Newsletter 2025.1: Rebecca Yarros, Amal El-Mohtar, Alyssa Wong, Natania Barron, Michele Tracy Berger, and more
← Newsletter 2023.2: Nathan Ballingrud's The Strange, T. Kingfisher's A House With Good Bones, FantaSci 2023 with Richard A. Knaak and Howard Andrew Jones, and moreNewsletter 2025.1: Rebecca Yarros, Amal El-Mohtar, Alyssa Wong, Natania Barron, Michele Tracy Berger, and more
Posted on 2025-01-08 at 18:00 by montsamu
Vol 12 No 1. Wednesday, January 8, 2025: Another year, another newsletter to kick things off. Who knows, maybe we will even see more than one this year? What we will certainly see is an intriguing crop of upcoming readings, new book releases, and of course our ever-shifting convention landscape.
EVENTS
Tomorrow night (yes tomorrow, Thursday, January 9th, late notice, sorry!) the North Carolina Chapter of the Horror Writers Association hosts a group reading at Flyleaf Books, including reading from Richard Dansky, Samantha Dunaway Bryant, Garrett Boatman, Tony Bowman, Robert Creekmore, and Michael G. Williams. The event starts at 6 pm.
Already sold out, but who knows, maybe if you keep an ear and eye out (and get on the waitlist) on Monday, January 27th you might be able to get in to see Rebecca Yarros talking about ‘Onyx Storm’ at NC State’s McKimmon Center in partnership with Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books and NC State University Libraries. A tour stop to launch the third book in Yarros’ runaway bestselling ‘Empyrean’ series, the event encourages dressing up in costume and promises activities and answered questions.
Natania Barron’s latest novel Queen of Fury hit bookstores late last year, and she’ll be talking all things Arthurian at a launch event at Hillsborough’s Yonder Bar on Wednesday, January 29th where she will be in conversation with Samuel Montgomery-Blinn starting at 7 pm. Barron also has another novel, The Viscount St. Albans, continuing her “Love In Netherford” series, coming out February 14. NOTE: This event has unfortunately been cancelled.
Michele Tracy Berger returns to the Triangle area for a reading of her collection Doll Seed: Stories at Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books on Tuesday, February 11th with a pre-event signing at 5:30 pm and discussion with Marjorie Hudson starting at 6 pm.
Ret-Con kicks off our local and regional convention season on February 21-23 at the DoubleTree Hotel Raleigh-Durham Airport at Research Triangle Park, with guest of honor Tally Johnson, and many more guests including Alexandra Christian, Drew Bailey, Garrett Boatman, Jason Gilbert, Misty Massey, Richard Dansky, William C. Tracy, and Nicole Givens Kurtz among others. Pre-registration is still open, and I will see you there!
And! Amal El-Mohtar visits Flyleaf Books on Thursday, March 6 in conversation with Alyssa Wong! El-Mohtar will be on tour for her solo debut The River Has Roots, “an enchanting story of two sisters, heirs to an extraordinary stewardship on the edge of Faerie, separated by worlds, desires, and even death, who never let go of their love.” Between El-Mohtar and Wong the number of awards won is staggering and I can’t wait to hear their conversation.
NEWS
Last year’s Manly Wade Wellman Award for North Carolina Science Fiction and Fantasy went to Donna Glee Williams for The Night Field. For full details, see the announcement by the NCSFF: Announcing the Winner of the 2024 Manly Wade Wellman Award.
And, er, since it has been well over a year since the last newsletter went out, I should also mention the previous year’s Wellman Award winner! which was Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher, for Nettle & Bone. For full details there, see the announcement by the NCSFF: Announcing the Winner of the 2023 Manly Wade Wellman Award.
CALENDAR
January
9 (Thursday) 6 pm — The North Carolina Chapter of the Horror Writers Association hosts a group reading at Flyleaf Books, including reading from Richard Dansky, Samantha Dunaway Bryant, Garrett Boatman, Tony Bowman, Robert Creekmore, and Michael G. Williams.
NEW-NEW: 21 (Tue) 7 pm — T. Frohock launches a new fully-revised edition of her debut novel Miserere: An Autumn Tale in conversation with Edward Myers via YouTube Live
23-26 — TantrumCon in Charlotte’s Downtown “Le Meridien” Mariott. A board game convention “packed with exciting events, flavorful fun, and cardboard galore! It boasts a family-friendly environment wrapped in southern charm and supercharged with national competition.”
27 (Monday) — Already sold out, but who knows, maybe if you keep an ear and eye out (and get on the waitlist) you might be able to get in to see Rebecca Yarros talking about ‘Onyx Storm’ at NC State’s McKimmon Center in partnership with Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books and NC State University Libraries. A tour stop to launch the third book in Yarros’ runaway bestselling ‘Empyrean’ series, the event encourages dressing up in costume and promises activities and answered questions.
CANCELLED: 29 (Wednesday) 7 pm — Natania Barron’s latest novel Queen of Fury hit bookstores late last year, and she’ll be talking all things Arthurian at a launch event at Hillsborough’s Yonder Bar where she will be in conversation with Samuel Montgomery-Blinn. Barron also has another novel, The Viscount St. Albans, continuing her “Love In Netherford” series, coming out February 14.
February
NEW-NEW: 8 (Sat) 9-11 am, 4-6 pm — Author Scott Reintgen will be at the Cary Barnes & Noble, signing copies of his new book A Burning In The Bones which concludes his “Waxways” trilogy.
11 (Tue) 6 pm (5:30 pm signing) — Michele Tracy Berger returns to the Triangle area for a reading of her collection Doll Seed: Stories at Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books, in discussion with Marjorie Hudson.
NEW: 18 (Tue) 6 pm (5:30 pm signing) — AJ Romriell presents Wolf Act, with Melissa Faliveno at Flyleaf Books. “Through linked personal essays crafted in lyric, fabulist, and fragmented forms, Wolf Act charts a young man’s transformation. Weaving together wolfish fairy tales and mythology, Mormon theology and practice, piercings and tattoos, cave explorations, ghost stories, and more, Romriell explores a childhood of hiding, a familial reckoning, a religious exodus, and an effort to understand one’s life as worth saving—even when the meaning of the word ‘saving’ must be reimagined.”
21-23 — Ret-Con kicks off our local and regional convention season at the DoubleTree Hotel Raleigh-Durham Airport at Research Triangle Park, with guest of honor Tally Johnson, and many more guests including Alexandra Christian, Drew Bailey, Garrett Boatman, Jason Gilbert, Misty Massey, Richard Dansky, William C. Tracy, and Nicole Givens Kurtz among others.
NEW-NEW: 22 (Sat) 12 pm to 3 pm — Durham’s Atomic Empire hosts another Geek Garage Sale where sellers book tables for just $5 and free admission to buyers: “Got a closet full of games and toys that you’re ready to trade for other, different games and toys? Want to get a great deal on someone else’s barely-used merchandise? Come out to our Geek Garage Sale to find new-to-you treasures or turn your spare items into Atomic Empire store credit!”
March
6 (Thursday) 6 pm (5:30 pm signing) — Amal El-Mohtar visits Flyleaf Books in conversation with Alyssa Wong! El-Mohtar will be on tour for her solo debut The River Has Roots, “an enchanting story of two sisters, heirs to an extraordinary stewardship on the edge of Faerie, separated by worlds, desires, and even death, who never let go of their love.”
8 (Saturday) 10 am to 5 pm — Durham Spring Mini ComiCon at the Durham Armory.
NEW-NEW: 19 (Wednesday) 7 pm — Presented offsite at the NC State Witherspoon Student Center Cinema, Quail Ridge Books hosts Tracy Deonn for Oathbound. “Deonn’s #1 New York Times bestselling Legendborn Cycle continues in the sensational third book about a dazzling contemporary fantasy world that blends Southern Black Girl Magic with secret societies and the legend of King Arthur!”
NEW-NEW: 26 (Wednesday) 6 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Jonathan Stroud for The Legendary Scarlett & Browne. “The death-defying conclusion to the ‘audacious’, ‘razor-sharp’, and ‘raucous’ exploits of the notorious outlaws Scarlett and Browne from the bestselling author of Lockwood & Co.”
28-30 — Triad Anime Con at the Winston-Salem Marriott.
April
NEW-NEW: 2 (Wed) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Emily Carpenter for Gothictown. “In an immersive Southern Gothic with echoes of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, a restauranteur lured by pandemic-era incentives moves her family to a seemingly idyllic small town in Georgia, only to discover a darkness lurking beneath the Southern hospitality and sun-dappled streets.”
NEW: 9 (Wed) 6 pm — Valerie Nieman visits Wake Forest’s Page 158 Books with her new novel Upon the Corner of the Moon: A Tale of the Macbeths, out March 11 from Regal House. “At the dawn of the second millennium, two royal Scottish children are swept away from their families—Macbeth to the perilous royal court of his grandfather, and Gruach to the remnants of the goddess-worshiping Picts. Macbeth learns that blood bonds are easily severed while Gruach finds her path only to lose it when she’s summoned back to the patriarchal world.”
NEW: 26 (Sat) 1 pm — Jennifer Moorman visits Wake Forest’s Page 158 Books with her new novel The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds, out January 14th from Harper Muse, with this event the bookstore’s headline for Independent Bookstore Day. “Widowed at thirty-five, Josephine Reynolds wishes she could disappear, but her concerned sister convinces her to buy their ancestral home, a Craftsman bungalow in disrepair and foreclosure. It’s a welcome distraction, and Josephine can’t believe her luck when she finds the home’s original door in a salvage yard. When she installs the door and steps through it, Josephine is transported into 1927, where she meets her great-grandmother Alma, a vivacious and daring woman running an illegal speakeasy in the bungalow’s basement. Immersed in the vibrant Jazz Age, Josephine forms a profound bond with Alma, only to discover upon her return to the present that history has been altered.”
May
NEW-NEW: 7 (Wednesday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Sarah Pennter for The Amalfi Curse. “Powerful witchcraft. A hunt for sunken treasure. Forbidden love on the high seas.”
NEW-NEW: 15 (Thursday) 7 pm — Presented offsite at the NC State Witherspoon Student Center Cinema, Quail Ridge Books hosts Danielle L. Jensen for A Curse Carved In Bone. “A shield maiden fights to break the shackles of prophecy—and to overcome the betrayal of the man who broke her heart—in this searing conclusion to the Norse-inspired fantasy romance duology that began with the bestselling A Fate Inked in Blood.”
23-25 — Animazement at the Raleigh Convention Center. “Animazement is Raleigh’s premier Japanese animation and culture convention! Enjoy concerts, educational panels, limited merchandise, unique artwork, and more!“
30 - (June) 1 — ConCarolinas 2025 at Charlotte’s Hilton University Place Hotel with author guests of honor Robert J. Sawyer and Wesley Chu.
June
NEW-NEW: 3 (Tue) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Natania Barron for Queen of Mercy. “The gorgeous final chapter in the critically-acclaimed female-led Arthurian Fantasy Romance trilogy. Natania will be in conversation with Samuel Montgomery-Blinn and will sign books after the program.”
July
11-13 — ConGregate 11 at Winston-Salem’s Downtown Mariott & Embassy Suites, with guests of honor Timothy Zahn, Milton J. Davis, and Michael A. Stackpole.