Posts by Joshua Soule

Classic science fiction to discover or re-discover.

The great Pablo Neruda talked about poetry coming "in search of me". In honor of National Poetry Month, we'd like to know when poetry came in search of you. How do you read your favorite poems, or write new ones? Tell us here!

A genre expert defines the genre for you, tell you about subgenres, and gives you some titles to read and recommend. ​

I was six when the Force awakened in me. One night in 1982 I snuck out of my bedroom to see what my parents were watching on their new VCR. My hearing aids were off for the night so in silence I watched the Star Destroyer glide like a shark after the princess’s outmatched corvette.

It is time to bring this year's round of Reader's Dens to a close, and we will finish with some recommendations for folks wanting more gruesome sword and sorcery.

Conan is a name that conjures a multitude of images. There is the campy cult classic film starring a young Arnold Schwarzenegger in the titular role. You have Conan as imagined by various comic illustrators. Even the acclaimed modern fantasy author Robert Jordan put his own spin on the legendary barbarian.

“Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.” That's a guy who needs no further introduction.

Considering the scale of destruction wrought in a galaxy-wide war, can either civilization fit Horza's bill as being on the side of life?

This week I'd like to delve into the character of Horza, why he is nearly fanatical in his pursuit of the missing Mind and what you think makes him tick.

Iain Banks's debut novel is a terrific space opera to while away the cold hours with. It's the kind of meaty science fiction the mind will digest for days or weeks after reading.

We now come to the third part of The Alienist, in which tragedy strikes close to home, not once, but twice. There are meetings the the high and powerful of New York, a chase heating up as the clues solidify into a killer's identity, and an extremely restless immigrant population riled even more by the bloody string of murders. As Moore says in the beginning of Chapter 43: "It is never easier to understand the mind of a bomb-wielding anarchist than when standing amid a crush of those ladies and gentlemen who 

Every year it's the same thing. "Buy my super-duper awesome/hallowed/glorious razzle-dazzle technology coated in gold-flecked app sauce because we're the best and the rest stink!" Nice sales pitch? Eh. Overwhelming? Yep. Confusing for some? Oh yeah. It can leave you feeling like this:

And it only gets more frenzied during the holiday shopping season as everyone from Apple to LG trots out their blank glass slabs and requests, nay DEMANDS we glue our eyeballs to a screen the size of a comic book. Hopefully this guide will take some of the mystery out of your 

New York City in 1896 was not a hospitable place to live if you were not one of means. Part II of The Alienist opens with another gruesome murder of a boy prostitute, this time at Castle Clinton during its conversion to house the New York City Aquarium. 

As the team fleshes out the killer's profile, John Moore begins to investigate the worst of New York's sex industry, attempting to find connections between past and possible future victims. Moore is, in many ways, the opposite of his 

Last week we did a quick introduction and description for The Alienist, a mystery set in late-19th century New York City at the dawning of forensic pathology. Child prostitution, gruesome at any time, becomes even more grisly; a serial killer hunts the boys plying this trade in Teddy Roosevelt's New York, removing their eyes as part of the killings. Part I of the novel sees the titular alienist, Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, assemble an 

"An ungodly pummeling on the door of my grandmother's house at 19 Washington Square North brought first the maid and then my grandmother herself to the doorways of their bedrooms at two o'clock on the morning of March 3, 1896."

The gruesome case at the heart of Caleb Carr's The Alienist begins at this ungodly hour in an ungodly time of New York City's history, the turn of the 20th century, that brutal period when Teddy Roosevelt served as New York City Police Commissioner. This is 

It's that time of year again. No, not Christmas or Valentine's or a forgotten anniversary. It's time to fill out the brackets for your office pool.

March Madness begins March 19th! Whether you're busy poring over stats and brackets or cursing the networks for playing reruns rather than fight the NCAA ratings bonanza, we've got some books for you.

  The Tournament and Its History

The Night Circus, as we've discussed, has a nearly obsessive focus on time; its passing, linearity and infinite nature. This is exemplified in the workings of its magnificent clock and its mechanical operation.

However, within the clockworks resides a nearly infinite number of possibilities to enthrall attendees. For example splashes of color are found throughout the strict black-and-white scheme. The twins' red scarves and the fires lit on the circus's opening night come to 

Last week we discussed the passage of time and the clockwork nature of The Night Circus. Time's flow tends to bring a stream of bounty and loss simultaneously.

For example, the myriad performers and founders of the circus are gifted with immortality. Some would say they were subjected to longevity's curse, especially in the case of Chandresh LeFévre.

As we head into the Thanksgiving season, think on this conundrum. Is the immortality the circus confers a bane or 

The Night Circus is crafted in lyrical and elaborate prose. Sometimes it even borders on the ornamental. The language and descriptions are fitting, however, considering the overriding theme of time's passage in the book.

If there is one thing the circus exemplifies, it is clockwork precision. The entertainments may be strange and off-kilter, but they all work together in a harmonious whole.

On its opening night twelve fires of varying hues are lit, one for each chime of Thiessen's