August 18, 2021 | Issue #55 |
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Winter Wonderland Subscription Box
Three of the Fab Five (Mary Kay Patti & Kristy) have new books coming this holiday season! Here is your opportunity to be among the very first to read these books just as they are released—and to obtain loads of exclusive extra swag available only to those who subscribe! This package is available for purchase only through our friends at Nantucket Book Partners.
Books will ship when they release this fall.
For the one-time flat-rate charge of $82, subscribers will receive:
- An autographed first edition copy of each book
- A QR code distributed only to subscribers which grants access to a private recorded presentation together with all three authors discussing their books
- An exclusive Friends & Fiction coffee mug
- A package of Friends & Fiction branded hot chocolate
- A book club kit sent with each book containing discussion questions, a letter from the author, a recipe, and other special content
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Five Facts from Our Friend, Lou Diamond Phillips
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
Coffee! (There was the threat of a shortage and going out for coffee wasn’t an option.)
Your perfect day:
Any day that involves family, a little bit of work and cooking!
Your favorite independent bookstore:
Collected Works in Santa Fe, NM
The last book you raved about:
Hour Of The Witch by Chris Bohjalian
Your next book in ten words or less:
A sequel to my first novel.
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Five Facts from Our Friend, Gervais Hagerty
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
My children in school.
Your perfect day:
I’ll wake up feeling rested. After some reading with my kids, I’ll grab an iced cashew-milk latte from my neighborhood coffee shop, Huriyali. Then I’ll write for four or five hours (and the prose will be so good I won’t have to delete a word!). After that, my husband will pack the car with towels, snacks, and surf boards and we’ll head to Folly beach. I’d wrap up the day at a brewery with some live music followed by bed at 10 o’clock, where I’ll read until I fall asleep.
Your favorite independent bookstore:
It’s a three-way tie! Buxton Books, Blue Bicycle Books, and Itinerant Literate.
The last book you raved about:
Embassy Wife by Katie Crouch
Your next book in ten words or less:
Matriarch surprises her family by selling Lowcountry manor; chaos ensues.
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Five Facts from Our Friend, Addison Armstrong
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
Snacks!
Your perfect day:
Pancakes for breakfast, time outside, bookstore visits, and curling up with a book before bed
Your favorite independent bookstore:
Parnassus Books here in Nashville, TN and Politics and Prose in Chevy Chase, MD. But honestly, I've never found an independent bookstore I didn't love.
The last book you raved about:
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
Your next book in ten words or less:
Decades apart, women struggle to survive where they are unwelcome.
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Five Facts from Our Friend, Paige Crutcher
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
Laughter. Having it and hearing it – especially that of my family. When everything feels heavy or scary, laughter proves a relief and spot of hope.
Your perfect day:
Ooh, this is a tough one for me. It varies, you see. Hypothetically though, a perfect day starts with a moment of quiet, tea, a bit reading or writing story – or both. Then a walk, an adventure, connecting with a dear friend, and it ends with hugs and story from my tiny humans and a dance in the kitchen with my husband.
Your favorite independent bookstore:
Ack, I love so many! Two favorites are Parnassus Books in Tennessee, and Hills & Hamlets Bookshop in Georgia. Both are utterly magical.
The last book you raved about:
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner. It was such a delight.
Your next book in ten words or less:
Witches, Ireland, a powerful love, sisterhood and found family.
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Five Facts from Our Friend, John Truby & Leslie Lehr
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
JT: my wife and my cats
LL: books and bubble bath
Your perfect day:
JT: Spending the day at the beach with Leslie, waiting on her hand and foot.
LL: What he said!
Your favorite independent bookstore:
JT: Diesel Bookstore in Santa Monica
LL: Same, but I also love Book Soup in West Hollywood.
The last book you raved about:
JT: Leslie Lehr's A Boob's Life - "Phenomenal!" "Book of the year!" "Read it multiple times!”
LL: For writers, Anatomy of Story by John Truby; for readers I'm still obsessed with the story world of Surviving Savannah, by Patti Callahan Henry.
Your next book in ten words or less:
JT: It's a secret, but it will blow up the story world.
LL: Pride & Prejudice in the late 1960's
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Latest News From "The Fab Five"
KRISTIN HARMEL is definitely planning to pre-order Once Upon a Wardrobe so that she can join Patti’s awesome book club because OH MY GOSH, WE GET TO MEET C.S. LEWIS’S STEPSON AND HEAR HIM TALK ABOUT C.S. LEWIS AND NARNIA???? HOW COOL IS THAT?? Kristin is also busy breathing in the new-car smell in her brand-new Maxda CX-5, the first new car she has purchased in nearly nine and a half years. (Her last car was also a Mazda CX-5, in the exact same color (silver), which she bought new in May 2012!)
MARY KAY ANDREWS is unpacking the ugly Christmas sweaters and getting ready to don all the gay apparel --despite Atlanta temps in the ‘90s, for advance publicity for THE SANTA SUIT which is out in less than five weeks. Follow her on Instagram to catch all her festive prep. She’s also trying not to break her three-month-long streak of writing EVERY DAY on next summer’s novel.
What Mary Kay is reading: Dream Girl by Laura Lippman
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is SO EXCITED because Christmas in Peachtree Bluff, releasing October 26 is one of Women.com’s “Most-Anticipated Books of Fall!” Hooray! Check out the list here.
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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 wrote a column about escaping through the pages of a book.
This summer, I have sailed through wicked storms on my way to Australia; I’ve walked through the shady woods of Cape Cod to swim in a murky pond; and I’ve wandered the mystical and humid marshes of North Carolina. I’ve ice-fished in the winter forests of Poland while fearing for my life, and I’ve watched magic unfold in Boston, Mass.
It is C. S. Lewis who once stated, “We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations.” He went on to say that, “Literature…is a series of windows, even of doors.” I agree and would add that stories are also a time capsule, a plane ride or a ticket to anywhere.
To continue reading Patti's column
on Parade.com, click HERE.
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Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming soon! Out this Friday, August 20th!—Ron Block and Patti Callahan in conversation with Tracey Lange about how her debut novel, We are the Brennans came to be. Also, Ron and Kristy Woodson Harvey interview Allison Larkin about the origin story of her novel, The People We Keep.
Out Now! WB_S1E10—Ron Block talks with Monica West, author of Revival Season & Wanda M. Morris, author of All Her LIttle Secrets. Both are debuts and stunning examples of Diverse Voices.
Out Now! WB_S1E9—Join Ron Block in conversation with acclaimed memoirists Lisa Donovan (Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger) and Wayetu Moore (The Dragons, The Giant, The Women). LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S1E8—Join Ron & MKA as they sit down with Jean Hoanff Korelitz, author of the book that the HBO sensation The Undoing was based on, as well as the hot new instant New York Times bestseller and Tonight Show Summer Reads Pick, The Plot, just released this May. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S1E7—Celebrate grilling month with Ron & Kristy as they interview Chef and the Farmer restaurateur, cookbook author, and television host Vivian Howard. 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 and be sure to save the dates!
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 Sun 8/15 one-year anniversary celebration, watch it HERE.
If you missed our Mon 8/16 book club chat with Kristin Harmel about her beautiful book The Forest of Vanishing Stars watch the replay HERE.
If you missed our superb recent Happy Hour chat with the wonderful Ron Block, click HERE to watch the replay.
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Take a Bite Out of Summer!
With Caroline's Cakes
ENTER TO WIN! Friends & Fiction has partnered with Caroline's Cakes for the "Take a Bite Out of Summer" campaign running through August and culminating in a grand prize awarded in time for Labor Day Weekend. One lucky winner will receive a Caroline's Cakes tote bag stuffed with swag from Caroline's and Friends & Fiction, ten books (the latest from each of the Fab Five hosts of F&F plus another book of each host author's choice), and Caroline's Cake Bites in the winner's flavor of choice. ENTER TO WIN by Wednesday August 25th at midnight ET. One lucky winner will be chosen at random and contacted on Thursday August 26, 2021. When the winner is contacted they will have the opportunity to choose their Caroline's Cake Bite flavor. GOOD LUCK!
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And Now a Word from our Partners |
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WELCOME STORYPOINT WINES!
It's “The Summer of Storypoint” on Friends & Fiction! Each week through the end of August, 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 and shipping now from Oxford Exchange!
But that’s not all! We also have F&F 20oz travel tumblers for on-the-go coffee of 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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