September 14, 2022 | Issue #110 |
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Latest News From "The Fab Four"
Kristy Woodson Harvey is getting really excited about some upcoming tour events! She’ll be in Asheville, NC on September 28 celebrating THE WEDDING VEIL as the Chico’s Book Club Pick at the store in Biltmore Village. She’ll also be in Charleston on October 8 with celebrity chef, NYT Bestselling Author, and TV Personality Vivian Howard at Vivian’s new restaurant, Lenoir for her “Vivian’s Book Club” event. These are the first two in a long line of events, so check out Kristy’s website for full details! She would love to see you at an event!
What Kristy is Reading: Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer (coming up as our podcast guest Fri 9/23!)
Patti Callahan Henry had the most amazing trip in New York City to meet with her publishing house (Atria) about the 2023 book The Secret Book of Flora Lea. The creative energy was on fire and she has so much to share with you as time goes on. She just returned from meeting with the southern indie booksellers and it was a grand reminder of how important our indies are to all of us. Now she is buckled in for a long period of writing and she couldn’t be happier.
Kristin Harmel had a wonderful time in Sacramento at the California Independent Booksellers Alliance Fall Fest, where she was honored to meet many of California’s best booksellers, three amazing Simon & Schuster sales reps, and several fellow authors, including Abraham Verghese, Ross Gay, Jenny O’Dell, and Andrew Sean Greer (author of the book Kristy is currently reading and guest on our podcast next week!). She’s also grateful that she got to share the cover for her brand-new THE PARIS DAUGHTER (coming June 6, 2023) with Friends & Fiction viewers first; if you missed the reveal on our live show, you can see it and learn more here.
What Kristin is Reading: Loyalty by Lisa Scottoline (coming March 28, 2023), and it is so good.
Mary Kay Andrews wants to thank everyone who downloaded The Homewreckers ebook while it was on sale last week, putting it super close to cracking the top 100 ebooks in the whole Kindle store–pretty amazing for a book that’s been out since May! Also, my family and I were so touched by all of you who contributed infant car seats or made monetary contributions to the Katie Trocheck Abel project undertaken by Helping Mamas. You can still contribute monetary donations HERE or purchase products to donate HERE. And finally, MKA is gearing up for total knee replacement surgery happening this Thursday and would appreciate your healing vibes.
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Get to Know Our Friend, Sarah Addison Allen!
Tell us about the first piece of fiction you ever wrote.
When I was sixteen I wrote a book titled Once From Mood, about a prince from a planet called Mood who fell in love with a sixteen-year-old girl on Earth. He put everyone on Earth to sleep while he wooed her by keeping her in a SHOPPING MALL while waiting for her to fall in love with him. I still have a copy of that manuscript somewhere. I’m thinking of including instructions to burn it after I die.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about you and your work?
I think many writers get hit with the misconception that, because they’re fast reads, their books are quick to write, too. But also, I write things that are hopeful and magical, but it actually takes a lot of dark to get to that light.
Is there a particular independent bookstore or library you’d like to shout-out?
Hello to Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina! It is as literary, curious, and generous as the city (my hometown) itself.
The last book you raved about?
Tell us about your work-in-progress.
It’s about two sisters who haven’t seen each other in years, but their mysterious grandmother calls them back on her deathbed. It takes place during the wettest summer on record in North Carolina, when the creeks are swelling, threatening to literally uncover things they thought would stay buried forever.
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Get to Know Our Friend, Lauren K. Denton!
What would you be if you weren't a writer?
My kids ask me all the time what I would do if I wasn’t a writer! If I wasn’t writing books, I think I’d be a librarian, and probably a children’s librarian, either at our local library or at my child’s school. I also wouldn’t mind working at a local bookstore!
Tell us about the first piece of fiction you ever wrote.
I don’t think this exists anymore, so there’s no way to prove it, but I remember my mom telling me about a story I wrote when I was little about three hamsters named Shem, Ham, and Japeth—the three sons of Noah in the Bible! Maybe I’d just learned about them in Sunday School, and we had a few hamsters as pets when I was a kid, so mash those up together and you get three biblically named hamsters!
Do you have any writing rituals?
Morning, coffee, computer, notebook, pen. Sometimes a candle. Preferably on my couch, but the kitchen island also works. Sometimes I pick a book to read sections from before I start writing—Still Writing by Dani Shapiro has been a faithful one, and sometimes The War of Art if I’m feeling particularly sluggish.
Is there a particular independent bookstore or library you'd like to shout-out?
The last book you raved about:
I just recently finished The Things We Wish Were True by MaryBeth Whalen and I loved it. It’s an older title—written in 2016. It peeks behind the front doors of homes in a nice community with seemingly happy neighbors. When a tragedy happens at a local swimming pool, secrets between neighbors unravel and we learn what their connections really are. I read it in 24 hours.
Tell us about your work-in-progress.
A father and daughter story. South Alabama on the coast. A fictional island based on a mix of a couple of real places. A little bit of North Carolina mountains. A little girl who loved to pick up tiny treasures on the ground and tuck them away in her tackle box. A little bit of romance.
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Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming this Friday, September 16th—Ron & Meg talk to bestselling novelist and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Tom Perrotta about his new sequel to ELECTION two decades in the making, TRACY FLICK CAN’T WIN.
Out Now! WB_S4E6—Ron and Kristy speak with prolific author Brenda Novak about her latest book, Summer On The Island, and dive deep into her writing career and how she supports readers and writers. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S4E5—Ron and Patti explore storytelling through food and entrepreneurship with Carrie Morey, chef, TV star, author and creator of Callie's Hot Little Biscuit Company. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S4E4—Ron & Meg are joined by Christine Pride & Jo Piazza to chat about their timely novel, WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM, a GMA Book Club Pick which is out now in paperback. LISTEN NOW!
Listen, download, subscribe, rate, review & share wherever you get your podcasts!
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News from the Friends &Fiction
Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa
Brenda and Lisa are excited to be co-hosting a virtual “Book Club Besties Brunch” during the Epigraph Literary Festival September 22-24. Click HERE for more details and to register for complimentary tickets.
We’ve got some great events coming up! Take a look at our book club schedule and be sure to save the dates. All events begin at 7pm Eastern unless otherwise noted.
Oct 13: Happy Hour with Ron Block
Grab these books and start reading now!
If you missed our special Two-Year Book Club Anniversary Celebration with the Fab Four on August 18th, watch it HERE.
If you missed our fabulous book club discussion with Sally Hepworth about The Younger Wife on August 15th, watch it HERE.
The Friends & Fiction Official Book Club is now on YouTube! You can view previous book club discussions and happy hours at your leisure. Please subscribe to our channel HERE!
Not a member of the Friends & Fiction Book Club? Join us. We would love to have you!
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Join the F&F 2022 Reading Challenge!
Join us in 2022 for a fun 12-month reading challenge. We will challenge each other all year long to read books in a different category every month. This will help all of us broaden our horizons and read books in different genres we may not have chosen for ourselves. This is a fun way to join with the rest of the F&F community and share a fun reading experience. And the F&F Reading Journal makes the perfect companion piece to this challenge, helping you keep track of all the books you read all year long. Grab your reading journal HERE.
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F&F is on YouTube!
Subscribe Today!
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Did you miss the September 7th episode with Kristina McMorris? If so, you can watch it on our YouTube channel HERE. We air our show 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 in case 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 September 7th show HERE.
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Join Us on Fable!
Introducing Friends & Fiction: Behind the Book
Have you joined F&F on Fable yet?! We are taking our immersive reading experience a step further by partnering with this unique social platform to form the “Friends & Fiction: Behind the Book” Premium Book Club! Let’s discover, read, and talk about great books together! Download the FREE Fable app for your phone or tablet. Join MKA, Kristin, Kristy & Patti as they talk about their own books, the books they love, and books they're just discovering together. They’ll feature a new book selection every month, plus special club events, exclusive content, and more! Join our Premium Club for just $5/month! JOIN TODAY!
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Friends & Fiction Merchandise
SHOP THE F&F MERCH STORE!
NEW! Ask and you shall receive! We have finally made the souvenir posters from the Summer 2022 F&F Live Tour available online for purchase. Visit our pals at Oxford Exchange to buy yours now. These mini-posters are a full-color original design printed on glossy heavyweight card stock and individually packaged in a protective sleeve. Every single poster has been hand signed by each one of the Fab Four. They are priced at a flat rate of $15 including all taxes, postage, and handling, shipped with care anywhere in the continental US. Get your keepsake poster now while supplies last! ORDER POSTERS HERE!
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 pride! ORDER T-SHIRTS HERE.
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 or 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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