Laura Miller

Salon A guide to vampire fiction with real bite

The spirit of the Vampire Slayer lives on in the kickass young heroines of urban fantasy fiction
  • White male seeking sexy Asian women

    What is the deal with Western men's erotic obsession with the East?
  • A teen book burns at the stake

    A Christian group hopes to set fire to library copies of Francesca Lia Block's novel about a gay boy coming of age.
  • Summer reading: Killer thrillers

    Salon recommends four addictive novels to add intrigue and treachery to your beach book list.
  • Must Read: "How to Sell"

    Diamonds are a boy's best friend in this crackling novel of scams, sex and druggy escapades in the jewel trade.
  • The evolutionary argument for Dr. Seuss

    Why do we often care more about imaginary characters than real people? A new book suggests that fiction is crucial to our survival as a species.
  • Finale wrap-up: "Lost"

    One of the series' deepest mysteries is revealed and intriguing new loopholes open up in the thrilling season finale.
  • "The Little Stranger"

    This astonishing novel by the author of "Tipping the Velvet" gives the traditional ghost story a creepy twist -- and a dose of class resentment.
  • Why can't we concentrate?

    Twitter and e-mail aren't making us stupider, but they are making us more distracted. A new book explains why learning to focus is the key to living better.
  • "The Song Is You"

    Love among the iPods: A divorced TV director is content to be left alone with his old songs -- until he meets a new singer.
  • The woman who made it good to be bad

    Is Helen Gurley Brown's legacy more than just sex quizzes and cleavage? A new biography of Cosmo's founder proclaims her a pioneer of today's raunchy, unapologetic brand of feminism.
  • Eat your saints, purge your demons

    Why do people worship religious relics, and why is the number of trainee exorcists rising? Two new books suggest that our desire to believe in magical forces remains irresistible.
  • Finale wrap-up: "Big Love"

    America's favorite polygamist drama ends its third season with a cosmic revelation, startling violence and an ultra-creepy kiss.
  • Goodbye, "Galactica"

    Will the cylons triumph? Will Baltar and Roslin survive? All these answers and more as the celebrated science-fiction epic comes to an end.
  • "The Seance"

    The cursed and the dead haunt this elegantly gothic tale, tracing the line between the scientific and the paranormal.
  • "The Believers"

    The members of a radical leftist family lose their patriarch and are forced to cope with disillusionment and secrets in Zoe Heller's sharply etched new novel.
  • Meet the accidental guerrillas

    Ex-Petraeus advisor David Kilcullen warns that if Western forces aren't willing to stick around in Iraq and Afghanistan, extremists will continue turning the locals into weapons.
  • "The Birthday Present"

    This dark literary thriller -- written under Ruth Rendell's pen name -- masterfully folds adultery, kidnapping and lies into a tale of psychological suspense.
  • Why can't a woman write the Great American Novel?

    Female authors hold their own on the bestseller lists, but Elaine Showalter's provocative new history wonders why they get so little respect.
  • Let death change your life

    You only die once. Why not take tips from great philosophers on how to do it well?
  • "Lark and Termite"

    War, suicide and quasi-incestuous desire swirl through "Lark and Termite," Jayne Anne Phillips' evocative novel of Southern revelations.
  • Don't fear the reaper

    Is it really so terrible to grow old? Two new books explore what we can (and can't) learn from the elderly.
  • Alcoholics, sexaholics, shopaholics

    America is a country in recovery. Two new books illustrate the paradoxes and contradictions in our current notions of addiction.
  • How to live what Michael Pollan preaches

    Mark Bittman's revolutionary "Food Matters" is both a cookbook and a manifesto that shows us how to eat better -- and save the planet.
  • "Serena"

    A lumber baron, a ruthless sexpot and a one-handed henchman star in this wildly entertaining tale of passion, murder and deforestation set in Depression-era North Carolina.
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