Fiction | Chapter 16

Gardener Remembers

By Tom Markham | August 28, 2012

“This fantasy interview is a smartly-rigged device for an extended rumination on the 60s/70s cultural sea change and the conflicting forces that both motivated and frustrated the artists of that era…Gardner is an intriguing, paradoxical character…he’s arrogant and self-deluded one moment, vulnerable and self-effacing the next—the standard bag of contradictions for any ‘tortured’ rock star.”

–Mike Stax, in Ugly Things #33 (Spring/Summer 2012)

Redemption is Always an Option

Adam Ross talks with Chapter 16 about writing, reading, cooking, and planning a happy ending

By Melinda Baker | August 28, 2012

August 28, 2012 When the protagonists in Adam Ross’s story collection, Ladies and Gentlemen, aren’t deliberately malicious, they’re often unintentionally cruel, the result of being unable to think beyond their own desires. What about Ross himself? In lieu of a standard Q&A, we recently sent him some half-finished sentences to complete. He reveals something about his writing habits, his love of early-90s hip hop, his penchant for cooking, and his plans to take his fiction into uncharted territory. Ross will discuss Ladies and Gentlemen at Parnassus Books in Nashville on September 6 at 6:30 p.m., and at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

Football Frivolity

Inman Majors skewers SEC football in Love’s Winning Plays, a gem of a comic novel

By Michael Ray Taylor | August 27, 2012

August 27, 2012 With Love’s Winning Plays, Knoxville native Inman Majors has written one of the finest, funniest, and most uniquely Southern novels ever to consider the game of football, especially college football as it played, hyped, and overhyped in the Southeastern Conference. Majors will read from Love’s Winning Plays at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on September 20 and at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

All Woke Up and Nowhere to Go

The mad world of Padgett Powell’s You & Me can be frustrating, but it’s also playful and funny and oddly moving

By Tina LoTufo | August 24, 2012

August, 24, 2012 One of the characters in Padgett Powell’s new novel, You & Me, points out that some of the objects in the room in which they sit are crooked: “Should we straighten everything?” His friend answers, “I think not. I don’t think us capable, one, but I see no reason to undo the charm of things leaning. Things are finally getting in tune with us.” Readers who enjoy the “charm of things leaning” will find much to ponder in this hilarious, disturbing, poignant, and altogether perplexing volume from the author of recent cult favorite The Interrogative Mood and National Book Award nominee Edisto. Powell will discuss You & Me at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

Catching the Playhouse Killer

Jeff Crook’s debut thriller is a hard-boiled Memphis crime novel—with ghosts

By Lyda Phillips | August 23, 2012

August 23, 2012 Jeff Crook spins up a maelstrom of exotic characters and macabre events in The Sleeping and the Dead, the first in what looks to be a powerful paranormal mystery series. Crook will read from The Sleeping and the Dead on August 30 at 6 p.m. at The Booksellers in Laurelwood in Memphis.

A Human Thing of Mystery

In his new book, Daniel Woodrell has written a dozen heart-breaking stories of love, death, and revenge

By Lyda Phillips | August 21, 2012

August 21, 2012 Daniel Woodrell, the acclaimed author of Winter’s Bone, Tomato Red, and The Death of Sweet Mister, has published a slim volume of short stories every bit as gritty and searing as his longer work. Woodrell will read from and discuss The Outlaw Album at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past

By Tore C. Olsson
St. Martin's Press
288 pages
$30

“I recommend Red Dead’s History unreservedly not only to fans of the iconic video game, but also to anyone who wants to understand the riotousness — from Wild West gunslingers to Jim Crow to lynching — that darkened our past, and which continues to influence our culture. Olsson’s prose is graceful, his analysis profound. This is history at its most accessible and exciting.”

~Peter Cozzens, award-winning author of A Brutal Reckoning