What is R.T. Ester reading?

Featured at Writers Read: R.T. Ester, author of The Ganymedan.

His entry begins:

I started a novel recently called Extremophile by Ian Green. It's one whose very bold cover design I had been captivated by for months. So far, I've enjoyed the book's vision of a near-future London that sort of reminds me of the gritty, neon-streaked streets that make up much of the Night City setting of William Gibson's Neuromancer. It's also written in a prose style that doesn't use dialog markers and often has me feeling like a fly on a wall to the story's proceedings, which is something I generally enjoy when I read books in the cyberpunk genre. There are...[read on]

About The Ganymedan, from the publisher:

A dark science fiction debut examining agency and sacrifice through one man’s desperate attempt to reach home after he murders his tyrannical employer.

Verden Dotnet made an easy living mixing drinks for the creator of all sentient tech in the galaxy—until he decided to kill the creator. Now this man is dead, really dead, no cloud back-ups, and V-Dot is on the run, carrying a galaxy-shattering secret in his pocket. When he misses the last ship back to Ganymede, he convinces an old, outdated but still sentient ship, TR-8901, to give him a lift.

But TR suspects that something is up—it is hearing rumours about his creator’s death, and the man who fled the scene. But TR is a dutiful ship, and will carry out its duties until proven otherwise…

Visit R.T. Ester's website.

Writers Read: R.T. Ester.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Maxim Samson's "Earth Shapers"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Earth Shapers: How We Mapped and Mastered the World, from the Panama Canal to the Baltic Way by Maxim Samson.

About the book, from the publisher:

The globetrotting story of how humans have harnessed the geographical landscape and written ourselves onto our surroundings.

Mountains, meridians, rivers, and borders—these are some of the features that divide the world on our maps and in our minds. But geography is far less set in stone than we might believe, and, as Maxim Samson’s Earth Shapers contends, in our relatively short time on this planet, humans have become experts at fundamentally reshaping our surroundings.

From the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca’s “great road,” and Mozambique’s colonial railways to a Saudi Arabian smart city, and from Korea’s sacred Baekdu-daegan mountain range and the Great Green Wall in Africa to the streets of Chicago, Samson explores how we mold the world around us. And how, as we etch our needs onto the natural landscape, we alter the course of history. These fascinating stories of connectivity show that in our desire to make geographical connections, humans have broken through boundaries of all kinds, conquered treacherous terrain, and carved up landscapes. We crave linkages, and though we do not always pay attention to the in-between, these pathways—these ways of “earth shaping,” in Samson’s words—are key to understanding our relationship with the planet we call home.

An immense work of cultural geography touching on ecology, sociology, history, and politics, Earth Shapers argues that, far from being constrained by geography, we are instead its creators.

Visit Maxim Samson's website.

The Page 99 Test: Earth Shapers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine books that explore the unique intimacy of sisters

Lisa K Friedman is a writer and essayist living in Washington, D.C. Her essays appear in The New York Times, Huffington Post, and other publications.

Friedman's new novel is Hello Wife.

At Electric Lit she tagged "nine novels [that] explore the intricacies of trauma, love, conflict, and support between sisters." One title on the list:

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

Elf and Yoli are sisters who exist in the shadow of their father’s suicide. Elf is a superstar concert pianist plagued by depression—she wants desperately to die. Her younger sister, Yoli, is devoted to her sister and to the intellectual and spiritual closeness they’ve created together. She will do anything to save her sister, and she also respects Elf’s wishes. This conflict is evidence of an extraordinary love that must span the divide between sacrifice and support. The nature of this bond combines nurturing and anguish. Also, check out Miriam Toews’s new memoir, A Truce That is Not Peace, and her latest interview in EL.

Read about another title on Friedman's list.

All My Puny Sorrows is among Matt Rowland Hill's top ten books about losing faith and Katie Yee's five unconventional fictional families.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Finley Turner's "The Tarot Reader"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Tarot Reader: A Novel by Finley Turner.

About the book, from the publisher:

A phony psychic vision goes wrong when a woman unexpectedly finds herself involved in a murder investigation, perfect for fans of May Cobb and Catherine McKenzie.

Twenty-five-year-old Jade Crawford spends her days selling crystals, conducting séances, and reading tarot cards in her shop in Winston-Salem, NC. But her connection to the other side is all a facade. After losing their mother to a terrible accident and their father serving jail time, Jade and her younger sister Stevie do what they can to survive. When a local politician goes missing, Jade sees a lucrative opportunity to drum up new clients and inject some much-needed cash into their pockets.

Jade submits a “psychic vision” to the police tipline only to discover that her shot in the dark is chillingly accurate when the police find the politician’s body. Caught in a media whirlwind, Jade revels in her newfound popularity and success, but she quickly finds herself the target of not only a police investigation but of the killer who is still on the loose.

With stunning suspense that is perfect for fans of Samantha M. Bailey, Finley turns the screws tighter into a taut and thrilling read.

Visit Finley Turner's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Engagement Party.

Q&A with Finley Turner.

Writers Read: Finley Turner.

The Page 69 Test: The Tarot Reader.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five essential books for understanding why we choose what we choose

Sophia Rosenfeld is Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and former chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches European and American intellectual and cultural history with a special emphasis on the Enlightenment, the trans-Atlantic Age of Revolutions, and the legacy of the eighteenth century for modern democracy.

[The Page 99 Test: Common Sense: A Political History; The Page 99 Test: Democracy and Truth]

Her latest book is The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life.

At Lit Hub Rosenfeld tagged five important books for understanding why we choose what we choose. One title on her list:

Lorraine Daston, Rules: A Short History of What We Live By

Rules: A Short History of What We Live By is an eye-opening recent account of how something as fundamental as the different kinds of rules by which we organize our existences have evolved, in practice and theory, from antiquity to the present. After reading this book, you won’t look the same way at shaking hands, getting on a highway at a busy interchange, or buying groceries on your computer. Daston’s specialty is the history of thinking itself.

Read about another title on Rosenfeld's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Robert Ivermee's "Glorious Failure"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Glorious Failure: The Forgotten History of French Imperialism in India by Robert Ivermee.

About the book, from the publisher:

This is a powerful new account of a chapter in history that is crucial to understand, yet often overlooked. For 150 years, from the reign of Louis XIV to the downfall of Napoleon, France was an aggressive imperial power in South Asia, driven by the pursuit of greatness and riches. Through their East India company and state, the French established a far-reaching empire in India, only to see their dominant position undermined by conflict with Indian rulers, competition from other European nations, and a series of fatal strategic errors.

Exploding the myth of a benign French presence on the subcontinent, Robert Ivermee's extensive research reveals how France's Indian empire relied on war-making, conquest, opportunistic alliances, regime change and slavery to pursue its ambitions. He considers influential French figures' reactions to the collapse of the imperial project, not least their deployment of new ideas, like freedom and the rights of man, to justify fresh ventures of domination--even as colonial authorities failed to acknowledge the equality of French India's diverse indigenous peoples, both before and after the French Revolution.

From great power rivalry to informal empire and entrenched inequalities, Glorious Failure tackles topics that remain vital and urgent in today's world.

Learn more about Glorious Failure at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Glorious Failure.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Maryka Biaggio

From my Q&A with Maryka Biaggio, author of Gun Girl and the Tall Guy:

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

Gun Girl and the Tall Guy is based on the true story of a young couple who went on a robbery spree in 1924 Brooklyn. I wanted the title to include both the main characters, and I had to look no further than the headlines of the day to discover the many monikers the press applied to the duo, including the bob-haired bandit and her handsome companion or the feisty gun girl and her shy man. I settled on gun girl for Celia because it’s short and catchy and tall guy for Ed because it makes it clear he’s in a supporting role.

At its heart, the story is about why this young couple resorted to crime and also why New Yorkers—and the whole country, for that matter—were so fascinated by these two. They were the Bonnie and Clyde of the 1920s, with a few twists. So I wanted a title that featured both Celia and Ed and provided a sense of...[read on]

Visit Maryka Biaggio's website.

My Book, The Movie: Parlor Games.

The Page 69 Test: Parlor Games.

Writers Read: Maryka Biaggio (February 2013).

Q&A with Maryka Biaggio.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Martin Edwards reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Martin Edwards, author of Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife.

His entry begins:

I read all the time, and much of my reading is crime fiction, because that is what I love. I also need to research books for the British Library Crime Classics series of reprints, for which I’m the consultant. Because I’ve been heavily involved with writing and then promoting Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife for the past two years, I’ve read a huge number of detective stories with a puzzle element of one kind or another. Lately I’ve become rather obsessed with the books of a Scottish writer called D.M. Devine, who also wrote as Dominic Devine. He wrote in the 1960s and 1970s and he was very good at writing traditional mysteries with an ingenious puzzle to be solved. Agatha Christie was a fan of his work, but although his serial killer mystery The Fifth Cord was filmed, as an Italian giallo, he is now more or less forgotten. This is partly because...[read on]

About Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife, from the publisher:

Six down-on-their-luck people with links to the world of crime writing have been invited to play a game this Christmas by the mysterious Midwinter Trust. The challenge seems simple but exciting: Solve the murder of a fictional crime writer in a remote but wonderfully atmospheric village in north Yorkshire to win a prize that will change your fortunes for good.

Six members of staff from the shadowy Trust are there to make sure everyone plays fair. The contestants have been meticulously vetted but you can never be too careful. And with the village about to be cut off by a snow storm, everyone needs to be extra vigilant. Midwinter can play tricks on people's minds.

The game is set - but playing fair isn't on everyone's Christmas list.

Learn more about the book and author at Martin Edwards’s website.

Writers Read: Martin Edwards (April 2013).

The Page 69 Test: The Frozen Shroud.

The Page 69 Test: Dancing for the Hangman.

The Page 99 Test: The Arsenic Labyrinth.

The Page 99 Test: Waterloo Sunset.

My Book, The Movie: Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife.

Writers Read: Martin Edwards.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Jake P. Smith's "The Ruin Dwellers"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Ruin Dwellers: Progress and Its Discontents in the West German Counterculture by Jake P. Smith.

About the book, from the publisher:

Traces the shifting dynamics within leftist activism in 1970s and ’80s Europe and its experiments in art, life, and politics.

The Ruin Dwellers takes readers into the urban spaces of youth revolts during the 1970s and ’80s in West Germany and elsewhere in western and central Europe. Whereas earlier generations of leftist activists were primarily oriented toward the utopian future, participants in the youth movements of the 1970s and ’80s developed a more complex set of temporal practices that sought to scramble the borders between the past, present, and future.

Examining a rich corpus of radical texts and practices, historian Jake P. Smith shows that squatters and their leftist allies in this period engaged in social, cultural, and aesthetic experiments with modes of autonomous living. Smith brings to life the real and imagined landscapes conjured in squatted houses and street protests; in art, dress, music, graffiti, and film; and in philosophical, poetic, and political texts. In so doing, he offers an eye-opening look at anarchic world-making practices that found new ways of imagining an emancipated future through inhabiting the fractured past.

Learn more about The Ruin Dwellers at the University of Chicago Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Ruin Dwellers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eleven top 90’s throwback books

Nora Dahlia is a lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, among others. Dahlia is also a branded content expert, book doctor, ghostwriter, collaborator, and writing coach. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two kids.

She is the author of Backslide and Pick-Up.

At People magazine Dahlia tagged eleven newer "90’s throwback books.... From memoir to literary fiction and from light to dark, these stories—though often complex in content—envelop us in simpler times." One title on the list:

Kate & Frida by Kim Fay

Twenty-something Frida Rodriguez comes to butter-soaked Paris in 1991 with visions of becoming a war correspondent. But when she writes to a bookshop in Seattle, she accidentally meets bookseller Kate Fair — and they inspire each other in unexpected ways.

Through the most tumultuous years of their young lives — personally and globally — Kate and Frida show each other how to overcome self-doubt and embrace joy even through their darkest hours in the last precious years before the internet changed everything.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Ian Chorão's "When We Talk to the Dead"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: When We Talk to the Dead: A Novel by Ian Chorão.

About the book, from the publisher:

The island was abandoned years ago–but something dark was left behind, and it’s waiting for those bold enough to return.

Perfect for fans of Iain Reid, this slow-burning horror novel will sweep you out, and like a churning ocean, before you realize, it will pull you under its turbulent spell.

A remote deserted island off the coast of Maine holds dark memories and disturbing secrets for the family who once lived on its rocky shores. Though nineteen-year-old Sally de Gama remembers nothing about the accident that took place on Captain’s Island and destroyed her family when she was a little girl, she suffers from intense anxiety, pervasive bouts of dissociation, and gruesome nightmares.

All Sally knows is that her mother hasn’t spoken since the accident that took the life of Sally’s twin sister. Following the tragedy, her family fled and never looked back.

When her mother suddenly dies, Sally and three college friends travel to the island–for her friends it’s an adventure to a strange, abandoned place. For Sally, it’s a desperate bid to recover some of her memories and understand what really happened to her family. But when memories begin to return, Sally is overcome by grief and rage that threaten to plunge her into madness–a madness that is fed by a malevolent presence stalking them on the island.

Follow Ian Chorão on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Writers Read: Ian Chorão.

Q&A with Ian Chorão.

The Page 69 Test: When We Talk to the Dead.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Ning Leng's "Politicizing Business"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Politicizing Business: How Firms Are Made to Serve the Party-State in China by Ning Leng.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Chinese state has never granted businesses full autonomy, even amid efforts to establish market-supporting institutions. Instead, the state and its officials view business as primarily political actors, demanding political services from firms to advance political objectives. Politicizing Business demonstrates that the politicization of firms is rooted in authoritarianism, often harming business interests and undermining China's efforts to attract and retain investment. Explaining the seemingly arbitrary state takeover of sectors and firms, this book uncovers previously overlooked forms of politicization and demonstrates how politicizing business often creates conflicts between the state and firms, particularly private firms, leading to a state-dominated market in many sectors. Combining academic rigor with exceptionally rich data and analysis, including hundreds of in-depth interviews with government officials and business leaders, original datasets and case studies, Politicizing Business offers fresh insights into China's political economy model and explores what the Party-state demands from companies, how compliance is enforced, when and where firms are politicized, and its impact on China's development.

Visit Ning Leng's website.

The Page 99 Test: Politicizing Business.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven novels about women leading double lives

Lisa Borders is the author of the novels Cloud Cuckoo Land, chosen by Pat Conroy as the winner of River City Publishing’s Fred Bonnie Award and a Massachusetts Book Awards honoree, and The Fifty-First State. A frequent humor contributor at McSweeney’s, her essays and short fiction have appeared in Past Ten, The Rumpus, Cognoscenti, Black Warrior Review and other journals.

Borders’s new novel is Last Night at the Disco.

At Electric Lit the author tagged seven novels in which female protagonists "are all very different characters, but the one thing they share is being trapped between two worlds, even if that trap is of their own making." One title on the list:

The Possibilities by Yael Goldstein-Love

A harrowing birth is also at the heart of The Possibilities, in which a new mother sees disturbing images of what might have been, and to save her son must confront not just a double life, but a multiverse of outcomes. Eight months since the difficult birth of her son, Jack, narrator Hannah can’t shake the feeling that her thriving infant might not have survived. As visions of this other life where she loses her baby destabilize Hannah, Jack disappears from his crib, and Hannah must tap into an ability to visit alternate worlds in order to save him. I loved the way this novel flipped the script on the double life plot: Instead of making a permanent shift into a different version of her life, Hannah has to fight for the life and child she already has.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Possibilities.

Q&A with Yael Goldstein-Love.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Christa Carmen

From my Q&A with Christa Carmen, author of How to Fake a Haunting:

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

The title is very much the premise of the novel. My main character, Lainey, is married to a man named Callum who is an alcoholic but not on paper. He’s ruining her life and their daughter’s life with his drinking. She feels that if she were to take him to a judge to try to divorce him and get full custody of their daughter, she’s not going to have a lot to go on, and that’s heightened by the fact that he has a very influential family. So Lainey’s wild and crazy best friend comes up with a wild and crazy plan to stage a haunting in the house so realistic that it drives her husband out of the house for good.

What's in a name?

I do occasionally give my characters names that are symbolic (Saoirse White and Emmit Powell as having the same initials as Sarah Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe in Beneath the Poet’s House, for example), but in the case of How to Fake a Haunting, I...[read on]

Visit Christa Carmen's website.

The Page 69 Test: Beneath the Poet's House.

Q&A with Christa Carmen.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Marc James Carpenter's "The War on Illahee"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The War on Illahee: Genocide, Complicity, and Cover-Ups in the Pioneer Northwest by Marc James Carpenter.

About the book, from the publisher:

How a generation of pioneers and their historians knowingly hid the violent history of Indigenous dispossession in the Pacific Northwest

The small, mostly forgotten wars of the 1850s in the American Pacific Northwest were part of a broader genocidal war—the War on Illahee—to seize Native land for Euro‑Americans. Illahee (a term for “homeland” in Chinook) was turned into the states of Oregon and Washington through the violence of invading soldiers, settlers, and serial killers. Clashes over the brutality of invasion—should it be celebrated, isolated, or erased?—left behind accidental archives of atrocity, as history writers disagreed over which stories they should tell and which stories they could sell. By the 1920s, the War on Illahee had been disappeared.

Drawing on records from the perpetrators themselves, the papers of historians, and previously suppressed evidence from Indigenous survivors, Marc James Carpenter has written both a new history of pioneer atrocities within and beyond the wars on Native people in the American Pacific Northwest, and a new history of how these wars were remembered, commemorated, and forgotten. The overlapping distortions have embedded inaccuracies in our histories and textbooks all the way to the present. Beyond reshaping the history of the Pacific Northwest, this searing book opens broader conversations about settler colonialism, historical memory, problematic monuments, and the historical profession.

Learn more about The War on Illahee at the Yale University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The War on Illahee.

--Mashal Zeringue

Seven top novels featuring demons & possession

K. Valentin works as a senior art director in casual gaming, herding twenty-plus amazing artists into some semblance of organization. She has been published in the Bag of Bones Horror Anthology, the Latino Book Review, and Cosmos: An Anthology of Dark Microfiction. As a comic writer and illustrator, her work has been published in Puerto Rico Strong and Proud: An LGBTQ+ YA Anthology. She has a BA in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University. An Amateur Witch's Guide to Murder is her debut novel.

At CrimeReads Valentin tagged seven of the latest and greatest novels featuring demons and possession, including:

Martha Wells, Witch King

The Martha Wells gave us demons and their culture is rich and strange and so unlike other demon interpretations. Our titular Witch King, Kai, a demon from the Underworld, lives a life rife with misunderstandings about demons.

He’s cut off from the world he used to know, the life he once made for himself, the body he’s accustomed to, his friends, and at the beginning, any memory of why he’s imprisoned. In Kai’s world, the evils are the invaders striving for control and power, massacring peaceful tribes, and taking control of the land—but he and his kind are the ones feared as evil.

Despite the backdrop of invasion and rebellion, this book is charming, a little cynical, filled with (bittersweet) friendships, as well as a wealth of cultures I’m desperate to learn more about. It’s also the kind of book that gets even better on a second (and third) read.

Read about another novel on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Martin Edwards's "Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards.

The entry begins:

Over the years, I’ve had several dreamcasts for the TV version of my crime novels. The only problem is that the TV scripts that people have written were never made, let alone shown on the screen. Three years ago I wrote an audio drama that was recorded by some terrific actors, but that won’t be released until 2027, so I can’t say anything about it yet. All rather frustrating, but one can still dream…

When I’m writing, I never think about possible film or TV adaptation, because that would be a distraction. Besides, a story will inevitably be changed when adapted for the screen.

Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife begins with six guests (all of them linked to the book world, and all of them down on their luck) invited to the remote village of Midwinter by six hosts from the shadowy Midwinter Trust. Because the book is an intricate mystery with lots of twists and turns, I’d like Rian Johnson, of Knives Out and Poker Face fame to direct. He’d be able to get the best out of the story, and I’d like Anthony Horowitz – with whom I shared a dinner table a couple of years back, the night we both won Edgar awards – to write the screenplay, because he is a brilliant adapter.

The nature of the story means that it would justify a great ensemble cast, but let me focus on some of the key players.

The British actor Steve Coogan would be great as Harry Crystal, the failed crime writer. His wry persona is...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Martin Edwards’s website.

Writers Read: Martin Edwards (April 2013).

The Page 69 Test: The Frozen Shroud.

The Page 69 Test: Dancing for the Hangman.

The Page 99 Test: The Arsenic Labyrinth.

The Page 99 Test: Waterloo Sunset.

My Book, The Movie: Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Denise M. Walsh's "Imperial Sexism"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Imperial Sexism: Why Culture and Women's Rights Don't Clash by Denise M. Walsh.

About the book, from the publisher:

Communities across the world engage in gender practices that are seen by many as in conflict with women's rights, such as Muslim women's face veils and polygyny. But in Imperial Sexism, Denise M. Walsh argues that culture and women's rights are not inherently at odds. The root problem is imperial sexism: the legacy of colonial-era racism and sexism and their compounding harms.

Through a cross-regional comparative analysis of three dissimilar policy debates in three very different democracies--the 2014 French "burka ban" adjudicated at the European Court of Human Rights, the 1998 legalization of polygyny in post-apartheid South Africa, and the 1985 reform of the "marrying out" rule for Indigenous women in Canada--Walsh confirms that a clash between culture and women's rights is always avoidable, examines why the presumption of a clash endures, and highlights the damage this presumption causes. She centers the voices of women who experience imperial sexism, many of whom resist the notion of a clash and instead harmonize cultural, religious, and women's rights by focusing on their plural identities and lived experiences. By contrast, when politicians and conservative group leaders insist upon a clash, they rely on imperial myths, binaries, and tropes, and a misuse of history. Ultimately, by amplifying the arguments of women most affected by controversial gender practices, Imperial Sexism develops a framework to promote justice, reject colonial prejudice, and strengthen the indivisibility of human rights and democratic inclusiveness.

Visit Denise M. Walsh's website.

The Page 99 Test: Imperial Sexism.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles that push narrative boundaries

Molly O’Sullivan is a cybersecurity engineer turned speculative fiction writer with a love of nature, tea, and characters who, despite everything, still manage to hope. Originally from South Carolina, she has lived all over the country but now resides outside Seattle with her husband, two children, and curmudgeonly dog.

O’Sullivan's debut novel is The Book of Autumn.

At The Nerd Daily she tagged six books (plus one short story) that "experiment with form and structure to create an engaging and immersive experience that wholeheartedly sucks you into the story." One title on the list:

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

A story within a story that spans time periods, continents, and characters, this follows a young historian who discovers a mysterious book and cache of letters in her father’s library, plunging her into her father’s past and a search for truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler who inspired the legend of Dracula. Much of the story is told in letters by her father and historical research through ancient documents. You really feel like it’s all real as you dive into the different texts.

Read about another novel on O’Sullivan's list.

The Historian is among Mark Skinner's ten top vampire books and Lauren Owen's top ten vampire books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Heather Aimee O'Neill's "The Irish Goodbye"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Irish Goodbye: A Novel by Heather Aimee O'Neill.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this debut, for fans of J. Courtney Sullivan and Mary Beth Keane, three adult sisters grapple with a shared tragedy over a Thanksgiving weekend as they try to heal strained family bonds through the passage of time.

It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all together at their beloved family home on the eastern shore of Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by an accident on their brother Topher’s boat: A friend’s brother was killed, the resulting lawsuit nearly bankrupted their parents, and Topher spiraled into depression, eventually taking his life. Now the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, eager to reconnect, but each carrying a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush: Topher’s best friend and the brother of the boy who died. Middle sister, Alice, has been thrown a curveball that threatens the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk of bringing the woman she loves home to meet her devoutly Catholic mother. Infusing everything is the grief for Topher that none of the Ryans have figured out how to carry together.

When Cait invites a guest from their shared past to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive themselves—and one another.

Visit Heather Aimee O'Neill's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Irish Goodbye.

The Page 69 Test: The Irish Goodbye.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Emily Katz Anhalt's "Ancient Wisdom for Polarized Times"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Ancient Wisdom for Polarized Times: Why Humanity Needs Herodotus, the Man Who Invented History by Emily Katz Anhalt.

About the book, from the publisher:

How the wisdom of Herodotus can fortify us against political falsehoods and violent extremism

Nearly 2,500 years ago, the Greek writer Herodotus introduced the concept of objective truth derived from factual investigation and empirical deduction. Writing just before the start of the catastrophic Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE), Herodotus addressed an increasingly polarized Greek world. His Histories demonstrates that the capacity for humane moral action depends on the ability to resist unthinking allegiance to authoritative fictions. Herodotus offers an indispensable, nonpartisan approach for countering poisonous ideologies and violent conflict emanating from all extremes of the political kaleidoscope.

Interpreting some of Herodotus’s most compelling stories, Emily Katz Anhalt illuminates this ancient writer’s vital insights concerning sexual violence, deception, foreign ways, political equality, and more. The Histories urges us to value reality, restrain destructive passions, and acknowledge the essential humanity of every human being—crucial guidance for navigating our own divisive and volatile political climate. Inviting us to take responsibility for our own choices and their consequences, Herodotus exposes autocratic leadership and abuses of power as self-defeating. Herodotus guides readers in assembling and assessing information, distinguishing fact from fiction, and making compassionate moral evaluations. The ancient Greeks never achieved an egalitarian, just society. Herodotus equips us to do better.

Visit Emily Katz Anhalt's website.

The Page 99 Test: Enraged.

The Page 99 Test: Ancient Wisdom for Polarized Times.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books to read if you love art crime

Brittany K. Allen is a writer and actor living in Brooklyn.

At Lit Hub she tagged seven titles to read if you love art crime. One entry on the list:

Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch

Late fall may be the perfect time to return to this block-busting novel, which you’ll recall was toast of the town twelve years ago. When the young Theo Decker swipes a painting off the Met’s wall in the panicky aftermath of a public attack, he sets strange things in motion. This book’s interested in the power of objects. How can beautiful things save and destroy us?

Read about another entry on the list.

The Goldfinch is among Nathalie Kernot and Josiah Gogarty's fourteen best books about fatherhood, Nzinga Temu's eight action-packed titles about art heists, Kate Belli's six crime novels that revolve around art or the art world, Marisha Pessl's six favorite stories of suspense, and Sophie Ward's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Finley Turner reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Finley Turner, author of The Tarot Reader: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I'm currently reading The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano and listening to Ruth Ware's newest novel The Woman in Suite 11. In the fall months, especially as Halloween approaches, I always love to read something witchy. What I'm loving about The First Witch of Boston so far is its critique of misogyny in the late 1600s. The woman in question is a talented healer with a loose tongue and a passion for life. These factors, along with her success as a local healer make her an easy target for accusations of witchcraft. Social commentary makes a good story even better and...[read on]

About The Tarot Reader, from the publisher:

A phony psychic vision goes wrong when a woman unexpectedly finds herself involved in a murder investigation, perfect for fans of May Cobb and Catherine McKenzie.

Twenty-five-year-old Jade Crawford spends her days selling crystals, conducting séances, and reading tarot cards in her shop in Winston-Salem, NC. But her connection to the other side is all a facade. After losing their mother to a terrible accident and their father serving jail time, Jade and her younger sister Stevie do what they can to survive. When a local politician goes missing, Jade sees a lucrative opportunity to drum up new clients and inject some much-needed cash into their pockets.

Jade submits a “psychic vision” to the police tipline only to discover that her shot in the dark is chillingly accurate when the police find the politician’s body. Caught in a media whirlwind, Jade revels in her newfound popularity and success, but she quickly finds herself the target of not only a police investigation but of the killer who is still on the loose.

With stunning suspense that is perfect for fans of Samantha M. Bailey, Finley turns the screws tighter into a taut and thrilling read.

Visit Finley Turner's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Engagement Party.

Q&A with Finley Turner.

Writers Read: Finley Turner.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Ryan D. Griffiths's "The Disunited States"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Disunited States: Threats of Secession in Red and Blue America and Why They Won't Work by Ryan D. Griffiths.

About the book, from the publisher:

Is the breakup of an increasingly polarized America into separate red and blue countries even possible?

There is a growing interest in American secession. In February 2023, Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted that "We need a national divorce...We need to separate by red states and blue states." Recent movements like Yes California have called for a national divorce along political lines. A 2023 Axios poll shows that 20 percent of Americans favor a national divorce. These trends show a sincere interest in American secession, and they will likely increase in the aftermath of the 2024 Presidential election.

Proponents of secession make three arguments: the two sides have irreconcilable differences; secession is a legal right; and smaller political units are better. Through interviews with secessionist advocates in America, Ryan Griffiths explores the case for why Red America and Blue America should split up.

But as The Disunited States shows, these arguments are fundamentally incorrect. Secession is the wrong solution to the problem of polarization. Red and Blue America are not neatly sorted and geographically concentrated. Splitting the two parts would require a dangerous unmixing of the population, one that could spiral into violence and state collapse. Drawing on his expertise on secessionism worldwide, he shows how the process has played out internationally-and usually disastrously. Ultimately, this book will disabuse readers of the belief that secession will fix America's problems. Rather than focus on national divorce as a solution, the better course of action is to seek common ground.

Visit Ryan D. Griffiths's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Disunited States.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten books of real Black women in history

Jessica Pryde is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot, where she is the co-host of the When In Romance podcast and writes about bookish things of all kinds. Having earned an AB in the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis and her MLIS at San Jose State University, she is now a librarian for a public library system in Southern Arizona, where she lives with her husband and an ever-growing collection of Funko!Pops. Black Love Matters is her first book.

At Book Riot Pryde tagged ten books, nonfiction and historical fiction, that place real Black women in history front and center. One title on the list:

The Woman Who Would Be King by Kara Cooney

Many of us went through an Ancient Egypt phase as kids (and some of us never grew out of it). How much of that time was spent learning about Hatshepsut? If you got more than a few minutes, you were lucky! Hatshepsut, the daughter of a general, was a master of strategy who maneuvered her way into being the second woman in Egypt to be named a Pharaoh. Kara Cooney is a storied Egyptologist who has done several deep dives through the thousand-year-long Egyptian civilization, and her writing is incredibly approachable, no matter your starting point. (Note: while some people might draw a line between Southwest Asia and North Africa identity and Sub-Saharan African identity when it comes to who might be considered “Black,” I attribute the title to anyone with full ties to the continent.)

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 99 Test: The Woman Who Would Be King.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Charlene Wang's "I'll Follow You"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: I'll Follow You: A Novel by Charlene Wang.

About the book, from the publisher:

For two best friends desperate to escape their dead-end town, a viral online persona becomes a dangerous game of control in a twisting psychological thriller about class, power, and identity.

Faith and her charismatic best friend, Kayla, always vowed to escape their trailer park together. After their social media persona, Hannah Primrose, goes viral, their fates seem more entwined than ever. But when Faith is accepted into prestigious Harkness College, she must decide whether to keep her promise to Kayla or learn to tell her own story.

By the time Faith arrives on campus, Kayla is no longer speaking with her. Struggling to fit in with her wealthy classmates, Faith reinvents herself, drawing the attention of her enigmatic art history professor. Then Kayla shows up outside her dormitory one night. I need to stay with you.

Having Kayla on campus is thrilling―and dangerous. Posing as a student, Kayla charms everyone she encounters, and soon enough they’re posting together again. Hannah Primrose, after all, is perfect for a place like Harkness. But as Faith risks her future for the persona she helped create, she begins to realize that Kayla is playing a deadly game…and it may be too late to regain control of the narrative.

Visit Charlene Wang's website.

The Page 69 Test: I'll Follow You.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: G. Edward White's "Robert H. Jackson"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Robert H. Jackson: A Life in Judgment by G. Edward White.

About the book, from the publisher:

Discover the meteoric rise of one of the most extraordinary and singular figures in American jurisprudence, Robert H. Jackson, from self-trained lawyer to influential Supreme Court Justice and chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, in this compelling new biography.

Until he joined the U.S. government in 1934, Robert H. Jackson had been a lawyer in private practice in Upstate New York who was admitted to the bar without going to college and after completing only one year of law school. Once part of FDR's administration, Jackson became, in rapid succession, United States Solicitor General and United States Attorney General, where he successfully defended New Deal programs before the Supreme Court, including the legality of Lend Lease, which helped the U.S. give war supplies to England in exchange for grants of territory and harbors. Jackson played a central role in formulating the arguments justifying a number of initiatives on constitutional grounds and in drafting the policy statements that accompanied them. In 1941, FDR nominated him to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, on which he served until his death in 1954, only months after his adding his vote to the unanimous decision in Brown V. Board of Education.

It was a meteoric rise for someone from outside the elite, and essentially self-trained. That didn't stop Jackson from becoming one of the most influential and independent-minded judges of his day, unafraid to question the status quo and leave his mark on a number of landmark cases, including West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnett, which guaranteed First Amendment rights by holding that students in public schools did not have to salute the flag or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He dissented from the notorious decision in Korematsu v. U.S., which condoned the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War Two. To many, however, Jackson's most significant contribution was as chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg war trials following the war.

Drawing on Jackson's extensive personal papers in the Library of Congress and the Jackson Center, as well as a substantial oral history, G. Edward White's biography offers the first full-length portrait in decades of this fascinating and seminal figure.

Learn more about Robert H. Jackson at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Robert H. Jackson.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sixteen cozy novels that feature travel & international intrigue

Lucy Connelly travels around the world, usually with her bossy dog in tow. Her favorite pastime is sipping tea in a quaint cafe as she turns each passerby into a murder victim, witness, or suspect. If she stares at you strangely, don’t worry. She only murdered you in her book.

[The Page 69 Test: Death at a Scottish Wedding; Q&A with Lucy Connelly]

Connelly's new novel is Death on a Scottish Train.

At CrimeReads the author tagged sixteen favorite cozy novels that feature travel and international intrigue. One title on the list:

Ann Cleeves, Raven Black

To cool off, dive into Ann Cleeve’s Shetland Series. The first book, Raven Black, is set in Shetland during January. Jimmy Perez and his crew must break through frozen ground to find the killer. These are intense mysteries within a wonderful community of odd fellows.

Read about another entry on the list.

Raven Black is among William Shaw’s top ten mysteries set in the British countryside.

The Page 99 Test: Raven Black.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Ian Chorão

From my Q&A with Ian Chorão, author of When We Talk to the Dead: A Novel:

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

My book’s title, When We Talk to the Dead, was a last-minute decision. For the longest time it was called, She’s Not There. Both titles work, but are wildly different, vibe wise. She’s not there is a refrain said several times in the book; it has multiple meanings (no spoilers but trust me).

But alluding to what the book’s about isn’t enough. A title needs to capture more: tone, genre. My book is a gothic, psychological horror. I needed a title to speak to that. When We Talk to the Dead instantly tells you the type of story you’re about to read. This is a scary book, a story of darkness. This is the tale of 19-year-old Sally da Gama, so haunted by tragic loss that she will follow a path that might offer release or might plunge her deeper into madness.

The title also has an energy and action I really liked. It sets up a dynamic. When we talk to the dead, what then happens? Get ready. Once you enter the book, you will...[read on]

Follow Ian Chorão on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Writers Read: Ian Chorão.

Q&A with Ian Chorão.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Gillen D’Arcy Wood's "The Wake of HMS Challenger"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Wake of HMS Challenger: How a Legendary Victorian Voyage Tells the Story of Our Oceans' Decline by Gillen D’Arcy Wood.

About the book, from the publisher:

A scientific adventure story that dramatizes how profoundly our oceans have changed over the past 150 years

In December 1872, HMS Challenger embarked on the first round-the-world oceanographic expedition. Its goal: to shine a light for the first time on the mysteries of the deep sea. For the next four years, Challenger’s naturalists explored the oceans, encountering never-before-seen marvels of marine life. The expedition’s achievements are the stuff of legend. It identified major ocean currents and defining features of the seafloor, including the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Mariana Trench. It measured worldwide sea temperatures and chemistry, creating baseline data for all ocean research since. And, most spectacularly of all, it collected nearly five thousand sea creatures and plants new to science. In The Wake of HMS Challenger, Gillen D’Arcy Wood looks afresh at this legendary scientific odyssey and shows why, 150 years later, its legacy looms larger than ever.

The Challenger’s scientists had no way of knowing that the incredible undersea aquarium they were documenting was on the verge of catastrophic change. Off Portugal, they encountered a brilliant starfish now threatened with extinction by microplastics; in St. Thomas, teeming coral habitats that today have been decimated by ocean warming; and at remote Ascension Island, the breeding grounds of the now-endangered green turtle. Lyrical and elegiac, The Wake of HMS Challenger offers a stunning before-and-after picture of our global oceans. It is both a reminder of what we have lost since the Victorian age and an urgent call to preserve what remains of the diverse life and wild beauty of our planet’s final frontier.

Learn more about The Wake of HMS Challenger at the Princeton University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Tambora.

The Page 99 Test: The Wake of HMS Challenger.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top classic basketball books

Yaron Weitzman is an award-winning NBA writer and the author of Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports and A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers. His work has appeared in outlets such as The Ringer, Bleacher Report, Yahoo Sports, FOX Sports, The New Yorker, and GQ, and was recognized in 2020's "The Best American Sports Writing." None of this, however, matches his career highlight of being the ESPN Radio college intern tasked with delivering Stephen A. Smith his daily bag of Cheez Doodles.

At Lit Hub Weitzman tagged five classic basketball "books that moved me the first time I read them and have stayed with me ever since." One title on the list:

Jack McCallum, :07 Seconds or Less

This is one of those books that I still can’t believe happened. McCallum, a longtime NBA writer for Sports Illustrated, and not only just one of the best to ever do it but one of those writers beloved and revered by his peers, somehow convinced Phoenix Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni to let him embed with the team’s coaching staff for the 2005-06 season. This may sound simple, and may sound common; it’s far from both. The more sports have grown over the years, the more access has been limited, to the point where, around the turn of the century, reporters had to start fighting to hold on to the ability to talk to a team’s star player after games. And yet here was McCallum spending a season in coaches meetings, team bus rides and player huddles.

McCallum was the perfect writer for this, too. No one is better at mixing sharp analysis with simple, joyful and lighthearted prose. You can feel McCallum saying, Can you believe I’m in this room right now?! and his eagerness to bring readers along for the ride. So many basketball books—my own included—pitch themselves as true windows into how that world operates. But none of us get anything close to the access that McCallum received, and no one was better equipped to take advantage of it all. Given how big the sports industry has become, and how guarded and corporate that world has become, I think :07 Seconds or Less will likely end up being the last of its kind.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue