Blogcritics Author: Kevin Eagan

The Early Word: New and Notable Fiction for the Week of July 21, 2008

Kevin Eagan — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:09:21 EDT

(Another) new James Patterson novel, along with new fiction by Daniel Silva, J. A. Jance, Suzanne Brockmann, and more.
This week's new fiction books run through the same type of stuff we've seen throughout this (so far) slow month in the publishing world. While the amount of quality books have slowed down over the last few weeks, there are still a couple of good novels out this week.James Patterson's ever-prolific writing career has brought him enough...

The Early Word: New and Notable Fiction for the Week of July 14, 2008

Kevin Eagan — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:44:15 EDT

The latest in Eoin Colfer's popular children's series, plus some new mysteries, romances, and thrillers.
It's been a year since the final installment of the wildly popular Harry Potter book series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, hit the bookshelves to great fanfare. Since the end of the Harry Potter series (despite the rumored prequels and other such buzz among Harry Potter fans), book publishers have scrambled to find a children's book series...

Music Review: Pyramids - Pyramids

Kevin Eagan — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 14:57:10 EDT

Mixing cacophony with angelic beauty, Pyramids are not afraid to experiment with drone metal and experimentation.
If there is any driving force behind the indie rock movement over the past few years - the whole post-hardcore, post-punk, post-anything movement - it is the refinement of noise and experimentation. For some, this means taking apart conventional rock tropes and reassembling them in new and often bizarre ways; for others, it's about using...

The Early Word: New and Notable Fiction for the Week of July 7, 2008

Kevin Eagan — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 11:29:36 EDT

New fiction this week by Robert Crais, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Nora Roberts, Stephen L. Carter, and others.
After an exciting June, there's just not that much happening in the world of fiction so far this month. In many ways, that's to be expected; after all, the big blockbusters of the summer are out there making the rounds on the bestseller lists waiting for summer readers to snatch them up. By the time August rolls around, the books industry...

Book Review: Lady Lazarus by Andrew Foster Altschul

Kevin Eagan — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:15:11 EDT

This debut novel reads like a rock biography but ends up questioning the importance of art in a postmodern world.
In life as in art, the mythology surrounding a person or thing often becomes the thing itself. It's too easy, especially in the modern information age, to create a narrative that works and stick with it, even if this muddies the "truth," if you will.For example, a rock star like Kurt Cobain spends most of his adult life creating music that has...

The Early Word: New and Notable Fiction for the Week of June 23, 2008

Kevin Eagan — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:51:21 EDT

New fiction this week from Joyce Carol Oates, Ethan Canin, James Rollins, Danielle Steele, and others.
This week's fiction has a few of the usual suspects (new murder mysteries and romance novels) along with some new literary fiction. As the summer reading season continues in full force, there are a couple of gems that stick out in the bestseller lists this week, some of which we may continue to hear about as the year goes on.One of the most...

The Early Word: New and Notable Fiction for the Week of June 16, 2008

Kevin Eagan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:52:37 EDT

New fiction this week by Marian Keyes, Jane Green, Peter David, Poppy Adams, Billie Letts, and more.
If last week's Early Word highlighted good fiction from some new writers, this week's Early Word is all about established writers. There are a decent number of new fiction books out this week (more than last week, it appears) and they run the gamut between chick lit, mystery, children's fantasy, and satire.Currently working their way up most...

Book Review: The End As I Know It by Kevin Shay

Kevin Eagan — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:46:13 EDT

Kevin Shay uses the Y2K computer scare of the 1990s to create an engaging work of satire.
Out of all the most ridiculous conspiracy theories that have surfaced over the past few years, the one that seemed plausible at the time was the Y2K bug. If you can bring yourself back to the late '90s, when President Clinton was embroiled in a lurid sex scandal and the millennium still seemed far far away, there was a real fear the machines would...

The Early Word: New and Notable Fiction for the Week of June 9, 2008

Kevin Eagan — Mon, 9 Jun 2008 20:51:33 EDT

New fiction by James Patterson, Uwem Akpan, Jackie Collins, David Wroblewski and others.
This promises to be an exciting week for fiction, especially for the literary world. Although 2008 has provided a steady stream of good literature from both well-established and new writers, these new fiction books have not been nearly as exciting as some of the big titles from last year. That's not to say there hasn't been anything...

The Early Word: New Books For The Week Of June 2, 2008

Kevin Eagan — Tue, 3 Jun 2008 00:29:12 EDT

The summer reading season is here, and The Early Word is here to steer you in the right direction.
The Early Word finally returns from its spring slumber, and what a perfect week to come back in full force with the latest best-selling books to line your summer shelves (or beach bags, if you're one of the lucky few). In both fiction and nonfiction, there's plenty of mystery and intrigue to keep you busy reading, and the summer book season...