Tag: Novel

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Blurb Book Features Books

To Read, or Not to Read? (March 2024)

Once again, the Memphis Flyer has taken to the streets (read: email) to ask Memphis’ booksellers what on Earth we should be reading this month. And, thank goodness, they’ve answered with recommendations that’ll fit on anyone’s bookshelf. Check them out below.

Black Roses: Odes Celebrating Powerful Black Women, Harold Green III
Black Roses is a beautiful collection of odes crafted by poet Harold Green III and pays tribute to all Black women by focusing on visionaries and leaders who are making history right now, including Ava DuVernay, Janelle Monae, Kamala Harris, Misty Copeland, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Robin Roberts, Roxane Gay, Simone Biles, and many others. The collection features full-color illustrations by Melissa Koby. We recommend this book because it’s a powerful expression of love for women during Women’s History Month!
— Jeremee DeMoir, owner at DeMoir Books & Things

Dance of Thieves, Mary E. Pearson
Dance of Thieves is a fantasy duology with a strong female main character. The book contains enemies to lovers, forced proximity, found family, and multiple plot twists. It is masterfully written as the reader is entirely captured by the plot and never bored with what is happening. Although it is set in a fictional world, it is an easily followed story and the characters are realistic. This duology is similar to Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and I would definitely recommend it to any fantasy readers. — Maya Zelinski, bookseller and co-founder/co-leader of the Teen Writing Group at Novel

James, Percival Everett 
I only discovered Percival Everett last year and I’m now trying to catch up and read everything. He’s one of our finest and most versatile writers, and this new one is one of his best. Witty, wise, joyful, painful, important, and highly readable. I predict this will finally win him the Pulitzer. — Corey Mesler, owner at Burke’s Book Store

The Other Valley, Scott Alexander Howard
The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard came out in February to glowing reviews, but hasn’t gotten nearly enough attention at the store if you ask me! Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro is an obvious and faithful comp, but while I have started NLMG more times than I can count and could never finish, I fell for this one immediately. It’s speculative fiction, sort of literary sci-fi, set in a world made up of a series of valleys — the same place, with the same people, duplicated over and over 20 years ahead of or behind the next, depending on whether you’re going west or east. Does this sound convoluted? I hear it, too. But trust me when I say it does not require any kind of mental mastery of its bent laws of physics to enjoy. The writing is so good I found myself rereading some sentences three or four times, just to soak them in. It’s a quiet, atmospheric novel full of big ideas that manages to double as a page-turner. Basically, my favorite kind of book. — Kat Leache, Social Media & Promotions at Novel

Thicker Than Water: A Memoir, Kerry Washington 
Award-winning actor, director, producer, and activist Kerry Washington shares the journey of her life so far in this bravely intimate story of discovering her truth. We selected this as it comes from the woman who changed television. Best known for portraying Olivia Pope on the ABC hit Scandal, when it premiered, a Black woman hadn’t had the lead role in a network drama for nearly 40 years. Kerry Washington changed the game and Scandal decimated the idea that a Black female lead would alienate audiences, proving, instead, that it would energize them. Why not celebrate such a powerful figure and share this powerful book during Women’s History Month? — Jeremee DeMoir, owner at DeMoir Books & Things

All books mentioned can be purchased at the respective bookstore locations. Support indie and support local. For upcoming book events, including book clubs and author signings, visit the Flyer’s event calendar.

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Blurb Books

Crazy, Stupid, Interdimensional Love

Photo: Courtesy Liana Kangas

Magic portals, sexy aliens, and sci-fi romance — these are just some of the things you’ll find in the graphic novel Mariko Between Worlds, written by Matthew Erman and illustrated by Liana Kangas. Set in the year 2099, Mariko and Rem are breaking up, their interdimensional relationship proving to be far too complicated, but they agree to make the most of their last night together in the Mall of Portals, “an interdimensional consumerist heaven full of unending vice.” What ensues, as Kangas says, is an exploration of communication, boundaries, and lots of aliens. 

The inspiration for the story came from writer Erman’s pandemic-induced binge of 90 Day Fiancé with his wife and comic book artist Lisa Sterle. “They really wanted to tell a story about this girl who doesn’t get a visa to essentially go be with her boyfriend,” Kangas says. “They brought, I think, the first three chapters to me and the editor, and Matt finished writing the rest of the book.”

Memphis-based Kangas’ playful and psychedelic illustrations flesh out the many worlds in the novel, adding to its “fun and bizarre” atmosphere and plot. “I watched movies like Paprika and really weird old anime to get inspiration for integrating the sci-fi elements but make it fun,” Kangas says, adding that they also read “corny romance novels to get in the right headspace.”

“Matt and I had poured a lot of our personal selves into the book as well, you know,” Kangas says. “We’ve all been in that angsty teen/early 20s break-up phases and stuff like that. So it’s been fun to do. I mean, it’s the first romance book, I think, I’ve really ever worked on.”

Previously, Kangas has worked with IPs, like Star Trek, Star Wars, and Stranger Things, and in addition to most recently releasing Mariko Between Worlds, she’s had two other books come out this past month: Know Your Station, a space horror book, and Trve Kvlt, a supernatural horror book. 

“All three [of those books] across the board are totally different,” Kangas says. “But I think being in a space and a city like this has allowed me to pursue that, by being connected with my peers. Like, I go to a lot of conventions and stuff, so I get to see them and feel refueled because there’s a small community of comics in Memphis. … The city is very vibrant in terms of diversity and how much they care about the arts and stuff. And so I really think having that sort of supportive community allowed me even during the pandemic to continue my freelancing and continue telling stories.” 

And Memphis, Kangas says, has slipped its way into her illustrations. “The book that I just did — Trve Kvlt — it’s a fast food heist, it’s a very bizarre, very fun, dark comedy,” they say. “I would say a lot of my inspiration came from Memphis. It feels a lot like the energy and the vibe of the city, which is very hardworking, very work hard, play hard. … But it’s hard not to see some of that in some of my work, but I definitely think that is the book that shows it the most. But otherwise, I would say, mostly because I’ve been complimented a lot on my diverse characters that I make, I do attribute that to living here.”

This Friday, November 3rd, at 6 p.m., Kangas will celebrate the launch of Mariko Between Worlds at Novel. They will also sign Trve Kvlt and Know Your Station. All three books are available at Novel or on Novel’s website.

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Skol-astic Adult Book Fair

Special bookmarks in the style of the event poster will also be for sale.

If you like beer, books, and nostalgia, you better book it to Soul & Spirits Brewery this Saturday for the brewery’s first-ever Skol-astic Adult Book Fair.

In case you didn’t catch on to the pun there, Skol-astic is a nod to those Scholastic book fairs from childhood, with the “skol” part being the Scandinavian word for “cheers.” “We wanted to recreate that feeling of being so excited to buy new books, but with beer,” says Blair Perry, who planned the whole shebang with her friend Mandy Martin. “We wanted to create an event that is very different than any other event in town and that is geared towards people who love books because a lot of times readers are kind of introverted” — and sometimes introverts want to be social, too.

For the day, Martin and Perry were able to get all the bookstores and book vendors in town to set up shop at the brewery, with each focusing on a “niche style of book,” says Perry. Friends of the Library, the nonprofit that supports Memphis Public Libraries, will sell used books; Novel will bring bestselling contemporary fiction while Burke’s Book Store will bring books by Memphis authors and a classics collection. Online vendors Cafe Noir (which is set to open a brick-and-mortar location later this year) and DeMoir Books & Things will sell BIPOC classics and Afrofuturism books, respectively. Plus, South Main Book Juggler will bring children’s books and YA novels.

“For every $10 that you spend [on books], you’re going to get to pick from the little freebie bags like you did as a kid,” says Perry, adding that every time you purchase a beer, you’ll also get entered into a raffle for a bigger prize. “Every 30-ish minutes, we’re going to be drawing a ticket for a free prize that our vendors have donated.”

The brewery is also releasing a special beer for the book fair. “It’s a surprise,” says Perry, “but I’ll say that it’s bookish-related, so something that you would enjoy drinking while you’re reading.”

Perry and Martin have also partnered with Amy Dobbins of Mint Cream Market, who has recruited literary-themed vendors and local authors to discuss and sign their books, while Paper Plate Pavilion and Tacos Mondragon will have food available for purchase.

And, don’t worry, there will be a quiet space for those who want to read (and drink) in peace in the Low Tones Room, which also happens to be where the brewery hosts its Beers and Books Club every first Friday of the month. “We don’t tell you what book to read,” Perry says of the club. “We just provide a quiet space for a couple of hours for anybody to come in and read.”

Skol-astic Adult Book Fair, Soul & Spirits Brewery, Saturday, August 12, 1-7 p.m.

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Phyllis Dixon’s Intermission

Dixon describes her novel as “Dreamgirls meets Waiting to Exhale.”


To an outsider, banking doesn’t seem like the kind of profession to inspire bursts of creativity, but for Phyllis Dixon, that’s how she found her passion for writing fiction. “In a way, it was kind of similar [to my job],” she says, “because one of the things I did was write exam reports, which is the story of the bank and the story of what was going on. We also wrote synopses of some of the borrowers, so you would have to tell their story, too. So it’s kind of the same thing as far as, you know, analyzing a situation and being able to distill that into a story to let people know what’s going on.”

“I traveled a lot [for my job],” Dixon adds. “And so I spent a lot of time in hotels and airports and things like that. Some of the things that people do to kind of pass the time — some people drink, some people knit, some people fool around. And I just stayed in my room and wrote down stories that were swinging around in my head.”

By 2013, Dixon self-published her first novel, Forty Acres, to be followed in 2016 by her second book, Down Home Blues. When Covid hit, she began her third book: Intermission. 

This most recent novel revolves around four women, who were once part of a 1990s girl group on the brink of stardom before breaking up. At the telling of the story, they reunite for a second shot at success, each of them facing a different crisis in her personal life. What follows, the author explains, is a story of forgiveness and reconciliation — and, as it so happens, a story that occurs mostly in Memphis.  

“The idea came to me many years ago,” Dixon says, “and I just always thought about it, even pushed it to the side and wrote another book before coming back to this idea, and then during the Covid lockdown, I told myself, ‘No distractions, no excuses, no slacking.’ I was just determined. And I said, ‘I’m gonna try and get an agent.’ And I sent out a lot, a lot, a lot of queries. And those stars aligned, and here we are today: I was able to get an agent and a traditional publisher [Kensington Publishing].

“Really,” she continues, “I just want to entertain people. There’s so much going on — so much divisiveness and trauma and tragedy and global warming and all this bad stuff going on. I just want to entertain, tell people a good story, and kind of take their mind off all the bad stuff.”

This Tuesday, Dixon will celebrate the launch of Intermission at Novel with a book-signing and discussion. “I just invite people to come by, and even if they don’t come buy my book — it’ll be available [at the] library — I’d appreciate their support because even with my first two books, Memphis has been very supportive. And I appreciate it.” 

Phyllis R. Dixon: Intermission Book Launch, Novel, Tuesday, July 25, 6 p.m.

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Hayley Arceneaux Q&A and Book-Signing at Novel

Hayley Arceneaux (Photo: Hayley Arceneaux)

If, out of the blue, you got a call from your employer asking if you wanted to go to space, would you say that’s out of your job description? Would you ask for a couple days to sleep on it? Well, for physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux, who got that call from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the answer was clear and immediate: Yes.

The mission Arceneaux would be a part of — SpaceX’s Inspiration4 — launched almost a year ago on September 15th as the first all-civilian space mission and raised more than $200 million for St. Jude, a cause near and dear to Arceneaux’s heart ever since she was diagnosed with bone cancer at 10 years old. In fact, when she wasn’t even finished with her cancer treatment, Arceneaux began raising money for the hospital and embarked on what would become a lifelong journey in support of St. Jude. By 2020, she began her dream job working with pediatric oncology patients.

“I knew I really wanted to work at St. Jude and help support these kids with cancer treatment and help make their experience something positive, and then also show them what their future can look like after cancer,” Arceneaux says. So when, not even a full year into her job, the hospital asked her about going to space, she couldn’t say no to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “I wanted to show these kids that anything is possible.”

Arceneaux would become the youngest American who has been in orbit, as well as the first pediatric cancer survivor and the first person with a prosthetic body part to go to space. Her story would become an inspiration. “Around the time when I was training I was really touched by people who were reaching out, especially on social media, telling me that my story inspired them to get through hard times and take on big challenges,” she says. “Then I was approached by people who wanted me to share my story in book form.”

Once again, Arceneaux said yes, with the hope of reaching children with cancer, girls and women interested in STEM, and anyone needing a bit of hope. “I think writing it really renewed how much gratitude I feel,” she says. “Like, wow, I’m just so fortunate to survive my cancer, have my dream job, have the opportunity to go to space. … The main thing I want people to get out of it, is the importance of hope when you’re going through something hard.”

Her memoir, Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships, covers her childhood, her diagnosis, getting her dream job, the loss of her father, and, of course, her journey to space. “The most challenging part of writing for me was describing what it was like to look at the Earth,” she says. When she first got back from space, only one word came to mind when asked that question: pretty. Now, she has written pages upon pages describing what she meant by “pretty.”

To celebrate the memoir’s launch, Arceneaux will do a Q&A at Novel, followed by a book-signing. Line tickets are required to meet the author and are free with a purchase of the book.

Meet The Author: Hayley Arceneaux, Novel, Saturday, September 10, 5 p.m.

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Book Features Books

Tara M. Stringfellow Launches Memphis at Novel Bookstore

Author Tara M. Stringfellow is a poet, a traveler, a former attorney, a Memphian, and she will launch her debut novel — Memphis — Tuesday, April 5th, with an event at Novel bookstore.

The novel follows three generations of Black women living in Memphis. It’s at once a family saga, a story of the power of art, and a deeply political social commentary. There is much pain in Memphis, but there is hope and triumph as well. It is a heart-wrenching, inspiring, moving novel. And to write it, Stringfellow drew on both her imagination and her own experiences.

“Kind of like my main character in the book, I moved here full-time when I was 10 [years old],” Stringfellow says. Before moving here, she remembers phone calls with family members in Memphis; until she was 10 years old, Stringfellow lived in Okinawa, Japan. Her father, who is also a poet, was a Marine at the time. The author says the beauty of her childhood surroundings and her connection to family in Memphis helped nourish her love for poetry. And her work as a poet suffuses every page of her debut novel.

Also like Joan, the main character in Memphis, Stringfellow says that she has strong ties to her old neighborhood in North Memphis. “Douglass kind of raised me for a bit, and I loved it,” she remembers. Community is a powerful force in her novel, as exemplified by this passage: “All of Douglass—the teenagers in love, the tired working men, the even more tired womenfolk—all of them stood on the steps of the porch Myron had built for Hazel, stood on the lawn, climbed up the branches of the magnolia and found seats where they could. The people in the neighborhood stood watch that night.”

Stringfellow finished writing the novel after returning to Memphis following the early months of the Covid pandemic. She says it felt right to complete it here. When she finished the book, she couldn’t help but think, “What has my family given for me to get here?”

In Memphis, Joan is a young painter whose love for her art both grounds her through some turbulent trials, and might eventually lead her away from Memphis. “I do connect to Joan in that way,” she says. “My passion for writing, I wanted her to have the same passion for art.” Stringfellow says she believes that Joan will carry Memphis with her wherever she goes. “Memphis will always be there in her home. And sometimes we have to leave home, to go to school or go somewhere. And I feel like it’s so nice to come back home.”

Though she has lived in other cities, states, and countries since her childhood, and though she lives in a different neighborhood now that she’s back in Memphis, Stringfellow is quick to profess her affection for the city from which her novel takes its name. “I love my neighborhood,” she says. “All my neighbors are real diverse, and we all just kind of take care of each other. I really do love living in Memphis.” Look for a longer interview with the author in the near future in the pages of the Flyer.

Tara M. Stringfellow is at Novel, Tuesday, April 5th, 6 p.m.

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Authors Discuss Book of Short Stories Based in Memphis

A few years ago, eight local writers who knew each other through writers groups and events — Xia L. Cox, Rikki Boyce, April Jones, Rae Harding, Daniel Reece, Justin Siebert, Susan Hopson, and Kathryn Skinner — came up with the idea to collaborate on an anthology of short stories, all of them set in Memphis. Out of this concept came Malfunction Junction, 15 stories covering a range of genres, from horror to romance and pretty much everything in between.

“Hopefully, there’s something for everyone,” says one of authors, Justin Siebert. “The stories are unrelated to each other, except for the fact that they all take place in Memphis and the surrounding areas, and all deal with some sort of junction in life, whether that’s a literal road junction or a metaphorical junction in someone’s journey.”

Siebert has written two stories for the collection: “First Day of Practice” and “Forever and Ever in Both Directions.” The first follows a high school student, recently injured and new to using a wheelchair, as he witnesses his first wheelchair basketball game. “I personally use a wheelchair,” Siebert says. “I was injured in a car wreck when I was 9. It’s not autobiographical, but I incorporated a lot of the feelings and emotions of being newly injured and attending an adaptive sports event for the first time and just seeing that there are other people with disabilities who have normal productive lives and are competing in sports.”

“The main character is somebody that I made up,” he continues. “But a lot of the characters actually play on the Memphis Rollin’ Grizzlies basketball team. I play on the team. There’s a group of us that travel and compete.”

Siebert’s other story also taps into his personal life. This story of three adopted siblings, who meet a magical creature while traveling along the Greenline, channels the writer’s own reflections on his fears and anxieties of going through the adoption process with his wife.

Siebert and his fellow writers will be at Novel this Saturday. Contributor Daniel Reece will moderate a panel discussion, and a book signing will follow. Malfunction Junction is available to purchase at Novel or novelmemphis.com.

Malfunction Junction: Meet the Authors, Novel, 387 Perkins, Saturday, January 15th, 2 p.m.

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Shop Local: East Memphis

This holiday season, we’re asking readers to support local and consider these and others for their gift-giving needs.

Bluff City Toffee

Stephanie Upshaw turned her candy-making hobby into a business in 2016 and creates made-from-scratch treats for Memphians to savor. We love the classic Milk Chocolate Pecan Toffee ($10.95/4 oz.). Available at the Bluff City Toffee storefront (5160 Sanderlin #5), Buster’s Liquors & Wines, High Point Grocery, and other local retail locations, as well as bluffcitytoffee.com.

Novel

Novel offers a book for every taste, including the latest cookbook by local authors Justin Fox Burks and Amy Lawrence. You don’t have to be an herbivore to enjoy Vegetarian Cooking for Two: 80 Perfectly Portioned Recipes for Healthy Eating ($16.99). The dishes are easy to make, with simple ingredients and instructions that don’t require the skills, equipment, or time of a professional chef. Visit Novel at 387 Perkins Extended or novelmemphis.com.

Cotton Row Uniques

With home decor, apparel, artwork, antiques, bath and body products, pet toys, and so much more, this is a one-stop-shop for your gift-list needs. We think these honeycomb planters, available in three sizes ($14.50-$24.95), are adorable — and perfect for those with green thumbs. Visit Cotton Row Uniques at 4615 Poplar, Suite 3, or cottonrowuniques.com.

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Just As I Am: Novel Hosts Virtual Event with Cicely Tyson

Fashion model turned actress of stage and screen, Cicely Tyson has had a career spanning more than 70 years. She has been nominated for countless awards honoring her craft. She has won many. She even became the first Black woman to receive an honorary Oscar for her work, 45 years after her Academy Award-nominated performance in Sounder.

Now, in her ninth decade, she says, “I am a woman who, at long last, has something meaningful to say.”

She has put her meaningful words to the page in Just As I Am. It seems extraordinary that the actress, lecturer, activist, and one of the most respected talents in American theater and film history has been able to encapsulate her life between the covers of the 432-page memoir.

Cicely Tyson’s Just As I Am

Tyson has laid bare her life saying, “Just As I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside.”

Tyson will be honored on Thursday at an online event where her new autobiography will be released. Novel is among the bookstores selected to participate in the book launch. The event will begin in conversation with Cicely Tyson and Whoopi Goldberg and be presented by HarperCollins with Girls Write Now along with editorial director Tracy Sherrod, and Well-Read Black Girl founder Glory Edim.

The ticket price includes one hardcover copy of the book and a once-in-a-lifetime virtual meeting with Tyson.

Online Event with Cicely Tyson: Just As I Am, from Novel, novelmemphis.com, Thursday, Jan. 28, 5 p.m., $32-$38.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Ecco and Libro Executive Chef Armando Gagliano Pays Homage to Childhood Dishes

CREDIT: Armando Gagliano

Echoes of the past drift through Ecco on Overton Park in the form of tantalizing aromas. Executive chef Armando Gagliano occasionally features his take on Italian and German dishes his mom, Ecco owner Sabine Bachmann, served when he was growing up.

“I’ll do all the stuff she used to cook for me and my brothers,” Gagliano says. “Some of them have been on the menu as my take on the dish. I’ll change it up just a little bit, but I always try to incorporate things that I remember growing up that my mom fed us. Put it on there as close to what my mom used to serve us.”

Rouladen, a German dish his mother, who is German, made for them, will be a special January 8th and 9th at Ecco. The family-inspired dish also will be available throughout January at Libro, where Gagliano is executive chef and his brother, Mario Gagliano, is head chef.

Armando Gagliano

Rouladen

Growing up, Gagliano and his brothers ate more pasta than potatoes. “My mom mainly cooked us Italian food ’cause German food is always braised meats and potatoes and onions.

“We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so we probably ate pasta five nights a week. It’s so cheap. It’s one of the best things somebody can eat.”

They served Mama’s Pasta, a “spicy Southern bacon pasta,” as a springtime/summer special at Ecco. It’s “like a South American dish mixed with Italian pasta. It’s bacon that she rendered. She chopped up the rendered bacon with tomato sauce. And she’d usually put in a little hot sugar, hot sauce, and garlic. It was a spicy marinara, but instead of using ground pork or something like that, it was bacon.”

Spaghetti puttanesca is a childhood dish that also shows up at Ecco. “That’s a very old Southern coast recipe. There are different variations of it, but it primarily consists of garlic, capers, kalamata olives, anchovies, and then some sort of whole or diced-up tomatoes, or tomato purée. We use tomato purée. It’s what the fishermen would get to eat after they came back into the docks after being out in the Mediterranean fishing. They would use anchovies to make this dish.”

Rouladen, a Christmas tradition at their home, is “essentially a sirloin steak that you pound the hell out of with a mallet till it’s really thin. You brush Dijon mustard on it and line it with bacon and thinly sliced yellow onions. You roll the whole thing up like a fruit roll and either tie it off or use toothpicks, then sear that in a large pan. After it’s browned on all sides, take it out, and in the same pan put carrots, onions, celery and cook those down until they’re soft.

“Then you’re going to hit it with red wine. However much you want to use. You deglaze all those vegetables in chicken or beef stock. Preferably, beef stock since that’s what you’re cooking. Bring that to a boil. You return the seared rouladen that you set to the side back in the pot and reset the temperature to a very low simmer. Then after about two hours, they’re done. And you can let them go longer if you want them more tender.

“You take them out. And all the vegetables and wines and juices it was cooking in, throw that in a blender. Blend it up really well and then press it through a sieve or a colander. Those juices are the gravy. With the vegetables, it’s already thick enough. My mom would always boil some potatoes to go with them. You over-boil them till they’re really soft. [We use] baby new potatoes. Put them whole on the plate and mash them. Put the rouladen on top of those mashed potatoes, and the gravy goes over all of it.

“It’s a very rustic dish. Rouladen and gravy. It’s a German pot roast kind of deal.”

Ecco on Overton Park is at 1585 Overton Park; (901) 410-8200. Libro is at Novel bookstore at 387 Perkins Extended; (901) 922-5526.