E.R. Ramzipoor's "The Ventriloquists," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Ventriloquists: A Novel by E.R. Ramzipoor.

The entry begins:

When I was pitching The Ventriloquists, I described the book as Ocean’s Eleven meets All the Light We Cannot See. It’s the real-life story of ragtag resistance fighters who risk everything to pull an elaborate prank on the Reich. Needless to say, I think it would make an amazing movie!

Casting my stories helps me flesh out the small but crucial traits that bring a character to life: quirks, mannerisms, habits, speech patterns. For The Ventriloquists, this was especially important; like Ocean’s Eleven, the novel features a large ensemble cast. To ensure nobody got short shrift, I tried to make each character distinct and easy to imagine. Here’s who I had in mind.

Marc Aubrion - Sacha Baron Cohen. Aubrion is the mastermind who decides to die for a joke—writing a satirical newspaper that pokes fun at the Nazis. He’s disheveled, brilliant, funny, and a little mad. Cohen has the soul of a jester, but also a penetrating intelligence. That’s Aubrion.

Gamin - Millie Bobby Brown. “Gamin” is Aubrion’s sidekick: a young girl who survives on the streets of Belgium by disguising herself as a boy and selling newspapers. She’s haunted by the death of her parents, and since therapy wasn’t really an option at the time, she...[read on]

Visit E.R. Ramzipoor's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Evan Ramzipoor & Lada.

My Book, The Movie: The Ventriloquists.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Claire O’Dell reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Claire O’Dell, author of The Hound of Justice: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I’m doing a lot of re-reading these days—mostly because I need to read stories I can depend upon. They help me disconnect from my own writing and let me return with a new perspective. Among the others I’ve been devouring of late:

Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler

What a grim and uncompromising novel. And yet, at the same time, it’s a novel about surviving, about hope, about the future of mankind.

Lauren Olamina is a young woman living in California, in a United States wracked by climate change and corporate greed. Water costs more than gasoline. Gasoline is only used by drug addicts to set fire. The only safe communities are those with walls and armed sentries, and even that safety is precarious. Lauren herself has given up on God and has invented her own religion called Earthseed. When drug-crazed hordes attack her community, she escapes and travels north, hoping to establish a new community based on Earthseed.

Butler’s book sounds all too plausible these days, even though...[read on]

About The Hound of Justice, from the publisher:

It’s been two months since Dr. Janet Watson accepted an offer from Georgetown University Hospital. The training for her new high-tech arm is taking longer than expected, however, leaving her in limbo. Meanwhile, her brilliant friend and compatriot, Sara Holmes, has been placed on leave—punishment for going rogue during their previous adventure.

After an extremist faction called the Brotherhood of Redemption launches a failed assassination attempt on the president that causes mass destruction, Holmes, who is now operating in the shadows, takes on the task of investigating the Brotherhood. Holmes is making progress when she abruptly disappears.

When Watson receives a mysterious message from Holmes’s cousin Micha that indicates that Sara Holmes’s disappearance might be connected to the Brotherhood and to Adler Industries, Watson and Micha go on a high-stakes mission to reunite with Holmes once more.

Together, Watson, Holmes, and Micha embark on a thrilling, action-packed journey through the deep South to clear Holmes’s name, thwart the Brotherhood’s next move, and most important, bring their nemesis to justice for the atrocities she’s committed in the New Civil War.

Visit Claire O’Dell's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Study in Honor.

Writers Read: Claire O’Dell.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven speculative thrillers from more recent times

John Marrs's new novel is The Passengers.

At CrimeReads he tagged seven techno-thrillers to read as our world crumbles, including:

The Power, by Naomi Alderman

Often compared to The Hunger Games and The Handmaid’s Tale, The Power is speculative fiction at its best. It poses a simple question – what if men were no longer the dominant force in society and women were? What would happen if women could make men afraid instead of the other way around? In Alderman’s story, once girls reach their mid teens, they develop a strip of muscle in their collarbone which creates jolts of electricity which they can shoot from their fingertips. Whether it’s science or nature that has created this kink, we are unsure. Regardless, it gives them the power to maim or murder at will. And almost overnight, the world changes beyond recognition. It’s a fascinating, brilliantly executed story.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: S. L. Huang's "Null Set"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Null Set: A Cas Russell Novel by S. L. Huang.

About the book, from the publisher:

S. L. Huang's Null Set is the breakout sf thriller for fans of John Scalzi and Greg Rucka

Math-genius mercenary Cas Russell has decided to Fight Crime(tm). After all, with her extraordinary mathematical ability, she can neuter bombs or out-shoot an army. And the recent outbreak of violence in the world’s cities is Cas’s fault—she’s the one who crushed the organization of telepaths keeping the world’s worst offenders under control.

But Cas’s own power also has a history, one she can’t remember—or control. One that's creeping into her mind and fracturing her sanity...just when she’s gotten herself on the hit list of every crime lord on the West Coast. And her best, only, sociopathic friend. Cas won’t be able to save the world. She might not even be able to save herself.

Visit S. L. Huang's website.

The Page 69 Test: Zero Sum Game.

The Page 69 Test: Null Set.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: M. David Litwa's "How the Gospels Became History"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: How the Gospels Became History: Jesus and Mediterranean Myths by M. David Litwa.

About the book, from the publisher:

A compelling comparison of the gospels and Greco-Roman mythology which shows that the gospels were not perceived as myths, but as historical records

Did the early Christians believe their myths? Like most ancient—and modern—people, early Christians made efforts to present their myths in the most believable ways.

In this eye-opening work, M. David Litwa explores how and why what later became the four canonical gospels take on a historical cast that remains vitally important for many Christians today. Offering an in-depth comparison with other Greco-Roman stories that have been shaped to seem like history, Litwa shows how the evangelists responded to the pressures of Greco-Roman literary culture by using well-known historiographical tropes such as the mention of famous rulers and kings, geographical notices, the introduction of eyewitnesses, vivid presentation, alternative reports, and so on. In this way, the evangelists deliberately shaped myths about Jesus into historical discourse to maximize their believability for ancient audiences.

Visit M. David Litwa's website.

The Page 99 Test: How the Gospels Became History.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five heroines over the age of forty

The protagonist of Una McCormack’s recently released novella The Undefeated is a woman way past forty.

At Tor.com the author tagged "five female characters who can still kick ass, even after forty," including:

Helen Kane in The Wanderers by Meg Howrey

Meg Howrey’s richly imagined novel concerns a mission to Mars—with a twist. We follow the three astronauts selected not as they blast off for Mars, but as they embark upon a seventeen-month simulation of the mission. At the heart of the book is the world’s most famous woman astronaut, Helen Kane, a collected, ambitious, and intelligent woman who has worked her whole life for this chance. Helen is fully realised: as career woman, as widow, and as mother—her relationship with her daughter Mireille, an aspiring actor eclipsed by her mother, is brilliantly and tenderly drawn. The book’s concern is the personal and the psychological; the rarity of characters like Helen make her all the more precious.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Wanderers is among Michelle Anne Schingler's five books centered on women in space.

--Marshal Zeringue

Brian Naslund's "Blood of an Exile," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Blood of an Exile (Dragons of Terra, Volume 1) by Brian Naslund.

The entry begins:

Early in the writing process of Blood of an Exile I kept most characters pretty “blank” as to who might portray them. Over time, I did wind up becoming an amateur casting director.

However, for whatever reason, I always had a clear picture of who could play Ashlyn, so I will start with her.

I’ve always pictured her as Rosemarie DeWitt. She has this perfect expression that mixes focus with intellectual doubt and cynicism that I love, and just screams “Ashlyn.”

For Bershad, I have to go with Tom...[read on]

Visit Brian Naslund's website.

My Book, The Movie: Blood of an Exile.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Marlowe Benn's "Relative Fortunes"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Relative Fortunes (A Julia Kydd Novel) by Marlowe Benn.

About the book, from the author:

In 1920s New York, the price of a woman’s independence can be exorbitant—even fatal.

In 1924 Manhattan, women’s suffrage is old news. For sophisticated booklover Julia Kydd, life’s too short for politics. With her cropped hair and penchant for independent living, Julia wants only to launch her own new private press. But as a woman, Julia must fight for what’s hers—including the inheritance her estranged half brother, Philip, has challenged, putting her aspirations in jeopardy.

When her friend’s sister, Naomi Rankin, dies suddenly of an apparent suicide, Julia is shocked at the wealthy family’s indifference toward the ardent suffragist’s death. Naomi chose poverty and hardship over a submissive marriage and a husband’s control of her money. Now, her death suggests the struggle was more than she could bear.

Julia, however, is skeptical. Doubtful of her suspicions, Philip proposes a glib wager: if Julia can prove Naomi was in fact murdered, he’ll drop his claims to her wealth. Julia soon discovers Naomi’s life was as turbulent and enigmatic as her death. And as she gets closer to the truth, Julia sees there’s much more at stake than her inheritance…

Visit Marlowe Benn's website.

My Book, The Movie: Relative Fortunes.

The Page 69 Test: Relative Fortunes.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books putting the "psychology" in psychological thrillers

Lauren North studied psychology before moving to London, where she lived and worked for many years. She now lives with her family in the Suffolk countryside.

The Perfect Son is her first novel, and she’s working on her second.

At CrimeReads North tagged "seven of [her] favorite books published in the last few years that really put the psychology in psychological suspense and psychological thrillers," including:

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward

Beautiful Bad opens with a crime scene in a family home. Something terrible has happened, someone is dead, and the reader is immediately desperate to know what tragedy has occurred. From the Balkans to England, Iraq to Manhattan, and to an ordinary family home in Kansas, the novel spans the sixteen years of Maddie and Ian’s relationship from a chance encounter overseas to the final weeks leading up to the tragedy.

The author has threaded the psychology into this book with deft ease. Post-traumatic stress disorder and coercive control play a huge part in the unravelling of Maddie and Ian’s relationship, but it’s the shocking twist at the end which really hammers home the psychology for me.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: Beautiful Bad.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Linnea Hartsuyker reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Linnea Hartsuyker, author of The Golden Wolf: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I've been doing a lot of research reading for my next project lately lately, and in between that, some comfort reading. I recently read Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy Frost, which is about pathological hoarding, and I found it fascinating and hard to put down. Like many mental illnesses, hoarding is an extreme version of behaviors many of us share, especially in consumerist America. Hoarders are often highly intelligent, and see more beauty and potential in objects than non-hoarding people. However, they also usually have a very low...[read on]

About The Golden Wolf, from the publisher:

The fates of Ragnvald and his sister Svanhild unfold to their stunning conclusion in this riveting final volume in The Golden Wolf Saga, a trilogy that conjures the ancient world with the gripping detail, thrilling action, and vivid historical elements of "Game of Thrones" and "Outlander."

Ragnvald has long held to his vision of King Harald as a golden wolf who will bring peace to Norway as its conqueror—even though he knows that Harald’s success will eventually mean his own doom. He is grateful to have his beloved sister, the fierce and independent Svanhild, once more at his side to help keep their kingdom secure. Free from the evil husband who used her, she is now one of Harald’s many wives.

While Svanhold is happy to be reunited with her beloved brother, and enjoys more freedom than ever before, she is restless and lonely. When an old enemy of Ragnvald’s kidnaps his niece, Freydis, his sister follows the daughter she has neglected to Iceland, where an old love awaits. This strange new land offers a life far different from what each has left behind, as well as unexpected challenges and choices.

Ragnvald, too, must contend with change. His sons—the gifted Einar, the princely Ivar, and the adventurous Rolli—are no longer children. Harald’s heirs have also grown up. Stepping back from his duties as king, he watches as his sons pursue their own ambitions. But Norway may no longer be large enough for so many would-be kings.

Now in their twilight years, these venerable men whose lives have been shaped by war must face another battle that awaits. A growing rebellion pits Ragnvald and his sons against enemies old and new, and a looming tragedy threatens to divide the hardened warrior from Harald and all who care for him. Across the sea, Svanhild, too, wrestles with a painful decision, risking the dissolution of her fragile new family as she desperately tries to save it.

Yet as old heroes fall, new heroes arise. For years, Ragnvald and Svanhild pursued the destinies bestowed by their ancient gods. Though the journey has cost them much, their sacrifices and dreams will be honored by the generations that follow, beginning with Freydis and Einar. Emerging from their parents’ long shadows, they have begun to carry on the family’s legacy while pursuing their own glorious fates.

This compelling conclusion to the Golden Wolf trilogy recreates Viking-age Scandinavia in all its danger, passion, power, and glory—a world of brutality and myth, loyalty and betrayal, where shifting alliances and vengeance can build kingdoms ... and can tear them down.

Visit Linnea Hartsuyker's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Half-Drowned King.

Writers Read: Linnea Hartsuyker.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten ghost stories

Louise Doughty is the author of nine novels, including the newly released Platform Seven.

She has also written one work of non-fiction and five plays for radio.

One of Doughty's top ten ghost stories, as shared at the Guardian:

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (2002)

This story from the afterlife narrated by the ghost of a 14-year-old murder victim was an instant bestseller when it was published, and was made into a mawkish but still affecting film by Peter Jackson starring Saoirse Ronan. Susie Salmon watches from her own personal heaven as her family grieve and the police fail to catch her killer. In lesser hands it could have been sentimental but such is Sebold’s skill and observation that you go with the flow and are desperate for young Susie to find peace and justice for her family.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Lovely Bones is among Tim Thornton's top ten books about the afterlife, Jeff Somers's top eight speculative works with dead narrators, Nadiya Hussain's six best books, Judith Claire Mitchell's ten best (unconventional) ghosts, Laura McHugh's ten favorite books about serial killers, and Tamzin Outhwaite's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Sara Lövestam's "The Truth Behind the Lie"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Truth Behind the Lie: A Novel by Sara Lövestam.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Truth Behind The Lie is Sara Lövestam’s award-winning and gripping novel about blurred lines, second chances, and the lengths one will go to for the truth.

When a six-year-old girl disappears and calling the police isn’t an option, her desperate mother Pernilla turns to an unlikely source for help. She finds a cryptic ad online for a private investigator:

“Need help, but can’t contact the police?”

That’s where Kouplan comes in. He’s an Iranian refugee living in hiding. He was forced to leave Iran after news of his and his brother's involvement with a radical newspaper hated by the regime was discovered. Kouplan’s brother disappeared, and he hasn’t seen him in four years. He makes a living as a P.I. working under the radar, waiting for the day he can legally apply for asylum.

Pernilla’s daughter has vanished without a trace, and Kouplan is an expert at living and working off the grid. He’s the perfect PI to help… but something in Pernilla’s story doesn’t add up. She might need help that he can’t offer...and a little girl’s life hangs in the balance.

Visit Sara Lövestam's website.

My Book, The Movie: Wonderful Feels Like This.

The Page 69 Test: Wonderful Feels Like This.

Writers Read: Sara Lövestam.

My Book, The Movie: The Truth Behind the Lie.

The Page 69 Test: The Truth Behind the Lie.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Nicholas Jubber's "Epic Continent"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Epic Continent: Adventures in the Great Stories that Made Europe by Nicholas Jubber.

About the book, from the publisher:

These are the stories that made Europe.

Journeying from Turkey to Iceland, award-winning travel writer Nicholas Jubber takes us on a fascinating adventure through our continent's most enduring epic poems to learn how they were shaped by their times, and how they have since shaped us.

The great European epics were all inspired by moments of seismic change: The Odyssey tells of the aftermath of the Trojan War, the primal conflict from which much of European civilisation was spawned. The Song of the Nibelungen tracks the collapse of a Germanic kingdom on the edge of the Roman Empire. Both the French Song of Roland and the Serbian Kosovo Cycle emerged from devastating conflicts between Christian and Muslim powers. Beowulf, the only surviving Old English epic, and the great Icelandic Saga of Burnt Njal, respond to times of great religious struggle - the shift from paganism to Christianity. These stories have stirred passions ever since they were composed, motivating armies and revolutionaries, and they continue to do so today.

Reaching back into the ancient and medieval eras in which these defining works were produced, and investigating their continuing influence today, Epic Continent explores how matters of honour, fundamentalism, fate, nationhood, sex, class and politics have preoccupied the people of Europe across the millennia. In these tales soaked in blood and fire, Nicholas Jubber discovers how the world of gods and emperors, dragons and water-maidens, knights and princesses made our own: their deep impact on European identity, and their resonance in our turbulent times.

Visit Nicholas Jubber's website.

The Page 99 Test: Epic Continent.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five YA SFF novels with unlikely couples falling in love

Zoraida Córdova is the award-winning author of The Vicious Deep trilogy, the Brooklyn Brujas series, and Star Wars: A Crash of Fate. At Tor.com she tagged five YA SFF novels about "fighting against the dark, falling in love, holding on to hope," including:

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray

Lost Stars is arguably my favorite Star Wars novel. I would read Claudia’s laundry list because I’m sure it’s full of sexual tension and slow burn. In Defy the Stars, I fell in love with soldier and rebel Noemi Vidal from the planet Genesis. She’ll do whatever it takes to protect her home world, even give up her life. Abel, on the other hand, is a machine. He’s been drifting in space for years, and his programming has begun to evolve. This presents a problem as the people of Genesis see Abel as an abomination.

Gray has a pitch-perfect way of making lovers out of enemies. Without being dogmatic, she creates a dialogue about why societies go to war. Noemi and Abel just happen to be caught in the middle of it all. They’re forced to work together (obvs) and along the way find out that there’s more to this war than they ever knew. The trilogy is complete, which means you can binge it straight away. This is one of Gray’s best.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sara Lövestam's "The Truth Behind the Lie," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Truth Behind the Lie: A Novel by Sara Lövestam.

The entry begins:

It is extremely hard to pick an actor to play Kouplan. I don't want to spoil the story, but in the beginning of the book series he looks like a teenager although he is 25. He looks Iranian, speaks fluent Farsi and good Swedish (in an American version I guess he would speak fluent Farsi and good English) - he's just a very special character. I bet the perfect actor to play him is out there, but I don't know where.

It's easier with Pernilla. She is a blonde mom in her 30's who...[read on]

Visit Sara Lövestam's website.

My Book, The Movie: Wonderful Feels Like This.

The Page 69 Test: Wonderful Feels Like This.

Writers Read: Sara Lövestam.

My Book, The Movie: The Truth Behind the Lie.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Elizabeth Ames's "The Other’s Gold"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Other’s Gold: A Novel by Elizabeth Ames.

About the book, from the publisher:

An insightful and sparkling novel that opens on a college campus and follows the friendship of four women across life-defining turning points

Assigned to the same suite during their freshman year at Quincy-Hawthorn College, Lainey, Ji Sun, Alice, and Margaret quickly become inseparable. The leafy green campus they move through together, the idyllic window seat they share in their suite, and the passion and ferocity that school and independence awakens in them ignites an all-encompassing love with one another. But they soon find their bonds–forged in joy, and fused by fear–must weather threats that originate from beyond the dark forests of their childhoods, and come at them from institutions, from one another, and ultimately, from within themselves.

The Other’s Gold follows the four friends as each makes a terrible mistake, moving from their wild college days to their more feral days as new parents. With one part devoted to each mistake–the Accident, the Accusation, the Kiss, and the Bite–this complex yet compulsively readable debut interrogates the way that growing up forces our friendships to evolve as the women discover what they and their loved ones are capable of, and capable of forgiving. A joyful, big-hearted book that perfectly evokes the bittersweet experience of falling in love with friendship, the experiences of Lainey, Ji Sun, Alice, and Margaret are at once achingly familiar and yet shine with a brilliance and depth all their own.

Visit Elizabeth Ames's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Other’s Gold.

--Marshal Zeringue

James Ellroy's six favorite books

James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. His L.A. Quartet novels— The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz—have won numerous awards and are international bestsellers. His novel American Tabloid was Time magazine’s Novel of the Year for 1995; his memoir, My Dark Places, was a Time Best Book and a New York Times Notable Book for 1997. His novel The Cold Six Thousand was a New York Times Notable Book in 2001. His latest novel, This Storm, is the second book in his Second L.A. Quartet. In that series Ellroy takes characters from the original L.A. Quartet and the Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy and places them in Los Angeles during World War II as significantly younger people.

At The Week magazine Ellroy shared his six favorite books. One title on the list:

The Deceivers by John D. MacDonald (1958).

The author of the Travis McGee series wrote a number of lesser-known novels. They hold up very handily — in a literary sense. They largely deal with adultery and alcoholism in 1950s America, but have none of the laborious arty-fartiness of Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road. They are harrowing, bitter, and reek of desperation.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Lorenzo Carcaterra reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Lorenzo Carcaterra, author of Tin Badges: A Novel.

His entry begins:

I was in Italy last month for both work and a vacation visiting with family on the island of Ischia, which allowed me to finally get around to reading Neil Simon's two brilliant memoirs--Rewrites and The Play Goes On. I had many reasons why I was so eager to read both. First, I'm a huge Simon fan and admire both his talent and the volume of work he produced. Second, I love reading about how successful writers go about their work and was impressed by his passion and devotion to his craft regardless of the bumps life often tosses in the way. He found his solace in his work, his escape from losing a wife to cancer, constantly coming up with new ideas, filling notebook after notebook with stories. And with all that work came...[read on]

About Tin Badges, from the publisher:

A top NYPD detective is pulled out of retirement to take down a notorious drug dealer. But will he risk the only family he’s ever had to crack the case?

As one of the NYPD’s most trusted “tin badges”—retired detectives brought in to solve cases that are beyond the reach of the everyday force—Tank Rizzo has faced off against some of the city’s toughest criminals without breaking a sweat. To tackle a case involving a dangerous kingpin known as Gonzo, Tank turns to his best friend and ex-partner, Pearl; a former mobster living out a seemingly quiet retirement as the owner of Tank’s favorite Italian restaurant; and a team of expert misfits he would trust with his life. But Gonzo will stop at nothing to defend the empire he’s built, and won’t hesitate to make it personal.

Then Tank gets a call telling him that his brother and sister-in-law, estranged from him for many years, have been killed in a horrific car accident. Tank is the only family left for his orphaned teenage nephew, Chris, although he knows his lifestyle is ill-suited to win him father of the year.

Chris moves in with Tank, and the two circle each other warily. It’s only when Chris reveals an interest in true crime and a genius-level skill with computers that they begin to bond. Chris’s skills may be exactly what Tank’s team needs to take Gonzo down—but getting him involved could put his life at risk.

Visit Lorenzo Carcaterra's website.

Writers Read: Lorenzo Carcaterra.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Donald Stoker's "Why America Loses Wars"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Why America Loses Wars: Limited War and US Strategy from the Korean War to the Present by Donald Stoker.

About the book, from the publisher:

How can you achieve victory in war if you don't have a clear idea of your political objectives and a vision of what victory means? In this provocative challenge to US policy and strategy, Donald Stoker argues that America endures endless wars because its leaders no longer know how to think about war, particularly limited wars. He reveals how ideas on limited war and war in general evolved against the backdrop of American conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. These ideas, he shows, were flawed and have undermined America's ability to understand, wage, and win its wars, and to secure peace afterwards. America's leaders have too often taken the nation to war without understanding what they want or valuing victory, leading to the 'forever wars' of today. Why America Loses Wars dismantles seventy years of misguided thinking and lays the foundations for a new approach to the wars of tomorrow.

Learn more about Why America Loses Wars at the Cambridge University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Grand Design.

My Book, The Movie: Clausewitz: His Life and Work.

The Page 99 Test: Clausewitz: His Life and Work.

The Page 99 Test: Why America Loses Wars.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eleven top mysteries & thrillers set in New York City

At Murder & Mayhem MacKenzie Stuart tagged eleven gripping mysteries and thrillers set in New York City.

One title on the list:

A Killer's Essence by Dave Zeltserman

A gut-wrenching crime thriller with a supernatural twist, A Killer’s Essence is sure to satisfy. NYPD cop Stan Green is haunted by his latest homicide case—a case where the only witness appears to be haunted himself. As a result of brain damage, Green’s witness suffers from hallucinations of ghostly apparitions. Out of other options, Green decides to trust his witness, despite the man’s delusions...and what he discovers next will chill him to the bone.

Read about another entry on the list.

My Book, The Movie: A Killer's Essence.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: David Gordon's "The Hard Stuff"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Hard Stuff by David Gordon.

About the book, from the publisher:

Ex-black-ops-specialist-turned-strip-club-bouncer Joe Brody has a new qualification to add to his resume: an alliance of New York City’s mob bosses has deemed him its “sheriff.” In the straight world, when you “see something” you “say something” to the law. In the bent world, they call Joe.

Still reeling from a particularly difficult operation, and having plummeted back into the drug and alcohol addiction that got him kicked out of the military as a result, Joe has just managed to detox at the clinic of a Chinese herbalist when the mob bosses phone: they need Joe to help them swindle a group of opioid dealers (of all things). But these are no typical drug-ferrying gangsters. Little Maria, the head of the Dominican mob, has discovered that her new heroin suppliers belong to an al Qaeda splinter group, and that they’re planning to use their drug funds to back their terrorist agenda. With Joe in command, the mob coalition must pull off an intricate heist that will begin in Manhattan’s diamond district. At stake is not only their business, but the state of the world.

For readers who like a liberal dose of humor mixed with gritty crime, The Hard Stuff is a brilliant, action-packed thriller from a fresh virtuoso of the crime caper genre.

Visit David Gordon's blog.

The Page 69 Test: The Serialist.

The Page 69 Test: Mystery Girl.

The Page 69 Test: White Tiger on Snow Mountain.

Writers Read: David Gordon.

The Page 69 Test: The Hard Stuff.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top SFF books with bad old men

Tamsyn Muir is a horror, fantasy and sci-fi author whose works have appeared in Nightmare Magazine, F&SF, Fantasy Magazine, Weird Tales, and Clarkesworld. Her fiction has received nominations for the Nebula Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the World Fantasy Award and the Eugie Foster Memorial Award. She has spent the majority of her life in Howick, New Zealand, with time spent living in Waiuku and central Wellington. She currently lives and teaches in Oxford, in the United Kingdom.

Muir's new novel is Gideon the Ninth.

At Tor.com she tagged five sci-fi & fantasy books with bad old men, including:

Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by JK Rowling

Albus Dumbledore is the bad old man who broke a bad old mould. He is awful in every single Harry Potter book, but particularly so on his first outing. There is so much I could say about why Dumbledore is one of the baddest old men you’ll find in SFF—so much I did say that I had to cut down this paragraph by five thousand words. Take this as evidence: Dumbledore is so bad that every single spin-off Dumbledore in the major Harry Potter parodies sucks in a totally different way, from the constantly naked Dumbledore of Potter Puppet Pals to whatever is going on in Wizard People, Dear Reader. Yet in each he remains recognisably Dumbledore, proving that a specific Dumbledoric terribleness transcends all individual manifestations of the form. Anyway, Harry Potter’s grandpa stand-in and the greatest wizard in wizarding history is horrible not just because he is both intensely hands-off and grotesquely meddlesome, but because as a former boarding-school teacher myself I cannot bear to think how bad it would have been working under him. There’s a meeting about size-and-shape for next year, Albus. Oh, you’ve buggered off to London again? That’s cool, can you pick up an entire structure of support staff while you’re there?

Read about another entry on the list.

The Harry Potter books made Jane Corry's list of five fearsome families in literature, Meghan Ball's top ten list of the unluckiest characters in science fiction & fantasy, Anna Bradley's list of the ten best literary quotes in a crisis, Nicole Hill's list of seven of the best literary wedding themes, Tina Connolly's top five list of books where the girl saves the boy, Ginni Chen's list of the eight grinchiest characters in literature, Molly Schoemann-McCann's top five list of fictional workplaces more dysfunctional than yours, Sophie McKenzie's top ten list of mothers in children's books, Nicole Hill's list of five of the best fictional bookstores, Sara Jonsson's list of the six most memorable pets in fiction, Melissa Albert's list of more than eight top fictional misfits, Cressida Cowell's list of ten notable mythical creatures, and Alison Flood's list of the top 10 most frequently stolen books.

Professor Snape is among Sophie Cleverly's ten top terrifying teachers in children’s books.

Hermione Granger is among Brooke Johnson top five geeky heroes in literature, Nicole Hill's nine best witches in literature, and Melissa Albert's top six distractible book lovers in pop culture.

Neville Longbottom is one of Ellie Irving's top ten quiet heroes and heroines.

Mr. Weasley is one of Melissa Albert's five weirdest fictional crushes.

Hedwig (Harry's owl) is among Django Wexler's top ten animal companions in children's fiction.

Scabbers the rat is among Ross Welford's ten favorite rodents in children's fiction.

Butterbeer is among Leah Hyslop's six best fictional drinks.

Albus Dumbledore is one of Rachel Thompson's ten greatest deaths in fiction.

Lucius Malfoy is among Jeff Somers's five best evil lieutenants (or "dragons") in SF/F.

Dolores Umbridge is among Melissa Albert's six more notorious teachers in fiction, Emerald Fennell's top ten villainesses in literature, and Derek Landy's top 10 villains in children's books. The Burrow is one of Elizabeth Wilhide's nine most memorable manors in literature.

Remus Lupin is among Aimée Carter's top ten shapeshifters in fiction.

Fang (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) is among Brian Boone's six best fictional dogs.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban appears on Amanda Yesilbas and Katharine Trendacosta's list ot twenty great insults from science fiction & fantasy and Charlie Jane Anders's list of the ten greatest prison breaks in science fiction and fantasy.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone also appears on Nicole Hill's lists of the ten best moms in fiction and list of nine top meet cutes in YA lit, Kenneth Oppel's top ten list of train stories, Jeff Somers's top five list of books written in very unlikely places, Phoebe Walker's list of eight mouthwatering quotes from the greatest literary feasts, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best owls in literature, ten of the best scars in fiction and ten of the best motorbikes in literature, and Katharine Trendacosta and Charlie Jane Anders's list of the ten greatest personality tests in sci-fi & fantasy, Charlie Higson's top 10 list of fantasy books for children, Justin Scroggie's top ten list of books with secret signs as well as Charlie Jane Anders and Michael Ann Dobbs's list of well-known and beloved science fiction and fantasy novels that publishers didn't want to touch. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire made Chrissie Gruebel's list of six top fictional holiday parties and John Mullan's list of the ten best graveyard scenes in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

Marlowe Benn's "Relative Fortunes," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Relative Fortunes (A Julia Kydd Novel) by Marlowe Benn.

The entry begins:

Relative Fortunes, my debut historical mystery, features two estranged half-siblings separated by ten years and a world of grievances. When the novel opens, Julia Kydd knows little about her half brother, Philip, other than that he’s abruptly challenged their father’s will—just as she’s about to turn twenty-five and receive her inheritance.

The pair have every reason to mistrust each other. Julia is the daughter of their father’s second wife, a young Swedish bohemian whom he married shortly after the death of his first wife, Philip’s mother. Before Julia was born, Philip was dispatched to a succession of boarding schools. The two siblings share no family bond and no physical resemblance: Julia has her mother’s fair Scandinavian coloring and Philip bears the dark Mediterranean features of his mother.

Thrown together as adversaries, they spar throughout the novel. Philip’s wry, provocative wit sharpens Julia’s perceptions and judgments, but their spirited repartee—crackling at times—also illustrates the gendered disparity of their positions. Unlike Julia, Philip is secure in his wealth. The “squabble” that is high sport to him is deadly serious for her. Should his challenge prevail and her inheritance be denied, she’ll lose her financial independence, and with it her dream of making a mark in the world.

For Julia I would cast Swedish actress Alicia Vikander. Vikander could beautifully convey Julia’s discerning intelligence and natural elegance. I imagine Vikander…[read on]

Visit Marlowe Benn's website.

My Book, The Movie: Relative Fortunes.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Sara Lövestam reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Sara Lövestam, author of The Truth Behind the Lie: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

Right now, I am actually reading Stephen King's On Writing, first published in 2000. I feel like most writers have read it - it is often referred to in conversations among writers, and I figured it was time for me to read it. I have just finished reading the parts about his upbringing and about the "writer's toolbox" and I am now on the "on writing" part. This book probably would have given me more aha moments 20 years ago - I have written 22 books (2 of them published in English) and pretty much have my procedure worked out - but I always get...[read on]

About The Truth Behind the Lie, from the publisher:

The Truth Behind The Lie is Sara Lövestam’s award-winning and gripping novel about blurred lines, second chances, and the lengths one will go to for the truth.

When a six-year-old girl disappears and calling the police isn’t an option, her desperate mother Pernilla turns to an unlikely source for help. She finds a cryptic ad online for a private investigator:

“Need help, but can’t contact the police?”

That’s where Kouplan comes in. He’s an Iranian refugee living in hiding. He was forced to leave Iran after news of his and his brother's involvement with a radical newspaper hated by the regime was discovered. Kouplan’s brother disappeared, and he hasn’t seen him in four years. He makes a living as a P.I. working under the radar, waiting for the day he can legally apply for asylum.

Pernilla’s daughter has vanished without a trace, and Kouplan is an expert at living and working off the grid. He’s the perfect PI to help… but something in Pernilla’s story doesn’t add up. She might need help that he can’t offer...and a little girl’s life hangs in the balance.

Visit Sara Lövestam's website.

My Book, The Movie: Wonderful Feels Like This.

The Page 69 Test: Wonderful Feels Like This.

Writers Read: Sara Lövestam.

--Marshal Zeringue

Twenty of the best school stories & university novels

At the Waterstones blog, Mark Skinner tagged twenty of the best school stories and university novels, including:

Election
Tom Perrotta

The suburban high school as a microcosm of corrupt American society, Tom Perrotta’s savagely witty satire deftly demonstrates how the noblest of intentions can turn ugly very quickly. Fiercely intelligent and blistering funny, Election is a vote-winning classroom cracker.

Read about another entry on the list.

Election is among Jeff Somers's five books that take place over one school year, Ellen Wehle's four top novels featuring bad teacher-student behavior, and Don Calame's top ten funny teen boy books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: H.G. Parry's "The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H. G. Parry.

About the book, from the publisher:

For his entire life, Charley Sutherland has concealed a magical ability he can’t quite control: he can bring characters from books into the real world. His older brother, Rob — a young lawyer with a normal house, a normal fiancee, and an utterly normal life — hopes that this strange family secret will disappear with disuse, and he will be discharged from his life’s duty of protecting Charley and the real world from each other. But then, literary characters start causing trouble in their city, making threats about destroying the world… and for once, it isn’t Charley’s doing.

There’s someone else who shares his powers. It’s up to Charley and a reluctant Rob to stop them, before these characters tear apart the fabric of reality.

Visit H.G. Parry's website.

Writers Read: H. G. Parry.

The Page 69 Test: The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Holly Lawford-Smith's "Not In Their Name"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Not In Their Name: Are Citizens Culpable For Their States' Actions? by Holly Lawford-Smith.

About the book, from the publisher:

There are many actions that we attribute, at least colloquially, to states. Given their size and influence, states are able to inflict harm far beyond the reach of a single individual. But there is a great deal of unclarity about exactly who is implicated in that kind of harm, and how we should think about responsibility for it. It is a commonplace assumption that democratic publics both authorize and have control over what their states do; that their states act in their name and on their behalf. In Not In Their Name, Holly Lawford-Smith approaches these questions from the perspective of social ontology, asking whether the state is a collective agent, and whether ordinary citizens are members of that agent. If it is, and they are, there's a clear case for democratic collective culpability. She explores alternative conceptions of the state and of membership in the state; alternative conceptions of collective agency applied to the state; the normative implications of membership in the state; and both culpability (from the inside) and responsibility (from the outside) for what the state does. Ultimately, Lawford-Smith argues for the exculpation of ordinary citizens and the inculpation of those working in public services.

Visit Holly Lawford-Smith's website.

The Page 99 Test: Not In Their Name.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top books that flirt with Area 51

At Tor.com Gabriella Tutino tagged five books that flirt with Area 51, including:

Adaptation by Malinda Lo

In this YA science fiction novel, the protagonist Reese Holloway and her partner David are driving home to San Francisco when they get into a car crash with a bird in the Arizona-Nevada desert that is Area 51. Holloway wakes up in a military hospital about a month later, healed from an operation. It isn’t until Holloway gets back home and encounters Amber Gray, that she realizes things are wrong and she may be wrapped up in one big government-extraterrestrial conspiracy. Moreso Area 51 adjacent as opposed to centralized, Adaptation is actually a two-part novel followed up by Inheritance.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Evan Ramzipoor & Lada

Featured at Coffee with a Canine: Evan Ramzipoor & Lada.

The author, on how she and Lada were united:

A few years ago, we learned there was going to be a massive adoption fair in Marin: goats, pigs, chickens, sheep, horses, cats, and dogs. After my wife vetoed goats and chickens, we made a list of pups we wanted to meet. They were mostly large, sturdy dogs we could take running and hiking. I was especially interested in a stately specimen named Charlie.

We got to the fair twenty minutes before it officially opened. While walking to meet the first dog on our list, my wife stumbled across a little scruff-ball in a crate. I drifted away to try and woo an aloof spaniel. When I returned, my wife was holding this a strange, fuzzy alien with a long body and curly tail. I knelt down, and the pup snuggled into my arms. Ten minutes before the fair opened, we...[read on]

About Ramzipoor's new novel, The Ventriloquists, from the publisher:

The Nazis stole their voices. But they would not be silenced.

Brussels, 1943. Twelve-year-old street orphan Helene survives by living as a boy and selling copies of the country’s most popular newspaper, Le Soir, now turned into Nazi propaganda. Helene’s world changes when she befriends a rogue journalist, Marc Aubrion, who draws her into a secret network that publishes dissident underground newspapers.

The Nazis track down Aubrion’s team and give them an impossible choice: turn the resistance newspapers into a Nazi propaganda bomb that will sway public opinion against the Allies, or be killed. Faced with no decision at all, Aubrion has a brilliant idea. While pretending to do the Nazis’ bidding, they will instead publish a fake edition of Le Soir that pokes fun at Hitler and Stalin—daring to laugh in the face of their oppressors.

The ventriloquists have agreed to die for a joke, and they have only eighteen days to tell it.

Featuring an unforgettable cast of characters and stunning historical detail, E.R. Ramzipoor’s dazzling debut novel illuminates the extraordinary acts of courage by ordinary people forgotten by time. It is a moving and powerful ode to the importance of the written word and to the unlikely heroes who went to extreme lengths to orchestrate the most stunning feat of journalism in modern history.

Visit E.R. Ramzipoor's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Evan Ramzipoor & Lada.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is David Gordon reading?

Featured at Writers Read: David Gordon, author of The Hard Stuff.

His entry begins:

As the beginning of the school term approaches, I am both finishing up summer reading and thinking about classes I will teach, so my my current book-list is even more of a hodge-podge than usual. I am reading:

Street of Thieves (Mathias Énard) This is a really thrilling and brilliant novel, written by a French Arabic scholar who now lives in Barcelona, about a young guy from Tangier who ends up lost in the no man’s land of the docks and ferries between Morocco and Barcelona as he flees his family, (who disowned him for sleeping with a cousin), a group of Islamic extremists, and the Spanish authorities, while also trying to connect with...[read on]

About The Hard Stuff, from the publisher:

Ex-black-ops-specialist-turned-strip-club-bouncer Joe Brody has a new qualification to add to his resume: an alliance of New York City’s mob bosses has deemed him its “sheriff.” In the straight world, when you “see something” you “say something” to the law. In the bent world, they call Joe.

Still reeling from a particularly difficult operation, and having plummeted back into the drug and alcohol addiction that got him kicked out of the military as a result, Joe has just managed to detox at the clinic of a Chinese herbalist when the mob bosses phone: they need Joe to help them swindle a group of opioid dealers (of all things). But these are no typical drug-ferrying gangsters. Little Maria, the head of the Dominican mob, has discovered that her new heroin suppliers belong to an al Qaeda splinter group, and that they’re planning to use their drug funds to back their terrorist agenda. With Joe in command, the mob coalition must pull off an intricate heist that will begin in Manhattan’s diamond district. At stake is not only their business, but the state of the world.

For readers who like a liberal dose of humor mixed with gritty crime, The Hard Stuff is a brilliant, action-packed thriller from a fresh virtuoso of the crime caper genre.

Visit David Gordon's blog.

The Page 69 Test: The Serialist.

The Page 69 Test: Mystery Girl.

The Page 69 Test: White Tiger on Snow Mountain.

Writers Read: David Gordon.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight books on a San Diego reading list

Patrick Coleman makes things from words, sounds, and occasional pictures. His debut collection of poems, Fire Season, was written after the birth of his first child by speaking aloud into a digital audio recorder on the long commute between the art museum where he worked and his home in a rural neighborhood that burned in the Witch Creek Fire of 2007. It won the 2015 Berkshire Prize and was released by Tupelo Press on December 1, 2018. His short-form prose has appeared in Hobart, ZYZZYVA, Zócalo Public Square, the Writer's Chronicle, the Black Warrior Review, Juked, and the Utne Reader, among others. The Art of Music, an exhibition catalogue on the relationship between visual arts and music that he edited and contributed to, was co-published by Yale University Press and the San Diego Museum of Art. Coleman earned an MFA from Indiana University and a BA from the University of California Irvine. He lives in Ramona, California, with his wife and two daughters, and is the Assistant Director of the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UC San Diego.

Coleman's new book, his first novel, is The Churchgoer.

One of the author's top eight San Diego books:

Julia Dixon Evans, How to Set Yourself on Fire

This frank and compelling portrait of Sheila, a thirty-something woman adrift, the box of love letters she inherits from her grandmother, and the grief-stricken neighbor girl she befriends is as cuttingly funny as it is moving. There’s a powerful tension in her secrets, compulsive lying, and ambivalence, a kind of suspended anticipation of the other shoe dropping. The San Diego fire season is the backdrop to the story from the first line and sets the tone: “It’s the third morning of a wildfire to the east and everyone’s used to the smell by now.” It’s a time of year when many of us San Diegans go through the day with our hearts in our throats, waiting for that signal: smoke on the horizon, the sounds of a CalFire plane or helicopter. With climate change, fire season is stretching out—some years into what feels like the entire year—and that feeling, which this book evokes so well and connects with the lives of its characters in complex ways, is only going to be more and more a part of our experience.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue