Seven books that reimagine how trauma is told

Erik Fuhrer is a queer, nonbinary poet, playwright, and trauma writing teacher. They hold a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow, an MFA from the University of Notre Dame, and a PMP. They are the author of nine books, including Gellar Studies (2023) and the forthcoming hybrid memoir My Buffed Up Life (2026). They were the UCLA Extension Winter 2026 Writer in Residence.

At Electric Lit Fuhrer tagged seven books by "writers use form to convey the experience, emotions, and structure of trauma, keeping the gaps, the flaws, the inventions, scalping together image and sensation into something legible but messy and tangled and raw." One title on the list:

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

Kingston tells stories of generational trauma through myth and family history, both real and imagined. The subtitle, Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, aptly describes the way the family figures that resurrect are projected versions of themselves. Kingston’s investigation into their blurred histories and bodies is pieced together and transformed as she traces possible shapes from oral accounts in order to tell fuller stories. Kingston writes about her aunt, who committed suicide, and whose very existence her father buried, so that all Kingston has is the ghost of her to breathe imagined narratives into. Possibilities rather than fact. She constructs the plurality of what her aunt might have been, because her aunt’s life had been swallowed by her father. This is a masterclass in writing about another person, especially for trauma-impacted writers.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Woman Warrior is among Amy Tan's ten desert island books, Patricia Lockwood's six favorite books, Karen Joy Fowler's six favorite books about "almost magical" women, Ginni Chen's top seven books to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Sheep, Eva Hoffman's top five striking memoirs, and Julia Alvarez's five most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Denise Derya Brandt reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Denise Derya Brandt, author of Istanbul Dreaming: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I tend to read books in bursts. I may go weeks without reading a book and then I’ll read three in one week. (I tend to write this way, too). Often, I listen to audiobooks from the library, but if there is a book I’m specifically trying to learn from, either because I admire the author’s writing or because of its subject matter, I will buy and read the paperback. I currently have a huge stack of books I need to read, many authored by people I know, but I’ve been prioritizing reading library books before I have to return them. What’s that saying? “Something that can be done at any time is often done at no time.”

These are a few books I enjoyed most recently.

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi – I recently re-read this to prepare for her newest novel, The City of Widows, which is a stand-alone novel centered on the same protagonist. The novel follows Rahima, a girl in modern Afghanistan who is dressed as a boy so she can work and move freely, her story braided with that of her great-great- grandmother Shekiba a century earlier, who survives her own version of the same constraints. Nadia brings Afghan women’s stories to life. And this important story breaks your heart and frustrates you, but you cannot and should not look away. I keep coming back to Nadia’s writing because...[read on]

About Istanbul Dreaming, from the publisher:

For fans of Alka Joshi and Marjan Kamali, a gripping historical novel set in 1950s Turkey about a young woman who flees an arranged marriage to pursue independence in Istanbul, where she finds forbidden love with an American airman.

In 1950s Turkey, against the backdrop of the social and political unrest that will culminate in Turkey’s 1960 military coup d'état, a dutiful daughter is torn between family expectations and her dream of becoming a modern Turkish woman.

One night, seventeen-year-old Ayten sneaks away to Istanbul for a night of dancing with her best friend. When her father discovers her rebellion, he forces her into an arranged religious marriage to a distant relative who bullied her as a child. Initially, Ayten resigns herself to her fate—but after her husband sexually assaults her on their wedding night, she flees him and her family for haven in Istanbul.

Living with friends and working as a seamstress at her friend’s boutique, Ayten tries to rebuild her life. Then she meets Earl, an American airman, and they begin to fall in love—but as their connection deepens, secrets and her past threaten to upend all she’s built. Torn between her family and a future with Earl, Ayten must decide what she’s willing to sacrifice for freedom and forbidden love.

Visit Denise Derya Brandt's website.

Writers Read: Denise Derya Brandt.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Erin Cotter

From my Q&A with Erin Cotter, author of A Dangerous Bargain:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

For my book, I want the title to both hint at the action to come and also serve as a bit of a metaphor for what the book explores thematically. At first, my book was titled The Angel’s Bargain, but I didn’t love that title because while the book is about bargaining with angels for magic, it’s also about the cost of such magic, and what someone is willing to give up for greatness. There’s a sense of unease to the divine magic in my story, a sense that this power, while relied on heavily by the Renaissance artists in their workshops, is a sinister, ticking bomb with an agenda of its own. A Dangerous Bargain obviously points to that theme much more effectively than The Angel’s Bargain.

What's in a name?

The protagonist is called Virgil, and...[read on]

Visit Erin Cotter's website.

Writers Read: Erin Cotter.

The Page 69 Test: A Dangerous Bargain.

My Book, The Movie: A Dangerous Bargain.

Q&A with Erin Cotter.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Lara M. Brown's "Thomas Jefferson’s Landmark Deal"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Jefferson's Landmark Deal: The Politics of the Louisiana Purchase by Lara M. Brown.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this concise history of the Louisiana Purchase, renowned presidential scholar Lara M. Brown explores how Thomas Jefferson’s skilled diplomacy and political strategy helped secure the historic bargain and changed the course of American history.

Thomas Jefferson is one of the more inscrutable characters in American history. While he is best known for the Declaration of Independence and his conflicting legacy on race and slavery, his pursuit of the Louisiana Purchase was a crucial decision for the trajectory of the country and the development of the presidency. In this volume of the Landmark Presidential Decisions series Lara M. Brown casts Jefferson as a shrewd and calculating politician. Brown examines the historical and political circumstances that led to the Louisiana Purchase, in which Jefferson’s inclination to pursue a strategy of misinformation and patient persuasion rather than engaging in a direct confrontation or a show of force with Napoleon helped to transform a series of accidents into a historic moment of luck.

In addition to exploring the international politics and domestic pressures that helped bring about this deal, Brown examines the larger theoretical issues related to the presidency itself. While Jefferson expressed concern about the constitutionality of the agreement and briefly considered passing a constitutional amendment, his decision to follow Madison’s advice and move quickly on the purchase established the “national emergency” rationale upon which the “imperial presidency” was partly constructed. Moreover, Jefferson relied on American ministers to act as his representatives in executing the deal, underlining the importance of governance, communication, and the management of a burgeoning executive branch.

The Louisiana Purchase is essential to understanding territorial expansion, foreign policy in the early republic, and the perennial political dilemmas surrounding the ambiguity of Article II in the Constitution. Lara Brown expertly guides readers through one of the most consequential decisions in early American history.

Visit Lara M. Brown's website.

The Page 99 Test: Jefferson's Landmark Deal.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten essential Ukrainian books

Sasha Dovzhyk is a Ukrainian writer, journalist and founder of Index: Institute for Documentation and Exchange.

Her latest book is Apocalypse Baroque: Tales from Ukraine at War.

At Lit Hub she shared a list "of books written by Ukrainians in English or translated from Ukrainian into English [that] sheds light on what has long been overshadowed by empires seeking Ukraine’s erasure: the country’s rich literary tradition and its tradition of resistance." One title on the list:

Serhii Plokhy, The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine (2021)

This book by perhaps the most prominent and prolific historian of Ukraine is an essential, intellectually engaging and elegantly written guide through Ukraine’s complex past and its position at the crossroads of history. Situated between Central Europe, Russia, and the Black Sea, Ukraine has repeatedly served as the strategic gateway empires fought to control—Roman and Ottoman, Third Reich and Soviet. Plokhy tells its history through the figures who tried to claim or resist it, from Vikings and Cossacks to the architects of modern Ukrainian national identity.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Gates of Europe is among Oliver Bullough's nine books to help us understand the invasion of Ukraine and Kalani Pickhart's eight books to better understand Ukraine.

The Page 99 Test: The Gates of Europe.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Tracy Maton's "The Artful Anna Harris"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Artful Anna Harris: A Novel by Tracy Maton.

About the novel, from the publisher:

If the talented Mr. Ripley were a young woman today, she might be Anna Harris: charming, changeable, and perhaps not at all what she seems to be.

"You are quite the chameleon, aren't you? You could wear anything, do anything, and yet you choose plain, plain, plain. Or is it all a front for a secret life?"

Anna Harris grew up in a rough part of London, and learned young that she could become whoever she needs to be, moulding herself to get what she needs and wants. Somehow that has led her to a quaint, sleepy English village, swallowed into the lives of her boyfriend and his close and loving family. She's not unhappy, but there are quiet pressures and illicit temptations even in this storybook life.

When the vivacious Sofia Carstairs moves to the village, Anna is reminded of the freedom she once had. She used to be carefree and rebellious. But is she willing to throw away her future for some fun? Anna's not a bad person, she doesn't want to hurt anyone. But perhaps leading two lives is the path to fulfillment. What would happen if she just tried it out...

Full of vivid characters, sharp wit, and shocking twists, The Artful Anna Harris is a brilliantly suspenseful and page-turning debut.

Follow Tracy Maton on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Tracy Maton.

The Page 69 Test: The Artful Anna Harris.

--Marshal Zeringue

Erin Cotter's "A Dangerous Bargain," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: A Dangerous Bargain by Erin Cotter.

The entry begins:

My story is about an artist who has bargained away most of his life for divine inspiration pairing up with fellow apprentice Leonardo da Vinci to infiltrate the Medici family and find out the truth about his missing brother. It’s a mystery set in Renaissance, Florence but there’s also a heavy romantic element as well. Because of Renaissance element, I’d love to see a director with a great style for atmospheric, historical settings take the lead—maybe someone like Ridley Scott! But I’ll be honest, I don’t think Ridley Scott has the chops to pull off the romantic plotline in the story, so be better call in Jacob Tierney as well.

Now that I’ve mentioned Jacob Tierney, I’m having a hard time not thinking about Heated Rivalry, which means I’m having a hard time not thinking about...[read on]

Visit Erin Cotter's website.

Writers Read: Erin Cotter.

The Page 69 Test: A Dangerous Bargain.

My Book, The Movie: A Dangerous Bargain.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Alex Edmans's "The Madness of Markets"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Madness of Markets: Why Smart Investors Make Crazy Decisions–and How to Exploit Them by Alex Edmans.

About the book, from the publisher:

A groundbreaking look at what drives even the smartest investors to make irrational choices and a practical roadmap for profiting when the market loses its mind—from one of the world’s leading finance professors

Why did Isaac Newton lose a fortune in the South Sea Bubble? Why did people spend millions on cartoon apes during the NFT frenzy? Why does the stock market fall when a national soccer team loses, or rise on a sunny day?

In this lively, eye-opening, and highly practical book, Alex Edmans reveals the hidden psychological forces that push markets away from logic—and create opportunities for those who stay sane while others panic. Drawing on cutting-edge studies and his more than twenty years at the intersection of academia and Wall Street, Edmans explains why investors chronically overreact, underreact, and misreact—and how these mistakes lead to bubbles, crashes, hype cycles, and portfolio wipeouts.

But The Madness of Markets isn’t just about spotting irrationality—it’s about outsmarting it. Edmans shows you how to think sharper, invest smarter, dodge predictable traps, and recognize when the crowd has lost the plot. Playfully rigorous and packed with unforgettable stories—from Reddit frenzies to CEO ego trips to World Cup upsets—The Madness of Markets offers an accessible yet thorough guide for anyone looking to make smarter decisions in a noisy financial world.

This book is for anyone with a pension, an IRA, or a long-term stake in the market—whether you’re chasing crypto highs or simply protecting your retirement while the world spins out of control.

Visit Alex Edmans's website.

The Page 99 Test: May Contain Lies.

The Page 99 Test: The Madness of Markets.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top gothic mystery novels

Carolina Ciucci is a teacher, writer and reviewer based in the south of Argentina. She hoards books like they’re going out of style. In case of emergency, you can summon her by talking about Ireland, fictional witches, and the Brontë family. At Book Riot she tagged eight of the best gothic mystery novels. One title on the list:

Heiress of Nowhere by Stacey Lee

Who among us hasn’t wished for an unexpected inheritance once or twice? Well, Lucy hasn’t. So when an inheritance does come, immediately casting her as a prime murder suspect and putting her at danger of being murdered herself, she has no chance but to find out who truly murdered her employer.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Kasey Lansdale reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Kasey Lansdale, author of First Chance.

Her entry begins:

At the moment I’m reading several novels, all of them in service of the book I am working on. Unlike some authors, I like to read what’s happening in the genre to make sure I’m hitting the marks, and also, to be sure I’m not hitting the same ones.

Jennifer Anne Gordon’s Perfect Wives Perfect Lies is the first, and it just came out September 8th, same day as my novel. This author and title have been on my highly anticipated list all year, and though I’m only a few chapters in, I...[read on]

About First Chance, from the publisher:

First Chance is a suspenseful thriller that readers won't be able to put down--perfect for fans of Sue Grafton and Michael Connelly.

Chance Kirby isn't new to detective work, but starting over in Hopeful, Texas, is a big step. Determined to leave behind her father and stepmother's shadow and carve out a future of her own, she opens a small PI agency, expecting missing heirlooms and marital disputes. But when the cold case of a murdered teenage girl is dropped on her doorstep, Chance finds herself in the middle of an investigation with no leads.

With her adopted sister Tia, her loyal dog Sissy, and the town's newly arrived police chief Isabella Lopez at her side, Chance soon begins to suspect this murder may be only one piece of a much bigger, and more disturbing, pattern.

To stop a predator who, it seems, has managed to evade authorities for decades, Chance must stay one step ahead ... or risk becoming the next target.

Visit Kasey Lansdale's website.

Writers Read: Kasey Lansdale.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Erin Cotter's "A Dangerous Bargain"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: A Dangerous Bargain by Erin Cotter.

About A Dangerous Bargain, from the publisher:

A young artist who has bargained away most of his life for divine inspiration pairs up with fellow apprentice Leonardo da Vinci to infiltrate the Medici family and find out the truth about his missing brother in this Renaissance-set young adult mystery perfect for fans of F.T. Lukens.

It’s the height of the Italian Renaissance. In the golden city of Florence, art is equal to holiness—and angels walk among us, bestowing their talents…for a price.

Seventeen-year-old artist Virgil is in trouble. To support his family, he’s bargained most of his life away to an angel—only to discover that his missing brother is in danger, and nothing but magic can rescue him. Now, with just a few months left to live, Virgil is desperate enough to try the one thing he swore he would never, ever do—team up with the infuriating, annoyingly talented, and most notorious playboy in all of Florence, the charming Leonardo da Vinci.

As the two journey through Florence’s gilded streets, luxurious cathedrals, and glorious Medici palaces, they unearth dark truths beneath the city’s facade.

Those in power will do anything to keep their deadly secrets safe, but with his feelings for Leonardo giving him new life, Virgil is determined to expose their lies before he runs out of time.

Even if it might cost him his soul.

Visit Erin Cotter's website.

Writers Read: Erin Cotter.

The Page 69 Test: A Dangerous Bargain.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Jeremy Tirrell and Kate Maddalena's "Disgustatory!"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Disgustatory!: A Gothic Rhetoric of Consumption by Jeremy Tirrell and Kate Maddalena.

About the book, from the publisher:

A critical exploration of how Gothic tropes infiltrate wellness discourse, revealing the rhetorical forces behind our cultural obsession with food, health, and bodily control.

Disgustatory! A Gothic Rhetoric of Consumption unearths the darkness behind modern obsessions with food, health, and bodily optimization. In this provocative and richly interdisciplinary work, Jeremy Tirrell and Kate Maddalena argue that contemporary discourses around food, medicine, and the body are steeped in Gothic rhetoric―where the promise of purity and control is shadowed by monstrosity, abjection, and the uncanny.

From Soylent and nootropics to probiotics and lab-grown meat, Tirrell and Maddalena show how wellness discourse is haunted by Gothic tropes: body horror, hybridity, and existential dread. Wellness culture, they argue, is not merely pseudoscience or fraud but a complex, persuasive rhetoric that blurs science and myth, purity and decay, medicine and mysticism.

Disgustatory! offers a fresh framework: a “Gothic rhetoric of consumption” that explains why we are drawn to weird diets, digital detoxes, and miracle cures. Through case studies of strange substances and stranger practices―Reddit fasting rituals, magic dirt supplements, fecal transplants― Tirrell and Maddalena reveal how fear, fascination, and the fantasy of bodily control animate our health choices. Each chapter explores a rhetorical element―quantification, hybridity, abjection, optimization, and regulation―to show how food becomes a site of cultural anxiety and existential longing. This book will appeal to rhetoricians, scholars of science and technology studies, cultural theorists, and anyone interested in the strange intersections of health, horror, and persuasion.

Visit Jeremy Tirrell's website and Kate Maddalena's faculty webpage.

The Page 99 Test: Disgustatory!.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six top novels set in decadent locales

Alex Hay is a bestselling author whose debut novel The Housekeepers was a Waterstones Book of the Month and Paperback of the Year and won the Caledonia Novel Award 2022. He is also the author of The Queen of Fives and The Midnight Guests, both published to great acclaim. Hay was born in London and now lives in Brighton, U.K. with his husband.

At CrimeReads the author tagged "six brilliant novels that thread the darkest psychology into rarefied settings to completely thrilling effect." One title on the list:

Nita Prose, The Maid

Already a modern classic. Molly works as a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, but quickly becomes ensnared in a murder investigation that unfolds all the way from the penthouse down through every corner of the building. Not for nothing did it spawn a series of wildly popular sequels—this novel is clever, carefully-drawn and Nita Prose knows just how to conjure the glamour and grit of a hotel operation through the eyes of the staff.

Read about another entry on the list at CrimeReads.

The Maid is among Lucy Foley's five notable novels set in hotels, S.K. Golden's six top mystery novels set in hotels, and Amanda Craig's top ten books about cleaners.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Ryan Douglass

From my Q&A with Ryan Douglass, author of Night of Madness:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I think Night of Madness is pretty on-the-nose for what you’re getting. It’s a horror novel that takes place over one night and follows a character who gets trapped in a death game disguised as a game show. “Madness” is the perfect descriptor for what happens as the game induces sensory confusion. This is a collaboration with Temple Hill, so the book was originally called A Night of Madness, but I advocated to drop the “A.” Something about starting with “Night” feels very foreboding to me.

What's in a name?

The main cast was mostly named...[read on]

Follow Ryan Douglass on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Ryan Douglass.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Erin Cotter reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Erin Cotter, author of A Dangerous Bargain.

Her entry begins:

I’ve been on historical fantasy kick lately. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett and The Scholar and Last Faerie Door by H. G. Parry. The Emily Wilde series follows the titular character on her adventures as an introverted dryadologist (fairy scholar) set in the TK TIME and Parry’s book follows a series of students studying forbidden faerie magic at Camford, an elite, secret magical university in the 1920s. Now that I’m mentioning these both here, I realize they have tons in common: dark academia, creepy faeries, and...[read on]

About A Dangerous Bargain, from the publisher:

A young artist who has bargained away most of his life for divine inspiration pairs up with fellow apprentice Leonardo da Vinci to infiltrate the Medici family and find out the truth about his missing brother in this Renaissance-set young adult mystery perfect for fans of F.T. Lukens.

It’s the height of the Italian Renaissance. In the golden city of Florence, art is equal to holiness—and angels walk among us, bestowing their talents…for a price.

Seventeen-year-old artist Virgil is in trouble. To support his family, he’s bargained most of his life away to an angel—only to discover that his missing brother is in danger, and nothing but magic can rescue him. Now, with just a few months left to live, Virgil is desperate enough to try the one thing he swore he would never, ever do—team up with the infuriating, annoyingly talented, and most notorious playboy in all of Florence, the charming Leonardo da Vinci.

As the two journey through Florence’s gilded streets, luxurious cathedrals, and glorious Medici palaces, they unearth dark truths beneath the city’s facade.

Those in power will do anything to keep their deadly secrets safe, but with his feelings for Leonardo giving him new life, Virgil is determined to expose their lies before he runs out of time.

Even if it might cost him his soul.

Visit Erin Cotter's website.

Writers Read: Erin Cotter.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight books that show that the Great American Road Trip Novel isn’t only for white people

Winnie M Li is an American author and activist living in the UK with her partner and young son. A Harvard graduate, Li has written for travel guidebooks, produced independent feature films, programmed for film festivals, and developed eco-tourism projects. Her first novel, Dark Chapter, was nominated for an Edgar Award and translated into ten languages, followed by the critically acclaimed Complicit. A survivor and advocate against gendered violence, she holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and teaches creative writing and media studies.

Li's new novel is What We Left Unsaid.

At Lit Hub Li tagged "eight books (both fiction and non-fiction) that narrate this most American of stories from the perspective of people of color." One title on the list:

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

A critical darling, this literary novel by Mexican-born Valeria Luiselli is also very much a road trip narrative, using a fragmented approach to tell the story of two sound archivists and their children, on a road trip from New York City to Apacheria, New Mexico. Layered within its experimental form is a commentary on immigration and 21st century America, as the family regularly encounters Latinx migrants whose own families have been disrupted by the indifference of American immigration policies. The final 100 pages are a thrilling, heart-stopping adventure in the New Mexico desert, picking up the pace with unexpected urgency and narrative anxiety.

Read about another book on the list.

Lost Children Archive is among Sarah Bruni's six contemporary novels that center caretaking through crisis.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Trevor Herbert's "The Brass Band Story"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Brass Band Story by Trevor Herbert.

About the book, from the publisher:

A lively and engaging history of the brass band in Britain and beyond

Brass bands have played a unique role in the cultural history of Britain. Amidst the industrial revolution, an increasingly urban population turned to music for mass entertainment. Brass bands became intimately associated with working men and spread across the country at breathtaking speed. At their height in the late Victorian era, there were thousands of them.

Trevor Herbert reveals the story of these bands, from their working-class origins and the enormous popularity of Victorian contests to their sophistication in modern times. It is a tale of the survival of tradition and the embrace of change. Victorian brass bands solidified communities and promoted shared local identities. As new modes of popular culture posed existential threats in the twentieth century, they reinvented themselves. The model British bands created is now replicated throughout the world.

This is a fascinating and revealing history of a much-loved aspect of Britain’s musical heritage.

Learn more about The Brass Band Story at the Yale University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Brass Band Story.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Robert Dugoni's "One Split Second"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Robert Dugoni's One Split Second.

About One Split Second, from the publisher:

A girl’s unsolved disappearance. A tragic shooting. Two crimes, forty-five years apart, with a blood-chilling connection in a gripping new Tracy Crosswhite novel by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Detective Tracy Crosswhite is assigned to defend an old friend. Sheriff Jenny Almond has been charged with first-degree murder for shooting an unarmed veteran on a stormy night of confusion, paranoia, and split-second choices. Tracy is certain there’s more to the story of Anthony Alvarez’s killing―and her investigation draws her back to a cold case that still haunts the community.

More than forty years ago, Alvarez was the prime suspect in the unsolved disappearance of a teenage babysitter. The lead investigator, Jenny’s late father Buzz Almond, always believed Alvarez had been framed. Decades later, his suspicions of a conspiracy are driving Tracy to find answers. Digging deeper into both the past and the present, she discovers a complex web of sinister motives and long-buried secrets, unearthing them one by one.

As a decades-old mystery casts its dark shadow on a small town, only the truth will finally set the innocent free.

Visit Robert Dugoni's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Wrongful Death.

The Page 69 Test: Bodily Harm.

My Book, The Movie: Bodily Harm.

The Page 69 Test: Murder One.

My Book, The Movie: Murder One.

My Book, The Movie: The Eighth Sister.

The Page 69 Test: The Eighth Sister.

My Book, The Movie: A Cold Trail.

The Page 69 Test: A Cold Trail.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Agent.

My Book, The Movie: The Last Agent.

Q&A with Robert Dugoni.

The Page 69 Test: In Her Tracks.

Writers Read: Robert Dugoni (March 2024).

The Page 69 Test: A Killing on the Hill.

My Book, The Movie: A Killing on the Hill.

The Page 69 Test: Beyond Reasonable Doubt.

My Book, The Movie: Beyond Reasonable Doubt.

Writers Read: Robert Dugoni (October 2024).

My Book, The Movie: Her Cold Justice.

The Page 69 Test: Her Cold Justice.

Writers Read: Robert Dugoni (February 2026).

Writers Read: Robert Dugoni.

The Page 69 Test: One Split Second.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jason Allison's "The Killing Yards," the movie

Featured at My Book The Movie: The Killing Yards: A Novel by Jason Allison.

About the book, from the publisher:

It’s been said—though I can’t find the quote—that after Alec Guinness played George Smiley in the 1979 BBC adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy, John Le Carré could no longer envision his version of the character. Smiley became Sir Alec, and vice versa. This isn’t uncommon with screen adaptations of novels. In On Writing, Stephen King explains how he limits physical details in his character descriptions. That way, each reader can create their own version in their own head. To use James Ellroy as a reference, my Pete Bondurant is probably different from your Pete Bondurant, but Bud White will always be Russell Crowe.

I will now violate my essay’s opening paragraph by casting my debut novel, The Killing Yards. As a huge cinephile, it’s surprising that I haven’t already. Yards is a crime noir set in the early 1990s NYC nightclub scene, and its four main characters—Jimmy and Michelle Lettner, GM and owner of Abattoir; Serge Thanakis, Jimmy’s only friend; and Ben Hopkins, striving NYPD rookie—have existed only in my brain space. Until now.

Every great project starts with a script. Assuming Tony Gilroy has adapted my novel, let’s move to the director. Two names jump out straight away, but for different reasons. In a series of gritty, NYC-set crime dramas, James Gray has crafted brilliant character portraits of the city’s felonious demographic. His work is emotionally searing, if not quieter and more intimate than Michael Mann’s epics, which often depict driven men (usually criminals or cops) doing their jobs with monomaniacal precision. He’s all about depicting process cinematically; think Heat’s bank robbery shootout, or Collateral’s frenetic Koreatown nightclub assassination. Given The Killing Yards orbits Manhattan’s hottest nightspot, Mann’s flair for shooting packed dance floors soundtracked by thumping EDM gives him the lead.

Here’s where things get tricky. Casting the right actor elevates the entire project, like how Inde Navarette absolutely owned Obsession. Jimmy Lettner, recovering addict and Abattoir’s ex-con general manager, is physically unassuming and emotionally dishonest. He screams for...[read on]

Visit Jason Allison's website.

My Book The Movie: The Killing Yards.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best nineteenth-century novels

Joanna Trollope was an English writer. Some of her best known works include The Rector's Wife (her first #1 bestseller), A Village Affair, Other People's Children, and Marrying the Mistress. She was awarded the OBE in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honors List for services to literature.

In February 2000 at the Guardian she tagged ten top nineteenth-century novels, including:

Persuasion by Jane Austen

A subtle and elegiac novel - more heartfelt than some of her earlier romances and with a truly appealing heroine.

Read about another novel on the list.

Persuasion is among Toby Litt's ten top escapes in books, Lore Segal's ten favorite books, four books that changed Sasha Wasley, Cristina Merrill's five classic romantic stories that still ring true today, Melissa Albert's top fifteen male characters in Jane Austen's novels, Yiyun Li's six favorite novels, Joanna Trollope's six best books, Paula Byrne's ten best Jane Austen characters, Marjorie Kehe's list of ten perfect books for Valentine's Day gifts, Howard Jacobson's 5 favorite literary heroines and top ten novels of sexual jealousy, Elizabeth Buchan's top ten books guaranteed to give comfort during the ending of a relationship, and appears on John Mullan's list of ten of the best concerts in literature.

The Page 99 Test: Persuasion.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Beck Kubrick

From my Q&A with Beck Kubrick, author and illustrator of Dead Girls:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I like weirdly blunt, long titles like Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory or The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires but then I have this short title. I like my title, my editors did too, they called it ‘punchy’. It’s a little tongue-in-cheek and funny because…they’re not dead. I think it captures the dichotomy of the comedy/ horror well. ‘Dead’ is so blunt and it’s juxtaposed with ‘girl’, who traditionally we think of as innocent or sweet. My characters are girls, literal children, dealing with life and death (in the form of murderous furry- head wearing killers). Girlhood is a beautiful thing but it’s also a box others can try to trap you in.

It’s also worth saying that to be a dead girl, you don’t literally have to be a girl; Ernie, a thirty- something, adult man who is Ash’s surrogate uncle is totally a dead girl, it’s a state of mind.

I wanted to play with the traditional horror conventions of a ‘final girl’, so they’re not ‘final girls’, they’re something else. Ash is essentially a dead girl walking. It’s also...[read on]

Follow Beck Kubrick on Instagram.

My Book, The Movie: Dead Girls.

The Page 69 Test: Dead Girls.

Writers Read: Beck Kubrick.

Q&A with Beck Kubrick.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: David B. Williams's "In the Range of Fire and Ice"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: In the Range of Fire and Ice: A Human and Natural History of Washington’s Cascades by David B. Williams.

About the book, from the publisher:

A breathtaking journey through Washington’s Cascades--where fire, ice, wildlife, and human stories collide

• Views the Cascade Range through the lenses of wildlife, flora, geology, Indigenous history, glaciers, and more
• Celebrates inspiring conservation successes
• Illustrated with a blend of historical and modern photographs

Blending human and natural history into a vivid portrait of one of North America’s most dynamic landscapes, In the Range of Fire and Ice is a lively, groundbreaking exploration of Washington’s Cascade Range. Drawing on conversations with anthropologists, park rangers, ecologists, and climate scientists, as well as firsthand experience, award-winning author David B. Williams brings readers into the mountains to uncover stories etched in the landscape over millennia.

From traditional Indigenous huckleberry harvesting grounds and ancient footpaths to erupting volcanoes, shifting glaciers, and forgotten mining camps, In the Range of Fire and Ice reveals the Cascades as a place of both deep time and constant change. While past logging, mining, and fires left lasting scars, the Cascades also tell powerful stories of recovery and resilience--returning wolverines and wolves, the remarkable rebirth of Mount St. Helens, and growing stewardship in the face of climate change. Through rich storytelling and careful research, Williams invites readers to see the Cascades not only as mountains, but as a living, evolving realm of fire, ice, and hope.

Visit David B. Williams's website.

The Page 99 Test: Stories in Stone.

The Page 99 Test: Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound.

The Page 99 Test: In the Range of Fire and Ice.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six top mythology- and folklore-inspired horror books

Lyndsie Manusos’s fiction has appeared in PANK, SmokeLong Quarterly, and other publications. She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has worked in web production and content management. When she’s not nesting among her books and rough drafts, she’s chasing the baby while the dog watches in confused amusement. She lives with her family in a suburb of Indianapolis.

At Book Riot she tagged six of the best mythology- and folklore-inspired horror books, including:

The Winter Folk by Jen Julian

I loved Jen Julian’s eerie novel Red Rabbit Ghost, so I was eager to dive into her latest. The Winter Folk taps into gothic horror and Appalachian folklore, following Moth, who earned her name working for the Winter Folk at a mysterious lodge in the woods. As a young girl, Moth was enraptured by the lodge, named Deerhaven, but she was banished. Years later, Moth returns to the same area in which the lodge exists, seeking to find it again. Despite her haunting past and the horrors and curiosities she experienced there, she cannot shake her need to return. For those looking for horror that vibes with Alix E. Harrow’s work or T. Kingfisher, this is the book for you.

Read about another title on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue