David C.C. Burgeois’s debut novel, about an indenture with ties to William Shakespeare, is a stylistic mashup that may suffer from too many notes
The core of the novel has a propulsion and a dramatic weight that works in its favour.
Sex, religion, and family collide in Liz Harmer’s sublime second novel, Strange Loops
If there is a God hovering over Harmer's narrative, it is of the Old Testament variety.
Telling the reader to jump in the lake: some thoughts on censorship, self-censorship, and the Elizabeth Gilbert affair
It's hard not to see Gilbert's experience as one of selective persecution.
“There’s no such thing as a life without bloodshed”: Cormac McCarthy, spiritual heir to Melville and Faulkner, dies at age 89
McCarthy's outlook was bleak and violent because the world he observed was bleak and violent.
AI will revolutionize publishing, but not in the ways people think, says Thad McIlroy. That’s still not a good thing
Bleeding the humanity out of one of the most humanist endeavours remaining in our capitalist system – all in the name of soulless efficiency – is abhorrent.
“Why don’t you just put out those demos?”: Bruce Springsteen, creative tension, and the accidental creation of a musical masterpiece
Zanes is familiar with the technical aspects of production, and his descriptions of how Nebraska was captured on tape provide some of the most fascinating moments in his book.
Ken Whyte has some thoughts on this week’s Indigo news. Spoiler: it’s not good
Now would seem like a good time to visit your local independent bookseller and buy a book.
Indigo founder, Heather Reisman, to retire; four board members exit in latest upheaval for company
Indigo was under serious pressure even before yesterday's surprise announcement.
The way a child hides: hope, humility, and forgiveness underpin the new collection of poetry from Kate Cayley
As a poet, Cayley is particularly good at juxtaposition often manifested as subtle or not-so-subtle shifts in tone and tenor.
Grim reading: Will Self surveys the literary landscape and collapses in a slough of despond
Self's surpassing hauteur and in-your-face grandiosity have a propulsive charm in themselves