I almost had this one up in time — but like two other nights this week, I woke up hours after I started a sentence to read utter gibberish on my screen. Maybe next week? (and yes, I’m probably the only one who cares about the time this posts, I realize.)

This week’s list is light on news-y posts and primarily features authors I greatly appreciate sounding off about interesting topics and updates for their fans/readers/etc. Honestly, I prefer weeks like this — a lot of stuff to think about/debate. Some good odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

  • Book clinic: what contemporary literary fiction is uplifting? — on the one hand, I’m not sure I need my literature to be “uplifting” — but I do like the idea of it. Regardless, some interesting looking reads here.
  • The Pressure to Continue the Story After the Story — some good stuff from typical font of good stuff, Harry Connolly
  • I Write Fiction About Border Crime, But Unlike Trump I Tell the Truth. — The political stuff in this piece by Don Winslow is easy to ignore (I’m not suggesting you should ignore it, but for the purposes of this blog, we’re going to focus on other bits).
  • While reading the above, I saw this: If I Hate Violence So Much, Why Do I Love Writing About It? by Adam Sternbergh. I’ve loved his novels — which do feature a lot of violence, so I had to read this (although I could’ve guessed almost everything he said about himself — but still, the “why” is intriguing).
  • Lots of Lee Coming Your Way — some updates from one of the favorites around here, Lee Goldberg.
  • Exciting news to share on publication day! — M. W. Craven, a new favorite since last summer, has a lot of good news to share on the day his The Puppet Show (which featured prominently on my 2018 wrap up posts) came out in paperback (at least in the UK).
  • Ranking Jonathan Tropper’s Novels — Matthew Hanover discusses and ranks Jonathan Tropper’s novels. I could feel Tropper’s influence in Hanover’s work, so this was in my sweet spot (am hoping to do a Tropper re-read later this year, btw). I’d argue about #4’s place on the list, but I think Hanover could convince me to keep it that high. However, he’s dead wrong about #1 and #2 and should flip them after publicly repenting. No sackcloth and ashes required, but . . .

    Somehow no books were published this week that piqued my interest. At least not that I saw. Good. Catch up time.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to allmyheroesareweirdos, ladolceamara, William J. Fulton, Shawn P. B. Robinson, Davida Chazan, wanderingminds2019 and Elle for following the blog this week (I think this is my biggest week ever — thanks, guys & gals!).