Set around Lake Superior in the Upper Midwest, I Cheerfully Refuse depicts a near-future America that has collapsed to the point where it more closely resembles the past. The coasts are the domain of ...
Read ReviewLake Superior as Dystopian Setting
'The setting is a character in itself' is a moth-eaten critical insight about any book (or film, or TV show), but I Cheerfully Refuse stops just short of literally making Lake Superior a character. As...
Read Article"We are living in an incredible time of exploration," says Alien Earths author Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger, and after reading her new book it's impossible to argue. Only in recent years have we developed the...
Read ReviewFrom the 17th century on, Johannes Kepler, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, HG Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs were just a few artists who contributed to a burgeoning awakening of the ...
Read ArticleLuzia, the heroine of Leigh Bardugo's novel The Familiar, is a young woman employed as a scullion in the home of the decidedly middle-class Marius and Valentina Ordoño. Although she appears to be...
Read ReviewThe fictional heroine of Leigh Bardugo's novel The Familiar interacts with several characters based on people who really did live in Spain during the 16th century. One of these is a young woman ...
Read ArticleAmor Towles's short story collection Table for Two reads as something of a dream compilation for those of us who have dearly wished we could spend just a bit more time in the company of his ...
Read ReviewOlivia de Havilland and the Studio System
In the novella "Eve in Hollywood," in Amor Towles's Table for Two, Eve Ross becomes close friends with the actress Olivia de Havilland. It is 1938, and De Havilland's popular new ...
Read ArticleIn 1958, Billie Holiday began work on an ambitious album called Lady in Satin. Accompanied by a full orchestra for the first time in her career and nervous, she was often late to rehearsal, drunk, or ...
Read ReviewThe Tangled History of "Strange Fruit"
In February 1959, Billie Holiday sang the anti-lynching song she popularized, 'Strange Fruit,' on the London television show Chelsea at Nine. She was battling liver disease because of a prodigious ...
Read ArticleSince she was a child, Neely has suffered from auditory hallucinations, hearing voices that demand water or praise or criticize her depending on the day. The only real respite she has is in the local ...
Read ReviewNeely, the main character in Mindy McGinnis's Under This Red Rock, experiences auditory hallucinations (AHs). Since an early age, Neely has heard people clapping for her, children laughing and playing...
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