In a polarized political world, a holiday meal is unexpectedly universal
My mother has dementia, but her old friends in no way shunned or ignored her. She was clearly happy to be there among them, and she said over and over again what wonderful people they are. There was no talk of politics, race, or religion within my hearing.
Read more
Excerpt: People Only Die of Love in Movies: Film Writing by Jim Ridley
On March 28, 2016, Jim Ridley collapsed in his office at the Nashville Scene. His heart had failed. For days after his death, you could search the national trending topics on Twitter and find the name Jim Ridley there alongside the likes of Star Wars and Bruce Springsteen. In June 2018, Vanderbilt University Press will bring out a collection of Ridley’s film reviews edited by Steve Haruch.
Read more
Excerpt: Agent in Place
Mark Greaney’s famous assassin, Court Gentry, is back in Agent in Place. This time he’s working on behalf of a group of Syrian expats to secure the Syrian president’s mistress so they can use her to bring down the president’s regime. But the expats’ plan goes awry when it’s discovered the mistress has a baby–the Syrian president’s only male heir–hidden away in a Damascus safe house. Agent in Place will be published on February 20, 2018.
Read more
Excerpt: Freefall Summer
Ever since her mother died in a skydiving accident when Clancy was young, Clancy’s father has watched her like a hawk. Between her dad’s rules and her boyfriend’s protectiveness, she’s longing for an escape. Then she meets Denny. Freefall Summer is coming in April from Nashville’s Tracy Barrett.
Read more
Book excerpt: Memphis Rent Party
Home of the blues, birthplace of rock & roll, soul-music capital—Memphis has been essential to American music. In Memphis Rent Party, coming March 6 from Bloomsbury, Robert Gordon heads behind the scenes to the people and places that music history has yet to record.
Read more
The seeds of a novel are sown in a friend’s disappearance
Worrying for years about a question with no answer is more than a little neurotic. It can also provide fertile soil for plot development.
Read more
