Tom Knapp: books

Tom Knapp is the founder, editor, publisher, designer, dishwasher, dog groomer and chief writer for Rambles. He is also a newspaper reporter and freelance writer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he amuses himself playing Irish, Scottish and Cape Breton folk tunes on his fiddle, bodhran, CD player and car stereo. Determined to share (or inflict, depending who you ask) his music in as many ways as he can possibly imagine, he joined forces with author Chet Williamson to form Fire in the Glen, a regionally prominent Irish traditional/Celtic eclectic duo with two CDs and a varied performance schedule under their belts.

A wild Celt by nature (and proudly eccentric), Tom collects swords and other sharp, pre-gunpowder implements of destruction, which he stockpiles against the day the Romans, Saxons or Normans decide to (re)invade. He shares his house with a dog, Morgan; two cats, Puck and Marlowe; a nameless ghost who mostly just lurks in the upstairs hallway; and a very unusual sense of interior design. Although he is well-versed in several brands of computer, he is a proudly devoted Mac head.

His personal website includes photos from Ireland, Scotland, England and Norway, plus Cape Breton in Canada, Walden Pond in the U.S. and Cancun in Mexico; a substantial collection of quotes from famous and esoteric sources; and a wide array of links. He can be reached via e-mail at rhymer@rambles.net.

Editing and publishing Rambles each week keeps Tom plenty busy, but he hasn't let that interfere with his writing. (Yet!) You can see lists of Tom's reviews, interviews and essays by clicking on the menu selections below. Thanks for visiting!

Book reviews by Tom include:

BOOKS

Mario Acevedo
• The Nymphos of Rocky Flats

Charles J. Adams III
• Cape May Ghost Stories, Book Two

Douglas Adams
• The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time

Charles Addams
• The Charles Addams Mother Goose

Dennis Lee Anderson
• Arthur, King

Kevin J. Anderson, editor
• Star Wars: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina

Kelley Armstrong
• Women of the Otherworld #1: Bitten

P.C. Asbjornsen & Jorgen Moe
• A Time for Trolls

Margaret Atwood
• The Robber Bride

Avi
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
• The Man Who Was Poe

Michael Aye
• The Reaper

Richard Bach
• Illusions

Camille Bacon-Smith
• The Face of Time

Kage Baker
• Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key

Nancy Baker
• The Night Inside
• Blood & Chrysanthemums
• A Terrible Beauty

L.A. Banks
• Vampire Huntress #1: Minion
• Vampire Huntress #2: The Awakening
• Vampire Huntress #3: The Hunted

Nick Bantock
• Kubla Khan

Marius Barbeau
• The Golden Phoenix (a.k.a., The Magic Tree & Other Tales)

Bob Barton
• The Bear Says North

Marion Dane Bauer
• The Red Ghost

Anne S. Baumgartner
• Ye Gods!

John Baur & Mark Summers
• Well Blow Me Down! A Guy's Guide to Talking Like a Pirate

Elizabeth Bear
• Seven for a Secret

Peter Benchley
• Shark Life: True Stories about Sharks & the Sea

Amber Benson & Christopher Golden
• Ghosts of Albion #1: Accursed
• Ghosts of Albion #2: Witchery
• The Seven Whistlers

Jody Bergsma
• Faerie

Elaine Bergstrom
• Nocturne

Holly Black
• Tithe
• Valiant

Alex Bledsoe
• Blood Groove

Francesca Lia Block
• Blood Roses
• Pretty Dead
• The Waters & the Wild

Keith Bowen
• Among the Amish

Scott Bowen
• The Vampire Survival Guide

Gillian Bradshaw
• Hawk of May
• Kingdom of Summer
• In Winter's Shadow

Herbie Brennan
• Faerie Wars

Katharine Briggs
• An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies & Other Supernatural Creatures

Patricia Briggs
• Alpha & Omega
• Mercy Thompson #1: Moon Called
• Mercy Thompson #2: Blood Bound

David Brody
• The Fiddler's Fakebook

Max Brooks
• The Zombie Survival Guide

Jim Butcher
• The Dresden Files #3: Grave Peril

Robert Ellis Cahill
• Haunted Ships of the North Atlantic

Broos Campbell
• Matty Graves: No Quarter

Isobelle Carmody
• Little Fur: The Legend Begins

Jonathan Carroll
• The Ghost in Love

Nigel Cawthorne
• A History of Pirates: Blood & Thunder on the High Seas

Karen Elizabeth Chaney
• New England Remembers: Lizzie Borden

Charles Chapman
• Music Essentials: Basic Music Theory for All Instruments

Owen Chase
• The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex

Andrea Cheng
• Anna the Bookbinder, illustrated by Ted Rand

Frank Chigas
• The Damp Chamber & Other Bad Places

Richard Chizmar & Robert Morrish, editors
• October Dreams: A Celebration of Halloween

Larry S. Chowning
• Soldiers at the Doorstep

Catherine Christian
• The Pendragon

Edward Chupack
• Silver

Joseph A. Citro
• Cursed in New England: Stories of Damned Yankees
• The Gore
• Passing Strange

Douglas Clegg
• Isis

Ronald D. Cohen, editor
• Wasn't That a Time! Firsthand Accounts of the Folk Music Revival

The Complete Works of O'Carolan

Max Allan Collins
• Calendar Girl: Sweet & Sexy Pin-ups of the Postwar Era

Eileen Colwell, editor
• Folk Tales from Asia for Children Everywhere, Book 1-2

Kim Cool
• Ghost Stories of Sarasota
• Ghost Stories of Venice

Peter Cooper
• Mel Bay's Complete Irish Fiddle Player

Susan Cooper
• The Boggart
• Victory

David Cordingly
• Under the Black Flag

Paul S. Cranford, editor
• Cape Breton Musical Heritage Series

William S. Crooker
• Pirates of the North Atlantic

William Crooker & Elizabeth Peirce
• Saladin: Piracy, Mutiny & Murder on the High Seas

Kevin Crossley-Holland
• Arthur, Book I: The Seeing Stone

Jennifer Crusie, editor
• Totally Charmed: Demons, Whitelighters & the Power of Three

Bob Curran
• A Field Guide to Irish Fairies, illustrated by Andrew Whitsun
• The Truth about the Leprechaun

Sheldon Currie
• The Glace Bay Miners' Museum

Les Daniels
• Yellow Fog

Mike Dash
• Batavia's Graveyard

Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, editors
• The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest
• Sirens & Other Daemon Lovers

Peter David
• Howling Mad
• Knight Life
• One Knight Only
• Sir Apropos of Nothing
• Tigerheart

MaryJanice Davidson
• Undead & Unwed
• Undead & Unemployed
• Undead & Unappreciated

Hubert J. Davis
• American Witch Stories

Terry Deary
• Horrible Histories: Ireland

Gideon Defoe
• The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists

Tom Deitz
• Windmaster's Bane

Charles de Lint
• The Blue Girl
• A Circle of Cats, illustrated by Charles Vess
• Dingo
• Forests of the Heart
• A Handful of Coppers
• The Hour Before Dawn
• Little (Grrl) Lost
• Mulengro
• The Mystery of Grace
• Old Man Crow
• The Onion Girl
• Promises to Keep
• Quicksilver & Shadow
• The Road to Lisdoonvarna
• Spirits in the Wires
• Tapping the Dream Tree
• Triskell Tales: 22 Years of Chapbooks
• Triskell Tales 2
• What the Mouse Found & Other Stories
• Widdershins
• Wolf Moon

Charles Dickens
• A Christmas Carol (as told by Patrick Stewart)

Peter Dickinson
• The Flight of Dragons

Disaster Science

Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
• The Spiderwick Chronicles #1: The Field Guide
• The Spiderwick Chronicles #2: The Seeing Stone
• The Spiderwick Chronicles #3: Lucinda's Secret
• The Spiderwick Chronicles #4: The Ironwood Tree
• The Spiderwick Chronicles #5: The Wrath of Mulgarath

Robyn & Tony DiTocco
• The Hero Perseus

Tim Dorsey
• Orange Crush
• Triggerfish Twist

Roddy Doyle
• Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
• Yeats is Dead!, et al

Gardner Dozois
• Shadow Twin, with George R.R. Martin & Daniel Abraham

Joan Druett
• In the Wake of Madness
• She Captains: Heroines & Hellions of the Sea

Kate Dunlay & David Greenberg
• Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton

Cassandra Eason
• A Complete Guide to Faeries & Magical Beings

Roger Ebert
• Your Movie Sucks

Randy Lee Eickhoff
• The Destruction of the Inn
• The Feast
• The Raid
• The Sorrows

T.S. Eliot
• Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, illustrated by Edward Gorey

Richard Ellis
• Monsters of the Sea

Mary Engelbreit
• Queen of Halloween

Jane Espenson, editor
• Finding Serenity

Wesley Eure
• The Red Wings of Christmas

Eleanor Fairburn
• The White Seahorse

Will & Ian Ferguson
• How to Be a Canadian

Jasper Fforde
• The Big Over Easy
• The Fourth Bear

Dorothy Burtz Fiedel
• Haunted Lancaster County Pennsylvania

Jim Fitzpatrick
• The Book of Conquests
• The Silver Arm

Mike Flanagan
• It's About Time: How Long History Took

Charles Foran
• Carolan's Farewell

C.S. Forester
• #1: Mr. Midshipman Hornblower
• #2: Lieutenant Hornblower
• #3: Hornblower & the Hotspur
• #4: Hornblower During the Crisis
• #5: Hornblower & the Atropos
• #6: Beat to Quarters

Jodie Forrest
• The Rhymer & the Ravens

Alan Dean Foster
• Splinter of the Mind's Eye

Stephen Fox
• Wolf of the Deep

Barry Foy
• Field Guide to the Irish Music Session

Melissa Francis
• Bite Me!

Brian Froud & Terry Jones
• The Goblin Companion: A Field Guide to Goblins
• Strange Stains & Mysterious Smells

Cari Fuchs, editor
• Irish Session Tune Book

James Futch & James Newman
• Night of the Loving Dead

Neil Gaiman
• American Gods
• Good Omens, with Terry Pratchett
• The Graveyard Book
• Two Plays for Voices: Snow Glass Apples, Murder Mysteries

Martin Gardner
• The Annotated Night Before Christmas

Elizabeth Garrett
• The Sweet Trade

Joyce Glasner
• Pirates & Privateers

Parke Godwin
• Beloved Exile
• Firelord
• Robin & the King
• Sherwood

Edward Gorey
• Amphigorey Again
• The Gashlycrumb Tinies or, After the Outing

Peter Gray
• The Irish Famine

Lois Greenfield
• Breaking Bounds

Linda Greenlaw
• All Fishermen are Liars
• The Hungry Ocean
• The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island

Margaret Peterson Haddix
• Just Ella

Tate Hallaway
• Tall, Dark & Dead

Winifred Halsey, editor
• Heaven & Hell

Laurell K. Hamilton
• A Kiss of Shadows

Richard Hamilton
• Violet & the Mean & Rotten Pirates

Virginia Hamilton
• In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World

Mary Ann Harbar
• Gypsy Violin

Charlaine Harris
• Club Dead
• Dead to the World
• Dead Until Dark
• Grave Sight

Kim Harrison
• Rachel Morgan #1: Dead Witch Walking
• Rachel Morgan #2: The Good, the Bad & the Undead
• Rachel Morgan #3: Every Which Way But Dead

Karen Harvey
• Oldest Ghosts: St. Augustine Haunts

James A. Hetley
• The Summer Country
• The Winter Oak

Carl Hiaasen
• Basket Case
• Skinny Dip
• Strip Tease

Brian Hicks
• Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste & Her Missing Crew

Benjamin Hoff
• The Tao of Pooh

Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• The Silent Strength of Stones
• The Thread That Binds the Bones

Cecelia Holland
• The Kings in Winter

Tom Holt
• Expecting Someone Taller
• Flying Dutch
• Grailblazers
• Nothing But Blue Skies
• Overtime
• Paint Your Dragon
• Valhalla

Tanya Huff
• The Keeper's Chronicles #1: Summon the Keeper
• The Keeper's Chronicles #3: Long Hot Summoning

Stan Hugill
• Shanties from the Seven Seas

Cary James
• King & Raven

Bill Jessome
• Maritime Mysteries & the Ghosts Who Surround Us
• More Maritime Mysteries: Everyone Has a Story

Malachy Kearns
• Wallup!

Brian Keene
• The Conqueror Worms
• The Rising
• City of the Dead
• Dead Sea
• Kill Whitey

Conan Kennedy
• Ancient Ireland: The User's Guide

Julie Kenner
• Carpe Demon

Jackie Kessler
• Hell on Earth #1: Hell's Belles
• Hell on Earth #2: The Road to Hell
• Hell on Earth #3: Hotter Than Hell

Ellen Kushner
• Thomas the Rhymer

Robert Lacey & Danny Danziger
• The Year 1000

Mercedes Lackey
• The Fairy Godmother

Jacqueline Langille
• Giants Angus McAskill & Anna Swan

Joe R. Lansdale
• Zeppelins West

Dave Lapham
• Ghosts of St. Augustine
• Ancient City Hauntings: More Ghosts of St. Augustine

Jennifer Lata & Mark Rung
• The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Being a Groom

Nelson Lauver
• The American Story-Teller

Tanith Lee
• Piratica

Eddie Lenihan & Carolyn Eve Green
• Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland

Edmund Lenihan
• In Search of Biddy Early

Marcus LiBrizzi
• Dark Woods, Chill Waters

Rebecca Lickiss
• Never After

Frank B. Linderman
• Old Man Coyote

Denise Little, editor
• Twice Upon a Time

Morgan Llywelyn
• The Isles of the Blest
• The Wind from Hastings

Edward Lodi
• The Haunted Violin: True New England Ghost Stories
• Nantucket Sleigh-Ride

Walter Lord
• The Night Lives On

Janet Lorimer
• Master of Shadows

Sara Lorimer
• Booty: Girl Pirates on the High Seas

Amanda Lumry & Laura Hurwitz
• Adventures of Riley: Dolphins in Danger
• Adventures of Riley: Mission to Madagascar

Natalie MacMaster
• Cape Breton Island Fiddle

Liam MacUistin
• The Hunt for Diarmaid & Grainne

Misty Massey
• Mad Kestrel

Joseph McCabe
• Hanging Out with the Dream King: Conversations with Neil Gaiman & His Collaborators

Ian McDowell
• Merlin's Gift
• Mordred's Curse

Martin McGartland
• Fifty Dead Men Walking

Alice McGill
• Molly Bannaky, illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet

Joanne L. McGonagle
• The Tiniest Tiger

Mary McGrigor
• Defiant & Dismasted at Trafalgar: The Life & Times of Admiral Sir William Hargood

Nancy McKenzie
• The Child Queen
• The High Queen

Robin McKinley
• The Outlaws of Sherwood
• Sunshine

Tim McNeese
• Myths of Native America

Richelle Mead
• Georgina Kincaid #1: Succubus Blues

O.R. Melling
• The Druid's Tune
• The Hunter's Moon
• The Light-Bearer's Daughter
• The Summer King

L.A. Meyer
• Bloody Jack
• Curse of the Blue Tattoo
• Under the Jolly Roger
• In the Belly of the Bloodhound
• Mississippi Jack
• My Bonny Light Horseman

Keith Miller
• The Book of Flying

James Andrew Mitchell
• Body & Soul

Craig Moodie
• A Sailor's Valentine
• Salt Luck

Christopher Moore
• Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story
• A Dirty Job
• Fluke
• Island of the Sequined Love Nun
• Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
• The Stupidest Angel
• You Suck

Eileen Morgan
• Lust, Love & Longing

James Morrow
• Only Begotten Daughter

A.S. Mott
• Scary Movies

Colin Murphy & Donal O'Dea
• The Book of Feckin' Irish Slang That's Great Craic for Cute Hoors & Bowsies

James L. Nelson
• Benedict Arnold's Navy
• Brethren of the Coast #1: The Guardship
• Brethren of the Coast #2: The Blackbirder
• Brethren of the Coast #3: The Pirate Round
• The Confederate Navy #1: Glory in the Name
• The Confederate Navy #2: Thieves of Mercy
• The Only Life That Mattered
• Reign of Iron
• Revolution at Sea #1: By Force of Arms
• Revolution at Sea #2: The Maddest Idea
• Revolution at Sea #3: The Continental Risque
• Revolution at Sea #4: Lords of the Ocean
• Revolution at Sea #5: All the Brave Fellows