August 25, 2021 | Issue #56 |
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Five Facts from Our Friend, Karin Slaughter
Your pen name (first pet's name + the street you grew up on):
Josh Ayoka
Tell us one thing your friends may not know about you:
I have other friends
Favorite book when you were young:
Favorite book so far this year:
You write thrillers. So, tell us. What terrifies you:
Hair dressers on twitter who think they are epidemiologists and Constitutional scholars
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Bookseller of the Week
FoxTale Book Shoppe
Our featured independent bookseller of the week is FoxTale Book Shoppe in Woodstock, GA. A favorite of the F&F hosts, our readers, and our guests, FoxTale has now been the featured indie FOUR times and they were chosen this week by our guest Karin Slaughter. Shop at FoxTale this week for Karin's latest, FALSE WITNESS, as well as for new and recent titles from the Fab Five. Visit the specially curated F&F page on the FoxTale website to SHOP NOW!
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Latest News From "The Fab Five"
KRISTIN HARMEL is excited that her first mass market paperback (the smaller, pocket-sized book you often find at supermarkets and airports, usually selling for around $9.99) is officially out this week. You can find her 2019 international bestseller The Winemaker’s Wife in mass market format now, at Kroger, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Hudson, CVS, Walgreen’s, Rite Aid, or wherever you pick up your paperbacks!
What Kristin is reading: Lots of research material on the French Resistance for her work in progress
PATTI CALLAHAN can’t wait to show you the trailer for Once Upon a Wardrobe tonight on the show! And she’ll tell you all about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Book Club! And did you hear -- BOOK TOUR! Yes, in real life book tour. More stops will be added and virtuals to boot, but read all about it HERE. Meanwhile, Patti is mourning the end of summer but looking forward to college football season...um...she means Autumn.
MARY KAY ANDREWS had a great time decorating Christmas cookies with her grandchildren and talking all things Santa Suit for her first ShopTalkLive last week. You can still watch and pre-order your autographed copy (only $14.99) now. And she did a walk-through for the Atlanta and Savannah venues for the Santa Suit launch parties, which are set for Sept. 26 (Atlanta) and Sept. 27. (Savannah) Lots of fun in the works, including yes, Naughty Santas!
What Mary Kay is reading: Dream Girl by Laura Lippman
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY is getting so excited for the October 26 release of CHRISTMAS IN PEACHTREE BLUFF! In the meantime, catch up on her bestselling Peachtree Bluff Series with a read-a-long hosted by Uplit Reads. This month, we are reading THE SECRET TO SOUTHERN CHARM, book two in the series, and Kristy will be chatting with @readsrandiread on August 31 all about it! Follow along with @kristywharvey on Instagram or kristywoodsonharvey.com for updates!
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An Original Essay by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Each week, the Friends & Fiction authors take turns
writing an essay for Parade.com, the online home of
Parade magazine.This week, Kristy wrote a column
about the joys of back-to-school shopping and finding
the courage to chase your dreams.
Back-to-school shopping was practically a holiday in my childhood home. My mom and I waited for the hallowed supply list to come in the mail and spent hours perusing the aisles of our office supply store searching for the perfect Lisa Frank folders and kitten binders, choosing between the pink pencil box and the purple one.
The first time a Labor Day passed, school began, and I wasn’t going back to it, I was 23 years old and working in finance despite my degree in journalism and masters in literature.
As students went back to school that year, and I wasn’t among them, it hit me how far I had strayed from that initial vision of the woman I would become. At 17, after my inaugural “Garden Games” piece was published in my local newspaper, the Salisbury Post, I had believed I would tell real people’s stories, that I would change the world with my words. Somehow, though, I had found myself on a different path.
So it was on that day, unsettled because I knew I wasn’t where I was meant to be, that I went home and told my husband something I had been thinking about for a while. In our cozy, historic living room in our first house together, I said, “I’m thinking about going back to UNC to get my PhD in English.”
My husband put down his iPad, looking amused. “Is that what you really want to do?”
To continue reading Kristy's column
on Parade.com, click HERE.
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Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming soon! Out this Friday, August 27th!—Ron and MKA chat with Virginia Stanley, the longtime Director of Library Marketing at HarperCollins, and rockstar librarian, bestselling author, literary critic, and the former Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library, Nancy Pearl.
Out Now! WB_S1E11—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!
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
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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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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Take a Bite Out of Summer!
With Caroline's Cakes
ENTER TO WIN! The entry deadline is TONIGHT at midnight! 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 TOMORROW, 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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