What's happened

9.27.18: A night of two surgeons: Horace Wells and The Butt God of Miami Beach. Listen to the podcast recently published by The Enoch Pratt Free Library and featuring reading and conversation with me and Paul Goldberg, author of The Chateau.

9.19.18: P.J. O'Rourke's magazine, American Spectator, excerpts a few pages from The Strange and True Tale for its issue on health care.

7.26.18: "Downs tells a fascinating story in skilled, often elegant prose, and he treats all his characters with great sympathy." The Los Angeles Review of Books considers The Strange and True Tale and deems it "hypnotic" and "a meditation on pain."

6.11.18: "Wells is an odd, obsessive man, and Downs does an excellent job capturing his weirdness." The Missoulian newspaper offers its take on The Strange and True Tale.

5.22.18: The premier of The Strange and True Tale's book trailer! Watch this short film, made by the talented David Grossbach. It might be the best three minutes you'll spend today.

5.16.18: Spoiler alert! Sort of. American Short Fiction published an alternate ending for The Strange and True Tale as part of its Editorial Outtakes feature. This is an ending Michael wrote for the novel, then cut and replaced with the book's published ending.

5.3.18: Michael chatted with Marion Winik, the amazing author of The Glen Rock Book of the Dead and other books, about The Strange and True Tale. Their conversation can be found at Baltimore Fishbowl, once you scroll past the white space.

5.2.18: Michael talks with Sheilah Kast of WYPR in Baltimore about The Strange and True Tale. Their conversation begins at the 12:50 minute mark of the downloadable podcast.

3.6.18: "I told Melania after we saw Titanic, I would have breast-stroked through the North Atlantic to rescue Kate Winslett. Absolutely." Humor at Scoundrel Time!

2.23.18: What skills transfer from the news page to the novel? Check out this discussion at the Sundress Blog featuring five novelists who started as reporters, including Michael.

At the debut reading for The Strange and True Tale, at Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore.

Chatting while signing the new novel.

What's happening

November
11.3.18: Reading and conversation, The Tolland Public Library, Tolland, CT. 2 p.m..

11.5.18: The ROAR Reading Series. University of Connecticut Barnes and Noble, Willimantic, CT. 7 p.m..

11.10.18: Baltimore Writers' Conference, Towson University. Panel: "Sports Writing is People Writing," 10:15-11:15 a.m.; Fiction craft talk: "The Voices in Your Head: Point of View and Language," 11:30-12:30 p.m. College of Liberal Arts Building. Register here.

2019
February
2.18.19: Reading and conversation, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 5-7 p.m., The Commons, Skylight Room

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