Anthony Burgess didn’t read science fiction

As an aspiring novelist, I asked the famous autodidact if his work was inspired by Philip K. Dick. Bad idea

Halloween 2012: What’s scary?

This Halloween, six top writers reminisce about the things that used to scare them — and what scares them now

Jonathan Lethem’s “perfect” album

The "Motherless Brooklyn" and "Fortress of Solitude" author's new book explains his fixation with the Talking Heads

Writing in the Margins

Our monthly roundup of indie publishing: DC Comics terrifies with Lovecraft; Lethem and Denis Johnson do avant-cabaret; a harrowing tale of the 1997 Red River flood.

He’s a lover — and also a hater

Dale Peck, the madman critic famous for his trash jobs on Moody, Eggers and Franzen, talks about forgiving his abusive father in his new "fictional memoir" and wonders why we can't all get along.

The dreamer of Brooklyn

Jonathan Lethem's astonishing "The Fortress of Solitude" places him in the first rank of American novelists.

“Motherless Brooklyn”

An author comes up with a new (and brilliant) twist for the detective novel: A narrator with Tourette's syndrome.

Real Life Rock Top 10

Mementos from the pre-millennium

Dredged from the 1998 archives of art, pop culture and politics, Steve Erickson offers his own private cultural canon.