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Manifesto

I’m a writer. I don’t review books, I recommend them.

On Basilisk Station

I can’t remember what prompted me to read David Weber’s 1993 novel. It was likely on a “Best Science Fiction” list somewhere. Honor Harrington just got her first captaincy, but some petty politicking has her and her ship, The Fearless, overseeing Basilisk Station, the worst assignment in the Queen’s Navy. But when Honor insists on […]

The WHEELMAN

It’s difficult to describe Duane Swierczynski’s THE WHEELMAN without giving too much away–and saying as much, I’ve probably given too much away.. McKenna at MURDER BY THE BOOK recommended THE WHEELMAN, and for whatever reason, I allowed it to sit on my shelf for a decade before cracking it open. I ought to have had […]

DARK HORSE

It seems Gregg Hurwitz takes pains not to write the same novel over and over again. He also allows his serialized characters and relationships to evolve and change. It is thus that Evan Smoak, also known as Orphan X, stands out in the modern landscape of preternaturally capable hard-boiled heroes. Much like John D. MacDonald’s […]

MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW

The second best thing about discovering a new author is discovering that they’re not. Author of over twenty-seven novels, Stephen Graham Jones is one such. And I’m giddy at the thought of working my way through his catalogue of twenty-sevenish novels. Yes, giddy. After eyeing the provocative cover of THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS for months, […]

Destry Rides Again by Max Brand

Max Brand’s 1930 novel embodies one of the aspects of pulp novels that has always drawn me to them: humans struggling with or against morality in an amoral universe. The harsh, dangerous, and unforgiving landscape of the American frontier crushes the weak or merely naive, exposing bourgeois morality as a dish only those well insulated […]

Trigger Mortis

TRIGGER MORTIS by Anthony Horowitz takes place in 1956 and immediately follows the events in Ian Fleming’s novel, Goldfinger. Horowitz does a remarkable job conjuring Fleming’s voice without dipping into pastiche. At the outset, we’re brought into the world of Grand Prix racing. Horowitz has poured a lot of research into the task, and the result kicks off […]

Honeymoon in Hell

Fredric Brown’s novels, short stories, and short-shorts have found their way into many film and tv shows over the years, with and without attribution. What sets Brown apart from (and above) most science fiction writers of the dubiously named “Golden Age” of science fiction is his use of irony and humor. Such is not to […]

The Charlie Hardie Trilogy

Step into a boilerplate Hollywood noir, then hold on, because you’re about to take a jump off a very steep cliff. If you’ve never read Duane Swierczynski, there are many places to start. All of them good. However, the Charlie Hardie trilogy is a masterwork in world-building as well as Swierczynski’s trademark humor and savagery.

The Demolished Man

Like many pulp novels I’ve read, I found Bester’s The Demolished Man lying around in a used bookshop and fell in love with the title and cover, not realizing I’d stumbled onto a masterpiece.