How do you feel about pop culture references in books?

Abercrombie. Nickelback. American Idol. Razr. Would you keep reading a book if you encountered these pop culture references in the first chapter? Learn the psychology behind both sides of the argument!

Author Interview: Deena Byrne

Deena Byrne is the author of not one, not two, but three fantasy novels! In this interview, she discusses the themes in her novels, her writing process, and her experience with self-publishing.

Around the World in 10 Books

One of the things I'm most grateful to my parents for is their push for me to travel. By the time I was sixteen, I had tramped all over the United States and visited six countries. Not bad, especially since we always lived in the same small town in Tennessee (which I love dearly). Still, …

Why does the south get its own genre?

I didn't just grew up in the south. I grew up on southern fiction. I moved up from children's books like Because of Winn Dixie and Bud, Not Buddy to the more intense Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry! and To Kill a Mockingbird and finally to the haunting The Color Purple and Absalom, Absalom! The fact that one branch of regional literature …

Pictures of Hollis Woods: can places have souls?

I've devoured several new and brilliant books in the last few weeks, but today I'm in the mood for a throwback. The first time I read Patricia Reilly Giff's Pictures of Hollis Woods, I was ten, maybe eleven? I read it again when I was fifteen or sixteen, then again when I was around nineteen. Something I've noticed …

How to Capture a Setting in 4 Days: Ireland Edition

It's Halloween night, and I am sitting on the edge of a pub stool in Dingle, Ireland, warming my hands with a mug of (appropriately) orange-colored soup. The deftest voice I've ever heard is crooning through a ballad, inspired by a 13th century insane asylum . . . My staff has murdered giants, my bag a …