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LitStack Review: Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Bird Box Josh Malerman Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers Release Date: May 13, 2014 ISBN 978-0-06-225965-3 Bird Box. Shortlisted for the first ever James Herbert Award for Horror Writing. On the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Starred reviews from both Kirkus Reviews and Publisher’s […]

Gimbling in the Wabe – In Which I Make a Confession

I have a confession to make. I’m a wimp. Not in everything. I’m a competent person; some who know me say I’m a very strong person. I can put up with a lot, I’ve been able to handle a fair share of disappointment and heartache, and I’ve raised two children […]

Birthdays

On this day, June 11, in 1572, Ben Jonson was born in Westminster, London, England. A towering figure in English (and therefore Western) literature, especially during the Renaissance and Restoration, he is considered second only to William Shakespeare (whom he knew) in his importance to British drama. Indeed, known for his intellect and cultured satire found in both his plays and his poetry, he was more widely known and better received than Shakespeare, and enjoyed the patronage of King James VI and I. The man who has been called the first poet laureate continued to write up until his death in 1637; he was 65.

Birthdays

On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.