Alex Bledsoe

Alex Bledsoe grew up in west Tennessee an hour north of Graceland (home of Elvis) and twenty minutes from Nutbush (birthplace of Tina Turner). He has been a reporter, editor, photographer and door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. He now lives in a Wisconsin town famous for trolls.

Bledsoe's new novel is Long Black Curl, the third novel of the Tufa, following The Hum and Shiver and Wisp of a Thing.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. His reply:

I’m currently indulging in two of my favorite obsessive reading topics, the Beat Generation, and Shakespeare.

From the Beats, I’m reading Jack Kerouac’s first novel manuscript, The Sea is My Brother, written in 1943 and finally published in 2011. It’s like many first novels, including my own: probably better left in the drawer. Yet for that very reason it’s both a treat and a reassurance. Kerouac’s place in the literary firmament is already secure, so finding out that he, like me and every other writer, started with an awkward, crude first manuscript that nevertheless showed flashes of what was to come, reminds me that we all have that sort of potential in us. Whether we realize it or not often comes down to the kind of hard work Kerouac specialized in, that drove him to do things like type an entire novel on one immense roll of paper so he didn’t have to pause to put in individual sheets.

I’m also reading Peter Brook’s 2014 book, The Quality of Mercy: Reflections on Shakespeare. Brook is a veteran British stage director who’s done productions of just about every significant Shakespeare play, so his insights come from practical experience with the text and its performance (unlike, say, Harold Bloom, who as far as I can tell has never set foot on a stage). It’s a very slim volume (128 pages with generous line spacing and margins), but it packs a wallop. I’m about to start his chapter on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I’m really looking forward to it; he directed a landmark 1970 production that, among other things, introduced the idea of the same actors playing Theseus/Oberon, Hippolyta/Titania, and Philostrate/Puck (you can see this as well in the 1996 RSC production available on DVD).

I’m also working my way through Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland, by Eddie Lenihan with Carolyn Eve Green. It’s a collection of supposedly real encounters with the Good Folk, and it’s rich with the kind of folkloric detail I love to put in my Tufa novels.

Learn more about the book and author at Alex Bledsoe's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Wisp of a Thing.

--Marshal Zeringue

Robert Goddard

Robert Goddard is the Edgar Award–winning, internationally bestselling author of The Ways of the World; Long Time Coming; Into the Blue, which won the first WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award; and Past Caring. He teaches history at the University of Cambridge and lives in Cornwall.

Last month I asked Goddard about what he was reading. His reply:

Most of the time my reading is non-fiction research for my latest book, often historical, sometimes quite abstruse (because that’s where the real nuggets lie). I can’t say too much about it without revealing future plotlines, so maybe we should turn to my relaxation reading.

For that there are various trusted stand-bys, but the Para Handy stories of Neil Munro are always on my bedside table. There’s really no better way to close a day than by taking a brief voyage through West of Scotland waters with the crew of the Vital Spark, who manage to squeeze most of the quiddities and absurdities of the human condition into their sometimes terse but always (if unintentionally) hilarious exchanges.

For something a little more serious, profound even, the collection of Joseph Roth’s journalism What I Saw is perfect. Seeing, more deeply than most, was what he excelled at. That and writing about it.

The novel I’m reading at the moment, ideal because it rewards steady-paced, episodic consumption, is The Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki Junichiro, an extraordinary dissection of the apparently ordinary lives of four sisters in upper class Osaka just before the outbreak of the Pacific War, a shadow that hangs unmentioned over every word and action in the story. Tanizaki leads you slowly by the hand into the essence of what it was to be Japanese in the middle of the twentieth century.

Visit Robert Goddard's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Ways of the World.

The Page 69 Test: The Ways of the World.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nina Berry

Nina Berry is the author of the Otherkin series and the newly released The Notorious Pagan Jones. She was born in Honolulu, studied writing and film in Chicago, and now works in Hollywood. When she's not writing, Berry does her best to bodysurf, explore ancient crypts, or venture forth on tiger safari. But mostly she's on the couch surrounded by cats, reading a good book.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Berry's reply:

I’m always reading several books at once, a mix of research books and books for pleasure.

The first of my current pleasure reads is the entrancing The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories by Angela Carter. It’s a collection of short stories that are lush, adult echoes of familiar fairy tales and tropes, like Bluebeard or Beauty and the Beast, written in sensual prose that arouses and disturbs at the same time. The stories practically vibrate in your hand as you read, while also giving you unique psychological insight into archetypes you thought you knew.

The Bloody Chamber is an interesting reading companion for my second pleasure book, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. Maas takes the familiar story of Beauty and the Beast and upends it, adding her unique world-building, a tough but vulnerable heroine, and a page-turning plot. This is a world where the fae wear masks all the time because something went wrong with magic during a masquerade ball and now they’re stuck! I’m enraptured with this idea, and can’t wait to find out how our protagonist deals with the magical world, and to see what’s under all those masks.

My current research read is The Eternal Nazi: From Mauthausen to Cairo, the Relentless Pursuit of SS Doctor Aribert Heim by Nicholas Kulish and Souad Mekhennet. It’s a fascinating combination of biography and true crime story, about a notorious Nazi doctor who conducted hideous experiments on people in the Mauthausen concentration camp. He disappeared after the war and was the subject of a long manhunt by a determined German policeman. This book reveals that Heim fled to Cairo, converted, rather incredibly, to Islam, and was adopted by an un-knowing Muslim family. The book delves into both his story and that of his dogged pursuer and shows how German attitudes toward its Nazi past changed over the years. So far this non-fiction book reads a lot like a thriller, and it’s inspiring a lot of ideas for my next book proposal.

Visit Nina Berry's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Brooke Johnson

Brooke Johnson is a stay-at-home mom, amateur seamstress, RPG enthusiast, and art hobbyist, in addition to all that book writing. As the jack-of-all-trades bard of the family, she adventures through life with her fiercely-bearded paladin of a husband, their daughter the sticky-fingered rogue, and their cowardly wizard of a dog, with only a sleep spell in his spellbook.

They currently reside in Northwest Arkansas, but once they earn enough loot and experience, they'll build a proper castle somewhere and defend against all manner of dragons and goblins, and whatever else dares take them on.

Johnson's new novel is The Brass Giant: A Chroniker City Story.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

I have a few different books cycling through my currently reading pile, and several more sitting on my nightstand waiting to be cracked open.

The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland — I’ve grown to love Norse Mythology over the years, fascinated by the brief glimpses into Nordic and Viking culture that I’ve gathered from history, other books, films, and even artwork. But I’ve never actually read any of the Norse tales. I’ve been reading through this book for a few years now, reading a story or two when the mood strikes. It’s written in that very mythological, almost biblical way that doesn’t always make for the most engaging read. The stories are interesting though, and I’ve found that my favorites are the ones involving the giants.

The Complete Guide to the Tarot by Eden Gray — This one, I started reading because I rolled a Dungeons & Dragons character who practiced as a fortune teller before she took up the life of the adventurer. She was given the gift of foresight and divination from her deity, the god of fate, and her primary tool for using this gift is her tarot deck. I’ve already read through the Major Arcana, which is what my character focuses on when she uses spells and divines the path she should take, but I’m now about halfway through the Minor Arcana, and once I feel that I have a good enough grasp on the Tarot, I plan to include those cards in role-playing my character as well.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett — I was introduced to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series only a few years ago, and I’ve slowly been reading through the novels, in order, starting with The Color of Magic. I’ve been in love with the series and the world ever since. I started reading Guards! Guards! the same day that he died, and it’s been difficult for me to enjoy for that reason I think. I keep putting off finishing it because every time I pick it up, I’m reminded that Terry is no longer with us, and that’s a shame.

I’m also between books in another series, The Paper Magician trilogy by Charlie N. Holmberg. I picked the first book up on a whim because the idea of a magician attuned to paper sounded interesting enough that I wanted to read about it. I now have the sequel sitting on my nightstand, The Glass Magician, which I’m planning to read next.

Visit Brooke Johnson's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Brass Giant.

The Page 69 Test: The Brass Giant.

--Marshal Zeringue

J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen critically acclaimed novels, including What Lies Behind, When Shadows Fall and All the Pretty Girls, and is the co-author of the A Brit in the FBI series with bestselling author Catherine Coulter. Her work has been published in more than twenty countries. Her novel The Cold Room won the ITW Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original, and Where All The Dead Lie was a RITA® Nominee for Best Romantic Suspense. She lives in Nashville with her husband and twin kittens, where she enjoys fine wine and good notebooks.

Recently I asked Ellison about what she was reading. Her reply:

There are limits to what one brain can handle—trust me on this. I’ve just had the most insane quarter of my career: two book releases in May (Crossed in the Sweet Dreams boxed set, and What Lies Behind, the 4th Samantha Owens book), an anthology release in June, two other book deadlines and a short story revision, and a renovation project on my house. Not surprisingly, my CPU hit maximum density a few weeks ago. I couldn’t think, couldn’t focus. I was a zombie.

So I did the only rational thing possible. I shut down my world, headed for a beach, and retreated into a stack of books. And boy, did I pick some winners.

I started with The Martian, by Andy Weir, a smart sci-fi thriller with a deep sense of humor. I loved this book, and it’s going to be a movie later this year, with Ridley Scott directing and Matt Damon starring. Not bad.

Then I moved on to domestic stories. Harlan Coben’s The Stranger was excellent, one of his best because of how relatable his characters were. And then I dipped back into my new favorite writer, Liane Moriarty. I’d already read The Husband's Secret and Big Little Lies, which are also populated with very relatable characters. Next up was What Alice Forgot, possibly my favorite of all of her books, then The Hypnotist's Love Story.

I found an interesting common theme throughout all the titles I read: they delve into worlds I am wildly unfamiliar with. When I read, I look for experiences that complement my own, not that I’ve experienced. Clearly, I’m not an astronaut, and I don’t have children who aren’t covered in fur, so I’ve never dealt with schools and sports and the attendant world. I find it all fascinating and a little bit frightening.

I find myself living vicariously through these stories, which is obviously what we all want to do when we read, right? Experience new things, learn about new locales, find common ground with characters we love and enjoy. It’s what makes reading such a fundamental part of life.

When I pick up a book, I want to be seduced. I want the story and the characters to infiltrate my world and sweep me away. To find the transcendence of a book you just can’t put down is the ultimate joy. I try to write those books, yes, but as a writer/reader, there is nothing more delicious than finding those titles. I’ve had years when only one or two books fall into this category, and then I have runs when everything I read is gloriously distracting.

Truthfully, it’s been a very good reading year. The first novel I finished in 2015 was Station Eleven. I had to stop and put the book down a few times, realizing I was in the presence of genius. How often can you say that?

I found Deborah Harkness and Liane Moriarty and gobbled them up like candies. I’ve read some brilliant YA books: Dissonance by Erica O’Rourke, and Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard both started very promising storylines. The Grisha Trilogy (start with Shadow and Bone) by Leigh Bardugo was absolutely incredible, enchanting and fresh.

If you’re familiar with any of these books, you’ll see they are wildly different from one another. Some are fantasy, some are about women. Some are sci-fi, some are thrillers. The quality of the work isn’t limited to just one writer or genre.

Is story becoming better? Are writers becoming more talented? Is the zeitgeist playing into this?

Or am I becoming a better reader? Has writing seventeen novels of my own allowed me to find books I know will sweep me off my feet? Or have I finally grown up enough to select books that I know I will enjoy? I no longer read books because I’ve been told I must; I only read books that appeal to me, and, horror of all horrors, I put them down if they aren’t working for me. So a level of selection sophistication could be at play.

But to tell you the truth, with the amount of new work accessible every day, we’re lucky enough to have some serious cream rising to the top. And that, my friends, is the most exciting concept of all.

I highly recommend these books and would love to hear what books have been transcendent for you lately.

Visit J.T. Ellison's website, or follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

My Book, The Movie: What Lies Behind.

The Page 69 Test: What Lies Behind.

--Marshal Zeringue

Larry D. Sweazy

Larry D. Sweazy (pronounced: Swayzee) is the author of ten novels, Escape from Hangtown, See Also Murder: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery, Vengeance at Sundown, The Gila Wars, The Coyote Tracker, The Devil's Bones, The Cougar's Prey, The Badger's Revenge, The Scorpion Trail, and The Rattlesnake Season. He won the WWA (Western Writers of America) Spur award for Best Short Fiction in 2005 and for Best Paperback Original in 2013. He also won the 2011 and 2012 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction for books the Josiah Wolfe series. He was nominated for a Derringer award in 2007 (for the short story "See Also Murder"), and was a finalist in the Best Books of Indiana literary competition in 2010. Sweazy was awarded the Best Books in Indiana in 2011 for The Scorpion Trail. And in 2013, he received the inaugural Elmer Kelton Fiction Book of the Year for The Coyote Tracker, presented by the AWA (Academy of Western Artists). Sweazy has published over sixty nonfiction articles and short stories, which have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine; The Adventure of the Missing Detective: And 25 of the Year's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories!; Boys' Life; Hardboiled; Amazon Shorts, and several other publications and anthologies. He lives in the Midwest with his wife, Rose.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Sweazy's reply:

I’m currently reading H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. I’ve long been interested in birds, especially raptors, birding, and nature writing in general to help feed my own sense of place, so it wasn’t a surprise that this book caught my attention. Highly acclaimed and a number one bestseller in the UK (United Kingdom), H is for Hawk is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve read in a long time. The author has a wonderful eye for landscape, an impeccable sense of timing, and a poetic use of language that pulls the reader into her world effortlessly. But make no mistake, this is no easy read. It is a memoir that concerns the death of her father, her recovery through grief by training a goshawk to trust her, a treatise on falconry, and an in-depth look at the difficult and troubled life of the writer, T. H. White. The Economist called it, “One part memoir, one part gorgeous evocation of the natural world, and one part literary meditation.” I think that quote sums this book up perfectly and I believe it deserves all the praise it has received.

Consider this passage: “When the rain stopped the heat began. Dogs panted flat in the black shade under the limes, and the lawns in front of the house paled and burned to hay. A damp, hot wind pushed leaves about but failed to cool anything; it was a wind that made things worse, like stirring a hot bath with your hand.”

Reading this book is like eating a fine meal, one that I wish not to end. I’m sure that I will read H is for Hawk more than once.

Visit Larry D. Sweazy's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: The Badger’s Revenge.

The Page 69 Test: The Devil's Bones.

My Book, The Movie: The Devil’s Bones.

The Page 69 Test: The Coyote Tracker.

The Page 69 Test: The Gila Wars.

--Marshal Zeringue

Deborah Lutz

Deborah Lutz divides her time between Brooklyn and Louisville, KY. She is the Thruston B. Morton Professor of English at the University of Louisville. Her scholarship focuses on material culture; the history of attitudes toward death and mourning; the history of sexuality, pornography and erotica; and gender and gay studies.

Lutz's most recent book is The Brontë Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. her reply:

I have decided to embark on a reading of the novels of George Sand. I like the idea of reading all of the 19th-century female writers who called themselves “George”—not a hard task since George Eliot is the only other one, as far as I know. I was also recently reading through the first volume of Proust again, and the narrator, as a child, is given George Sand’s novels by his grandmother. He adores them. And then George Eliot was a fan of Sand, and some of her novels, as I have found, hew pretty closely to Sand’s work. I started with Francois le Champi, translated, rather unfortunately I think, as The Country Waif in my edition (my French isn’t good enough for me to read it in its original language). This is a charming novel about, well, incest. Or, at least, about a foundling child, taken in and raised by a pretty woman. As he grows to be a handsome man, he falls in love with his “mother” and they marry. This is the sort of incest the narrator in Proust would appreciate, since he relishes kissing his mother.

Then there was The Miller of Angibault, which was an odd, over-heated affair, with the gothic touch of a mad woman who roams loose, eventually burning down a castle. It had the kind of high drama and passion found in Stendhal, although generally Stendhal does it better. I’m just starting Indiana, which so far promises well.

Visit Deborah Lutz's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Gary Corby

Gary Corby is the author of the Athenian Mystery series, starring Nicolaos, his girlfriend Diotima, and his irritating twelve year old brother Socrates.

The books in order are The Pericles Commission, The Ionia Sanction, Sacred Games, The Marathon Conspiracy, and the newest addition, Death Ex Machina.

Recently I asked Corby about what he was reading. His reply:

I read across a rather wide range. That’s a healthy thing for any author. Here’s what I have open:

The Fallible Fiend, by L. Sprague de Camp. I’ve always thought L. Sprague de Camp had the perfect writer’s name. He was a very brilliant fantasy writer at the height of the golden age of SF&F, and also apparently a true world expert on ancient machinery. The Fallible Fiend is one of his funniest and best imagined books, about a gentle, philosophic demon who is indentured to serve on a fantasy earth for one year. Highly recommended.

The Key To Rebecca, by Ken Follett. Would you believe I’ve never read this very famous thriller? I’m now correcting that omission. It’s a WWII espionage tale set in Egypt.

The Real Book, sixth edition. I play guitar, purely for fun, so don’t expect to see me gigging stadiums any time soon. However I finished the manuscript for the sixth Athenian Mystery on the very same day that Death Ex Machina released. That means I have some down time between books! I’m taking the chance to play guitar. The Real Book is a famous collection of jazz standards. So I’m reading, but what I’m reading is music.

Visit Gary Corby's blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sophie Jaff

A native of South Africa, Sophie Jaff is an alumna of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and a fellow of the Dramatists Guild of America. Her work has been performed at Symphony Space, Lincoln Center, the Duplex, the Gershwin, and Goodspeed Musicals.

Jaff's new novel is Love is Red.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

I’m on an insane deadline to finish Book Two of my trilogy and I struggle to read new books during the initial writing period. However I can’t wait to read My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. I do reread certain favorites, in between writing bouts, such as The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. I love this book; it’s the second in the Oryx and Crake trilogy but it can stand alone too. It’s set in the not too distant terrifying future. Atwood’s work is like rich piece of cake you almost can’t bear to finish, but do anyway. I recently reread Stephen King’s Everything is Eventual, a collection of wonderful frightening short stories including ‘Room 1408’ and ‘Everything is Eventual’ both of which will haunt you forever. The Likeness by Tana French--where a detective has to infiltrate a close-knit group of friends to discover a murder, which is a dream come true scenario for a writer. I also listen to the unabridged murder mysteries featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple written by the legendary Agatha Christie. I adore hearing about the upper crust English in the 1930s where elegant, cultured people follow intricate plots and murder people in ghastly ways. I find these stories very comforting and they lull me to sleep at night.

Research wise, here are two books that spring to mind.

Ian Mortimer’s The Time Traveler’s Guide to the Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century.

I think this is a brilliantly written book. I also like to play around with time and concepts of time so I love the idea that we can visit the past as a tourist destination. It gives me great joy to imagine heavy set Americans wearing fanny packs teetering wildly around 14th century London before being promptly skewered by irritated knight.

Book of Revelations; New Testament

Recently I was able to make a traveling group of Born Again Christians happy. They were sitting on side of 14th street and were giving out free bibles from an ominous dark green mini van. I did a one eighty returning to collect my bible.

“We’re here every Thursday night!’ called one woman excitedly. “Come back and see us any time.”

“Enjoy Revelations!” cried a bearded man.

The best thing was that he meant it.

Visit Sophie Jaff's website.

My Book, The Movie: Love is Red.

--Marshal Zeringue

Camille DeAngelis

Camille DeAngelis is the author of the recently released Bones & All, Petty Magic: Being the Memoirs and Confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger, Temptress and Troublemaker, and Mary Modern, as well as a first-edition guidebook, Moon Ireland. She is a graduate of New York University (B.A. in Fine Arts, minor in Irish Studies, 2002) and the National University of Ireland, Galway (M.A. in Writing, 2005).

Recently I asked DeAngelis about what she was reading. Her reply:

Right now my public transit reading is When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone, a feminist classic I found at the biannual Harvard Books warehouse sale (which is every bit as exciting as it sounds!) Though some Goodreads reviewers have argued that Stone's thesis supports a matriarchy that never actually existed, the book pretty much proved its continued relevance for me when a first-grade girl I tutor read the book cover and replied scornfully, “God was never a woman!”

Two epic novels I've read and loved recently are Queen of Kings by Maria Dahvana Headley (Cleopatra as a vampire! Impeccably researched with a delicious overlay of fantasy—in this universe all the old magic of gods and oracles and the underworld is for real) and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (a beautifully written and characterized novel that makes the story of the Iliad feel way more accessible). I also went over the moon for Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, about a close friendship between two girls, a pilot and a spy, during World War II. If you enjoy novels that repeatedly break your heart, both Code Name Verity and The Song of Achilles are must reads.

Also on my nightstand is Victoria Moran's The Good Karma Diet, which is about compassionate eating to feel happier and more peaceful and connected to the world around you—it's not a diet plan, it's a philosophy. I'm very proud to say I have a sidebar essay in the book, and I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of it!

Visit Camille DeAngelis's website.

--Marshal Zeringue