Books, science, more TK. Bookish words for Boston Globe, CrimeReads, LitHub, LARB, etc. Also: swimfan.
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It’s a privilege to be noticed by reviewers, as Books pages shrink. It’s an actual joy to be critiqued so closely by a reviewer who places me and you (the reader) in a threesome with The Two Roberts, my two central characters. 🍾 www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
A reminder that I'm still the series editor of the Best American Food and Travel Writing anthology and to send your submissions, early and often, to bestamericanfoodtravel@gmail.com (full guidelines here d2xcq4qphg1ge9.cloudfront.net/assets/23044...)
I just finished The Husbands by Holly Gramazio yesterday and it is absolutely bonkers while still managing to somehow play it straight and I enjoyed it so much. You should check it out.
‘“When the facts of our lives can never be fully known there isn’t just room for fiction, there is a moral imperative for it. To write it. To paint it – to light a candle in the dark then pick up your pen or brush. Even, and especially, when the world is ending.” A wee essay tinyurl.com/ct6w3ynf
My review of RF Kuang’s Katabasis, from @harpervoyagerus.bsky.social, is now up at @npr.org. www.npr.org/2025/08/29/n...
This is SO great! Congratulations, Alex!
A bit more news to end the week: THE MACHADO FAMILY, my next crime novel, is coming your way - along with reissues of all five Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery novels, via Thomas & Mercer. Details at my newsletter: alexsegura.substack.com/p/my-next-cr...
Boobies!
Twenty years ago we re-mortgaged our house to start Bluemoose and find great new writers who were being overlooked by the industry. In the last 2 years we've had 2 BBC TV series adapted from books we published. Not bad eh! www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
“I’ve never seen a writer reveal their social biases quite so blatantly.” —Critic @laurenleblanc.bsky.social revisits John Updike’s 2006 review of Robert Polidori’s Hurricane Katrina exhibit at the Met, and points to his detachment that sparked the conversation. 🔗: https://shorturl.at/TPDaN
Wavefunction Collapse xkcd.com/3134/
![4-panel Comic. (1) STUDENT: If the wavefunction only collapses when I observe it, does that mean my consciousness affects the universe? (2) [Bad:] PROFESSOR: Yes, quantum entanglement proves that we all have souls. (3) [Good:] PROFESSOR: No, consciousness plays no role here. It’s just physical measurement. (4) [Chaotic:] PROFESSOR: No. The wavefunction collapses when *I* look at it because I’m a full professor. It won’t collapse for an undergraduate.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreic2mhmdvsftki6qe275hycolgt22msekbwzdyqoujt56qzpcbm3hm@jpeg "Click to view full size")
‘Werner Herzog can be heard narrating your plight outside the door.’
A head pot fragment which was discovered at Segedunum Roman Fort on North Tyneside which can be viewed in the excellent site museum. The fort itself was built to guard the eastern end of Hadrian’s Wall. 📸 My own. #RomanFortThursday #RomanBritain #Segedunum
Eep! “We enter a novel as exciting and rich as any Ms. Mina has written..“The Good Liar” is both a tightly wound thriller and a sharp portrait of the British upper class…Money, corporate corruption, personal revenge: Each murder motive is revealed with impeccable timing.” www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
Katherine Johnson passed away in 2020, at the age of 101. Editorial cartoonist Steve Breen’s lovely tribute perfectly captured Johnson’s contributions to the US space program. (11/11) Credit: Steve Breen Source: @sandiegouniontribune.com
Mathematician Katherine Johnson was born #OTD in 1918. Her orbital mechanics computations played a vital role in many early NASA missions. Astronaut John Glenn trusted her calculations more than those of his onboard flight computer. 🧪 🔭 👩🔬 Image: NASA
We're hiring! Are you an enthusiastic and talented social media creator who loves museums? Join our team as Digital Content Producer (Video) and lead on TikTok and reels at The MERL and Reading Museum! Applications are open until 8 September. Apply now: jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
The puffin gang, Inner Farne #superseabirdsunday
RIP Jerry Adler, a veteran stage manager (including for the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady!) who switched to acting when he was 65 and soon became an indelible character guy (Hesh!) I interviewed him for my Mike Nichols bio; as you'd imagine, he was a bottomless treasure chest of lore.
'Twas awesome to collaborate with @katekilla.bsky.social and Marion Winik on the Boston Globe's fall books preview. Bibliophiles, rejoice! www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/21/a...
Things are bad but the books will continue to be good. Here’s a visual preview for fall 2025 as evidence.
This amazing writeup for The Creeping Hand Murder in @washingtonpost.com (along with four other books I either have or am about to get) is GIVING ME LIFE today: www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...
Billy Budd, the ridiculous Never Bet The Devil Your Head, the sublime The Limey, Zod and Priscilla, and that lovely near-cameo in Bowfinger.
Following the success of "Kafkaesque", we will be rolling out the following new authorial adjectives over the coming months. - Becketty - Audenoid - Ishiguroish - Cuskesque - McEwanian - à le Carré - Bergerac - Didionine
Thank you to all the folk who came along to watch filming of the series SEVEN of Big Scottish Book Club. And to all the crew at IWC and venue staff @leiththeatre.bsky.social You can watch us on BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer. And you can meet some of my guests here: www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
Heading to Edinburgh International Book Festival for events with Ewan Morrison, Alexander McCall Smith & Tessa Hadley. Also, catch @petergodwin.bsky.social on #exitwounds tomorrow. We are staying around for a few days and welcome your festival recommendations. #edinburghfestivals #godwinsontour
Dying to read FONSECA, the new novel by @jfkane.bsky.social, based on Penelope Fitzgerald's time in Mexico. Expertly reviewed by @hamiltoncain.bsky.social for the @bostonglobe.com, where it will be in print on Sunday. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/05/a...
hiring Jaya to write for you is one of the very best decisions you could make!!!
Tremendous Irish Times review of ‘The Good Liar’, together with @StuartNeville and @Lauralippman ‘Devastatingly angry and acid’
We will be publishing cultural criticism every day at The Rumpus. We hope to fill some of this egregious void being created by the mainstream media. Relaunch is in October but we are also publishing between now and then.
My dad told me a story about having a drink with Mr Lovell at some local dive bar when this sequence was being filmed for The Man who Fell to Earth back in the 1970's. My dad said Mr. Lovell had a lot to say about space and what he saw there... I'll leave it at that. Rest in peace, spaceman.
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SWAG / RUM PUNCH / THE SWITCH - three Elmore Leonard novels coming to Penguin Modern Classics Crime and Espionage series in June. Eleven more to follow in later batches.
Unbearable excellence. Found the link www.stuffbymark.co.uk/work/beatfilms
The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, the debut studio album by Pink Floyd, was released #OTD 1967 by EMI Columbia. #Floyd
Terrific slice of NYC noir fiction right here.
Remembering Hedda Sterne on her birthday 🎂 Saul Steinberg drew a picture of her as a cat.
Hey #exoplaneteers, we're about to hit 6,000 planets on the NASA Exoplanet Archive, so if you want to be part of the push to get over the line before the 30th anniversary of the 51 Peg b discovery in a couple months, get those papers accepted and on arXiv ASAP!!!
Let’s talk about organic #photonics! 🌱💡 We are pleased to have Chihaya Adachi from Kyushu University joining us at #SPIEOpticsPhotonics to share how his team is pioneering advanced organic devices by improving efficiency + durability.
Raoul Dufy’s wonderful Vanity Fair cover August 1934
Good morning The Book of Bogs - edited by Clare Shaw and Anna Chilvers Publishing September. Nature writing at its finest. With some brilliant words from the legendary Patti Smith too!! @thebookseller.com @theguardian.com @horatioclare.bsky.social
Our next week in the UK….
Remembering Peter O'Toole on his birthday 🎂 📷 Bert Stern, Vogue, 1962 Richard Burton called him "the most original actor to come out of Britain since the war". He said there was "something odd, mystical & deeply disturbing" in his work.
“It’s almost taboo among writers to say, ‘I am interested in finding out what a person could do with this technology.’” I spoke to @naomialderman.bsky.social, @richbeard.bsky.social and Sarah Hall about what AI means for novelists, in this week’s @ftweekend.com Books Essay:
News | Tate Modern to stay open until 9pm on weekends – London gallery targeting younger visitors following success of 25th birthday activities
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Today is the 50th anniversary of the Broadway opening of A Chorus Line. To celebrate, about 173 of us who danced in that show gathered outside in the Lincoln Center Library of Performing Arts plaza, performed The Opening Away From the Mirror, One, and What I Did For Love. 💙
Any and all joshing aside, the passive voice gets a bum rap. Among other things, it’s essential in describing an action when you don’t know who performed the action, and anytime you want to emphasize the whom rather than the who.
I’ll be rounding up some of my favorite 2025 memoirs for Time later this year. I’m doing my best to track forthcoming books and request galleys, but it’s easy to miss things — book people, you’re welcome to pitch me (especially fall titles!) at nicole.sc.chung at gmail
Pitching NPR (thrillers, nonfiction, literary fiction, work in translation, etc) and always looking for stuff for my CrimeReads column (crime, noir, mystery, suspense, true crime, etc). If you have anything that fits coming out between August and December, let me know! Thank you.
This is good. Rogers Park.
You should read. @jennashworth.bsky.social. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
today at IHTOV, i'm proud to publish a lovely essay from best selling author @lauralippman.bsky.social on her mother in law's records, and how music is a touchstone for so much of our lives ihavethatonvinyl.com/essays/my-mo...
Diana Rigg as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, 1996. A wonderful photograph by Geraint Evans. "When I heard Diana Rigg was going to be Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Almeida I was on the phone to my agent like a shot." - David Suchet
Diana Rigg & Anthony Hopkins, just before the two began rehearsals for Macbeth at the Old Vic 📷 Ron Burton, 1972
Remembering Diana Rigg on her birthday A great photo by Jochen Harder, 1968 "Some weeks I'd spend four days on the set of The Avengers and then head up to Stratford to be Regan to Olivier's Lear."
We were thrilled to announce the winners of the #theakstonsawards tonight! Congratulations @radiomukhers.bsky.social David Goodman and @ellygriffiths.bsky.social 🍻 Find out more here: https://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/news/topical-thrillers-triumph-at-theakstonsawards/
Tom *really* gets writing (or trying to write).
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“It is my responsibility... to make the right opportunity for the right student available at the right time.” A canny ability to navigate the #optics and #photonics ecosystem — and a touch of serendipity — have landed @optophysakhil.bsky.social in research heaven! 💡⚛️ spie.org/news/critica...
Want to catch up on #photonics industry news in less than 10 min? Catch the latest episode of Following the Photons for this week's round of news, including a shout-out for the SPIE Prism Awards + Catalyst Award! 🎧: followingthephotons.... @jmurphoton.bsky.social @laserfocusworld.bsky.social
This is superb: Nancy Moran’s shot of the cast & crew of The Muppet Show, July 1980
My late colleague Fergus Linehan (and predecessor, I guess) at The Irish Times couldn't settle on a 10 best for 1975, and had to go for 12. Who can blame him? What a list.
Very sorry to learn that Martin Cruz Smith, author of the incomparable Arkady Renko series, has died. My deepest condolences to his family, including @luisacruz.bsky.social. His final book, HOTEL UKRAINE, was published earlier this month and was a fitting send-off to the series.
Can I persuade people that "murderers' row" makes sense and "murderer's row" doesn't (unless, sure, it's one murderer with their very own row)? #copyediting
Very sad to learn that Martin Cruz Smith, the great author of GORKY PARK, died last night after a long illness. Not only was he a terrific writer, but he was also a really fine person.
One of my all-time favorite novels, written by Bel Kaufman, a true character (and Sholem Aleichem’s granddaughter!) whom I regret never meeting.
Today I'm typing "entworks" instead of "networks" and now all I want to do is write a fantasy novel about clandestine trees spying on everyone.
I understand #CreativeThursday at @HarrogateFest is sold out, which is a shame, because Laura and I will be talking about both of these books :-)
Happy 88th, David Hockney. With Joni Mitchell.
“It’s not just about presenting your research, but about the personal connections you make." If anyone has had their optics career marked by ongoing engagement with #SPIE, it’s Kristen Maitland! Hear her thoughts on connecting, mentoring, & perpetual learning - spie.org/news/on-conn... #WomenInSTEM
A poem, Withershins. www.1handclapping.online/post/phil-mi...
Always listen to Tess Monaghan.
I love semicolons so much. I can put six in the same sentence even when I'm not putting things in a list.
Latest NYT column is up! This month, ai talk about Riley Sager’s With a Vengeance, Uketsu’s Strange Houses, and Laura Elliott’s Awakened. Free link, so share away! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/b...
Happy birthday Bill Watterson 🎂 "You mix a bunch of ingredients, and once in a great while, chemistry happens. I can't explain why the strip caught on the way it did, and I don't think I could ever duplicate it. A lot of things have to go right all at once."
Jean Cocteau, Poet, Playwright, Novelist, Director, Artist, #BornOnThisDay in 1889, in Maisons-Laffitte, France “I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.” 📸 Jane Bown (1950)
André Kertész Self-portrait with cat, 1946 #caturday
Jean Cocteau with his cat Karoun 📷 Jane Bown, 1950 #caturday
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
Happy birthday to Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes! Born on July 5, 1958.
The amazingly beautiful window for THE ART OF A LIE @hatchards.bsky.social Piccadilly. A little way down the street from Hannah’s shop in my book 😍😍😍
I have no say in this so it’s especially delightful to see two of the books I reviewed (Zoe Wallbrook’s HISTORY LESSONS and Martin Cruz Smith’s HOTEL UKRAINE) named as Editor’s Choice this week.
The perfect movie for a hot night: Body Heat boxd.it/ac9TyX
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“HISTORY LESSONS brilliantly mixes pointed satire, fabulous characters (especially Daphne’s two besties) and a thoughtful meditation on whose fortunes get to rise, and whose are ground down on the altar of power.” —The New York Times Book Review Read more: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
In 1996 I misused my PhD grant at Strathclyde Uni to write my first novel Garnethill. Well, almost 30 years later, today was a pretty great day. Also, my old professors were there and sat through the entire ceremony
I'm so looking forward to the London launch of the Two Roberts @southbankcentre.bsky.social It's going to a celebration of queerness and art and love against the odds! See you there. And @edbookfest.bsky.social Aug 23 & @citybookshove.bsky.social Aug 27. www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/dam...
Penguin’s new minimalist - did someone say Fitzcarraldo-esque? - new look for certain modern classics in translation. The only pattern I can discern is that slim books go into this look as they work better in small format than the large (‘Demy’) translated paperback format.
Hello. After months and months of self-consciously self-promoting, the day has finally come. I WANT TO BURN THIS PLACE DOWN is available wherever books are sold. www.harpercollins.com/products/i-w...
Whoa
Remembering Stanley Spencer on his birthday 🎂 📷 Ida Kar, 1954 "Like Blake and D. H. Lawrence, he was an artist who new-created all he saw." - Howard Jacobson
'Watiya Tjuta' by Indigenous Australian artist Mitjili Napurrula from Pintubi country #WomensArt
Happy birthday to Mel Brooks!
This is the best obit I’ve read since the one @andycorren.bsky.social wrote for his mother
RIP Jim Parkinson, an iconic Oakland-based typeface designer who designed or refined the nameplate of every magazine and newspaper you know
Remembering Milton Glaser on his birthday 🎂 📷 Deborah Feingold, 1987 "I like to design something for institutions that did no harm and for personalities that I feel comfortable with." Glaser died five years ago today; he's one of the surprisingly few famous people to die on his birthday.
Free, unsolicited advice for physics students: many things will go more smoothly for you if you can derive and explain the simple harmonic oscillator in your sleep