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Girls and Guns
In Third Strike, U.K. crime writer Zoë Sharp's Charlie Fox, an ex-British soldier turned bodyguard, faces her toughest protection assignment yet: her parents. What inspired you to create such an atypical heroine? Charlie came about because she was someone I wanted to read about, a strong, independent character but not “a guy in nylons.
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The Sinbad of Literature
I've been practicing the pronunciation of Dr. Alaa al Aswany's name for weeks now and by the time we're set to meet at the Cairo Hilton, I'm confident I've got it down. He finds me in the lobby, a big, burly, effusive man, who apologizes for being late, the Cairo traffic impossible. I think about eating in some out-of-the-way foul and falafel joint, but we end up in the hotel's French restauran...
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Q & A with Polly Horvath
Bookshelf spoke with Polly Horvath about her new novel, My One Hundred Adventures (Random House/Schwartz & Wade, Sept.).
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State of Independence: PW Talks to Alafair Burke
Alafair Burke, daughter of acclaimed crime writer James Lee Burke, came into her own with the Oregon-based Samantha Kincaid legal thrillers. The second novel in her new series to feature NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher is Angel’s Tip (Harper).
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The Monday Interview: Screenwriter Turned Memoirist Joe Eszterhas
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Investigating Heaven and Hell
In The Shadow Pavilion, the fourth urban fantasy-mystery featuring unflappable Detective Inspector Wei Chen, British fantasist Liz Williams blends Chinese folklore, near-future technology and elements of classic police procedurals. What inspired you to create these fanciful settings and characters? It came about from a visit to Hong Kong.
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Short-Order Author
Curmudgeonly chef Kenny Shopsin talked about his book, Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin, between shifts at his New York restaurant, Shopsin's General Store. You talk about “the art of staying small” and say you have no desire to oversee a Shopsin's restaurant empire or endorse a line of cookware.
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Grant Morrison Talks Comics, Magic, Life and Death
Grant Morrison takes a break from his final crisis and talks about god, death and demons.
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The Monday Interview: Marcos Moulitsas Zúniga
An interview with Marcos Moulitsas Zúniga, author of Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era, which will be published by Celebra.
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Good People and Evil Things
Jo Walton, best known for her fantasy fiction, concludes her alternate history trilogy with Half a Crown, which imagines a world in which England and Nazi Germany made peace.
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The Ayatollah Begs to Differ
Majd, grandson of an ayatollah and translator for presidents Khatami and Ahmadinejad, plunges into the heart of modern Iran in The Ayatollah Begs to Differ.
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The Monday Interview: George Pelecanos
An interview with George Pelecanos, whose latest novel, The Turnaround, was published by Little, Brown.
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An L.A.State of Mind
Bestselling crime novelist Michael Connelly, 52, says that his inspiration “was always wrapped up in Los Angeles, even though I’d never been there.”It was reading quintessential L.A. master Raymond Chandler that made him try to write his own book; he wrote two novels, later scrapped, while working as a crime reporter in Florida (where he grew up), but success came only after h...
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Real Fast Food
In Fast Food My Way, Jacques Pépin offers an elemental and elegant approach to preparing great meals. “The supermarket as prep cook” is a big theme in both of your fast food books. What do you think is the most convenient prepared item? Probably the packaged, ready-to-cook chicken parts.
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The Writing Life
In The Wink of the Zenith, poet and memoirist Skloot—who was brain damaged after a viral attack in 1988—dissects his often bumpy path to becoming a writer. In Zenith, you talk about your undergraduate study of Thomas Hardy. What first drew you to his work? Growing up, I was far more likely to read The Hardy Boys than Thomas Hardy.
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The Monday Interview: Gan Golan
An interview with Gan Golan, co-author with Erich Origen of Goodnight Bush, which was published by Little, Brown.
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Crack Reporter: PW Talks with David Carr
In The Night of the Gun (Reviews, June 16), New York Times columnist and reporter David Carr investigates his history as a drug addict.
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All in the Coven
Kathleen Kent revisits the Salem witch trials through the lives of her ancestors in The Heretic's Daughter. You're descended from Martha Carrier, one of 19 people hanged for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. Have you always known about your famous ancestor? I grew up hearing stories about Martha Carrier and the fact that she was the only woman that directly confronted her accusers and ...
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The Monday Interview with John Darnton, author of Black & White and Dead All Over
An interview with John Darnton, whose latest novel, Black & White and Dead All Over will be published by Knopf.
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Diving into Darkness
Known for her unflinching depictions of violence, Mo Hayder has Phoebe “Flea” Marley, a police diver, join series regular Det. Insp. Jack Caffery in Ritual (Reviews, July 14), the first in her new Walking Man series. Why did you decide to focus on Flea instead of Jack Caffery in Ritual? I was preoccupied with people who recover dead bodies from underwater—it can be incredibly...