shrouded skeleton statue

Daryl M.

Librarian


Posts by Daryl M.

  • Author Terence Kell and his latest book, The Coroner's Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence

    Interview With an Author: Terence Keel

    Terence Keel is a professor of human biology, society, and African American studies at UCLA. His latest book is The Coroner's Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence and he…

  • Author Christopher Huang and his latest book, A Pretender’s Murder

    Interview With an Author: Christopher Huang

    Christopher Huang grew up in Singapore, an only child in a family tree that expands dramatically sideways at his parents' generation. He moved to Canada after his National Service, studied…

  • Author Ryan Douglass and his latest novel, The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay

    Interview With an Author: Ryan Douglass

    Ryan Douglass is a queer author and poet from Atlanta, Georgia. He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston, and his short fiction appears in All These Sunken Souls…

  • Author Tom Lutz and his latest book, Chagos Archipelago

    Interview With an Author: Tom Lutz

    Tom Lutz is the author of many books on literature and culture, as well as several books of travel writing and two novels. He taught, formerly, at UC Riverside, the University of Iowa, CalArts, the…

  • Author Rosie Grant and her book, To Die For

    Interview With an Author: Rosie Grant

    Rosie Grant is the creator behind @GhostlyArchive on TikTok and Instagram, where she researches and re-creates recipes found on gravestones. She works at the Center for the Study of Women at UCLA and…

  • Author Kamilah Cole and his latest novel, An Arcane Inheritance

    Interview With an Author: Kamilah Cole

    Kamilah Cole is the bestselling author of So Let Them Burn and This Ends in Embers. A graduate of New York University, Kamilah is usually playing Kingdom Hearts for the hundredth time, quoting early…

  • Author Brad Meltzer and his latest novel, The Viper

    Interview With an Author: Brad Meltzer

    Brad Meltzer is the Emmy-nominated, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lightning Rod and twelve other bestselling thrillers. He also writes nonfiction books like The JFK Conspiracy, and the…

  • Author Tod Goldberg and his latest book, Only Way Out

    Interview With an Author: Tod Goldberg

    Tod Goldberg is the New York Times bestselling author of sixteen novels, including the Gangsterland quartet: Gangsterland, a finalist for the Hammett Prize; Gangster Nation; The Low Desert, a…

  • Author Theodora Goss and her latest book, Letters From an Imaginary Country

    Interview With an Author: Theodora Goss

    World Fantasy, Locus, and Mythopoeic Award–winning author and poet Theodora Goss was born in Hungary and spent her childhood in various European countries before her family moved to the United States…

  • Collage of favorite books

    Daryl's Favorite Books of 2025

    Season’s Readings everyone! As is generally true, there have been some marvelous books published in 2025, and I’m thrilled to share my favorites with you. I’ve listed these books in alphabetical order…


Reviews by Daryl M.

  • Cover image for The Secret Life of Sam Holloway

    The Secret Life of Sam Holloway

    • By: Thomas, Rhys
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Sam Holloway is a good guy, who is kind and thoughtful, with a stable, but not terribly exciting, job with an electronic parts distributor. He meets up with a couple of friends several nights a week at a local pub, where they talk about comics, movies, videogames and what it...
  • Cover image for The Monster of Elendhaven

    The Monster of Elendhaven

    • By: Giesbrecht, Jennifer
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    A young man washes up in a harbor with no knowledge of who he is or where he came from. He doesn’t even have a name. He is tall, with dark hair and pale skin. He also possesses a strong sense of survival, driving him to do whatever is necessary...
  • Cover image for The Ruby Slippers of Oz: Thirty Years Later

    The Ruby Slippers of Oz: Thirty Years Later

    • By: Thomas, Rhys
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    “Keep tight inside of them. Their magic must be very powerful, or she wouldn't want them so badly," said Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, talking about the ruby slippers.In L. Frank Baum’s children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the magic shoes worn by the Wicked Witch of the East...
  • Cover image for The Survival of Margaret Thomas

    The Survival of Margaret Thomas

    • By: Howison, Del
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    The Western has been an established genre of fiction for well over a hundred years. In the early to mid20th century, Western fiction grew in popularity, largely driven by similarly themed motion pictures and television programs. In the 1970s, however, the genre began to fall out of favor with the...
  • Cover image for Red, White & Royal Blue

    Red, White & Royal Blue

    • By: McQuiston, Casey
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Alex Claremont-Diaz is the 21-year-old First Son Of The United States (FSOTUS). He has lived in the White House with his older sister, June (FDOTUS) for the last three years, during his mother’s first term in office. He is a media darling, being continually followed, photographed and dissected by the...
  • Cover image for The Reign of the Kingfisher: A Novel

    The Reign of the Kingfisher: A Novel

    • By: Martinson, T. J.
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    The first appearance of Batman was in Detective Comics in the Spring of 1939, making 2019 the character’s 80th anniversary. Batman is a sharp contrast to most “superheroes” in that he possesses no “super” powers. His prowess, whether physical or intellectual, comes from rigorous training and study. He patrols the...
  • Cover image for Magic for Liars: A Novel

    Magic for Liars: A Novel

    • By: Gailey, Sarah
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    When Sylvia Capley, the Health instructor at Osthorne Academy for Young Mages, is found in the school library bisected from head to toe, cleanly down the middle, the National Mage Investigative Service (NMIS) concludes that her death was an accident, a spell gone wrong. The Headmaster of the school doesn’t...
  • Cover image for The Lost History of Dreams: A Novel

    The Lost History of Dreams: A Novel

    • By: Waldherr, Kris
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    When famous, and some would claim infamous, poet Hugh de Bonne dies unexpectedly, his last remaining family relations are called upon to enact his final request. De Bonne wishes to be buried on the moors near Shropshire, in a chapel of stained glass he had built 16 years earlier as...
  • Cover image for Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You

    Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You

    • By: Moore, Scotto
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    It’s happened to all of us. You hear a song and it instantly raises your spirits. Or, you hear a different song and it instantly makes you feel melancholy. Some music makes you want to move, while other music makes you want to relax and be still. Something reminds you...
  • Cover image for Middlegame

    Middlegame

    • By: McGuire, Seanan
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Roger Middleton is a rather typical seven-year-old boy. He lives with his adopted parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He seems to be exceptionally gifted when it comes to grammar, spelling, anything to do with languages, really. But he struggles with even the most basic levels of mathematics.Dodger Cheswich is not a...