What to Read Before and After Surgery
Surgery can bring out a lot of emotions in both the patient and their loved ones. Between anxiety and fear before surgery, pain and exhaustion following...
Weekend Giveaway: A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF HEAVEN by Mathangi Subramanian
This giveaway is sponsored by A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian from Algonquin Books. The eagerly anticipated A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian centers...
Five Nonfiction Books for the New American Family
The shape of the American family has taken a drastic shift in this last generation. The reality is that this “family” is made up of a...
Race & Romance in America
When I was five and we went back to India for a visit, everyone was upset about two things. The first was that my brother and...
What Science Can Learn from Constipated Dogs
The first time I picked up Gulliver’s Travels, I was working in a protein production lab. I’d just gotten home after a painfully long day, half...
How Do You Even Get Started Writing a Book?
The Blunt Instrument is an advice column for writers. If you need tough advice for a writing problem, send your question to [email protected]. For early access...
Spring 2019 Horoscopes for Writers
In spring, all things are made new — but this is also an opportunity to review the intentions we set at the beginning of the calendar year. In...
Is He Doing Absolutely Nothing or Is He a Genius?
An Excerpt from ‘Trust Exercise’ by Susan Choi The English People were a performing troupe from a high school in Bournemouth, a city in England. They were...
“The New Me” Explores the Anxiety of a Life Defined by A 9–5 Office Job
Jillian captured the complexities of anger and jealousy, disgruntlement and disgust so pristinely, you can’t help but be rapt, laughing along as Butler described social situations...
7 Thrilling Novels About Espionage
My novel started with an image that popped into my mind: it was of a black female protagonist who is a typical suburban mother — or so it...
