by Vicky Oliver Many novelists have a God complex. I refer not to their religious views, but to their authorial ones. These writers believe they control their characters. As they map out their characters' journey from start to finish, love lives included, they expect their characters will obey the outline. But nothing could be further from reality, particularly when it comes to putting two characters from a story in a love scene. In Act One, a romance writer starts with

By Lori Perkins Just when you thought you knew the Lizzie Borden story, Netflix is about to give America another reason to obsess over it. With the Lizzie Borden episodes of Monster premiering September 17, Riverdale Avenue Books is joining the cultural moment with The Lizzie Borden House Anthology—an officially licensed collection of 26 original stories inspired by America’s most notorious Victorian-era murder mystery. It’s the perfect literary companion for viewers ready t

By Lori Perkins Readers stepped into the world of the sword-wielding magic of Geneva Lee’s Harbinger novel today at Chelsea Piers, where the Harbinger/WeaponsUp event combined literature, sword yoga and an unforgettable view of the Hudson River. The event sold out quickly, gathering fans at Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers for the chance to experience the world of Harbinger in a hands-on way. WeaponsUp lead the Sword Yoga Class, featuring an exclusive session created to learn the no

By Lori Perkins First of all I can’t believe it’s been 25 years. My son was in second grade. I had just recently left his father. I got a call from my client, Greg Kihn, who was a radio DJ in the bay area. I was one of the few people he knew in NYC and so he out me live on the radio. He wanted to know what I thought about the bombing of the World Trade Center. I thought he was talking about the attempted bombing from a few years earlier. He told me to turn on the TV. I sa

By Lori Perkins I almost wrote an essay about what it felt like to cancel my Washington Post subscription this year after Bezos fired half the newsroom staff. I had been inspired to go into journalism (I have a journalism degree from NYU, where I taught undergraduate journalism because I started a neighborhood newspaper in upper Manhattan when I graduated from college). I didn’t because I figured that most of my readers wouldn’t care that I had taken a bus down to the United