Fiction | Chapter 16

An Assault on Making Sense

Odie Lindsey’s debut story collection, We Come to Our Senses, details the dirty secrets of deployment

By Beth Waltemath | July 14, 2016

In his debut collection, We Come to Our Senses, Odie Lindsey challenges the grand narratives of war with stories of the self-destructive impulses of the men and women forever changed by it. Lindsey will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on July 21, at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on July 28, at the Southern Festival of Books October 14-16, and at Vanderbilt University on November 10. All events are free and open to the public.

Every Man for Himself

Donald Ray Pollock’s The Heavenly Table, set in 1917, reveals desperate hardship among the rural poor

By Sean Kinch | July 13, 2016

Donald Ray Pollock’s new novel, The Heavenly Table, charts the path of the Jewett Gang, three brothers and bank robbers fated to meet Eula and Ellsworth Fiddler, Ohio farmers plagued by bad luck and worse decisions. Pollock will discuss The Heavenly Table at Crosstown Arts in Memphis on July 19, 2016, at 6:30 p.m., and at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16, 2016.

A Cape Canaveral of the Soul

Patrick Ryan’s new stories place buoyant, striving characters in a small patch of Florida

By Peggy Burch | July 12, 2016

Set in Cape Canaveral in the late twentieth century, Patrick Ryan’s stories conjure a rich variety of intriguing souls, from a pregnant teen who wants to be Miss America to a gay sixteen-year-old with a crush on an ex-astronaut. Ryan will discuss The Dream Life of Astronauts in conversation with Ann Patchett at Parnassus Books in Nashville on July 19, 2016, at 6:30 p.m.

Prophets of Doom

In Christopher Hebert’s Angels of Detroit, young idealists believe they must destroy the city to save it

By Sean Kinch | July 7, 2016

AngelsOfDetroitjkt (1) Christopher Hebert’s new novel, Angels of Detroit, features a cast of characters who believe that the apocalypse is coming, and humanity is too narcotized or distracted to pay attention. Hebert will appear at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on July 17, 2016, at 2 p.m. and at the John C. Hodges Library at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on August 29, 2016, at 7 p.m.

Hurricanes, Despair, and Hope

In John Gregory Brown’s latest novel, Katrina isn’t what ruins a New Orleans man’s life

By Faye Jones | July 6, 2016

July 6, 2016 Even before Hurricane Katrina, Henry Garrett was a mess. Now, stranded in Virginia, he must choose whether to give in to his demons or face his own challenges. John Gregory Brown will discuss A Thousand Miles from Nowhere at Parnassus Books in Nashville on July 14, 2016, at 6:30 p.m.

Each the Other’s World Entire

Novelist Beverly Lowry looks back at Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Road, on its tenth anniversary

By Beverly Lowry | June 24, 2016

June 24, 2016 In the seventh of a nine-essay series commemorating the centennial year of the Pulitzer Prizes, Memphis native Beverly Lowry celebrates the narrative voice and original prose in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007.

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher