Monthly Archives: June 2022

New Genre Fiction by Charlotte Authors

June 27, 2022 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Charlotte is home to a number of successful authors who specialize in writing genre fiction, and three of them have new releases.  These include Kathy Reichs’s latest thriller/mystery titled Cold, Cold Bones, Cheris Hodges’s new romance novel titled Can’t Hide Love, and Nancy Northcott’s historical fantasy titled The Merlin Club. All three of these releases are out in time for readers to enjoy during their summer vacations.

Scheduled for release on July 5, Cold, Cold Bones is part of Kathy Reichs’s Temperance Brennan Series.  The author’s website leads off with the following announcement of the book’s publication: “Kathy Reichs returns with her twenty-first novel of suspense featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan who, after receiving a box containing a human eyeball, uncovers a series of gruesome killings eerily reenacting the most shocking of her prior cases.” For more information about Cold, Cold Bones, please click on the following link:  https://kathyreichs.com/cold-cold-bones/

The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation is sponsoring a kick-off event to celebrate the release of Cold, Cold Bones.  Titled “A Conversation with Kathy Reichs,” this event will take place on Thursday, July 7, 2022, from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Wells Fargo Playhouse at ImaginOn.  To purchase tickets for this event, please click on the following link: https://foundation.cmlibrary.org/event/a-conversation-with-kathy-reichs/

Cheris Hodges’s Can’t Hide Love is book four of her Richardson Sisters series.  All of the books in this series deal with the Richardson family’s historic bed-and-breakfast in Charleston, South Carolina.  Each book in the series features one of the Richardson sisters, and this latest volume focuses on Alexandria Richardson.  The author’s website includes the following description of Can’t Hide Love:  “She’s the responsible sister, making sacrifices to run the family’s treasured B&B. But for once, Alexandria Richardson decides to take a vacation—a singles’ cruise, where she throws caution to the wind. And the handsome stranger she meets is just what she needs to make every moment sizzle—for all seven wildly sexy days. Energized and refreshed, Alex returns home—only to discover her holiday hottie is also the renowned architect tapped for the B&B’s major renovation project. How is she supposed to manage a business—and an all-consuming desire?”  For more information about Can’t Hide Love, please click on the following link:  https://thecherishodges.com

Nancy Northcott’s The Merlin Club is the first book in a new historical fantasy/mystery series about a secret organization of wizards.  In introducing the series, the author writes,  “An ancient compact among Europe’s wizards, or Gifted, bars them from using magic against each other for national gain.  Sometimes, though, you have to break the rules to avert disaster. Thus the Merlin Club was born. A group of English Gifted, they operate in secret lest they draw the ire of their governing council. When magic threatens the peace and security of the realm, they rise to the challenge. No matter what that requires them to do.”  For information about The Merlin Club and the author’s other books, please click here: https://www.amazon.com/Merlin-Club-Nancy-Northcott-ebook/dp/B09WKSW2LD

These three novels differ by genre, but they all offer readers opportunities to escape their day-to-day concerns and enjoy the pleasures that come with reading well-written genre fiction.  Storied Charlotte is indeed fortunate to be home to such talented genre authors. 

Keeping Up with Landis Wade

June 20, 2022 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Landis Wade has a way of making things happen, and Charlotte’s community of readers and writers is the better for it.  In 2018 Wade founded his Charlotte Readers Podcast, and since then his podcast has become a cultural fixture in Charlotte.  With the release of his 300th episode this week, Landis has decided to revamp his podcast.  He is bringing aboard two new co-hosts and making some format changes.  But that is not all that Landis has been up to lately.  He has recently published his novel titled Deadly Declarations: An Indie Retirement Mystery. Also, he and I have recently launched the Charlotte Readers Book Club.  Our next book club meeting will take place on June 29, 2022.  Keeping up with Landis is a challenge, but fortunately he has a website that covers much of his news:  https://landiswade.com

There is a lot going on with Landis this month, but I’ll start with the latest news about the Charlotte Readers Podcast (http://www.charlottereaderspodcast.com).  I contacted Landis and asked him for more information about the 300th episode of the Charlotte Readers Podcast and his plans for the future of the podcast.  Here is what he sent to me: 

It’s been a technology learning curve and a lot of work over the past three and a half years but a definite honor and privilege to reach the 300 podcast episode milestone. The experience gave me the opportunity to meet and interview authors in 30 states and four countries about their books, stories and poems, and it energized my own writing to learn about their writing and marketing practices and discover that even bestselling authors have been rejected and have feelings too. 

Reaching 300 episodes seemed like a good time to stop, or pivot. After much thought, I chose to pivot and I am very pleased I did because I have two wonderful co-hosts who are joining me in this venture. Hannah Larrew has been the podcast publicist, a book lover, and a bundle of energy. She represents traditionally and independently published authors and other artists across the creative spectrum and is going to bring that book whisperer knowledge to the show. Sarah Archer is a very talented novelist and screenwriter who has traveled widely and knows her stuff. She’s taught about writing and is very engaged in the writing community. With her knowledge about traditional publishing and my experience with independent publishing, we hope to provide helpful tips to our audience of writers, and Hannah will weigh in on the marketing front and her own writing. 

So what’s going to be different about Beyond 300? No longer will this podcast be a one author interview show. No longer will it release weekly. We plan to do more in each show and because the show will be much longer, we are going to offer the audience two episodes a month that are more in depth and can be consumed in bites. Each episode will feature more authors in a variety of formats. There will be short interviews. We will use something called SpeakPipe to have authors provide us with audio content. And we will feature authors who write for our community blog on writing and book marketing topics. The three hosts will talk about what they are reading and we will have community experts weigh in with their suggestions, including a contribution in each episode by Storied Charlotte Blog. The three hosts will tackle a writing and marketing topic in each episode and we are going to open up SpeakPipe to listeners who can leave us messages to be played on the show, whether it be comments about a past show, questions for the hosts, or their own book recommendations or writing and marketing tips. Plus, it will be fun for the hosts, and hopefully, engaging for the guests to hear from more just me and one guest at a time.  

Here is a link to a short YouTube video we just uploaded talking about reaching 300 episodes, introducing the new co-hosts for Beyond 300 and talking about the new format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7VlURWdIag

We hope Charlotte Readers Podcast – Beyond 300, will be a place where readers and writers can be entertained, learn about good books, and engage with us about writing and book marketing practices. Thanks for helping us spread the word as we continue to help authors give voice to their own written words.

Landis also has great news about Deadly Declarations.  In his “Author’s Newsletter” that he sent out on June 7, Landis wrote, “I was very honored to learn over the weekend that Deadly Declarations was selected as one of the Finalists in the 2022 International Book Awards in the Thriller/Adventure category.”  I congratulate Landis on this recognition.

Readers who would like to talk with Landis about Deadly Declarations are in luck, for Landis is one of the featured authors at our next Charlotte Readers Book Club event.  For our second Charlotte Readers Book Club, Charlotte Readers Podcast and Storied Charlotte are partnering with That’s Novel Books at Hygge at Camp North End.  This event will take place at Lokal/That’s Novel Books, 330 Camp Road, on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.  We will feature Deadly Declarations and Avery Caswell’s recently published Salvation, a novel based on Earthell Latta’s personal story of her abduction by a traveling preacher in 1971. Earthell Latta will also be joining our book club discussion.  You are not required to have read the books to participate in our book club. This will be an open discussion with authors, and I will be moderating the discussion.  You’ll have the opportunity to ask the authors questions, purchase their books and meet other Charlotte book lovers. Here is the Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/charlotte-readers-book-club-tickets-367897008857

I enjoy collaborating with Landis on our Charlotte Readers Book Club, and I appreciate his many and varied contributions to Storied Charlotte.       

Patrice Gopo’s Debut Picture Book

June 13, 2022 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

With the June 14th release of All the Places We Call Home, Patrice Gopo claims her place on the list of picture books authors who currently call Charlotte home.  Patrice did not always call Charlotte home.  The child of Jamaican immigrants, Patrice grew up in Anchorage, Alaska.  During her early adult years, she spent time living in multiple states and countries, including South Africa, before eventually moving to Charlotte about eleven years ago.  Patrice draws on her unique background in her debut picture book.  For more information about Patrice and All the Places We Call Home, please click on the following link:  https://www.patricegopo.com/home

In the beginning of All the Places We Call Home, a young girl spins a globe on her bedside table and wonders about the various places that figure in her family history. Like Patrice, the girl lives in America but has family roots in multiple parts of the world.   The girl’s mother then shares bedtime stories about these special places.  Jenin Mohammed, the book’s illustrator, provides colorful pictures that perfectly match Patrice’s lyrical descriptions of the various places that the girl calls home.

All the Places We Call Home has direct connections to Patrice’s first book, a collection of personal essays titled All the Colors We Will See:  Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness, and Finding Our Way, which came out in 2018. I recently contacted Patrice and asked her about the connections between these two books.  Here is what she sent to me:

First, a fun fact about All the Places We Call Home: an essay in my collection All the Colors We Will See inspired the story. Years ago, in rural Zimbabwe, my oldest daughter took a nap on her great-grandmother’s bed. That day I remembered a childhood nap I had once taken on my grandmother’s bed in rural Jamaica. I recognized how my daughter’s story would, in many ways, mirror my story: a child who lives in one place but has cultural ties to other parts of the world. That experience became an essay titled “Before.” I started writing personal essays around 2010. However, I only branched out into picture books in 2019 when an idea whispered to me that maybe I could reimagine “Before” in a new form.

When I initially started writing All the Places We Call Home, I attempted to take “Before” and pare it down, still clinging to the complex language and structural movement. That draft failed miserably. The failure, however, was still a great learning experience. I discovered I needed a different approach for a picture book versus the meandering approach I often take when writing essays. With essays, the images and lyrical language usually come first and lead me toward the story. With picture books, I discovered that the story usually comes first and leads me toward the rich imagery and lyrical language.

As a 2011 transplant to Charlotte, I think All the Places We Call Home is the perfect title for this book. Over the years, Charlotte has truly become a place I think of as another home. I know some of that metamorphosis happened because of the significant impact Charlotte and North Carolina has had on my growth as a writer. I often tell people that living in this city and this state helped me become the writer I am today. It’s here that I refined my craft as an essayist, and it’s here that I stepped into this new area of picture books. Along the way, I’ve found incredible support through organizations such as the North Carolina Arts Council, the Arts & Science Council, Charlotte Lit, and the Carolinas chapter of SCBWI.

I’m so excited for All the Places We Call Home to find its place in the world, and I’m absolutely thrilled with the Jenin Mohammed’s rich and textured illustrations. She brought life to this story in ways I could have never dreamed. Ultimately, I hope All the Places We Call Home will encourage children and their families and caregivers to embrace this beautiful truth: the places we come from can be part of us, even if we can’t always be near them. Places we’ve never lived—or we no longer live—can deepen our understanding of ourselves. Our children can connect to more than just the place where they fall asleep at night. For some, their ties stretch across the world. For others, they stretch across their town. Ultimately, may this story inspire others to celebrate the various places they call home.

Patrice is participating in several upcoming events tied to the launch of All the Places We Call Home. Detailed information about these events can be found on her website, but the key information is listed below:

Saturday, June 18th @ 11am @ Park Road Books

Wednesday, June 29th @ 1 pm @ Pig City Books

Friday, July 1st @ 10 am @ Main Street Books

Saturday, July 9th @ 11 am hosted by Shelves Bookstore

While reading All the Places We Call Home, I was reminded of the family stories that my mother told me about Sweden when I was a boy.  Everyone in my mother’s family came from Sweden, and her Swedish heritage was very important to her.  I enjoyed hearing my mother’s stories about our family history.  I was in my 60s before I visited Sweden, but I felt at home when I finally did. 

Like Patrice, I now call Charlotte home, but also like Patrice, I feel strong ties to other places in the world—places where I once lived or places where members of my family once lived.  In this regard, I am not unique.  Charlotte has a long and rich history of attracting people from all over the world.  For this reason, Patrice’s All the Places We Call Home is a perfect book for Storied Charlotte. 

Tags: family storiespicture book

Chris Arvidson Finds Her Voice as a Poet

June 06, 2022 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

A few years ago, I wrote a Storied Charlotte blog post about Chris Arvidson’s anthology titled The Love of Baseball:  Essays by Lifelong Fans.  At the time that I wrote about her baseball anthology, I would have described Chris as a writer of creative nonfiction.  I knew that she covered poetry in the creative writing classes that she regularly teaches at UNC Charlotte, but I wasn’t then aware that she had taken an interest in writing poetry.   Over the years, however, I have learned that some writers are hard to pin down, and Chris is such a writer.  I first became aware of Chris’s interest in writing poetry when I noticed that she was one of the Charlotte poets featured in the Of Earth and Sky:  Poetry Anthology 2021.  Her career as a poet has taken a big step forward this month with the publication of The House Inside My Head, her first poetry collection.  For more information about this collection, please click the following link:  https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-house-inside-my-head-by-chris-arvidson/

I contacted Chris and asked her about how she came to write The House Inside My Head.  Here is what she sent to me:

Poetry has come to me late in my writing life. My MFA and subsequent nonfiction work has been about people, places, baseball…. But when my husband Henry and I moved back to Charlotte, after being gone to such far-flung places as Traverse City, MI, and Pittsburgh, it just started pouring out of me. I blame it on the Charlotte Mecklenburg library uptown, and Charlotte Lit’s Pen to Paper writing sessions.

The first week we were back, I started going to the Thursday morning Write Like You Mean It sessions at the library. And then I added in Pen to Paper at Charlotte Lit once a week. Soon the library started a bi-weekly Poetry in Pajamas, and I thought, well, hell, why not? All the prompts all seemed to “prompt” me to poetry.

Then the pandemic hit and that just egged me on even more. We started Zooming and still there was poetry. Before I knew it, I had a pretty big collection of stuff people seemed to like, so on the advice of poetry friends I sent it in to Finishing Line Press’ annual chapbook contest. I didn’t win, but they asked to publish the chapbook.

In my Introduction to Creative Writing class at UNC Charlotte, the final exam is to submit what you think is your best work for publication. Students decide which pieces of their work over the semester is their best, revise and polish, then research the right place for submission. I could hardly do less.

By the way, every semester, at least one student gets their work published. I like to think about how that final exam could prompt a lifelong habit. One of my students, Luther “Cole” Kissam V, just published a full-length poetry collection titled Have I Told You about My Superpowers.  Some of the poems in the collection he wrote in my class. He will be reading from his new book at Park Road Books on Sunday, June 12, 2022, at 3 pm.Is that great or what?

I agree—it is great.  I think it’s great that both Chris and Cole have poetry books that have come out this month.  I think it’s great Storied Charlotte is a place where writers such as Chris and Cole can find the support they need to grow as writers. 

Tags: poetry collection