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As I’ve been writing this novel, I’ve learned there’s a kind of sliding scale of authenticity when it comes to historical fiction. At one end of the scale, you can simply say [...]

I don’t often read true crime, but Kate Summerscale might have turned me into a devotee. At the very least I’ve become a devotee of her work. Her re-creation of the case of a [...]

“I blame it all on one photograph I took on Printers Row in Chicago in 2001. It was of a newsstand where someone had scrawled: “Quit your job please follow your dream” in shoe [...]

Writers hit roadblocks like everyone else. Maybe more than most. We cruise along, writing away, following a storyline, everything going swimmingly and then, just like that, we grind to a halt. My [...]

I’m writing a novel that’s based in New York, in the period just after the first great financial crisis, the Panic of 1793. As part of my research, I’ve tried to read and watch [...]

A little over a year ago, I decided to make a slight career change. After 20 years reporting, editing and producing in every news medium, I thought I might try something new. I’ve always [...]