Pg. 99: David Silverman's "Fighting God"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Fighting God: An Atheist Manifesto for a Religious World by David Silverman.

About the book, from the publisher:

Fighting God is a firebrand manifesto from one of the most recognizable faces of atheism. In his book, Silverman--a walking, talking atheist billboard known for his appearances on Fox News--discusses the effectiveness, ethics and impact of the in-your-face-atheist who refuses to be silent.

Silverman argues that religion is more than just wrong: it is malevolent and does not deserve our respect. It is our duty to be outspoken and do what we can to bring religion down. Examining the mentality, methods and issues facing the firebrand atheist, Silverman presents an overwhelming argument for firebrand atheism and reveals:

- All religion is cafeteria religion and almost all agnostics are atheists.
- American society grants religion a privileged status, despite the intentions of the Founding Fathers.
- Christian politicians have adversely (and un-Constitutionally) affected our society with regard to science, health, women's rights, and gay rights.
- The notion of "atheist Jews" is a lie forced on us by religion.
- It is not "Islamophobia" to observe dangerous teachings and disproportionate violence in Islam.
- Atheists are slowly but surely winning the battle.

Fighting God is a provocative, unapologetic book that takes religion to task and will give inspiration to non-believers and serve as the ultimate answer to apologists.

Learn more about Fighting God at the publisher's website, and follow David Silverman on Facebook and Twitter.

Writers Read: David Silverman.

The Page 99 Test: Fighting God.

--Marshal Zeringue

Holly Messinger's "The Curse of Jacob Tracy," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Curse of Jacob Tracy by Holly Messinger.

The entry begins:

The titular hero of The Curse of Jacob Tracy was partly inspired by and named after country singer Trace Adkins. Years ago when I was constructing the character, a friend showed me Adkin’s music video for “I’m Tryin’,” which is an anthem about the difficulties of blue-collar life. Adkins was about 38 at the time and the poster-boy for roughneck masculinity: tall, lean, craggy, solemn. In the video he looms around the edges of the sets like one of the angels from Wings of Desire—outside of the characters’ lives, but listening and sympathetic. And that was how I saw my character Trace—a big man who cared deeply about the troubles of the world around him but felt constrained from action. And of course his overcoming those constraints is the arc of the book.

Adkins is a little long in the tooth these days to play Jacob Tracy, and I just haven’t seen an actor in the current thirty-something set who has the same combination of manliness, world-weariness, and country-boy charm. Chris Hemsworth is probably the closest option. Chris Evans and Jensen Ackles are also contenders, though they are both prettier than I would like. I figure...[read on]

Visit Holly Messinger's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Curse of Jacob Tracy.

My Book, The Movie: The Curse of Jacob Tracy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top novels about marriage

Jeff Somers is the author of Lifers, the Avery Cates series from Orbit Books, Chum from Tyrus Books, and We Are Not Good People from Pocket/Gallery. He has published over thirty short stories as well. One of Somers's five fascinating novels about marriage, as shared at B & N Reads:

Fates and Furies, by Lauren Groff

Groff’s remarkable new novel focuses solely on the relationship between Lancelot (nicknamed Lotto) Satterwhite and his wife, Mathilde Yoder. The book is divided into two sections; the first tells the tale of their relationship from Lotto’s bright and superficial point of view, the second from Mathilde’s darker and more manipulative one. Groff deftly depicts the true nature of marriage: a partnership, with each spouse providing something the other lacks, supporting each other in the places they are weak, and often knowing the other person better than they know themselves. With Lotto’s opening section providing the puzzles and Mathilde’s the solutions, Fates and Furies is an engrossing look at an intimate relationship.

Read about another entry on the list.

See Lauren Groff's top six portrayals of marriage in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Jack McDevitt reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Jack McDevitt, author of Thunderbird. 

His entry begins:

I’m scheduled to do a presentation on Mark Twain for the St Simons Island Literary Guild in a few weeks, so I’ve been reading every Mark Twain book I can find, other than novels, most of which I’ve already read. Just finished The Library of America edition of his Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches,& Essays, 1852-1890. I’ve been discovering that, while he deserves his reputation as America’s Great Humorist, he also has a dark side. It’s evident that he believes life is too painful to be worthwhile, not only for humans, but for everything else on the planet. I’m also...[read on]

About Thunderbird, from the publisher:

The Nebula Award–winning author of the Alex Benedict novels and the Priscilla Hutchins novels returns to the world of Ancient Shores in a startling and majestic epic.

A working stargate dating back more than ten thousand years has been discovered in North Dakota, on a Sioux reservation near Devils Lake. Travel through the gate currently leads to three equally mysterious destinations: (1) an apparently empty garden world, quickly dubbed Eden; (2) a strange maze of underground passageways; or (3) a space station with a view of a galaxy that appears to be the Milky Way.

The race to explore and claim the stargate quickly escalates, and those involved divide into opposing camps who view the teleportation technology either as an unprecedented opportunity for scientific research or a disastrous threat to national—if not planetary—security. In the middle of the maelstrom stands Sioux chairman James Walker. One thing is for certain: Questions about what the stargate means for humanity’s role in the galaxy cannot be ignored.

Especially since travel through the stargate isn’t necessarily only one way…

Learn more about the book and author at Jack McDevitt's website.

The Page 69 Test: Firebird.

The Page 69 Test: Thunderbird.

Writers Read: Jack McDevitt.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: A. M. Dellamonica's "A Daughter of No Nation"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: A Daughter of No Nation by A. M. Dellamonica.

About the book, from the publisher:

As soon as Sophie Hansa returned to our world, she is anxious to once again go back to Stormwrack. Unable to discuss the wondrous sights she has seen, and unable to tell anyone what happened to her in her time away, Sophie is in a holding pattern, focused entirely on her eventual chance to return.

With the sudden arrival of Garland Parrish, Sophie is once again gone. This time, she has been called back to Stormwrack in order to spend time with her father, a Duelist-Adjudicator, who is an unrivaled combatant and fearsome negotiator. But is he driven by his commitment to seeing justice prevail, or is he a sociopath? Soon, she discovers something repellent about him that makes her reject him, and everything he is offering.

Adrift again, she discovers that her time spent with her father is not without advantages, however, for Sophie has discovered there is nothing to stop her from setting up a forensic institute in Stormwrack, investigating cases that have been bogged down in the courts, sometimes for years. Her fresh look into a long-standing case between two of the islands turns up new information that could get her, and her friends, pulled into something bold and daring, which changes the entire way she approaches this strange new world....

Visit A.M. Dellamonica's website.

The Page 69 Test: Child of a Hidden Sea.

My Book, The Movie: Child of a Hidden Sea.

The Page 69 Test: A Daughter of No Nation.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five go-to fantasy novels with gender equal societies

Kelley Grant's latest novel is Desert Rising. At Tor.com she tagged five epic fantasies with gender equal societies, including:

Hawk Haven/Bright Bay—Jane Lindskold’s Through Wolf’s Eyes

The society Lindskold created in Hawk Haven is not egalitarian, but it is gender equal. There are distinct class differences, but both women and men inherit and both sexes compete to see who will become heir to the throne. Men and women of the upper class ally in marriage to consolidate power in the political sphere. In the lower classes, husbands and wives are equal partners in business and life. This works well with the character of Firekeeper, raised by wolves and confused by society’s restrictions. Adding gender restrictions would have created another burden on the character. This is an excellent example of a fat, juicy, epic fantasy series creating depth with unrestricted gender roles.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Thomas Dixon's "Weeping Britannia"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears by Thomas Dixon.

About the book, from the publisher:

There is a persistent myth about the British: that we are a nation of stoics, with stiff upper lips, repressed emotions, and inactive lachrymal glands. Weeping Britannia - the first history of crying in Britain - comprehensively debunks this myth.

Far from being a persistent element in the 'national character', the notion of the British stiff upper lip was in fact the product of a relatively brief and militaristic period of our past, from about 1870 to 1945. In earlier times we were a nation of proficient, sometimes virtuosic moral weepers. To illustrate this perhaps surprising fact, Thomas Dixon charts six centuries of weeping Britons, and theories about them, from the medieval mystic Margery Kempe in the early fifteenth century, to Paul Gascoigne's famous tears in the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup. In between, the book includes the tears of some of the most influential figures in British history, from Oliver Cromwell to Margaret Thatcher (not forgetting George III, Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin, and Winston Churchill along the way).

But the history of weeping in Britain is not simply one of famous tear-stained individuals. These tearful micro-histories all contribute to a bigger picture of changing emotional ideas and styles over the centuries, touching on many other fascinating areas of our history. For instance, the book also investigates the histories of painting, literature, theatre, music and the cinema to discover how and why people have been moved to tears by the arts, from the sentimental paintings and novels of the eighteenth century and the romantic music of the nineteenth, to Hollywood weepies, expressionist art, and pop music in the twentieth century.

Weeping Britannia is simultaneously a museum of tears and a philosophical handbook, using history to shed new light on the changing nature of Britishness over time, as well as the ever-shifting ways in which we express and understand our emotional lives. The story that emerges is one in which a previously rich religious and cultural history of producing and interpreting tears was almost completely erased by the rise of a stoical and repressed British empire in the late nineteenth century. Those forgotten philosophies of tears and feeling can now be rediscovered. In the process, readers might perhaps come to view their own tears in a different light, as something more than mere emotional incontinence.

Learn more about Weeping Britannia at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Weeping Britannia.

--Marshal Zeringue

The five worst mothers in literature

Jeff Somers is the author of Lifers, the Avery Cates series from Orbit Books, Chum from Tyrus Books, and We Are Not Good People from Pocket/Gallery. He has published over thirty short stories as well. One of Somers's five worst mothers in literary history, as shared at B & N Reads:

Fiona Brewer (About a Boy, by Nick Hornby)

Sometimes a humorous novel can distract us from the horrible people populating it, as with Nick Hornby’s touching, funny, and somewhat disturbing story of an awkward, unhappy boy and a slick, unhappy man. Fiona Brewer initially seems a bit strange in an amusing way, and fiercely protective of her son—but then you realize she attempted suicide in a way that pretty much guaranteed her son would walk in on her cold, dead body, and that most of his social anxiety and awkwardness is due to her own cynical view of the world. In the end, Fiona does not completely belong in the Hall of Fame for bad mothers, for she rallies over the course of the book to demonstrate true love for her son, which leaves her a long way from the sullen, unhappy, and resolutely selfish woman we meet in the beginning.

Read about another entry on the list.

About a Boy is among The Telegraph's top eight books every dad should read, Jamie Fewery's ten best fictional fathers, and Kay S. Hymowitz's five best books on the won't-grow-up modern male.

--Marshal Zeringue

Stephanie Thornton's "The Conqueror's Wife," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Conqueror's Wife: A Novel of Alexander the Great by Stephanie Thornton.

The entry begins:

I'm not much of a movie-goer, but I can tell you that Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair of Hunger Games fame) would make a perfect Alexander the Great if The Conqueror's Wife was ever made into a movie.

I also imagined Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth of Game of Thrones fame) as Alexander's kid sister Thessalonike as...[read on]

Visit Stephanie Thornton's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Conqueror's Wife.

Writers Read: Stephanie Thornton.

My Book, The Movie: The Conqueror's Wife.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six of the best Scout Finches from sci-fi & fantasy

Ryan Britt is the author of Luke Skywalker Can't Read and Other Geeky Truths. One entry on his list of six of the best Scout Finches -- "headstrong, stalwart, and true" young characters -- from science fiction and fantasy, as shared at the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog:

Arya Stark (Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire)

Arya’s close bond with her dad, Ned, recalls something of an Atticus/Scout relationship right off the bat. True, Scout never had to adopt male dress to get by in a brutal world where murder and torture are the norm. However, if we think about Westoros as an analog to the American South of the 1930s, maybe it’s not too far off? Either way, it’s hard to believe that Arya would exist without Scout’s literary precedent.

Read about another entry on the list.

A Game of Thrones is among Charlotte Seager's top five spoiled suppers in literature, Melissa Grey's five top female characters of under-appreciated strength, Non Pratt's top ten toxic friendships in literature, Becky Ferreira's eight best siblings in literature, and Nicole Hill's top six books on gluttony. A Song of Ice and Fire is among Ferreira's six favorite redheads in literature and six best books with dragons, Joel Cunningham's seven top books featuring long winters. The Red Wedding in A Storm of Swords is one of Ferreira's top six most momentous weddings in fiction. The Lannister family from A Game of Thrones is one of Jami Attenberg's top ten dysfunctional families in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Johanna Schoen's "Abortion After Roe"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Abortion after Roe: Abortion after Legalization by Johanna Schoen.

About the book, from the publisher:

Abortion is--and always has been--an arena for contesting power relations between women and men. When in 1973 the Supreme Court made the procedure legal throughout the United States, it seemed that women were at last able to make decisions about their own bodies. In the four decades that followed, however, abortion became ever more politicized and stigmatized. Abortion after Roe chronicles and analyzes what the new legal status and changing political environment have meant for abortion providers and their patients. Johanna Schoen sheds light on the little-studied experience of performing and receiving abortion care from the 1970s--a period of optimism--to the rise of the antiabortion movement and the escalation of antiabortion tactics in the 1980s to the 1990s and beyond, when violent attacks on clinics and abortion providers led to a new articulation of abortion care as moral work. As Schoen demonstrates, more than four decades after the legalization of abortion, the abortion provider community has powerfully asserted that abortion care is a moral good.

Learn more about Abortion after Roe at the University of North Carolina Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Abortion after Roe.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Andrew Pettegree reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Andrew Pettegree, author of Brand Luther: How an Unheralded Monk Turned His Small Town into a Center of Publishing, Made Himself the Most Famous Man in Europe--and Started the Protestant Reformation.

His entry begins:

City of Wisdom and Blood by Robert Merle

Even though so many of the world’s people now speak English, it is a happy fact that Anglophone readers have access to an even increasing range of non-English literature. The astonishing success of Hans Fallada’s Alone in Berlin, or the Suite Française of Irène Némirovsky's, has emboldened publishers to seek out other unknown gems: and never more productively than with the decision of the Pushkin Press to take on Robert Merle’s extraordinary sage of the French Wars of Religion, Fortune de France. This project originated as a labour of love of its translator, Jefferson Kline, Professor of French at Boston University. Kline recognised the extraordinary beauty of Merle’s creation, a chronicle of French society in war and peace, seen through the eyes of its swashbuckling young hero, Pierre de Siorac. The son of a minor noble in the south of France, Pierre follows his father into...[read on]

About Brand Luther, from the publisher:

A revolutionary look at Martin Luther, the Reformation, and the birth of publishing, on the eve of the Reformation’s 500th anniversary

When Martin Luther posted his “theses” on the door of the Wittenberg church in 1517, protesting corrupt practices, he was virtually unknown. Within months, his ideas spread across Germany, then all of Europe; within years, their author was not just famous, but infamous, responsible for catalyzing the violent wave of religious reform that would come to be known as the Protestant Reformation and engulfing Europe in decades of bloody war.

Luther came of age with the printing press, and the path to glory of neither one was obvious to the casual observer of the time. Printing was, and is, a risky business—the questions were how to know how much to print and how to get there before the competition. Pettegree illustrates Luther’s great gifts not simply as a theologian, but as a communicator, indeed, as the world’s first mass-media figure, its first brand. He recognized in printing the power of pamphlets, written in the colloquial German of everyday people, to win the battle of ideas.

But that wasn’t enough—not just words, but the medium itself was the message. Fatefully, Luther had a partner in the form of artist and businessman Lucas Cranach, who together with Wittenberg’s printers created the distinctive look of Luther’s pamphlets. Together, Luther and Cranach created a product that spread like wildfire—it was both incredibly successful and widely imitated. Soon Germany was overwhelmed by a blizzard of pamphlets, with Wittenberg at its heart; the Reformation itself would blaze on for more than a hundred years.

Publishing in advance of the Reformation’s 500th anniversary, Brand Luther fuses the history of religion, of printing, and of capitalism—the literal marketplace of ideas—into one enthralling story, revolutionizing our understanding of one of the pivotal figures and eras in human history.

Learn more about Brand Luther at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Book in the Renaissance.

The Page 99 Test: The Invention of News.

The Page 99 Test: Brand Luther.

Writers Read: Andrew Pettegree.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top books that explore the dark side of the Moon

Jeff Somers is the author of Lifers, the Avery Cates series from Orbit Books, Chum from Tyrus Books, and We Are Not Good People from Pocket/Gallery. He has published over thirty short stories as well. One of Somers's top seven books that explore the dark side of the Moon, as shared at the B & N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog:

Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The moon exists in perfect balance with our planet; although it is drifting away in microscopic increments, if it were much closer, its gravitational effects here on Earth would be catastrophic. In Pfeffer’s Last Survivors series, an asteroid hits the moon and pushes it into closer orbit. The resulting tsunamis, volcanic activity, and lowered temperatures send us into a death spiral, as food shortages, disease, and mass casualties unravel civilization itself. The narrator is 16-year old Miranda, who describes the tribulations of her family’s quest for survival in a quiet town in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The story reminds us that our existence is an incredibly lucky one—and incredibly fragile.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Holly Messinger's "The Curse of Jacob Tracy"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Curse of Jacob Tracy by Holly Messinger.

About the book, from the publisher:

St. Louis in 1880 is full of ghosts, and Jacob Tracy can see them all. Ever since he nearly died on the battlefield at Antietam, Trace has been haunted by the country's restless dead. The curse cost him his family, his calling to the church, and damn near his sanity. He stays out of ghost-populated areas as much as possible these days, guiding wagon trains West from St. Louis, with his pragmatic and skeptical partner, Boz.

During the spring work lull, Trace gets an unusual job offer. Miss Fairweather, a wealthy English bluestocking, needs someone to retrieve a dead friend's legacy from a nearby town, and she specifically wants Trace to do it. However, the errand proves to be far more sinister than advertised. When confronted, Miss Fairweather admits to knowing about Trace's curse, and suggests she might help him learn to control it—in exchange for a few more odd jobs. Trace has no interest in being her pet psychic, but he's been looking twenty years for a way to control his power, and Miss Fairweather's knowledge of the spirit world is too valuable to ignore. As she steers him into one macabre situation after another, his powers flourish, and Trace begins to realize some good might be done with this curse of his. But Miss Fairweather is harboring some dark secrets of her own, and her meddling has brought Trace to the attention of something much older and more dangerous than any ghost in this electrifying and inventive debut.

Visit Holly Messinger's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Curse of Jacob Tracy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Bonnie Lander Johnson's "Chastity in Early Stuart Literature and Culture"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Chastity in Early Stuart Literature and Culture by Bonnie Lander Johnson.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this book, Bonnie Lander Johnson explores early modern ideas of chastity, demonstrating how crucial early Stuart thinking on chastity was to political, medical, theological and moral debates, and that it was also a virtue that governed the construction of different literary genres. Drawing on a range of materials, from prose to theatre, theological controversy to legal trials, and court ceremonies - including royal birthing rituals - Lander Johnson unearths previously unrecognised opinions about chastity. She reveals that early Stuart theatrical and court ceremonies were part of the same political debate as prose pamphlets and religious sermons. The volume also offers new readings of Milton's Comus, Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, Henrietta Maria's queenship and John Ford's plays. It will appeal to scholars of early modern literature, theatre, political, medical and cultural history, and gender studies.

Learn more about Chastity in Early Stuart Literature and Culture at the Cambridge University Press website.

Cover story: Chastity in Early Stuart Literature and Culture.

The Page 99 Test: Chastity in Early Stuart Literature and Culture.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Stephanie Thornton reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Stephanie Thornton, author of The Conqueror's Wife: A Novel of Alexander the Great.

Her entry begins:

I'm currently reading a whole slew of books for research on my next book, but for fun I'm reading three very different books. There's always a historical fiction book on my list so right now I'm thoroughly enjoying Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler which provides a closer look between the notoriously wild couple that was F. Scott Fitzgerald and...[read on]

About The Conqueror's Wife, from the publisher:

We are the women who loved Alexander the Great. We were lovers and murderers, innocents and soldiers.
And without us, Alexander would have been only a man.
Instead he was a god.

330s, B.C.E., Greece: Alexander, a handsome young warrior of Macedon, begins his quest to conquer the ancient world. But he cannot ascend to power, and keep it, without the women who help to shape his destiny.

His spirited younger half-sister, Thessalonike, yearns to join her brother and see the world. Instead, it is Alexander’s boyhood companion who rides with him into war while Thessalonike remains behind. Far away, crafty princess Drypetis will not stand idly by as Alexander topples her father from Persia’s throne. And after Alexander conquers her tiny kingdom, Roxana, the beautiful and cunning daughter of a minor noble, wins Alexander’s heart…and will commit any crime to secure her place at his side.

Within a few short years, Alexander controls an empire more vast than the civilized world has ever known. But his victories are tarnished by losses on the battlefield and treachery among his inner circle. And long after Alexander is gone, the women who are his champions, wives, and enemies will fight to claim his legacy…

Visit Stephanie Thornton's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Conqueror's Wife.

Writers Read: Stephanie Thornton.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top books behind contemporary big-screen adaptations

One title on Melissa Albert's list of top new adaptations, as shared at B&N Reads:

The Danish Girl, by David Ebershoff

Eddie Redmayne brings his post-Oscar glow to the story of Lili Elbe, artist and transgender pioneer, told in this adaptation of Ebershoff’s 2000 novel. The natural drama of Elbe’s life-altering journey, and its effects on her marriage, are well-suited to the big screen, but also make for a compelling read. Her story is one of love, ambition, and identity, and an unconventional look at an unconventional 20th-century woman.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Triss Stein's "Brooklyn Secrets," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Brooklyn Secrets: An Erica Donato Mystery by Triss Stein.

The entry begins:

Cast a fantasy movie of Brooklyn Secrets? That’s much more my speed than fantasy sports. And it’s all mine, so I can play with actor’s ages, ignore their unlikely interest and summon up the best of the best. This has not been part of my writing process but I may just have to keep these names/faces/personalities in mind for the work-in-progress.

Erica, my protagonist, is a Brooklyn girl through and through, but whose life has brought her a long way from the old neighborhood. She is a single mother of a teen-age daughter, a grad student in urban history (Brooklyn!) endlessly writing her dissertation, always pressed for money and time. She is gutsy, determined, a little too impulsive, and a bit of a smart aleck. (Brooklyn!)

So. Amy Brenneman fifteen years ago. She is easily convincing as smart, conscientious, perhaps impulsive, perhaps overwhelmed. She can be humorous. She is attractive but real, not excessively glam, and could be less attractive- Erica having a hard day! - as needed. I think she would be (would have been) perfect.

Chris, Erica’s daughter is fifteen. Need I say more? She is a wise, maturing young lady one minute, trying to take care of her mother. And the next she is a kid who still sometimes sleeps with her stuffed animals. She is intellectually curious and stubborn just like her mother. In her first romance. Done right, it’s a role...[read on]

Visit Triss Stein's website.

The Page 69 Test: Brooklyn Secrets.

My Book, The Movie: Brooklyn Secrets.

--Marshal Zeringue

The top five spoiled suppers in fiction

At the Guardian, Charlotte Seager tagged the top five spoiled suppers in literature, including:

The red wedding in A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin

This meal has earned a reputation as one of the most shocking and bloody in fiction. As the house of Frey seek to avenge Robb Stark’s broken promise to marry Lord Walder’s daughter, Edmure Tully’s wedding meal is destroyed as Catelyn Stark watches the merciless slaughter of her family. Her son Robb’s death, as he is skewered by arrows, is particularly bitter, his screams “swallowed by the pipes and horns and fiddles”. Catelyn’s own death is equally agonising – “she watched the blood run down her long fingers, over her wrists, beneath the sleeves of her gown” – but her last thoughts are of her family as the curtain falls on one of the most harrowing banquets in literature.

Read about another entry on the list.

A Game of Thrones is among Melissa Grey's five top female characters of under-appreciated strength, Non Pratt's top ten toxic friendships in literature, Becky Ferreira's eight best siblings in literature, and Nicole Hill's top six books on gluttony. A Song of Ice and Fire is among Ferreira's six favorite redheads in literature and six best books with dragons, Joel Cunningham's seven top books featuring long winters. The Red Wedding in A Storm of Swords is one of Ferreira's top six most momentous weddings in fiction. The Lannister family from A Game of Thrones is one of Jami Attenberg's top ten dysfunctional families in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Lisa Edwards's "Please Don't Bite the Baby, and Please Don't Chase the Dogs"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Please Don't Bite the Baby (and Please Don't Chase the Dogs): Keeping Our Kids and Our Dogs Safe and Happy Together by Lisa Edwards.

About the book, from the publisher:

Please Don't Bite the Baby (and Please Don't Chase the Dogs), chronicles certified professional dog trainer Lisa Edwards’ endearing and entertaining journey to ensure that her household survives and thrives when she introduces her son to her motley pack of animals. As Lisa knows all too well, the dog/child relationship is simultaneously treasured, misunderstood, and sometimes feared. In a twist, Lisa's dog training techniques inevitably seep into how she navigates her first year with baby to mixed but enlightening results.

Lisa includes her best training techniques for the everyday pet owner itemized at the end of each chapter. This book is important for parents, grandparents, and caregivers who have dogs and young children together and want to ensure safety for all.

Visit Lisa J. Edwards's website.

Writers Read: Lisa Edwards.

Coffee with a Canine: Lisa J. Edwards & Pinball.

The Page 99 Test: Please Don't Bite the Baby (and Please Don't Chase the Dogs).

--Marshal Zeringue