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Happy weekend from the “Queen of Hell”

Kathleen Kent’s first novel, The Heretic’s Daughter, evokes the fears, diseases, and petty grudges of the witch trials era with an eerie, visceral concreteness. The book was inspired by Kent’s ancestor, Martha Carrier, who was jailed, tried, found to be a witch, and hung. To her dying breath, she refused to confess, or to beg for leniency. Below Kent answers . . .

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Poe anecdotage

“Wallace,” said Poe, “I have just written the greatest poem that ever was written.” Levi Stahl is enjoying The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes.

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Spam = protected speech?

VA Supreme Court declares anti-spam law unconstitutional. Or, as a friend says, “Touché, Nigerian lottery officials. Touché.”

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