Nashville novelist Adam Ross snags rhapsodic reviews in both Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly
April 8, 2010 The buzz about Adam Ross’s debut novel, Mr. Peanut, has been building all year, and Ross just keeps getting good news. Last week, the pre-publication industry news journal Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review, calling it “an intellectual noir novel that shows evidence of an original voice.”
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In her latest book in the Miss Julia series, Ann B. Ross considers the lunatic reach of love
In Miss Julia Renews Her Vows, the eleventh book of the series, Ann B. Ross gives her heroine about all she can handle. And readers will love every page of the adventure. Ross will appear at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on April 9 at 7 p.m.
Read moreVanderbilt MFA candidates launch a new literary magazine
April 7, 2010 Graduate students in Vanderbilt University's nationally ranked MFA program have launched a national literary magazine, Nashville Review. The online journal, which went live on April 1, is a daunting project the students "conceived of, pursued, and brought into being all by themselves," says poet—and Vanderbilt professor of creative writing—Kate Daniels.
Read moreAmanda Little, author of Power Trip, takes on climate-change skeptic Phelim McAleer in a debate moderated by the inimitable Sarah Silverman
April 7, 2010 If your idea of a multimedia presentation on global warming begins and ends with the somber pronouncements of An Inconvenient Truth, check out the debate between Nashvillian Amanda Little, author of Power Trip: From Oil Wells to Solar Cells—A Ride to Our Renewable Future, and independent filmmaker Phelim McAleer, a global-warming denier. The debate, sponsored by Lexus to call attention to its new hybrid vehicle, was held in New York City on March 30 and proved to be a raucous event.
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Roy Morris, Jr. tells the story of how Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain
Mark Twain‘s influence on American culture has not been in doubt since his death a hundred years ago, and Chattanooga writer Roy Morris, Jr. does not propose any revision of that position in his new book. What Morris does in Lighting Out for the Territory: How Samuel Clemens Headed West and Became Mark Twain is explore the influence of America itself on a young man named Samuel Clemens. Morris explains how the great adventure that was the winning of the West changed Clemens, molding him into not just a teller of humorous tales but also a worldwide literary phenomenon. Morris will appear at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville on April 8 at 7 p.m.
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Batt Humphreys fleshes out the story of Nealy Duncan, the last man hanged by the state of South Carolina
In the summer of 1910, the Charleston police arrested Daniel Cornelius “Nealy” Duncan, a black man, for the murder of a Jewish merchant. In spite of his court-appointed attorney’s Atticus Finch-like efforts, Duncan was found guilty by a kangaroo court and was hanged. By all accounts an upright citizen, Duncan was to be married five days after his alleged crime. He went to his grave calmly declaring his innocence. In Dead Weight, former CBS News producer Batt Humphreys fills the gaps in Duncan’s story. By turns a romance, mystery, courtroom drama, and history lesson, Dead Weight makes the most of its exhaustive research and Humphreys’ seemingly natural ability to spin a nail-biting yarn.
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