September 22, 2021 | Issue #60 |
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Five Facts from Our Friend, Wiley Cash
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
My family
Your perfect day:
My perfect day actually occurred for my birthday. We live close to the beach here in Wilmington NC, and I'm always telling my wife that I wish that she and I could just spend a day sitting on the beach and reading. She made it happen for my birthday!
Your favorite independent bookstore:
Park Road Books in Charlotte NC, of course! That's where I'll be streaming from tonight!
The last book you raved about:
Your next book in ten words or less:
The fallout after Silent Sam comes down in Chapel Hill.
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Bookstore of the Week
Park Road Books
This week we have an exciting first on Friends & Fiction! Tonight our guest Wiley Cash will be coming at us live directly from Park Road Books in Charlotte, NC. So, our featured indie bookseller of the week is—you guessed it—Park Road Books, Charlotte’s cornerstone independent bookstore since 1977! We hope you will consider buying Wiley’s new book When Ghosts Come Home (just released yesterday from William Morrow Books) from Park Road. You can also get signed copies of this Sunday’s bonus episode guest Karen Cleveland’s new thriller You Can Run from Park Road. We have also updated the F&F Bookshop.org shop with Wiley’s and Karen’s new books. A portion of every purchase from the F&F shop on Bookshop.org helps keep F&F going and also goes directly in the pockets of independent booksellers nationwide. Shop local—and when you do, tell them F&F sent you!
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Latest News From "The Fab Five"
KRISTIN HARMEL is inordinately excited about the new murphy bed she just had installed in her guest room. She’s also excited to be welcoming her little sister, Karen Cleveland, to Friends & Fiction this week as a guest on the Sunday bonus episode (on the Friends & Fiction Facebook group page and on YouTube, Sunday at 5pm ET). Also exciting? A certain Christmas book dropping this week…..Oh yeah, and the fact that she just found out that The Winemaker’s Wife is currently in the #1 spot on the Globe & Mail’s historical fiction list (in Canada), followed by The Forest of Vanishing Stars at #5! Yep, Kristin is having a pretty exciting week altogether.
What Kristin is reading: Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall, coming March 2022.
PATTI CALLAHAN is counting the days (30, if you’d like to know) until her Once Upon a Wardrobe release. But meanwhile did you know that in celebration and looking forward, her Becoming Mrs. Lewis is the Kindle Deal this week. If you haven’t read it, go getcha one! she’s been having such a great time talking about it, most recently on Pints with Jack podcast. And this is about the time the reviews are rolling in and she loves this one from the New York Journal of Books so very much. And what about that magazine she loves -- Country Living -- well they say Patti’s book is one of the most anticipated of this fall. Meanwhile, she is trying on her Santa hat for Mary Kay Andrew’s launch episode with Debbie Macomber next week!
What Patti is Reading: The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
MARY KAY ANDREWS is packing up her ugly Christmas sweaters and bracing for pub week for her Christmas novella THE SANTA SUIT, which is out Sept. 28, but earlybird fans can get copies at the Atlanta launch party on Sunday Sept. 26, or the Savannah launch party, to benefit Cure Childhood Cancer on Monday, Sept. 27. And if you can’t be at those fun events, join the Friends & Fiction Book Club online launch party on Thursday at 7 p.m. Mary Kay’s tour schedule is here, and she’d love to see you at one of these amazing indie bookstores.
What Mary Kay is reading: DEAR SANTA by Debbie Macomber
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is so excited that her April release Under the Southern Sky is on sale for $1.99! It hit #1 on ALL of Barnes & Noble. Can you even believe that? She was also really floored to see that Boston.com readers recommended five of her novels for “Best Summer Reads of 2021.” Wow! Overall, she’s just so excited about getting to go on tour with Patti, Mary Kay and Kristin in just a few weeks! Have you checked out her tour dates yet?
What Kristy is Reading: When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash
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An Original Essay by Patti Callahan Henry
Each week, the Friends & Fiction authors take turns
writing an essay for Parade.com, the online home of Parade magazine.This week, Patti Callahan Henry wrote about how we survive *after* we survive a trauma.
I was busy. I had things to do. I needed him to tell me everything was OK so I could get on with my life. I expected a simple response. Just another fibrous mass. Nothing to worry about.
But what we expect and what we get are rarely the same things.
“It’s cancer,” he said. I nodded, resolute, and said, “But not the real kind, right?” It was an absurd thing to say, of course. There is no such thing as a “not real” cancer. But I didn’t expect this news at all. This news was for other people.
Those words—It’s cancer—began a long and arduous two-year journey of surgeries, chemo, second opinions, panic and reassessing everything in my life from relationships to health to lifestyle to work. I am now eight years out and I can say with assurance (as much assurance as one can muster), “I survived that.”
And yet, we know that surviving is not that simple. We don’t just get through something and move on as if it never happened...
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, September 24th!—Ron Block sits down with USA Today bestselling thriller writer Hank Phillippi Ryan to discuss her new book Her Perfect Life.
Out Now! WB_S1E15—Ron Block & Patti Callahan sit down with Pulitzer finalist and National Book Award winning author of history, Nathaniel Philbrick to discuss his latest book Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S1E14—It’s all about online reading groups! Ron & Kristy interview Kristy Barrett, the founder of the Facebook group A Novel Bee and Ron & Patti interview Andrea Peskind Katz, the founder of the group Great Thoughts Great Readers. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S1E13—Ron and Kristin interview S.A. Cosby, author of this summer’s phenomenal bestselling novel Razorblade Tears. 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 the end of the year and be sure to save the dates! All events are at 7pm unless otherwise noted.
Sept 23: Pre-pub day celebration of The Santa Suit with Mary Kay Andrews
Oct 1: Happy Hour with Ron Block
Oct 17: 1pm Pre-Pub Day Virtual Brunch with Patti Callahan Henry
Oct 25: The Orphan Witch with Paige Crutcher
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
If you missed our Book Club chat with Patti Callahan Henry discussing her book The Bookshop at Water's End please click HERE to watch.
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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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