Bycatch

Bycatch, by Alexander Blevens, launches May 30th and is a 2022 Debut about a man whose past in Vietnam comes back to haunt him when his sons scuttle a shrimp boat and drown a Vietnamese immigrant fisherman who had witnessed the crime he committed so long ago.

Coming June 1st!

You know you want to read this updated take on Hesse's classic Steppenwolf (with alternating narrators Kari and Sarah)! Order now direct from Regal House and be among the first to get your copy (paperback, e-book, or special edition hardback).

Launch Celebration at Ghostlight

It's set--there will be a reading and celebration for In Search of the Magic Theater at 2:00 on Sunday, June 5th, at the Ghostlight cafe on Wayne at Clover in Dayton, Ohio.

Ghostlight is a much beloved Dayton gathering place that I've been visiting since it first opened in 2011, so I'm very pleased that it has worked out to have the launch there. If you're in the Dayton area, please join us there on June 5th!

Copies of both books will be available.

A Letter in the Wall

A Letter in the Wall, by Eileen Brill, is a 2022 Debut launching May 24th. It’s 1971, and Joan Dumann fears her former business partner wants her dead. Both manipulative and vulnerable, naive and conniving, Joan is a complex woman. Although she's originally from a prosperous Quaker family, Joan has often been her own worst enemy, alienating those who care deeply for her. But where will her sometimes smart, sometimes foolish, decisions ultimately take her?

Inspired by a letter written by the real Joan, found hidden in the wall of Eileen's Pennsylvania home, this story is a fictionalized imagining of who Joan was. I had the privilege of reading an advance reader copy, and can heartily recommend this subtle and psychologically acute tale of a twentieth-century woman's progress and missteps.

Getting Near Launch Day!

In Search of the Magic Theater launches June 1st--in other words, in just over a week--and so I'm in the midst of a frenzy of pre-launch tasks and being kept awake at night by worries about what I either haven't gotten around to or is out of my control.

Some good things:
NetGalley reviewers still have a few days left to access the novel there (come on, you can do it! write those reviews!)
TLC Book Tours has set up a blog tour for me and I've sent out advance reader copies to the bloggers; I don't yet have the schedule, though.

Some potentially good but naggingly incomplete things:
The owner of a local cafe likes the idea of hosting my book launch, but I haven't been able to nail down the specifics with him, and I need to be able to get publicity out.
I'll probably be doing a three-author event at a local Barnes & Noble in June, but again, we haven't yet managed to nail down a date that works for the bookstore and for all three authors.

And then there's the matter of lining up more bookstore events farther afield, as well as of non-book tasks like finishing up editing the spring newsletter for the Czechoslovak Studies Association.

I have some interesting bits of good news in the works too...

Some bookish Archelaus cards waiting to be sent to the bloggers on my blog tour!

In the Lonely Backwater

I'm a little late blogging the launch of Valerie Nieman's In the Lonely Backwater--it came out May 10th from Regal House's Fitzroy imprint--because I've been focused on blogging adult fiction this year and In the Lonely Backwater is marketed as YA because the protagonist of this coming-of-age story is seventeen. But, of course, many novels for adults also feature seventeen-year-old protagonists, and the author has said that she didn't write it with a particular age group in mind. So--what's it about? Maggie, who loves natural history, lives with her alcoholic father on a houseboat, helping him manage the marina; but then her pretty cousin Charisse turns up dead at the marina and life gets much more complicated!

I'm very much looking forward to reading this, and in June Valerie Nieman, Edgar-nominated Erin Flanagan, and I will be appearing together at an author trifecta in the Dayton, Ohio area!

Happy Happy Happy

British writer Nicola Masters's 2022 Debut Happy Happy Happy, launching May 19th, follows Charlie Trewin home from London back to the sleepy Cornish fishing village of Carncarrow, where she must deal with her dead father's mementoes. Was Charlie really happier in London, or not? When her fiance unexpectedly shows up in Carncarrow, Charlie must think how to make peace with her two complex worlds.

The Daughter

The Daughter, by British radio producer Liz Webb, is a 2022 Debut mystery/thriller launching May 19th. Hannah Davidson realizes that she now strongly resembles her mother, murdered 23 years earlier. Her elderly, demented father now confuses the two, while her estranged brother believes their father killed their mother. As she starts to close in on the murderer, Hannah starts to worry that her mother’s presence is overtaking her.

Palladium

Palladium is a 2022 Debut spy thriller by former British diplomat Leigh Turner that launches May 17th. John Savage, a British spy thrown out of MI6 for gross misconduct in Moscow, is in pursuit of deadly fanatics who have seized his lover, archaeology professor Elif Mutlu, and the Palladium, a talisman said to have protective powers. Will Savage and Elif’s brother succeed in tracking down Elif and stopping the death of seventeen million people in Istanbul?

Bad Girls Drink Blood

S. L. Choi's 2022 Debut Bad Girls Drink Blood introduces Las Vegas detective Lane Callaghan, who's half sun fae, half blood fae, and all abomination. When Lane finds herself with an unexpected haul of sun shards--the source of sun fae power--what should she do? The sun fae want her dead, but on the other hand she's got sun fae family members... Bad Girls Drink Blood launches May 17th.

What Disappears

What Disappears, by Barbara Quick, launches May 17th from Regal House.

From the Regal House website:

What Disappears is a gripping multi-generational tale that begins in 1880s Tsarist Russia and ends in Paris at the start of World War I. Jeannette Dupres, one of two identical twins born to a Jewish family in dire financial straits, is spirited out of an orphanage as an infant by a couple from France. The other twin, Sonya Luria, raised to believe her sister died at birth, has her life upended by the 1903 pogrom in Kishinev. The sisters are reunited in the doorway of Anna Pavlova’s dressing-room, when they both get jobs in Paris with Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Sonya as a seamstress and Jeannette as an extra ballerina. In a relationship that ebbs and flows as it evolves, the twins’ deepest, darkest secrets are revealed, affecting not only them but also leaving their mark on the lives and fates of Sonya’s three daughters. Peopled by the greatest dancers, artists, writers, designers, and trend-setters of the Belle Époque, What Disappears explores the ways in which girls and women define their identity and search for meaning in a world that tries at every turn to hold them back.

The Storytellers

In Scottish author Caron McKinlay's 2022 Debut The Storytellers, launching May 16th, three women trapped between life and the afterlife meet and share their stories while discovering the truth about the men in their lives—and about themselves. Before time runs out, will they find the answer to the question they must answer: what is love? Described as "darkly funny" and "a brilliant mystery," this debut has also been called "edgy" and "feminist."

We Shall Not Shatter

We Shall Not Shatter, by Elaine Stock, is a 2022 Debut launching May 15th. This is a story of friendship during the Nazi occupation of Poland, inspired by the author's own heritage (her deaf great aunt who was left behind as a teenager in Poland and perished in the Holocaust). Zofia, a hearing Catholic, and Aanya, deaf and Jewish, have been friends since the age of five when they met while picking flowers. Will they and their families survive? What becomes of their town, Brzeziny? As some of my paternal ancestors also lived in Poland--although not so recently--I'm looking forward to reading this!

Arribada

Launching this week, Arribada, a 2022 Debut by binational and bilingual writer Estela González, tells the story of Mariana Sánchez Celis, a Julliard-trained pianist pushed to confront her and her Mexican family's role in environmental and social injustice when Mariana returns home and discovers that Ayotlan’s beaches, sea turtle colonies, and historic center are decimated after decades of neglect and abuse. As she becomes romantically and politically involved with Fernanda Lucero, an indigenous conservation activist, both women find themselves in danger...

Two and a Half Weeks till Launch!

It's hard to believe, but it's now just two and a half weeks until In Search of the Magic Theater launches. On June 1st all the pre-orders will be shipped out and we'll be having a festive launch party at the Ghostlight cafe on Wayne in Dayton, Ohio. There'll be a blog tour courtesy of TLC Book Tours and lots of other fun stuff to come.

Through the voices of two women with overlapping lives but diverging paths, Karla Huebner explores the tension between control and surrender, reason and ecstasy, dreaming and choosing. This engaging, erudite, yet accessible novel takes us on a cultural journey spanning millennia, from Greek mythology to Jimi Hendrix, from Elizabethan lyric poetry to performance art, revealing along the way the joy of self-discovery. –Julie Wittes Schlack, author of This All-at-Onceness

Set on You

Set on You, by Canadian author Amy Lea, is a 2022 Debut romcom launching May 10th. Fitness influencer Crystal Chen built her career shattering gym stereotypes and is feeling a little burnt out on men when she encounters firefighter Scott Ritchie and the two battle for gym domination. The last thing they expect is to run into each other at their grandparents’ engagement party... and later, to have to battle internet trolls!

Zoom Talk on Toyen is Today!

Don't forget, I'll be on Zoom again today, with a talk on the Czech surrealist artist Toyen sponsored by Společnost pro queer paměť (Prague Pride), Czech Fulbright, and CRAACE (Continuity/Rupture: Art and Architecture in Central Europe 1918-1939) More info on Facebook here.

Time shown on Facebook is the time in your own time zone, so for example it's at 6:30 p.m. in Central Europe and 12:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Dr. Karla Huebner, author of Magnetic Woman:Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020), will discuss this gender-ambiguous Czech surrealist artist, who was born Marie Čermínová (1902–80). Toyen’s early life in Prague made it possible to become a force in three avant-garde groups—Devětsil, Prague surrealism, and Paris surrealism—and also to emphasize erotic themes in many works of visual art. Dr. Huebner will focus on Toyen's construction of gender and eroticism in relation to the artist's historical context as a gender nonconforming person and probable sexual minority during the First Republic.

Karla Huebner will present her book in discussion with Anna Hájková. The event takes place in English; q&a will be held in both Czech and English.

Karla Huebner is a professor of Art History at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, whose research focuses on Czech modernism, feminism and gender, surrealism, and visual culture.
*******************
Dr. Karla Huebner, autorka monografie "Magnetic Woman: Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic" (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020), promluví o genderově ambivalentní české surrealistické malířce Toyen, vlastním jménem, vlastním jménem Marii Čermínové (1902-1980). Tato umělkyně se v mládí stala významnou postavou avantgardní skupiny Devětsil a surrealistických kruhů v Praze i Paříži a v mnoha výtvarných dílech zdůrazňovala erotická témata. Dr. Huebner se zaměří na konstrukci genderu a erotiky v dílech Toyen ve vztahu k jejímu historickému kontextu coby genderově nonkonformní osoby a pravděpodobně příslušnice sexuální menšiny za první republiky. Dr. Karla Huebner svou knihu představí v debatě s Annou Hájkovou. Tato debata proběhne v angličtině, následná debata s publikem o jeho otázkách v angličtině i češtině.

Karla Huebner je profesorkou dějin umění na Wright State University v Daytonu (Ohio). Ve svém bádání se zaměřuje na modernitu, feminismus a gender v českém prostředí, jakož i n a surrealismus a vizuální kulturu.

Under Fortunate Stars

Ren Hutchings's 2022 Debut Under Fortunate Stars is a science fiction tale of space and time travel. Smuggler Jereth Keeven’s freighter breaks down in a strange rift in deep space, with little chance of rescue—until they encounter the research vessel Gallion, which claims to be from 152 years in the future. But is everything really as it seems to the crews of the two ships?

Zoom Talk on Toyen on Wednesday!

This Wednesday I'll be on Zoom again, with a talk on the Czech surrealist artist Toyen sponsored by Společnost pro queer paměť (Prague Pride), Czech Fulbright, and CRAACE (Continuity/Rupture: Art and Architecture in Central Europe 1918-1939) More info on Facebook here.

Time shown on Facebook is the time in your own time zone, so for example 6:30 p.m. in Central Europe and 12:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Dr. Karla Huebner, author of Magnetic Woman:Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020), will discuss this gender-ambiguous Czech surrealist artist, who was born Marie Čermínová (1902–80). Toyen’s early life in Prague made it possible to become a force in three avant-garde groups—Devětsil, Prague surrealism, and Paris surrealism—and also to emphasize erotic themes in many works of visual art. Dr. Huebner will focus on Toyen's construction of gender and eroticism in relation to the artist's historical context as a gender nonconforming person and probable sexual minority during the First Republic.

Karla Huebner will present her book in discussion with Anna Hájková. The event takes place in English; q&a will be held in both Czech and English.

Karla Huebner is a professor of Art History at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, whose research focuses on Czech modernism, feminism and gender, surrealism, and visual culture.
*******************
Dr. Karla Huebner, autorka monografie "Magnetic Woman: Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic" (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020), promluví o genderově ambivalentní české surrealistické malířce Toyen, vlastním jménem, vlastním jménem Marii Čermínové (1902-1980). Tato umělkyně se v mládí stala významnou postavou avantgardní skupiny Devětsil a surrealistických kruhů v Praze i Paříži a v mnoha výtvarných dílech zdůrazňovala erotická témata. Dr. Huebner se zaměří na konstrukci genderu a erotiky v dílech Toyen ve vztahu k jejímu historickému kontextu coby genderově nonkonformní osoby a pravděpodobně příslušnice sexuální menšiny za první republiky. Dr. Karla Huebner svou knihu představí v debatě s Annou Hájkovou. Tato debata proběhne v angličtině, následná debata s publikem o jeho otázkách v angličtině i češtině.

Karla Huebner je profesorkou dějin umění na Wright State University v Daytonu (Ohio). Ve svém bádání se zaměřuje na modernitu, feminismus a gender v českém prostředí, jakož i n a surrealismus a vizuální kulturu.

Our Thoth Table in Berkeley

Fellow writers Dirk van Nouhuys and Margaret C. Murray at the Thoth Writers Collective table at the Bay Area Book Festival in downtown Berkeley. Six writers, we meet via Zoom and have quite a few books to offer!

This Weekend in Berkeley!

If you're anywhere in California's Bay Area this weekend, you should head over to the Bay Area Book Festival, which takes place on Saturday, May 7th and Sunday, May 8th from 11AM to 5PM at Martin Luther King Civic Center Park in downtown Berkeley.

Once you're there, look for my writing group, the Thoth Writers Collective, booth #36, located near the Main Stage--you can examine and buy books (plus enter a raffle for the display copy of Magnetic Woman: Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic!). Who are we? We're six writers currently living everywhere from Spain to California, who discuss via Zoom and e-mail. We take our name from Thoth, the ibis-headed Egyptian god who introduced writing. Members Margaret C. Murray and Dirk van Nouhuys will be staffing the booth.

Tomorrow: Thoth at the Bay Area Book Festival

This weekend my online writing group, the Thoth Writers Collective, will have a table at the Bay Area Book Festival, so if you're in Berkeley, drop by and buy (or order) some of our books!

Mine will be on display and can be ordered; Jan Alexander, Peter de Lissevoy, Geoffrey Fox, and Margaret C. Murray will have copies available for sale. Dirk van Nouhuys will have display-only copies.

Our new banner is ready to take to the festival. I wish I could be there!

The Bangalore Detectives Club

The Bangalore Detectives Club, by Harini Nagendra, is a 2022 Debut mystery launching May 3rd. Set in 1920s Bangalore, it's the first in a cozy crime series that features clever detective Kaveri and her new husband Ramu. In helping a vulnerable woman linked to a murder, Kaveri finds that sleuthing isn’t as hard as it seems when you have a talent for mathematics, a head for logic, and a doctor for a husband . . . but that doesn't mean that sleuthing isn't also dangerous!

Being myself an art historian by day and a novelist at night, I'm intrigued that Harini Nagendra is a Professor of Sustainability in Bangalore whose previous books include Cities and Canopies: Trees in Indian Cities. Let's hear it for double-specialty authors!

Our Little World

Karen Winn's 2022 Debut Our Little World launches May 3rd and is a coming-of-age story set in 1985, when Bee Kocsis, accustomed to a fairly calm middle-class life as a kid about to enter seventh grade, is caught up first in the horror and anxiety of a neighbor child's disappearance when they go to the local beach, and then in her more popular younger sister's sudden descent into illness.

I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of Our Little World and can enthusiastically recommend its sensitive portrayal of family life and neighborhood trauma in a decade not so far past.

Down to the River

Down to the River, by Anne Whitney Pierce, launches May 3rd from Regal House.

From the Regal House website:

Down to the River is a family saga set in the late 1960s in Cambridge, Massachusetts against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. Twin brothers, Nash and Remi Potts, have grown up as entitled, Harvard-educated, golden boys, heirs to an old, but dwindling family fortune. With the passage of time, the gold veneer of prosperity begins to chip away, and their lives begin to falter. We meet Remi and Nash in 1968, in their mid-forties and partners in a sporting goods store in Harvard Square. The twins’ marriages are in trouble. Their youngest children, Chickie and Hen (mistakes, they’re often called….), are coming of age during the turbulent urban wilderness of the late 1960s— school bomb threats, racial tensions, war protests and demonstrations at Harvard and beyond. With all hell breaking loose at home, and any semblance of “parenting” hanging ragged in the wind, the two cousins are left largely to their own devices. Suddenly freed from old rules and restrictions, they head out onto the streets of Cambridge, which become their concrete playground, tumbling headlong into a world of politics, sex, drugs, rock and roll. Chickie and Hen forge an unbreakable bond as they join forces and hearts to stay afloat in the sea of upheaval that surrounds them, the lines of family love and loyalty often blurring.

To Mail: Ten Advance Reader Copies

And the Goodreads giveaway of ten advance reader copies of In Search of the Magic Theater has concluded! Here's hoping the lucky winners enjoy it very much (and remember, of course, to post reviews)!

And there will be advance reader copies going out to other recipients as well, hence the big box of packaged books.

Getting Ready for the Bay Area Book Festival!

No, I won't be able to be at the Bay Area Book Festival myself this year, but my books will be! My current writing group, the Thoth Collective, meets monthly via Zoom and as two of the authors live in the Bay Area, they have generously taken on the task of getting us a table at the festival.

In this photo you can see that Dirk van Nouhuys is in the process of organizing our books and flyers to take to the festival, and if you look very closely, you'll see (over to the right) an advance reader copy of In Search of the Magic Theater sitting on top of a copy of Magnetic Woman: Toyen and the Surrealist Erotic. Visitors to the festival can look through both books and take away flyers about them with info on how to order.

In the cardboard box are copies of Jan Alexander's Ms. Ming's Guide to Civilization, which will be available for sale on the spot. Books by members that will be for sale in more limited quantities are Rabble and A Gift for the Sultan, both by Geoffrey Fox; and The Great Pool Jump, by Peter de Lissevoy. I anticipate that there will be unlimited copies of books by Margaret C. Murray as she is the other Bay Area member and can bring as many copies as she is willing to carry.

And so, if you are in the Berkeley area May 7-8, by all means head over to downtown, where the Festival will include many authors, publishers, writers' groups, and events, and make sure to look for the Thoth table where Dirk and Margaret will be showing off all of our books.