Leslie Baird’s debut novel, Salomé, offers a genre-defying tale: a bildungsroman wrapped in layers of intrigue, gothic mysticism, and a reimagined classic femme fatale. Set in the quiet French village of Châteaubriant, it’s a mind-bendingly good read. Leslie Baird will discuss the book at The Lipstick Lounge in Nashville on May 26 at 6 p.m.
Michael Amos Cody blends murder and the supernatural in his new thriller Avalon Moon. Set in Runion, North Carolina, the novel opens with community members worried about an impending snowstorm and the potential danger posed by a new wolf sanctuary on a local island — but they soon have bigger threats to fear.
In Delivery, the new novel by Christopher Hebert, a star baseball player hides from the expectations of friends by delivering pizzas, but he knows that a reckoning of his future is coming soon. Hebert will discuss Delivery at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on May 14.
In her debut novel, Mercy Hill, Hannah Thurman brings a sharp, attentive sensibility to a story of complex family dynamics, control, and the aftermath of a highly pressurized childhood.
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: In 2022, Brandon Taylor spoke with Chapter 16 about his Southern roots, his Baptist upbringing, how his brief career as a scientist has influenced his writing, and why he has been increasingly drawn to analog technologies in our digitally obsessed world.
In Douglas Stuart’s John of John, a complicated father-son story plays out against the dramatic backdrop of Scotland’s windswept Western Isles. Stuart will discuss the novel at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 4.
