All tagged novel

Got to pick a pocket?

’Tis the season to reference a different Charles Dickens classic, I know, but I happen to have Oliver Twist on the brain. You may recall that Fagin is the rogue who takes in orphans and runaways, trains them to pick pockets and swindle marks, and then distributes the proceeds between himself and street tough Bill Sikes.

Fantasy explores timeless truths

I’ve had some version of this conversation many times in recent months. Having spent most of my journalism career writing about government and politics, and authoring books of economic and political history, people assume any new project of mine would fall into the same category.