David W.

  • Pandemic Post-Apocalyptic Podcast

    Pandemic Post-Apocalyptic Podcast

    It was amazing, astounding, this loss of communication with the world. It was exactly as if the world had ceased, been blotted out. …With the coming of the Scarlet Death the world fell apart, absolutely, irretrievably. – The Scarlet Plague, by Jack London Just a handful of years after the novella quoted above came out,… Continue reading

  • Panic on the Rails in our Thrilling Tales podcast

    Panic on the Rails in our Thrilling Tales podcast

    Two trains speed toward each other in a blizzard, as a killer wanders the night! Melodrama on the rails, in this week’s Thrilling Tales: Storytime for Grownups, available now! On May 20, 1920 the readers opening the new issue of Metropolitan magazine were captivated by a heart-stopping tale entitled The Signal Tower, by Wadsworth Camp.… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2020: Set At or By the Sea

    It seems as long as people have told stories, they have told sea stories. Gilgamesh crosses the sea and even dives to the bottom in the quest for eternal life. The nautical adventures of Homer’s Odysseus are literally legendary, as are those of Jason and the Argonauts. More recently, both Edgar Allan Poe’s Narrative of… Continue reading

  • #BookBingoNW2020: Epistolary

    And then there’s that square marked “epistolary.” You’d be forgiven for Googling that one, where you’ll find it means a story told in the form of documents, such as diaries, emails, texts, and – most traditionally – letters – aka, epistles. To which you might respond “they write novels in the form of letters?” Oh… Continue reading

  • Imagining Life, Post-Pandemic

    There was a time – two months or so ago – when readers flocked to dystopian fiction so that they might imagine  what strange, dark days might lay ahead. Now that we’re all living through something that feels a bit like sci-fi itself, futuristic fiction is still there to help us envision and contemplate the… Continue reading

  • Stay-at-Home Drive-In Movie Madness!!

    After regular movie theaters have suspended operations, many couples and families have rediscovered Drive-In Movie Theaters, where social distancing is a standard feature! My sister is a drive-in movie buff, and so she and her husband love to go to the Blue Fox Drive-In up on Oak Harbor, one of five still running in our… Continue reading

  • If You Like Charles Portis (True Grit)

    If You Like Charles Portis (True Grit)

    There are generally three or four big successes in the life of a good book. If an author is lucky, sales peak when a book is first published, and they spike again should the book be made into a movie or if it wins a major award. Most reliably of all however is that warm… Continue reading

  • Fantastic Librarians of the Future!!

    Fantastic Librarians of the Future!!

    Many years ago – back in the ‘oughts – we did a couple of popular posts on librarians in fiction, and in fantasy. Since then, librarians have only stepped up their fictional game, appearing in more and more novels, not so surprising when we consider that many authors basically grew up in libraries. They pop… Continue reading

  • Best Audiobooks of the Year: The 2020 Audies Award nominees!

    Each year, the Audio Publishers Association recognizes the best audiobooks of the prior year at the Audie Awards. The awards ceremony is a big fancy to-do: here’s video of last year’s awards,  and here is a spreadsheet of previous awards. This year’s Audies gala will happen on March 2 in New York City, but the… Continue reading

  • Fresh Transgender and Non-binary Fiction

    Fresh Transgender and Non-binary Fiction

    As readers’ interest in diverse voices and experiences continues to expand, it can be challenging to keep up. Here’s a variety of recent novels and stories that reflect on aspects of transgender and non-binary lives and identities; see our accompanying list for more. Continue reading

  • Your Year of …Everything!

    What does the year 2020 hold in store for you? Are you struggling to keep any resolutions? Any new things you’ve set out to learn, or kinds of reading you plan to do? Perhaps you’re looking to pick up some new habits, or drop some old ones. Authors and publisher have plenty of annual ideas… Continue reading

  • Their Books Live On: Authors In Memoriam 2019, Part 2

    Their Books Live On: Authors In Memoriam 2019, Part 2

    Our second post (see part one here) looking back at the authors we lost in 2019, with suggested titles from our catalog. Charles McCarry. This great spy novelist is often praised as the American John Le Carre. Check out his classic rendition of the JFK assassination, The Tears of Autumn. Vonda McIntyre. An American science fiction writer… Continue reading

  • Their Books Live On: Authors In Memoriam 2019, part 1

    Their Books Live On: Authors In Memoriam 2019, part 1

    As 2019 draws to a close, we pause to remember authors (listed alphabetically) who died over the past year, with suggested reading from the library. Our list concludes tomorrow. Andrea Camilleri. The Sicilian author’s mystery series featuring loveably gruff Inspector Montalbano begins with The Shape of Water. Da Chen. His memoirs and historical fiction include… Continue reading

  • (NOT) The Ten Best Books of 2019

    That time of year has rolled around again when all the “Best Of” lists begin to appear, those tempting listicles claiming to reveal the best books of the year, decade, and century. We all click on them: they’re irresistible. I’m kind of over these “best of” lists. The premise that something so magnificently multivariate as… Continue reading

  • Audiobooks Voiced by Your Favorite Seattle Actors

    It has probably happened to you. You suddenly sense that the performer you’re enjoying live on stage sounds hauntingly familiar. What you may not have realized is that theirs was the voice reading into your airpods on that morning’s commute. Here’s just a small sampling of local talent on audio. One of Those Malibu Nights,… Continue reading

  • Thrilling Tales for the Holidays

    Now that Hallowe’en is past, we approach the holidays with visions of murder dancing in our heads. We’re talking about the next few months of Thrilling Tales – Seattle Public Library’s popular Story time for Grownups, of course! It all starts this Sunday: November 17, 7 p.m. with a Storytime for Grownups at Third Place… Continue reading

  • If only my library were in a bar… Booktoberfest 2019!

    Think of it: the nerdy erudition of your neighborhood library, crossed with the convivial bonhomie of your local pub. That’s Booktoberfest, now in its fifth year! Trivia, karaoke, happy hours, all with a bookish twist. Storytimes, art class, and literary readings, all in bars! Come out and celebrate the season with us. Here’s what’s in… Continue reading

  • If You Like Tana French

    We librarians hear a lot about readers’ favorite writers, and some names come up over and over again. One of these is Irish mystery writer Tana French, whose gritty Dublin Murder Squad series provides the perfect blend of police procedure and intricate psychological suspense. Only trouble is, she doesn’t write them fast enough. No worries:… Continue reading