Mark Stevens's Blog, page 13

Sara Gran, “The Book of The Most Precious Substance”

Kind of whacky, quite breezy, and compulsively readable. The Book of the Most Precious Substance goes down like candy. Got a beach blanket? Need something low-cal? Here you go. The idea is irresistible. Because who doesn’t think the next book … Continue reading →

Ted Conover, “Cheap Land Colorado”

Ted Conover works as an immersive journalist. He rode the rails with hoboes (Rolling Nowhere). He embedded with Mexican immigrants moving back and forth across the U.S. border for work and for their families back home (Coyotes). He traveled the … Continue reading →

James Sallis, “The Long-Legged Fly”

“It’s strange how little is left of our lives once they’re rendered down, once they’ve started becoming history. A handful of facts, movements, conflicts, that’s all the observer sees. An uninhabited shell.” We’re in New Orleans. 1964. Lew Griffin’s office … Continue reading →

Eli Cranor, “Don’t Know Tough”

Powerful. Heavy. Dry. Don’t Know Tough sets a cool tone. That cool vibe never wavers. When the drama builds—and there’s plenty of it—the prose keeps a steady beat. That’s a style thing to notice and not a comment on the … Continue reading →

Susan Orlean, “The Library Book”

I’m biased. I’m the son of two librarians. My father worked to connect libraries via computers in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He worked at MIT in Cambridge on something called Information Transfer Experiments. Project INTREX. He was the first executive … Continue reading →

Lisa C. Taylor, “Impossibly Small Spaces”

Note: this review was originally published by Four Corners Free Press (October 2022): A couple meets at the airport. No, not how you might think. They are both there to greet arriving passengers on a plane. Except the plane crashes. … Continue reading →

Q & A #94, C. Matthew Smith, “Twentymile”

One of best things about moderating panels at writing conferences is you get the chance to read books you might not have otherwise put on your list. Such was the case with 2022 Bouchercon in Minneapolis. I had seen some … Continue reading →

South Central Noir

A review of South Central Noir (Akashic Books) for New York Journal of Books:

Q & A #93 – Erin Flanagan, “Deer Season”

Erin Wright is an English professor at Wright State University in Ohio. She’s also the winner, for Deer Season, of the 2022 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Publishers Weekly gave “Deer Season” a coveted starred review and described it … Continue reading →

Bob Dylan, “Chronicles”

“When (Robert) Johnson started singing, he seemed like a guy who could have sprung from the head of Zeus in full armor.” “(Dave) Van Ronk’s voice was like rusted shrapnel and he could get a lot of subtle ramifications out … Continue reading →