Contra Morrissey, I am delighted to say that I am ecstatic to have a whole mess of writer friends who are kicking ass in various ways.

You may know the name of Alan Schwarz from the New York Times, where he did extraordinary work on concussions in sports (especially football) and their aftereffects, which got him on the shortlist for the Pulitzer. His new book is ADHD: Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, and the Making of an American Epidemic. It’s out on September 6th, but you can preorder it now at your favorite retailer or online purveyor. In yesterday’s NYT Book Review, it was described as “important, humane, and compellingly written.”

Also getting love from the NYT Book Review yesterday: my pal Marjorie Ingall, whose book (out tomorrow!) is Mamaleh Knows Best: What Jewish Mothers Do to Raise Successful, Creative, Empathetic, Independent Children. Marjorie is a columnist at Tablet and the coauthor of the essential SorryWatch website, in addition to being a generally cool human being. Oh, the Times said her book was “rich” and “insightful.”

Greg Pak built his rep writing a variety of comic books, including a slew of Hulk titles (he did the World War Hulk sequence and is responsible for Amadeus Cho), not to mention kick-ass runs on Storm, Action Comics, and the multiverse-hopping X-Treme X-Men. Well, he’s got a creator-owned book out now from Dark Horse called Kingsway West, and it looks like a corker: a Chinese gunslinger in a version of the Wild West that’s full of magic. Read this cool interview with Greg and then get to your local comic store!

Last but not least is one of the coolest guys in Charlotte: Jeff Jackson, author of the haunting novel Mira Corpora (and organizer of the New Frequencies series of artistic happenings at the McColl Center). He’s got a companion novella to Mira Corpora coming out on September 21st. It’s called Novi Sad, it’s full of original art by Michael Salerno, and it’s printed on blue paper. It’s available from the Kiddiepunk press, which is printing it in limited quantities: order now.

Well, my reading list for the fall is set, I think.

posted 29 August 2016 in News. no comments yet