June 23, 2021 | Issue #47 |
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Five Facts from Our Friend, Marie Benedict
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
During this challenging time, I’ve learned how critical it is to have our health. This is the cornerstone of every aspect of our being — whether it’s our physical, emotional, spiritual, or social health — and I understand now, more than ever, how we must protect and nurture it.
Your perfect day:
My dream day would start with several cups of coffee and breakfast with my family (not prepared by me) followed by a yoga class and a walk on the beach with my sons (even though we don’t live at the beach; this is a perfect day, not a realistic one), then reading at the beach with a wonderful breeze and the sound of the waves, followed by dinner with my husband overlooking the ocean. Can you tell I need to move to the beach?
Your favorite independent bookstore:
While I adore many independent bookstores and I’ve been fortunate enough to visit oodles of them, my favorite indie is my local — Penguin Bookshop in my hometown of Sewickley, Pennsylvania. This wonderful shop is an integral part of our community — the heart of our little downtown area — and I do whatever I can to support it.
The last book you raved about:
How can I pick just one book when there is an abundance of compelling novels in the stores! In fact, there are several books written by the Friends & Fiction authors that I adore!!
Your next book in ten words or less:
My next solo book is HER HIDDEN GENIUS, about the brilliant scientist Rosalind Franklin whose discovery of the structure of DNA was intentionally hidden, and my next book with Victoria Christopher Murray focuses upon the friendship between and legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune. Sorry that I broke the rules and wrote more than ten words!
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Five Facts from Our Friend, Victoria Christopher Murray
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
Sunlight and people. Seriously! For eleven years I overlooked a quiet courtyard that was such a peaceful place to come home to after the hustle of being an author. But once the pandemic hit and I didn’t go out often, I craved sunlight and the sound of people. I craved it so much that I moved in the middle of the pandemic to a place where three walls in my living room are floor to ceiling windows, I live so close to the Nationals stadium that I can hear the fans cheering (or booing, depending on the day) and a fire station is three blocks away. Ah…the music of a city!
Your perfect day:
Lying on a beach where I can read all day long. Oh, and I would have my cell phone, but no one would be able to reach me.
Your favorite independent bookstore:
Oh, that’s sooooo hard! So many independent bookstores have been important to my career. So can I name two? One would be Russo’s Books in Bakersfield California. And the other would be Mahogany Books in Washington, DC.
The last book you raved about:
Your next book in ten words or less:
Next solo book: PRIDE, the fifth book in my Seven Deadly Sins series. Next book with Marie: The inspiring and complicated friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune. (I cheated but their names took up half my space!!!)
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Bookseller of the Week
RUSSO'S BOOKS
Our featured bookseller of the week is Russo's Books, Bakersfield, CA's premier independent bookstore. Family owned and operated since 1989, their mission is to provide exceptional customer service and actively support education and families in their community. Get 15% off this week (NO CODE required!) on THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN by our guests Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray as well as on other new and recent titles from the Fab Five. Visit the specially curated F&F page on the Russo's Books website to SHOP NOW!
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Latest News From "The Fab Five"
KRISTIN HARMEL is thrilled that THE FOREST OF VANISHING STARS (out in less than two weeks!) is both an American LibraryReads pick for July and a Canadian Loan Stars pick for July, meaning that it is a top 10 pick by the major librarian associations in both countries. Libraries have always meant a lot to Kristin, so this feels like an extra special honor to her.
MARY ALICE MONROE essay HOPES FOR A TURTLE LADY appeared this week on Jungle Red Writers. She wrote a listicle for BOOKS CELEBRATING FATHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS for Book Trib. And Zibby Owens selected her interview with MAM as part of her email blast for Pub Day Pick!
MARY KAY ANDREWS AARP Magazine included The Newcomer in their summer reading roundup, calling it “A first-rate beach blanket thriller.” While working on her novel for summer 2022—we have a title; watch for an announcement coming soon! Mary Kay is also planning the in-person tour for The Santa Suit (out Sept. 28). And she’s actively over-packing for this week’s F&F events in Beaufort, NC.
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is so thrilled to be one of Elysian Magazine’s Inspiring Women! Wow! She is also so excited to have MKA, PCH and MAM—plus Meg and Ron Block—joining her in her town of Beaufort, NC this week for four live events! It’s going to be a great week!
PATTI CALLAHAN has just announced her “enchanting giveaway” for the pre-order of Once Upon a Wardrobe. With original artwork, postcards and a chance to win the seven books of the Narnia series, you can click HERE! Patti is also celebrating the news that after three months in the world, your word of mouth, reviews and stars have taken Surviving Savannah onto the USA Today bestseller list and the Wall Street Journal top ten! She is so very grateful! Meanwhile, Patti is packing for Beaufort, NC and is so excited to spend LIVE and IN PERSON time with Friends and Fiction.
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An Original Essay by Patti Callahan
Each week, the Friends & Fiction authors take turns
writing an essay for Parade.com, the online home of Parade magazine.This week, Patti Callahan shares a column about using our creativity as a compass.
I kept it a secret for a long while. I wrote in the wee hours of the morning. I told a white lie to my friends about where I was going when I attended writing classes. To say, “I want to write a book” felt like saying “I want to be an astronaut.”
And then I read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I read about integrating our lives so that our creative lives weren’t separate from our real lives but actually part of it. No duplicity. We are who we are. And we are creative souls. I read it and thought it sounded good and true, but it didn’t apply to me. To admit my dream of becoming an author was a bit too scary. I kept it secret, writing and writing and watching others live my dream. Cameron calls this behavior being a ‘shadow artist’, a term that refers to those of us “afraid to step out of the dark and expose the dream to the light.”
Slowly, though, I began to learn more about the craft of writing, about the hero’s journey and the narrative arc, about characters’ desires and about editing and paying attention. And out of the fog, I began to see why the division between my creative life and my real life needed to come down: the two lives enriched and informed each other and they were always one and the same. I was the one who had separated them, thinking that I had no right to imagine myself as a writer in reality. I was losing out though because all the while, the lessons I was learning about writing could have been applied to my life.
To continue reading Patti’s essay on Parade.com, click HERE.
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Debut Spotlight
New in paperback this week is the debut novel from essayist Francesca Serritella, who has co-authored a nine-book series of essay collections with her mother, bestselling author (and dear Friends & Fiction friend) Lisa Scottoline. Jodi Picoult says of GHOSTS OF HARVARD, "Part mystery, part ghost story, part psychological thriller, this novel is all entertainment.” It tells the story of a Harvard freshman who becomes obsessed with her schizophrenic brother’s suicide. Then she starts hearing voices... How's that for a cliffhanger? Available wherever books are sold!
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Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming soon! Out this Friday, June 25th!
Origin Stories—Chris Whitaker (We Begin at the End) and Amy Jo Burns (Shiner) join hosts Patti Callahan and Ron Block to discuss the ideas that sparked their most recent novels.
Out Now! WB_S1E2—Celebrate Pride Month with F&F! Members of the LGBTQ community join host Ron Block to discuss their latest books and writing journeys. Guests are: Steven Rowley (The Guncle), P.J. Vernon (Bath Haus) and James Beard Award winning Chef, Virginia Willis (The Secrets of the Southern Table). LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S1E1—On our first podcast episode featuring host Ron Block, Ron and Kristy interview Wade Rouse aka Viola Shipman (The Clover Girls) and Elyssa Friendland (Last Summer at the Golden Hotel) about their summer novels and reminisce about summer memories and traditions. 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
Have a look at our monthly book club schedule through January 2022! We have added a few new dates below *. See our happy hours with Ron Block and our one-year anniversary party on July 23rd. All sessions are at 7 pm ET. Save the date!
July 19: The Summer of Lost and Found with Mary Alice Monroe
*July 23: Book Club One-Year Anniversary Party—with surprises!
*Aug 6: Happy Hour with Ron Block
Aug 16: The Forest of Vanishing Stars with Kristin Harmel
Sept 20: The Bookshop at Water's End with Patti Callahan Henry
*Oct 1: Happy Hour with Ron Block
Oct 18: Second Star to the Right with Mary Alice Monroe
Nov 15: Once Upon a Wardrobe with Patti Callahan Henry
*Dec 3: Happy Hour with Ron Block
Dec 6: The Santa Suit with Mary Kay Andrews
Dec 20: Christmas in Peachtree Bluff with Kristy Woodson Harvey
Jan 17, 2022: The Sweetness of Forgetting with Kristin Harmel
If you missed our book club discussion of The Newcomer with Mary Kay Andrews, click HERE to see it!
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And Now a Word from our Partners
MAMA GERALDINE'S
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WELCOME STORYPOINT WINES!
Beginning NOW we are kicking off “The Summer of Storypoint” on Friends & Fiction! Each week, the after-show will be called “Sip & Stay with Storypoint” and will be sponsored by Storypoint Wines. This distinctive collection of flavorful wines—Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay—from California’s best growing regions, seeks to champion stories that inspire. After all, many great stories and ideas unfold over a shared bottle of wine. The experience of a wine—like that of a good book—should tell you something, invite you to discover new things, and surprise you. So, stick around after the show each week all summer long where we will indulge in stories, sips, and surprises!
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Friends & Fiction Merchandise
THE F&F MERCH STORE IS HERE!
Our merch is 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 for preorder and will be shipping soon from Oxford Exchange! ORDER WINE TUMBLERS HERE.
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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