Q&A with Victoria Redel

From my Q&A with Victoria Redel, author of I Am You:

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

My hope is that before reading the novel the title I Am You provokes a question in the reader-- What does this mean? Or maybe even a response of-- No way, you're not me! But when you start reading the novel, what the title means keeps slightly altering as the relationship of the two central characters, Maria and Gerta, shifts. And when you come to the end, the title hopefully feels quite layered and rich.

What's in a name?

In I Am You though the story is invented, the central characters are based on...[read on]

Visit Victoria Redel's website.

The Page 69 Test: Before Everything.

The Page 69 Test: I Am You.

Q&A with Victoria Redel.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top crime novels led by female protagonists

Anders de la Motte, a former police officer, made his debut in 2010 with the award-winning thriller Game and has since then been one of Sweden’s most beloved and popular crime writers. He is the author of several acclaimed and bestselling crime fiction series, among them the suspenseful Skåne Quartet.

De la Motte's new novel is The Glass Man, the second title in the Leonore Asker series.

At People magazine the author tagged ten favorite crime titles starring strong female characters, including:

The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

The Rizzoli and Isles series offers not one, but two strong female protagonists with different skills, talents and challenges, all set in a classic police procedural setting.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Surgeon is among Jack Jordan's five top medical thrillers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Peter Fritzsche's "1942"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: 1942: When World War II Engulfed the Globe by Peter Fritzsche.

About the book, from the publisher:

A penetrating history of the year World War II became a global conflict and humankind confronted both destruction and deliverance on a planetary scale, “offering an intriguing perspective on a world at war” (Richard Overy, New York Times–bestselling author of Blood and Ruins)

By the end of the Second World War, more than seventy million people across the globe had been killed, most of them civilians. Cities from Warsaw to Tokyo lay in ruins, and fully half of the world’s two billion people had been mobilized, enslaved, or displaced.

In 1942, historian Peter Fritzsche offers a gripping, ground-level portrait of the decisive year when World War II escalated to global catastrophe. With the United States joining the fight following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, all the world’s great powers were at war. The debris of ships sunk by Nazi submarines littered US beaches, Germans marauded in North Africa, and the Japanese swept through the Pacific. Military battles from Singapore to Stalingrad riveted the world. But so, too, did dramas on the war’s home fronts: battles against colonial overlords, assaults on internal “enemies,” massive labor migrations, endless columns of refugees.

With an eye for detail and an eye on the big story, Fritzsche takes us from shipyards on San Francisco Bay to townships in Johannesburg to street corners in Calcutta to reveal the moral and existential drama of a people’s war filled with promise and terror.

Learn more about 1942 at the Basic Books website.

The Page 99 Test: Hitler's First Hundred Days.

The Page 99 Test: 1942.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Kathleen S. Allen's "The Resurrectionist"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Resurrectionist: A Tale of Gothic Horror by Kathleen S. Allen.

About the book, from the publisher:

A young Victorian woman unwittingly unleashes a monster into being in this gothic tale of medical mystery and sinister suspense, perfect for fans of DON'T LET THE FOREST IN and BELLADONNA.

Death is just the beginning.

When seventeen-year-old Dilly Rothbart finds her recently deceased father's hidden journal, her entire world is upended—for what she finds within are the steps to bring a dead soul back to life.

Intent on finishing her father's work and establishing herself as the greatest scientist in history, Dilly plunges into a medical underworld of corpse-stealing, grave-robbing, and even murder. And when her twin sister steps in the way of her studies, she'll do whatever is necessary to secure the recognition she deserves.

This twisty, atmospheric, Frankensteinian tale is about a group of ambitious young scientists who descend into corruption when a breakthrough discovery grants them the power of gods.

Visit Kathleen S. Allen's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Resurrectionist.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Suzanne Redfearn reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn, author of Call of the Camino: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I have read some amazing books lately. My favorite was a surprise since I don’t normally read fantasy novels. But The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune was my book club’s selection a couple of months ago, and it was incredibly moving and thought provoking. I have the sequel, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, downloaded, and I can’t wait to rejoin the amazing cast of characters from the first novel.

The second story that I absolutely tore through is from one of my favorite...[read on]

About Call of the Camino, from the publisher:

From the bestselling author of In an Instant comes a deeply moving novel following the transformative journeys of two women walking entwined paths on a legendary route across Europe a generation apart.

Reina Watkins lost her father when she was eight. Seventeen years later, she still carries that grief. When her budding journalism career takes an unexpected turn, it leads her to the ancient five-hundred-mile Camino de Santiago in Spain. Now she finds herself embarking on the same pilgrimage that her father made at her age, unaware of how profoundly it will change her.

Back in 1997, Isabelle Vidal is a teenager on the run. Fleeing from her boarding school, she heads straight for the Way of Saint James. She’s heard the Camino will provide. And so it does, in the form of a handsome young American and the promise of a new life. But it could all fall apart if her troubles catch up with her.

One woman is coming to grips with her past; the other is grasping for her future. But as each treads the same hallowed trail, it will knot their destinies together in a most miraculous way.

Visit Suzanne Redfearn's website, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Coffee with a Canine: Suzanne Redfearn and Cooper.

My Book, The Movie: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: No Ordinary Life.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2016).

My Book, The Movie: No Ordinary Life.

My Book, The Movie: In an Instant.

The Page 69 Test: In an Instant.

Q&A with Suzanne Redfearn.

My Book, The Movie: Hadley and Grace.

The Page 69 Test: Hadley & Grace.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (March 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Moment in Time.

My Book, The Movie: Moment in Time.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2024).

Writers Read: S. E. Redfearn (October 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Two Good Men.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten books in translation that celebrate Ukraine

Nelly Klos the program director of Lviv BookForum. Klos is known as an expert in international cooperation and creative management of cultural initiatives. She has coordinated numerous cultural events, including the organization of literary festivals and intercultural art projects across Europe. Her portfolio includes national campaigns to promote children's reading and innovative multimedia projects using augmented reality, implemented with the support of international cultural institutions.

At Lit Hub she tagged "ten important books that will help you understand Ukraine—and why this country stands and will stand." One title on the list:

The Torture Camp on Paradise Street, Stanislav Aseyev (translated by Zenia Tompkins and Nina Murray)

Longlisted for the 2024 PEN America Translation Prize. This memoir of Ukrainian journalist and writer Stanislav Aseyev recounts his experience as a prisoner from 2015 to 2017 in a modern-day concentration camp overseen by the Federal Security Bureau of the Russian Federation (FSB) in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk. Rendered deftly into English, Aseyev’s compelling account offers a critical insight into the operations of Russian forces in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Sarah Conly's "The Limits of Liberty"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Limits of Liberty by Sarah Conly.

About the book, from the publisher:

When does liberty matter? It is often thought that personal liberty is always valuable and that it has a unique intrinsic value. In The Limits of Liberty, philosopher Sarah Conly argues that it is much less valuable than traditionally believed. Conly posits that liberty only has value for its consequences-liberties that bring good things have value, but liberties that bring bad consequences have no value. This means that in many cases where liberty has been valued, we are mistaken. Restrictions on certain liberties are more acceptable than commonly thought.

The Limits of Liberty lays the groundwork for this argument, then delves into controversial policy revisions across various areas. In medical ethics, Conly proposes that patient autonomy should be respected less than it currently is, highlighting instances of people being vaccinated against their will. In environmental ethics, the problem of incremental harms is discussed- particularly when each person contributes a small amount to an overall harm and thus feels no responsibility. The argument is made that each person is morally responsible for environmentally harmful actions, and that there is a duty, enforceable by the government if necessary, to eat less meat and have fewer children.

When it comes to the ethics of personal expression, Conly argues for more restrictions on speech. Specifically, that there should be greater legal liability for internet speech than currently exists. In the realm of religion, a case can be made against religious accommodation, the policy of making exceptions to laws for people whose religion is contrary to the law. Ultimately, The Limits of Liberty offers novel policy recommendations in medical ethics, environmental ethics, freedom of speech policy, and freedom of religion, challenging traditional views on the value of personal liberty.

Learn more about The Limits of Liberty at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Against Autonomy.

Writers Read: Sarah Conly (December 2012).

The Page 99 Test: The Limits of Liberty.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tony Wirt's "Silent Creek," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Silent Creek by Tony Wirt.

The entry begins:

Jim McCann was a high school basketball star destined for the NBA. Then an injury shattered his knee and his dreams. Disillusioned, he cut ties with his stifling hometown.

Years later, he returns for his father’s funeral. Finding that his mother has dementia, he reluctantly takes over the family propane business. But there’s a silver lining: reconnecting with Kyle, his childhood best friend, and meeting Kelli, the only one who understands his struggle to fill his own big shoes.

There’s a dark cloud too. Colton Reid, a troubled former classmate, still holds an old basketball grudge. And after Kyle convinces Jim to fire him, the disturbing incidents begin. Nothing too serious at first—until the stalking hits Jim where he lives, unleashing a cascade of grave revelations.

Considering my main character Jim McCann is a 6-8 former basketball player, actor options are limited. I’m going with the guy I had in the back of my mind when writing Jim…former Creighton University star Doug “Dougie McBuckets” McDermott. I don’t know if he can act, but he’s the right age and 6-6 so he’ll look the part.

For our female lead, Kelli, I’m going with...[read on]

Visit Tony Wirt's website.

The Page 69 Test: Pike Island.

Q&A with Tony Wirt.

My Book, The Movie: Pike Island.

My Book, The Movie: Silent Creek.

--Marshal Zeringue