Chapter 16 - Part 29

The Many Guises of Cowardice and Courage

Memphis author Cary Holladay has written a lyrical new collection of stories that spans generations

By Tina LoTufo | March 13, 2013

March 13, 2013 Cary Holladay’s lyrical new collection of linked stories, Horse People, follows various members of a prosperous family in Orange County, Virginia, from the Civil War through World War II and beyond. Holladay crafts small, intimate portraits of her characters as they confront timeless themes of birth and death, compassion and cruelty, memory and loss, and the many guises of both cowardice and courage. She will read from and sign copies of Horse People at Burke’s Book Store in Memphis on March 22 at 5:30 p.m., and in Buttrick Hall, Room 101, on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville on March 28 at 7 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

How Now Shall We Live?

Phyllis Tickle examines the Christian Emergence movement in the twenty-first century

By Tina LoTufo | March 11, 2013

March 11, 2013 Memphis writer Phyllis Tickle believes that Christianity—and specifically Protestantism in North America—is undergoing a cataclysmic shift. Buffeted by science, technology, politics, economics, and culture, the “faith of our fathers” appears to be facing obstacles undreamed of by previous generations. But according to Tickle and many other scholars, this has all happened before—several times. In The Great Emergence, newly released in paperback, Tickle examines the incredibly swift and often overwhelming changes of our own era. In her followup, Emergence Christianity, she narrows her focus to describe in detail the surprising new ways people have found of creating a church community in the twenty-first century.

Decisions and Destiny

A new YA novel by Ruta Sepetys, bestselling author of Between Shades of Gray, tells a story of vice and victory in the Big Easy

By Tina LoTufo | February 6, 2013

February 6, 2013 “My mother’s a prostitute,” observes seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine. “She’s actually quite pretty, fairly well spoken, and has lovely clothes. But she sleeps with men for money or gifts, and according to the dictionary, that makes her a prostitute.” Thus begins Out of the Easy, the new young-adult novel from bestselling Nashville author Ruta Sepetys. As Josie fights her way to self-knowledge and a better future, one small victory at a time, Out of the Easy will remind readers of classic coming-of-age stories like Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Sepetys will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on February 13 at 6 p.m.

Entertainment First

Dan Gutman talks with Chapter 16 about his bestselling strategy for getting kids to read

By Tina LoTufo | January 24, 2013

January 24, 2013 Coke and Pepsi McDonald never planned on a life filled with danger and adventure, but after the thirteen-year-old twins are invited to join the Genius Files—a group with a mission to solve the world’s problems—they find themselves dodging murderous villains and outsmarting zany attempts on their lives. Unfortunately for them (but luckily for their fans), a cross-country trip with their parents isn’t going to save them. In You Only Die Twice (The Genius Files #3) by bestselling author Dan Gutman, Coke and Pepsi’s journey home begins, and the action and suspense are exceeded only by the number of nutty roadside attractions their parents make them visit. Gutman will discuss You Only Die Twice on January 29 at 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood.

YA Central?

With four new young-adult titles released this fall alone, Nashville authors are on the leading edge of the biggest news in publishing

By Tina LoTufo | December 19, 2012

December 19, 2012 This fall, four Nashville authors are no doubt hoping their new books will ride the current wave of YA popularity among adults as well as teens. Sci-fi author Myra McEntire’s Timepiece is the second installment of her “Hourglass” time-travel trilogy. In What’s Left of Me, debut novelist (and Vanderbilt undergraduate) Kat Zhang imagines an alternate reality in which “hybrid” humans suffer persecution. C. J. Redwine’s Defiance introduces fantasy-lovers to a land of dangerous creatures and bloody tyranny. And Kathryn Williams turns to the kitchen and the world of reality shows with the delightful Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous.

The Magazine at the Corner of Second and Church

Talking shop with Roy Burkhead, founder of Tennessee’s newest literary quarterly

By Tina LoTufo | December 10, 2012

December 10, 2012 In May 2011, Roy Burkhead was hit by a car at the intersection of Church Street and 2nd Avenue in downtown Nashville. (He was not seriously injured.) In many people, such an experience might spark musings on mortality, but for Burkhead it sparked the idea for a literary journal. “This event forced me to pause and look around,” he says. “I was interested to realize just how many different aspects of Nashville were represented from this particular spot of town. Maybe it was the impact of the bumper, but I started to ponder that this specific spot could work as a great metaphor, a virtual location in this actual city.” One year later, he published the first issue of 2nd & Church.

Driving the Tide (The After Dunkirk Series, Book 6)

By Lee Jackson
Severn River Publishing
444 pages
$19.99

“Driving the Tide is the riveting sixth installment in the After Dunkirk family saga, bringing to life the darkest pages of World War II―and the unflinching bravery of regular people who rose to the challenges of their times.”

~ the publisher