Page 3 – Book, Authors, Entertainment, More

Crime Fiction: All the Sinners Bleed
by S.A. Cosby

June 9, 2023 J. Kingston Pierce 0

Cosby’s rise through the crime fiction firmament has been meteoric. Three years ago, he was virtually unknown, working for his wife’s Virginia funeral parlor and dreaming of literary notice. Now, after two award-winning releases — Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears — he’s just a couple of rooms shy of being a household name, his prose celebrated for its poetic undertones, the endemic violence of his plots accepted as essential to portraying the bigotry that still plagues Southern rural […]

Non-Fiction: The Way We Were: The Making of a Romantic Classic by Tom Santopietro

June 5, 2023 Tony Buchsbaum 0

The Way We Were is one of my favorite movies. What’s not to love? It’s got Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford at the top of their games. It’s got the timeless, Oscar-winning song by Marvin Hamlisch and Marilyn and Alan Bergman. It has Hamlisch’s lush, Oscar-winning score, plus 1950s-era politics; and rich, juicy dollops of romance as the two ill-fated opposites attract each other. I was eager to read a book about how the movie […]

Non-Fiction: Threats: Designing for Security by Adam Shostack

June 4, 2023 admin 0

“We can’t secure our systems if threats are mysterious or poorly understood,” writes Adam Shostack, author of Threats: Designing for Security. “This book gives every engineer foundational knowledge in a structured, accessible and fun way. My students come in with incredibly variable knowledge — bringing everyone to the same level is so important as security becomes a first-class engineering requirement.” Shostack’s book is not for everyone, but in a world where cybersecurity is a large […]

Working Through the Banned

June 3, 2023 admin 0

Over the past 90 days, there has been an increase in searches for “banned books,” “banned book list,” and “list of banned books.” These types of searches have also increased over the last year. Trending book titles include The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The interest in banned books can reflect the current political climate and increased censorship in America’s public […]

Fear of Living

June 3, 2023 News Editor 0

Everyone is looking for the perfect creative space, but it’s not unthinkable that Fear of Flying (1973) author Erica Jong’s Upper East Side New York apartment might fit the bill for a number of creators: if you can get past the $4.25 million dollar price tag, that is.“Located in the coveted Imperial House building on the Upper East Side,” says Top Ten Real Estate Deals, “the 3,000-square-foot apartment boasts specta cular Central Park and skyline […]

Long Lost James M. Cain Story Published in Strand Magazine

May 30, 2023 admin 0

Decades after it was put away with his other papers in the Library of Congress, James M. Cain’s short story “Blackmail” has finally been published. Cain was known for his gritty noir settings in novels such as Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. The author has had more modern adaptations of his work than any noir author and has been cited as a formative influence on modern writers such as Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, […]

Fiction: The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

May 14, 2023 Tony Buchsbaum 0

There is so much to love about The Ferryman that I hardly know where to begin. Justin Cronin’s first novel since his amazing Passage trilogy is filled with unforgettable characters, twists galore, and plenty of gravitas and pathos to get your heart racing…and breaking. I’m hesitant to say too much because there are so many ideas in this book, and so many things to spoil. What I can say is that Cronin goes out of […]

Art & Culture: Serial Killers: Their Creation, Crimes & Capture by Devon F. Walker

April 10, 2023 admin 0

Serial Killers: Their Creation, Crimes & Capture is a gripping exploration of some of history’s most notorious serial killers. The book offers a fascinating analysis of what drives individuals to commit heinous crimes and how they are ultimately brought to justice. Serial Killers opens with a personal account of Walker’s upbringing in Yorkshire, where he witnessed the impact of the Yorkshire Ripper’s killings on his own community. The capture of Peter Sutcliffe, a notorious serial […]

Non-Fiction: Man Eating Plants by Jonathan Spitz

April 10, 2023 admin 0

Fad diets have been some of the biggest trends of the last decade. According to Jonathan Spitz, author of Man Eating Plants: How a Vegan Diet Can Save the World, despite the hype and endorsements from high-profile celebrities, the vegan diet is the only one that has stood the test of time. In Man Eating Plants, Spitz tries to explain why he feels this way of living is optimal for health, and how it even […]

Crime Fiction: Bloody Martini
by William Kotzwinkle

March 13, 2023 J. Kingston Pierce 0

(Editor’s note: This review comes from Steven Nester, host of Poets of the Tabloid Murder, a weekly Internet radio show heard on the Public Radio Exchange [PRX]. Nester is also a New York-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Rap Sheet, Mystery Scene and Firsts Magazine. He last wrote for January Magazine about Wallace Johnson’s 2018 non-fiction book, The Feather Thief.) American writer William Kotzwinkle won plentiful praise for his wryly humorous 2021 […]