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I'm a business journalist and a fiction author. My novels "Mute" - "Silence the Living" and "Famous After Death" are available now from Silver Leaf Books.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Six Can’t Miss Events at the Miami Book Fair

There are more reasons than I can count to catch the Miami Book Fair during its Nov. 15 to 22 run. I’ll list six here, and maybe I’ll see you there during my presentation.

I’m honored to be one of more than 450 authors participating in the Miami Book Fair this year with the event in its 32nd edition. It’s the largest book fair in the United States and it has something for everybody, including kids, readers of Spanish and Creole, and comic book fans. For avid book shoppers, the street fair at Miami Dade College’s downtown campus on Nov. 20 to 22 is a fantastic opportunity to buy books at a discount.





There will be author presentations both during the street fair and in the week leading up to it. Here are some recommended picks.




An insider’s take on the economy

Robert B. Reich, the secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, will discuss his new novel Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few. There’s an argument between centrist Democrats and Democratic Socialists like Bernie Sanders whether capitalism is out of control and working to the advantage of the wealthy.


The news man ditches the teleprompter

I used to watch the evening news all the time. I rarely catch it now, but when I do and I see all the ads for medication, well, that reveals the demographic of who’s still tuned in. Tom Brokaw anchored the NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004, during a time when it was the main source of news for many people. Not only will he discuss his broadcast journalism career, he’ll reflect on his battle with blood cancer as told in A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope.



The architect of Obama’s Hope

David Axelrod was the chief campaign adviser to President Obama in 2008 and 2012, so you either love him or you hate him. Either way, it’s interesting to hear what he things of the current presidential campaign and whether the Super PACs and their unlimited donations have changed the playbook needed to win. His new book is Believer: My Forty Years in Politics.

Women of Science

Three women who wrote science-themed books will share the spotlight. I’m particularly interested in Ashlee Vance’s biography of Elon Musk, who started forward-thinking companies like Tesla and SpaceX. Margaret Lazarus Dean wrote Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight - a subject that’s depressing for me as an author of science fiction. How did we fall so far behind in space travel and, really, aerospace. Maybe it’s because we need more women involved in hard sciences, as Eileen Pollack tackles that subject in The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is Still a Boy’s Club.


A Journey to the Dark and Supernatural

Tananarive Due writes novels that are both creepy and touching so I’m eager to hear what she’s crafted in her story collection Ghost Summer.  I saw her at the Book Fair a few years ago and she was amazing. She’ll be joined by Benjamin Percy, author of The Dead Lands, and Jennifer McMahon, author of The Night Sister.

Authors in the Line of Fire

A group of brave authors will take questions before a live audience from New York Times Book Review Editor Pamela Paul. Among my favorite, thriller writer Brad Meltzer. I’ve interviewed him several times and he has a great sense of humor, so this should be fun.


While you’re at the Book Fair be sure to check out my presentation “Murder Most Viral” on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 10 a.m. I’m humbled that they’ve selected me to speak in a solo gig and that’ll be cool because I have a lot to say about how social media is promoting violence. If you haven't heard me read from Famous After Death, you are in for a shock.

Grab your coffee and hit the fair early to beat the traffic.