shrouded skeleton statue

Daryl M.

Librarian


Posts by Daryl M.

  • Author Gareth Brown and his debut novel, The Book of Doors

    Interview With an Author: Gareth Brown

    Gareth Brown wanted to be a writer from a very young age, and he completed his first novel as a teenager. For the last twenty years, he has worked in the UK Civil Service and the National Health…

  • Author Douglas Preston and his latest novel, Fourteen Days

    Interview With an Author: Douglas Preston

    Douglas Preston is an author of thirty-nine books of both non-fiction and fiction, of which thirty-two have been New York Times bestsellers. He is the coauthor, with Lincoln Child, of the Pendergast…

  • Author Emily Ruth Verona and her debut novel, Midnight on Beacon Street

    Interview With an Author: Emily Ruth Verona

    Emily Ruth Verona received her Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and Cinema Studies from the State University of New York at Purchase. In 2014, she won the Pinch Literary Award in Fiction. She is a…

  • Book cover of Theda Bara: Her Career, Life and Legend by Rob Liebman

    Interview With an Author: Roy Liebman

    Roy Liebman has had a lengthy library career, beginning with the Brooklyn and New York Public Libraries. He was a department head at the libraries of the California Institute of Technology and…

  • Author Aimee Pokwatka and her latest novel, The Parliament

    Interview With an Author: Aimee Pokwatka

    Aimee Pokwatka grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia. She studied anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and received her MFA in creative writing from Syracuse University. She…

  • Author Jess Armstrong and her debut novel, The Curse of Penryth Hall

    Interview With an Author: Jess Armstrong

    Jess Armstrong's debut novel, The Curse of Penryth Hall, won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition. She has a master's degree in American History but prefers…

  • Author James Patterson and his latest novel, Holmes, Marple & Poe

    Interview With an Author: James Patterson

    James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author. Among his creations are Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett, and Maximum Ride. His #1 bestselling nonfiction includes Walk in My…

  • Author Tobias Buckell and his latest novel, A Stranger in the Citadel

    Interview With an Author: Tobias S. Buckell

    Called "violent, poetic and compulsively readable" by Maclean’s, science fiction author Tobias S. Buckell is a New York Times bestselling writer and World Fantasy Award winner. He is biracial and was…

  • Author Emily Critchley and her debut novel, One Puzzling Afternoon

    Interview With an Author: Emily Critchley

    Emily Critchley has lived in Essex, Brighton, and London and now lives in Hertfordshire where she works as a librarian. She has a first-class BA in Creative Writing from London Metropolitan University…

  • Editor John Joseph Adams and his latest anthology, Out There Screaming

    Interview With an Editor: John Joseph Adams

    John Joseph Adams is the series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and is the editor of more than forty anthologies, such as Wastelands, The Living Dead, and A People’s Future of the…


Reviews by Daryl M.

  • Cover image for Conventionally Yours

    Conventionally Yours

    • By: Annabeth Albert
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    A common theme in novels, motion pictures and television is the fine line between love and hate. One only has to look at William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (or it’s modern reincarnation 1999’s Ten Things I Hate About You) for an example of supposed loathing turning to love...
  • Cover image for Under the Rainbow

    Under the Rainbow

    • By: Celia Laskey
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    In a recent survey, the small town of Big Burr, Kansas has earned the title of “most homophobic town in the U.S.”  The non-profit that conducted the survey, Acceptance Across America (AAA), determines that the appropriate response to their findings is to send a task force to Big Burr. They...
  • Cover image for Upright Women Wanted

    Upright Women Wanted

    • By: Gailey, Sarah
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Esther just watched her best friend die. Beatriz was found to be in possession of “inappropriate” materials, and for that she was hanged in the town square. Esther’s father spoke from the podium about the dangers of “deviance” all the while keeping his eyes locked on Esther.  Beatriz’s death was a...
  • Cover image for Oona Out of Order

    Oona Out of Order

    • By: Montimore, Margarita
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Imagine it is New Year’s Eve, 1982. Oona is 18 years old and will be 19 at midnight as the year changes to 1983. She has her whole life ahead of her, including the type of life altering “big decisions” that face everyone at that age. But, when Oona opens...
  • Cover image for Heart of Junk

    Heart of Junk

    • By: Geddes, Luke
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Hmm, what could the following all have in common: an aging antique mall in Wichita, Kansas, where well established and novice sellers are struggling to keep the doors open in the age of online shopping; a child beauty pageant queen who has mysteriously vanished; and the hosts of a phenomenally...
  • Cover image for Eight Perfect Murders: A Novel

    Eight Perfect Murders: A Novel

    • By: Swanson, Peter
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    The owner of a Boston bookshop specializing in mysteries posts a list of books on the store’s blog. It is entitled “Eight Perfect Murders” and it lists the novels he feels have described unsolvable murders. These are murders in which the killers cannot be connected with their crimes. Years later...
  • Cover image for Ormeshadow

    Ormeshadow

    • By: Sharma, Priya
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    It is often stated that “The meek will inherit the earth.” While that is a nice sentiment, it is not affirmed by history. More often than not, those who hold their tongues and think before speaking, as well as those who avoid confrontation and violence to resolve conflict are the...
  • Cover image for Riot Baby

    Riot Baby

    • By: Onyebuchi, Tochi
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Ella has what she refers to as her Thing. It allows her to see things that have not yet happened. As a young girl growing up in Compton, California, this is more of a curse than a blessing. Ella is rarely happy by the future she sees. And, as she...
  • Cover image for Made things

    Made things

    • By: Tchaikovsky, Adrian, 1972-
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Coppelia is not quite a thief and not quite a con-artist. What she is, or could be if she were living a different life, is an artist. A builder who could create function and beauty from raw materials, but only in a different life. A life where her parents hadn’t...
  • Cover image for Steel Crow Saga

    Steel Crow Saga

    • By: Krueger, Paul
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    A prince, a soldier, a detective, and a thief. Four very different people, with very different histories and experiences. There are two things that they all share: they have survived the war that just ended, and during that war they have all suffered significant losses. Over the course of a...