What's a father? From anonymous sperm donors to highly involved hunter-gatherer fathers in pre-industrial tribes, to stepfathers, gay dads, and divorced dads, Kermyt Anderson and Peter Gray's new tome on fatherhood (Fatherhood: Evolution and Human Paternal Behavior, Harvard University Press) covers all the bases and provides a uniquely...

What do writers do between book projects? I don't mean writers who work at magazines or newspapers, silly. Obviously, they write every single day, and then they seize upon something they have become obsessed with and write about that every single night and on vacations and on the weekends, and...

Sandra Bullock is a huge star, America's Sweetheart, an Oscar winner, an uber-celebrity--and one of us. I'm talking about her having married a man with kids from a previous relationship (or, in this case, two previous relationships).

In this regard, Sandra is Everywoman.

Stepfamily demographer Larry Bumpass Ph.D....

As Valentine's Day approaches, some recent, highly-publicized non-fiction debuts are sure to get you in the mood for romance: Staying True, by Jenny Sanford, chronicles the very public breakdown of her marriage to South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, who wasn't hiking on the Appalachian Trail after all. Marry Him by...

2010 is a watershed moment for what we might call the New American Family. This is the year, experts tell us, that stepfamilies will outnumber first families in the U.S. One in three Americans is now a "step" of some sort -- stepparent, stepsibling, or stepchild. And half of us...

As of December 7, 2009, short stories by Christopher Buckley, Edna O'Brien (and by January Curtis Sittenfeld, and presumably many others) are available on Kindle, courtesy of a deal with the Atlantic Monthly. Links to the short stories will appear on the author's pages on Amazon.com, exhorting "Buy it now!"

We're hearing a lot about the new U.S. Census these days and many might wonder what, precisely, is at stake. For stepfamilies, the answer is: quite a bit. Experts project they will outnumber first families by 2011 if they don't already. And the divorce rate in a remarriage with children...

Stepfamilies often experience extraordinary stress as the holidays--with their pressure cooker of "family" expectations--get underway. While they now outnumber first families in the U.S., many stepfamily members report feeling second-best or somehow deficient when our thoughts turn to turkey, yultide, and latkahs. This is due in large part to so...

The economy and future of publishing being what they are, it seems prudent for writers to keep our day jobs, or to find one. The good news is that in addition to being an extremely non-bestselling author, I am also a concierge. The bad news is that I'm not very...

Big changes are on the horizon for publishers and writers, we're told almost every day, and I'd like to offer a few (admittedly selfish) suggestions. Writing might be more fun if we did it in offices. Not newsrooms -- too much pressure. Just big, busy, offices. With cubicles. And Cathy...

"The kids come first." I hear this mantra every time I'm interviewed about my book Stepmonster, appear on a call-in radio show or just talk to people about divorce and remarriage with children.

Yes, I respond, it's undeniable that conflict between parents pre- and post-divorce can be emotionally devastating for...

Perhaps I'm typical in that I became a writer because I don't feel like dealing with you. I certainly don't feel like doing what you say. Well, not you, but You. You know what I mean, don't You?

Am I alone in my sense that writing for a living...

It makes me feel dirty. It makes me feel guilty. So I'm going to have to put a stop to it. To us. Even though it feels so good. Promoting my book, I mean.

I'm a writer, and I'm a cliché, in that I'm a writer who is anti-social. Not...