Fiction

The Gunslinger introduces readers to one of Stephen King s most powerful creations, Roland of Gilead: The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which mirrors our own in frightening ways, Roland tracks The Man in Black, encounters an enticing woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the boy from New York named Jake. 

Penguin is hitting me right in the pocketbook with another beautifully designed classic series! The Penguin Galaxy series represents six of the greatest masterworks of science fiction and fantasy, in dazzling collector-worthy hardcover editions, and featuring a series introduction by a Neil Gaiman. These novels are a constellation of achievement in visionary fiction, lighting the way toward our knowledge of the universe, and of ourselves.

In the summer of 1989, a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom is rocked by a violent crime when fifteen-year-old Lindy Simpson free spirit, track star, and belle of the block is attacked late one evening near her home. As the dark side of this idyllic stretch of Southern suburbia is revealed, the close-knit neighborhood is irreversibly transformed. 

It seems incongruous that a novel about twins subjected to Mengele’s experiments in Auschwitz would be a pleasure to read, but reading Affinty Konar’s Mischling filled me with more hope for humanity than fear of that which we are capable. It is important that we continue to tell stories about the worst we can do, and it is imperative that we tell those stories while acknowledging what it takes to survive.