Happy Christmas, everyone. And as you’re sitting at your table tomorrow, bloated and dyspeptic and stunned by the tryptophan in your roasted meleagris, you may find yourself wondering, How did Laurie King come to be a writer? Well, if you are able to stagger as far as your computer screen, you can have your answer,…
Read MoreJeezie Louisie, I look up from digging myself out from under a pile of papers and computer tasks and find that in nine days we’ll be sitting down to the traditional pumpkin pie breakfast with a heap of wrappings burying the carpet. How the hell did that happen? What happened to the memo cancelling November?…
Read MoreWhat, oh what to give for the holidays? Something that demonstrates economic responsibility but doesn’t feel repressive; something fun yet with substance; something personal but not icky. A book? Maybe even a signed one? If that’s your choice, here’s for you: bookplates, of three flavors: with the cover of The Language of Bees or The…
Read MoreI’m in Oxford–the paper, at any rate. And speaking about Holmes, and the upcoming movie, and all things Sherlock on Chronic Rift.
Read MoreWhen I heard the news from Fort Hood last Thursday, my heart sank. Not only because of the terror and grief visited on this community of soldiers, but because of the undeniably Muslim name of the man accused. When a man with an “American” name (ie, Germanic or Irish or Polish or Italian or Spanish…
Read MoreHere’s how The God of the Hive will come dressed, on April 27th, and my editor craves your reaction:
Read MoreThere are as many styles of writing as there are writers—and I don’t mean the words on the page; I mean how they get there. I have writer friends who work set hours, every day without fail, year around, as if they were clocking in at a warehouse or office. I know others who take…
Read MoreIt isn’t often I laugh aloud in a silent house, but I challenge you to read this review without snorking your tea out across the keyboard.
Read MoreAlmost as long as there have been Sherlock Holmes stories, there have been ardent readers commenting on the stories, speculating on the Conan Doyle chronology, indulging in genteel (for the most part) arguments over the minutiae of time, place, and technique. For example, several times, Holmes mentions his partner’s recent change in marital status: So,…
Read MoreYesterday all over the world, people went to a conference. I took place on two panels, one with Lee Child and our editor Kate Miciak (who were in New Jersey and Long Island, respectively,) the other with Nevada Barr (in New Orleans.) Since then I’ve listened to various other panels, including a conversation between the…
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