books
The Madagaskar Plan by Guy Saville

In this well written alternative history novel,  Germany has won the Second World War...

fiction1
If You’re a Fan of Tom Wolfe . . . .

You will probably want to read a great, and long, piece in Vanity Fair called "How Tom...

fiction1
The Case for ‘The New Adventures of Ellery Queen’

One of the greats of the mystery genre, too little appreciated these days, is Ellery ...

fiction1
Mark Twain’s Caustic Satire

Satire, like every other rhetorical device developed over the centuries, can serve a usefu...

fiction1
Throwback Thursday: Getting Real—An American Critic’s Take on the Argument Over Realism and Romance

It often comes up: What kind of fiction do you like to read? Do you like your stories as r...

books
Freddy the Pig: A Charming Children’s Series

The twenty-five tales of Freddy the Pig, published 1927-1958, constitute one of the cla...

art-and-architecture
Don’t Judge Klavan’s ‘Werewolf Cop’ by Its Title

He parked in a little neighborhood near the service road. He sat behind the wheel with his...

fiction1
‘Saint Odd’: A Fond Farewell to Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas

Ozzie Boone said that any talent—whether to write songs or to write novels or to track p...

art
Avenging the Honor of Free Speech

January 7, 2015, will be remembered as the day Islamic terrorists declared war against f...

culture101
Simenon’s ‘Transparent Detective’ Mysteries Return to Print

One of the great achievements in European popular fiction during the twentieth century was...

books
‘No Place’ Is a Bad Place—Le Guin’s Timeless Message of ‘The Lathe of Heaven’

The word utopia literally means "no place" in the original Greek. Thomas More named his f...

fiction1
BBC Announces ‘War and Peace’ Cast; Davies to Write Screenplay

The British Broadcasting Corporation announced yesterday the cast for its upcoming six-h...

books
Cultural Tide Beginning to Turn? ‘Golden Age’ Mystery Outselling Contemporary Bestsellers

In a year of unsettling cultural stories—from the Ray Rice domestic abuse video to Rob...

culture101
Pulp Fiction Rights-Holder Clarity Could Aid Ongoing Republication Boom

As I've noted earlier on this site, pulp fiction was quite unlike what people commonly thi...

books
An Excellent Resource for Mystery Aficionados

(GIVE ME THAT) OLD-TIME DETECTION - Summer 2014 - Issue #36 - Old-Time Detection Special...

culture101
A Good Month to Read Gothic/Horror Innovator and Master Edgar Allan Poe

If you're thinking about doing some gothic/horror reading this month, you can't go wrong b...

fiction1
‘Monogram Murders’ Exemplifies Problems with Contemporary Crime Fiction

My web friend Enrique F. Bird is a longtime aficionado of mystery and detective fiction an...

books
Jack Carter Returns

"The rain rained.” It takes a tremendous amount of courage, or foolishness, to begin a...

fiction1
The Heroic (and Much-Needed) Values of Pulp Fiction

Most people, I am sure, think of pulp fiction as lurid, oversexed, ultraviolent, profanity...

books
An Above-Average Superhero Story

Duncan MacMaster is the proprietor of The Furious D Show, one of the most interesting mo...

books
Koontz’s Latest: Lyrical, Tragic, and Brilliant

After you have suffered great losses and known much pain, it is not cowardice to wish to l...

books
Pirog’s Thomas Prescott Novels: Good, and Getting Better

Nick Pirog’s Thomas Prescott novels are worth reading just to watch a writer learning hi...

books
‘Chas’ Novel Explores Dependence on Technology, Family

CHAS: FORESHADOWING DESTINY — By Mike Arthur — Novel — Westbow Press — 2013 — T...

fiction1
Nudity, Naturalism, and ‘Girls’

Like 887,000 Americans, I have now seen Lena Dunham naked. Ms. Dunham, as I’m sure yo...