Fiction | Chapter 16

Creative Amnesia, or the Persistence of Magic

Novelist Steve Stern found his fictional world by searching for a lost Jewish tradition

By Steve Stern | June 1, 2015

June 1, 2015 I grew up wanting something I couldn’t name. I was raised in the Reform Jewish “tradition,” though the word here is gross hyperbole. The temple I attended as a kid in Memphis represented a variety of Judaism designed to be invisible, to blend indistinguishably with the Christ-haunted Southern landscape. As a consequence, I was virtually untouched by tradition and had not even an awareness of its absence. Nevertheless, one Sunday, playing hooky from confirmation class, I went exploring the old red brick pile of our temple along with a couple of partners in crime.

Scattered Sparks

With The Pinch, Steve Stern continues his dazzling fictional exploration of the intersection of reality, spirituality, and mysticism

By Ed Tarkington | May 28, 2015

May 28, 2015 High-wire acts performed by an acrobatic enchantress; a young couple making love in a giant tree in the midst of an earthquake; a drug-dealing bookstore clerk who finds a decades-old history of his neighborhood and discovers that he himself appears as a character in its pages—these are some of the elements of The Pinch, Steve Stern’s latest novel. Stern will appear at Burke’s Book Store in Memphis at 6 p.m. on June 4, 2015.

From Cold Cases to Hot Pursuit

What Lies Behind, J.T. Ellison’s new thriller, whiplashes Samantha Owens from a crime of passion to a global conspiracy

By Kathryn Justice Leache | May 20, 2015

May 20, 2015 Samantha Owens, the protagonist of What Lies Behind, J.T. Ellison’s latest thriller, has left crime-scene investigation to take a plum job in academia. Then a brutal crime pulls her back in. Ellison will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 26, 2015; at Reading Rock Books in Dickson on May 28, 2015; and at Books-A-Million at Nashville on May 29, 2015. All events are free and open to the public.

Bad Moon, Good Story

Betsy Phillips’s new novel, The Wolf’s Bane, launches a new series of limited-edition books

By Joe Nolan | May 19, 2015

May 19, 2015 Betsy Phillips’s new book, The Wolf’s Bane, is the inaugural project of the Nashville Limited Edition Club. Founded by Jennifer Knowles of Brown Dog Bindery and Chuck Beard of East Side Story, the club will connect authors, artists, and bookbinders to create one-of-a-kind books published by Knowles and distributed by Beard. Phillips will launch The Wolf’s Bane with a reading at East Side Story in Nashville on May 22, 2015, at 6 p.m.

The Seething Pot

In a new thriller, Lyndsay Faye examines crime and corruption in 1840s New York

By Faye Jones | May 15, 2015

May 15, 2015 In The Fatal Flame, Lyndsay Faye continues her popular Edgar-nominated series with a thriller in which Timothy Wilde is forced to confront his intense fear of fire to pursue an arsonist. Faye will discuss The Fatal Flame at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on May 17, 2015, at 3 p.m.

Magical Mystery Tour

Chapter 16 talks with Deborah Harkness, who continues the alchemical adventure she began in A Discovery of Witches

By Tina LoTufo | May 13, 2015

May 13, 2015 In The Book of Life, Deborah Harkness completes her bestselling All Souls trilogy that began with A Discovery of Witches. Harkness will read from and sign copies of The Book of Life at Salon@615 at the Nashville Public Library on Thursday, May 28, 2015, at 6:15 p.m.

Distant Sons

Tim Johnston
Algonquin Books
400 pages
$29

“Tim Johnston has once again raised the bar for the literary thriller. Distant Sons is elegant and edgy, refined and complex. It excavates the truth from the darkest recesses of the past and shines a light towards the possibility of a redemptive future.”

~ Ivy Pochoda, author of These Women and Sing Her Down