- 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...
- Feb 9, 2021
- 2 min
Book Review: Gods of Jade and Shadow, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow starts as a Mexican Cinderella story, except that the fairy godmother is a Mayan god of...
- Jan 9, 2021
- 2 min
Pre-Order: Witch in the White City
It's finally done! This is my historical fantasy/mystery set in the 1893 World's Fair. You can pre-order it for $0.99 here. (The price...
- 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...
- Dec 9, 2020
- 3 min
Book Review: The Poppy War, by R. F. Kuang
At first, R. F. Kuang’s The Poppy War seems like an edgier version of Harry Potter: an outcast-at-the-academy story with a slightly older...
- 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 read. The novel is set...
- Oct 14, 2020
- 2 min
Book Review: The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin
N. K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season is more intriguing than satisfying. But that’s fine by me, because when I say it’s intriguing, I mean it’s
- 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...
- Aug 11, 2020
- 2 min
Book Review: The Map of Salt and Stars, by Zeyn Joukhadar
Zeyn Joukhadar’s The Map of Salt and Stars sucked me in with a fascinating structure: parallel stories, both anchored in Syria, one set...
- Jun 20, 2020
- 2 min
Book Review: Assassin's Fate, by Robin Hobb
She did it. Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Fate might have started slowly—as did the prior books in her Fitz and the Fool trilogy—but the middle...
