Latest Fiction News
Book Review: Robin Cook sets his latest thriller in the iconic Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital
The building on New York’s East Side that used to house Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital has inspired tales of horror from the likes of H.P. Lovecraft and served as the model for Arkham Asylum in fictional Gotham City. For novelist Robin Cook, who interned there in the 1960s, it’s the perfect...
Movie Review: Daniel Craig is a revelation in 'Queer,' a trippy tale of longing
One of the first real signs that “Queer” is going to be an unconventional movie is when Daniel Craig in a linen suit saunters through Mexico City during the early '50s and the soundtrack blasts a song by Nirvana. It's a pretty nifty way to explain this story of a man unmoored by...
Book Review: British novelist Naomi Wood is out with an astonishingly good short story collection
Naomi Wood, an English author not yet well known in the U.S., has written three historical novels, including the well-regarded “Mrs. Hemingway,” about the four wives of Ernest Hemingway. During the Covid lockdowns, when her kids were confined at home and she had less time to herself, she turned...
Percival Everett and Jason De León win National Book Awards
NEW YORK (AP) — Percival Everett's “James,” a daring reworking of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” has won the National Book Award for fiction. Jason De León’s “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling” won for nonfiction, where finalists included...
Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan adds Baillie Gifford nonfiction prize to his trophy shelf
LONDON (AP) — Australian writer Richard Flanagan completed an unprecedented literary double on Tuesday, winning Britain’s leading nonfiction book prize a decade after being awarded the Booker Prize for fiction. Flanagan was awarded the 50,000 pound ($63,000) Baillie Gifford Prize...
Toronto author Anne Michaels wins Giller Prize for novel 'Held'
TORONTO (AP) — Poet-novelist Anne Michaels has won the Giller Prize for her novel “Held,” a multi-generational examination of war and trauma. The 100,000 Canadian dollar ($71,000) Giller prize honors the best in Canadian fiction. Past winners have included Margaret Atwood,...
Book Review: A young Walt Longmire battles animal and human predators on Alaska’s North Slope
In December, 1970, Walt Longmire, back in the States after fighting in Vietnam, was working security for an oil company on Alaska’s North Slope. There, he found himself battling predators, both animal and human, in brutal weather conditions. Now, after his career as sheriff of...
Mason Bates' Met-bound opera 'Kavalier & Clay' based on Michael Chabon novel premieres in Indiana
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana (AP) — When composer Mason Bates approached Michael Chabon about turning his novel “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” into an opera, he said the writer told him frankly that “opera was not his thing.” “He was very supportive of the...
Book Review: Richard Price returns with another portrait of urban America, ‘Lazarus Man'
Is there a better writer of urban American stories than Richard Price? His resume is hard to beat: To episodes of HBO’s “The Wire,” and “The Night Of,” and novels like “Clockers,” “Lush Life,” and “Freedomland,” fans can now add “Lazarus Man.” The story...
British writer Samantha Harvey’s space-station novel 'Orbital' wins the Booker Prize for fiction
LONDON (AP) — British writer Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize for fiction on Tuesday with “Orbital,” a short, wonder-filled novel set aboard the International Space Station that ponders the beauty and fragility of Earth. Harvey was awarded the 50,000-pound ($64,000) prize...
