind of sum up the reverence with which he’s treated […]
Born in 1982 and with the first of his eight novels published in 2004, Michael Koryta’s star has been rising so fast, it seems a foregone conclusion we’ll be reading his muscular style of crime fiction for a long time to come. Over at the Rap Sheet, January Magazine contributing editor Ali Karim interviews Koryta in a conversation that takes them all over the young writer’s career. Asked about how the reading and writing bug […]
Charlotte Rogan is a superb writer invested in spellbinding fiction, ethics and the natural world. January Magazine contributing editor MaryAnne Kolton recently spent some time with Rogan: both with her work and with the woman herself. Kolton reports that it was, on both counts, a rewarding experience. The Lifeboat kept me awake at night,” Kolton writes. “The first night to read straight through to the end. It was unthinkable to drift off to sleep not […]
If you’re wondering why, for the last few days, you’ve been hearing about the Titanic everywhere you turn, it’s because April 15th marks 100 years since that “unsinkable” luxury liner hit an iceberg and slipped below the waves during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. So much about the Titanic has kept our attention since. The fact that she was the largest ship afloat at the time of the accident and […]
Writer and linguist Noam Chomsky (Making the Future, How the World Works), was born in Philadelphia on this day in 1928. From Writer’s Almanac: He said, “We shouldn’t be looking for heroes, we should be looking for good ideas.” January Magazine interviewed Chomsky in 2008. That interview is here.
It was like a rock concert. A thousand kids, siblings, and parents, all gathered on sidewalks outside the Barnes & Noble in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Outside, even on this warm night, a pile of snow, with fake snowflakes sprayed by a special machine, and a massive luxury bus decorated with Wimpy Kid art on all sides. And at four o’clock sharp, the rock star emerges from it: Jeff Kinney, author of the bestselling Diary […]
As The Impossible Dead, Ian Rankin’s 31st novel is about to be released, the author who put the Tartan in Noir talks to The Independent about process, production and the deadly fear of staring at the blank page. “No matter how many awards you’ve won or how many sales you’ve got, come the next book it’s still a blank sheet of paper and you’re still panicking like hell that you’ve got nothing new to say,” […]
Today in January Magazine, contributing editor Tony Buchsbaum interviews Justin Cronin, author of the post-apocalyptic bestseller, The Passage. Among other things, Cronin discusses how his life has changed since The Passage was published. These days, Cronin reports, he’s working harder than ever: “Now I treat every day like a workday. I start work around nine o’clock in the morning, and I work until three, when the kids get home, and then I’ll do a second […]
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