Edward Champion's Return of the Reluctant

Maybe Because Machines Designed to Destroy Aren't Sentient Enough to Populate a Narrative? Just a Wild Guess.

Jimmy Beck has the scoop on Charles Baxter. He writes:

When asked what he was working on, he said he spent two years on a novel about bombs but gave up on it. Perhaps because it was too disturbing? I don't remember exactly. "I couldn't do it," he said. "I've gone back to short stories."