What’s new in Tennessee books—and at Chapter 16—on December 10, 2009
Cormac McCarthy’s broken typewriter brings in a cool quarter-mil, and a Columbia writer helps to launch a family-friendly website. One of its first stories? A review of the film version of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
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Wyatt Prunty, a native of Humboldt, Tennessee, is the author of seven poetry collections, and his honors include fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation. Founding director of the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, he teaches creative writing at the University of the South. To read an interview with Wyatt Prunty, please click here.
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Sherrilyn Kenyon’s soul-sucking vampires have earned her a million fans
Before Americans were hooked on True Blood, before Twilight sank its teeth into millions of readers and moviegoers, Spring Hill’s Sherrilyn Kenyon was swiftly and quietly building her vampire-lit empire. “Kenyon’s writing is brisk, ironic and relentlessly imaginative,” notes The Boston Globe. “These are not your mother’s vampire novels.”
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Twenty-five writers explore the narrative influence of film
As much as passionate readers may hate to acknowledge it, film has usurped the written word as the most popular medium for telling stories. In Life as We Show It, edited by Brian Pera (a Memphis resident) and Masha Tupitsyn, twenty-five writers examine the way films serve as our personal and collective touchstones—and shape our fundamental notions of narrative, as well.
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With her magical first novel, songwriter Amy Foster has another hit on her hands
In Amy S. Foster‘s debut novel, When Autumn Leaves, a female healer catches lightning in a bottle because the island town of Avening is a place where events defy logical explanation. The novel, like its setting, is a cozy one. The citizens of Avening, who long ago grew “to accept the bizarre anomalies as normal,” always have a warm cup of peppermint tea at the ready for a visiting neighbor or friend. This is a book about the miraculous, the magical, and the vibrantly hopeful, and its charm lingers long after the book is closed.
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Franklin novelist Donna VanLiere explains why people are nicer during the holidays—and how her faith in human nature has made her books consistent bestsellers
When Donna VanLiere writes about single mothers struggling to have Christmas for their children, or a small-town department store owner with a heart of gold, she knows whereof she speaks. The Franklin, Tennessee, writer has become the queen of Christmas with a series of holiday heart-warmers that continues with her new novel, The Christmas Secret. VanLiere will be reading from and discussing her new novel on Sunday, December 13, at 3 p.m. at Landmark Booksellers in Franklin (114 East Main St.) That day, the Lifetime network will also air a marathon of holiday films based upon earlier VanLiere books. The series will culminate in the premiere of Christmas Hope at 8 p.m.
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