September Newsletter: Sabaa Tahir and Renée Ahdieh, The Bookmarks Festival, Colson Whitehead, W. Scott Poole, and (in October) Marie Lu and Jonathan Lethem

September Newsletter: Sabaa Tahir and Renée Ahdieh, The Bookmarks Festival, Colson Whitehead, W. Scott Poole, and (in October) Marie Lu and Jonathan Lethem

Posted on 2016-09-06 at 18:44 by montsamu

Vol 6 No 8. Tuesday, September 6, 2016: Well, by skipping a newsletter in August, the September newsletter is at least coming out in the neighborhood of the beginning of the month. There are dozens and dozens of pieces of news and announcements and new events to pass along this month, but first! there are also two events on the calendar for TODAY so let’s get to them first, shall we?

At 4 pm, McIntyre’s Books presents The Last Kids on Earth and the Zombie Parade, with Max Brallier. “Join us at the Chatham Community Library on Tuesday, September 6th at 4PM to meet the author! MAX BRALLIER is the author of more than twenty books and games, including the middle-grade series The Last Kids on Earth. He writes children’s books and adult books, including the pick-your-own-path adventure Can YOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? He is the creator and writer of Galactic Hot Dogs, a sci-fi middle-grade series from Aladdin. He writes for licensed properties including Adventure Time, Regular Show, Steven Universe, and Uncle Grandpa. Max lives in New York City with his wife.”

And at 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Sabaa Tahir for A Torch Against the Night, “the highly anticipated sequel to her acclaimed debut, An Ember in the Ashes. The follow-up novel continues Tahir’s suspenseful tale of rebellion in a land of oppression and fear. . Catch up to the action with Ember, a captivating tale with “… the addictive quality of The Hunger Games combined with the fantasy of Harry Potter and the brutality of Game of Thrones.”— Public Radio International. For ages 14+.” North Carolina author Renee Ahdieh, the bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger, will be joining Tahir as her “in conversation” partner. If you pick up this week’s Indy Week you can find my preview of the Tahir/Ahdieh event, and I had the opportunity to talk with both Tahir and Ahdieh on this week’s episode of Carolina Book Beat.

In addition to further tour stops with Tahir in DC and New York, Ahdieh will also appear at this weekend’s Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors in Winston-Salem which runs from Thursday, September 8 through Sunday, September 11. Additional authors appearing at Bookmarks include Roshani Chokshi, Kate DiCamillo, Jonathan Safran Foer, John Grisham, Sarah J. Maas, Susan Bishop Crispell, Megan Miranda, Victoria Schwab, Colson Whitehead, Jacqueline Woodson, and more.

Woodson, Foer, and Whitehead all also make Triangle appearances this month:

September 9 (Friday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Jacqueline Woodson for Another Brooklyn, the award-winning children’s author’s first new adult book in 20 years. “Running into a long-ago friend sets memory from the 1970s in motion for August, transporting her to a time and a place where friendship was everything until it wasn t. For August and her girls, sharing confidences as they ambled through neighborhood streets, Brooklyn was a place where they believed that they were beautiful, talented, brilliant a part of a future that belonged to them. But beneath the hopeful veneer, there was another Brooklyn, a dangerous place where grown men reached for innocent girls in dark hallways, where ghosts haunted the night, where mothers disappeared. A world where madness was just a sunset away and fathers found hope in religion.” (Fiction.)

September 11 (Sunday) 2 pm — Pittsboro’s McIntyre’s Books hosts Jonathan Safran Foer for Here I Am: A Novel. “A monumental new novel from the bestselling author of Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks, in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. As Jacob and Julia and their three sons are forced to confront the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly escalating conflict in the Middle East. At stake is the very meaning of home — and the fundamental question of how much life one can bear. This is a ticketed event in The Fearrington Barn. Each ticket comes with a copy of Here I Am and permits entrance for two people to the event. Purchase a copy below or call the bookstore at 919.542.3030.” (Fiction.) UPDATE: This event has been cancelled.

September 22 (Thursday) 7 pm — The Regulator Bookshop (The Durham Armory) Colson Whitehead, “The Underground Railroad”. Whitehead is the author of the brilliant post-apocalyptic zombie novel Zone One. Here: “Prize-winning, bestselling author Colson Whitehead comes to The Regulator to discuss his new book, The Underground Railroad, a magnificent tour de force chronicling a young slave’s adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage, and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.” Note for the curious: in Whitehead’s powerful, speculative fiction retelling, the Underground Railroad is indeed an underground railway of tunnels and train cars. UPDATE: This will be a ticketed event, not free and open to the public as I initially reported. Two tickets come with each purchase of the book ($27.00), or tickets without a book are $10.00 each. Books with tickets may be purchased at the store, through our web site, or at the door. Admission tickets may be purchased at the door. Admission tickets may be used as credit toward a book purchase at the event.

MORE NEW EVENTS

Among thew newly listed September events, two are coming up this week, one near, one far, one for adults, one for young readers:

September 7 (Wednesday) 7 pm — Asheville’s Malaprop’s Bookstore hosts College of Charleston historian W. SCOTT POOLE launches IN THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS: THE LIFE, DEATH, AND EXTRAORDINARY AFTERLIFE OF H.P. LOVECRAFT. “We are celebrating the publication of In the Mountains of Madness: The Life, Death, and Extraordinary Afterlife of H.P. Lovecraft, W. Scott Poole’s new book about the iconic weird horror author. Kirkus Reviews praises it as “seamlessly weav[ing] biography and criticism … thoroughly enjoyable and highly readable.” The book follows Lovecraft through his life and into his significant afterlife, tracing his influence on modern horror filmmakers, writers, and readers.” Poole will also appear at Greensboro’s Scuppernong Books on Thursday, September 22.

September 10 (Saturday) 2 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Cassie Beasley discusses her bestselling middle-grade novel Circus Mirandus. “Even though his awful Great-Aunt Gertrudis doesn’t approve, Micah believes in the stories his dying Grandpa Ephraim tells him of the magical Circus Mirandus: the invisible tiger guarding the gates, the beautiful flying birdwoman, and the magician more powerful than any other: the Man Who Bends Light. Finally, Grandpa Ephraim offers proof. The Circus is real. And the Lightbender owes Ephraim a miracle. With his friend Jenny Mendoza in tow, Micah sets out to find the Circus and the man he believes will save his grandfather.”

And looking further ahead, on October 18 (Tuesday) 7 pm, Flyleaf Books hosts Jonathan Lethem discusses his new novel, A Gambler’s Anatomy. “The author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude returns with a devilishly entertaining novel about an international backgammon hustler who thinks he’s psychic. Too bad about the pesky brain tumor.”

NEWS and NOTES

• Asheville author Nathan Ballingrud will provide the foreword to a new foil-stamped edition of Never Bet the Devil and Other Warnings by Orrin Grey, which is set tolaunch a Kickstarter campaign on August 15.
• Speaking of Kickstarter campaigns, Durham’s Russ Pitts has launched Stage of Development: Indie City Edition to produce a documentary film series about indie game makers, starting with Chicago
• L.C. Fiore’s new novel The Last Great American Magic, a fantastical retelling of the legendary Tecumseh, was reviewed by Southern Literary Review
• Warren Rochelle was interviewed about his forthcoming novel The Werewolf and His Boy by EDGE Media
• Book Riot’s new list of 30 Oustanding Podcasts for Writers includes Durham author Mur Lafferty (for I Should Be Writing) and NC author Jake Bible (for Writing in Suburbia). Speaking of podcasts, John G. Hartness has a new one, Writing Rants, in which he "swears about the publishing industry and gives advice on building a career"
• Raleigh author Peter Wood announced the sale of a new story “Tired of the Same Old Quests” to Asimov’s
• The Regulator Bookshop is holding a contest on the theme “North Carolina: Weirdest State Ever?” to be judged by author Dave Barry, to promote his reading on September 7; entries are due September 2
• Durham author Monica Byrne is interviewed by Girls Like You and Me, about “what I dreamed about being when I was a kid versus what I turned out to be”
• Cover reveal! Michael Jasper reveals the latest new cover in his Contagious Magic series
• T. Frohock’s Los Nefilim is reviewed in the Little Red Reviewer
• This was the first year for the fan-voted Dragon Award run by Dragon*Con, and the nominees included Charlotte author A.J. Hartley for Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel for Steeplejack. Congrats, A.J.!
• The Mythopoeic Society announced the winners of the 2016 Mythopoeic Awards, including Pittsboro author Ursula Vernon’s Castle Hangnail for Children’s Literature. Congrats, Ursula!
• Ursula Vernon published a strange (and speculative!) prose poem This Vote Is Binding written "in response to all those articles about talking to women with headphones"
• Jake Bible announced a 3-book deal with Bell Bridge Books: "The deal is for three books: one stand-alone urban fantasy novel and two urban fantasy novels in the same series (although they will be stand-alones and not dependent on each other). They’ll be published over the next year/year and half, so be on the lookout for announcements!"
• Jay Requard announced that his short story "Mask of the Kravyads" has been selected among others for the 2016 Write Well Award: "I'd like to thank Silver Pen for the opportunity they first provided when they bought the story and their kind recognition now. I've always been a big proponent of the zines and I'm a humbled to be in the company of so many great authors."
• Charlotte author Renee Ahdieh announced a new duology "Flame in the Mist" forthcoming beginning in May 2017, called "a mash-up of Disney's Mulan and fantasy action movie 47 Ronin."
• The Table of Contents for Nightmare Magazine's forthcoming "People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror" issue was unveiled, including Alyssa Wong's non-fiction "The H Word: The Darkest, Truest Mirrors"
• Triangle-based Red Storm Entertainment's forthcoming virtual reality game Star Trek: Bridge Crew has been picking up glowing reviews, including at Stevivor and Wired
• Hillsborough author M. David Blake's "Absinthe Fish" (originally published in Bull Spec) was reprinted in the Rose Lemberg-edited anthology An Alphabet of Embers: An Anthology of Unclassifiables
• Raleigh author Peter Wood's fantasy story "By Land or By Sea" appeared in NC online magazine Page and Spine
• Charlotte author John G. Hartness announced that his omnibus collection Quicy Harker: Year One was nominated for the 2016 Summer Indie Book Awards #SIBA in horror books. Voting begins September 1.
• The cover for Charlotte author A.J. Hartley's Firebrand was revealed by YA Book Central; due out from Tor Teen in June 2017 it is the sequel to Steeplejack

NEW BOOKS and AUDIOBOOKS

Finally, there’s no need for a big bulleted list of “what’s new at bullspec.com since the last newsletter” as there’s only three new columns of note, but I’ll bullet list them anyway as otherwise it just looks like one giant hyperlink mess:

• The Exploding Spaceship reviews An Accident of Stars, Blood of the Earth, and Spiderlight
• Paul Kincaid’s From the Other Side, July 2016: NewCon Press turns 10, collections from Alastair Reynolds and M. John Harrison, sf/f and “mainstream” novels, and the strains of the fantastic in this year’s Booker Prize
• Coming to Town: W. Scott Poole for In the Mountains of Madness: The Life, Death, and Extraordinary Afterlife of H.P. Lovecraft, at Malaprop’s Bookstore and Scuppernong Books, reviewed by Nick Mamatas

-Sam

UPCOMING EVENTS, SEPTEMBER 2016

NEW: 6 (Tuesday) 4 pm — McIntyre’s Books presents The Last Kids on Earth and the Zombie Parade, with Max Brallier. “Join us at the Chatham Community Library on Tuesday, September 6th at 4PM to meet the author! MAX BRALLIER is the author of more than twenty books and games, including the middle-grade series The Last Kids on Earth. He writes children’s books and adult books, including the pick-your-own-path adventure Can YOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? He is the creator and writer of Galactic Hot Dogs, a sci-fi middle-grade series from Aladdin. He writes for licensed properties including Adventure Time, Regular Show, Steven Universe, and Uncle Grandpa. Max lives in New York City with his wife.”

6 (Tuesday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Sabaa Tahir for A Torch Against the Night, “the highly anticipated sequel to her acclaimed debut, An Ember in the Ashes. The follow-up novel continues Tahir’s suspenseful tale of rebellion in a land of oppression and fear. . Catch up to the action with Ember, a captivating tale with “… the addictive quality of The Hunger Games combined with the fantasy of Harry Potter and the brutality of Game of Thrones.”— Public Radio International. For ages 14+.” UPDATE: North Carolina author Renée Ahdieh, the bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger, will be joining Tahir as her “in conversation” partner.

6 — Local editor book release day for Things From Outer Space edited by Hank Davis (Baen Books)

6 — NC author book release day for The Secret Ingredient of Wishes: A Novel by Susan Bishop Crispell (Thomas Dunne Books).

NEW: 7 (Wednesday) 7 pm — Asheville’s Malaprop’s Bookstore hosts College of Charleston historian W. SCOTT POOLE launches IN THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS: THE LIFE, DEATH, AND EXTRAORDINARY AFTERLIFE OF H.P. LOVECRAFT. “We are celebrating the publication of In the Mountains of Madness: The Life, Death, and Extraordinary Afterlife of H.P. Lovecraft, W. Scott Poole’s new book about the iconic weird horror author. Kirkus Reviews praises it as “seamlessly weav[ing] biography and criticism … thoroughly enjoyable and highly readable.” The book follows Lovecraft through his life and into his significant afterlife, tracing his influence on modern horror filmmakers, writers, and readers.”

8 (Thursday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Ron Rash for The Risen. “The author of Serena returns with a suspenseful and evocative tale of two brothers whose lives are irrevocably altered by the events of one long-ago summer—and one bewitching young woman—and the secrets that surface decades later.” (Fiction.)

8 (Thursday) 7:30 pm — The Regulator Bookshop presents (at Motorco, ticketed event) Dave Barry, “Best. State. Ever: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland”. (Humor.)

NEW: 8-11 (Thursday to Sunday) — The Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors in Winston-Salem, with Renée Ahdieh, Roshani Chokshi, Kate DiCamillo, Jonathan Safran Foer, John Grisham, Sarah J. Maas, Susan Bishop Crispell, Megan Miranda, Victoria Schwab, Colson Whitehead, Jacqueline Woodson, and more.

9 (Friday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Jacqueline Woodson for Another Brooklyn, the award-winning children’s author’s first new adult book in 20 years. “Running into a long-ago friend sets memory from the 1970s in motion for August, transporting her to a time and a place where friendship was everything until it wasn t. For August and her girls, sharing confidences as they ambled through neighborhood streets, Brooklyn was a place where they believed that they were beautiful, talented, brilliant a part of a future that belonged to them. But beneath the hopeful veneer, there was another Brooklyn, a dangerous place where grown men reached for innocent girls in dark hallways, where ghosts haunted the night, where mothers disappeared. A world where madness was just a sunset away and fathers found hope in religion.” (Fiction.)

9 (Friday) 8 pm — The Durham Performing Arts Center hosts “Weird Al” Yankovic‘s “The Mandatory World Tour”.

NEW: 10 (Saturday) 2 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Cassie Beasley discusses her bestselling middle-grade novel Circus Mirandus. “Even though his awful Great-Aunt Gertrudis doesn’t approve, Micah believes in the stories his dying Grandpa Ephraim tells him of the magical Circus Mirandus: the invisible tiger guarding the gates, the beautiful flying birdwoman, and the magician more powerful than any other: the Man Who Bends Light. Finally, Grandpa Ephraim offers proof. The Circus is real. And the Lightbender owes Ephraim a miracle. With his friend Jenny Mendoza in tow, Micah sets out to find the Circus and the man he believes will save his grandfather.”

NEW: 10 (Saturday) 8 pm to 2 am — Durham’s Arcana (331 W Main St 002, Back Entrance) presents Aether Lounge: A Steampunk/NeoVintage Dance Party with DJs Emmett Davenport and Lady Attercop. “One part frustrated Vaudevillians searching for a stage, and one part 80s era rockers with too much hairspray and not enough adult supervision. They spin an eclectic mix of everything from torch songs, swing, indie, electronic, punk, funk, 80s new wave, neo-vintage, and neo-folk to good old fashioned favorites. They will get your rump thumping and your blood pumping.”

NEW: 11 (Sunday) 2 pm — Pittsboro’s McIntyre’s Books hosts Jonathan Safran Foer for Here I Am: A Novel. “A monumental new novel from the bestselling author of Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks, in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. As Jacob and Julia and their three sons are forced to confront the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly escalating conflict in the Middle East. At stake is the very meaning of home — and the fundamental question of how much life one can bear. This is a ticketed event in The Fearrington Barn. Each ticket comes with a copy of Here I Am and permits entrance for two people to the event. Purchase a copy below or call the bookstore at 919.542.3030.” (Fiction.) UPDATE: This event has been cancelled.

NEW: 16 (Friday) 7 pm — The Carolina Theatre of Durham’s Retro Films Series presents Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro & Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards.

NEW: 17-18 (Saturday and Sunday) Durham’s CenterFest Arts Festival in Downtown Durham.

22 (Thursday) 7 pm — The Regulator Bookshop (The Durham Armory) Colson Whitehead, “The Underground Railroad”. Whitehead is the author of the brilliant post-apocalyptic zombie novel Zone One. Here: “Prize-winning, bestselling author Colson Whitehead comes to The Regulator to discuss his new book, The Underground Railroad, a magnificent tour de force chronicling a young slave’s adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage, and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.” Note for the curious: in Whitehead’s retelling, the Underground Railroad is indeed an underground railway of tunnels and train cars. Don’t miss this! UPDATE: This will be a ticketed event, not free and open to the public as I initially reported. Two tickets come with each purchase of the book ($27.00), or tickets without a book are $10.00 each. Books with tickets may be purchased at the store, through our web site, or at the door. Admission tickets may be purchased at the door. Admission tickets may be used as credit toward a book purchase at the event.

NEW: 22 (Thursday) 7 pm — Greensboro’s Scuppernong Books hosts College of Charleston historian Scott Poole for his book In the Mountains of Madness: The Life, Death, and Extraordinary Afterlife of H.P. Lovecraft (Soft Skull Press) which “interweaves the biography of the legendary writer with an exploration of Lovecraft as a phenomenon. It aims to explain this reclusive figure while also challenging some of the general views held by Lovecraft devotees, focusing specifically on the large cross-section of horror and science fiction fans who know Lovecraft through films, Role Playing Games, and video games directly influenced by his work but know little or nothing about him.”

NEW: 24 (Saturday) 10 am to 5 pm — Hickory Con Fall 2016 at the Hickory Metro Convention and Visitors’ Bureau. “Artists include Matari Bain, Stacey Fleming, Brian Monroe and dozens more. We will have the 501st Legion, Star Trek Fleet and the Klingon Assault Group as well. Bring your camera!”

NEW: 25 (Sunday) 2 pm — Wake County’s Southeast Regional Library hosts a “Meet the Authors Tea” with Clay and Susan Griffith, Mur Lafferty, Katy Munger, and Lucy Daniels.

NEW: 26 (Monday) 7 pm — The Regulator Bookshop hosts Thomas Mullen,” Darktown”. “Thomas Mullen will read from his new novel, Darktown. The award-winning author of The Last Town on Earth delivers a riveting and elegant 1948-set thriller set in Atlanta that explores murder, corrupt police, and strained race relations that feels ripped from today’s headlines.” (Fiction.)

OCTOBER 2016

3 (Monday) 6:30 pm — First Monday Classics at the Orange County Library discusses Ulysses by James Joyce.

7 (Friday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Emma Donoghue – ‘The Wonder’. “The author of Room and Frog Music visits with a powerful psychological thriller.  Emma Donoghue shares The Wonder on Friday, October 7, at 7 pm.  An English nurse is brought to a small Irish village to observe what appears to be a miracle – a girl said to have survived without food for months.  She soon finds herself fighting to save the child’s life in a tale of two strangers who transform each other’s lives, and a story of love pitted against evil.”

7 — Durham author book release day for Now and Then We Time Travel: Visiting Pasts and Futures in Film and Television by Fraser A. Sherman (McFarland and Co, October 7).

11 — NC author book release day for The Perilous Journey of the Much Too Spontaneous Girl by Leigh Statham (Month9Books, October 11), a follow-on to The Perilous Journey of the Not So Innocuous Girl.

11 — Local author book release day for The Delphi Effect by Rysa Walker (Skyscape, October 11) first in a new series called “The Delphi Trilogy”.

11 —  NC author book release day for The Secret Horses of Briar Hill by Megan Shepherd (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) — “There are winged horses that live in the mirrors of Briar Hill hospital. In the mirrors that line its grand hallways, which once belonged to a princess. In those that reflect the elegant rooms, now filled with sick children. It is her secret.”

NEW-NEW: 13 (Thursday) 6 pm — Chapel Hill Comics hosts Box Brown for his new graphic novel TETRIS. “Box Brown (Andre the Giant) will be in the shop to talk about his new graphic novel TETRIS! It’s a history of the game we all know and love. Rob Clough will also be on hand to lead the conversation portion of the evening. We will also have an arcade version of the game on hand courtesy of the Baxter Bar & Arcade. They will also be hosting an afterparty at 8:00!“

14 (Friday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Marie Lu for The Midnight Star concluding her Young Elites series. (Teen.)

14 (Friday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books presents Jodi Picoult – ‘Small Great Things’ (ticketed off-site event). (Fiction.)

NEW-NEW: 14-15 (Friday and Saturday) — The National Humanities Center (7 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709) announces a new public program entitled Novel Sounds: American Fiction in the Age of Rock and Roll, to be held at the Center October 14-15, 2016. This conference provides a forum for examining rock and roll as a literary form of expression crucially shaping our national heritage. Panelists will explore the surprising reciprocity between the apparently irreverent form of rock and roll and serious literature. Although the birth of rock dates to the mid-1950s, Novel Sounds examines the relationship as it has been developing since the emergence of the ballad form itself. The program features rock pioneer Richard Thompson in concert, presented by Carolina Performing Arts at University of North Carolina’s Memorial Hall. Our keynote panel October 15 will feature Mr. Thompson in a discussion with cultural critic Greil Marcus and novelist Jonathan Lethem. Conference pricing is $65 for general admission and $45 for students and seniors. Registration includes admission to all panels, lunch on Friday, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, closing reception, and a ticket to the Friday evening concert by rock pioneer Richard Thompson at Memorial Hall.

15 (Saturday) — The Charlotte Mariott City Center hosts Carolina Book Fest 2016 with a huge author lineup, followed by the annual “Monster Mash” dance party.

NEW: 16 (Sunday) 2 pm — Southern Pines’ Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities hosts the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. “Mystery writer Margaret Maron of Willow Spring, Durham-born bestselling author Clyde Edgerton, and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carl Sandburg will be inducted into the NC Literary Hall of Fame. Winner of several major American awards for mysteries, Maron is the author of thirty novels and two collections of short stories. Edgerton is the author of ten novels, a book of advice, and a memoir. Five of his novels have been New York Times Notable Books. Carl Sandburg won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1940 for his multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln, and his second in 1951 for his Complete Poems. Program participants include Rhonda Bellamy, H. Tyrone Brandyburg, Talmadge Ragan, Bland Simpson, Shelby Stephenson, Geroge Terll, and J. Peder Zane.”

17 (Monday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Karim Dimechkie – ‘Lifted by the Great Nothing’. (Fiction.)

NEW-NEW: 17 (Monday) 7:30 pm — Duke University hosts Junot Diaz for the Blackburn Fiction Reading at the Nelson Music Room, Duke University, East Duke Building, 1304 Campus Dr., Duke University, Durham, NC 27708. “Junot Diaz will be giving the Blackburn Fiction Reading at Duke University. A book-signing and reception will take place at the East Duke Parlors, in the East Duke Building. Sponsored by the Duke University English Department. Books will be available for sale courtesy of The Regulator Bookshop. This event is FREE however, tickets are required to attend.” If you can’t make the reading proper at 7:30, the reception and booksigning follow at 9 pm. For more information visit the Duke English page. UPDATE: Sold out.

18 — Pittsboro author book release day for Hamster Princess: Ratpunzel by Ursula Vernon (Dial Books).

18 — NC author book release day for Scepter of Fire by Vicki L. Weavil (Month9Books, October 18), Book 2 in her Snow Queen Saga.

NEW: 18 (Tuesday) 7 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Jonathan Lethem discusses his new novel, A Gambler’s Anatomy. “The author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude returns with a devilishly entertaining novel about an international backgammon hustler who thinks he’s psychic. Too bad about the pesky brain tumor.”

NEW-NEW: 18 (Tuesday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Jay Asher for his new young adult novel What Lights. “Jay Asher first came on to the literary scene with Thirteen Reasons Why—a novel that quickly established itself as the defining YA book of an entire generation of readers. Since its release in 2007, this award-winning novel has sold over 2.5 million copies, has been translated into thirty-five languages, and still regularly appears on the New York Times bestseller list.” (Teen fiction.)

20 (Thursday) 7:30 pm — The Durham Performing Arts Center hosts astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, presented in partnership with UNC’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

20 — NC author non-fiction book release day for Julius Caesar: A Critical Reader by Andrew James Hartley (Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare).

21-23 (Friday to Sunday) — Cosplay America 2016 at the Sheraton Chapel Hill Hotel (1 Europa Dr, Chapel Hill).

NEW-NEW: 22-23 (Saturday and Sunday) — Halloween Comic Fest at Arkham Comix in Rocky Mount, with “TV personalities, FREE Comics, Live Bands, Artists, Writers and more! Arkham Comix’s HalloweenFest!“

23 (Sunday) 4 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts A. J. Hartley for Steeplejack, his first in a new YA fantasy for Tor. “Set in a 19th-century South African fantasy world, Hartley introduces a dynamic, complex and likeable new heroine who combines wits, skill and courage to face deadly challenges. Steeplejack is the first in a new YA fantasy series. We loved his Darwen Arkwright series for younger readers. If you’ve never heard him present, you’re in for a treat. For ages 13+.”

NEW: 23 (Sunday) 6:30 to 9:30 pm — Raleigh’s Legends Nightclub hosts Nerd-Vana’s cabaret/comedy/burlesque presentation I’ll Be In My Bunk - A Tribute to the Whedonverse. “We’ll be diving into the best that television has had to offer in the past 20 years, covering Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse, Firefly, Avengers and we may even have a naughty Toy Story number. Who knows?! Probably the man that has a PhD in Horribleness, Dr Horrible!“

25 — Raleigh author book release day for The Flash: The Haunting of Barry Allen by Clay and Susan Griffith (Titan Books, October 25), a “crossover” novel with The CW’s Arrow.

25 — NC author book release day for Into the Fire (Night Prince) by Jeanine Frost (Avon).

NEW-NEW: 27 (Thursday) 6 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Megan Shepherd and John Claude Bemis to discuss their new middle grade novels The Secret Horses of Briar Hill and The Wooden Prince.

28-30 (Friday to Sunday) — Military science fiction convention HonorCon returns to the Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown with author guest of honor David Weber, authors Charles Gannon, Christopher Nuttall, Greg Cox, Steve White, and more, and special media guest writer/producer/actor Claudia Christian from Babylon 5.

NOVEMBER 2016

NEW-NEW: 1 (Tuesday) 5:30 pm to 7 pm — Duke University’s Franklin Humanities Institute hosts Alex Rosenberg reads from “Autumn in Oxford”, co-sponsored by The Regulator Bookshop. “Alex Rosenberg will read from his mystery novel “Autumn in Oxford.” An American academic comes to the United Kingdom in the late 1950s after being blacklisted in the United States due to his youthful commitment to racial equality and membership in the Communist Party before the war. After he is framed for a murder in Oxford, his solicitor investigates his background, interviewing historical figures such as Thurgood Marshall, Bayard Rustin, and John Hope Franklin in order to clear him of the charge. Katharine Dubois (who writes historical romance under the name Katharine Ashe) will respond.  Alex Rosenberg is R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy at Duke University.” (Mystery.)

4-6 (Friday to Sunday) — The NC Writers Network’s Fall Conference in Raleigh. “The Fall Conference attracts hundreds of writers from around the country and provides a weekend full of activities that include lunch and dinner banquets with readings, keynotes, tracks in several genres, open mic sessions, and the opportunity for one-on-one manuscript critiques with editors or agents. Conference faculty include professional writers from North Carolina and beyond. Held every year in a major hotel, the conference rotates annually. Registration opens on or around September 1.”

11-13 (Friday to Sunday) — NC Comicon 2016 at the Durham Convention Center with Gerard Way, Marley Zarcone, and many more including a contingent from DC Comics and a special appearance by bestselling author Lee Child.

NEW-NEW: 12-13 (Saturday and Sunday) — Time Travelers Weekend at the Carolina Renassaince Festival in Huntersville, NC. “Join us as we travel back in time to have a Merry Time Travelers Weekend!” Quite a few authors will be signing books as well including Edward McKeown, Traci Ludin, Matthew Saunders, Laurie McKay, Misty Massey, and more.

18 (Friday) 7 pm — The Regulator Bookshop presents Community Conversation with Roy Scranton, “War Porn”. Scranton is the author of Learning to Die in the Anthropocene, and this is his first novel.

NEW: 18 (Friday) 7 pm — The Carolina Theatre of Durham’s Retro Film Series presents Flash Gordon & Zardoz.

DECEMBER 2016

NEW-NEW: 2 (Friday) 7 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Warren Ellis for his new novel Normal. “A smart, tight, provocative techno-thriller straight out of the very near future—by an iconic visionary writer.”

4 (Sunday) 10 am to 4 pm — Raleigh Comic Book Show at the Hilton Garden Inn Crabtree (3912 Arrow Dr, Raleigh). Free admission.

27 — Local editor book release day for If This Goes Wrong… edited by Hank Davis (Baen Books)

JANUARY 2017

13-15 (Friday to Sunday) — illogiCon with author guest of honor Daniel Jose Older.

31 — Durham author book release day for Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (Orbit Books).

FEBRUARY 2017

24-26 (Friday to Sunday) — MystiCon in Roanoke, Virginia with guests of honor David Weber and Joe R. Lansdale.

MARCH 2017

7 — Raleigh author novel release day for The Moon and the Other by John Kessel (Saga Press, March 7, 2017) — “John Kessel, one of the most visionary writers in the field, has created a rich matriarchal utopia, set in the near future on the moon, a society that is flawed by love and sex, and on the brink of a destructive civil war.”

7 — Raleigh author book release day for A Rebel’s Stone by P.T. McHugh (Glass House, September 19, 2016) Book 2 in his “Stone Ends” series after Keeper of the Black Stones.

18-19 (Saturday and Sunday) — Oak City Comicon 2017 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

MAY 2017

23-28 (Tuesday to Sunday) — The Durham Performing Arts Center presents Finding Neverland, which “tells the incredible story behind one of the world’s most beloved characters: Peter Pan.  Playwright J.M. Barrie struggles to find inspiration until he meets four young brothers and their beautiful widowed mother. Spellbound by the boys’ enchanting make-believe adventures, he sets out to write a play that will astound London theatergoers.”

JUNE 2017

1 — NC author book release day for The Sweetest Burn (A Broken Destiny Novel) by Jeanine Frost (HQN Books).

6 — NC author book release day for Firebrand by A.J. Hartley (Tor Teen), sequel to Steeplejack.

JULY 2017

14-16 (Friday to Sunday) — DeepSouthCon 55 at ConGregate 4 in High Point, NC with author guest of honor Barbara Hambly.

AUGUST 2017

5 (Saturday) 10 am to 4 pm — One-day mini-convention For the Love of Books Raleigh at the Raleigh Marriott City Center: “With each of our events our goal is to create a more intimate setting so that authors have more time with their fans and readers have more time discovering authors they haven’t read yet. By creating a smaller event, (about 20-25 authors,) we will be able to concentrate on all of the extras that make a signing fun, memorable, and relaxing.”

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