Fiction

Poe House reopening planned for October

2013-05-16 15:48:21

Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum should reopen Oct. 4, the group responsible for making it profitable announced this week. "That's the official goal. That's the date," said Baltimore-based actor and author Mark Redfield, vice president of Poe...

What's novel is not the story, but how it's told

2013-05-06 03:00:00

When it comes to books, I guess you could call me a voracious listener. I have been commuting about an hour to and from work for more than 30 years, and during that time I bet I've listened to a couple of thousand books. First on tape, now on compact...

Sci-fi worthy of Malthus

2013-05-02 00:00:00

In the new sci-fi movie "Oblivion," Earth's most precious resource is Tom Cruise. But running a close second (spoiler alert) is water. Aliens want it. All of it. This is old hat, science fiction-wise. In "The War of the Worlds," H.G. Wells had...

Books and beer could be winning combo

2013-04-11 11:43:00

The recent announcement that Atomic Books will expand and make beer available at special events is an intriguing -- and promising -- development for all indie bookstores. We've all seen how hard it is for the small stores to compete these days. They'...

Author George Saunders headlines 10th annual CityLit Festival

2013-04-06 00:00:00

Author George Saunders is having the kind of year that could lead the former roofer and slaughterhouse worker to imagine that someone is spritzing the air around him with a giant bottle of perfume. "The way things have been going recently, it's as if...

A smart investment

2013-04-05 09:57:00

The human brain is a marvelous instrument, capable of the subtlest thoughts, feelings and perceptions, and of dreams even the gods might envy. Yet for all our cleverness in other areas, we still know embarrassingly little about how our own brains actually...

Grammarnoir 5: The Shame of the Prose, complete

2013-03-30 07:01:00

By request, and because in a few days I will be at the American Copy Editors Society's national conference with several people who, by the uncanniest of coincidences, bear the same names as certain characters, here is the fifth Grammarnoir serial in one...

Naval Academy astronauts return to inspire next generation

2013-03-24 16:04:00

The course is Human Space Flight. The subject for today: analogues — the scenarios found in the world or contrived in the laboratory that NASA uses to simulate work and life aboard a space ship. Naval Academy professor Ken Reightler leads the...

Living on the bay and loving it

2013-03-21 09:26:00

Driving the back roads that hug the periphery of Maryland's shoreline, there is no singular characteristic that defines the homes. The ones that date back to summer-only retreats are usually one-story clapboard structures with the give-away air...

Al Pacino, Helen Mirren and David Mamet pool their collective talents in HBO's 'Phil Spector'

2013-03-22 13:17:00

Executive producer Barry Levinson urges viewers to think of his HBO film "Phil Spector" as a two-person play —not a docudrama about the first murder trial of the rock producer. "It really is a two-person piece," Levinson said in a telephone...

Novelist Taiye Selasi, hailed as next big literary star, visits Baltimore

2013-03-09 00:00:00

Taiye Selasi's debut novel has been in publication for less than a week. But even before a single copy was sold, the glamorous 33-year-old was being hailed as the newest star of the literary world. Selasi's publisher, The Penguin Group, is promoting...

Cal Ripken Jr. talks about his new book, the Orioles' upcoming season and more

2013-03-04 09:18:00

Cal Ripken Jr. stopped by The Baltimore Sun this morning as part of the promotional tour for his third children’s novel, “Wild Pitch,” which came out today. The book – about a young pitcher who loses his confidence after...

Two of America's favorite British things -- the royals and Harry Potter -- converged over the weekend. Nothing like that wee bit of magic to knock us off our broomsticks!

2013-04-26 00:00:00

Adam Johnson has won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his novel "The Orphan Master's Son."

2013-04-15 12:10:08

British actor Richard Griffiths, best known for playing muggle Uncle Vernon Dursley in the "Harry Potter" movies, died Thursday at University Hospital in Coventry, England, from complications following heart surgery, his agent, Simon Beresford, told the Associated Press. He was 65.

2013-03-29 11:14:39