Of Cult Writers and Casinos

A few pieces worth checking out elsewhere on the Web: Mark Billingham, whose new Detective Inspector Tom Thorne novel is Buried (Little, Brown UK), submits to a grilling by Shots contributor Catherine Hunt on subjects ranging from his fondness for country-western music to his plans for a standalone novel, about which he claims to know little, other than that “the central character will be a heavily pregnant woman.” ... Daniel Woodrell (Tomato Red, The Death of Sweet Mister) is nicely profiled in the UK’s Independent newspaper by John Williams, who believes that this Missouri-born author is about to lose his reputation as “one of the best-kept secrets in American literature,” thanks to the publication of his eighth novel, Winter’s Bone (just released in Britain by Sceptre, and due out in the States in August from Little, Brown), a story “as beautiful and harsh as an Appalachian folk song.” ... And The New York Times looks at the business of authors, including Janet Evanovich (Twelve Sharp), who’ve found success in reading at--of all places--casinos. (There’s more on this subject at the blog Anthony Rainone’s Criminal Thoughts.)