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Books: Under the summer sun: some excellent reads

The Tempest Tales 

by Walter Mosley 

Black Classic Press | May 2008




Walter Mosley saddened many fans when he announced that he was concluding his famed Easy Rawlins series, about the evolving life of an African-American man who moves from the South to Los Angeles. But one of the most prolific authors of our times has emerged with another

unforgettable hero, inspired by Langston Hughes' beloved character Jesse B. Semple.



Meet Tempest Landry, a street-smart, "dedicated Harlemite" who, after being accidentally shot and killed by the police, ends up with a judgment to be condemned to hell. Being the man he is, Tempest challenges St. Peter's order and refuses to accept his eternal fate. St. Peter is forced to send Tempest back to Earth with an angel whose sole purpose is to persuade Tempest to accept his judgment.



Mosley's book was published by Baltimore-based Black Classic Press, and it is already receiving much-deserved buzz. 



It was selected as an Essence magazine book-club pick.



by Felicia Pride, BALTIMORESUN.COM, June 1, 2008

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Alan Furst Blends History and Intrigue in 'Spies'

The Spies of Warsaw 

by Alan Furst 

Random House | 2008



Alan Furst was inspired to start writing historical spy fiction while listening to a vintage recording of Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. Furst closed his eyes and says he was suddenly transported to a Parisian cafe on the eve of World War II. He could taste the soft burn of the cognac and smell the cigarettes, and somehow he knew everything about everyone in the room.



Furst's ability to transport the sensation of life during that ominous period of European history has propelled 10 highly acclaimed historical spy novels, as popular as they are meticulously researched. His latest one, The Spies of Warsaw, concerns shadowy dealings that helped ease Germany's invasion of Poland and France. Its multinational cast includes a dashing French intelligence officer, a hapless German engineer and a pragmatic Russian journalist for Pravda. All are buffeted by the forces of governments — and greed.
 



Furst has been compared to Graham Greene and John Le Carre, but his own favorite writers include Anthony Powell, Joseph Conrad and Stendhal. And even though his books are set in the 1930s and '40s, he says he wants them to be timeless, to feel as familiar to readers today as that smoky Parisian cafe was, for a life-changing moment, to him.


 



by Neda Ulaby, Book Tour/NPR, July 8, 2008