December 1, 2021 | Issue #70 |
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F&F in the News!
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Read all about it! The Fab Four sat down with Publishers Weekly on the milestone of their 100th episode to discuss how F&F got its start, what's been learned and gained along the way, and what's on tap for this incredible community.
"What launched as a support group in the early days of the pandemic, Friends & Fiction celebrated its 100th episode on November 24. PW caught up with show's creators and hosts, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, and Patti Callahan Henry, to talk about the remarkable rise of a special literary community"
Read the full story HERE.
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Five Facts from our Friend, John Hart
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
The great outdoors!
Your perfect day:
I live on a farm in Virginia, so I get a lot of ideal days! Daybreak walk with my four dogs, breakfast out with my wife, five good hours with whatever book I'm writing, late afternoon on the tractor, a swim in the pool, whiskey at sunset, dinner with the family.
Your favorite independent bookstore:
The last book you raved about:
Your next book in ten words or less:
Past meets present when an old man is murdered.
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Five Facts from our Friend, Christopher Swann
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
The Internet. Not just for streaming (although that’s been fantastic—movie nights with our sons, plus all the new shows like Ted Lasso), but also for research for my writing, plus maintaining connections with friends and family.
Your perfect day:
A cup of coffee and a croissant (or two) with fresh fruit (and bacon) for breakfast, write all morning, have a good lunch, go for a short walk or lie out on the beach for a bit, sit in a cozy chair for a couple of hours with coffee and a good book, then dinner with friends.
Your favorite independent bookstore:
Oxford Books on Pharr Road in Atlanta; alas, it’s long gone. But a close second is Parnassus Books in Nashville.
The last book you raved about:
I loved The Unwilling by John Hart! And I really enjoyed Congratulations, Who Are You Again? by Harrison Scott Key—a hilarious and heartfelt memoir by a writer who suddenly finds fame and riches (sort of) and has to adjust to his new life as A Published Author. Thanks to Stacy at Page & Palette in Fairhope, Alabama, for the book.
Your next book in ten words or less:
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Bookstore of the Week
Bookshop.org
Find all the books by every F&F guest, past and present, in the F&F Bookshop.org Shop! Portions of all sales placed in our shop help fund F&F! A bit of every sale made on Bookshop goes straight into the pockets of indie booksellers nationwide. Since its inception, Bookshop.org has raised more than $17 million for indie bookstores! Find recent books by tonight’s guests John Hart and Christopher Swann on our Friends & Fiction 2021 Guests list!
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Latest News From "The Fab Four"
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is getting all geared up for her fun-filled Peachtree Bluff Town Takeover in Beaufort, NC December 8-12! The Peachtree Bluff Bus Tours Dinners and Hot Toddies and Hot Chocolate are all sold out, but she’d love to see you on Wednesday, Dec 8 at the Peachtree Bluff luncheon! Tickets available from Beaufort Historic Site. To that end, she is spending lots of time getting her house and porch ready for the Christmas candlelight tour. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!
PATTI CALLAHAN had a week packed with family and food and is doing her very best to recover. She was saddened by the loss of her Auburn Tigers in the last twenty seconds of a thrilling Iron Bowl, but loved everything else about the game. Now preparing for the last month of the year (how did that happen?), she wonders where the time went. She’s grateful to N MAGAZINE and our beloved Tim Ehrenberg who chose Once Upon a Wardrobe as a Need to Read in Winter of 2021. And she loved talking to Elizabetyh Mitchell on EverythingZoomer about Once Upon a Wardrobe! Now she must go find the bins of holiday decorations in the attic.
MARY KAY ANDREWS finally typed her favorite words THE END, for her summer 2022 novel, The Homewreckers. Now she just has to cut out all the fat. In the meantime, at 6pm on Monday, Dec. 6, she’s looking forward to talking to the Friends & Fiction Bookclub about The Santa Suit, and then at 8pm, she’ll join Brenda Novak for her Twelve Days of Christmas celebration. On Tuesday, Dec. 7 find her at AdrianaInk, with Adriana Trigiani, talking all things The Santa Suit.
What Mary Kay is reading: L.A. Weather, by Maria Amparo Escandon.
KRISTIN HARMEL had a packed week of visiting family (her in-laws) in South Florida for Thanksgiving—which included watching a New York Rangers game, doing a Turkey Trot 5K (her husband, Jason, came in third in his age group!), and taking her son, Noah, to visit Santa at the Galleria at Fort Lauderdale. Then she headed back home, where she got a bit of writing in, made a mini Thanksgiving feast so she could have leftovers, watched the Gators play the Seminoles, fretted over fantasy football (her team is currently tied for second in her fantasy league), and hung out at Disney World with her dear friend Kristen (a longtime Friends & Fiction member!) and her honorary nephews, Colton and Eddie.
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Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming soon! Out this Friday, December 3rd—Patti & Ron interview ER doc turned novelist Kimmery Martin about medical fiction.
Out Now! WB_S1E25—Ron interviews country music artists Kim Richey & Gretchen Peters about storytelling through songwriting. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S1E24—Mary Alice Monroe speaks with publishing elite Allison Heller and Faye Bender about writing for children. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S1E23—Mary Kay Andrews speaks with editor/publisher Pam Dorman & literary agent Stuart Krichevsky about their life in publishing. LISTEN NOW!
Listen, download, subscribe, rate, review & share wherever you get your podcasts!
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News from the F&F Official Book Club
We have a lot of fun events coming up. Take a look at our book club schedule through the end of the year and be sure to save the dates! All events begin at 7pm Eastern unless otherwise noted.
Dec 3: Happy Hour with Ron Block -Get your TBR lists ready! We will have book recommendations galore and we will announce our book club picks for January-March 2022. You don't want to miss it!
Dec 6: The Santa Suit book club discussion with Mary Kay Andrews
Dec 20: Christmas in Peachtree Bluff book club discussion with Kristy Woodson Harvey
If you missed our 2nd Annual Friendsgiving on Thursday 11/18, you can watch the replay HERE.
Need more books added to your growing TBR list? We've got you covered! Check out our latest Happy Hour with Ron Block HERE.
Not a member of the Friends & Fiction Book Club? Click here to join us. We would love to have you!
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F&F is Now on LoCo+!
Come join Friends & Fiction on LoCo+, a brand-new streaming platform that launched just a few days ago. The platform specializes in locally produced content and will eventually include channels from all over the country, but this is your chance to get in on the ground floor with us; we're part of the platform's rollout, and we'd love for you to be there, too. Eventually, it will be a paid subscription (like Netflix or Hulu), but if you sign up now, you can get the first month free--and you can see past and current episodes of Friends & Fiction as well as lots of other great, independently produced content, including the "Good News Lady" show from our friend (and former F&F guest) Daryn Kagan. Sign up for your free trial here and check it out: https://golocoplus.com/.
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F&F is on YouTube!
Subscribe Today!
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Did you miss last week’s 100th Episode Extravaganza with Elin Hilderbrand & Tim Ehrenberg? You can watch the whole thing on our YouTube channel HERE. We air our show live on YouTube every Wednesday night at 7pm ET. And every episode since our show’s inception can be found there too. So if you ever miss one, or Facebook is being difficult, check us out on YouTube. Subscribe today so you never miss an episode and get alerted every time we post new content. We also have book trailers and highlight clips on our channel too! Watch the November 24th show HERE.
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Friends & Fiction Merchandise
SHOP THE F&F MERCH STORE!
NEW! Stay on track with the exclusive Friends & Fiction Reading Journal, featuring 52 book entries (one for every week of the year), a lending library, reading list, and books you put down. With a cloth cover, gold foil embossing, a satin ribbon page marker, elastic band, heavyweight paper, and a back pocket to store notes, this is the perfect gift for the book lover in your life—or for yourself! ORDER READING JOURNALS HERE.
Cozy cotton with a flattering v-neck and our signature Friends & Fiction logo, these comfy
t-shirts are the perfect way to show your
Friends & Fiction wine sippies are available and shipping now from Oxford Exchange!
But that’s not all! We also have F&F 20oz travel tumblers for on-the-go coffee of drinks!
We can’t wait to see you model your merch!
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CONNECT WITH THE FRIENDS & FICTION HOST AUTHORS! |
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