Shelf Talk

In last week’s post featuring ninety diverse suspense writers, I made the point that there are many different kinds of thrillers out there. Here are eighty more of today’s best and most thrilling writers grouped for various tastes, and still we’ve only scratched the surface:

• Sophie Hannah writes contemporary British crime stories suffused with taut psychological suspense and a haunting mood. Also try: Ruth Rendell, Minette Walters, Frances Fyfield, Elizabeth George, and Martha Grimes.
• Erin Kelly writes moody, slightly gothic suspense in which the present is haunted by the sins of the past. Also try: Tana French, Ann Cleeves, Thomas H. Cook, S. J. Bolton, Rosamund Lupton, Sarah Rayne, Kate Morton, and John Harwood.
• Michael Lawson writes political thrillers seething with corruption and high level i ntrigue. Also try: David Baldacci, Brad Meltzer, Richard North Patterson, Brian Haig, Jeffrey Archer, and Stuart Woods.
• Robert Masello writes intricately-plotted thrillers involving arcane societies, hidden treasures and occult conspiracies. Also try: Dan Brown, Steve Berry, M. J. Rose, David Hewson, Ross King, Katherine Neville, and Simon Toyne.
• T. Jefferson Parker writes gritty cop thrillers where dogged procedural investigation often gives way to unpredictable action. Also try: Joseph Wambaugh, Michael Connelly, James Patrick Hunt, Edward Conlon, Dan Mahoney and Ed Dee.
• Jonathan Rabb writes stylish historical espionage edged with danger and romance. Also try: Alan Furst, Eric Ambler, Philip Kerr, Joseph Kanon, Paul Grossman, Francine Mathews, Sam Eastland, and John Lawton.
• Richard Stark writes gritty action-packed thrillers starring tough-guy anti-heroes. Also try: Lee Child, Harry Dolan, Barry Eisler, Andrew Klavan, Roger Hobbs, Derek Haas, Stephen Hunter, and Andrew H. Vachss.
• Duane Swierczynski writes intensely violent noir thrillers in which bad leads to worse. Also try: Elmore Leonard, Colin Harrison, Charlie Newton, Jason Starr, Don Winslow, Jean-Patrick Manchette, James Sallis, Marcus Sakey, and Jim Thompson.
• Brad Taylor writes explosive international action in which capable heroes vie with terrorist for the highest of stakes. Also try: Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Kyle Mills, Robert Ludlum, Jack Higgins, David Rollins, Alex Berenson, David Hagberg, and Tom Clancy.
• Lisa Unger writes taut suspense in which everyday people find their normal lives turned upside down. Also try: Mary Higgins Clark, Linwood Barclay, Joy Fielding, Tami Hoag, Jesse Kellerman and Jacquelyn Mitchard.

If you love thrillers, you might also want to check out Thrillers: 100 must-reads, an entertaining guide to suspenseful classics ranging from Erskine Childers’ Riddle of the Sands to Geoffrey Household’s Rogue Male to Ken Follett’s Eye of the Needle. And be sure to check out last week’s post as well.

Isn’t it interesting that you can find books about haiku on the shelves of our library, but not one book of haikus about libraries? Let’s show the world what we’re made of! In celebration of National Poetry Month  (April), National Library Week (April 14-20) and National Haiku Day (April 17), we’re having an all-ages haiku contest at The Seattle Public Library. Send us a haiku — a short poem of three lines and 17 syllables or fewer — telling us what libraries mean to you.

As a form, the haiku reveals something about nature. What about the nature of a library is memorable to you? If you had to describe the library as a season, what would it be? Better yet, how does the library figure into the seasons of your life? Need a little inspiration? Maybe a few examples will help you along, because we’re looking for poems from the subtle to the strong. Examples of traditional haiku forms can be found in The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson, and Issa, The Year Comes Round: Haiku through the Seasons, Basho: The Complete Haiku, Haiku: The Poetry of Nature, One Leaf Rides the Wind: Counting in a Japanese Garden.

If you’re eager to get started, the Writing and Enjoying Haiku: A Hands-On Guide, The Haiku Handbook and How to Haiku: A Writer’s Guide to Haiku and Related Forms will help you to begin.

People have gotten pretty creative with the form of the haiku. There’s traditional, contemporary and innovative. Then, there’s haiku that’s just plain fun! What do you think about the poetic ink in these books?

• Baseball Haiku: American and Japanese Haiku and Senryu on Baseball
• Zombie Haiku
• Gay Haiku
• The Cuckoo’s Haiku and Other Birding Poems
• Morning Haiku
• Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys
• Pirate Haiku: Bilge-Sucking Poems of Booty, Grog and Wenches for Scurvy Sea Dogs
• Won-Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku
• Haiku U: …from Aristotle to Zola, 100 Great Books in 17 Syllables
• The Hound Dog’s Haiku: and Other Poems for Dog Lovers

Rhyme, rant or reflect upon a memory of a visit to a library, the joy of a treasured book, music CD or movie, how a program moved you beyond words, how you and your children were engaged by story time or a book discussion, the time a conversation enhanced your life or simply the way an experience of the library has changed your point of view. Send us your poetic best, one sparkling haiku glistening with spring promise.

Everyone is welcome to enter–children, teens and adults. Send us one poem using the form on our website by 5 p.m. Friday, March 15. Winning haikus will be featured on the Library website starting on April 1. Let’s make a haiku hullabaloo all through the showery blues of April!

                                               (Please note that haiku submissions are accepted only online.)

Sometimes, you just need to dance – get up off of your chair, onto your feet, and shake it. These three songs, which you can download for free from Freegal,* should entice you to do just that.

1. “Freeway of Love” by Aretha Franklin from Who’s Zoomin’ Who?

You may know Aretha Franklin as the Queen of Soul, but she was also the Queen of Dance during the summer of 1985 when this song was a huge dance club hit. Aretha won a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (her 12^th!) for this song, which features Clarence Clemons on sax. My favorite memory of this song involves dancing with my best friend in the middle of a crowded dance floor at Tugs in Belltown on Halloween, surrounded by men dressed as nuns, all of us having the time of our lives. Continue reading →

Flash Point by Nancy Kress
With the United States in a permanent recession, Amy is forced to participate in a reality television show where she is never sure if the dangerous threats are real or manufactured. Fast-paced and smart science fiction that manages to be gritty and frighteningly believable in its portrayal of the future. Continue reading →

A thriller’s a thriller, right? Wrong! Very different things set each reader’s pulse racing. Here are some of our favorite writers in a wide array of suspenseful fiction, with suggestions for further reading; tune in next week for part 2.

• Jeff Abbott writes relentless, high octane intrigue with action on every page. Also try: Robert Ludlum, James Patterson, Thomas Perry, Ridley Pearson, Andrew Grant, and Rick Mofina.
• Louis Bayard writes atmospheric h