Chapter 16 - Part 155

Battered by the Bomb

Within a love triangle, broken characters seek healing from the wounds of war

By Tina Chambers | August 18, 2020

The war is over, but deep and debilitating scars remain in Jennie Fields’ novel, Atomic Love, set in 1950s Chicago. When an FBI agent asks a former Manhattan Project nuclear physicist to investigate her former lover, who is accused of treason, her quiet life is turned upside down. Jennie Fields will discuss Atomic Love at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 18.

What the F?

A civil war, a brush with death, and a really good tan

By Natasha Senjanovic | August 14, 2020

The brain is a funny thing. Well, my brain is. Hilarious, really. In my fear, my neurons forgot the commands for putting on flip-flops, but they could formulate the thought: I hope the newspaper will mention the lovely golden hue of my cadaver.

Places Previously Unseen

Michael Ray Taylor talks about the wonders and wisdom found deep underground

By Hamilton Cain | August 12, 2020

Michael Ray Taylor’s Hidden Nature probes the daunting and delicate ecosystems of caves and the passion that drives those who seek a larger connection with the world. Taylor will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on August 16 and at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books, held online October 1-11.

Problims Solved

Natalie Lloyd talks with Chapter 16 as she concludes her Problim Children series

By Tina Chambers | August 11, 2020

Mona Problim and her siblings are off to new adventures in Island in the Stars, the third and final installment in Natalie Lloyd’s Problim Children fantasy series. Lloyd talks with Chapter 16 about saying goodbye to beloved characters, writing from the heart, and being “a queen in Narnia.”

Deciphering Life

Jill McCorkle’s Hieroglyphics explores the intricate passages of memory, time, and love

By Maria Browning | August 10, 2020

“We are all haunted by something — something we did or didn’t do — and the passing years either add to the weight or diminish it.” Those are the words of Lil, the loving but wounded woman at the heart of Jill McCorkle’s new novel, Hieroglyphics. The tormenting power of memory, and conflicting desires to escape and interrogate the past, shape the lives of all the characters in this poignant, deeply human story. Jill McCorkle will discuss Hieroglyphics at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 10 and at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books, held online October 1-11.

Diverse and Complicated

Three Appalachian women tell their stories in Voices Worth the Listening

By Jane Marcellus | August 7, 2020

Thomas Burton’s Voices Worth the Listening: Three Women of Appalachia invites readers into the lives of three women from the Blue Ridge Mountains, allowing them to tell their unique stories of struggle and resilience.

Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past

By Tore C. Olsson
St. Martin's Press
288 pages
$30

“I recommend Red Dead’s History unreservedly not only to fans of the iconic video game, but also to anyone who wants to understand the riotousness — from Wild West gunslingers to Jim Crow to lynching — that darkened our past, and which continues to influence our culture. Olsson’s prose is graceful, his analysis profound. This is history at its most accessible and exciting.”

~Peter Cozzens, award-winning author of A Brutal Reckoning