J. Kasper Kramer’s debut middle grade novel celebrates the resilience of its young protagonist
Chattanooga author J. Kasper Kramer talks with Chapter 16 about her debut novel for middle grade readers, The Story That Cannot Be Told, which portrays one brave girl’s fight against injustice during the months leading up to the Romanian Revolution of 1989.
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Frail and failing, retired detective Buck Schatz defends lethal punishment for a serial killer he put away
When last we checked on author Daniel Friedman’s character Buck Schatz, we were hoping the long-retired Memphis police detective would make it to his next decade — in spite of his medical issues, miserable outlook, and unwavering commitment to Lucky Strikes. Fortunately for fans of memorable mysteries, Friedman has delivered the third book in the series, which, given that Schatz is now nearly 90, is aptly titled Running Out of Road.
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Madison Smartt Bell discusses the life and work of novelist Robert Stone
In the preface to Child of Light, his biography of novelist Robert Stone, Madison Smartt Bell describes Stone as a man who “confronted the world with the bright, acidic irony of an extraordinarily perceptive, bitterly disappointed idealist.” It’s a vivid and precise summary of the complex artist who emerges in this comprehensive book.
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Patti Smith chronicles her idiosyncratic path through the creative life in Year of the Monkey
As evidenced by the travels depicted her most recent memoir, Year of the Monkey, Patti Smith has embodied the nomadic spirit of the public troubadour for decades. Whether she’s performing riotous sets with her band or working side by side with literary lights, Smith has forged a role in our arts culture unlike any other.
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Book Excerpt: Hothouse
Karyna McGlynn is the author of I Have to Go Back to 1994, Kill a Girl, and most recently Hothouse, which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Karyna is a professor of creative writing at Christian Brothers University in Memphis. She’s currently co-editing the anthology Clever Girl: Witty Poetry by Women.
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Maryville author Rhonda Lynn Rucker’s new YA novel examines racial conflict in 1960s Birmingham
“It was a bitch growing up in Birmingham. Unless you were white. And Earl B. Peterson wasn’t white,” writes Maryville author Rhonda Lynn Rucker in her young adult novel, Welcome to Bombingham. Rucker shines a spotlight on the systemic racism and unchecked violence that plagued the black community in early 1960s Birmingham, Alabama.
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