- Aug 5
- 3 min
Book Review: The Blunder, by Mutt-Lon
A condensed version of this review appeared in the August 2022 issue of The Historical Novels Review. In her translator’s notes to...
- Dec 15, 2021
- 3 min
Book Review: Ghost Station, by Dan Wells
Most Dan Wells novels feature some speculative weirdness: serial killers who hunt monsters, engineered organic beings who hunt humans,...
- Nov 10, 2021
- 4 min
Book Review: Protector, by Conn Iggulden
A condensed version of this review appeared in the November 2021 issue of The Historical Novels Review. Conn Iggulden has already...
- Apr 9, 2021
- 2 min
Bonus Content: White City, Dark Truths
In some of my earlier posts about Chicago’s World’s Fair of 1893—also known as the Columbian Exposition—I talked about how it was a grand...
- Mar 25, 2021
- 3 min
Book Review: A Perfect Spy, by John le Carré
Even without context, John le Carré’s A Perfect Spy—a tale of a British secret agent who betrayed his country because he couldn’t unlearn...
- Mar 6, 2021
- 1 min
Bonus Content: Images of the Fair
In describing Chicago's first world's fair (also known as the World's Columbian Exposition), I realized that it's easy to hear "fair" and...
- Feb 11, 2021
- 2 min
Bonus Content: How Witch in the White City Began in a Museum
Note: The post below is a spoiler-free version of my afterword to Witch in the White City, a historical fantasy/mystery set in the 1893...
- Jan 5, 2021
- 3 min
Book Review: The Evening and the Morning, by Ken Follett
In The Evening and the Morning, Ken Follett shows that he’s still a master at giving the reader the same thing, but different. The book...
- Nov 14, 2020
- 5 min
Book Review: Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove starts with pigs and ends with sorrow. In between lies one of the best books I’ve ever read. The novel is...
- Sep 19, 2020
- 2 min
Book Review: The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal
Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Calculating Stars begins as a disaster story and ends as a space race. Both tales are compelling in their own...
