This Coming Saturday in Illinois...

I'll be visiting the University of Illinois later this week for the annual Czech/Slovak Workshop, where I'll be giving the keynote address. After the Workshop, I'll be doing a discussion and reading at The Literary bookstore in Champaign at 4:30 on April 1. If you're in the area, please come!

Regal House Authors at AWP

We're doing a reading Thursday as part of the AWP conference! Free and open to the public.

Regal House Authors to Read during AWP

I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be among the Regal House authors reading during the AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) conference! We'll be at Optimism Brewing Company, 1158 Broadway, Seattle 94122, from 1:30-3:00 on Thursday, March 9. Featuring Tim Cummings, Mimi Herman, Karla Huebner, Heather Newton, Zack Rogow, Kerri Schlottman, Stephanie Vanderslice, and Peter Selgin! https://regalhousepublishing.com/regal-events/

I'm Reading Today at SFPL!

If you're in the Bay Area, please come to my reading of In Search of the Magic Theater at the Bernal Heights branch of the San Francisco Public Library! The event begins at 3:00.

"This is one of the most unusual novels I’ve read in ages! Hard to describe but absolutely engrossing and memorable. The main characters are two unique and fascinating women, crashing through their disparate lives full of music, theater, art, lovers in a wild plot of discovery. If you’re tired of the same old types and themes in novels, this is the one for you."--Amazon reviewer

Reading Saturday at the San Francisco Public Library!

Mark your calendars for this coming Saturday, October 8th! I will be reading and discussing In Search of the Magic Theater at the Bernal Heights branch of the San Francisco Public Library, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Hoping to see lots of readers there!

Bernal Heights Meeting Room

Bernal Heights branch, 500 Cortland Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94110
415-355-2810
bhemgr@sfpl.org

A Wonderful Launch for LOVING THE DEAD AND GONE

I had the privilege last night of attending Judith Turner-Yamamoto's book launch at the Joseph-Beth bookstore in Cincinnati. There aren't exactly a lot of book events to attend where I live, but Cincinnati isn't dreadfully far, so I jumped at the chance to attend Judith's reading and discussion there, especially as I had already read and enjoyed Loving the Dead and Gone (review yet to be written... I'm behind on writing reviews).

The Joseph-Beth bookstore is large and hosts quite a few author events (I'm doing a signing there on September 17th!). The space is welcoming and there is also an adjoining cafe that offers full meals, so I tried their portabello burger before Judith's event began.

The crowd was every debut author's dream--more friends than the store expected to seat! I'm sure it helped that Judith is a Cincinnati-based author, but it is always gratifying to see people turn out to support local authors (or authors, period!).

Loving the Dead and Gone is getting a lot of positive attention in the press and from early readers. You can get signed copies at Joseph-Beth, ask your local bookstore to order you a copy, or get the special-edition hardback direct from Regal House.

More Details on My Upcoming Signing at Joseph-Beth

I'll be signing copies of In Search of the Magic Theater at 11 a.m. on September 17th at the Joseph-Beth Rookwood bookstore in Cincinnati. If you're in the Cincinnati area, please come and say hi (and, of course, get a signed copy!).

I'm pleased to report that Judith Turner-Yamamoto, another Regal House author, will also be at Joseph-Beth in September. Judith is the author of Loving the Dead and Gone, and you can meet her at 7 p.m. on September 7th.

You can see Joseph-Beth's full calendar of events here. They have author events most days of the week and I am delighted to be able to be on their calendar!

A Couple of Upcoming Events for the Calendar

I've been taking a bit of a break from author events (I have a conference paper to write for SECAC and a new novel coming soon), but I'm not done with events for In Search of the Magic Theater (or even, potentially, Magnetic Woman).

On September 17th I'll be signing books at Joseph-Beth in Cincinnati starting at 11 a.m. Joseph-Beth, which also has a store in Lexington, Kentucky, is one of the major bookstores in southwest Ohio.

On October 8th I'll be doing a reading and discussion of In Search of the Magic Theater at the Bernal Heights branch of the San Francisco Public Library.

There will be more to come!

Book Event in the Works for Cincinnati

I'm ready to get myself on the road and do some book events reaching new audiences, so I'm delighted to report that plans are afoot for me to appear at the well-regarded Joseph-Beth in Cincinnati in September! More details once we get them figured out. Joseph-Beth is one of Cincinnati's pre-eminent spaces for all things book-related, and there is also a Joseph-Beth store in Lexington.

Signing at Crepe Bohème This Morning!

Don't forget, if you're in the Dayton area and want to get a signed copy of In Search of the Magic Theater, just stop by the Second Street Market and Crepe Bohème between 9 and 11 o'clock this morning! (You should also buy a crepe or two--Sabine and her crew make many fabulous kinds!)

Next Up: Signing at Crepe Bohème

Readers in the Dayton area have a couple of ways to get a signed copy of In Search of the Magic Theater in the coming days.

First of all, there are signed copies at the Beavercreek Barnes & Noble (and also signed copies of Valerie Nieman's In the Lonely Backwater, Erin Flanagan's Deer Season and Blackout, and several titles by local mystery writer Jess Montgomery).

But if you'd like your signed copy of In Search of the Magic Theater personalized, and want to meet me and chat, Sabine of Crepe Bohème at Dayton's Second Street Market is hosting me on Saturday, June 25th, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. So come and get your crepe and I'll be seated at the counter signing books!

Sabine and her crew make fabulous crepes!

And a Good Time Was Had in Beavercreek...

The multi-book signing Valerie Nieman, Erin Flanagan, Jess Montgomery, and I did at the Beavercreek Barnes & Noble on Saturday was actually the first author event the store has had since covid-19 hit, so staff were excited to have us and we were pretty thrilled too. It's kind of tricky setting up bookstore events these days, as there's no way to know (unless it's your local store and you go in regularly) whether the store is not yet having in-person events or whether they are already booked up for a long time into the future. Valerie and I have been finding that it tends to be one extreme or the other. So we were extra glad to have the chance to sign books in a real, and fairly busy, bookstore!

It was splendid to see some friends and colleagues come who had been out of town or otherwise unavailable for my earlier events. Naturally, I encouraged them to buy copies of each author's books!

The bookstore staff also requested that we sign all of the remaining copies at the end of the event, which we were glad to do. If you're in the greater Dayton area, by all means stop in at the Beavercreek Barnes & Noble (near Wright State) and pick up signed copies of books by all four of us! (I'm afraid my photos are all of Valerie's and my area, but I'm hoping to get some of Erin and Jess's space from them.)

Book Signing Today at the Beavercreek Barnes & Noble!

Today I'll be signing copies of In Search of the Magic Theater at the Barnes & Noble store in Beavercreek, Ohio, just across the freeway from the Wright State campus. I'll be joined by three other authors--fellow Regal House author Valerie Nieman, fellow Wright State professor (and Edgar winner!) Erin Flanagan, and Jess Montgomery.

In Search of the Magic Theater follows the lives of its two narrators, Sarah and Kari, who both live in Sarah's aunt's house and both pursue careers in the arts but who are otherwise very different people.

Valerie Nieman's most recent novel, In the Lonely Backwater, tells the story of a high school girl who falls under suspicion when a classmate is found dead at the marina where she lives with her father.

Erin Flanagan's Edgar-winning first novel, Deer Season, is set in 1980s small-town Nebraska, where a mentally disabled young man is suspected of killing the flirtatious high school girl he hoped to win.

Historical mystery writer Jess Montgomery is the author of the Kinship series, which is set in 1920s’ Appalachian Ohio.

If you live in the Dayton area, this is a great chance to meet us and take home signed copies! If you belong to a book group, consider adding some of these to the group's schedule!

Four-Author Signing Saturday at B&N!

I'm delighted to say that Erin Flanagan, Valerie Nieman, Jess Montgomery, and I will all be at the Beavercreek, Ohio, Barnes & Noble on Saturday signing books from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Barnes & Noble's Instagram post announcing us.

Upcoming Events

Yesterday's launch party at the Ghostlight cafe was lovely and lots of fun--thank you to all who attended and also to the Ghostlight managers and baristas who helped!

My next book events are also in the Dayton area.

This Friday, June 10th, I'll be giving a talk on Toyen at the High Street Gallery (home of the Dayton Society of Artists) at 7pm. Copies of both Magnetic Woman and In Search of the Magic Theater will be available for sale.

On Saturday, June 18th, I'll be at the Beavercreek Barnes & Noble to sign books from 1:00 to 3:00 along with Erin Flanagan, Valerie Nieman, and Jess Montgomery.

Launch Party Coming Up Sunday!

It's been a fairly crazy week and a half, as just a little over a week before In Search of the Magic Theater came out, a family emergency required my travel out of town and taking up home health aide-like duties. The patient is expected to recover fully, but I clocked quite a few hours in the hospital and rehab facility, and the rabbits were not very happy about being taken on a long car trip or spending days in an X-pen in my mother's living room.

Fortunately, before I left town I was able to finalize plans for a launch party on June 5th at Dayton's well-loved cafe Ghostlight, and the boxes of books I ordered arrived in a timely fashion despite fears of supply-chain delays!

I have another couple of Dayton-area events lined up but I have just reached home and the rabbits need their evening treat, so stay tuned...

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.