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2024 International Booker Prize Shortlist Announced

April 13, 2024 News Editor 0

The 2024 shortlist for the International Booker Prize was announced last week, introducing us to six books from around the globe that have been translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland. The prize recognizes the vital work of translators with the £50,000 prize money divided equally: £25,000 (about $31,000 US) for the author and £25,000 for the translator (or divided equally between multiple translators). In addition, there is a prize of £5,000 […]

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Fiction: Somebody’s Fool
by Richard Russo

July 26, 2023 J. Kingston Pierce 1

North Bath, the fictional upstate New York setting of Richard Russo’s “Fool” trilogy, seems to be finally and firmly on the skids in the brand-new novel Somebody’s Fool (Knopf). The town is slated for annexation by a wealthier, more liberal neighbor, Schuyler Springs. Even the local police station is being shuttered, its longtime chief, Douglas Raymer, surplussed to make room for his Black ex-employee and sometime-girlfriend, Charice Bond, at the helm of the Schuyler PD. […]

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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 […]

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This Just In… Terms of Service by Craig W. Stanfill

May 30, 2021 Linda L. Richards 0

250 years in the future, artificial intelligences control every aspect of Kim’s life — from what she has for breakfast to who she is allowed to have sex with. Living in the northeast province of what used to be the United States, she is a rising star at The Artificial Intelligence Company, training and managing sentient beings called “AIs” in the enigmatic parallel universe of Virtual Reality. When a seemingly harmless lark sends Kim’s life […]

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Unknown Steinbeck Mystery Novel Uncovered

May 30, 2021 Linda L. Richards 0

In 1930, struggling writer John Steinbeck (East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath) couldn’t find a publisher for a mystery novel with supernatural undertones he called Murder at Full Moon. As described by the Guardian, this is a book that both fans of the author and of early mystery would love to get their hands on, but it’s been kept in the dark in archives for over 90 years. Set in a fictional Californian coastal […]

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Fiction: Crossings by Alex Landrigan

July 24, 2020 Tony Buchsbaum 0

Over the years, there have been a good number of books that delight with messing with your mind. Think: House of Blue Leaves. Think: The Dictionary of the Khazars. Think: Cloud Atlas. And now there’s Crossings, a new mind-bender from Alex Landragin. I love books like this, but — also — I’ve never read a book like this. It’s an intelligent tale, ingeniously told. It’s not so much a puzzle for the reader, but it […]

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Fiction: Look Back to Yesterday Tara Lynn Marta

July 12, 2020 admin 0

In Look Back to Yesterday by Tara Lynn Marta we meet 30-something year old woman Rebecca. She is looking for yesterday. Alone after the death of her father and break up with her live-in boyfriend John, Rebecca clings to memories of her childhood in Brooklyn. Before losing her mother when she was nine, her world seemed safe and secure. With that reflection, Rebecca decides to return to Brooklyn after 25 years. She falls asleep on […]

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Fiction: Things Behind the Sun by David W. Berner

May 4, 2020 admin 0

Martin Gregory believes he has one last shot at emotionally connecting with the son he adopted 17 years ago from the only woman he ever loved. A long road trip could be the answer. But the boy has other ideas as the two of them navigate the past and contemplate the future during a summer journey through the American West. The trip uncovers long-held secrets, both Martin’s and his son’s. It becomes an exploration of […]

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Fiction: Mr. Blok by Gregor Piatigorsky

April 23, 2020 admin 0

Mr. Blok is the only literary work written by the famous musician and beloved music teacher Gregor Piatigorsky, being published 60 years after its creation. The novel provides an invaluable source of insight into, and knowledge about, the mind and personality of the great man behind the cello. According to Stevan Nikolic, editor at Adelaide Books, “after reading his work, my conclusion is that it is almost impossible that such a novel was written without […]

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Fiction: In the Suburb of Possible Suicide by David Lawrence

April 18, 2020 admin 0

In the Suburb of Possible Suicide, originally titled Suicide Club, was a quarterfinalist in Screenwriters Magazine and was an honored recipient of the “No Borders” distinction at the IFFM at the Angelika Theater, 1996. In the Suburb of Possible Suicide is the story of a teenager, Joshua Victor, whose parents move him from the middle class town of East Meadow to the rich village of Great Neck Estates in 1962 in the hopes of getting […]