shrouded skeleton statue

Daryl M.

Librarian


Posts by Daryl M.

  • Author Ryan North and his latest book, How to Take Over the World

    Interview With an Author: Ryan North

    Ryan North is a New York Times—bestselling author whose books include How to Invent Everything, Romeo and/or Juliet, and To Be or Not To Be. He’s the creator of Dinosaur Comics and the Eisner Award…

  • Author Natalie Haynes and her latest novel, Stone Blind

    Interview With an Author: Natalie Haynes

    Natalie Haynes is the author of seven books, including A Thousand Ships, which was a national bestseller and was shortlisted for the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction, and the nonfiction Pandora's Jar…

  • Author Jacqueline Holland and her first novel, The God of Endings

    Interview With an Author: Jacqueline Holland

    Jacqueline Holland holds an MFA from the University of Kansas. Her work has appeared in Hotel Amerika and Big Fiction magazine, among others. She lives in the Twin Cities with her husband and two sons…

  • Author Jane Yolen and her latest novel, The Scarlet Circus

    Interview With an Author: Jane Yolen

    Jane Yolen is the author of more than four hundred books, including children's fiction, poetry, short stories, graphic novels, nonfiction, fantasy, and science fiction. Her publications include Owl…

  • Author Matt Ruff and his latest book, The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country

    Interview With an Author: Matt Ruff

    Matt Ruff is the author of the novels 88 Names, Lovecraft Country, Bad Monkeys, The Mirage, Set This House in Order, Fool on the Hill, and Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy. He lives in…

  • Author Victor LaValle and his latest book, The Ballad of Black Tom

    Interview With an Author: Victor LaValle

    Victor LaValle is the author of seven works of fiction and three graphic novels. His books have won the World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, Bram Stoker Award, Dragon Award, and the Shirley…

  • Author Dahlia Adler and her latest book, At Midnight: 15 Beloved Fairy Tales Reimagined

    Interview With an Author: Dahlia Adler

    Dahlia Adler is an editor of mathematics by day, a book blogger by night, and an author at every spare moment in between. She is the editor of the anthologies His Hideous Heart and That Way Madness…

  • Author James Ramos and his latest book, The Wrong Kind of Weird

    Interview With an Author: James Ramos

    James Ramos (he/they) is a nonbinary, unapologetically dorky Minnesota native who now calls Arizona home. Weaned on a steady diet of science-fiction, comic books, and classic literature, James wrote…

  • Author Terry Pratchett and his biography of Terry Pratchett

    Interview With an Author: Rob Wilkins

    Rob Wilkins worked with Terry Pratchett for more than twenty years, first as his personal assistant and later as his business manager. He now manages the Pratchett literary estate and Terry's…

  • Author Peter Blauner and his latest novel, Picture in the Sand

    Interview With an Author: Peter Blauner

    Peter Blauner's career has spanned several generations of New York City storytelling, and several mediums as well. A native of Manhattan and current Brooklyn resident, he began as an assistant to…


Reviews by Daryl M.

  • Cover image for The Devil and the Dark Water

    The Devil and the Dark Water

    • By: Turton, Stuart
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    In a "locked-room" or "impossible crime" mystery, a crime, or series of crimes, is committed under circumstances that appear, at least initially, impossible for said crime to have been enacted. Those same conditions will also seem to preclude the criminal entering or exiting the crime scene.The first “locked-room” mystery was...
  • Cover image for The Eighth Detective

    The Eighth Detective

    • By: Pavesi, Alex
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    In the early 1940s, a Scottish professor of mathematics devises a mathematical definition of the murder mystery story and writes seven provocative stories as proof of his theory. He publishes a journal article regarding his ideas and then self-publishes his seven stories in a small volume, entitled The White Murders.Decades...
  • Cover image for Crossings : consisting of three manuscripts

    Crossings : consisting of three manuscripts

    • By: Landragin, Alex
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Crossings, Alex Landragin’s debut novel is as difficult to define as it is to describe. At its most elemental, Crossings is a collection of three novellas that collectively tell a story. There are elements of several different genres present: historical fiction, mystery, fantasy, and romance. And, perhaps most surprising, the...
  • Cover image for Before She Was Helen

    Before She Was Helen

    • By: Cooney, Caroline B.
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Helen Stephens lives a quiet life in Sun City, a retirement community in South Carolina. She regularly plays cards in the clubhouse with other residents of the complex, including her neighbors Joyce and Johnny. While she is mostly retired, she continues teaching some Latin classes at a local high school...
  • Cover image for It Came From the Sky

    It Came From the Sky

    • By: Sedoti, Chelsea
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Sixteen-year-old Gideon Hofstadt prefers an orderly life and an orderly future. In his schoolwork, he excels in the sciences, but struggles with the vagaries of the humanities. It is the same way he struggles with his relationships with his family, friends, and his maybe boyfriend, Owen. Gideon cares about Owen...
  • Cover image for The Operator

    The Operator

    • By: Berg, Gretchen
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    In a world where most people walk around with a telephone on their person that can allow them to contact someone anywhere in the country, or the world, easily and directly, it may be a bit of a shock to realize that as little as 50 years ago many people...
  • Cover image for The Darwin Affair

    The Darwin Affair

    • By: Mason, Timothy
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    It probably goes without saying that when Charles Darwin published his revolutionary theories regarding evolution, and their supporting evidence, in The Origin of Species in 1859, there was controversy. Even today, 160 years later, Darwin’s theory of species evolving over time still engenders strong feelings of resistance to his ideas...
  • Cover image for The Ghosts of Sherwood

    The Ghosts of Sherwood

    • By: Vaughn, Carrie
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    The earliest references to Robin Hood date back to the 14th century, and the earliest surviving copies of the story are from the 15th century. The details may change, but the core of the legend concerns a nobleman turned outlaw with a band of followers known as the Merry Men...