Mark Stevens's Blog, page 20

Elizabeth Wetmore, “Valentine”

“For years to come, her name will hover like a swarm of yellow jackets over the local girls, a warning about what not to do, what never to do.” Her name is Gloria Ramirez. In the opening pages of Valentine, … Continue reading →

Q & A #85 – Johanna Garton, “Edge of the Map”

The story about Edge of the Map is as intriguing as the narrative itself. First, the many ways in which Christine Boskoff’s family was intertwined with Johanna Garton’s family–including parallel/coincidental stops in Wisconsin, Colorado, and China. And how many non-fiction … Continue reading →

Robert Macfarlane, “Underland”

Each sentence in Underland, Robert Macfarlane told The New York Times, was rewritten at least 20 times. And up to 40. Macfarlane said he needed to come up with a new language for a topic that is about “what we … Continue reading →

Fleur Bradley, “Midnight at the Barclay Hotel”

A review for the Four Corners Free Press.

Linda Keir, “The Three Mrs. Wrights”

Nobody wants to spend an evening in Buffalo alone. Well, nobody should. Lark doesn’t. She’s a board game designer, in town from her home in Los Angeles to pitch an idea. A guy named Trip at the hotel bar strikes … Continue reading →

Jack Henry Abbott, “In the Belly of the Beast”

It’s impossible to read In the Belly of the Beast and not wonder how it would have been received had it been published now, in the year of the pandemic and civil rights upheavals and sharply divided political clashes over … Continue reading →

Richard Price / Harry Brandt, “The Whites”

Riding dynamite dialogue, The Whites rocks from start to finish—a three-dimensional cop navigating a multi-faceted life and a head-scratching series of cases. This “writing as Harry Brandt” business doesn’t change the fact that it’s Richard Price—The Wanderers, Clockers, Freedomland, Lush … Continue reading →

Donald Lopez Jr., “Buddha Takes the Mound: Enlightenment in 9 Innings”

Now I understand. It’s the suffering. “More than any other sport, baseball is suffused with suffering. The best batters fail to get a hit 70 percent of the time. The scoreboard in every stadium each day displays a giant E … Continue reading →

Patrick Radden Keefe, “Say Nothing”

With over 100 pages of notes backing up every scrap of narrative, Say Nothing is a remarkable account of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland intertwined with the disappearance of Jean McConville, a 38-year-old—and widowed—mother of ten. Intertwined isn’t quite the … Continue reading →

Q & A #84 – Art Taylor, “The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74”

When I first read Art Taylor’s “English 398: Fiction Workshop” in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, I was blown away at the idea and the execution. If you insist, I’ll dig up the tweet from the summer of 2018 to prove … Continue reading →