Fiction | Chapter 16

Coal Noir

Jason Miller explores the bleak wilds of coal country in Down Don’t Bother Me, a darkly comic take on the hardboiled detective genre

By Ed Tarkington | March 18, 2015

March 18, 2015 Jason Miller’s debut crime novel, Down Don’t Bother Me, is a clever variation on Raymond Chandler-style noir with the blue-collar soul of Chris Offutt and the wry black humor of Tom Waits. Miller will give a reading at Parnassus Books in Nashville at 6:30 p.m. on March 24, 2015, and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis at 6:30 p.m. on March 31.

Love, Survival, and the Power of the Press

LaShonda Katrice Barnett’s Jam on the Vine tells the story of a young black journalist in the Jim Crow era

By Maria Browning | March 17, 2015

March 17, 2014 Ivoe Williams, the heroine of LaShonda Katrice Barnett’s debut novel, Jam on the Vine, is an African-American girl born in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Texas to poor, hardworking parents. The story of Ivoe’s trials and triumphs as an aspiring journalist provides a vivid depiction of the black experience during one of the ugliest periods in American history. Barnett will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 23, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

What Makes Us Who We Are?

In her debut novel, Memphis native Moriah McStay explores the way our experiences shape us

By Tracy Barrett | March 11, 2015

March 11, 2015 Fiona Doyle’s face was horribly scarred when she was a little girl. But what if the accident had never happened? Moriah McStay’s Everything That Makes You follows Fiona and an alternative, unscarred version of herself, exploring how much (and how little) would change if we could turn back the clock and “fix” what we think is wrong with our lives. McStay will read from her debut novel at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on March 17, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

This Side of the River

March 10, 2015

“This compelling tale explores themes of trauma, revenge, redemption, and the disorder known then as nostalgia or soldier’s heart. Author Corey Mesler proclaimed This Side of the River yarn-spinning of the highest order. Stayton’s narrative, which gives Confederate soldier’s body servants a voice that few Civil War stories do, will burn bright long after you’ve put the book down.”.

–From the publisher

Side Trip to Kathmandu

March 10, 2015

“Sidney Marsh’s job as a New York travel agent is on the line. On her last two tours, she and her colleague Jay ended up smack in the middle of murder and mayhem. Their sleuthing sideline did not endear them to their employer, Itchy Feet Travel, so naturally they are relieved when their wealthy friend Brooke requests their presence on a no expense spared tour of India and Nepal. Another agency has made the arrangements, so all they need do is sit back and enjoy the ride. Well, not quite all…”

–From the publisher

Kings and Emperors: An Alan Lewrie Naval Adventure

March 10, 2015

“Check the log, shipmate: Dewey Lambdin has left Alexander Kent and C.S. Forester hull-down in an ocean of words and is closing on Patrick O’Brian as the most prolific historical novelist to celebrate a Royal Navy mariner during the age of sail.”

–Washington Times

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