What is Sarah McCoy reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Sarah McCoy, author of The Mapmaker's Children.

Her entry begins:

In my hands currently is Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life. Yes, I may be the last person on the planet to pick up this wondrously inventive and profound novel. I’ll never read “Snow” without feeling full-body chills again. That’s some writing power—to craft a novel that makes a single word resonate like a sonic boom. I can’t say enough about Atkinson’s writing. It is…...[read on]

About The Mapmaker's Children, from the publisher:

When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad’s leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the slave code quilts and hiding her maps within her paintings. She boldly embraces this calling after being told the shocking news that she can’t bear children, but as the country steers toward bloody civil war, Sarah faces difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.

Eden, a modern woman desperate to conceive a child with her husband, moves to an old house in the suburbs and discovers a porcelain head hidden in the root cellar—the remains of an Underground Railroad doll with an extraordinary past of secret messages, danger and deliverance.

Ingeniously plotted to a riveting end, Sarah and Eden’s woven lives connect the past to the present, forcing each of them to define courage, family, love, and legacy in a new way.

Learn more about the book and author at Sarah McCoy’s website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

The Page 69 Test: The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico.

The Page 69 Test: The Baker's Daughter.

Coffee with a Canine: Sarah McCoy and Gilbert.

The Page 69 Test: The Mapmaker's Children.

My Book, The Movie: The Mapmaker’s Children.

Writers Read: Sarah McCoy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Hannah Dennison's "Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison.

About the book, from the publisher:

Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall is the second charming and witty whodunit in Hannah Dennison's amazing cozy series. Set at an English manor house, fans of British mysteries and Downton Abbey are sure to enjoy this contemporary take on murder at the manor house.When the body of a transport minister is discovered in the grounds on Honeychurch Hall, suspicion about his unusual demise naturally falls on the folks in the village. After all, who could possibly want a high-speed train line built in their front yard?News of the murder soon reaches our heroine Kat Stanford's nemesis Trudy Wynne. A ruthless tabloid journalist and the ex-wife of Kat's discarded lover, Trudy is out for revenge. She is also interested in exposing--and humiliating--Kat's mother Iris, who is secretly the international bestselling romance writer Krystalle Storm. As the body count begins to build, Kat becomes inextricably embroiled in the ensuing scandal. Is the minister's death the result of a local vendetta, or could it be connected to her mother's unusual (to say the least) past?

Visit Hannah Dennison's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Murder at Honeychurch Hall.

My Book, The Movie: Murder at Honeychurch Hall.

Writers Read: Hannah Dennison.

My Book, The Movie: Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall.

The Page 69 Test: Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Eve MacDonald's "Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life by Eve MacDonald.

About the book, from the publisher:

Hannibal lived a life of incredible feats of daring and survival, massive military engagements, and ultimate defeat. A citizen of Carthage and military commander in Punic Spain, he famously marched his war elephants and huge army over the Alps into Rome’s own heartland to fight the Second Punic War. Yet the Romans were the ultimate victors. They eventually captured and destroyed Carthage, and thus it was they who wrote the legend of Hannibal: a brilliant and worthy enemy whose defeat represented military glory for Rome.

In this groundbreaking biography Eve MacDonald expands the memory of Hannibal beyond his military feats and tactics. She considers him in the wider context of the society and vibrant culture of Carthage which shaped him and his family, employing archaeological findings and documentary sources not only from Rome but also the wider Mediterranean world of the third century B.C. MacDonald also analyzes Hannibal’s legend over the millennia, exploring how statuary, Jacobean tragedy, opera, nineteenth-century fiction, and other depictions illuminate the character of one of the most fascinating military personalities in all of history.

Learn more about Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life at the Yale University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life.

--Marshal Zeringue

Cover story: "The Good Immigrants"

Madeline Y. Hsu is associate professor of history and past director of the Center for Asian American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her books include Dreaming of Gold, Dreaming of Home and the coedited anthology Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture.

Her new book is The Good Immigrants: How the Yellow Peril Became the Model Minority.

Here Hsu explains the connection of the book's cover to the pages within:

These well-dressed Chinese refugees are boarding a chartered Pan Am flight from Hong Kong bound for new lives in the United States. They were lucky recipients of the few thousand refugee visas allocated to the Far East in consideration of American strategic interests in the area. The nongovernmental, humanitarian aid organization, Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals, Inc. (ARCI), had recruited this carefully chosen group which reflected a major turn in U.S. attitudes toward Chinese, and Asian, immigration more generally.

Once a despised racial group, Asians were the first targets of enforced U.S. immigration restrictions starting in the 1870s and 1880s. By World War II and the Cold War, however, attitudes about racial differences had changed, propelled in part by practical considerations such as U.S. needs for allies in the western Pacific to whom its discriminatory immigration laws presented significant insults. The U.S. government sought to signal its friendship and greater openness to Asians by admitting small numbers of refugees from communism, but hedged its hospitality by focusing on the well-educated with the best potential to contribute to the U.S. politically and economically.

Unsurprisingly, ARCI was actually a CIA front that sought college-educated refugees in the belief that they were not only more employable and likely to be self-sufficient, but would also secure their children’s education and upward mobility. This photograph was a publicity still used to depict both American outreach to Chinese and to promote their image as desirable immigrants. A twelve-year-old Evelyn Hu-Dehart stands on the staircase, third from the left, along with her family. Her eventual career as an Ivy League university professor demonstrates how well ARCI had projected the future success for this select group.

Learn more about The Good Immigrants: How the Yellow Peril Became the Model Minority at the Princeton University Press website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten books about ancient Rome

Lindsey Davis's latest historical novel is Deadly Election.

One of the author's top ten books about ancient Rome, as shared at the Guardian:

How to Win an Election by Quintus Tullius Cicero (translated by Philip Freeman)

The dirty tricks being played out in today’s headlines have a long pedigree. The original spin king may be Cicero’s younger brother, a ruthlessly effective campaign agent. Junior’s electioneering makes ours look tame. Wheel out your family even if they are dying, ruthlessly call in favours for votes, buy more with promises you never intend to keep, canvass people you despise, insult your rivals’ honesty, slander their immoral habits – then clinch it by exposing them as murderers. We have so much to learn!

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Elizabeth J. Duncan reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Elizabeth J. Duncan, author of Slated for Death: A Penny Brannigan Mystery.

Her entry begins:

You've caught me reading two non-fiction books.

Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. That's the time and place the opening sequence of Breakfast at Tiffany's was filmed (on October 2, 1960, to be exact). You'll remember it. A yellow cab approaches on an empty street and stops. A beautiful woman gets out, holding a cup of coffee and a pastry which she eats while looking in the window of a jewellery store ... all to the strains of Henry Mancini's "Moon River."

The full title of the book is Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's and the Dawn of the Modern Woman. This stylish little book by Sam Wasson examines how the film helped drive the cultural transition from the straight-laced 1950s into the liberal 1960s. It also provides a cool, behind the scenes look at how the producers got Audrey Hepburn to play the role of Holly Golightly, how her character was changed from the way Truman Capote wrote her, how then mid-list director Blake Edwards came to direct it, how Mickey Rooney...[read on]

About Slated for Death, from the publisher:

When the body of well-liked and respectable Glenda Roberts is discovered at the bottom of a former slate mine, now a busy tourist attraction, pandemonium erupts in the North Wales town of Llanelen. Penny Brannigan finds herself drawn into the investigation when jars of her house-brand hand cream are found among counterfeit inventory Glenda and her sister were selling.

Police are convinced that the mine operator whose asthmatic son suffered an almost-fatal attack due to the merchandise is responsible for Glenda's death. But Penny's not so sure. A visit to Glenda's mother only deepens her conviction that a hidden family secret is the real reason for the murder.

Elizabeth J. Duncan's Slated for Death is a wonderful traditional mystery with snappy dialogue, lively characters and an enchanting setting.

Visit Elizabeth J. Duncan's website and blog.

Coffee with a Canine: Elizabeth J. Duncan and Dolly.

The Page 69 Test: The Cold Light of Mourning.

The Page 69 Test: A Brush with Death.

The Page 69 Test: Never Laugh As a Hearse Goes By.

Writers Read: Elizabeth J. Duncan.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Tina Connolly's "Seriously Wicked"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly.

About the book, from the publisher:

The hilarious new YA from acclaimed author Tina Connolly. Camellia's adopted mother wants Cam to grow up to be just like her. Problem is, Mom's a seriously wicked witch.Cam's used to stopping the witch's crazy schemes for world domination. But when the witch summons a demon, he gets loose--and into Devon, the cute new boy at school.Suddenly Cam's got bigger problems than passing Algebra. Her friends are getting zombiefied. Their dragon is tired of hiding in the RV garage. For being a shy boy-band boy, Devon is sure kissing a bunch of girls. And a phoenix hidden in the school is going to explode on the night of the Halloween Dance.To stop the demon before he destroys Devon's soul, Cam might have to try a spell of her own. But if she's willing to work spells like the witch...will that mean she's wicked too?

Visit Tina Connolly's website, blog, and Twitter perch.

My Book, The Movie: Copperhead.

The Page 69 Test: Copperhead.

The Page 69 Test: Silverblind.

My Book, The Movie: Silverblind.

My Book, The Movie: Seriously Wicked. 

Writers Read: Tina Connolly.

The Page 69 Test: Seriously Wicked.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sarah McCoy's "The Mapmaker’s Children," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Mapmaker’s Children by Sarah McCoy.

The entry begins:

I never usually allow myself to participate (privately or publicly) in the “if they made my book into a movie” game simply because it sparks a hopeful longing for my book to actually be made into a film—and no matter what anybody says, every author would love to see their book’s fictional world come to life. Also, I enjoy hearing how readers envision my characters and never want to put a person in their mind who comes with judgments based on, you know, what that actress/actress posted on Facebook, etc.

All that being said and in the spirit of la-dee-da Hollywood, I’ll play along. But please be forewarned, I have absolutely no concept of who’s hip these days. My film/TV/celebrity knowledge is pretty limited. Example: I’m still wondering how Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are forty years old! I mean, weren’t those two kids just on Titanic like… yesterday? Nonetheless, I’ll do my best to cast The Mapmaker’s Children.

For my contemporary main character Eden Anderson, maybe Amy Adams or Natalie Portman. I’ve seen both actresses portray empowered women of complexity. They can be sweet and funny while simultaneously dark and secretive. I’ll throw Anna...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Sarah McCoy’s website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

The Page 69 Test: The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico.

The Page 69 Test: The Baker's Daughter.

Coffee with a Canine: Sarah McCoy and Gilbert.

The Page 69 Test: The Mapmaker's Children.

My Book, The Movie: The Mapmaker’s Children.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six SFF horror stories ripped from the headlines

Sam Riedel is a freelance writer and editor living in Brooklyn. One of the six eeriest SFF stories inspired by true events he tagged at the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog:

The Shining, by Stephen King

An undisputed master of the form, horror legend King’s most enduring work may be The Shining, in which a family is beset upon by strange visions and madness while living in an isolated Colorado hotel. King drew upon his family’s experience at the Stanley Hotel in Boulder when planning the book: not only did the Kings stay in a real-life Room 217 (which was rumored to be haunted), but they were the only ones in the barren building. During the night, King dreamt that his son was being chased around the Stanley by a fire hose. Jolted awake by the experience, he immediately formulated the plot of one of the best-selling books of his career.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Shining is among Joel Cunningham's top seven books featuring long winters, Ashley Brooke Roberts's seven best haunted house books, Jake Kerridge's top ten Stephen King books, Amanda Yesilbas and Charlie Jane Anders's top ten horror novels that are scarier than most movies, Charlie Higson's top ten horror books, and Monica Ali's best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Jon Cowans's "Empire Films and the Crisis of Colonialism, 1946-1959"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Empire Films and the Crisis of Colonialism, 1946--1959 by Jon Cowans.

About the book, from the publisher:

Using popular cinema from the United States, Britain, and France, Empire Films and the Crisis of Colonialism, 1946– 1959, examines postwar Western attitudes toward colonialism and race relations. Historians have written much about the high politics of decolonization but little about what ordinary citizens thought about losing their empires. Popular cinema provided the main source of images of the colonies, and, according to Jon Cowans in this far-reaching book, films depicting the excesses of empire helped Westerners come to terms with decolonization and even promoted the dismantling of colonialism around the globe.

Examining more than one hundred British, French, and American films from the post–World War II era, Cowans concentrates on movies that depict interactions between white colonizers and nonwhite colonial subjects, including sexual and romantic relations. Although certain conservative films eagerly supported colonialism, Cowans argues that the more numerous "liberal colonialist" productions undermined support for key aspects of colonial rule, while a few more provocative films openly favored anticolonial movements and urged "internal decolonization" for people of color in Britain, France, and the United States.

Combining new archival research on the films’ production with sharp analysis of their imagery and political messages, the book also assesses their reception through box-office figures and newspaper reviews. It examines both high-profile and lesser-known films on overseas colonialism, including The King and I, Bhowani Junction, and Island in the Sun, and tackles treatments of miscegenation and "internal colonialism" that appeared in Westerns and American films like Pinky and Giant. The first truly transnational history of cinema’s role in decolonization, this powerful book weaves a unified historical narrative out of the experiences of three colonial powers in diverse geographic settings.

Learn more about Empire Films and the Crisis of Colonialism, 1946--1959 at the Johns Hopkins University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Empire Films and the Crisis of Colonialism, 1946--1959.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Meredith Zeitlin reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Meredith Zeitlin, author of Sophomore Year Is Greek to Me.

Her entry begins:

I'm usually reading a few books at a time. I just finished Rachel Joyce's The Lovesong of Miss Queenie Hennesey, which is an absolutely gorgeous novel and the sequel to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which is also terrific. Joyce's prose is so beautifully crafted, her characters so complex with such distinct voices, and - despite the rather gloomy plot (it's about a woman writing a letter to her lost love on her deathbed) - there are moments that are incredibly funny. The end gutted me; I am still...[read on]

About Sophomore Year Is Greek to Me, from the publisher:

A laugh-out-loud high school adventure set in Greece, perfect for fans of Meg Cabot

High school sophomore Zona Lowell has lived in New York City her whole life, and plans to follow in the footsteps of her renowned-journalist father. But when he announces they’re moving to Athens for six months so he can work on an important new story, she’s devastated— he must have an ulterior motive. See, when Zona’s mother married an American, her huge Greek family cut off contact. But Zona never knew her mom, and now she’s supposed to uproot her entire life and meet possibly hostile relatives on their turf? Thanks… but no thanks.

In the vein of Anna and the French Kiss, Zona navigates a series of hilarious escapades, eye-opening revelations, and unexpected reunions in a foreign country—all while documenting the trip through one-of-a-kind commentary.

Visit Meredith Zeitlin's website.

The Page 69 Test: Sophomore Year Is Greek to Me.

My Book, The Movie: Sophomore Year is Greek to Me.

Writers Read: Meredith Zeitlin.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Suzanne Johnson's "Pirate's Alley"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Pirate's Alley by Suzanne Johnson.

About the book, from the publisher:

After vanquishing undead serial killers and discovering the dark secrets of her family history, wizard sentinel DJ Jaco must now stop the coming preternatural war in Suzanne Johnson's Pirate's Alley.

Wizard sentinel DJ Jaco thought she had gotten used to the chaos of her life in post-Katrina New Orleans, but a new threat is looming, one that will test every relationship she holds dear.

Caught in the middle of a rising struggle between the major powers in the supernatural world--the Wizards, Elves, Vampires and the Fae--DJ finds her loyalties torn and her mettle tested in matters both professional and personal.

Her relationship with enforcer Alex Warin is shaky, her non-husband Quince Randolph is growing more powerful, and her best friend Eugenie has a bombshell that could blow everything to Elfheim and back. And that's before the French pirate Jean Lafitte, newly revived from his latest "death," returns to New Orleans with vengeance on his mind. DJ's assignment? Keep the sexy leader of the historical undead out of trouble. Good luck with that.

Duty clashes with love, loyalty with deception, and friendship with responsibility as DJ navigates passion and politics in the murky waters of a New Orleans caught in the grips of a brutal winter that might have nothing to do with Mother Nature.

War could be brewing, and DJ will be forced to take a stand. But choosing sides won't be that easy.

Learn more about the book and author at Suzanne Johnson's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Suzanne Johnson & Tank and Shane.

The Page 69 Test: Elysian Fields.

Writers Read: Suzanne Johnson.

The Page 69 Test: Pirate's Alley.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five of the best books where the girl saves the boy

Tina Connolly is the author of the Ironskin trilogy from Tor Books, and the Seriously Wicked series, from Tor Teen. Ironskin, her first fantasy novel, was a Nebula finalist.

At Tor.com she tagged five top books where the girl saves the boy, including:

Katniss and Peeta in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games

The big recent example, of course! I never understood the Gale love triangle when I was reading the trilogy—I was team Peeta all the way. Peeta used every bit of his smarts and skills that he had—he just had a different skillset from Katniss’s bow and survival tactics. He’s got tact and brains that he uses more than once—not to mention the camouflaging escape during the games. I thought Collins did a lovely job delineating the relationship between the two of them and showing what each bring to the table.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Hunger Games also appears on Sarah Alderson's top ten list of feminist icons in children's and teen books, Jonathan Meres's top ten list of books that are so unfair, SF Said's top ten list of unlikely heroes, Rebecca Jane Stokes's top ten list of fictional families you could probably abide during holiday season and top eight list of books perfect for reality TV fiends, Chrissie Gruebel's list of favorite fictional fashion icons, Lucy Christopher's top ten list of literary woods, Robert McCrum's list of the ten best books with teenage narrators, Sophie McKenzie's top ten list of teen thrillers, Gregg Olsen's top ten list of deadly YA books, Annalee Newitz's list of ten great American dystopias, Philip Webb's top ten list of pulse-racing adventure books, Charlie Higson's top ten list of fantasy books for children, and Megan Wasson's list of five fantasy series geared towards teens that adults will love too.

--Marshal Zeringue

Hannah Dennison's "Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison.

The entry begins:

My protagonist is Kat Stanford, age 39. She quit hosting an antique roadshow called Fakes & Treasures to start her own business. Kat’s got a great sense of humor. She’s self-deprecating and has a reputation for being clumsy. I stand by my original choice of Tamsin Greig who played Beverly Lincoln in HBO’s Episodes.

I also stand by my original choice for D.I. Shawn Cropper, the slightly crumpled detective. He’s not remotely Kat’s sophisticated type—but there is something between them that hints at future possibilities. I’d have to borrow Stephan...[read on]

Visit Hannah Dennison's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Murder at Honeychurch Hall.

My Book, The Movie: Murder at Honeychurch Hall.

Writers Read: Hannah Dennison.

My Book, The Movie: Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Tina Connolly reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Tina Connolly, author of Seriously Wicked.

Her entry begins:

I'm in the middle of working on the second book in the Seriously series, and I have a hard time reading novels when I'm in first draft mode. However, I recently went to two book readings at Powell's and so I have two novels on my nightstand I'm really looking forward to – Randy Henderson's funny Finn Fancy Necromancy, and...[read on]

About Seriously Wicked, from the publisher:

The hilarious new YA from acclaimed author Tina Connolly. Camellia's adopted mother wants Cam to grow up to be just like her. Problem is, Mom's a seriously wicked witch.Cam's used to stopping the witch's crazy schemes for world domination. But when the witch summons a demon, he gets loose--and into Devon, the cute new boy at school.Suddenly Cam's got bigger problems than passing Algebra. Her friends are getting zombiefied. Their dragon is tired of hiding in the RV garage. For being a shy boy-band boy, Devon is sure kissing a bunch of girls. And a phoenix hidden in the school is going to explode on the night of the Halloween Dance.To stop the demon before he destroys Devon's soul, Cam might have to try a spell of her own. But if she's willing to work spells like the witch...will that mean she's wicked too?

Visit Tina Connolly's website, blog, and Twitter perch.

My Book, The Movie: Copperhead.

The Page 69 Test: Copperhead.

The Page 69 Test: Silverblind.

My Book, The Movie: Silverblind.

My Book, The Movie: Seriously Wicked. 

Writers Read: Tina Connolly.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top underrated or forgotten children's classics

Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor and translator and the author of a new edition of The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature.

At the Guardian he tagged his top ten underrated or forgotten children's classics, including:

Corbenic by Catherine Fisher

I’ve never understood why Catherine Fisher isn’t one of the book world’s superstars. She writes richly imagined dark fantasy, woven through with myth and legend, and all realised just beautifully. Corbenic – which has all these qualities – is a grail story filled with Arthurian legend, but it’s also a completely contemporary book, with real characters with modern problems. Despite its ancient influences, it feels constantly fresh and utterly original.

Read about another entry on the list.

Also see: The 11 greatest children’s books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Michael Neiberg's "Potsdam"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Potsdam: The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe by Michael Neiberg.

About the book, from the publisher:

The definitive account of the 1945 Potsdam Conference: the historic summit where Truman, Stalin, and Churchill met to determine the fate of post-World War II Europe

After Germany's defeat in World War II, Europe lay in tatters. Millions of refugees were dispersed across the continent. Food and fuel were scarce. Britain was bankrupt, while Germany had been reduced to rubble. In July of 1945, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin gathered in a quiet suburb of Berlin to negotiate a lasting peace: a peace that would finally put an end to the conflagration that had started in 1914, a peace under which Europe could be rebuilt.

The award-winning historian Michael Neiberg brings the turbulent Potsdam conference to life, vividly capturing the delegates' personalities: Truman, trying to escape from the shadow of Franklin Roosevelt, who had died only months before; Churchill, bombastic and seemingly out of touch; Stalin, cunning and meticulous. For the first week, negotiations progressed relatively smoothly. But when the delegates took a recess for the British elections, Churchill was replaced—both as prime minster and as Britain's representative at the conference—in an unforeseen upset by Clement Attlee, a man Churchill disparagingly described as "a sheep in sheep's clothing." When the conference reconvened, the power dynamic had shifted dramatically, and the delegates struggled to find a new balance. Stalin took advantage of his strong position to demand control of Eastern Europe as recompense for the suffering experienced by the Soviet people and armies. The final resolutions of the Potsdam Conference, notably the division of Germany and the Soviet annexation of Poland, reflected the uneasy geopolitical equilibrium between East and West that would come to dominate the twentieth century.

As Neiberg expertly shows, the delegates arrived at Potsdam determined to learn from the mistakes their predecessors made in the Treaty of Versailles. But, riven by tensions and dramatic debates over how to end the most recent war, they only dimly understood that their discussions of peace were giving birth to a new global conflict.

Learn more about Postdam at the Basic Books website.

The Page 99 Test: Dance of the Furies.

The Page 99 Test: The Blood of Free Men.

The Page 99 Test: Potsdam.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Sarah McCoy's "The Mapmaker’s Children"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy.

About the book, from the publisher:

When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad’s leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the slave code quilts and hiding her maps within her paintings. She boldly embraces this calling after being told the shocking news that she can’t bear children, but as the country steers toward bloody civil war, Sarah faces difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.

Eden, a modern woman desperate to conceive a child with her husband, moves to an old house in the suburbs and discovers a porcelain head hidden in the root cellar—the remains of an Underground Railroad doll with an extraordinary past of secret messages, danger and deliverance.

Ingeniously plotted to a riveting end, Sarah and Eden’s woven lives connect the past to the present, forcing each of them to define courage, family, love, and legacy in a new way.

Learn more about the book and author at Sarah McCoy’s website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

The Page 69 Test: The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico.

The Page 69 Test: The Baker's Daughter.

Coffee with a Canine: Sarah McCoy and Gilbert.

The Page 69 Test: The Mapmaker's Children.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Anica Mrose Rissi & Arugula

Featured at Coffee with a Canine: Anica Mrose Rissi & Arugula.

The author, on Arugula's contribution to her writing:

My advice to all writers at any stage of their career is: Get a dog. Roogs is invaluable to my writing process. She gets me out of my chair for regular walks, which are vital to good brainstorming. She reminds me that it’s important to eat, even while on deadline, and offers to share my snacks if I’m eating too much.

She provides companionship and moral support through the long, lonely process of writing, revising, and revising some more. And she gives me something to...[read on]

About Anica Mrose Rissi's new book, Anna, Banana, and the Friendship Split, from the publisher:

Meet Anna and her beloved wiener dog, Banana, in this start to a charming illustrated chapter book series about the joys and challenges of elementary school friendships.

Anna has been best friends with Sadie for as long as she can remember. So Anna is utterly perplexed when, on Anna’s birthday, Sadie unceremoniously stakes claim to Anna’s new pony necklace, then suddenly stops speaking to Anna altogether. Did Anna do something wrong? With a little help from her wiener dog, Banana, as well as some sage advice from her family, Anna makes some important discoveries about what it means to stand up for herself, and how to be a true friend.

Visit Anica Mrose Rissi's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Anica Mrose Rissi & Arugula.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten T. S. Eliot poems

Robert Crawford is the author of Scotland’s Books and the coeditor of The Penguin Book of Scottish Verse. A fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the British Academy, he is the Professor of Modern Scottish Literature at the University of St Andrews. The Bard, his biography of Robert Burns, was awarded the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year 2009. Crawford’s six poetry collections include The Tip of My Tongue and Full Volume, which was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. Crawford's new book is Young Eliot: From St. Louis to "The Waste Land".

One entry on Crawford's list of the ten best T. S. Eliot poems:

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

First published in the Chicago magazine Poetry 100 years ago, in the summer of 1915 when its author got married, but written earlier when Eliot was twenty-two and living in Paris and Munich, this is the disconcerting work that opened Eliot’s first book of poems in 1917. Its opening words, “Let us go then, you and I”, set the tone. The first line would be so much more assertive if it began not with “Let us go” but with “Let’s go”. That difference in phrasing tells you almost all you need to know about J. Alfred Prufrock. The name Prufrock came from the poet’s boyhood St Louis and was particularly associated with, ahem, bedding. More than any other poem in the English language, this one marked the arrival of Modernism in literature. Several early readers thought it mad.

Read about another entry on the list.

Read, or listen to, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Hannah Dennison reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Hannah Dennison, author of Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall.

Her entry begins:

Like most writers, I started off as an avid reader. I still read a lot—not as much as I’d like to but I do get a chance on my bi-weekly commute from Portland, Oregon to Los Angeles, California.

Usually I have two or three books I’m reading all at the same time. I read mysteries and thrillers for plane journeys and commuting and non-fiction at bedtime (because I can just about manage a half-dozen pages before I fall asleep).

I’ve just finished Catherine Aird’s “forgotten novel” called A Most Contagious Game. Catherine Aird is better known as the author of the Inspector Sloan series so discovering this stand-alone—first published in 1967 and re-printed by Rue Morgue Press—was a real treat. It’s right up my alley since...[read on]

About Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall, from the publisher:

Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall is the second charming and witty whodunit in Hannah Dennison's amazing cozy series. Set at an English manor house, fans of British mysteries and Downton Abbey are sure to enjoy this contemporary take on murder at the manor house.When the body of a transport minister is discovered in the grounds on Honeychurch Hall, suspicion about his unusual demise naturally falls on the folks in the village. After all, who could possibly want a high-speed train line built in their front yard?News of the murder soon reaches our heroine Kat Stanford's nemesis Trudy Wynne. A ruthless tabloid journalist and the ex-wife of Kat's discarded lover, Trudy is out for revenge. She is also interested in exposing--and humiliating--Kat's mother Iris, who is secretly the international bestselling romance writer Krystalle Storm. As the body count begins to build, Kat becomes inextricably embroiled in the ensuing scandal. Is the minister's death the result of a local vendetta, or could it be connected to her mother's unusual (to say the least) past?

Visit Hannah Dennison's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Murder at Honeychurch Hall.

My Book, The Movie: Murder at Honeychurch Hall.

Writers Read: Hannah Dennison.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tina Connolly's "Seriously Wicked," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly.

The entry begins:

I happen to think that Seriously Wicked would make the most delightful movie (along the lines of one of my old favorites, Teen Witch.) I can also easily imagine it as a funny TV series with new adventures in stopping megalomaniac witch Sarmine every week.

My heroine Cam! - I need someone who can believably go around stopping wicked witches and saving boys from demons, with a healthy sense of irony while doing it. I think Kiernan Shipka has been doing some really interesting work and might be fun.

Cute boy-band boy Devon – Okay, if I were casting this ten years ago I’d go with...[read on]

Visit Tina Connolly's website, blog, and Twitter perch.

My Book, The Movie: Copperhead.

The Page 69 Test: Copperhead.

The Page 69 Test: Silverblind.

My Book, The Movie: Silverblind.

My Book, The Movie: Seriously Wicked.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thirty top books written by millennials

At Refinery29 Emily Temple tagged thirty of the best books written by millennials, including:

A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer duBois

Two people — a chess champion challenging Putin for president and an English teacher who may have the same disease that killed her father — come together in this smart debut. It is a novel that asks the question: how are we to proceed when our cause is hopeless? Come on, you know you want to know.

Read about another book on the list.

The Page 69 Test: A Partial History of Lost Causes.

My Book, The Movie: A Partial History of Lost Causes.

Writers Read: Jennifer duBois (December 2013).

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Carol Berkin's "The Bill of Rights: The Fight to Secure America's Liberties"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Bill of Rights: The Fight to Secure America's Liberties by Carol Berkin.

About the book, from the publisher:

The real story of how the Bill of Rights came to be: a concise, vivid history of political strategy, big egos, and partisan interest that set the terms of the ongoing contest between the federal government and the states.

Revered today for articulating America’s founding principles, the first ten amendments—the Bill of Rights—was in fact a political stratagem executed by James Madison to preserve the Constitution, the Federal government, and the latter’s authority over the states. In the skilled hands of award-winning historian Carol Berkin, the story of the Founders’ fight over the Bill of Rights comes alive in a gripping drama of partisan politics, acrimonious debate, and manipulated procedure. From this familiar story of a Congress at loggerheads, an important truth emerges.

In 1789, the young nation faced a great ideological divide around a question still unanswered today: should broad power and authority reside in the federal government or should it reside in state governments? The Bill of Rights, from protecting religious freedom and the people’s right to bear arms to reserving unenumerated rights to the states, was a political ploy first, and matter of principle second. How and why Madison came to devise this plan, the divisive debates it fostered in the Congress, and its ultimate success in defeating antifederalist counterplans to severely restrict the powers of the federal government is more engrossing than any of the myths that shroud our national beginnings.

The debate over the founding fathers’ original intent still continues through myriad Supreme Court decisions. By pulling back the curtain on the political, short-sighted, and self-interested intentions of the founding fathers in passing the Bill of Rights, Berkin reveals the inherent weakness in these arguments and what it means for our country today.

My Book, The Movie: Wondrous Beauty.

Writers Read: Carol Berkin.

The Page 99 Test: The Bill of Rights.

--Marshal Zeringue

The top five Saul Bellow novels

Zachary Leader is Professor of English Literature at Roehampton University in Great Britain, and the author of The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915-1964. One of Bellow's five must-read novels, as Leader shared at the Guardian:

Henderson the Rain King (1959)

The oddest and most audacious of Bellow’s novels, set in Africa, a continent he had yet to visit. The richly detailed customs Bellow devises for the novel’s fictional tribes, partly drawn from the anthropological texts he studied at university, are what make its Africa so magical and funny. They also connect to the novel’s main themes. Eugene Henderson, its noisy protagonist, “an absurd seeker of higher qualities”, is in despair, lacking or having neglected dimensions of life – mystical, bodily – he hopes to find in Africa.

What he’s missing derives as much from the theories of Wilhelm Reich as from Bellow’s anthropological studies, and Henderson’s attitudes to his African instructor, Dahfu, is like Bellow’s attitude to Reich. Dahfu, king of the Arnewi tribe, has wisdom but he’s cracked. Praise for the novel’s richness of invention has not always extended to the controversial speech of its African characters. Openly artificial, resembling no real African voice, theirs is the language of “blackface”, described by Bellow’s friend Ralph Ellison as “pseudo-Negro dialect”, “a ritual of exorcism”. This language Bellow drew on and adapted in tandem with the poet John Berryman, with whom he shared an office at the University of Minnesota. It is the language of Berryman’s “Mr Bones” in The Dream Songs.

Read about another entry on the list.

Henderson the Rain King is among Ben Ryder Howe's top ten novels featuring mythical countries.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Erika Robuck reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Erika Robuck, author of The House of Hawthorne.

Her entry begins:

Currently, I am reading three books, and all have to do with history in some capacity. First, I’m dipping in and out of a gorgeous photo journal called Hemingway's Paris, by Robert Wheeler. Wheeler took the photographs in black and white from Hemingway’s perspective, and wrote a short reflection on each image tying it to Hemingway's fiction and life. I highly recommend the book to anyone who...[read on]

About The House of Hawthorne, from the publisher:

From Erika Robuck, bestselling author of Hemingway’s Girl, comes a brilliant new novel about a literary couple. The unlikely marriage between Nathaniel Hawthorne, the celebrated novelist, and Sophia Peabody, the invalid artist, was a true union of passion and intellect.…

Beset by crippling headaches from a young age and endowed with a talent for drawing, Sophia is discouraged by her well-known New England family from pursuing a woman’s traditional roles. But from their first meeting, Nathaniel and Sophia begin an intense romantic relationship that despite many setbacks leads to their marriage. Together, they will cross continents, raise children, and experience all the beauty and tragedy of an exceptional partnership. Sophia’s vivid journals and her masterful paintings kindle a fire in Nathaniel, inspiring his writing. But their children’s needs and the death of loved ones steal Sophia’s energy and time for her art, fueling in her a perennial tug-of-war between fulfilling her domestic duties and pursuing her own desires.

Spanning the years from the 1830s to the Civil War, and moving from Massachusetts to England, Portugal, and Italy, The House of Hawthorne explores the tension within a famous marriage of two soulful, strong-willed people, each devoted to the other but also driven by a powerful need to explore the far reaches of their creative impulses. It is the story of a forgotten woman in history, who inspired one of the greatest writers of American literature…

Learn more about the book and author at Erika Robuck's website and blog.

My Book, the Movie: Hemingway’s Girl.

Writers Read: Erika Robuck.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four notable books that changed S.J. Watson

S.J. Watson is the author of Before I Go To Sleep and Second Life.

One of four books that changed him, as shared at the Sydney Morning Herald:

The Swimming Pool Library
Alan Hollinghurst

I read this one summer when I'd just moved to London. It was hugely affecting, partly because because I was working in Russell Square and socialising in the bars of Soho, where much of this book takes place. It almost felt as if I was living in the world of the book, or the book was showing me a glimpse of how life could be.

Read about another entry on the list.

Also see: S.J. Watson's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Heidi Pitlor's "The Daylight Marriage"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor.

About the book, from the publisher:

“Hypnotically readable–I absolutely couldn’t put it down. The structure is brilliant, and I turned the pages with increasing dread. This book is terrific.” — Stephen King

Hannah was the kind of woman who turned heads. Tall and graceful, naturally pretty, often impulsive, always spirited, the upper class girl who picked, of all men, Lovell-the introverted climate scientist, the practical one who thought he could change the world if he could just get everyone to listen to reason. After a magical honeymoon they settled in the suburbs to raise their two children. But over the years, Lovell and Hannah’s conversations have become charged with resentments and unspoken desires. She’s become withdrawn and directionless. His work affords him a convenient distraction. The children can sense the tension, which they’ve learned to mostly ignore. Until, after one explosive argument, Hannah vanishes. And Lovell, for the first time, is forced to examine the trajectory of his marriage through the lens of memory-and the eyes of his children. As he tries to piece together what happened to his wife-and to their lives together-readers follow Hannah through that single day when the smallest of decisions takes her to places she never intended to go.

With the intensity of The Lovely Bones, the balance of wit and heartbreak of The Descendants, and the emotional acuity of Anne Tyler, The Daylight Marriage is at its heart a novel about what happens when our intuitions override our logic and with a plot that doesn’t reveal its secrets until the very end.

Visit Heidi Pitlor's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Daylight Marriage.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Suzanne Johnson reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Suzanne Johnson, author of Pirate's Alley.

Her entry begins:

As is usual, I’m reading two books at once, one fiction and one nonfiction.

Game Warden: On Patrol in Louisiana, by Jerald Horst. Sure, this is research for a new series I’m writing but it’s also fascinating. Most people don’t realize the training required for Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents, in a state where so much of the terrain is swamp, mud, wetlands, and water. It’s not all issuing tickets for gator-hunting violations. I can’t wait to...[read on]

About Pirate's Alley, from the publisher:

After vanquishing undead serial killers and discovering the dark secrets of her family history, wizard sentinel DJ Jaco must now stop the coming preternatural war in Suzanne Johnson's Pirate's Alley.

Wizard sentinel DJ Jaco thought she had gotten used to the chaos of her life in post-Katrina New Orleans, but a new threat is looming, one that will test every relationship she holds dear.

Caught in the middle of a rising struggle between the major powers in the supernatural world--the Wizards, Elves, Vampires and the Fae--DJ finds her loyalties torn and her mettle tested in matters both professional and personal.

Her relationship with enforcer Alex Warin is shaky, her non-husband Quince Randolph is growing more powerful, and her best friend Eugenie has a bombshell that could blow everything to Elfheim and back. And that's before the French pirate Jean Lafitte, newly revived from his latest "death," returns to New Orleans with vengeance on his mind. DJ's assignment? Keep the sexy leader of the historical undead out of trouble. Good luck with that.

Duty clashes with love, loyalty with deception, and friendship with responsibility as DJ navigates passion and politics in the murky waters of a New Orleans caught in the grips of a brutal winter that might have nothing to do with Mother Nature.

War could be brewing, and DJ will be forced to take a stand. But choosing sides won't be that easy.

Learn more about the book and author at Suzanne Johnson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Elysian Fields.

Coffee with a Canine: Suzanne Johnson & Tank and Shane.

Writers Read: Suzanne Johnson.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jan Elizabeth Watson's "What Has Become of You," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: What Has Become of You by Jan Elizabeth Watson.

The entry begins:

When I was writing What Has Become of You, I thought of Helena Bonham Carter, circa 1995-ish, in the role of petite, dark-haired, round-faced Vera Lundy. She has that interesting combination of elegance and slovenliness that I thought was right for the character. My friend Donald Hallene III, a young filmmaker whom you’ll probably all be hearing of someday, recommends Melanie...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Jan Elizabeth Watson's website.

The Page 69 Test: What Has Become of You.

Writers Read: Jan Elizabeth Watson.

My Book, The Movie: What Has Become of You.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Ralph Young's "Dissent: The History of an American Idea"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Dissent: The History of an American Idea by Ralph Young.

About the book, from the publisher:

Dissent: The History of an American Idea examines the key role dissent has played in shaping the United States. It focuses on those who, from colonial days to the present, dissented against the ruling paradigm of their time: from the Puritan Anne Hutchinson and Native American chief Powhatan in the seventeenth century, to the Occupy and Tea Party movements in the twenty-first century. The emphasis is on the way Americans, celebrated figures and anonymous ordinary citizens, responded to what they saw as the injustices that prevented them from fully experiencing their vision of America.

At its founding the United States committed itself to lofty ideals. When the promise of those ideals was not fully realized by all Americans, many protested and demanded that the United States live up to its promise. Women fought for equal rights; abolitionists sought to destroy slavery; workers organized unions; Indians resisted white encroachment on their land; radicals angrily demanded an end to the dominance of the moneyed interests; civil rights protestors marched to end segregation; antiwar activists took to the streets to protest the nation’s wars; and reactionaries, conservatives, and traditionalists in each decade struggled to turn back the clock to a simpler, more secure time. Some dissenters are celebrated heroes of American history, while others are ordinary people: frequently overlooked, but whose stories show that change is often accomplished through grassroots activism.

The United States is a nation founded on the promise and power of dissent. In this stunningly comprehensive volume, Ralph Young shows us its history.

Learn more about Dissent: The History of an American Idea at the New York University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Dissent: The History of an American Idea.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six top detectives from science fiction literature

Ryan Britt is the author of Luke Skywalker Can't Read and Other Geeky Truths, forthcoming in fall 2015. One entry on his list of six of the best detectives from science fiction literature, as shared at the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog:

Rick Deckard (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Philip K. Dick)

Though specifically more a bounty hunter/assassin than a detective, there’s definitely a noir haze around the protagonist of this classic Dick novel (a description that holds true of Harrison Ford’s cinematic interpretation as well). Tracking down and discovering who is a replicant and who isn’t might be Deckard’s job (though in the book he just wants a “real” animal of his own), but the biggest mystery for readers to solve is whether Deckard is human at all.

Read about another entry on the list.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? also appears on Weston Williams's list of fifteen classic science fiction books, Allegra Frazier's list of four great dystopian novels that made it to the big screen, Ryan Menezes's list of five movies that improved the book, Amanda Yesilbas and Charlie Jane Anders's list of the twelve most unfaithful movie versions of science fiction and fantasy books, Katharine Trendacosta and Charlie Jane Anders's list of the ten greatest personality tests in sci-fi & fantasy, John Mullan's list of ten of the best titles in the form of questions, Charlie Jane Anders and Michael Ann Dobbs's list of ten classic sci-fi books that were originally considered failures and Robert Collins's top ten list of dystopian novels.

--Marshal Zeringue