Q&A with Catherine Con Morse

From my Q&A with Catherine Con Morse, author of The Notes:

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

The Notes is simple but evocative. It makes you wonder, What notes? Are these music notes or is someone writing a note? Maybe both?

The book takes place in the lively, high-stakes world of a prestigious performing arts boarding school, where Claire Wu is a pianist. When Dr. Li, a glamorous new piano teacher, shows up, Claire can’t help but want to become just like her. But when Claire starts receiving mysterious, handwritten notes about her teacher, she is forced to decide...[read on]

Visit Catherine Con Morse's website.

Q&A with Catherine Con Morse.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine twisted novels about theatrical performers

Jeanette Horn holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she received a Maytag Fellowship, a Teaching/Writing Fellowship, and was named a finalist for Poetry’s Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship.

Jeanette’s poetry has appeared in MARGIE, Poetry International, Stand, Washington Square, and other journals.

Horn's debut novel is Play, With Knives.

At Electric Lit the author tagged nine "novels set in the theatrical world [that] are all a little twisted in some way." One entry on the list:

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

You’ve likely heard of this speculative hit, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2014 and was recently named a “Best Book of the 21st Century” by The New York Times. The novel is about a Shakespearean theater troupe traveling the Great Lakes region 15 years after a flu pandemic decimated the world’s population and, with it, civilization. Their tour takes them to a town controlled by a dangerous prophet who they must overcome to save their lives and the lives of others. Along the way, they risk everything for art.

Read about another novel on the list.

Station Eleven is among Isabelle McConville's fifteen books for fans of the post-apocalyptic TV-drama Fallout, Joanna Quinn's six best books set in & around the theatrical world, Carolyn Quimby's 38 best dystopian novels, Tara Sonin's seven books for fans of Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, Maggie Stiefvater's five fantasy books about artists & the magic of creativity, Mark Skinner's five top literary dystopias, Claudia Gray's five essential books about plagues and pandemics, K Chess's five top fictional books inside of real books, Rebecca Kauffman's ten top musical novels, Nathan Englander’s ten favorite books, M.L. Rio’s five top novels inspired by Shakespeare, Anne Corlett's five top books with different takes on the apocalypse, Christopher Priest’s five top sci-fi books that make use of music, and Anne Charnock's five favorite books with fictitious works of art.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Clea Simon's "The Butterfly Trap"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Butterfly Trap by Clea Simon.

About the book, from the publisher:

Anya and Greg seem to be the golden couple, until dark secrets come to light and unleash inevitable devastation in this slow-burn he said/she said psychological suspense novel.

Greg has his life all planned out: become a doctor, buy a house, and have a wife and children – and when he meets Anya during his post-doc studies in Boston, all of his dreams seem to come true. It’s love at first sight, and Greg doesn’t shy away from changing his life to provide Anya, his beautiful butterfly, with everything she wants and needs.

Anya is a struggling artist, determined to make it as a painter in Boston’s art scene – but getting involved with shy and sweet Greg could thwart her lifelong ambition. Their relationship unfolds like a classic love story . . . except that Anya seems to be hiding something that unsuspecting Greg soon must face.

Are Greg and Anya truly the perfect couple, or will jealousy, uncertainty, and dangerous machinations break them apart in the most dreadful way imaginable?

Megan Abbott meets Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train mixed with some Patricia Highsmith creepiness that will make you turn the pages! A psychological suspense novel “darkly inventive and full of grit” (New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt).

Visit Clea Simon's website.

The Page 69 Test: To Conjure a Killer.

The Page 69 Test: Bad Boy Beat.

Writers Read: Clea Simon (May 2024).

Q&A with Clea Simon.

My Book, The Movie: The Butterfly Trap.

The Page 69 Test: The Butterfly Trap.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Diane Barnes reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Diane Barnes, author of The Mulligan Curse: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I’m reading an ARC of Unclaimed Baggage by Katie O’Rourke. It’s a beautifully written book about a complicated family. The story is emotional and real. The protagonist is Jenna, a college student who is a twin. When her stepfather falls ill, neither Jenna’s mom nor sister step up to help care for him so Jenna does. She leaves school and moves back home. She discovers family secrets and learns to take care of herself instead of everyone else. Jenna is a relatable character, who is easy to root for her. O’Rourke’s writing style is engaging and...[read on]

About The Mulligan Curse, from the publisher:

From the author of All We Could Still Have comes a charming tale about one woman who embraces a family curse, laying bare the dreams we give up―and the chances we take to get them back.

Mary Mulligan has two problems: her wisdom teeth…and everything else. Her only daughter is moving overseas. Her husband would rather go golfing than spend time with her. And Mary’s left to wonder why she abandoned her career ambitions when loneliness is all she has to show for it.

Plus her teeth really, really hurt.

But that’s one problem she can fix―never mind the stories that say if she gets her wisdom teeth removed, the last thirty years of her life will be erased. In fact, Mary wouldn’t mind if the Mulligan curse were actually true.

Turns out, it is.

The world around her hasn’t changed, but Mary is suddenly twenty-four again, with the life she once dreamed of still ahead of her. As she embarks on this new beginning, Mary comes to realize that those dreams aren’t nearly as important as everything she once had. If only she knew how to get it all back.

Visit Diane Barnes's website.

Q&A with Diane Barnes.

The Page 69 Test: All We Could Still Have.

My Book, The Movie: All We Could Still Have.

The Page 69 Test: The Mulligan Curse.

My Book, The Movie: The Mulligan Curse.

Writers Read: Diane Barnes.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five nonfiction books that explain modern Russia

Charles Hecker has spent forty years travelling and working in the Soviet Union and Russia. He has worked as a journalist and a geopolitical risk consultant, and has lived in Miami, Moscow and London. A fluent Russian speaker, he holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.

Hecker's new book is Zero Sum: The Arc of International Business in Russia.

At Lit Hub he tagged five nonfiction titles that explain modern Russia, with a "focus on the Soviet and Russian periods, and the seismic transition between the two." One title on the list:

Chrystia Freeland, Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of the Second Russian Revolution

Climb aboard an oligarch’s jet and float above a country whose most prized assets were sold for a song. Sit inside the room in Davos—capitalism’s highest altar—where one of the world’s greatest swindles was devised. Sup at one of Russia’s most exclusive dinner tables, where fierce business rivalries were discussed, defused and designed into spheres of influence in Russia’s emerging political and economic landscape.

Chrystia Freeland’s Sale of the Century—written when she was a Moscow-based journalistic superstar for The Financial Times—is the story of how 1990s Russia mislaid the cornerstones of a new nation. Boris Yeltsin’s failed stewardship of Russia’s transition from communism to capitalism birthed a country that epically failed its citizens, except for the equivalent of Russia’s 0.0001%.

That rarefied layer kept—and enhanced—its spoils by financing Yeltsin’s 1996 reelection campaign in exchange for the keys to the economy, and they never looked back. Until Putin came to town. Freeland, until recently deputy prime minister and finance minister of Canada, unflinchingly chronicled the free-for-all that was Russia’s early days. Experience that maniacal decade with her.

Read about another title on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Daniel J. Mallinson & A. Lee Hannah's "Green Rush"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Green Rush: The Rise of Medical Marijuana in the United States by Daniel J. Mallinson and A. Lee Hannah.

About the book, from the publisher:

A state-by-state analysis of the expansion of medical marijuana access in the United States

As of 2023, thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized the medical use of marijuana. Twenty-three have legalized recreational use, supporting what is now a flourishing multibillion-dollar industry. In Green Rush, Daniel J. Mallinson and A. Lee Hannah offer a fascinating history of cannabis legalization in America, highlighting the people, states, and policies that made these victories possible.

With sharp insight, Mallinson and Hannah explore the backdrop to this sea change in policy, including shifts in public opinion, growing opposition to the War on Drugs, the promise of new revenue streams, and more. They examine the complex web of state actors―and the steps they took―to chart a path forward for marijuana legalization, from grassroots activists and interest groups to elected officials and other key policymakers.

Mallinson and Hannah show us how states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia not only created, legitimized, and spread medical marijuana policy but also learned from each other’s successes and failures throughout the process. As marijuana legalization increasingly finds its way onto state ballots, Green Rush offers fresh insight into how we got here as a country and where we are going―one state at a time.

Learn more about Green Rush at the NYU Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Green Rush.

--Marshal Zeringue

Clea Simon's "The Butterfly Trap," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Clea Simon's The Butterfly Trap.

The entry begins:

If The Butterfly Trap is made into a movie, the main thing I’d be looking for is chemistry. On the surface, Greg and Anya are very different. He’s a science guy who ultimately decides to abandon research and go into surgery. She’s a painter, and her whole life revolves around the art world. Physically, he’s a nice-looking but somewhat beefy guy. Maybe a younger Ben Affleck, or even Chris Evans, if he put on a few pounds. Anya, on the other hand, is a stunner: a petite woman with arresting eyes. I wasn’t thinking of Anya Taylor Joy when I wrote her, but I am now.

But casting The Butterfly Trap should not about...[read on]

Visit Clea Simon's website.

The Page 69 Test: To Conjure a Killer.

The Page 69 Test: Bad Boy Beat.

Writers Read: Clea Simon (May 2024).

Q&A with Clea Simon.

My Book, The Movie: The Butterfly Trap.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six political thrillers where the good guys don’t necessarily win

Untouchable is the latest thriller from Edgar and Barry Award finalist Mike Lawson. It features Washington DC “troubleshooter” Joe DeMarco, and is the eighteenth title in the series.

At CrimeReads Lawson tagged some favorite books that share the "theme of Untouchable—that corrupt politicians, abetted by their underlings, escape conventional justice." One entry on the list:

In the Netflix series House of Cards, Kevin Spacey plays a corrupt congressman named Francis Underwood who’s willing to do anything to attain power. The television series is based on a book with the same title by another British author, Michael Dobbs. In Dobbs’ House of Cards, the corrupt politician is Francis Urquhart, whovanquishes one rival after another by leaking false stories to the press, blackmailing his colleagues, and ultimately killing a reporter who could have exposed him. I mention this book not only because it’s a good book, but because it was written in 1989, almost forty years ago. As Shakespeare said: What is past is prologue.

Read about another entry on the list.

House of Cards is among Mark Skinner's ten best British political novels, Peter Stone's twelve essential political scandal thrillers, Jeff Somers's ten best political thrillers, and Terry Stiastny’s ten top books about Westminster politics.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Edward Ashton's "The Fourth Consort"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Fourth Consort: A Novel by Edward Ashton.

About the book, from the publisher:

A new standalone sci-fi novel from Edward Ashton, author of Mickey7 (the inspiration for the major motion picture Mickey 17).

Dalton Greaves is a hero. He’s one of humankind’s first representatives to Unity, a pan-species confederation working to bring all sentient life into a single benevolent brotherhood.

That’s what they told him, anyway. The only actual members of Unity that he’s ever met are Boreau, a giant snail who seems more interested in plunder than spreading love and harmony, and Boreau’s human sidekick, Neera, who Dalton strongly suspects roped him into this gig so that she wouldn’t become the next one of Boreau’s crew to get eaten by locals while prospecting.

Funny thing, though―turns out there actually is a benevolent confederation out there, working for the good of all life. They call themselves the Assembly, and they really don’t like Unity. More to the point, they really, really don’t like Unity’s new human minions.

When an encounter between Boreau’s scout ship and an Assembly cruiser over a newly discovered world ends badly for both parties, Dalton finds himself marooned, caught between a stickman, one of the Assembly’s nightmarish shock troops, the planet’s natives, who aren’t winning any congeniality prizes themselves, and Neera, who might actually be the most dangerous of the three. To survive, he’ll need to navigate palace intrigue, alien morality, and a proposal that he literally cannot refuse, all while making sure Neera doesn’t come to the conclusion that he’s worth more to her dead than alive.

Part first contact story, part dark comedy, and part bizarre love triangle, The Fourth Consort asks an important question: how far would you go to survive? And more importantly, how many drinks would you need to go there?

Visit Edward Ashton's website.

The Page 69 Test: Mickey7.

Q&A with Edward Ashton.

The Page 69 Test: Antimatter Blues.

Writers Read: Edward Ashton (March 2023).

The Page 69 Test: Mal Goes to War.

Writers Read: Edward Ashton (April 2024).

The Page 69 Test: The Fourth Consort.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Jeff Macfee

Jeff Macfee is the author of the superhero noir Nine Tenths.

His latest crime novel is The Contest.

From my Q&A with the author:

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

The Contest wasn’t the first title I landed on, although it’s the title I’m happiest with. In earliest forms the book was called Wonka Crime, a handy shorthand given the concept of a widely known event run by an eccentric character. However that title, aside from legal problems, didn’t speak much to the protagonist. I considered Gillian Charles, but Gillian evolves throughout the book and is somewhat of a moving target. The Contest was the only title that spoke to me on multiple levels. It refers to both a literal contest and also the sense of competition within Gillian. The idea of Gillian competing against herself...[read on]

Visit Jeff Macfee's website.

Q&A with Jeff Macfee.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles that use the supernatural to focus on reality

Erin Crosby Eckstine is an author of speculative historical fiction, personal essays, and anything else she’s in the mood for. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, she grew up between the South and Los Angeles before moving to New York City to attend Barnard College. She earned a master’s in secondary English education from Stanford University and taught high school English for six years. Eckstine lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their cats. Junie is her debut novel.

At Electric Lit "seven works of speculative fiction [that] are a few of my favorite examples of the genre’s limitless possibilities to examine power, race, and oppression." One title on the list:

Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson

This queer coming-of-age tale set in the heart of evangelical Alabama focuses on Max, a German immigrant with the ability to resurrect the dead. Hudson uses a Perks of Being a Wallflower-esque narrative to slice into the dark underbelly of Southern culture, from the cult-like football obsession to the charismatic politician/pastor known only as The Judge. The novel uses all the elements of Southern Gothic to great effect to explore identity, religion, queerness, and masculinity, all building to a compelling commentary on power and violence in religious communities.

Read about another entry on Eckstine's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Nicholas D. Anderson's "Inadvertent Expansion"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Inadvertent Expansion: How Peripheral Agents Shape World Politics by Nicholas D. Anderson.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Inadvertent Expansion, Nicholas D. Anderson investigates a surprisingly common yet overlooked phenomenon in the history of great power politics: territorial expansion that was neither intended nor initially authorized by state leaders.

Territorial expansion is typically understood as a centrally driven and often strategic activity. But as Anderson shows, nearly a quarter of great power coercive territorial acquisitions since the nineteenth century have in fact been instances of what he calls "inadvertent expansion." A two-step process, inadvertent expansion first involves agents on the periphery of a state or empire acquiring territory without the authorization or knowledge of higher-ups. Leaders in the capital must then decide whether to accept or reject the already-acquired territory.

Through cases ranging from those of the United States in Florida and Texas to Japan in Manchuria and Germany in East Africa, Anderson shows that inadvertent expansion is rooted in a principal-agent problem. When leaders in the capital fail to exert or have limited control over their agents on the periphery, unauthorized efforts to take territory are more likely to occur. Yet it is only when the geopolitical risks associated with keeping the acquired territory are perceived to be low that leaders are more likely to accept such expansion.

Accentuating the influence of small, seemingly insignificant actors over the foreign policy behavior of powerful states, Inadvertent Expansion offers new insights into how the boundaries of states and empires came to be and captures timeless dynamics between state leaders and their peripheral agents.

Learn more about Inadvertent Expansion at the Cornell University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Inadvertent Expansion.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top books that take you places

Originally from Ballarat, Australia, Tobias Madden now resides in New York City with his husband, Daniel, and their Cavoodle, Ollie. Madden worked for ten years as a performer, touring Australia and New Zealand with musicals such as Mary Poppins, CATS, and Guys and Dolls. In 2019, he edited and published the Underdog anthology and co-wrote the cabaret show Siblingship. Madden’s debut novel, Anything But Fine, was published in 2021, and was awarded the Australian Association of Family Therapy’s Book Award for Older Readers, was shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year for Older Readers, was named one of Better Reading’s Top 50 Kids Books (2022), and was included on Bank Street College of Education’s list of Best Children’s Books of the Year (US, 2023). His second novel, Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell, was published in 2022 in Australia and 2023 in the US.

Madden's third YA novel, Wrong Answers Only, is out now in Australia and the US!

At The Nerd Daily the author tagged "seven books that will take you to extraordinary places," including:

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

If you like the sound of marble statues but you’d like a little more star-crossed gay romance thrown in, why not head back to Greece and spend some time with our dear friends Achilles and Patroclus? This book will make you feel like you’re sipping wine and breaking bread with the Grecian armies as they lay siege to Troy. Oh, and you’ll be crying the whole time. I should probably mention that…

Read about another entry on the list.

The Song of Achilles is among Costa B. Pappas's eleven books that are contemporary retellings of classic titles, Bethanne Patrick's twenty-five best historical fiction books of all time, Mark Skinner's nineteen top Greek myth retellings, Alexia Casale's top eight titles sparked by the authors' work life, Allison Epstein's eight queer historical fiction books set around the world, Phong Nguyen's seven titles that live halfway between history & myth, The Center for Fiction's 200 books that shaped two centuries of literature, Sara Stewart's six best books and Nicole Hill's fourteen characters who should have lived.

My Book, The Movie: The Song of Achilles.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Barbara Nickless's "The Drowning Game"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Drowning Game by Barbara Nickless.

About the book, from the publisher:

A woman’s investigation into her sister’s death exposes the dark side of a secret life in a gripping novel of power, money, and murder by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

Sisters Nadia and Cass Brenner are heirs to Ocean House, a decades-old empire that builds superyachts for the rich and powerful: emirs, oligarchs, and titans of industry throughout America and Europe. They’re a next-generation success with the design of their soon-to-be-commissioned megayacht for a Chinese billionaire. But the sisters’ entrée into the coveted Asian market is tragically cut short when Cass falls from a fortieth-floor hotel balcony.

A Singapore detective rules suicide. Nadia’s been in the yacht business too long not to be suspicious. Especially when she discovers Cass’s involvement in dangerously illicit activities. Pulled into the same web of betrayal, lies, and secrets that trapped her sister, Nadia is on the most perilous mission of her life. Because uncovering the truth behind her sister’s death could tear the Brenner family apart―and it just might get her killed.

From Seattle to Austria to the South China Sea, Nadia must hold on to the one thing that can keep her safe. It’s the Brenner family motto: Trust no one.

Visit Barbara Nickless's website.

The Page 69 Test: At First Light.

Q&A with Barbara Nickless.

The Page 69 Test: Play of Shadows.

Writers Read: Barbara Nickless.

The Page 69 Test: The Drowning Game.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven memoirs showing the many sides of Cuba

Rebe Huntman is a memoirist, essayist, dancer, teacher and poet. For over a decade she was head of the award-winning Danza Viva Center for World Dance, Art & Music and its dance company, One World Dance Theater. Rebe collaborates with native artists in Cuba and South America, has been featured in Latina Magazine, Chicago Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune and on Fox and ABC News. The recipient of an Ohio Individual Excellence award, Huntman has received support for this book from the Ohio State University, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Ragdale Foundation, Playa, Hambidge Center, and Brush Creek Foundation. She lives in Delaware, Ohio and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Huntman's new book is My Mother in Havana: A Memoir of Magic & Miracle.

At Lit Hub the author tagged "seven richly-rendered memoirs, ... each offers up its own distinct lens on the people and stories that make up the dynamic and ever-changing landscape that is Cuba." One title on the list:

Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History, Cuba: An American History tells the sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the U.S., from before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the death of Fidel Castro and beyond. While technically not a traditional memoir, I include this book because it provides such a comprehensive history of the island and because the author’s intent in writing it is so deeply personal.

Born in Havana between the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Ferrer spent decades reconstructing the island’s past, and her own. Or as she writes: “I began translating Cuba for Americans and the United States for Cubans. Then I used all that to see myself, my family, and my own home—the United States—with different eyes.”

Read about another book on Huntman's list.

The Page 99 Test: Cuba: An American History.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Clea Simon

From my Q&A with Clea Simon, author of The Butterfly Trap:

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

That’s a two-part question for me, in part because my title has two parts. Originally, and for most of its existence, this book was called The Blue Butterfly, which I thought was both descriptive of the way my male protagonist sees my female protagonist and also refers to a mounted butterfly, a Morpho menelaus, that comes into play. But my publisher changed it to The Butterfly Trap, which has less direct relevance to the plot but does evoke suspense more.

What's in a name?

For me, the names Greg and Anya set up the characters. Greg is...[read on]

Visit Clea Simon's website.

The Page 69 Test: To Conjure a Killer.

The Page 69 Test: Bad Boy Beat.

Writers Read: Clea Simon (May 2024).

Q&A with Clea Simon.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine of the best art world mysteries

Patrice McDonough is a former educator who taught history for more than three decades. A member of the Historical Writers of America, the Mystery Writers of America, and the Historical Novel Society, she splits her time between New Jersey and the Florida Gulf Coast.

McDonough's new novel, A Slash of Emerald, is her second Dr. Julia Lewis mystery.

At CrimeReads the author tagged nine titles featuring "dastardly deeds in rarified settings." One title on the list:

Art Finkel, The Art Thief

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel is a terrific true crime story that reads like a novel. Stéphane Breitwieser and Anne-Catherine Kleinklauss, a pair of twenty-something lovers, stole 239 artworks from European castles, museums, and galleries. That’s about one theft every two weeks in a streak that stretched from 1994 to 2001. The accumulated hoard totaled an estimated two billion dollars.

Their technique was surprisingly simple. To look the part of well-heeled art lovers, they sourced designer clothing from second-hand shops. The thieves preyed on small collections with unsophisticated security. Often, Breitweiser simply reached into a case and tucked a treasure into his pocket or waistband. The reader knows that the Bonnie and Clyde of fine art thievery are nabbed in the end. The mystery Finkel unpacks is motivation. The French thieves hadn’t a centime between them, yet they never sold a single piece.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: N. Katherine Hayles's "Bacteria to AI"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Bacteria to AI: Human Futures with our Nonhuman Symbionts by N. Katherine Hayles.

About the book, from the publisher:

A new theory of mind that includes nonhuman and artificial intelligences.

The much-lauded superiority of human intelligence has not prevented us from driving the planet into ecological disaster. For N. Katherine Hayles, the climate crisis demands that we rethink basic assumptions about human and nonhuman intelligences. In Bacteria to AI, Hayles develops a new theory of mind—what she calls an integrated cognitive framework (ICF)—that includes the meaning-making practices of lifeforms from bacteria to plants, animals, humans, and some forms of artificial intelligence. Through a sweeping survey of evolutionary biology, computer science, and contemporary literature, Hayles insists that another way of life, with ICF at its core, is not only possible but necessary to safeguard our planet’s future

Learn more about Bacteria to AI at the University of Chicago Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Bacteria to AI.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Alison Gaylin's "We Are Watching"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: We Are Watching: A Novel by Alison Gaylin.

About the book, from the publisher:

From USA Today bestselling and Edgar and Shamus Award–winning author Alison Gaylin comes a slick, riveting, and all-too-plausible tale of psychological suspense where a mother is desperate to protect her family as they become targets of a group of violent conspiracy theorists.

Sometimes the world is out to get you.

Meg Russo was behind the wheel when it happened. She and her husband Justin were driving their daughter Lily to Ithaca College, the family celebrating the eighteen-year-old music prodigy’s future. Then a car swerved up beside them, the young men inside it behaving bizarrely—and Meg lost control of her own vehicle. The family road trip turned into a tragedy. Justin didn’t survive the accident.

Four months later, Meg works to distract herself from her grief and guilt, reopening her small local bookstore. But soon after she returns to work, bizarre messages and visitors begin to arrive, with strangers threatening Meg and Lily in increasingly terrifying ways. They are obsessed with a young adult novel titled The Prophesy, which was published thirty years earlier. An online group of believers are convinced that it heralds the apocalypse, and social media posts link the book—and Meg’s reclusive musician father—to Satanism. These conspiracy theorists vow to seek revenge on The Prophesy’s author...Meg.

As the threats turn violent, Meg begins to suspect that Justin’s death may not have been an accident. To find answers and save her daughter, her father, and herself, Meg must get to the root of these dangerous lies—and find a way to face the believers head-on … before it’s too late.

Learn more about the book and author at Alison Gaylin's website.

The Page 69 Test: Into the Dark.

The Page 69 Test: What Remains of Me.

The Page 69 Test: If I Die Tonight.

The Page 69 Test: The Collective.

The Page 69 Test: We Are Watching.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Barbara Nickless reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Barbara Nickless, author of The Drowning Game.

Her entry begins:

The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry. This debut novel exploded onto the literary world, quickly scooping up acknowledgements as diverse as Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award and a New Yorker Best Book of the Year. The prose leaps off the page, but it’s in world-weary CIA spy Shane Collins that we find the dark heart of any honest book on spydom: spying takes a terrible toll on its practitioners. Collins has become an alcoholic burnout just as the monarchy of Bahrain (an island country in the Persian Gulf) is under attack by Iran through their proxies (sound familiar?). Berry has real-world experience of Bahrain and the CIA, and...[read on]

About The Drowning Game, from the publisher:

A woman’s investigation into her sister’s death exposes the dark side of a secret life in a gripping novel of power, money, and murder by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

Sisters Nadia and Cass Brenner are heirs to Ocean House, a decades-old empire that builds superyachts for the rich and powerful: emirs, oligarchs, and titans of industry throughout America and Europe. They’re a next-generation success with the design of their soon-to-be-commissioned megayacht for a Chinese billionaire. But the sisters’ entrée into the coveted Asian market is tragically cut short when Cass falls from a fortieth-floor hotel balcony.

A Singapore detective rules suicide. Nadia’s been in the yacht business too long not to be suspicious. Especially when she discovers Cass’s involvement in dangerously illicit activities. Pulled into the same web of betrayal, lies, and secrets that trapped her sister, Nadia is on the most perilous mission of her life. Because uncovering the truth behind her sister’s death could tear the Brenner family apart―and it just might get her killed.

From Seattle to Austria to the South China Sea, Nadia must hold on to the one thing that can keep her safe. It’s the Brenner family motto: Trust no one.

Visit Barbara Nickless's website.

The Page 69 Test: At First Light.

Q&A with Barbara Nickless.

The Page 69 Test: Play of Shadows.

Writers Read: Barbara Nickless.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine books that take you inside the entertainment industry

Daniel D’Addario is chief correspondent at Variety. He has won awards from the Los Angeles Press Club for profile writing and for political commentary and is among the moderators of Variety’s Actors on Actors video series. He was previously the television critic for Variety and for Time. A graduate of Columbia University, he lives with his husband and two daughters in Brooklyn.

D’Addario's new novel is The Talent.

At Electric Lit he tagged nine books that shed "light on what kind of temperament it takes to make art, and what pressures artists face as they try to express something genuine." One title on the list:

Inside Out by Demi Moore

Moore’s memoir is likely the most accomplished in a while — thanks in part to New Yorker writer Ariel Levy’s work on the manuscript, but also to Moore’s willingness to dive deep into her work and life and reflect on what it all meant. For much of her career, Moore was treated more as object than as artist (a state of affairs that has happily concluded with the release of The Substance, a film that makes explicit comment on the way our culture chews up actresses). After walking away from the spotlight, Moore found herself the subject of tabloid scrutiny once again during her marriage to and divorce from Ashton Kutcher. Her reflections on the experience, on the trauma and addiction that haunted her early career, and on what movie stardom meant to her make for a moving, haunting read.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Diane Barnes's "The Mulligan Curse," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Mulligan Curse: A Novel by Diane Barnes.

The entry begins:

My novel, The Mulligan Curse, is a story about regrets. The main character, Mary, is 54 years old and having a delayed mid-life crisis. She regrets a decision she made when she was 24 to pass up a promotion and eventually give up her dream job as a television newscaster/reporter. She wishes she could be 24 again and take the promotion. Then because of a “magical” family gene, her wish comes true, and she wakes up as her 24-year-old self. However, the story isn’t a time travel book. Instead, the last 30 years of Mary’s life are erased so she has the opportunity to see what happens to her friends and family without her. Some early readers have said the story is a modern day take on It’s a Wonderful Life.

Of course, I always dream about my novels getting turned into a movie, and if The Mulligan Curse were a movie, Olivia Wilde would be a good young Mary. I was actually thinking of her from her days in House when I wrote twentyish Mary. I did research for The Mulligan Curse at a CBS affiliate, and there was a poster of Norah O’Donnell. So, I was thinking of her when I wrote the older Mary scenes, but I think Jennifer Connelly would certainly pull off the part.

Mary’s husband Dean is an affable, sporty guy. He’s...[read on]

Visit Diane Barnes's website.

Q&A with Diane Barnes.

The Page 69 Test: All We Could Still Have.

My Book, The Movie: All We Could Still Have.

The Page 69 Test: The Mulligan Curse.

My Book, The Movie: The Mulligan Curse.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five stellar SFF books set in winter climates

At Book Riot Liberty Hardy tagged five stellar sci-fi and fantasy books set in winter climates, including:

The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge

This Hugo- and Locus Award-winning novel from 1981 involves intergalactic politics and the Snow Queen. The planet Tiamat has been under the thumb of the Winter colonists for over a century, but a new season is on the horizon. The planet will soon be cut off with the closure of a stargate, and will switch to 150 years of rule by the Summer primitives. But not if the Snow Queen has anything to say about it. She will have to fight her nemesis, Moon, from the Summer tribe, if she wants to keep hold over Tiamat. Which is something that she is willing to do anything to make happen.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Keith Richotte Jr.'s "The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution by Keith Richotte Jr.

About the book, from the publisher:

When did the federal government's self-appointed, essentially limitless authority over Native America become constitutional?

The story they have chosen to tell is wrong. It is time to tell a better story. Thus begins Keith Richotte's playful, unconventional look at Native American and Supreme Court history. At the center of his account is the mystery of a massive federal authority called plenary power.

When the Supreme Court first embraced plenary power in the 1880s it did not bother to seek any legal justification for the decision – it was simply rooted in racist ideas about tribal nations. By the 21st century, however, the Supreme Court was telling a different story, with opinions crediting the U.S. Constitution as the explicit source of federal plenary power.

So, when did the Supreme Court change its story? Just as importantly, why did it change its story? And what does this change mean for Native America, the Supreme Court, and the rule of law? In a unique twist on legal and Native history, Richotte uses the genre of trickster stories to uncover the answers to these questions and offer an alternative understanding.

The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told provides an irreverent, entertaining synthesis of Native American legal history across more than 100 years, reflecting on race, power, and sovereignty along the way. By embracing the subtle, winking wisdom of trickster stories, and centering the Indigenous perspective, Richotte opens up new avenues for understanding this history. We are able, then, to imagine a future that is more just, equitable, and that better fulfills the text and the spirit of the Constitution.

Learn more about The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told at the Stanford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Allison Epstein's "Fagin the Thief"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Fagin the Thief: A Novel by Allison Epstein.

About the book, from the publisher:

A thrilling reimagining of the world of Charles Dickens, as seen through the eyes of the infamous Jacob Fagin, London’s most gifted pickpocket, liar, and rogue.

Long before Oliver Twist stumbled onto the scene, Jacob Fagin was scratching out a life for himself in the dark alleys of nineteenth-century London. Born in the Jewish enclave of Stepney shortly after his father was executed as a thief, Jacob's whole world is his open-minded mother, Leah. But Jacob’s prospects are forever altered when a light-fingered pickpocket takes Jacob under his wing and teaches him a trade that pays far better than the neighborhood boys could possibly dream.

Striking out on his own, Jacob familiarizes himself with London's highest value neighborhoods while forging his own path in the shadows. But everything changes when he adopts an aspiring teenage thief named Bill Sikes, whose mercurial temper poses a danger to himself and anyone foolish enough to cross him. Along the way, Jacob’s found family expands to include his closest friend, Nancy, and his greatest protégé, the Artful Dodger. But as Bill’s ambition soars and a major robbery goes awry, Jacob is forced to decide what he really stands for—and what a life is worth.

Colorfully written and wickedly funny, Allison Epstein breathes fresh life into the teeming streets of Dickensian London--reclaiming one of Victorian literature’s most notorious villains in an unforgettable new adventure.

Visit Allison Epstein's website.

My Book, The Movie: A Tip for the Hangman.

The Page 69 Test: A Tip for the Hangman.

Q&A with Allison Epstein.

My Book, The Movie: Let the Dead Bury the Dead.

The Page 69 Test: Let the Dead Bury the Dead.

Writers Read: Allison Epstein (October 2023).

Writers Read: Allison Epstein.

The Page 69 Test: Fagin the Thief.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Camille Di Maio

From my Q&A with Camille Di Maio, author of Come Fly with Me: A Novel:

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

Come Fly With Me is one of the rare books where I had the title before starting the book. And it ended up being ideal because it evokes several things that are a part of the story. The title, inspired by the famed Frank Sinatra song, sets us in that jet-set era. And the notion of flying not only touches on the travel themes of the book, but also the interior journey of the two main characters: each are escaping something in their lives and flying off to new opportunities with Pan American Airlines.

What's in a name?

When I chose names for my characters in historical fiction, I start by...[read on]

Visit Camille Di Maio's website.

Q&A with Camille Di Maio.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thirteen of the best books about breakups

At Marie Claire Liz Doupnik tagged "some of the best books about breakups ... for whatever stage of relationship recovery you’re in." One title on the list:

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

An excellent depiction of the impact of mental health on relationships, Sorrow and Bliss blends comedy with heart-wrenching scenes about mental illness that will stick with you long after you’ve finished the novel. Martha, once a writer with a bright future, has come up short in life. Though if you asked her, she couldn’t begin to tell you when or how everything went sideways. On paper, she has (or had) it all. For one, there’s her husband Patrick, who she’s loved since she was a girl, a loyal sister, and an aunt who fiercely supports her. Somehow, she’s ruined everything.

It may be due to the random mood swings that can override everything else, causing her to push away everyone she loves, cannibalize her career, and mirror the chaos she experienced in childhood. To understand her outbursts, Martha revisits key moments of her upbringing to understand and address her behavior, hopefully before it’s too late. This book has a host of trigger warnings, from alcohol abuse to mental health issues, so be sure to give it a quick skim before diving in if you’re unsure if it’s right for you.

Read about another title on the list.

Sorrow and Bliss is among Justine Sullivan's ten top novels with heroines who are hot messes, Claire Alexander's five books to read when you’re lonely, Jane Shemilt's five books tracing the portrayal of mental disorders in literature, and Alyssa Vaughn's [February 2021] 42 books to help you get through the rest of quarantine.

The Page 69 Test: Sorrow and Bliss.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Lisa Black's "Not Who We Expected"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Not Who We Expected by Lisa Black.

About the book, from the publisher:

With a duo of complex female protagonists, breakneck plotting, and authenticity informed by her career as a crime scene analyst, New York Times bestselling author Lisa Black’s Locard Institute Thrillers land her in the same league as Tess Gerritsen, Patricia Cornwell, and Kathy Reichs.

Now forensic experts Ellie Carr and Rachael Davies are pulled into solving a deadly mystery unfolding in the shadow of a celebrated rock star.

The two crime experts are enlisted by legendary rock star Billy Diamond to find his missing daughter. A level-headed student at Yale, Devon left six months earlier with her boyfriend, Carlos, for a career development retreat in Nevada. Her calls and notes became less frequent until they stopped. Billy wanted to give his daughter space—but after learning Carlos’ body was found a few miles upstream from the ranch, he needs answers.

Rachael and Ellie hatch a plan—as Ellie goes undercover, Rachael will work with Billy to find out about Devon. But Rachael has a second agenda, to find out why Billy seems so familiar with her late sister Isis, whose little boy Rachael is raising. The music idol is hiding something, but what?

The southwest ranch is full of surprises. Devon is not only alive but thriving, and no one mentions Carlos. The attendees follow their leader, Galen, with slavish devotion, and their daily mind-body exercises stretch from brain-numbing to downright treacherous. If Galen is behind some nefarious scheme, how does it relate to the rock star and his daughter?

To answer those questions, Rachael will also have to ask: Who was her sister Isis, really? The answers will draw Ellie and Rachael deeper into danger. In Billy’s world and in Galen’s, the living, the missing, and the dead all have secrets.

Visit Lisa Black's website.

The Page 69 Test: That Darkness.

My Book, The Movie: Unpunished.

The Page 69 Test: Unpunished.

My Book, The Movie: Perish.

The Page 69 Test: Perish.

The Page 69 Test: Suffer the Children.

Writers Read: Lisa Black (July 2020).

The Page 69 Test: Every Kind of Wicked.

Q&A with Lisa Black.

My Book, The Movie: What Harms You.

The Page 69 Test: What Harms You.

My Book, The Movie: The Deepest Kill.

My Book, The Movie: Not Who We Expected.

The Page 69 Test: Not Who We Expected.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books about a prophecy that changes everything

Olufunke Grace Bankole is a Nigerian American writer and novelist. A graduate of Harvard Law School, and a recipient of a Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship, her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Ploughshares, Glimmer Train Stories, AGNI, Michigan Quarterly Review, New Letters, The Antioch Review, Stand Magazine (UK), Writer's Digest, Portland Monthly Magazine, and elsewhere.

She won the first-place prize in the Glimmer Train Short-Story Award for New Writers, and was the Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Scholar in Fiction at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She has been awarded an Oregon Literary Fellowship in Fiction, a Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation grant, a residency-fellowship from the Anderson Center at Tower View, and has received a Pushcart Special Mention for her writing.

Bankole's debut novel, The Edge of Water, set between Nigeria and New Orleans, is the story of Amina, a young woman, who dreams of life in America, as the collision of traditional prophecy and individual longing tests the bonds of a family during a devastating storm.

At Electric Lit the author tagged seven "works of fiction in which a life-altering prophecy is featured." One title on the list:

The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen

Set in nineteenth-century Sweden, this lush historical novel–about the destructive consequences of settlers’ encroachment on the indigenous Sámi people of the Sápmi region–begins with prophetic dreaming. Reminiscent of a central theme in The Edge of Water, the book opens with the night-before dream of one of its characters, Lars Levi–a Lutheran minister. Attributing it to his family line, his standing as a vessel of God, and his home in the gray Scandinavian tundra, he believes in the power of dreams to foretell. On the morning that prominent reindeer herder and Sámi leader, Biettar Rasti, unexpectedly walks into church during Sunday service and kneels at the altar shaking, Lars Levi recalls an unsettling but forgotten dream from the previous night–perhaps it had been a portent for stubborn Biettar’s unlikely religious awakening. From this very incident–Biettar’s conversion–the families of the two men become inextricably joined in ways that have transformative, damaging consequences for all.

Read about another book on Bankole's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Brittany Friedman's "Carceral Apartheid"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Carceral Apartheid: How Lies and White Supremacists Run Our Prisons by Brittany Friedman.

About the book, from the publisher:

It is impossible to deny the impact of lies and white supremacy on the institutional conditions in US prisons. There is a particular power dynamic of racist intent in the prison system that culminates in what Brittany Friedman terms carceral apartheid. Prisons are a microcosm of how carceral apartheid operates as a larger governing strategy to decimate political targets and foster deceit, disinformation, and division in society.

Among many shocking discoveries, Friedman shows that, beginning in the 1950s, California prison officials declared war on imprisoned Black people and sought to identify Black militants as a key problem, creating a strategy for the management, segregation, and elimination of these individuals from the prison population that continues into the present day. Carceral Apartheid delves into how the California Department of Corrections deployed various official, clandestine, and at times extralegal control techniques―including officer alliances with imprisoned white supremacists―to suppress Black political movements, revealing the broader themes of deception, empire, corruption, and white supremacy in American mass incarceration. Drawing from original interviews with founders of Black political movements such as the Black Guerilla Family, white supremacists, and a swath of little-known archival data, Friedman uncovers how the US domestic war against imprisoned Black people models and perpetuates genocide, imprisonment, and torture abroad.

Visit Brittany Friedman's website.

The Page 99 Test: Carceral Apartheid.

--Marshal Zeringue