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From Les Paul to Paul Gilbert, Johnny Winter to Johnny Hiland, and Paco De Lucia to Al Di Meola, fleet-fingered guitarists have made their mark in every genre throughout the modern history of the guitar. Guitar World exceeds the legal limit with this...

By Cynthia Leitich Smith for Cynsations Congratulations to Suzanne Selfors on the release of The Sweetest Spell (Walker, 2012)! From the promotional copy: Emmeline Thistle, a dirt-scratcher's daughter, has escaped death twice-first, on the night she...

Photo by Erik Ryerson In her latest genre-bending YA novel, Nova Ren Suma explores the power of girls’ friendships, feminism, and unlikable narrators. Alternating between the points of view of two very different narrators—Violet, the up-and-coming ballet...

Vanessa Bell Calloway in “Letters From Zora.” Photo by Chris Roman. Vanessa Bell Calloway has always wanted to do a one-woman show, but she didn’t want it to be gloomy or sappy. She also didn’t want it to be about her. She has...

Years ago, I asked a former US ambassador how he managed to navigate his way around rural and provincial New Zealand. Pretty easily, he replied: “I just ask the person I’m meeting whether they have a KFC or a McDonalds in their town, and...