Fiction | Chapter 16

Out of Safe Hiding

When a judge stopped the presses on Alice Randall’s first novel, Shelby Foote came to her aid

By Alice Randall | July 9, 2018

In 2001, when Shelby Foote was one of the writers who wrote to a Georgia judge on my behalf, I was surprised. Having Shelby Foote take my side against the Margaret Mitchell estate was a little like having Ashley take sides against Scarlett with an unacknowledged but not unborn daughter of Mammy’s. Of all the writers who stood with me—Toni Morrison, Pat Conroy, Harper Lee, Ishmael Reed, John Egerton, Tony Earley, Michael Kreyling, Larry McMurtry, and Arthur Schlesinger among them—no one had more to lose than Shelby Foote.

Island of Secrets

Beatriz Williams’s The Summer Wives explores the secrets of an insular community

By Emily Choate | June 26, 2018

Beatriz Williams’s The Summer Wives follows a young woman’s long entanglement with an insular island community and its coded world of secrets, gossip, and cross-cultural tensions. Williams will discuss The Summer Wives at Novel in Memphis on July 15.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Kimberly Belle’s new thriller is a white-knuckled tale of child abduction

By Liz Garrigan | June 25, 2018

There are few unsavory aspects of modern life that Kingsport native Kimberly Belle doesn’t weave into Three Days Missing, a thriller that tells the heart-racing story of an eight-year-old boy gone missing. Belle will appear at Allandale Mansion in Kingsport on June 26 and at Novel in Memphis on July 9.

The Lights of Evil

A seven-year-old’s disappearance sets off a government cover-up

By Liz Garrigan | June 19, 2018

Nashville journalist Jeremy Finley’s debut thriller, The Darkest Time of Night, features alien abduction, forced amnesia, systematic murder, and vast government cover-ups. Finley will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 26.

The Little Devil’s Advocate

In Emily Giffin’s All We Ever Wanted, Nashville parents navigate the perils of social media

By Sean Kinch | June 18, 2018

The action of Emily Giffin’s new novel begins with a scandal that forces two sets of parents to find out how far they’ll go to protect their teenagers. Giffin will discuss All We Ever Wanted at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens in Nashville on June 23 at 4 p.m.

First Look

What’s Next for Jack Ryan Jr. in the Clancy Universe?

By Sarah Carter | June 15, 2018

In Tom Clancy Line of Sight, Knoxville author Mike Maden continues the adventures of Tom Clancy’s famous hero, Jack Ryan, through his son, Jack Ryan Jr. Maden will discuss the novel at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Knoxville on June 16.

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