AltWeeklies Wire
In 'Scorch Atlas,' Blake Butler Rains Gravel and Glassnew
Blake Butler aims his telescope at the future, and if what he finds there and shows us in Scorch Atlas even approaches the truth, we can all only hope we won't be around to see it.
Boston Phoenix |
Nina Maclaughlin |
09-10-2009 |
Fiction
Thriller Writer (And Former CIA Recruit) Joseph Finder Shares Trade Secretsnew

Truth can be stranger than fiction. When Boston thriller writer Joseph Finder discovered how easy it would be for someone to sneak into this country with a fake passport, he didn't put that into his 1995 book Zero Hour. But the one-time CIA recruit hasn't held back on other trade secrets.
Boston Phoenix |
Clea Simon |
08-19-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Woodstock Co-creator Michael Lang Shares His Memoriesnew
Four decades of nostalgia, hallucinogens, and box sets make us forget that the Woodstock Music & Art Fair didn't descend from a sky of positive vibes and land softly atop a field of dancing hippies. Michael Lang, co-creator of the festival, returns to the scene of the grime in his new book The Road to Woodstock.
Boston Phoenix |
Rob Turbovsky |
07-23-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Introducing Sir John Hargrave, Professional Pranksternew
Sir John Hargrave is no nobleman. He's a lifelong mischief maker who legally changed his name to punk the entire British royal family — and in the process got himself barred from the Queen's digs.
Boston Phoenix |
Ian Sands |
07-09-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Giving Good Gimmick: Granta at 30new
To sustain a good literary magazine over decades it pays to have a gimmick. Thirty-year-old Granta's secret to success: themes, like this issue's "New Fiction Special."
Boston Phoenix |
William Corbett |
06-30-2009 |
Fiction
April Smith's Mystery/Thrillers Delve in Darknessnew
The former Cagney and Lace producer and author reveals the mystery behind her accidental heroine, Ana Grey, and the difference between writing TV scripts and books.
Boston Phoenix |
Clea Simon |
06-30-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Aerosmith's Joey Kramer Lets Loosenew

The drummer steps out from behind the kit to talk about his new book, Hit Hard.
Boston Phoenix |
The Sandbox |
06-24-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
P.J. O'Rourke Talks Cars, 'Driving'new
Driving like Crazy is travel writing in the classic tradition of Robert Byron.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Kadzis |
06-18-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
The Best in Summer Readingnew
Hot town, summer in the city ... or in the country ... or at the beach. Wherever you are, don't forget your books. Here's the latest from Thomas Pynchon, a restored edition of Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, and much, much more.
Boston Phoenix |
Barbara Hoffert |
06-10-2009 |
Books
'The Missing' Takes a Lyrical Turn in the Southnew

Tim Gautreaux writes of a South that never changes. But for the people of his third novel, a new age is dawning.
Boston Phoenix |
Clea Simon |
05-14-2009 |
Fiction
Bloody Good Jane Austennew
Despite his decidedly lowbrow preoccupations (zombies, martial arts, and crude jokes about balls), author Seth Grahame-Smith is a sly devil, a parodist with as strong a sense of Austen's prose stylings as of her sharp observations.
Boston Phoenix |
Clea Simon |
04-23-2009 |
Fiction
Roger Clemens's Rise and Fallnew

A career once on a par with those of Christy Mathewson, Warren Spahn, and Sandy Koufax now rests with Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe.
Boston Phoenix |
George Kimball |
04-02-2009 |
Nonfiction
The Romance of Decay in Photosnew
Cheer up and don't let this dust-to-dust business slow you down. That's something to keep in mind when confronting the work of Jerry Berndt and Eugene Richards, two photographers with Boston ties adept at making art from what a lot of people consider ugly, untouchable things.
Boston Phoenix |
Clif Garboden |
03-05-2009 |
Nonfiction
Azar Nafisi Meets Her Strangernew
Nafisi looks backward down the road of her life with an enormous set of binoculars, and attempts to zoom in on everything there — four generations of a family, over the course of a century, in a culturally and politically fluxing country — with great candidness, and generous attention to detail.
Boston Phoenix |
Caitlin E. Curran |
01-22-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
The Post-Modern 'Art' of Twitter Fictionnew

Twitter technology lets you write a novel 140 characters at a time. And you want to do this why?
Boston Phoenix |
Mike Miliard |
01-16-2009 |
Books