93 Years of Shatner A tribute to an irrepressible TV star’s ability to live long and prosper. Kevin Mims 22 Mar 2024 · 20 min read
The Amityville Horror—A 50-Year Old Lie That Won’t Die Jay Anson’s haunted-house yarn was a highly lucrative hoax, but it struck a popular chord amid the financial precarity of 1970s America. Kevin Mims 7 Mar 2024 · 26 min read
Motorpsycho Nightmare Robert Pirsig’s insufferable cult novel about philosophy and bike maintenance turns 50. Kevin Mims 20 Feb 2024 · 17 min read
In Memoriam, 2023 A tribute to three pop-fiction authors who passed away this year. Kevin Mims 19 Dec 2023 · 13 min read
The Greatest American Western Novel of All Elmer Kelton’s ‘The Time It Never Rained’ is an overlooked classic. Kevin Mims 23 Nov 2023 · 12 min read
Man Out of Time A look back at the career of Avery Corman, who found popular success with ‘Kramer versus Kramer’ before running afoul of feminism. Kevin Mims 6 Oct 2023 · 18 min read
Remembering ‘Exodus’ A perennially controversial bestseller turns 65. Kevin Mims 4 Sep 2023 · 17 min read
On Marriage and Happiness It is easy for a successful writer to advise that career success isn’t that important. Would a failed writer agree? Kevin Mims 26 Aug 2023 · 8 min read
‘The Princess Bride’ at 50 A look back at William Goldman’s bonkers metafictional novel ‘The Princess Bride,’ which later became a much-loved family film. Kevin Mims 19 Jun 2023 · 17 min read
The Hammett and Chandler of Gay Detective Fiction How the books of George Baxt and Joseph Hansen changed the genre. Kevin Mims 30 May 2023 · 16 min read
The Girl of the Endless Summer How ‘Gidget’ helped to put surfing on the map. Kevin Mims 12 May 2023 · 20 min read
The Man Who Invented the Modern Cop Novel Joseph Wambaugh’s crime fiction has been much imitated but seldom equalled. Kevin Mims 23 Apr 2023 · 20 min read
Remembering Rumpole John Mortimer’s fictional barrister was—like his creator—a rogue redeemed by a fierce commitment to the presumption of innocence. Kevin Mims 1 Apr 2023 · 18 min read
Monks and Murder Modern literary master William Kotzwinkle returns after a lengthy absence to serve up a double Bloody Martini. Kevin Mims 1 Mar 2023 · 18 min read