Recent Articles

James Rollins on the Works of Richard Adams

“A recent study in Scientific American showed that reading fiction is shown to improve empathy in readers, and that was certainly true for me upon reading Watership Down, by Robert Adams....”

Hank Phillippi Ryan: Confessions of a Lifelong Reader

Now it can be told. Now that time has passed, it is safe to reveal the secrets of my reading life. Say no more? Well, no. I’ll confess. Here are the pivotal moments, the surreptitious activities, the Cold War fears, the binges, and two outright deceptions.

My Book: a Theory About Thrillers

David Morrell's tale of the crypt

Riders on the Storm: Ed Gorman’s Sam McCain Novels

A small-town hero with a big heart, Sam McCain is living through tumultuous times in Ed Gorman’s distinguished series of novels set in America’s Midwest from the late 1950s to the early 1970s.

Lynn Hightower on Wendell Berry

"I was a 16-year-old college freshman taking every writing class on campus when I walked into Wendell Berry’s Imaginative Writing class..."

Carolyn Hart and Don Bain on Creating Characters That Stand the Test of Time

Mary Kennedy speaks with Carolyn Hart (Death on Demand series) and Donald Bain, (Murder, She Wrote series) for Mystery Scene about creating long-running characters, complex and appealing enough to stand the test of time.

Ace Atkins on Elmore Leonard

Let Your Characters Do the Talking.

My Book: a Boy and His Hound

Every other year or so, my father would pull his worn copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes from the shelf and read it cover to cover.... There had to be something special between those frayed covers.