The TMO Literature and Books section collects together in-depth author interviews, book reviews, publishing news, and literary criticism in the form of essays and articles. We have also added a new section for original fiction and poetry (for submission guidelines see here).
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Clones, Criminals, and Plotted Sex – Jenny Davidson, author of Heredity in interview.
Heredity, the debut novel by Jenny Davidson, mixes a number of styles to produce a compelling, page-turning story that has been described as part detective novel, part twisted historical romance. It tells the story of Elizabeth Mann, a current day travel-writer/researcher, who, while in London, becomes obsessed with the historical character of Jonathan Wild, and [...]
Arafat and my hot flashes – an Israeli reader’s response to Suad Amiry’s “Sharon and my mother-in-law”.
The following is a response from Yael Stern O’Dwyer to the interview published by Three Monkeys Online with Palestinian author Suad Amiry. Arafat and my hot flashes – an Israeli response to Suad Amiry’s Sharon and my Mother-in-Law. After reading Suad Amiry's novel Sharon and my mother in law I was extremely moved … as [...]
Tales of torture, and so on – Jon Ronson, author of The men who stare at goats, in interview
“The truth is actually much more buffoonish than most conspiracy theorists believe”, explains Jon Ronson, the author of The men who stare at goats, a book that deals with the psychological branch of the US military machine. “The men who stare at goats deals with one of the maddest conspiracy theories there is, about powerful [...]
The Poet of Prose – Jim Crace in interview.
Jim Crace is both flattered and amused that he’s become the subject of Academic study. “I’m flattered. I’d rather that there were academic books about me than there weren’t any – he says, in a down to earth tone before continuing to outline one of the stranger Academic analyses of his work – a Japanese [...]
The Human Side of Occupation. Suad Amiry, author of Sharon and my Mother-in-Law in interview
“Thank God she hasn't (her son did!)” says Suad Amiry, with characteristic humour when asked if her mother-in-law has read her critically acclaimed Ramallah diaries, entitled Sharon and my Mother-in-Law. The book arose out of a form of email therapy, as Amir tried to stay sane cooped up with her Mother-in-Law, with Sharon's army on [...]
From the clay of the Kabala to the steel of Metropolis.The Golem Myth.
The golem, an artificial man made by moulding clay into the shape of a man and reciting spells over it, has been described by Isaac Bashevis Singer as “the very essence of Jewish folklore”. Yet he has travelled far beyond the boundaries of Jewish folklore, starring on the silver screen and in Marvell comics, and [...]
The Punk Pornographer – Melissa Panarello, author of One Hundred Strokes of the Brush before Bed, in interview.
“But then or now, decent underwear or none, wild women never could hide their innocence – a kind of pity kitty hopefulness that their prince was on his way. Especially the tough ones with their box cutters and dirty language, or the glossy ones with two-seated cars and a pocket-book full of dope. Even the [...]
The Electric Michelangelo – Sarah Hall in interview.
While Sarah Hall's first novel Haweswater dealt with the devestation of a rural English village, her second novel The Electric Michelangelo turns to the rarely broached topic, in literature certainly, of tattooing. Both novels have received huge critical acclaim, Haweswater won the Commonwealth prize for a first novel, while The Electric Michelangelo was one of [...]
The Gringo Trail – Mark Mann in interview
It was a telling sign of our 'foresight' or lack thereof, that, in the midst of South America we'd left behind the one book that really manages to capture the 'backpacker' experience of the continent – The Gringo Trail by Mark Mann. There was a certain logic to this, as we'd both read the book [...]
U2 and Me. Neil McCormick in Interview.
Neil McCormick knew from an early age that he was destined for stardom. Perhaps that sort of ambition in young men is more common than we think. Certainly Mount Temple Comprehensive in Dublin had its fair share of it. It has become famous as the place where Bono, the Edge, Larry and Adam went to [...]
