From witch stories to near-future noir, here are the year’s 10 best speculative books. Read more
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John Nichols, Literary Chronicler of Small-Town New Mexico, Dies at 83
John Nichols, who launched his literary career in his mid-20s with a pair of tragicomic novels but became best known for evoking New Mexico’s small towns and rural landscapes in books including “The Milagro Beanfield War,” was found dead Nov. 27 at his home in Taos, N.M. He was 83. Read more
A Masterpiece That Inspired Gabriel García Márquez to Write His Own
For decades, Juan Rulfo’s novel, “Pedro Páramo,” has cast an uncanny spell on writers. A new translation may bring it broader appeal. Read more
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The Essential Larry McMurtry
A wildly prolific son of Texas, McMurtry was a tangle of contradictions. Here’s where to start. Read more
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AudioFile’s Best Audiobooks of 2023
We hope that this list will help you find your next favorite listen. Below, you’ll find AudioFile’s picks for the Best Audiobooks of 2023 in nine categories. Thank you to all of the authors, narrators, producers, and publishers who filled our year with good listening. Read more
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Why Swearing Is Shocking, Rude, and Fun
One might expect that an author who teaches philosophy at the University of London would be on the stuffy side, but Roache, host of the Academic Perfectionist podcast, is anything but dull. Her book is a lively examination of swearing in all its forms, and although it is often humorous, Roache also has serious points to make. Swearing is sometimes meant to be offensive, but much depends on the context. It can signal solidarity within a group or class, be used to emphasize a point and denote surprise, and have a cathartic quality that prevents disputes from escalating to violence. Read more
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How Cave Canem Has Nurtured Generations of Black Poets
The poets’ fellowship, which was founded in 1996, has worked with poets who have gone on to win many of the genre’s most important accolades. Read more
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Paul Lynch Wins Booker Prize for ‘Prophet Song’
The judges for the prestigious award were not unanimous in their decision to select this novel, which depicts an Ireland descending into totalitarianism. Read more
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The Mainstreaming of Historical Fiction
Historical fiction is suddenly everywhere. It’s on the bestseller list, in college classrooms, and probably on the lap of the woman sitting next to you on the train. A genre that at one point felt maligned and boring—neither serious nor sought after—has undergone a full-on transformation. In just the past few months, some of the most anticipated new releases by contemporary literature’s most beloved authors have been historical, including Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds, Zadie Smith’s The Fraud, James McBride’s The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, and Jesmyn Ward’s Let Us Descend. Read more
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‘The Privilege of the Happy Ending’ by Kij Johnson
Johnson plumbs great depths in her third short story collection, full of bittersweet tales of the fantastic. This pleasingly varied anthology of fantasy and homage collects 14 works, many of which were previously published elsewhere, including the Nebula and Hugo Award finalist and World Fantasy Award–winning “The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe.” … While the entries are uniformly excellent in pacing and prose, the standouts may be the collection’s opener and closer. “Tool-Using Mimics” spins out a half-dozen explanations for a vintage photo of a young girl with tentacles that lead to piercing questions about how much we can know about the past, other species, and each other. The titular novella, which also won a World Fantasy Award, is a compelling fairy tale about a little orphan girl and her talking hen that poignantly interrogates the ways we determine which stories take center stage. Read more
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