The Art of Interview and Interrogation
Retired Metropolitan Police detective author explains how his real‑world interviewing and interrogation experience shapes the scenes in his latest novel, *From the Dust*. He stresses that genuine investigations can span hours or days, and that subtle tactics—like note‑taking for victims and avoiding written records for suspects—affect outcomes. The author also critiques common TV and literary tropes, arguing that tactics such as “good cop/bad cop” rarely work in practice. He uses these insights to craft more authentic, psychologically grounded crime fiction.
Terry Tempest Williams on Thoreau, Erdrich and Other Favorite Writers
Terry Tempest Williams, celebrated environmental writer, discusses her literary life in a candid interview, highlighting her upcoming book “The Glorians: Visitations From the Holy Ordinary.” She recounts a childhood gift—a Roger Tory Peterson bird field guide—that sparked her nature curiosity,...
The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley Review – the Laureate of Bad Relationships
Gwendoline Riley’s seventh novel, The Palm House, follows Laura, a part‑time magazine writer, and Putnam, a disillusioned literary editor, as they navigate a tentative friendship amid London’s shifting cultural landscape. Riley’s trademark spare prose and razor‑sharp dialogue expose the lingering...
Nobody Understands Gertrude Stein. With Her, Incomprehension Was Always, at Least Partly, the Point
Francesca Wade’s new biography, *Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife*, re‑examines the modernist icon by dividing her story into two halves—her self‑crafted public persona and the posthumous archival revelations. The book uncovers unpublished notebooks that detail the meticulous construction of *The Making...
Andrew H. Knoll on Earth and Life
Andrew H. Knoll’s new book “Earth and Life” argues that understanding Earth’s history requires integrating geology and biology. He traces four billion years of co‑evolution, showing how mineral cycles, oxygen production, and biomineralization link the planet’s physical processes with living...
The Pie & Mash Detective Agency by JD Brinkworth
The Pie & Mash Detective Agency, a debut novel by JD Brinkworth, mixes cosy crime conventions with dry British wit. Programmers‑turned‑sleuths Jane Pye and Simon Mash enroll in a private‑investigator class and are tasked with solving the fifth disappearance of a...
Beloved THE TREEHOUSE Books Head to ABC in New Kids Series Adaptation
Australian public broadcaster ABC announced a new television adaptation of Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s bestselling children’s series The Treehouse. The project, produced with Werner Film Productions, is part of a $50 million Australian‑dollar (about $33 million USD) federal funding package aimed...
Defining & Developing Your Author Brand
The article argues that modern authors must treat themselves as brands, not reclusive creators. It stresses that an author’s name—real or pen—serves as a searchable trademark and should be chosen carefully. Consistency in genre, visual identity, tagline, and regular audience...
Forget Wellbeing Programmes, Get Staff Volunteering Instead
British firms are leaving roughly 140 million paid volunteering hours unused each year, according to the Royal Voluntary Service. While about 60% of employers already allocate two days of paid volunteering per employee, take‑up remains low. RVS chief Catherine Johnstone highlighted...
What to Know About the National Book Ban Bill
On March 17 the House Education and Workforce Committee advanced H.R. 7661, dubbed the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act and informally called the National Book Ban Bill. The resolution would prohibit Title I federal funds for schools that provide or...
Running Behind
The essay "Running Behind" uses a personal narrative to examine chronic lateness as a psychological symptom rather than mere sloppiness. The author links habitual tardiness to cultural humor, passive resistance, and possible untreated ADHD, revealing deeper unconscious conflicts. Therapy sessions...
Langford Receives Solstice Award
David Langford has been named the 2026 recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award, honoring his distinguished contributions to the science‑fiction and fantasy community, especially his work on The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. The award, created in 2008, recognizes individuals...
One Great Poem to Read Today: Lucie Brock-Broido’s “Am Moor”
Literary Hub has launched a daily poem series for National Poetry Month, recommending Lucie Brock‑Broido’s “Am Moor” as today’s pick. The poem serves as an homage to Austrian expressionist Georg Trakl, blending baroque language with stark imagery to evoke ecstatic...
André Alexis Has Won the 2025 Story Prize.
Canadian author André Alexis has been awarded the 2025 Story Prize for his short‑story collection *Other Worlds*, published by FSG Originals. The collection was selected from a shortlist that also included Lydia Millet’s *Atavists* and Ayşegül Savaş’s *Long Distance* by...
Six Books About Basketball to Read After March Madness
The Economist highlights six must‑read basketball books to enjoy once the NCAA tournament concludes on April 6. The list spans memoirs, strategic guides, and cultural histories, offering readers a deeper dive into the sport beyond the frenzy of March Madness. Each...
Review – Adventures of Superman: Book of El #7 – The Last Race
Adventures of Superman: Book of El #7 shifts focus from Superman to his adopted daughter Otho‑Ra, who must outrun the cosmic Black Racer to save her father. The issue delivers a high‑octane visual spectacle, with artist Scott Godlewski capturing the...
International Awards Round-Up: International Booker Prize, NBCCs, the Nibbies, and More
The latest round‑up from Publishing Perspectives details winners of the U.S. National Book Critics Circle awards, the UK’s Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer prize, and the inaugural Freudenheim Translation Prize. It also lists shortlists for the International Booker, the...
Review – Batgirl #18: The Spirits Within
Batgirl #18, written by Tate Brombal and illustrated by Takeshi Miyazawa, earned a 9/10 rating from GeekDad. The issue sees Cass returning to Gotham with a cursed blood ability that threatens her life, leading her into a portal to the...
The California Novel No One Can Find
Geoffrey Gray’s quest to locate the 1854 novel *The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta* uncovers a book so scarce that only two first‑edition copies survive. His investigation leads him from Mexico City’s antiquarian shops to California librarians and finally...
Review – Absolute Superman #18: The Sarcophagus of Shazam
Absolute Superman #18, written by Jason Aaron with art by Rafa Sandoval, expands the post‑war Smallville saga by introducing King Shazam, a potential equal to Superman, whose origins trace back to ancient Egypt. The issue also sees Superman adopt a baby...
Review – Batman #8: The Old Men of Gotham
Batman #8, written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Ryan Sook, propels the Dark Knight into a fresh narrative phase that incorporates recent DC continuity shifts. The issue introduces Vandal Savage as an immortal political foe and sees Poison Ivy...
7 Hybrid Memoirs That Merge Art and Family
The Electric Literature piece spotlights seven hybrid memoirs that fuse personal family narratives with visual and literary art forms. Each work experiments with structure—using collage, fragmentation, and associative essays—to explore mother‑daughter relationships, cultural identity, and artistic inheritance. Titles like Rebecca...
Review – Bizarro: Year None #1 – Flipped
Kevin Smith’s new series Bizarro: Year None #1 lands with a 9/10 Ray rating, pairing writer Eric Carrasco with artist Nick Pitarra and colorist Michael Garland. The issue sidesteps Superman, focusing on Jimmy Olsen and a cranky Perry White as...
Explore the Lives of Incredible Women in April’s New Historical Fiction
April 2026 brings a wave of historical fiction that centers on women defying societal norms, building on the recent Women’s History Month momentum. The article highlights two releases: *Honey in the Wound*, a Korean resistance tale infused with magical realism,...
April Is Showering Us With New Comics and Graphic Novels
April brings a fresh wave of graphic novels and comics, ranging from horror‑infused series like "Unemployed Killers Support Group" to Lily Kim Qian’s memoir‑style "Until We Meet Again." The releases showcase a mix of genre‑bending storytelling, vivid illustration, and personal...
.jpg)
The Sci-Fi Novelist Who Disappeared for Decades
Cameron Reed, the cult cyber‑punk author of The Fortunate Fall, disappeared from publishing for 27 years before resurfacing on Bluesky and Mastodon in 2023. Her debut novel, praised for its queer dystopia and cognitive estrangement, was reissued by Tor Books...
Brazil Added Three Million New Book Consumers in 2025 as New Data Highlights Shifting Reader Demographics
The Brazilian Book Chamber and Nielsen BookData report that 18% of adults bought a book in 2025, adding roughly three million new readers – a two‑point rise from 2024. Women dominate the market, with Black and mixed‑race women accounting for...
5 Dua Lipa Book Club Picks that Prove She’s the Queen of Trendsetting Literary Taste
Dua Lipa’s Service95 Book Club pairs the pop star with authors on a monthly podcast, showcasing five diverse titles from 2024 to 2026. Picks include Roxane Gay’s feminist essays, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian classic, David Szalay’s Booker‑winning novel, Vincent Delecroix’s migrant‑crisis novella,...
How Religion and the Occult Shaped Agatha Christie’s Fiction
Agatha Christie’s novels are peppered with Anglican and Catholic imagery, reflecting her own Anglican faith and her second husband’s Catholicism. She incorporated a range of world religions—Jewish, Muslim, Hindu—often as cultural color rather than deep theological exploration, sometimes resorting to...
Taking a Birder’s Approach to the Botanical World
The newly released book Let’s Botanize urges readers to observe plants with the same deliberate attention birdwatchers give to avian species. Co‑authors Ben Goulet‑Scott and Jacob Suissa, Harvard‑trained botanists, built an Instagram community of over 175,000 followers before launching the title...
Book Review: ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ by Beverly Gage
Beverly Gage’s new book *This Land Is Your Land* chronicles a two‑year road trip to roughly 300 historic sites, focusing on 13 pivotal moments in American history as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary. The narrative blends personal observation with...
The Best New Science-Fiction Books of April 2026
April 2026 brings a diverse slate of new science‑fiction titles, from Charlotte Robinson’s near‑future thriller *Mars One* to S.A. Barnes’s space‑horror *Dead Silence*. Award‑winning collections such as Samantha Mills’s *Rabbit Test and Other Stories* and the *Wild Cards* anthology edited by George R.R. Martin...
Bicoastal Art World Satire ‘Kill Dick’ Imagines Sackler Revenge
Luke Goebel’s debut novel *Kill Dick* skewers the art world’s cozy relationship with the Sackler family, portraying opioid‑peddling philanthropists as grotesque antagonists. The story follows privileged addict Susie, who stages a shocking Skid Row installation that brands the Sacklers as corporate...
Diagnosing Murder: How Addiction Became a Central Motif in Crime Fiction
In the early 1990s, a wave of crime novels intertwined the War on Drugs with serial‑killer narratives, portraying murderers as medically "sick" rather than purely evil. Authors such as Patricia Cornwell, Walter Mosley, and James Ellroy used this motif to...
Under Water by Tara Menon Review – Love, Loss and a Longing for the Ocean
Tara Menon's debut novel Under Water follows Marissa, a travel writer haunted by a 2004 Thai tsunami and the loss of her friend Arielle, as she navigates grief and a deepening bond with the ocean. The narrative interweaves personal loss...
Baldwin by Nicholas Boggs Review – the Relationships that Drove a Genius
Nicholas Boggs’s *Baldwin: A Love Story* is the first major biography of James Baldwin released by a leading publisher in over three decades. The 600‑page work centers on Baldwin’s intimate relationships with four men, arguing that these bonds shaped his...
Surprising New 2026 James Bond Adventure Will Blend Two 007 Styles
Charlie Higson’s debut adult James Bond novel, *King Zero*, is slated for a September 2026 release by Ian Fleming Publications. The book will portray a 35‑year‑old Bond, merging Ian Fleming’s literary tone with the high‑octane style of the films. Higson, known for the *Young Bond*...
She Was the Little Girl Painted by Her Famous Father. Now She Is Telling the Family Secrets
Eldest Brack daughter Clara releases memoir "The Secret Landscapes," exposing hidden family truths. The book reveals that John Brack, famed for "Collins St. 5 p.m.," stopped painting in 1994 because dementia from alcoholism impaired his abilities. Brack died in 1999 at 78,...
A Deep Dive Into a Controversial Star and a Sudden Inheritance: 15 Books to Read
April 2026 promises a robust slate of Australian titles, with fifteen new books slated for release. Among them is Debra Adelaide’s memoir "When I Am Sixty‑Four," published by University of Queensland Press at $34.99. The list underscores a vibrant publishing...
The Pledge by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
Sarah Yarwood‑Lovett’s new thriller *The Pledge* reimagines the classic closed‑circle murder mystery on a secluded Caribbean resort owned by billionaire Olga Helgesdotter. The novel gathers a cast of tech moguls, royalty, influencers and a climate‑winning barrister, all lured to sign...
Lucien by JR Thornton
JR Thornton’s new dark‑academia thriller *Lucien* follows Harvard freshman Christopher Novotny, a working‑class prodigy who is drawn into the lavish world of his aristocratic roommate Lucien Orsini‑Conti. To fund his new lifestyle, Chris leverages his talent for forging Monet‑style paintings,...
They Would Not Dream of Flowers: Translating Through the Tehran Blackout
In a haunting essay for Public Books, translator Miadd Banki recounts working on Fernanda Trías’s short‑story collection No soñarás flores while Iran’s internet was shut down. The blackout turned his normally digital‑assisted translation into a painstaking, manual exercise, forcing him to grapple with linguistic...
New York Times Reviewer Fired For (Badly) Using AI
The New York Times terminated a book reviewer after discovering that the critic used artificial intelligence to draft a review, resulting in near‑verbatim plagiarism from a Guardian piece. The incident underscores AI’s limitations in generating original content for niche topics...
MTG Fans Are Convinced a Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere Universes Beyond Set Is Happening. Here's Why.
Wizards of the Coast's Universes Beyond program has successfully integrated franchises like Final Fantasy, but fans are now urging a full Magic: The Gathering set based on Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere. Sanderson, a longtime Magic enthusiast, previously contributed a novella to...
New Wrinkles in Time: A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle
Reactor’s Alan Brown revisits Madeleine L’Engle’s second and third entries in the Time Quintet—“A Wind in the Door” and “A Swiftly Tilting Planet”—through a recent boxed‑set review. He notes the 2007 Square Fish edition’s new cover art and the books’ focus...
The Secret to Actually Finishing That Passion Project? Treat It Like You Work in a Coal Mine, Says This Best-Selling...
Emma Straub, a New York Times‑bestselling author and co‑owner of Brooklyn’s Books Are Magic, shares how she turns fleeting ideas into lasting creative work. She stresses that only ideas that feel fully formed should be pursued, and that treating writing like a...
5 Short Books You Can Easily Finish Within Just One Day
The article highlights five short books—*The Alchemist*, *Animal Farm*, *The Old Man and the Sea*, *Who Moved My Cheese?* and *The Little Prince*—that can be finished in a single day. It emphasizes how brevity forces precision, delivering clear storytelling or...
What Can Poetry Give Us in Times of Crisis?
The Financial Times opinion piece explores how poetry can serve as a vital emotional anchor during periods of societal crisis. It draws on historical examples—from World War I trench verses to the surge of pandemic‑era poems—to illustrate poetry’s capacity to articulate...
Uri Tupka and the Gods: Another Story From Lands Unknown
Mike Mignola’s latest graphic novel, *Uri Tupka and the Gods*, debuted on March 31, 2026 as a 104‑page hardcover priced at $24.99. The story follows scholar Uri Tupka, who flees imperial wrath after a prophetic cat dream and encounters giant elephants, devils,...
‘The Midnight: Shadows’ Renders Nostalgia’s Dangers in Neon
Dark Horse Comics releases *The Midnight: Shadows*, a 2024 graphic novel that extends synthwave duo The Midnight’s nostalgic brand into a cyber‑punk narrative. The story follows Jason, a 1999‑era father who escapes his stressful reality through a malfunctioning childhood game...