Manuscripts

Shazam! Fury of the Gods hits theaters on March 17. The first Shazam!, which was released in 2019 and starred Zachary Levi as the titular hero, was one of DC’s better received movies, even if the character’s comic book origins are a little confusing. If you’re looking to read some Shazam comics before seeing the

We have covered award-winning sci-fi and award-winning horror books before. But you know what? It’s time for one of my favorite genres to shine! That’s right, today I’m talking about some of the best award-winning fantasy books you can read. I actually love checking out these awards lists because it’s fun to both discover new

March is a weird month. It’s not quite winter, and it’s not quite spring. It’s a little bit of both. It always feels to me like it goes on forever, and it’s easy to get lost in it. The excitement of the new year has worn off, but the sense of newness and possibility that

A new month comes with the shiny new feeling of change and new books being published. And March is another great month for mystery, thriller, and true crime readers, as there are great crime books releasing that really hit the range of tastes — standalones and series, YA and adult. You can pick up a

Are you a fan of Madeleine L’Engle’s famous children’s sci-fi classic A Wrinkle in Time? Is your memory of this beloved book in tip top shape? Test your knowledge with this A Wrinkle in Time quiz. This treasured story won the prestigious Newbery Award and became an instant favorite among kids who like stories that

Last year, as we waited with great anticipated for Ted Lasso season 2, I wrote Overanalyzing Every Book in Ted Lasso to Predict Season 2 as a transparent excuse to rewatch season 1 for the fourth time. I have to be honest with you, though: my predictions were not exactly accurate. I am proud of

A wave of change is coming and employees can learn to swim or not — Elmwood Public Library Board President Chris Pesko, December 2022* The December 2022 minutes** of the Elmwood Public Library Board meeting (IL) are unlike any public library meeting minutes you’ve likely seen. Though public comment was not long, the minutes indicate

Economist Joel Waldfogel looked at how women and men have influenced the publishing industry for the last 70 years and found that since 2020 at least, women have been publishing more books than men. Data Waldfogel analyzed from “Goodreads, Bookstat, Amazon, and the National Library of Congress” revealed that the percentage of books published by

This exquisite etiological story, originally published in a wordless format by David Álvarez in Mexico in 2017, blends multiple Mesoamerican tales to tell a story of how the sun came to be.  “At the start of things, the elders say,” begins award-winning author David Bowles’ text, which was composed for this edition, “the universe was

If you’ve done any amount of air travel, you know that airports are perfect places for people-watching. And if you’ve ever encountered a flight delay, you’ve seen firsthand how overcrowded terminals combined with the frustration of changed or canceled plans can become a recipe for a uniquely stressful environment. That mixture makes a busy Chicago

Last week, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker delivered his State of the State address. It is the first time a governor in the country has directly spoken about the wave of censorship, book banning, and harassment being seen by schools and libraries. While some legislators in other arenas have addressed the topic — Jamie Raskin, a

★ The Bullet Garden After writing a trio of books about ex-Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, author Stephen Hunter launched a second series featuring Bob Lee’s father, Earl Swagger, who is also a Marine and a Medal of Honor recipient to boot. It’s been 20 years since Hunter’s last installment in the senior Swagger series,

Scribd vs. Audible: What’s the best audiobook service? These two are, undoubtedly, the best ones out there. They have the largest catalogs of audiobooks in the English-speaking market, and each has irresistible perks. With Audible, you get a huge library of audiobooks, from the obscure and the best-selling to classics and contemporary titles. You name

In her first picture book as author and illustrator, Qing Zhuang invites readers on a colorful, immersive shopping trip in New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood. As Rainbow Shopping opens, a young girl is feeling as gloomy as the gray, rainy weather outside her window. She has nestled herself under a blanket on her bed, a

The Audie Awards, presented annually by the Audio Publishers Association, described itself as the “premier awards program in the United States recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment.” Each year, they recognize audiobooks in several categories, and they’ve just released their list of finalists. Here are the finalists in just a few of the Audie

Katherine May’s essay collection Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age offers similar meditative pleasures as her previous collection, Wintering—though you don’t need to have read Wintering to enjoy Enchantment. “When I want to describe how I feel right now, the word I reach for the most is discombobulated,” she writes, going on to chart

There’s nowhere more dangerous than Olympus…and no one more captivating than its golden god: Apollo. Keeper of secrets, master of his shining realm…and the only man I am powerless to deny. A scorchingly hot modern retelling of Apollo and Cassandra that’s as sinful as it is sweet. As a disgraced member of a fallen house,

Licensed therapist and author Nedra Glover Tawwab offers readers practical guidance on breaking the cycle of family dysfunction in Drama Free: A Guide to Managing Unhealthy Family Relationships. In the introduction, Tawwab writes, “How people engage in the family is usually how they engage in the world.” This might be a relief for the lucky

Readers don’t ask for much: an infinite budget for books, a TBR longer than we can finish in a lifetime, pretty bookshelves filled to the brim, a nice comfortable chair, and a good beverage by our side. And, of course, more free time to read. Okay, so maybe that is asking for a bit much.

They say that March comes in like a lion, and that’s the kind of energy we’re bringing to our latest issue. We’ve got a crime-solving nun, an antiquarian bookseller-turned-author, Women’s History Month picks for all ages and major new releases from Jenny Odell, Shannon Chakraborty and Samantha Shannon! Plus, stay tuned for future issues, where

You might be a sci-fi connoisseur, but can you identify science fiction books from the descriptions of people who truly hated them? See if you can guess the sci-fi book based on its 1-star reviews below! Bad reviews can be a bit of a sticking point for authors, and understandably so. No one likes to

Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn’s eponymous new imprint gets off to a roaring start with acclaimed poet and editor Margot Douaihy’s debut mystery, Scorched Grace. Set in New Orleans, Scorched Grace follows Sister Holiday, a former punk rocker who investigates an arson spree that threatens her community. The endlessly fascinating character represents everything Douaihy loves

In Rebecca Makkai’s engrossing novel I Have Some Questions for You, a successful podcaster and film critic takes a job at a New Hampshire boarding school where, 23 years ago, a white female student named Thalia Keith was murdered. The school’s athletic trainer, a Black man named Omar Evans, was convicted of the crime and

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden. If you’re looking for quiet desperation in modern-day America, you’d be hard-pressed for a better place to find it than the “dubiously named” Oasis Mobile Estates in Riverside County, California, the setting of Asale Angel-Ajani’s debut novel, A Country You

In a note included with advance copies of Gillian McDunn’s fifth novel, the middle grade author shares that When Sea Becomes Sky is her “once-in-a-lifetime-book.” It is an undeniably beautiful story made for pondering and revisiting, and a tale that readers will surely treasure. It’s been almost a year since rain fell on Pelican Island,

Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway call their deeply researched new book, The Big Myth, “the true history of a false idea.” The false idea in question is not really a single idea but rather many connected assertions, promoted throughout the 20th century, that have gelled into the “quasi-religious belief that the best way to

If you’d told me back in the early 1990s (my, um, experimental college days) that a few decades hence bookstores would be selling cannabis cookbooks, I wouldn’t have believed you. But here we are, and hallelujah. In Sugar High: 50 Recipes for Cannabis Desserts, Chris Sayegh first delivers a primer on cannabis—quite necessarily, as uniformed

The highly successful Netflix show Bridgerton is based off theromance novel series of the same name, but now the show is inspiring a new novel in the series! Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a spin-off series that will air on Netflix May 4, 2023. To coincide with the new show, Shonda Rhimes — the

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is a treasure trove of world art, with its own stately corps of guardians: the hundreds of people in blue uniforms who keep order and help perplexed visitors find the Renoirs and the restrooms. Behind their sober miens, the Met security guards are an interesting bunch.

The femme fatale is beautiful, desirable and, above all, a survivor. While she was often villainized for that last trait in her film noir heyday, these modern takes on the figure celebrate the ferocious resilience at her core.  ★ Stone Cold Fox The wily narrator and antiheroine of Rachel Koller Croft’s Stone Cold Fox introduces