October 27, 2021 | Issue #65 |
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Five Facts from Our Friends, Richard Paul Evans
The one thing you’ve learned you can’t live without during the pandemic:
My grandchildren. My 5-year-old granddaughter dressed up in a princess dress with a matching mask. We called her pandemic princess.
Your perfect day:
My perfect day is a day of creation and hard work at my ranch. My ranch is my happy place.
Your favorite independent bookstore:
My favorite independent bookstore no longer exists. It was Jorgensons in the small town of Roy, Utah. The previous owner, Darlene, who has passed away, reminded me of a John Waters creation (Hairspray) with a massive beehive hairdo. She was an early adopter of my first book and sold an incredible 5,000 copies of The Christmas Box that first Christmas.
The last book you raved about:
Your next book in ten words or less:
Prodigal son story with Asian identical twins.
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Bookstore of the Week
Warwick's
Have you bought a book from Warwicks Books lately? They are our featured indie of the month! Located in beautiful La Jolla, CA they are the country's oldest continuously family-owned and operated bookstore, making them an ideal partner for our mission! Please shop local, shop small, and support our partners by buying from Warwick's all month long. Browse their selection which includes the F&F hosts' books as well as the latest by this week’s guest, Richard Paul Evans.
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Latest News From "The Fab Five"
MARY KAY ANDREWS loved catching up with the home folks down in Florida last week with Kristy, Patti and Kristin on the second leg of The Santa Suit tour, but she’s happy to sleep in her own bed for the next week or so. Thrilled to be included, along with Patti and Kristy in this article about Christmas in October in Southwest Florida Weekly by feature writer Nancy Stetson. She can’t wait to team up Thursday at 5:30 p.m. with her friend Wade Rouse aka Viola Shipman, for a special Make The Holidays Gay with MKA event on Facebook. You won’t want to miss it!
PATTI CALLAHAN loved seeing so many of you on the road. It has been a whirlwind, a blizzard and a thrill. This community has made book tour so much more fun! You can check out the photos on her instagram! She also loved writing this essay for WRITERS DIGEST about writing about real people in fiction, and this essay about the BIG IDEA that prompted her new novel with John Scalzi. Did you know PARADE MAGAZINE chose Once Upon a Wardrobe as one of the top Fall reads? Yes, they did. As did the Christian Science Monitor. You had to miss the launch party in Savannah? Well, Bunny Ware posted a photo album in WSATV for us! BOOK RIOT mentions Patti’s book in their new releases and THOUGHTS FROM A PAGE podcast is now up! Patti was just as nervous for morning TV in Canada on YOUR MORNING as she would have been if it had been live.
What Patti is Reading: GOOD COMPANY by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY had the BEST pub day ever for CHRISTMAS IN PEACHTREE BLUFF, in large part due to her Friends & Fiction sisters and this wonderful community. Wow! Thank you so much to everyone who has made pub week so wonderful so far. She can’t wait to spend the holidays with all of you in Peachtree Bluff!
KRISTIN HARMEL had an amazing weekend; she spent it on the road with Mary Kay, Kristy, Patti, and Meg. She misses them already!
What Kristin is reading: She is listening to Sadeqa Johnson’s YELLOW WIFE on audiobook! It’s coming soon in paperback!
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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 reflects on the year her family became the Griswolds—and why it was amazing.
Decorating for the holidays is an event at our house. Christmas has its own closet full of collected ornaments, inherited Christmas china, a nativity carved by a dear family friend, little trees, wooden reindeer, an Advent calendar with tiny ornaments just like the one I had when I was little, and many other assorted treasures.
Every year, I count down the days until we get to put it all out in our house in Beaufort, a pre-revolutionary town on the coast of North Carolina that, like me, really goes all out for the holidays. On the main street through town, which is full of white clapboard houses with black shutters and double front porches built in the early- to mid- 1700s, our home is the super “new” and trendy white clapboard one with black shutters and double front porches built-in 1905 after the original burned down. We, like our neighbors, choose exterior Christmas decorations in keeping with the tone of the house: fresh garland, fresh wreaths with pretty bows, classic luminaries.
Well, most years, anyway.
But not always.
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, October 29th—Ron Block talks with Jenna Blum about her memoir, Woodrow on the Bench about the life lessons her aging dog taught her.
Out Now! WB_S1E20—It’s “Once Upon Peachtree Bluff” as Ron welcomes Patti & Kristy to celebrate the release of Patti’s Once Upon A Wardrobe & Kristy’s Christmas in Peachtree Bluff!
Out Now! WB_S1E19—For his Library Rockstars series, Ron interviews Sari Feldman, retired executive director of Cuyahoga County Public Library and a past president of the American Library Association. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S1E18—Ron & Patti sit down with award-winning, New York Times bestselling poet, short story writer, and novelist Ron Rash. 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 through the end of the year and be sure to save the dates! All events begin at 7pm Eastern unless otherwise noted (newly added events are marked with an asterisk*).
Nov 15: Once Upon a Wardrobe book club discussion with Patti Callahan Henry
*November 18: Friendsgiving! Our annual virtual zoom sharing our favorite recipes, family traditions and cookbooks returns. Save the date!
Dec 3: Happy Hour with Ron Block -Get your TBR lists ready! We will have book recommendations galore and we will announce our book club picks for January-March 2022. You don't want to miss it!
Dec 6: The Santa Suit book club discussion with Mary Kay Andrews
Dec 20: Christmas in Peachtree Bluff book club discussion with Kristy Woodson Harvey
If you missed our Sunday Pre-Pub chat with Kristy Woodson Harvey on her newest release of Christmas in Peachtree Bluff, you can view it here.
Also, if you missed our Book Club Chat on Monday night with Paige Crutcher and her newest book, The Orphan Witch you can watch the recording here.
Not a member of the Friends & Fiction Book Club? Click here to join us. We would love to have you!
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F&F is Now on LoCo+!
Come join Friends & Fiction on LoCo+, a brand-new streaming platform that launched just a few days ago. The platform specializes in locally produced content and will eventually include channels from all over the country, but this is your chance to get in on the ground floor with us; we're part of the platform's rollout, and we'd love for you to be there, too. Eventually, it will be a paid subscription (like Netflix or Hulu), but if you sign up now, you can get the first month free--and you can see past and current episodes of Friends & Fiction as well as lots of other great, independently produced content, including the "Good News Lady" show from our friend (and former F&F guest) Daryn Kagan. Sign up for your free trial here and check it out: https://golocoplus.com/.
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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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