July 27, 2022 | Issue #105 |
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Latest News From "The Fab Four"
Patti Callahan Henry will be at the Oxford Summer Institute (yes, that Oxford, in England) and if you can’t quite get there you can watch her talk on video if you’d like! LINK HERE! During our two week hiatus, she’ll be posting loads of hints and pictures about the new book coming out next year, set in the places she’ll be visiting. Here’s to afternoon teas, long walks in green gardens and seasides, and the magical spell of Oxford, London, and Cornwall. She’s also thrilled that The Florida Times-Union posted this beautiful review for Once Upon a Wardrobe.
Kristy Woodson Harvey had so much fun launching her Christmas in July giveaway for The Summer of Songbirds pre-orders. And you guys blew her away with your pre-orders! Make sure you’re subscribed to her newsletter to be the first to know about fun things like this in the future. And if you haven’t preordered your copy of The Summer of Songbirds (coming April 25, 2023!), it’s available for pre-order now. Thanks for all your support!
Kristin Harmel is completely recovered from being sick last week, and is still heartbroken that she had to miss the F&F events in Delaware. She spent two days with her family at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort this week and enjoyed cooling off in the pool and watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the deck. (She has a small number of Disney Vacation Club points and loves to use them on one night “staycation” stays throughout the year. The Polynesian and Animal Kingdom Lodge are her favorite DVC resorts.) She saw some final cover concepts for The Paris Daughter last week and is thrilled that she’ll have a gorgeous cover to share with all of you soon! And she wants to remind you that her little sister Karen Cleveland’s novel, The New Neighbor, is out this week if you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller.
What Kristin is Reading: Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel, out February 2023, for a blurb
Mary Kay Andrews had way too much fun with my Friends & Fiction crew meeting booksellers and readers at the Delaware Shore last week, at Bethany Beach Books and Browseabout in Rehoboth Beach, where she left lots of signed copies of The Homewreckers behind. This week she’s enjoying a low-key birthday week that includes dinner out with friends and working away on her not-so-secret secret project. Thrilled to announce we finally have a title: Bright Lights, Big Christmas–look for it Fall of 2023.
What MKA is Reading: The Maid by Nita Prose
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Get to Know Our Friend, Jason Mott!
What would you be if you weren't a writer?
Probably a software engineer. Two of my best friends are software engineers and I've always found it fascinating. I even put a little energy into it for a while, but it never quite matched the enjoyment I got from writing. But maybe in the next life…
What's the biggest misconception people have about you and your work?
The biggest misconception about me is probably my financial situation. Haha! There's a popular thought that all authors must be millionaires. I can verify that this is wholly untrue. Even though I'm a full-time author, I'm still very much someone just trying to make ends meet.
Do you have any writing rituals?
Not especially. However, I am a writer who likes to work with some sort of background noise and, for me, that usually winds up being either 80s/90s action movies or wonderfully bad B movies.
Is there a particular independent bookstore or library you'd like to shout-out?
I would love to give a shout-out to Pomegranate Books in Wilmington, NC. They've supported me for well over a decade now and I love them for it.
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Get to Know Our Friend, Jamie Ford!
What would you be if you weren’t a writer?
I would be an inventor working on a time machine, with the goal of going back a few decades and telling my younger self to write more, give up less, and buy Bitcoin.
What's the biggest misconception people have about you and your work?
That I’m a female author. The name, “Jamie,” confuses a lot of people. It’s always weird to walk into an interview and the host looks up and says, “You’re a dude!” Which is often followed by, “Wow, you write women so well.” (I take that as a huge compliment).
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
I still don’t know if I want to be a writer. It’s hard work. It sometimes bends my brain into a pretzel. There are times where I wish I’d taken the career path recommended by my high school guidance counselor and become a truck driver.
Tell us about the first piece of fiction you ever wrote.
When I was in the fifth grade my parents sent me to poetry camp, where I wrote about jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. An apt metaphor for most of my grade-school crushes.
Do you have any writing rituals?
Does blowing my deadlines count? All of my books seem to have that unfortunate ritual in common. Apologies to my brilliant and incredibly patient editor if she’s reading this.
Is there a particular independent bookstore or library you'd like to shout-out?
Riverby Books in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I popped by a few years ago and overheard a bookseller explaining, “We don’t carry James Patterson novels because we’re a small store, have limited space, and prefer to make room for authors who write their own books.”
The last book you raved about:
Tell us about your work-in-progress.
The only thing I’ll share is that my last research interview was at the University of Virginia with the Director of the Division of Perceptual Studies. He’s a pediatric psychiatrist who studies children with memories of past lives.
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Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming this Friday, July 29th—Ron and special guest Nancy Johnson talk to NAACP Image Award finalist Dolen Perkins-Valdez about her searing and timely novel, the critically acclaimed, Take My Hand.
Out Now! WB_S3E14—Ron talks with Christina Geist about her newest book in her Growing with Buddy series, Buddy's New Buddy, and shares how she created the characters and the importance of picture books in literary growth! 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
We have a lot of fun events coming up. Take a look at our book club schedule and be sure to save the dates! All events begin at 7pm Eastern unless otherwise noted.
August 3: The Book Club is taking over the F&F main Facebook page for a very special happy hour hosted by Brenda & Lisa with special guests Meg Walker and Ron Block! Tune in for a sneak preview from Meg into the author guests they have in store for the F&F fall season of the Wed night live web show and hear from Ron with all the inside scoop on what’s coming up on the podcast.
August 19: Two-Year Book Club Anniversary Celebration with the Fab Four!
Grab these books and start reading now!
If you missed our book club discussion with Emily Henry about Book Lovers on Monday, July 18th, catch it on YouTube HERE.
Did you hear? The Friends & Fiction Official Book Club is now on YouTube! You can view previous book club discussions and happy hours at your leisure. Check it out HERE!
Not a member of the Friends & Fiction Book Club? Join us! We would love to have you!
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Join the F&F 2022 Reading Challenge!
Join us in 2022 for a fun 12-month reading challenge. We will challenge each other all year long to read books in a different category every month. This will help all of us broaden our horizons and read books in different genres we may not have chosen for ourselves. This is a fun way to join with the rest of the F&F community and share a fun reading experience. And the F&F Reading Journal makes the perfect companion piece to this challenge, helping you keep track of all the books you read all year long. Grab your reading journal HERE.
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F&F is on YouTube!
Subscribe Today!
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Did you miss the July 20th episode with Jennifer Weiner & Mateo Askaripour? If so, you can watch it on our YouTube channel HERE. We air our show on YouTube every Wednesday night at 7pm ET. And every episode since our show’s inception can be found there too. So if you ever miss one, or in case Facebook is being difficult, check us out on YouTube. Subscribe today so you never miss an episode and get alerted every time we post new content. We also have book trailers and highlight clips on our channel, too! Watch the July 20th show HERE.
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Join Us on Fable!
Introducing Friends & Fiction: Behind the Book
Have you joined F&F on Fable yet?! We are taking our immersive reading experience a step further by partnering with this unique social platform to form the “Friends & Fiction: Behind the Book” Premium Book Club! Let’s discover, read, and talk about great books together! Download the FREE Fable app for your phone or tablet. Join MKA, Kristin, Kristy & Patti as they talk about their own books, the books they love, and books they're just discovering together. They’ll feature a new book selection every month, plus special club events, exclusive content, and more! Join our Premium Club for just $5/month! JOIN TODAY!
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Friends & Fiction Merchandise
SHOP THE F&F MERCH STORE!
NEW! Stay on track with the exclusive Friends & Fiction Reading Journal, featuring 52 book entries (one for every week of the year), a lending library, reading list, and books you put down. With a cloth cover, gold foil embossing, a satin ribbon page marker, elastic band, heavyweight paper, and a back pocket to store notes, this is the perfect gift for the book lover in your life—or for yourself! ORDER READING JOURNALS 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 pride! ORDER T-SHIRTS HERE.
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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