Chapter 16 - Part 397

Brat Out of Hell

With Doomed, cult hero Chuck Palahniuk brings Madison Spencer up from the depths of Perdition into Purgatory—AKA Los Angeles

By Ed Tarkington | October 7, 2013

October 7, 2013 With Doomed—the sequel to 2011’s Damned—Chuck Palahniuk brings Madison Spencer back from hell to roam the earth as a specter, haunting the ex-schoolmates who once tormented her and the insufferable parents who ignored her, ultimately finding herself at the center of yet another diabolical plot by the Evil One. Chuck Palahniuk will discuss Doomed at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Making the Ancient World Fresh and Relevant

Percy Jackson is back as Rick Riordan releases another long-awaited installment of his Heroes of Olympus series

By Tina LoTufo | October 4, 2013

October 4, 2013 Rick Riordan continues his popular Heroes of Olympus series with the fourth installment, The House of Hades, in which Percy Jackson and his friends head to the very gates of Hell. Today Riordan talks with Chapter 16 prior to his appearance at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Life Among the Fallen

Allan Gurganus takes a darkly comic look at small-town life in Local Souls

By Maria Browning | October 3, 2013

October 3, 2013 In Local Souls, Allan Gurganus offers up a trio of comic novellas set in fictional Falls, North Carolina, a twenty-first-century village where the insular coziness of small-town life is being diminished by newcomers, digital communication, and natural calamity. Gurganus will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013.

Where the Plots Are

Acclaimed novelist Maile Meloy talks with Chapter 16 about why she turned to fiction for children

By Susannah Felts | October 2, 2013

October 2, 2013 When Maile Meloy—the author of two novels and two short-story collections for adults—tried her hand at writing for children, the result was The Apothecary. Intelligent, deftly plotted, magical and historical in equal measure, the novel might easily win a kid over to books for a lifetime—that is, if her parents don’t swipe it from her first. Meloy will visit Nashville’s Parnassus Books on October 3, 2013, at 6:30 p.m. to read from The Apprentices, her newly released sequel to The Apothecary.

Tradition on Ice

Memphis writer Steve Stern answers questions about The Frozen Rabbi, his novel about tradition, hedonism, and “quick-fix enlightenment.”

By Paul V. Griffith | October 2, 2013

October 2, 2013 Much of The Frozen Rabbi by award-winning author Steve Stern takes place in the Pinch, a long ignored Memphis neighborhood that was once the city’s Jewish ghetto. The Pinch’s rich and conflicted history provides the ideal locus for the book, which is a tale of shamanistic self-interest and tradition gone wrong. Steve Stern will appear at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on October 3, 2013, in Buttrick Hall, Room 101, at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Because It Makes our Hearts Glad

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Janis Ian talks of mice and music

By Tina LoTufo | October 2, 2013

October 2, 2013 Janis Ian’s new picture book, The Tiny Mouse, marks the singer-songwriter’s first foray into children’s literature, although the two-time Grammy Award-winner is the author of a well-received 2008 autobiography, Society’s Child. Janis Ian will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones

By Dolly Parton with Holly George-Warren, curated by Rebecca Seaver
Ten Speed Press
336 pages
$50

“Featuring behind-the-scenes stories from Dolly Parton’s life and career, and the largest reveal of her private costume archive, this gorgeously photographed book spotlights her most unforgettable looks from the 1960s to now.”

~ the publisher