June 5, 2014 Jim Stegner, the protagonist of Peter Heller’s new novel, The Painter, is an archetypal American individualist in the tradition of Ernest Hemingway and Jackson Pollock. Finding himself in the midst of a deadly conflict that puts him at odds with both the police and a pair of vengeful outlaws, Stegner still somehow manages to create art that evokes in his audience “everything they know and feel and love, and all the things they don’t know, and some of the things they hope.” Peter Heller will discuss The Painter at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 12, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.

June 4, 2014 The stories in John Brandon’s new collection, Further Joy, pack a novel’s worth of engaging conflict and intriguing personalities into small packages. Stuck in small Florida towns that have no tourist attractions or natural beauty, Brandon’s characters make a game of their lives just to withstand them. John Brandon will read from Further Joy at Crosstown Arts in Memphis on June 9, 2014, at 6 p.m.

June 3, 2014 The One & Only, the seventh novel by bestselling author Emily Giffin, focuses on Shea Rigsby, a thirty-something living in fictional Walker, Texas, where life revolves around the local college football team. Shea’s world is turned upside down when she must choose between her best friend and her romantic feelings for her best friend’s father. Giffin will discuss The One & Only at the Nashville Public Library on June 9, 2014, at 6:15 p.m. The event, part of the Salon@615 series, is free and open to the public.