Steven's Notebook

quoting another reviewer: Between the World and Me is written as a letter/essay from Coates to his fifteen-year-old son, trying to come to terms with what it means to grow up as an African American male in 2015. …no sugar-coating, no careful racial diplomacy, no worry about mediating opinions to cater to what white people […]

More zombie cows, this time in the United States. It sounds like one of those books you think will be silly, gross and the perfect book for middle-school boys. And yes, that is true, but there’s more to Zombie Baseball Beatdown. “There could be millions! Total zombie apocalypse!” Joe said then he looked thoughtful. “That […]

It started with the cows. Flesh-eating, sex-crazed zombie cows. In England. That right there should be enough of a review to get you reading. And to give you enough warning — should you feel that you need it — that there will be gore and violence of a somewhat cartoon variety. I picked this up […]

In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place – just a tea party long ago, and long ears and blood… Suffice to say, this is not Walt Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland,” and not a book for […]

Of the books I read while on vacation this past week – or all the books I’ve read yet this year – this is my favorite. We’re All Damaged is a novel that, in my mind at least, goes in the same category as The Junk-Drawer Corner-Store Front-Porch Blues and The Art of Racing in […]

Johnathan David Golden is the founder of Land Of A Thousand Hills coffee, a company who’s tagline “Drink Coffee. Do Good.” is more than a slogan, it defines their mission. Working directly with farmers in war-torn Rwanda, they provide us delicious coffee and the farmers with sustainable, profitable business. Golden encourages us, in his new […]

Joe R. Lansdale’s “Black Hat Jack” is an… interesting western about an African American Cowboy and his partner exploring the great west and getting into trouble with Native American Tribes. I wouldn’t exactly recommend it to kids nor adults who are squeamish about rough language, but it’s a good tale. The writing style reminded me […]

A man comes to you, saying that some of his dreams come true. Not in a “I dreamed I’d get a new car and the next day I won a sweepstakes” sort of way; he says that he’s actually changing the past, and that what we remember isn’t real. Or wasn’t real. Or something. On […]

As a youngster I spent a whole bunch of time, especially during the summer, at the public library. Libraries, actually, plural – my mom would take me to several in the area though my favorite was always “the library with the flying saucer.” I’m pretty sure she even had a job there for a while; […]