Cover Story: Breaking the Clichés
Ryan Greis Admit it. Whenever you see a romance novel's cover — a scantily clad vixen swooning in the arms of a bronzed, muscular rogue — you're picturing a bored housewife writing these alter ego love stories while the kids are in school. To meet a romance writer in person is a pleasant surprise.…
Cover Story: Pulp Fiction
Ryan Greis Contrary to what people say, we believe that the best books come with embossed covers. Who needs another look into Hemingway's life and times? We carry with us a certain fondness for tales of sex, murder and midget mutant vampire prostitutes from outer space. We are grateful the literary world is happy…
Cover Story: Ripped from the Headlines
Ridley Pearson Summer-reading books require either raucous sex-driven characters or unthinkable crimes. Ridley Pearson writes the latter, borrowing his plots straight from the news. And he has a knack for choosing the hot topic. "In 1991 I had a prosecuting attorney from Washington State call and thank me after reading Undercurrents," he says. For…
Film: Popcorn Fiction
Matt Damon as Rudy Baylor in The Rainmaker Around the turn of the century, a European bookseller hit upon the idea of ordering only the first volume of Tolstoy's War and Peace. Shrewdly anticipating attention deficit disorder before it had a name, the bookseller correctly assumed that most people wouldn't make it to the…
Virtual Problem?
Any self-respecting Trekkie will tell you that space is the final frontier. But should you trust someone who thinks he has perfected the Vulcan death grip and constantly jokes about getting warp speed from his Ford Escort? Probably not. He's wrong. There is a new final frontier and it's a virtual one. Over recent years,…
News: Sewers and Smoke Screens
Jymi Bolden Glen Brand, Sierra Club spokesman, says that without clear direction, sprawl will be inevitable. Sewers have become the enemy to residents who are fighting Hamilton County's proposed plan for western Hamilton County development. And on July 1, a Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission vote made a bad development plan worse, say members…
The Fall of Man
Fall is coming. Soon, I guess. Otherwise the networks wouldn't already be running promos for the upcoming TV season. And early word has it that the networks got it right for the 51st season in a row. La Vida Loca (FOX): Red-hot Ricky Martin hosts this concert/variety series as each week he and his band…
Solving Housing Abuses or Getting Re-elected?
Cincinnati City Council's sudden and urgent investigation into housing operated by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) is not what it appears to be, some city leaders are saying. On June 29, Councilman Charles Winburn introduced a motion to have the Department of Buildings and Inspections, the Cincinnati Fire Division and the Cincinnati Health Department…
