Robot

Daryl M.

Librarian


Posts by Daryl M.

  • Tim Mason and his first adult novel, The Darwin Affair

    Interview With an Author: Tim Mason

    Tim Mason is a playwright whose work has been produced in New York and throughout the world. Among the awards he has received are a Kennedy Center Award, the Hollywood Drama-Logue Award, a fellowship…

  • Del Howison and his first novel, The Survival of Margaret Thomas

    Interview With an Author: Del Howison

    Del Howison is an award-winning editor, journalist, fiction author, and actor. He has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award four times (and won it once), for the Black Quill Award twice, for the…

  • Author Casey McQuiston and her first novel, Red, White & Royal Blue

    Interview With an Author: Casey McQuiston

    Casey McQuiston grew up in the swamps of Southern Louisiana, where they cultivated an abiding love for honey butter biscuits and stories with big, beating hearts. They studied journalism and worked in…

  • Author Sarah Gailey and her novel, Magic For Liars

    Interview With an Author: Sarah Gailey

    Hugo award winner Sarah Gailey lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Their nonfiction has been published by Mashable and the Boston Globe, and their fiction has been published internationally…

  • Kris Waldherr and her book

    Interview With an Author: Kris Waldherr

    Kris Waldherr is an award-winning author, illustrator, and designer. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, and her fiction has been awarded with fellowships by the Virginia Center of the…

  • Seanan McGuire and her book Middlegame

    Interview With an Author: Seanan McGuire

    Seanan McGuire is the award-winning author of the October Daye urban fantasy series, the InCryptid series, and the Wayward Children series. In addition, she writes darker fiction under the pseudonym…

  • Author Yangsze Choo and her latest novel, Smoke and Summons

    Interview With an Author: Charlie Holmberg

    Charlie N. Holmberg was raised a Trekkie alongside three sisters, who also have boy names, in Salt Lake City, UT. She plays the ukulele, owns too many pairs of glasses, and finally adopted a dog. Her…

  • T.J. Martinson and his debut novel, The Reign of the Kingfisher

    Interview With an Author: T.J. Martinson

    T.J. Martinson grew up just outside Chicago. He received his MA in literary studies from Eastern Illinois University and is currently working toward a Ph.D. at Indiana University Bloomington. The…

  • Anthony Horowitz and his latest Mystery series book, The Sentence is Death.

    Interview With an Author: Anthony Horowitz

    Anthony Horowitz is a prolific journalist and writer for television and the author of both young adult and adult literature. He has been commissioned by the Doyle and Fleming estates to write new…

  • Author Yangsze Choo and her latest novel, The Night Tiger

    Interview With an Author: Yangsze Choo

    Yangsze Choo is a fourth-generation Malaysian of Chinese descent. She is a graduate of Harvard University and the author of The Ghost Bride, which is currently being adapted by Netflix into a…


Reviews by Daryl M.

  • Cover image for The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea

    The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea

    • By: Maggie Tokuda-Hall
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    A young noblewoman is betrothed by her parents into an unwanted, arranged marriage. A young pirate struggles to survive and protect his brother from the dangers inherent in the life they have been forced to live. A mermaid is captured and threatened with death because her blood, when drunk, allows...
  • 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...