For more than a decade, I enjoyed a good relationship with the Books editors of the South Bend Tribune–first and longest with Walton R. Collins, whose day job was as editor of Notre Dame Magazine. Walt had two to four pages of the Sunday magazine Michiana to work with, and he took pride in the fact that the Tribune’s Books section had an original voice, not just a syndicated echo. Alas, locally-edited Sunday magazines were as much an endangered species as independent book review pages–in 1987, the Tribune killed off Michiana and moved book reviews to the entertainment section, Intermission. At the same time, Walt gave way to Tribune staffer Kenn Walker. It became much harder to get a timely review into Kenn’s downsized Books section. In 1989, Kenn passed the torch to Tom Kinnahan, who in turn yielded his seat to Andy Hughes in 1993. In 1994, the Tribune stopped accepting freelance reviews, opting to limit its books coverage to the occasional wire-service review. My 102nd and final Tribune review appeared in February, 1994.

Fiction

Wayne Douglas Barlowe, Expedition (Workman Publishing, 1991)
Michael Bishop, ed., Nebula Awards 24 (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990)
James Morrow, Only Begotten Daughter (William Morrow, 1990)

More to come!

Nonfiction

Blueprints: Solving the Mystery of Evolution, Maitland A. Edey & Donald J. Johanson (Little, Brown, 1989)
Different Loving, Gloria G. Brame, William D. Brame, & Jon Jacobs (Villard, 1993)
The Grand Tour, Ron Miller & William Hartmann (Workman, 1993)
Lords of Sipan, Sidney D. Kirkpatrick (William Morrow, 1992)
Madam 90210: My Life As A Madam To The Rich and Famous, Alex Adams & William Stadiem (Villard, 1993)
Scientific American Books for Young Readers (W.H. Freeman, 1993)

More to come!