We here at the Independent love every piece we run. There are no winners or losers. But all kidding aside, here are December’s winners.
- Michael Landweber’s review of The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay (William Morrow). “Andrew thinks he recognizes one of the intruders from a violent incident in his past, suggesting this whole episode is driven by homophobia, but Eric has trouble seeing the resemblance. At another time, Eric sees a ghostly figure in the room, but it might just be a symptom of the concussion he suffered during an altercation with the intruders. The world around the cabin steadily darkens: Are these normal storm clouds or the first sign of the apocalypse?”
- Agents Attending the 2019 Washington Writers Conference. We published the bios of the 16 industry pros coming to our May event, and hundreds of readers logged in to learn all about them. (Could this be the year you finally land an agent for your book project? Click here to register now!)
- Peter G. Pollak’s review of The Anomaly by Michael Rutger (Grand Central Publishing). “Protagonist Nolan Moore is a failed screenwriter turned would-be Indiana Jones whose ambition is to take his online treasure-hunting show to television…His record of failures, however, is about to end when his crew enters the Grand Canyon seeking the entrance to a cavern that reportedly houses relics found nowhere else on earth. Moore’s source is a set of century-old explorer’s notes that no subsequent searchers have been able to replicate.” [Editor’s note: Two not-so-new horror reviews made the top five? It’s almost like folks were seeking a fictional dystopia to help escape the real one…]
- “9 Books Perfect for Gifting.” This handy shopping list from Shannon Morgan and her fellow booksellers at Frederick, MD-based indie Curious Iguana arrived in the nick of time — about a week before Christmas.
- Larry Matthews’ review of Why Learn History (When It’s Already on Your Phone) by Sam Wineburg (University of Chicago Press). “Wineburg offers examples of the struggle to present history as fact and to engage students in the search for context. One method he suggests is to move away from textbooks to original documents written by contemporaries of the time being studied; this brings the student closer to the historical time period and moves the teaching away from the dry text being explained by a teacher standing in front of a group. Thus, history becomes more tangible.”
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