What is Humphrey Hawksley reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Humphrey Hawksley, author of Operation Icebreaker (A Rake Ozenna Thriller, 5).

His entry begins:

I have several on the go, all on my Kindle, and all in the swirl around my curiosity research on Arctic action.

The Wager and the Bear by John Ironmonger is a heart-warming tale about small communities and the wider world. This is one of the few novels with a setting in Qaanaaq, in far north Greenland, the Arctic area where my latest Operation Icebreaker is set. It’s a hard place to get to, and John wrote from talking to people and his own research, and his vivid descriptions are pretty much spot on.

Alongside, I’m deep into Cold Rush: The Astonishing True Story of the New Quest for the Polar North by Martin Breum, a gripping non-fiction account of...[read on]

About Operation Icebreaker, from the publisher:

Major Rake Ozenna faces dangerous choices and deadly consequences in this rip-roaring political thriller that takes you from the icy plains of Greenland to Washinton D.C., London and back again . . . Buckle up, this is a thrilling ride!

It was meant to be a routine visit. It became a bloodbath.

Special Forces veteran Major Rake Ozenna lands at America’s remote Arctic base in Greenland. His mission is simple. Build trust between allied communities on the frontline of a changing world. Instead, violence erupts, leaving Rake with a loss he cannot forget.

The devastating attack is blamed on Inuit extremists. Rake knows it’s a lie. There were assassins in the snow. And he will make sure they’re brought to justice.

But when things take a sinister political twist, Rake finds himself on the run from his own country. Someone deep inside in the Pentagon is determined to stop him and turn the base attack into something far bigger.

As global tensions reach breaking point, Rake must expose the truth before a war is ignited at the top of the world—pitting America against its closest allies…

Operation Icebreaker is the fifth Rake Ozenna thriller and will leave readers breathless . . . and eagerly anticipating the next heart-racing adventure!

Visit Humphrey Hawksley's website.

The Page 69 Test: The History Book.

My Book, The Movie: Security Breach.

My Book, The Movie: Man on Ice.

Writers Read: Humphrey Hawksley (May 2018).

The Page 69 Test: Man on Ice.

The Page 69 Test: Man on Fire.

Writers Read: Humphrey Hawksley.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Matthew Warner Osborn's "Night Hawk"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Night Hawk: A Nineteenth-Century Superhero and the Dawn of American Mass Culture by Matthew Warner Osborn.

About the book, from the publisher:

Unmasks the long-forgotten story of how a flying, superhuman vigilante played a pivotal role in the founding of the American labor movement.

On July 5, 1828, more than a century before Superman arrived on Earth, a superhero took flight in Philadelphia’s night sky. Buried on page three of a small local newspaper, the announcement of his arrival appeared under the title “The Night-Hawk, No. 1” with a cryptic epigraph from Romeo and Juliet: “I’ll be a candleholder and look on.” Who and what was the Night Hawk? As Matthew Warner Osborn reveals, this was the sobriquet of a mysterious columnist for the weekly Mechanics’ Free Press, the first radical socialist newspaper in America. Dressed in a mysterious cloak, the Night Hawk soared over Philadelphia, revealing the evil crimes of prominent gentlemen, fighting murderous criminals, and calling out fraudulent moral authorities.

The Night Hawk was the ingenious invention of an impoverished actor, Cornelius A. Logan, who created the character as a public champion of Philadelphia’s Working Men’s movement, the first successful American labor party. The Night Hawk’s nocturnal adventures transformed their socialist ideology into an entertaining fantasy that dramatized the struggle against industrial exploitation and the degradation of working people. The success of the character made Logan into a celebrity, and he went on to become a popular and innovative comedian on the antebellum stage.

A harbinger of the superheroes we know today, the Night Hawk promises to illuminate dark secrets from the past, but he can also shed light on our present. He ignites our need to see corrupt elites unmasked and held accountable for their actions, all while protecting the innocent and oppressed. Americans have always loved to fantasize about powerful superheroes who hide behind masks while chasing bad guys, and Osborn shows in this entertaining history how the Night Hawk was perhaps the first standard bearer for that enduring mystique.

Learn more about Night Hawk at the University of Chicago Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Night Hawk.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four bewitching novels for fans of "Practical Magic"

At Book Riot Megan Mabee tagged "four beautifully written books for fans of Practical Magic." One title on the list:

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

For those who like the more spine-tingling elements of Practical Magic, like the creepy murdered boyfriends brought back from the dead, or the tangled webs woven by backfired love spells, you may also want to try this witchy horror read by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Plus, you’ll find multigenerational women connected by magic in this book, too. As a grad student named Minerva investigates an elusive horror author named Beatrice Tremblay, her findings begin to mirror a witch encounter her great-grandmother Nana Alba faced in 1900’s Mexico.

Read about another title on the list.

The Bewitching is among Carolina Ciucci's eight books of immersive dark gothic fantasy for horror fans and Daphne Fama's eight folklore-inspired horror novels.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jessica Siskin's "Looks Perfect"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Looks Perfect: A Novel by Jessica Siskin.

About the book, from the publisher:

What comes between a fashion icon’s perfect image and her genuine self? The perfect stranger―in a sharp and witty novel about identity, performance, and what it takes to make a true connection.

One million people follow Stella Lerner’s every move. And now the buzzy fashion designer is fulfilling her lifelong dream and taking her indie clothing brand global with the help of the industry’s biggest investor. Sounds perfect. Except offline, the optics aren’t so great.

Her relationship with her boyfriend, Alex, is crumbling just as the pressure to curate her image online only builds. Feeling trapped between the picture-perfect life she’s promised her followers and the messy reality she’s facing, Stella anonymously joins a new dating app. Blindr promises deep, private conversations, free from the burden of anyone’s expectations, especially her own. That’s when Stella connects with a stranger called Pineapple who’s intuitive, honest, and empathetic. Stella may be watched by millions, but this man, who’s never even laid eyes on her, makes her feel seen.

What starts as a diversion becomes a journey of radical transformation. As Stella’s search for authenticity intensifies, every chat with Pineapple takes her further down a path she never could’ve imagined.

Visit Jessica Siskin's website.

The Page 69 Test: Looks Perfect.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five powerful horror novels for animal lovers

Carrie Lee South earned her MFA at the Arkansas Writers Workshop where she served as the fiction editor for the literary magazine Arkana. She's currently the fiction editor at StoryBottle Co. Her work has appeared in Waxwing, F(r)iction, Iron Horse Literary Review, Tales to Terrify, and elsewhere. She is the author of In the Woods They Wait. When she's not reading and writing, she's spending time with birds: the ones outside and the four parrots that live in her house.

At CrimeReads South tagged five powerful horror novels in which "the animal characters are given agency." One title on the list:

Kira Jane Buxton, Hollow Kingdom

Speaking of The Incredible Journey, if it took place in the world of 28 Days Later, you’d get something like Kira Jane Buxton’s Hollow Kingdom. A pet crow named Shit Turd narrates this bizarre but heartwarming zombie apocalypse story. The humans (or as ST calls them, Mofos) have all succumbed to a strange sickness. It’s making them violent and unrecognizable–literally, their body parts are falling off.

ST and his fellow pet, Dennis the dog, set out to find help for their owner, Big Jim. It looks like the Mofos might be beyond saving. But you know who else needs saving? All the pet cats and dogs and birds trapped in their zombified owners’ houses. Hilarious, devastating, disturbing, and gorgeously written, I seriously cannot recommend this book enough.

Read about another novel on the list.

Hollow Kingdom is among Liberty Hardy's five top SFF novels centering older characters and E.B. Bartels's thirteen books about the joy in a life filled with non-human creatures.

My Book, The Movie: Hollow Kingdom.

The Page 69 Test: Hollow Kingdom.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Philippe Huneman's "Profiling"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Profiling: How Predictive Algorithms Shape Identity and the Social Fabric by Philippe Huneman.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this book, philosopher Philippe Huneman aims to offer an unprecedented and systematic understanding of a simultaneously banal and singular phenomenon of modern life: the digital profile. Diving deeply into the algorithms that produce these profiles, Huneman examines the way in which an individual becomes a predictable subject, both as unwilling producer of their digital profile and unwitting subject of digital marketing's attempts to influence beliefs and behaviors.

As the book demonstrates, today's society of profiling has profound implications for our understanding of self and politics. The book unfolds across three sections. In the first, Huneman explains profiles and profiling as they operate today and describes their contemporary pervasiveness, using examples from a variety of fields and considering the wide range of types of data that can be digitalized―be they traces, search histories, metadata or the like. In the second section, on profiles, Huneman reflects on who is the subject of profiling societies and what kind of consequences profiling has on individuals―from behavior to memory. And, finally, entering into metaphysical questioning, the book shines a spotlight on the feedback loop that develops between algorithmic profiling and reality.

Visit Philippe Huneman's website.

The Page 99 Test: Profiling.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Denise Derya Brandt

From my Q&A with Denise Derya Brandt, author of Istanbul Dreaming: A Novel:

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

A lot, I hope! I was originally going to title the novel A Modern Turkish Woman, but ultimately I think I went with the better choice. I wanted Istanbul in the title for a few reasons. It’s my favorite city in the world, and it’s where my main character’s life changes in ways she could previously only have dreamed of.

I was cautioned against using a gerund in the title, but I kept coming back to “California Dreamin’” by the Mamas and Papas. If it worked for them, I figured it could work for me too! My main character, Ayten, really does dream about Istanbul.

What’s in a name?

The names in Istanbul Dreaming were very important for me to...[read on]

Visit Denise Derya Brandt's website.

Writers Read: Denise Derya Brandt.

The Page 69 Test: Istanbul Dreaming.

Q&A with Denise Derya Brandt.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is W. Jason Miller reading?

Featured at Writers Read: W. Jason Miller, author of Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, and the Birth of Black Power.

His entry begins:

I was delighted when author Lerone Martin extended my earlier connection between Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes and Martin Luther King, Jr. to find— through his own resourcefulness— that King began reciting Hughes’s poetry as early as ten years old when he was a 5th grade student in Miss Lemon’s class in Atlanta. For any Tina Fey | 30 Rock fans, Miss Lemon’s first name was (unbelievably) ... Elizabeth!

Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King, Jr, portrays a wide-smiling King dancing the Charleston in front of his classmates while he...[read on]

About Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, from the publisher:

The story behind the Priestess and the Poet

On March 24, 1965, Nina Simone performed at a rally for twenty-five thousand people on the last night of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march. Though luminaries like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahalia Jackson, and Dick Gregory were in attendance, it was Langston Hughes, celebrated poet and leader of the Harlem Renaissance, who was the singer’s closest confidant and supporter. They had one of the most important—yet unheralded—friendships of the Black Power era.

Simone’s performance on that Montgomery night catapulted her into a lead role in the civil rights movement, with Hughes as her guide. In Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, W. Jason Miller offers a riveting history of how their relationship helped spark the birth of Black Power—indeed, the phrase itself, made famous by Stokely Carmichael, was a quote from collaborative lyrics by the two. Hughes gave Simone the fuel to be one of the most politically charged artists of the era, while Simone offered Hughes a way to carry his influence into pop music and shape a national movement. Drawing on new firsthand accounts, Miller takes readers inside one of the most powerful friendships in music and civil rights history.

Visit W. Jason Miller's website.

The Page 99 Test: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

My Book, The Movie: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

Writers Read: W. Jason Miller.

--Marshal Zeringue

Fifteen of the best mystery books of all time

Andy Minshew is an author and book reviewer who explores the intersections between queerness, faith, and neurodivergence in fiction and nonfiction.

At Book Riot he tagged fifteen of "the best mystery books of all time that have defined the genre in meaningful ways." One title on the list:

Summer of the Big Bachi (Mas Arai #1) by Naomi Hirahara

This thoughtful and character-driven novel is the first in the Edgar-Award winning Mas Arai mystery series. Gardener and widower Mas Arai is visited by a stranger who, like him, is a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. The bombing and racism towards Japanese American immigrants brings back traumatic memories for Mas. But when the stranger is found dead, Mas must unravel a murder connected to secrets that he himself has fought to keep hidden.

Read about another mystery on the list.

Summer of the Big Bachi is among Alex Kenna's five top modern LA noir titles by women writers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Denise Derya Brandt's "Istanbul Dreaming"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Istanbul Dreaming: A Novel by Denise Derya Brandt.

About the book, from the publisher:

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

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

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

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

Visit Denise Derya Brandt's website.

Writers Read: Denise Derya Brandt.

The Page 69 Test: Istanbul Dreaming.

--Marshal Zeringue

W. Jason Miller's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, and the Birth of Black Power by W. Jason Miller.

The entry begins:

Audra McDonald would portray Nina Simone— her singing in the movie even more powerful than her roles as Aretha Franklin or Billie Holiday. I can hear Audra’s voice now— capturing the power of “Mississippi Goddam,” the fire of “Sinnerman,” and the quiet elegance of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” While I’m dream casting— she would also stun with Nina’s iconic upbeat celebration that is “Feeling Good.”

Giancarlo Esposito’s role as Gus Fring in Breaking Bad convinced me...[read on]

Visit W. Jason Miller's website.

The Page 99 Test: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

My Book, The Movie: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten books where the main character is, or may be, a psychopath

Hank Schwaeble is a two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of horror, suspense and thrillers. He lives in Texas with his wife, fellow novelist Rhodi Hawk.

His latest novel is Normal for the Spider.

At CrimeReads Schwaeble tagged ten titles where the main character is, or may be, a psychopath. One entry on the list:

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

Okay, I cheated here—she’s not the protagonist of the novel, but Cain’s Gretchen Lowell is a compelling example of an enigmatic serial killer who all but steals the show, one who tortured the detective chasing her for ten days before letting him go and turning herself in. Those ten days changed him forever, and now she lives on not only in prison, but in his head, as a constant presence. Worst of all, although he’s unquestionably traumatized by what he went through, he also seems drawn to the memory of it, and her, like the proverbial moth to a flame, obsessed with the beautiful woman who carved a heart into his chest while possibly stealing his own (along with his spleen) in the process. This is a riveting tale of someone trying to catch another killer while still unable to get a handle on the feelings he has for the one who has scarred him for life in more ways than one. A tense and gritty look at the reflection one man sees when he looks into the abyss-like soul of someone who may understand him better than he does himself.

Read about another entry on the list.

Heartsick is among J. G. Hetherton's eleven great crime books featuring investigative reporters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: James C. Nieh's "The Language of Bees"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Language of Bees by James C. Nieh.

About the book, from the publisher:

A rich and engaging look at social bees, master communicators of the insect world

With senses that often seem alien to us, bees navigate complex decisions about where to find food, when to fight or flee, and how to work together. The Language of Bees invites readers into the hidden world of bee communication, a realm where creatures less than an inch long use scent, vibration, movement, and sound to cooperate, share information, and survive.

Drawing on decades of groundbreaking fieldwork, James Nieh sheds light on the remarkable signals that bees use and the evolutionary forces that shape them. Focusing on social species like bumble bees, honey bees, and stingless bees, he explores how colonies rely on these signals to organize all aspects of their lives, from foraging and warfare to espionage and defense. From the famous waggle dance of honey bees to the secretive trails and potentially coded sounds of stingless bees, he shows how their intricate communication systems reflect a delicate balance between cooperation and conflict and how a changing world disrupts these finely tuned systems. Along the way, Nieh shares key breakthroughs in animal behavior and offers new insights from his own research on how bees signal, eavesdrop, and adapt. Readers will learn how bees waggle dance better if they have teachers and an engaged audience, how predators and competition help shape bee language, and other astonishing findings.

The Language of Bees is also a story about how failure and unexpected turns lead to discoveries. Blending personal insights with cutting-edge science, this illuminating and informative book reveals how the study of bees continues to deepen our understanding of intelligence, resilience, and the diverse ways that life communicates.

Learn more about The Language of Bees at the Princeton University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Language of Bees.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Ryan Douglass reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Ryan Douglass, author of Night of Madness.

His entry begins:

Right now, I’m reading Ottessa Moshfegh’s Lapvona, and I’m loving it. I picked it up partly because of the attention-grabbing cover, and because I’d been wanting to read more fiction that was strange and uncompromising. Lapvona is a dark medieval fable about a boy named Marek whose life of poverty and abuse becomes entangled with the corrupt ruler and religious power structure of his village. It is brutal and unsettling, but also kind of funny. I love how completely Moshfegh commits to...[read on]

About Night of Madness, from the publisher:

Teen influencers compete in a horror movie–themed overnight competition, only to realize the real test is staying alive in this chilling, blood-soaked horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston and the production company behind Clown in a Cornfield.

Mara is a horror buff whose only fond memories of her dad are bonding over movies by Jack Stanley—the producer of the eighties. Stanley’s campy slasher movies may have kept Mara’s fraught parental relationship on life support and gained a cult following, but the man himself has faded from the public eye…until he announces a contest centered around Asylum, his most terrifying film. Five teen influencers will be invited to spend the night on the fully constructed set; whoever sticks it out until morning wins a hundred thousand dollars.

Stuck in a dead-end job, Mara seriously needs that cash. She may not be a famous influencer, but there has to be a way to manufacture an online presence that will capture Stanley’s attention. With the help of her brother and best friend, Mara finds some creative solutions to her dilemma and lands herself onto the roster of the lucky chosen few by way of her engaging authenticity.

When Mara and the other contestants arrive on set, it’s a horror fan’s dream being immersed in the asylum setting, but as the night wears on, they realize the danger is more than movie magic… They’re not there to win or lose but to live or die. As Mara fights to survive, she discovers an inner ruthlessness she didn’t know she had. Just how far will she go to see the sunrise—and will she still recognize herself by the end?

Follow Ryan Douglass on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Ryan Douglass.

The Page 69 Test: Night of Madness.

My Book, The Movie: Night of Madness.

Writers Read: Ryan Douglass.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Marivi Soliven

From my Q&A with Marivi Soliven, author of Taxi Dancer: A Novel:

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

A decent amount of work seeing as folks are unfamiliar with the term Taxi Dancer which refers to the profession fairly common among young white women who worked in taxi dance halls in the 1930s through the '50s. They were called Taxi Dancers because patrons paid for the time they danced with these women - a dime bought you about 3 minutes of dancing time. Because the term is no longer in common use, it draws readers into a bygone era, an era alluded to by the Art Deco border that frames the book's image of a couple dancing.

What's in a name?

I named the Filipino protagonist Eli, which...[read on]

Visit Marivi Soliven's website.

Q&A with Marivi Soliven.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight edge-of-your-seat reality TV thriller novels

L.M. Chilton is a journalist with fifteen years of experience working on TV shows for the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 in the UK, as well as writing columns for magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Glamour, and reporting for national newspapers across the world, everywhere from Doncaster to Delhi. He lives in London, procrastinating.

Chliton's new novel is I Think We Should Kill Other People.

At People magazine he tagged "eight of the best thrillers and mysteries set in the terrifying world of television," including:

Q&A by Vikas Swarup is Who Wants to be a Millionaire meets The Usual Suspects

How does a boy from the slums of Mumbai end up on India’s biggest quiz show? And how is he getting every question right? The answer is revealed in flashbacks from Ram’s extraordinary life story, but even if he’s telling the truth, the show’s presenter has his own reasons for wanting this Slumdog to lose his millions. Swarup’s book exposes the cynical nature of the quiz show, dangling a literal lifeline to desperate people for the sake of entertainment.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Sarah Langan's "Trad Wife"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Trad Wife: A Novel by Sarah Langan.

About the book, from the publisher:

A journalist descends into horror as she uncovers the sinister truth behind a trad wife influencer in this “flat-out brilliant” (Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author) blend of chilling suspense and razor-sharp commentary on modern femininity, performative domesticity, and social media—perfect for readers of Yesteryear, Mexican Gothic, and The Yellow Wallpaper.

Every day, millions watch Mia Wright, the “trad wife” queen, on her idyllic three-hundred-acre farm. With her handsome husband, seven well-behaved children, and a life of from-scratch meals and pastoral bliss, she’s an icon of modern femininity. But behind e

very perfect image is a secret. And in this case, the secret is a horror.

Desperate to save her tarnished career, journalist Jenny Kaplan arrives at Black Swan Farm to profile Mia. Jenny is ready to write a scathing exposé, determined to expose the deception behind Mia’s curated life. But soon, Jenny has more to contend with than staged videos and camera-ready poses. There’s something wrong at the farmhouse. Something slithers through Jenny’s dreams, and at night, the children sing strange nursery rhymes.

She’s losing time. She’s losing her hair. She starts to worry that she’s losing her mind.

There is a horror at the heart of Black Swan, and it’s waiting just for Jenny. Trad Wife will make you question what’s real and what’s just a perfectly curated deception…

Will you see the lie?

Visit Sarah Langan's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Keeper.

My Book, The Movie: The Missing.

The Page 69 Test: Good Neighbors.

My Book, The Movie: Good Neighbors.

The Page 69 Test: Trad Wife.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ryan Douglass's "Night of Madness," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Night of Madness by Ryan Douglass.

The entry begins:

What would happen if you took a group of social media influencers, dropped them inside an abandoned asylum full of real dangers, offered them $100,000 to survive the night?

Night of Madness is a book that is made for adaptation. If they make the book into a film, I would probably want to cast mostly unknown actors. The characters are eighteen or nineteen, and I love the idea of giving young performers the opportunity to breakout. So, these choices are less a literal wish list and more a way of showing you the people I pictured while writing.

Mara Jacobs — Anais Lee

Mara is the protagonist of the story—sharp, cynical, and obsessed with horror. She has the quiet confidence of someone who thinks she knows exactly what she's gotten herself into, until she doesn't. Anais has the kind of presence I imagine Mara having: understated, intelligent, and intense when she needs to be.

Storm Connors — Blake Cameron James

I first noticed Blake Cameron James in IT: Welcome to Derry, where he plays Will Hanlon. Storm is loyal, funny, and on trend, but with real softness and vulnerability underneath. He’s someone you want to spend time with. I think Blake could...[read on]

Follow Ryan Douglass on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Ryan Douglass.

The Page 69 Test: Night of Madness.

My Book, The Movie: Night of Madness.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: W. Jason Miller's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, and the Birth of Black Power by W. Jason Miller.

About the book, from the publisher:

The story behind the Priestess and the Poet

On March 24, 1965, Nina Simone performed at a rally for twenty-five thousand people on the last night of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march. Though luminaries like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahalia Jackson, and Dick Gregory were in attendance, it was Langston Hughes, celebrated poet and leader of the Harlem Renaissance, who was the singer’s closest confidant and supporter. They had one of the most important—yet unheralded—friendships of the Black Power era.

Simone’s performance on that Montgomery night catapulted her into a lead role in the civil rights movement, with Hughes as her guide. In Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, W. Jason Miller offers a riveting history of how their relationship helped spark the birth of Black Power—indeed, the phrase itself, made famous by Stokely Carmichael, was a quote from collaborative lyrics by the two. Hughes gave Simone the fuel to be one of the most politically charged artists of the era, while Simone offered Hughes a way to carry his influence into pop music and shape a national movement. Drawing on new firsthand accounts, Miller takes readers inside one of the most powerful friendships in music and civil rights history.

Visit W. Jason Miller's website.

The Page 99 Test: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top twisty horror retellings

At Book Riot Kendra Winchester tagged seven titles that take a familiar story and reimagine it in the most delightfully gruesome way, including:

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Speaking of Edgar Allen Poe, T. Kingfisher has a stunning trilogy of novellas retelling “The Fall of the House of Usher,” giving her a unique spin on this fan favorite. When Alex Easton hears that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they rush back to their hometown in Ruritania. There, they find a fungus has spread everywhere. But why? As if the terrifying fungus wasn’t enough, Kingfisher throws in a heavy dose of mystery. If you like What Moves the Dead, Kingfisher follows it up with What Feasts the Night and What Stalks the Deep.

Read about another title on the list.

What Moves the Dead is among Lyndsie Manusos’s six horror retellings of well-known stories.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Robbie Couch

From my Q&A with Robbie Couch, author of Just the Good Parts:

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

My hope for every one of my titles is to spark more intrigue in the book than introduce them to the narrative itself. I think my novels' titles tend to feel more relevant after having read the books, and Just the Good Parts is no exception. It, of course, conveys the idea that there's been an elimination of the bad parts—whatever good, bad, or parts are even supposed to mean out of context—but my hope is that the framing brings a richer understanding to readers after they've been introduced to Caspen, a nostalgic character whose penchant for forgetting the bleaker sides of his past may cost him his...[read on]

Visit Robbie Couch's website.

Q&A with Robbie Couch.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Ryan Douglass's "Night of Madness"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Night of Madness by Ryan Douglass.

About the book, from the publisher:

Teen influencers compete in a horror movie–themed overnight competition, only to realize the real test is staying alive in this chilling, blood-soaked horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston and the production company behind Clown in a Cornfield.

Mara is a horror buff whose only fond memories of her dad are bonding over movies by Jack Stanley—the producer of the eighties. Stanley’s campy slasher movies may have kept Mara’s fraught parental relationship on life support and gained a cult following, but the man himself has faded from the public eye…until he announces a contest centered around Asylum, his most terrifying film. Five teen influencers will be invited to spend the night on the fully constructed set; whoever sticks it out until morning wins a hundred thousand dollars.

Stuck in a dead-end job, Mara seriously needs that cash. She may not be a famous influencer, but there has to be a way to manufacture an online presence that will capture Stanley’s attention. With the help of her brother and best friend, Mara finds some creative solutions to her dilemma and lands herself onto the roster of the lucky chosen few by way of her engaging authenticity.

When Mara and the other contestants arrive on set, it’s a horror fan’s dream being immersed in the asylum setting, but as the night wears on, they realize the danger is more than movie magic… They’re not there to win or lose but to live or die. As Mara fights to survive, she discovers an inner ruthlessness she didn’t know she had. Just how far will she go to see the sunrise—and will she still recognize herself by the end?

Follow Ryan Douglass on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Ryan Douglass.

The Page 69 Test: Night of Madness.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Jen Thompson's "Wild Pivot"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Wild Pivot: Notes from a Political Life Rewritten by Jen Thompson.

About the book, from the publisher:

For fans of Educated and You Could Make This Place Beautiful, a memoir of powerful vignettes about a rock-star Republican strategist who gives up a life in politics after a near-death accident spurs her into a search for deeper meaning.

Jen Thompson rose to the heights of politics in her early thirties as a celebrated Republican strategist—a rarity for a young woman. For years, success and power were her only ambitions, despite the drumbeat of her inner voice warning that her life was wildly off course.

It was only when a car accident nearly killed her on the campaign trail of a nationally watched Senate campaign that Jen finally decided to walk away. Her sudden alienation from the life she had always known set into motion cascading events that carried her across the world and deep into a reckoning with her own soul.

A memoir in vignettes, Wild Pivot explores how blind loyalty develops and shapes a woman with the craving to fit in and feel celebrated. With a piercing ability to explore just how jarring change and evolution can be, Thompson moves with unflinching honesty and razor-sharp wit between snapshots of her life as she grapples with the demons of her past and commits herself to doing what is required to live a life of truth and freedom—no matter the cost.

Visit Jen Thompson's website.

The Page 99 Test: Wild Pivot.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books that reimagine how trauma is told

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

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

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

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

Read about another entry on the list.

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

--Marshal Zeringue