Review of Heros & Villians: Inside the Minds of the Greatest Warriors in History
/Steve Donoghue explores why eminent historian Frank McLynn's "Heroes & Villains is easily the most frustrating book he’s ever written."
Read MoreReview of BoneMan's Daughters
/In his review of BoneMan's Daughters, Steve Donoghue takes Ted Dekker to task, writing, "the experience is constantly given an extra-gummy sheen by carrying a freight of Biblical and quasi-Biblical double meanings."
Read MoreReview of Shakespeare and Elizabeth
/Garrett Handley reviews Helen Hackett's "Shakespeare and Elizabeth": "Luckily, in the hybridity which governs this book, the fun always wins out."
Read MoreReview of In the Courts of The Sun
/In his review of In the Courts of the Sun, Khalid Ponte discusses sci-fi conventions, time travel, plague, and the Mayan calendar
Read MoreJune 2009 Issue
/Photo from Chris Marstall
Read MoreSan Francisco: 1972
/An excerpt from Edmund White’s forthcoming memoir City Boy
Read MoreNo Hugging, No Learning
/Colson Whitehead, one of our most intellectually satisfying writers, has written a “novel” that meanders suspiciously like a memoir. Sam Sacks reviews Sag Harbor.
Read MoreNotes from a Crritic
/John Goodman, John Glover, and Nathan Lane are currently starring on Broadway in Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece; Andrew Martin’s got an aisle seat, and reports back on a surprisingly sunny Waiting for Godot.
Read MoreQueen Hereafter: A Novel of Margaret of Scotland
/A excerpt from Susan Fraser King’s forthcoming novel about Margaret of Scotland
Read MoreGiants Hit the Road
/An excerpt from Steve Kluger’s novel Last Days of Summer
Read MoreStillbourne
/Eric van Lustbader throws every cliche in the kitchen into Robert Ludlum’s endless Bourne saga, attempting to keep the pot boiling. Greg Waldmann tastes the stew.
Read MoreReader, I Disemboweled Him
/Intrepid reporter Deirdre Crimmins tackles that last literary taboo: Regency zombies.
Read MoreDelightful Gumbo or Strange Brew?
/Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck displays a long list of literary influences; John Madera asks what these well-made stories have to say.
Read MoreA Fiction
/“It takes one to know one,” she said,and I had knowingly taken several of them,so when it came time to talk to the cops,I took the initiative to tell themwhere to find Franco (God rest him).And now it occurs to methat we were guests in Franco’s streets,once the sun went down, our citybecame Franco’s house,so slick and shiny with sin.With a narcotic swipeof a midnight hand down inthe crowded park, Franco sharedhis jive with us; our greedy redeyes wide with wild wonder.But Franco was selfish too,and when our little economygot tanked, he disappeared.The night lost its shine;fear slid into our situation.But how unafraid we wereto look like fools. We quiveredwith every question, the brightflashing lights mocked us; theyhighlighted our fading highness.I don’t think myself a fink,but when an action’s time has come,I’ll take it; sorry Franco for everything;now it’s hello sleepless nights. Hellorest of my life. Good night Franco.Shafer Hall is author of the collection Never Cry Woof from No Tell Press. He’s a senior poetry editor for Painted Bride Quarterly and a poetry curator and host at the Frequency Reading Series in Manhattan. His solo poems have appeared in Octopus, Lit, Unpleasant Event Schedule, and others. He's online at shaferhall.blogspot.com.Join the Open Letters facebook page!Return to the Main Page
May the Horse Be with Him
/Before Arthas was a character in a new novel, he was a character in a video game (World of Warcraft, naturally) – which makes him fair game for our gaming expert, Phillip Lobo.
Read MoreMurder on the Fractureline
/China Mieville’s latest book features two cities nervously co-existing in the same space. Khalid Ponte looks at both sides now.
Read MoreUppity Blues
/Master of the mannered sneak-attack, Kazuo Ishiguro has enraptured readers for years – including Karen Vanuska, who walks us through Nocturnes, his collection of linked stories.
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