Thank you to these Coffee Club members for sharing their fave reads of the past year. For those who haven’t and would still like to do so, there’s plenty of time! The link is here. In the next installment, we baristas will share ours with you, and any others who still care to contribute. Thanks to all, and good reading in 2019! — Jack Anne Waldman’s “Trickster Feminism.” I love Anne Waldman and have followed her work for decades. Her last 3 books have been book-length pomes, a very favorite of mine. It’s energetic like a volcano, has the consciousness of a blue whale, the largest mammal on earth. There’s so much to learn here. To celebrate. Shamanic, acute intelligence, a journey we all need to take. – Joanne James * Hi Jack–Hope all is…
Exploring Literary Trilogies and Tetralogies by Victoria Merkle
Editor’s Note: The trilogy and tetralogy are commonplace in genre fiction: science-fiction, fantasy, mystery. But what of literature? Tori Merkle dissects the phenomenon and helps us understand its often unrecognized significance, not only in storytelling but in an author’s oeuvre. Literary Chronicles: An Exploration of Trilogies and Tetralogies in Literary Fiction by Tori Merkle It’s a fact of storytelling: chronicles sell. Series novels, commonly a trilogy or tetralogy, are especially popular in genre fiction—we sit waiting and watching for the next sci-fi or fantasy saga to top the bestseller list and then hit the box office. Once we get the first luscious taste of a fictional world, we’re ravenous for more. We become attached to the characters as if they’re intimate friends. We’re eager to know what happens next. This is the same energy that…
Free Copies of Sarina Dorie Novels for Amazon Reviews
The first three books in the WOMBY’S SCHOOL FOR WAYWARD WITCHES series is available on Amazon in paperback. I would love to get some reviews up before the ebooks are released at the end of May. If you have received a free copy of any of these books, please consider putting up an honest review. Even if all you have time to do is select the number of stars without writing anything, these reviews help enable authors to promote their work. Each week I announce in my newsletter books that are offered for free on Instafreebie’s Giveaways. Stay tuned for places Tardy Bells and Witches’ Spells and Hex-Ed are available for free. Reviewers can get a free copy of Witches Gone Wicked by entering the password at the address below: https://claims.instafreebie.com/free/wcMppWBA Password: BubbleBubble Thank you! ~ Sarina
An Art Show from French Painter Anne-Marie Guilleman
If you just happen to be in the city of Brest, France this week, you’ll want to visit Galerie ZonZon, at 50 rue Emile Zola. You’ll be greeted by the gallery’s lovely owner, Daniele Maguet, and shown the work of Anne-Marie Guilleman hanging on the gallery walls. Although Anne-Marie’s paintings tend to depict subjects near or on the water – after all, she calls Normandy, on the northern coast of France, home – there is a je ne sais quoi about her expression, not only in the scenes but also in the people she depicts. She calls this, “marines nocturnes.” Here is a sampling. Please click on the work for a full-screen view. A St. Petersburg wharf (in the city of) Brest and beyond Brest: rue Siam trolley tracks Evening lights under…
Inside an Amazon Bookstore: Rachael Allen, Our Intrepid Correspondent, Reports
A Summer at Amazon Books by Rachael Allen You walk into a bookstore. Something is different, you think. You pay for a cold brew from Peet’s Coffee & Tea, located in the rear of the store, then walk around, assessing. Perhaps it’s the orientation of the books: they all face out, squared shoulders, as if presenting their best selves to a potential new owner. Perhaps it’s the black review cards tacked below each book, giving you booklover22’s opinion on why All the Light We Cannot See was so moving. Perhaps it’s the devices zone in the middle of the store. A couple pokes at a tablet, while a little boy dances to Ed Sheeran, whose music is now spouting from the voice-activated speaker, per his request. Perhaps, too, it’s your awareness of the store name…