Zachary Mason, author of "dazzling debut novel"*, is profiled in New York Times

*From Michiko Kakutani's January 27th New York Times book review.

Currently 19 holds on 7 copies in LINKcat

Link to February 10 New York Times article, "A Calculus of Writing, Applied to a Classic".

Excerpt: Zachary Mason’s critically praised first novel comes with a largely self-explanatory title: “The Lost Books of the Odyssey” purports to be a compilation of 44 alternate versions of Homer’s epic. What that title cannot possibly convey, though, is the unusual journey of Mr. Mason’s manuscript on its way to publication by Farrar, Straus & Giroux last week.

Mr. Mason, 35, a computer scientist specializing in search recommendation systems and keywords, once worked at Amazon.com. He avoided writing workshops and M.F.A. programs as a matter of principle, and produced “The Lost Books” at night, during lunch breaks and on weekends and vacations.

A Silicon Valley native, Zachary Mason is the only child of a probation officer and librarian. He graduated from high school at 14 and began work on his doctorate at 19.