Users of Amazon's e-reader, the Kindle, can not only highlight their favorite passages, they can see what everyone else is highlighting. University of Illinois linguist Dennis Baron ponders the consequences.  Continue reading...

International bestselling author M. J. Rose's The Hypnotist is an adventure, a love story, a clash of cultures, and a spiritual quest. Above all, it is a thrilling capstone to her Reincarnation novels, The Reincarnationist and The Memoirist. Here M.J. shares the inspiration behind her latest novel.  Continue reading...

For our latest installment in the Backstory series, we welcome Barb Johnson, author of More of This World or Maybe Another, her powerful debut collection of short stories revolving around Palmyra Street in New Orleans.  Continue reading...

After an extended hiatus, we are pleased to announce the return of the Backstory series, in which authors share the secrets that inspired their fiction. In this installment we welcome back Katharine Weber, previously featured in the Backstory series for her novel Triangle. Here Katharine tells the story behind her new novel, True Confections.  Continue reading...

Apple's iPad tablet computer is being heralded as a technological advance on par with Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. Mere hyperbole? University of Illinois linguist Dennis Baron takes a look, and considers how the iPad might revolutionize the way we interact with text.  Continue reading...

The passing of the great J.D. Salinger has been met with an outpouring of online memorials.

Newsweek: The Gospel According to Holden

The Rumpus: Jason Roberts Remembers

Barnes and Noble: In the Margin