AltWeeklies Wire
Independent Bookshops Chain to Close After 82 Yearsnew
Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, one of the largest and oldest independent chains in Wisconsin, survived the Great Depression but wasn't able to overcome titanic changes in the retail sector, exacerbated by the current economic crisis.
Shepherd Express |
Evan Rytlewski |
01-23-2009 |
Books
Sci-Fi Icon Extends a Hand Across the Author-Audience Dividenew

The American Tolkien demonstrates how science fiction fandom presaged the social networking age.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Dylan Otto Krider |
01-23-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'My Private War': The Things They Carrynew
Norman Bussel's beautifully constructed, emotionally devastating account of being a prisoner of war in Germany during WWII is a tale too rarely told, one whose import should have immediate and direct consequences on current U.S. policy.
Eugene Weekly |
Suzi Steffen |
01-22-2009 |
Nonfiction
Family Jewels: Debut Novel From the Owner of Greenville Music Clubnew

Greenville club owner John Jeter releases his debut novel -- a fictional work about fading Southern culture and family legacy told through the eyes of cynical wheel-chair bound music columnist Randol Duncan.
Mountain Xpress |
Alli Marshall |
01-22-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
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
Paul Maliszewski Examines Literary Fraudstersnew
Fakers, a collection of essays that comes mostly from Maliszewski's contributions to Bookforum, Harper's, The Paris Review and other publications, examines not just the counterfeiters themselves, but those who publish, promote and read their work.
INDY Week |
Sam Wardle |
01-22-2009 |
Nonfiction
The Revolution Is Here!: A Small Bookstore Preparesnew
More than just a bookstore, Manhattan's Revolution Books’ agenda for change is not to work within the system. It’s to prepare people with the tools of communism so that they’ll be ready when the system collapses.
New York Press |
Justin Richards |
01-22-2009 |
Books
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
'Dynamite Club' Revisits the Bomb Heard 'round the Worldnew
John Merriman examines how an 1894 anarchist bombing in Paris kicked off the age of modern terrorism, and what we stand to learn from the bomber.
The Texas Observer |
Tom Palaima |
01-16-2009 |
Nonfiction
Robert Zubrin Phones It in from Marsnew

President of the Mars Society, Robert Zubrin, born on New Plymouth, Mars in 2071, gives Earthlings tips for moving to the Red Planet.
Boulder Weekly |
Dylan Otto Krider |
01-15-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'Contagious' is Not a Typical Sci-Fi Novelnew
Scott Sigler has created a fan base with his serial podcasts of sci-fi/horror novels. Now Contagious promises to spread his scary stuff among traditional readers.
Sacramento News & Review |
Kel Munger |
01-15-2009 |
Fiction
Pink Floyd Bio Reveals All the Cracks in the Wallnew
Nothing in these pages is pretty, and the collective story doesn't seem to be so much about rock stars as about human beings going through the trajectory of life: being young and having a dream, moving toward the realization of that dream, achieving success and then dealing with the emotional and psychological fallout.
New York Press |
Aileen Torres |
01-15-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Hot, Flat, and Crowded' is the Same Old Thomas Friedmannew

When some time ago a friend of mine told me that Thomas Friedman's new book was going to be a kind of environmentalist clarion call against American consumerism, I almost died laughing.
New York Press |
Matt Taibbi |
01-15-2009 |
Nonfiction
'People Of The Book': Like 'The Da Vinci Code' by Someone Who Can Actually Writenew
The two stories certainly have a lot of the same elements: a holy book with an untold story, a rare-book expert with plucky, unconventional methods who causes everyone a lot of trouble, and a whole lot of history. But People of the Book is actually for people who like books.
Willamette Week |
Michael Kimber |
01-15-2009 |
Fiction
Steve Fainaru's New Book Gives the Mercenary in Iraq a Face and a Soulnew
Although mercenaries have a bad rap around the world, "I didn't really blame most of them," Fainaru recalls, "even though a lot of people did, demonizing them and calling them all kinds of names."
East Bay Express |
Anneli Rufus |
01-14-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews