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Who would have the cojones to publicly antagonize Pulitzer Prize-winning film reviewer, essayist, screenwriter, and memoir-ist Roger Ebert? Well, let me tell you a story. In a former life, I, too, was a film reviewer (I guess my Pulitzer got lost in the mail?) and on my first day at the screening room I accidentally [...]

The Night Circus. If you’re a publisher, you’ve probably spent long weekends clutching your head, weeping, wondering how it wasn’t you who published this internationally beloved debut. If you’re a reviewer, you’ve likely lingered over your typewriter, swishing your tumbler, wondering if transcendent mellifluousness was really the phrase you wanted to use. If you’re a [...]

Given the gushes of accolades gushed upon A.S. King (Printz Honor for Please Ignore Vera Dietz, six starred reviews for Everybody Sees the Ants), it’s shocking that no unscrupulous muckraker has put an end to her awesomeness by solving the the shady mystery of her full name… until now. Ladies and gentlemen, I am just [...]

When Gregg Hurwitz isn’t banging out bestsellers like Trust No One, They’re Watching, and You’re Next, he’s writing screenplays and dabbling in comics featuring such obscure Marvel and DC characters as Wolverine and Batman. (Ha! A “bat-man”? No one’s gonna buy that, Hurwitz.) But methinks Mr. Busypants has spread himself too thin. While he’s busy [...]

Take heed, warriors! That multi-limbed monster tromping over the hill is Pete “The Hydra” Hautman! Fall back! Fall back! He’s got too many methods of attack! Hiy-aa!!: he’s a National Book Award winner (Godless)! Karateeee chop!!!: he’s a sensitive sketcher of tender teen emotions (The Big Crunch)! Throwing-star zzzzzzing!!!!: he’s an epic sci-fi innovator (The [...]

Typically I start these things by listing a few accomplishments of the so-called “author.” Y’know, like: Anne Elizabeth Moore was co-editor and publisher of Punk Planet, founding editor of The Best American Comics, and is the author of Cambodian Grrrl. But, really, do you think I have all day for typing and hotlinking and whatnot? [...]

Kurtis Scaletta likes to write about baseball. Wait a sec . . . baseball?! That’s catnip for writers of introductions! Let’s see how many clichés I can squeeze-play (thats 1!) into this thing. After really throwing some heat (2) with Mudville, Scaletta proved he had the mechanics (3) to uncork a wild pitch (4) with [...]

Always on the lookout for a way to take my interviewees down a peg or two, I began shuffling through the thick resume of Lisa Unger. Eleven novels? International bestseller status?! Beloved by critics and readers alike?!? How do I combat all that? Fear not, gentle reader. For there is always the humiliation of masterfully [...]

Lisa Brown may be the most anonymous name since “John Smith,” but damn if she isn’t out to own that particular Google search. No demographic is safe from her bestselling authoring and illustrating and cartooning and general overall excelling (examples: Picture the Dead, How to Be). Sources tell me that she also cohabits with Lemony [...]

If you’ve haven’t heard of Ernest Cline, then congratulations–it must be cozy under that rock of yours. May I join you? Because my sensitive, beautiful ears can’t take any more of the praise for this guy’s (pretty fantastic, I admit) geek-gasm of a debut novel, Ready Player One. All right, Cline. Remember those unkind jocks [...]