Esther Gordon Framlingham by Anthony Mann

While I don’t deny that Google’s wholesale scanning of books is a flagrant abuse of copyright and all that, I Continue reading →

A General in the Library by Italo Calvino

This is my 150th recommendation, and it also happens to be this website’s one-year anniversary. And you know what? It’s Continue reading →

Creating the Innocent Killer by John Kessel

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card has an enormous appeal to teens. Admittedly I’m not one of them, as I Continue reading →

The Soul Selects Her Own Society by Connie Willis

Sometimes you just need a story that makes you laugh out loud repeatedly, no matter where you are. Even if Continue reading →

Portraits of his Children by George R.R. Martin

A standard piece of advice to new writers is that you shouldn’t write more than one novel, or a few Continue reading →

When Dickens met Dostoevsky by Eric Naiman

The non-fiction I recommend here appears primarily because it is entertaining. While I say this with every non-fiction article, I Continue reading →

The Poetry of Fantasy by Mary Quella Kelly

I must admit, when I would read The Lord of the Rings in my teens I would usually skip over Continue reading →

The Chill Clutch of the Unseen by Kim Newman

In the quiet backwaters of Connecticut there is a small train station. And every day, as his father and his Continue reading →