James S. A. Corey presents Leviathan Falls in conversation with Ann Leckie Powells Books 2021-12-07 | The biggest science fiction series of the decade comes to an incredible conclusion in Leviathan Falls (Orbit), the ninth and final novel in James S. A. Corey’s Hugo Award-winning space opera series, The Expanse. The Laconian Empire has fallen, setting the 1,300 solar systems free from the rule of Winston Duarte. But the ancient enemy that killed the gate builders is awake, and the war against our universe has begun again. In the dead system of Adro, Elvi Okoye leads a desperate scientific mission to understand what the gate builders were and what destroyed them, even if it means compromising herself and the half-alien children who bear the weight of her investigation. Through the wide-flung systems of humanity, Colonel Aliana Tanaka hunts for Duarte’s missing daughter… and the shattered emperor himself. And on the Rocinante, James Holden and his crew struggle to build a future for humanity out of the shards and ruins of all that has come before. As nearly unimaginable forces prepare to annihilate all human life, Holden and a group of unlikely allies discover a last, desperate chance to unite all of humanity, with the promise of a vast galactic civilization free from wars, factions, lies, and secrets if they win. But the price of victory may be worse than the cost of defeat. Corey was joined in conversation by Ann Leckie, author of the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel, Ancillary Justice.Order Leviathan Falls: powells.com/book/leviathan-falls-the-expanse-9-9780316332910
Jason McBride presents Eat Your Mind in conversation with Lidia Yuknavitch Powells Books 2022-12-08 | Kathy Acker (1947–1997) was a rare and almost inconceivable thing: a celebrity experimental writer. Twenty-five years after her death, she remains one of the most original, shocking, and controversial artists of her era. The author of visionary, transgressive novels like Blood and Guts in High School; Empire of the Senseless; and Pussy, King of Pirates, Acker wrote obsessively about the treachery of love, the limitations of language, and the possibility of revolution. She was notorious for her methods — collaging together texts stolen from other writers with her own diaries, sexual fantasies, and blunt political critiques — as well as her appearance. With her punkish hairstyles, tattoos, and couture outfits she looked like no other writer before or after. Her work was exceptionally prescient, taking up complicated conversations about gender, sex, capitalism, and colonialism that continue today. A feat of literary biography, Eat Your Mind (Simon & Schuster) is the first full-scale, authorized life of Acker. Drawing on exclusive interviews with hundreds of Acker’s intimates as well as her private journals, correspondence, and early drafts of her work, acclaimed journalist and critic Jason McBride offers a thrilling account and a long overdue reassessment of a misunderstood genius and revolutionary artist. McBride was joined in conversation by Lidia Yuknavitch, author of Thrust.Get a copy of Eat Your Mind here: powells.com/book/eat-your-mind-9781982117023
James J. Butcher presents Dead Man’s Hand in conversation with Jim Butcher Powells Books 2022-11-01 | In the tradition of his renowned father, James J. Butcher’s debut novel, Dead Man’s Hands (Ace Books) is a brilliant urban fantasy about a young man who must throw out the magical rule book to solve the murder of his former mentor. On the streets of Boston, the world is divided into the ordinary Usuals, and the paranormal Unorthodox. And in the Department of Unorthodox Affairs, the Auditors are the magical elite, government-sanctioned witches with spells at their command and all the power and prestige that comes with it. Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby is… not one of those witches. After flunking out of the Auditor training program and being dismissed as “not Department material,” Grimsby tried to resign himself to life as a mediocre witch. But he can’t help hoping he’ll somehow, someway, get another chance to prove his skill. That opportunity comes with a price when his former mentor, aka the most dangerous witch alive, is murdered down the street from where he works, and Grimsby is the Auditors’ number one suspect. Proving his innocence will require more than a little legwork, and after forming a strange alliance with the retired legend known as the Huntsman and a mysterious being from Elsewhere, Grimsby is abruptly thrown into a life of adventure, whether he wants it or not. Now all he has to do is find the real killer, avoid the Auditors on his trail, and most importantly, stay alive. Butcher was joined in conversation by Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files series.Get a copy of Dead Man's Hand here: powells.com/book/dead-mans-hand-9780593440414
Daniel OMalley presents Blitz in conversation with Charlaine Harris Powells Books 2022-10-21 | September, 1940: Three women of the Checquy, the secret organization tasked with protecting Britain from supernatural threats, stand in the sky above London and see German aircraft approach. Forbidden by law to interfere, all they can do is watch as their city is bombed. Until Pamela, the most sensible of them, breaks all the rules and brings down a Nazi bomber with her bare hands. The three resolve to tell no one about it, but they soon learn that a crew member is missing from the downed bomber. Charred corpses are discovered in nearby houses and it becomes apparent that the women have unwittingly unleashed a monster. Through a city torn by the Blitz, the friends must hunt the enemy before he kills again. Their task will take them from the tunnels of the Underground to the halls of power, where they will discover the secrets that a secret organization must keep even from itself. Today: Lynette Binns, a librarian with a husband and child, is a late recruit to the Checquy, having discovered only as an adult her ability to electrify everyday objects with her touch. After completing her training, she is assigned to examine a string of brutal murders and quickly realizes that all bear the unmistakable hallmark of her own unique power. Unable to provide an alibi and determined to prove her innocence, she flees, venturing into the London underworld to find answers. But now she is prey, being tracked by her own frighteningly capable comrades. As Lyn fights off powered thugs and her own vengeful colleagues, she will find that the solution to the murders and to the mystery of her own past lies in the events of World War II, and the covert actions of three young women during the Blitz. Daniel O’Malley’s Blitz (Little, Brown) is the riveting new thriller in his Rook Files series. O’Malley was joined in conversation by Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse and Midnight, Texas fantasy/mystery series.Get a copy of Blitz here: powells.com/book/blitz-rook-files-3-9780316561556
Annie Duke presents Quit in conversation with David Epstein Powells Books 2022-10-21 | From Annie Duke, the bestselling author of Thinking in Bets, comes a toolkit for mastering the skill of quitting to achieve greater success. Business leaders, with millions of dollars down the drain, struggle to abandon a new app or product that just isn’t working. Governments, caught in a hopeless conflict, believe that the next tactic will finally be the one that wins the war. And in our own lives, we persist in relationships or careers that no longer serve us. Why? According to Duke, in the face of tough decisions, we’re terrible quitters. And that is significantly holding us back. In Quit (Portfolio), Duke teaches you how to get good at quitting. Drawing on stories from elite athletes like Mount Everest climbers, founders of leading companies like Stewart Butterfield, the CEO of Slack, and top entertainers like Dave Chappelle, Duke explains why quitting is integral to success, as well as strategies for determining when to hold em, and when to fold em, that will save you time, energy, and money. Whether you’re facing a make-or-break business decision or life-altering personal choice, mastering the skill of quitting will help you make the best next move. Duke was joined in conversation by David Epstein, author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World.Get a copy of Quit here: powells.com/book/quit-9780593422991
Daniel Kraus presents Wrath in conversation with Grady Hendrix Powells Books 2022-10-07 | In a future much nearer than you think, where scientific experimentation is exploited for commercial profit, unwisely under-supervised cutting-edge technology creates a menace that threatens the very fabric of human existence. Wrath (Union Square) — by Shäron Moalem (Survival of the Sickest) and Daniel Kraus (The Living Dead) — is the story of a lab rat instilled with human genes whose supersized intelligence helps him to engineer his escape into the world outside the lab: a world vastly ill-equipped to deal with the menace he represents. Modified through advances that have boosted his awareness of humankind’s cruelty in the name of science, and endowed with a rat’s natural proclivity to procreate regularly, Sammy has the potential to sire a rodent army capable of viciously overwhelming the human race. Kraus was be joined in conversation by Grady Hendrix, author of The Final Girl Support Group.Get a copy of WRATH here: powells.com/book/wrath-9781454945222
John Gottman & Julie Schwartz Gottman present The Love Prescription in conversation with Amy Sun Powells Books 2022-10-07 | What makes love last? Why does one couple stay together forever, while another falls apart? And most importantly, is there a scientific formula for love? Drs. John Gottman and Julie Schwartz Gottman are the world’s leading relationship scientists. For the past 40 years, they have been studying love. They’ve gathered data on over 3,000 couples, looking at everything from their body language to the way they converse to their stress hormone levels. Their goal: to identify the building blocks of love. Their new book, The Love Prescription (Penguin Life) distills their life’s work into a bite-size, seven-day action plan with easy, immediately actionable steps. There will be no grand gestures and no big, hard conversations. There’s nothing to buy or do to prepare. Anyone can do this, from any starting point. There is a formula for a good relationship, and The Love Prescription will show you how a few small changes can fundamentally transform your relationship for the better.Get a copy of The Love Prescription Here: powells.com/book/love-prescription-9780143136637
Andy Kroll presents A Death on W Street in conversation with Tim Dickinson Powells Books 2022-09-29 | In the early hours of July 10, 2016, gunshots rang out and a young man lay fatally wounded on a quiet Washington, DC, street. But who killed Seth Rich? When he was buried in his hometown, his rabbi declared: “There are no answers for a young man gunned down in the prime of his life.” The rabbi was wrong. There were in fact many answers, way too many. In the absence of an arrest, a howling mob filled the void. Wild speculation and fantastical theories surfaced on social media and gained traction thanks to a high-level cast of provocateurs. But it wasn’t until Fox News took the rumors from the fringes to the mainstream that Seth Rich’s life and death grew into something altogether unexpected — one of the foundational conspiracy theories of modern times. Andy Kroll’s A Death on W Street (PublicAffairs) unravels this gripping saga of murder, madness, and political chicanery, one that would ensnare Hillary Clinton and Steve Bannon, a popular pizzeria in northwest DC, and the most powerful voices in American media. It's the story of an idealistic 27-year-old political staffer who became a tragic victim of the culture wars, until his family decided that they had no choice but to defend his name and put an end to the cruel deceptions that surrounded his death. A Death on W Street is the definitive story of Seth Rich, of those who tried to weaponize his memory in a war of words unlike any other, and of one family’s crusade to protect the truth against all odds. Kroll was joined in conversation by Tim Dickinson, senior writer at Rolling Stone.Get a copy of A Death on W Street here: powells.com/book/death-on-w-street-9781541751149
Steven Hyden presents Long Road in conversation with Chuck Klosterman Powells Books 2022-09-28 | Ever since Pearl Jam first blasted onto the Seattle grunge scene three decades ago with their debut album, Ten, they have sold over 85 million albums, performed for hundreds of thousands of fans around the world, and have even been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In Long Road: Pearl Jam and the Soundtrack of a Generation (Hachette), music critic and journalist Steven Hyden celebrates the life, career, and music of this legendary group, widely considered to be one of the greatest American rock bands of all time. Long Road is structured like a mix tape, using 18 different Pearl Jam classics as starting points for telling a mix of personal and universal stories. Each chapter tells the tale of this great band — how they got to where they are, what drove them to greatness, and why it matters now. Much like the generation it emerged from, Pearl Jam is a mass of contradictions. They were an enormously successful mainstream rock band who felt deeply uncomfortable with the pursuit of capitalistic spoils. They were progressive activists who spoke in favor of abortion rights and against the Ticketmaster monopoly, and yet they epitomized the sound of traditional, male-dominated rock ‘n’ roll. They were looked at as spokesmen for their generation, even though they ultimately projected profound confusion and alienation. They triumphed, and failed, in equal doses — the quintessential Gen-X tale. Hyden was be joined in conversation by Chuck Klosterman, author of The Nineties.Get a copy of Long Road here: powells.com/book/long-road-pearl-jam-the-soundtrack-of-a-generation-9780306826429
Hannah Sward presents Strip in conversation with Amy Dresner Powells Books 2022-09-28 | Born in the bohemian seventies, Hannah Sward was abandoned by her mother, and lived with her poet father on an island with no stores or cars. Kidnapped and molested by a stranger at age six, she grew up to be a stripper and a prostitute with a taste for crystal meth — which seemed to be a sure-fire way to lose weight — with stops along the way for silent gurus, sugar daddies, and drinking in the CVS bathroom before therapy sessions. Painstakingly honest, often humorous, Strip (Tortoise Books) is Sward's heartfelt memoir revealing a woman’s journey from innocence to a dark existence, and beyond it to a world of empowerment. Sward was be joined in conversation by Amy Dresner, author of My Fair Junkie.Get a copy of Strip here: powells.com/book/strip-9781948954679
Thom Hartmann presents The Hidden History of Neoliberalism Powells Books 2022-09-21 | In his new book, The Hidden History of Neoliberalism: How Reaganism Gutted America and How to Restore Its Greatness (Berrett-Koehler), progressive radio host Thom Hartmann reveals how and why neoliberalism became so prevalent in the United States and why it's time for us to turn our backs to it. While America is at a crossroads regarding its economic future, many of us don't fully understand how we got here. In his powerful and accessible new book, Hartmann demystifies neoliberalism and explains how we can use this pivotal point in time to create a more positive future. The Hidden History of Neoliberalism traces the history of neoliberalism — which applies to a set of capitalistic philosophies favoring free trade, financial austerity, and deregulation — up to the present. Hartmann explains how neoliberalism was sold as a cure for wars and the Great Depression. He outlines the impact that it has had on America, looking at different sectors, including healthcare, unemployment, and education. Hartmann highlights how America can go one of two ways: continue going down the road to neoliberal oligarchy, as supported by the GOP, or choose to return to FDR's Keynesian economics, raise taxes on the rich, reverse free trade, and create a more pluralistic society.Get a copy of The Hidden History of Neoliberalism here: powells.com/book/the-hidden-history-of-neoliberalism-9781523002320
Madeline Ostrander presents At Home on an Unruly Planet, in conversation with Michelle Nijhuis Powells Books 2022-09-15 | How do we find a sense of home and rootedness in a time of unprecedented upheaval? What happens when the seasons and rhythms in which we have built our lives go off-kilter? Once a distant forecast, climate change is now reaching into the familiar, threatening our basic safety and forcing us to reexamine who we are and how we live. In At Home on an Unruly Planet (Henry Holt), science journalist Madeline Ostrander reflects on this crisis not as an abstract scientific or political problem but as a palpable force that is now affecting all of us at home. She offers vivid accounts of people fighting to protect places they love from increasingly dangerous circumstances. A firefighter works to rebuild her town after catastrophic western wildfires. A Florida preservationist strives to protect one of North America's most historic cities from rising seas. An urban farmer struggles to transform a California city plagued by fossil fuel disasters. An Alaskan community heads for higher ground as its land erodes. Ostrander pairs deeply reported stories of hard-won optimism with lyrical essays on the strengths we need in an era of crisis. Ostrander was joined in conversation by Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts.Get a copy of At Home on an Unruly Planet here: powells.com/book/at-home-on-an-unruly-planet-9781250620514
Sasha Fletcher presents Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World with Lydia Kiesling Powells Books 2022-09-12 | It’s Brooklyn. It’s winter. It’s so cold outside you could execute billionaires in the street about it. Sam lives with Eleanor and they are in love. He has three or four outstanding invoices that would each cover rent for a month. At some point, the President is going to make some absolutely wild announcements that will only end in doom. In a surreal, funny, and heart-breaking version of reality, Sasha Fletcher’s highly anticipated debut novel occupies that rare register that manages to speak to an increasingly incomprehensible world. Through scenes that poetically transform the mundane into the sublime and the absurd into the tragic, Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World (Melville House) is about the exquisite beauty of being in love in a world that is falling apart. Fletcher was joined in conversation by Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State.Get a copy: powells.com/book/be-here-to-love-me-at-the-end-of-the-world-9781612199474
Gary Shteyngart presents Our Country Friends in conversation with Carolyn Kellogg Powells Books 2022-09-12 | It's March 2020 and a calamity is unfolding. A group of friends, and friends-of-friends, gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Over the next six months new friendships and romances take hold, while old betrayals emerge, forcing each character to reevaluate whom they love and what matters most. The unlikely cast of characters include: a Russian-born novelist; his Russian-born psychiatrist wife; their precocious child obsessed with K-pop; a struggling Indian American writer; a wildly successful Korean American app developer; a global dandy with three passports; a young flame-thrower of an essayist, originally from the Carolinas; and a movie star, The Actor, whose arrival upsets the equilibrium of this chosen family. In his latest novel, Gary Shteyngart documents through fiction the emotional toll of our recent times: a story of love and friendship that reads like a great Russian novel set in upstate New York. Both elegiac and very, very funny, Our Country Friends (Random House) is the most ambitious book yet by the author of the beloved bestseller, Super Sad True Love Story. Shteyngart was joined in conversation by Carolyn Kellogg, writer, critic, and former Books Editor of the Los Angeles Times.
Syren Nagakyrie presents The Disabled Hiker’s Guide to Western Washington & Oregon with Naomi Ortiz Powells Books 2022-09-05 | Syren Nagakyrie’s The Disabled Hiker’s Guide to Western Washington and Oregon (Falcon Guides) is the first book of its kind to consider the diverse needs of disabled people in the outdoors. This groundbreaking guidebook includes 60 outdoor adventures, including drive-up experiences, verified wheelchair accessible trails, and foot trails suitable for disabled hikers. This guide removes one of the barriers to access — a lack of information — by utilizing a rating system and detailed trail information designed for the disability community. Each trail is personally assessed according to Nagakyrie’s skilled and detailed review and established accessibility guidelines. Nagakyrie will be joined in conversation by Naomi Ortiz, author of Sustaining Spirit: Self-Care for Social Justice.Get a copy of The Disabled Hiker’s Guide to Western Washington and Oregon here: powells.com/book/the-disabled-hikers-guide-to-western-washington-and-oregon-9781493057856
Jesse Ball presents Autoportrait in conversation with Max Porter Powells Books 2022-08-22 | Jesse Ball has produced 14 acclaimed works of deeply empathetic absurdism in poetry and fiction. Now, he offers readers his first memoir, one that showcases his “humane curiosity” (James Wood) and invites the reader into a raw and personal account of love, grief, and memory. Inspired by the memoir Édouard Levé put to paper shortly before his death, Autoportrait (Catapult) is an extraordinarily frank and intimate work from one of America's most brilliant young authors. The subtle power of Ball's voice conjures the richness of everyday life. On each page, half-remembered moments are woven together with the joys and triumphs — and the mistakes and humiliations, too — that somehow tell us who we are and why we are here. Held at the same height as tragic accounts of illness or death are moments of startling beauty, banality, or humor: "I wake in the morning, I sit, I walk long distances. If there is somewhere to swim, I may swim. If I have a bicycle, I will ride it, especially to meet someone. There is no more preparing for me to do, other than preparing for death, and I do that by laughing. Not laughing at death, of course. Laughing at myself." An extraordinary memoir that reminds us what is possible and builds to the kind of power one might feel reading Anne Carson's Glass Essay, or Joe Brainard's I Remember. Autoportrait will leave you feeling utterly invigorated, inspired, and a little afraid. Ball was be joined in conversation by Max Porter, author of Lanny and Grief is the Thing with Feathers. We were delighted to host this virtual launch event alongside our friends Community Bookstore, Seminary Co-op Bookstores, and Third Place Books.Get a copy of Autoportrait here: powells.com/book/autoportrait-9781646221387
Mona Awad presents Alls Well in conversation with Iain Reid Powells Books 2022-08-05 | From the author of Bunny, which Margaret Atwood hails as “genius,” comes a “wild, and exhilarating” (Lauren Groff) novel about a theater professor who is convinced staging Shakespeare’s most maligned play will remedy all that ails her — but at what cost? Miranda Fitch’s life is a waking nightmare. The accident that ended her burgeoning acting career left her with excruciating chronic back pain, a failed marriage, and a deepening dependence on painkillers. And now, she’s on the verge of losing her job as a college theater director. Determined to put on Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, the play that promised and cost her everything, she faces a mutinous cast hellbent on staging Macbeth instead. Miranda sees her chance at redemption slip through her fingers. That’s when she meets three strange benefactors who have an eerie knowledge of Miranda’s past and a tantalizing promise for her future: one where the show goes on, her rebellious students get what’s coming to them, and the invisible doubted pain that’s kept her from the spotlight is made known. With prose Atwood has described as “no punches pulled, no hilarities dodged… genius,” Mona Awad has concocted her most potent, subversive novel yet. All’s Well (Scribner/Marysue Rucci Books) is a “fabulous novel” (Mary Karr) about a woman at her breaking point and a formidable, piercingly funny indictment of our collective refusal to witness and believe female pain. Awad was joined in conversation by Iain Reid, author of I'm Thinking of Ending Things.Get a copy of All's Well here: powells.com/book/alls-well-9781982169671/62-0
Oscar Hokeah presents Calling for a Blanket Dance, in conversation with Rubén Degollado Powells Books 2022-08-02 | Calling for a Blanket Dance (Algonquin) is a moving and deeply engaging novel about a young Native American man finding strength in his familial identity, from a stellar new voice in fiction. Told in a series of voices, Oscar Hokeah’s debut takes us into the life of Ever Geimausaddle through the multigenerational perspectives of his family as they face myriad obstacles. His father’s injury at the hands of corrupt police, his mother's struggle to hold on to her job and care for her husband, the constant resettlement of the family, and the legacy of centuries of injustice all intensify Ever’s bottled-up rage. Meanwhile, all of Ever’s relatives have ideas about who he is and who he should be. His Cherokee grandmother urges the family to move across Oklahoma to find security; his grandfather hopes to reunite him with his heritage through traditional gourd dances; his Kiowa cousin reminds him that he’s connected to an ancestral past. And once an adult, Ever must take the strength given to him by his relatives to save not only himself but also the next generation of family. How will this young man visualize a place for himself when the world hasn’t given him a place to start with? Honest, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting, Calling for a Blanket Dance is the story of how Ever Geimausaddle found his way to home. Hokeah was joined in conversation by Rubén Degollado.Get a copy of Calling for a Blanket Dance here: powells.com/book/-9781643751474
Vince A Liaguno & Rena Mason with Tananarive Due, Jennifer McMahon, Alma Katsu & Nathan Carson Powells Books 2022-07-28 | Other Terrors (William Morrow) is an anthology of original new horror stories edited by Bram Stoker Award winners Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason that showcases authors from underrepresented backgrounds telling terrifying tales of what it means to be, or merely to seem, “other.” Offering original new stories from some of the biggest names in horror, as well as some of the hottest up-and-coming talents, Other Terrors will provide the ultimate reading experience for horror fans who want to celebrate fear of “the other.” Be they of a different culture, a different background, a different sexual preference, a different belief system, or a different skin color, some people simply aren’t part of the dominant community — and are perceived as scary. Humans are almost instinctively inclined to fear what’s different, as foolish as that may be, and there are a multitude of individuals who have spent far too long on the outside looking in. And the thing about the outside is… it’s much larger than you think. Liaguno and Mason were joined in conversation by Other Terrors contributors Tananarive Due (The Living Blood), Jennifer McMahon (The Winter People), Alma Katsu (The Hunger), and Nathan Carson (Starr Creek).Get a copy of Other Terrors here: powells.com/book/other-terrors-9780358658894
Eve Fairbanks presents The Inheritors in conversation with Kiese Laymon Powells Books 2022-07-22 | A dozen years in the making, The Inheritors (Simon & Schuster) weaves together the stories of three ordinary South Africans over five tumultuous decades in a sweeping and exquisite look at what really happens when a country resolves to end white supremacy. Dipuo grew up on the south side of a mine dump that segregated Johannesburg’s black townships from the white-only city. Some nights, she hiked to the top. To a South African teenager in the 1980s — even an anti-apartheid activist like Dipuo — the divide that separated her from the glittering lights on the other side appeared eternal. But in 1994, the world’s last explicit racial segregationist regime collapsed to make way for something unprecedented. With penetrating psychological insight, intimate reporting, and bewitching prose, The Inheritors tells the story of a country in the throes of a great reckoning. Through the lives of Dipuo, her daughter Malaika, and Christo — one of the last white South Africans drafted to fight for the apartheid regime — award-winning journalist Eve Fairbanks probes what happens when people once locked into certain kinds of power relations find their status shifting. Observing subtle truths about race and power that extend well beyond national borders, she explores questions that preoccupy so many of us today: How can we let go of our pasts, as individuals and as countries? How should historical debts be paid? And how can a person live an honorable life in a society that — for better or worse — they no longer recognize? Fairbanks was joined in conversation by Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America.Get a copy of The Inheritors here: powells.com/book/inheritors-an-intimate-portrait-of-south-africas-racial-reckoning-9781476725246
Meng Jin & K-Ming Chang in Conversation With Rachel Khong Powells Books 2022-07-20 | Meng Jin’s debut novel, Little Gods, was praised as “spectacular and emotionally polyphonic" (Omar El-Akkad) and “meticulously observed, daringly imagined” (Claire Messud). Now Jin turns her considerable talents to short fiction, in ten thematically linked stories. Written during the turbulent years of the Trump administration and the first year of the pandemic, these stories explore intimacy and isolation, coming-of-age and coming to terms with the repercussions of past mistakes, fraying relationships, and surprising moments of connection. Moving between San Francisco and China, and from unsparing realism to genre-bending delight, Self-Portrait with Ghost (Mariner) considers what it means to live in an age of heightened self-consciousness, seemingly endless access to knowledge, and little actual power. Gods of Want (One World) features stories that center the bodies, memories, myths, and relationships of Asian American women, in the vein of the electrifying relationships in Killing Eve and Yellowjackets — from K-Ming Chang, the National Book Award "5 Under 35" honoree and author of Bestiary. With each tale, Chang gives us her own take on a surrealism that mixes myth and migration, corporeality and ghostliness, queerness and the quotidian. Stunningly told in her feminist fabulist style, these are uncanny stories peeling back greater questions of power and memory. Jin & Chang were joined in conversation by Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin.Get a copy of Self-Portrait with Ghost: powells.com/book/self-portrait-with-ghost-short-stories-9780063160712Get a copy of Gods of Want: powells.com/book/gods-of-want-9780593241585
Paul Tremblay presents The Pallbearers Club in conversation with Stewart ONan Powells Books 2022-07-15 | The Pallbearers Club (William Morrow) is a cleverly voiced psychological thriller about an unforgettable — and unsettling — friendship, with blood-chilling twists, crackling wit, and a thrumming pulse in its veins — from Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and Survivor Song. What if the coolest girl you've ever met decided to be your friend? Art Barbara was so not cool. He was a 17-year-old high school loner in the late 1980s who listened to hair metal, had to wear a monstrous back-brace at night for his scoliosis, and started an extracurricular club for volunteer pallbearers at poorly attended funerals. But his new friend thought the Pallbearers Club was cool. And she brought along her Polaroid camera to take pictures of the corpses. Okay, that part was a little weird. So was her obsessive knowledge of a notorious bit of New England folklore that involved digging up the dead. And there were other strange things — terrifying things — that happened when she was around, usually at night. But she was his friend, so it was okay, right? Decades later, Art tries to make sense of it all by writing The Pallbearers Club: A Memoir. But somehow this friend got her hands on the manuscript and, well, she has some issues with it. And now she's making cuts. Seamlessly blurring the lines between fiction and memory, the supernatural and the mundane, The Pallbearers Club is an immersive, suspenseful portrait of an unusual and disconcerting relationship. Tremblay was joined in conversation by Stewart O'Nan, author of Ocean State and Emily, Alone.Get a copy of The Pallbearers Club here: powells.com/book/the-pallbearers-club-9780063069916
Tiana Clark, Vanessa Friedman & Shayla Lawson present Sex & the Single Woman with Katherine Morgan Powells Books 2022-07-14 | In May 1962, Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl sent shockwaves through the United States, selling more than two million copies in three weeks. The future Cosmopolitan Editor-in-Chief’s book promoted the message that a woman’s needs, ambition, and success during her single years could actually take precedence over the search for a husband. While much of Brown’s advice is outdated and even offensive by today’s standards, her central message remains relevant. In their exceptional anthology, Sex and the Single Woman (Harper Perennial), editors Eliza Smith and Haley Swanson bring together insights from many of today’s leading feminist thinkers and writers to pay homage to Brown’s original work and reinterpret it for a new generation. These contributors provide a much-needed reckoning while addressing today’s central issues, from contraception and abortion (topics the publisher banned from the original) to queer and trans womanhood, racial double standards, dating with disabilities, sexual consent, singlehood by choice, single parenting, and more. Written for today’s women, this revisionist anthology honors Brown’s irreverent spirit just as it celebrates and validates women’s sexual lives and individual eras of singlehood, encouraging us all to reclaim joy where it’s so often been denied. This event featured a panel discussion with Sex and the Single Woman contributors Tiana Clark, Vanessa Friedman, and Shayla Lawson, in conversation with Katherine Morgan, author of No Self-Respecting Woman.Get a copy of Sex & the Single Woman: powells.com/book/sex-and-the-single-woman-9780063071339Sex & the Single Woman audiobook: powells.com/book/sex-and-the-single-woman-9798200970841
Alyson Noël presents Stealing Infinity in conversation with Tracy Wolff Powells Books 2022-07-14 | My life goes completely sideways the moment I meet the mysterious Braxton. Sure, he’s ridiculously hot, but he’s also the reason I’ve been kicked out of school and recruited into Gray Wolf Academy — a remote island school completely off the grid. I never should have trusted a face so perfect. But the reality of why Gray Wolf wanted me is what truly blows my mind. It’s a school for time travelers. Tripping, they call it. This place is filled with elaborate costumes and rare artifacts, where every move is strategic and the halls are filled with shadows and secrets. Here, what you see isn’t always what it appears. Including Braxton. Because even though there’s an energy connecting us together, the more secrets he keeps from me, the more it feels like something is pulling us apart. Something that has to do with this place — and its darker purpose. It’s all part of a guarded, elaborate puzzle of history and time… and I might be one of the missing pieces. Now I have all the time in the world. And yet I can’t shake the feeling that time is the one thing I’m about to run out of… fast. Dan Brown meets Leigh Bardugo in Alyson Noël’s Stealing Infinity (Entangled), the clever, fast-paced new series from the author of the Immortals series. Noël was joined in conversation by Tracy Wolff, author of the Crave series.Get a copy of Stealing Infinity here: powells.com/book/stealing-infinity-stealing-infinity-1-9781649371508
Louis Bayard presents Jackie & Me in conversation with Julia Claiborne Johnson Powells Books 2022-07-14 | Louis Bayard, author of The Pale Blue Eye and The Black Tower, is back with a brilliantly wrought, witty, and sensitive novel about the young Jacqueline Bouvier before she became that Jackie — and about a marriage that almost never happened. In the spring of 1951, debutante Jacqueline Bouvier, working as the Inquiring Photographer for the Washington Times-Herald, meets Jack Kennedy, a charming congressman from a notorious and powerful family, at a party in Washington, DC. Young, rebellious, eager to break free from her mother, Jackie is drawn to the elusive young politician, and soon she and Jack are bantering over secret dinner dates and short work phone calls. Jack, busy with House duties during the week and Senate campaigning on the weekend (as well as his other now-well-known extracurricular activities) convinces his best friend and fixer, Lem Billings, to court Jackie on his behalf. Only gradually does Jackie begin to realize that she is being groomed to be the perfect political wife, whether Jack is interested in settling down or not. Taking place mostly during the spring and summer before Jack and Jackie’s wedding, and narrated by an older Lem as he looks back at his own relationship with the Kennedys and his role in this complicated marriage, Jackie & Me (Algonquin) is a searching story about a young woman of a certain class with narrow options, two people who loved each other, and two people who realized too late that they devoted their lives to Jack at their own expense. Sharply written, steeped in the era and with witty appearances by members of the extended Kennedy clan, this is Jackie as never before seen, in a story about love, sacrifice, friendship, and betrayal. Bayard was joined in conversation by Julia Claiborne Johnson, author of Be Frank With Me and Better Luck Next Time.Get a copy of Jackie & Me: /book/jackie-and-me-9781643750354
Rick Emerson presents Unmask Alice in conversation with Chelsea Cain Powells Books 2022-07-08 | In 1971, Go Ask Alice reinvented the young adult genre with a blistering portrayal of sex, psychosis, and teenage self-destruction. The supposed diary of a middle-class addict, Go Ask Alice terrified adults and cemented LSD's fearsome reputation, fueling support for the War on Drugs. Five million copies later, Go Ask Alice remains a divisive bestseller, outraging censors and earning new fans, all of them drawn by the book's mythic premise: A Real Diary, by Anonymous. But Alice was only the beginning. In 1979, another diary rattled the culture, setting the stage for a national meltdown. The posthumous memoir of an alleged teenage Satanist, Jay's Journal merged with a frightening new crisis — adolescent suicide — to create a literal witch hunt, shattering countless lives and poisoning whole communities. In reality, Go Ask Alice and Jay's Journal came from the same dark place: Beatrice Sparks, a serial con artist who betrayed a grieving family, stole a dead boy's memory, and lied her way to the National Book Awards. Rick Emerson’s Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries (BenBella) is a true story of contagious deception. It stretches from Hollywood to Quantico, and passes through a tiny patch of Utah nicknamed "the fraud capital of America." It's the story of a doomed romance and a vengeful celebrity. Of a lazy press and a public mob. Of two suicidal teenagers, and their exploitation by a literary vampire. Unmask Alice… where truth is stranger than nonfiction. Emerson was joined in conversation by Chelsea Cain, author of Heartsick and One Kick.Get a copy of Unmask Alice: powells.com/book/unmask-alice-9781637740422Get the audiobook: https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781637742365?bookstore=powells
Melissa Febos presents Girlhood in conversation with Genevieve Hudson Powells Books 2022-07-02 | Winner of the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award, Melissa Febos’s Girlhood (Bloomsbury) examines the narratives women are told about what it means to be female and what it takes to free oneself from them. When her body began to change at eleven years old, Febos understood immediately that her meaning to other people had changed with it. By her teens, she defined herself based on these perceptions and by the romantic relationships she threw herself into headlong. Over time, Febos increasingly questioned the stories she’d been told about herself and the habits and defenses she’d developed over years of trying to meet others’ expectations. The values she and so many other women had learned in girlhood did not prioritize their personal safety, happiness, or freedom, and she set out to reframe those values and beliefs. Blending investigative reporting, memoir, and scholarship, Febos charts how she and others like her have reimagined relationships and made room for the anger, grief, power, and pleasure women have long been taught to deny. Written with Febos’ characteristic precision, lyricism, and insight, Girlhood is a philosophical treatise, an anthem for women, and a searing study of the transitions into and away from girlhood, toward a chosen self. Febos was joined in conversation by Genevieve Hudson, author of Boys of Alabama.Get a copy of Girlhood here: powells.com/book/girlhood-9781635572520
Jim Woodring presents One Beautiful Spring Day in conversation with Gary Groth Powells Books 2022-06-30 | Jim Woodring has been chronicling the adventures of his cartoon everyman, Frank, for almost 30 years. These stories are a singular rarity in the comics form — both bone-chillingly physical in their depictions of Frank’s travails and profoundly metaphysical at the same time. Not since George Herriman’s Krazy Kat has the comics language been so exquisitely distilled into pure, revelatory aesthetic expression. One Beautiful Spring Day (Fantagraphics) combines three previously published volumes — Congress of the Animals, where Frank embarked upon a life-changing voyage of discovery; Fran, where he learned, then forgot, that things are not always what they seem; and Poochytown, in which Frank demonstrated his dizzying capacity for both nobility and ignominy — along with 100 dazzling new pages conceived and drawn by Woodring. The result is a seamless graphic narrative that forges a new and even more poignantly realized single story that takes readers deep into the hidden meanings of the previous stories and offers the most full, complete, astonishing exposition of Frank and his supercharged world to date. Frank’s curiosity and risk-taking mixed with a dose of, let’s face it, wanton recklessness, takes him on a series of terrifying peregrinations that often leave his soul and body shattered, and the reader in a state of creative exaltation. Suffice to say that if you are a friend to Frank, you will find One Beautiful Spring Day to be a thousand-course feast of agonizing bliss, soul-stirring mystery, and luminous depth. Woodring was joined in conversation by Gary Groth, co-founder of The Comics Journal and Fantagraphics Books.Get a copy of One Beautiful Spring Day here: powells.com/book/one-beautiful-spring-day-9781683965558
Kaitlyn Tiffany presents Everything I Need I Get from You in conversation with Lindsay Zoladz Powells Books 2022-06-30 | In 2014, on the side of a Los Angeles freeway, a One Direction fan erected a shrine in the spot where, a few hours earlier, Harry Styles had vomited. “It’s interesting for sure,” Styles said later, adding, “a little niche, maybe.” But what seemed niche to Styles was actually an irreverent signpost for an unfathomably large, hyper-connected alternative universe: stan culture. In Everything I Need I Get from You (MCD x FSG), Kaitlyn Tiffany, a staff writer at The Atlantic and a superfan herself, guides us through the online world of fans, stans, and boybands. Along the way we meet girls who damage their lungs from screaming too loud, fans rallying together to manipulate chart numbers using complex digital subversion, and an underworld of inside jokes and shared memories surrounding band members' allergies, internet typos, and hairstyles. In the process, Tiffany makes a convincing, and often moving, argument that fangirls, in their ingenuity and collaboration, created the social internet we know today, effectively making One Direction the first internet boyband. With humor, empathy, and an expert's eye, Everything I Need I Get from You reclaims internet history for young women, establishing fandom not as the territory of hysterical girls but as an incubator for digital innovation, art, and community. From alarming, fandom-splitting conspiracy theories about secret love and fake children, to the interplays between high and low culture and capitalism, Tiffany’s book is a riotous chronicle of the movement that changed the internet forever. Tiffany was joined in conversation by critic, reporter, and essayist Lindsay Zoladz.Get a copy of Everything I Need I Get from You here: powells.com/book/everything-i-need-i-get-from-you-9780374539184
Joseph Han presents Nuclear Family in conversation with Gene Kwak Powells Books 2022-06-23 | Things are looking up for Mr. and Mrs. Cho. Their dream of franchising their Korean plate lunch restaurants across Hawaiʻi seems within reach after a visit from Guy Fieri boosts the profile of Cho’s Delicatessen. Their daughter, Grace, is busy finishing her senior year of college and working for her parents, while her older brother, Jacob, just moved to Seoul to teach English. But when a viral video shows Jacob trying — and failing — to cross the Korean demilitarized zone, nothing can protect the family from suspicion and the restaurant from waning sales. No one knows that Jacob has been possessed by the ghost of his lost grandfather, who feverishly wishes to cross the divide and find the family he left behind in the north. As Jacob is detained by the South Korean government, Mr. and Mrs. Cho fear their son won’t ever be able to return home, and Grace gets more and more stoned as she negotiates her family’s undoing. Struggling with what they don’t know about themselves and one another, the Chos must confront the separations that have endured in their family for decades. Set in the months leading up to the 2018 false missile alert in Hawaiʻi, Joseph Han’s profoundly funny and strikingly beautiful debut novel, Nuclear Family (Counterpoint), is an offering that aches with histories inherited and reunions missed, asking how we heal in the face of what we forget and who we remember. Han was joined in conversation by Gene Kwak, author of Go Home, Ricky!.Get a copy of Nuclear Family here: powells.com/book/nuclear-family-9781640094864
Kim Harrison presents Trouble with the Cursed in conversation with Charlaine Harris Powells Books 2022-06-17 | Rachel Morgan, witch-born demon, has one unspoken rule: take chances, but pay for them yourself. With it, she has turned enemies into allies, found her place with her demon kin, and stepped up as the subrosa of Cincinnati — responsible for keeping the paranormal community at peace and in line. Life is… good? Even better, her best friend, Ivy Tamwood, is returning home. Nothing’s simple, though, and Ivy’s not coming alone. The vampires’ ruling council insists she escort one of the long undead, hell-bent on proving that Rachel killed Cincy’s master vampire to take over the city. Which, of course, Rachel totally did not do. She only transformed her a little. With Rachel’s friends distracted by their own lives and problems, she reaches out to a new ally for help — the demon Hodin. But this trickster has his own agenda. In the end, the only way for Rachel to save herself and the city may be to forge a new understanding with her estranged demon teacher, Al. There’s just one problem: Al would sell his own soul to be rid of her. Rachel Morgan must keep her friends close — and her enemies closer — in Trouble with the Cursed (Ace), the new Hollows novel from author Kim Harrison. Harrison was joined in conversation by Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse and Midnight, Texas fantasy/mystery series.Get a copy of Trouble with the Cursed (Hollows #16) here: powells.com/book/trouble-with-the-cursed-hollows-book-16-9780593437513
Dan Chaon presents Sleepwalk in conversation with Shawn Vestal Powells Books 2022-06-15 | Sleepwalk (Henry Holt) is a high speed and darkly comic road trip through a near-future America with a big-hearted mercenary, from beloved and acclaimed novelist Dan Chaon. Sleepwalk’s hero, Will Bear, is a man with so many aliases that he simply thinks of himself as the Barely Blur. At 50 years old, he’s been living off the grid for over half his life. He’s never had a real job, never paid taxes, never been in a committed relationship. A good-natured henchman with a complicated and lonely past and a passion for LSD microdosing, he spends his time hopscotching across state lines in his beloved camper van, running sometimes shady often dangerous errands for a powerful and ruthless operation he’s never troubled himself to learn too much about. He has lots of connections, but no true ties. His longest relationships are with an old rescue dog that has post-traumatic stress, and a childhood friend as deeply entrenched in the underworld as he is, who, lately, he’s less and less sure he can trust. Out of the blue, one of Will's many burner phones heralds a call from a 20-year-old woman claiming to be his biological daughter. She says she’s the product of one of his long-ago sperm donations; he’s half certain she’s AI. She needs his help. She’s entrenched in a widespread and nefarious plot involving Will’s employers, and for Will to continue to have any contact with her increasingly fuzzes the line between the people he is working for and the people he’s running from. With his signature blend of haunting emotional realism and fast-paced intrigue, Chaon populates his fractured America with characters who ring all too true. Gazing both back to the past and forward to an inevitable-enough-seeming future, Sleepwalk examines where we’ve been and where we’re going and the connections that bind us, no matter how far we travel to dodge them or how cleverly we hide. Chaon was joined in conversation by Shawn Vestal, author of Godforsaken Idaho.Get a copy of Sleepwalk here: powells.com/book/sleepwalk-9781250175212
Maria Adelmann presents How to Be Eaten, in conversation with Steve Almond Powells Books 2022-06-14 | In present-day New York City, five women meet in a basement support group to process their traumas. Bernice grapples with the fallout of dating a psychopathic, blue-bearded billionaire. Ruby, once devoured by a wolf, now wears him as a coat. Gretel questions her memory of being held captive in a house made of candy. Ashlee, the winner of a Bachelor-esque dating show, wonders if she really got her promised fairy tale ending. And Raina's love story will shock them all. Though the women start out wary of one another, judging each other’s stories, gradually they begin to realize that they may have more in common than they supposed… What really brought them here? What secrets will they reveal? And is it too late for them to rescue each other? Dark, edgy, and wickedly funny, Maria Adelmann’s debut, How to Be Eaten (Little, Brown), takes our coziest, most beloved childhood stories, exposes them as anti-feminist nightmares, and transforms them into a new kind of myth for grown-up women. Adelmann was joined in conversation by Steve Almond, author of All the Secrets of the World. This event is presented in partnership with our friends at Rediscovered Books (Boise) and Elliott Bay Book Company (Seattle).Get a copy of How to Be Eaten here: powells.com/book/how-to-be-eaten-9780316450843
Corban Addison presents Wastelands in conversation with John Grisham Powells Books 2022-06-10 | The once idyllic coastal plain of North Carolina is home to a close-knit, rural community that for more than a generation has battled the polluting practices of large-scale farming taking place in its own backyard. After years of frustration and futility, an impassioned cadre of local residents, led by a team of intrepid and dedicated lawyers, filed a lawsuit against one of the world’s most powerful companies — and, miraculously, they won. As vivid and fast-paced as a thriller, Corban Addison’s Wastelands (Knopf) takes us into the heart of a legal battle over the future of America’s farmland and into the lives of the people who found the courage to fight. With journalistic rigor and a novelist’s instinct for story, Wastelands captures the inspiring struggle to bring a modern-day monopoly to its knees, to force a once-invincible corporation to change, and to preserve the rights — and restore the heritage — of a long-suffering community. Addison was joined in conversation by John Grisham, author of 47 consecutive #1 bestsellers.Get a copy of Wastelands here: powells.com/book/wastelands-9780593556634
B. A. Shapiro presents Metropolis in conversation with Tim Johnston Powells Books 2022-06-10 | Metropolis (Algonquin) — the masterful new novel of psychological suspense from B. A. Shapiro, author of The Art Forger — follows a cast of unforgettable characters whose lives intersect when a harrowing accident occurs at the Metropolis Storage Warehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But was it really an accident? Was it suicide? A murder? Six mysterious characters, who rent units in, or are connected to, the self-storage facility, must now reevaluate their lives. These characters have a variety of backgrounds: they are different races; they practice different religions; they're young and they're not so young; they are rich, poor, and somewhere in the middle. As they dip in and out of one another's lives, fight circumstances that are within and also beyond their control, and try to discover the details of the accident, Shapiro both dismantles the myth of the American dream and builds tension to an exciting climax. For readers of Janelle Brown, Lucy Foley, Megan Abbott, and Laura Lippman, Metropolis is an original, spellbinding, and moving story of what we hang on to, what we might need to let go, and how unexpected events can lead us to discover our truest selves. Shapiro was joined in conversation by Tim Johnston, author of Descent and The Current.Get a copy of Metropolis here: powells.com/book/metropolis-9781616209582
Nell Zink presents Avalon in conversation with Justin Taylor Powells Books 2022-06-08 | From Nell Zink, one of America’s most original voices, comes Avalon (Knopf), a profound and singular story about a young woman searching for her place in the world. Bran’s Southern California upbringing is anything but traditional. After her mother joins a Buddhist colony, Bran is raised by her “common-law stepfather” on Bourdon Farms — a plant nursery that doubles as a cover for a biker gang. She spends her days tending plants, slogging through high school, and imagining what life could be if she had been born to a different family. And then she meets Peter, a beautiful, troubled, and charming train wreck of a college student from the East Coast, who launches his teaching career by initiating her into the world of literature and aesthetics. As the two begin a volatile and ostensibly doomed long-distance relationship, Bran searches for meaning in her own surroundings — attending disastrous dance recitals, house-sitting for strangers, and writing scripts for student films. She knows how to survive, but her happiness depends on learning to call the shots. Exceedingly rich, ecstatically dark, and delivered with masterful humor, Avalon is the irresistible story of one teenager’s reckoning with society at large and her search for a personal utopia. Zink will be joined in conversation by Justin Taylor, author of Riding with the Ghost.Get your copy of Avalon here: powells.com/book/avalon-9780593534892
Lydia Conklin presents Rainbow Rainbow in conversation with Leigh Newman Powells Books 2022-06-06 | In Lydia Conklin’s exuberant, prize-winning story collection, Rainbow Rainbow (Catapult), queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming characters seek love and connection in hilarious and heartrending stories that reflect the complexity of our current moment. A nonbinary writer on the eve of top surgery enters into a risky affair during the height of COVID. A lesbian couple enlists a close friend as a sperm donor, plying him with a potent rainbow-colored cocktail. A lonely office worker struggling with their gender identity chaperones their nephew to a trans YouTube convention. And in the depths of a Midwestern winter, a sex-addicted librarian relies on her pet ferrets to help resist a relapse at a wild college fair. A fearless collection of stories that celebrate the humor, darkness, and depth of emotion of the queer and trans experience that's not typically represented: liminal or uncertain identities, queer conception, and queer joy — Rainbow Rainbow captures both the dark and lovable sides of the human experience and establishes Conklin as a fearless new voice for their generation. Conklin was joined in conversation by Leigh Newman, author of Nobody Gets Out Alive.Get a copy of Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin here: powells.com/book/rainbow-rainbow-9781646221011
Ann Leary presents The Foundling in conversation with Lee Woodruff Powells Books 2022-06-06 | From Ann Leary, author of The Good House, comes the story of two friends, raised in the same orphanage, whose loyalty is put to the ultimate test when they meet years later at a controversial institution — one as an employee; the other, an inmate. It’s 1927 and 18-year-old Mary Engle is hired to work as a secretary at a remote but scenic institution for mentally disabled women called the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. She’s immediately in awe of her employer — brilliant, genteel Dr. Agnes Vogel. Dr. Vogel had been the only woman in her class in medical school. As a young psychiatrist, she was an outspoken crusader for women’s suffrage. Now, at age 40, Dr. Vogel runs one of the largest and most self-sufficient public asylums for women in the country. Mary deeply admires how dedicated the doctor is to the poor and vulnerable women under her care. Soon after she’s hired, Mary learns that a girl from her childhood orphanage is one of the inmates. Mary remembers Lillian as a beautiful free spirit with a sometimes-tempestuous side. Could she be mentally disabled? When Lillian begs Mary to help her escape, alleging the asylum is not what it seems, Mary is faced with a terrible choice. Should she trust her troubled friend with whom she shares a dark childhood secret? Mary’s decision triggers a hair-raising sequence of events with life-altering consequences for all. Inspired by a true story about the author’s grandmother, The Foundling (Scribner/Marysue Rucci Books) offers a rare look at a shocking chapter of American history. Leary was joined in conversation by Lee Woodruff, author of In an Instant.Get a copy of The Foundling: powells.com/book/the-foundling-9781982120382
Phil Klay presents Uncertain Ground in conversation with Thomas E. Ricks Powells Books 2022-05-27 | When Phil Klay, author of Redeployment and Missionaries, left the Marines a decade ago after serving as an officer in Iraq, he found himself a part of the community of veterans who have no choice but to grapple with the meaning of their wartime experiences — for themselves and for the country. American identity has always been bound up in war — from the Revolutionary War of our founding, to the Civil War that ended slavery, to the two world wars that launched America as a superpower. What did the current wars say about who we are as a country, and how should we respond as citizens? Unlike in previous eras of war, relatively few Americans have had to do any real grappling with the endless, invisible conflicts of the post-9/11 world; in fact, increasingly few people are even aware they are still going on. It is as if these wars are a dark star with a strong gravitational force that draws a relatively small number of soldiers and their families into its orbit while remaining inconspicuous to most other Americans. In the meantime, the consequences of American military action abroad may be out of sight and out of mind, but they are very real indeed. This chasm between the military and the civilian in American life, and the moral blind spot it has created, is one of the great themes of Uncertain Ground (Penguin Press), Klay’s powerful series of reckonings with some of our country’s thorniest concerns, written in essay form over the past ten years. In the name of what do we ask young Americans to kill, and to die? In the name of what does this country hang together? As we see at every turn in these pages, those two questions have a great deal to do with each another, and how we answer them will go a long way toward deciding where our troubled country goes from here. Klay was joined in conversation by Thomas E. Ricks, adviser on national security at the New America think tank and author of Fiasco.Order Uncertain Ground here: powells.com/book/uncertain-ground-9780593299241
Julia Glass presents Vigil Harbor in conversation with Daniel Mason Powells Books 2022-05-27 | When two unexpected visitors arrive in an insular coastal village, they threaten the equilibrium of a community already confronting climate instability, political violence, and domestic upheavals — a cast of unforgettable characters from the rich imagination of the National Book Award–winning author of Three Junes. A decade from now, in the historic town of Vigil Harbor, there is a rash of divorces among the yacht-club set, a marine biologist despairs at the state of the world, a spurned wife is bent on revenge, and the renowned architect Austin Kepner pursues a passion for building homes designed to withstand the escalating fury of relentless storms. Austin’s stepson, Brecht, has dropped out of college in New York and returned home after narrowly escaping one of the terrorist acts that, like hurricanes, have become increasingly common. Then two strangers arrive: a stranded traveler with subversive charms and a widow seeking clues about a past lover with ties to Austin — a woman who may have been more than merely human. These strangers and their hidden motives come together unexpectedly in an incident that endangers lives — including Brecht’s — with dramatic repercussions for the entire town. Vigil Harbor (Pantheon) reveals Julia Glass in all her virtuosity, braiding multiple voices and dazzling strands of plot into a story where mortal longings and fears intersect with immortal mysteries of the deep as well as of the heart. Glass was joined in conversation by Daniel Mason, author of The Piano Tuner and A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth.Get a copy of Vigil Harbor here: powells.com/book/vigil-harbor-9781101870389
William Brewer presents The Red Arrow in conversation with Kimberly King Parsons Powells Books 2022-05-27 | When a once-promising young writer agrees to ghostwrite a famous physicist’s memoir, his livelihood is already in jeopardy: Plagued by debt, he’s grown distant from his wife — a successful AI designer — and is haunted by an overwhelming sense of dread he describes as “The Mist.” Then, things get worse: The physicist vanishes, leaving everything in limbo, including our narrator’s sanity. Desperate for relief, he undergoes an experimental, psychedelic treatment and finds his world completely transformed: Joy suffuses every moment. For the first time, he understands himself in a larger, universal context, and feels his life shift, refract, and crack open to reveal his past and future alike. Moving swiftly from a chemical spill in West Virginia to Silicon Valley, from a Brooklyn art studio to a high-speed train racing across the Italian countryside, William Brewer’s The Red Arrow (Knopf) wades into the shadowy depths of the human psyche only to emerge, as if speeding through a mile-long tunnel, into a world that is so bright and wondrous, it almost feels completely new. The Red Arrow is a singular, cosmically charged journey through art, memory, and the ways our lives intertwine and align within the riddles of space and time. Brewer was joined in conversation by Kimberly King Parsons, author of Black Light.Order The Red Arrow by William Brewer here: powells.com/book/the-red-arrow-9780593320129
Lynne Cox presents Tales of Al in conversation with Chris Carter Powells Books 2022-05-26 | Lynne Cox, internationally famous for swimming the world’s most difficult waterways without a wet suit, and able to endure water temperatures so cold that they would kill anyone else, recognizes and celebrates all forms of athleticism in others, human or otherwise. And when she saw a video of a Newfoundland dog leaping from an airborne helicopter into Italian waters to save someone from drowning, Cox was transfixed by the rescue, and captivated by the magnificence, physicality, and daring of the dog. Tales of Al (Knopf) is the moving, inspiring story of Cox’s adventures on Italy’s picturesque Lake Idroscalo, as witness to the rigorous training of one of these spectacular dogs at SICS, the famed school that has taught hundreds of dog owners how to train their dogs — Newfoundlands, German shepherds, and golden retrievers — for this rescue operation. Cox, author of Swimming to Antarctica and Grayson, writes about coming to know the dog at the book’s center, Al herself, from puppyhood, an adorable but untrainable chocolate Newfoundland — about the dreams, expectations, disappointments, and vision of her trainer and about realizing the dog’s full potential; striving with all of her canine might to become an expertly trained, highly specialized water rescue dog. Cox was joined in conversation by Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files.Order Tales of Al by Lynne Cox here: powells.com/book/tales-of-al-9780593319376
Gabriela Alemán presents Family Album in conversation with Rodrigo Fuentes Powells Books 2022-05-20 | Gabriela Alemán is known for her spirited and sardonic take on the fatefully interconnected — and often highly compromised — forces at work in present-day South America, and particularly in Ecuador. In her new collection of eight hugely entertaining short stories, Family Album (City Lights), Alemán teases tropes of hardboiled detective fiction, satire, and adventure narratives to recast the discussion of national identity. A muddy brew of pop-culture and pop-folklore yields intriguing, lesser-known episodes of contemporary Ecuadorian history, along with a rich cast of unforgettable characters whose intimate stories open up onto a vista of Ecuador’s place on the world stage. From a pair of deep-sea divers using Robinson Crusoe’s map of a shipwreck to locate sunken treasure in the Galápagos Archipelago, to a night with the husband of Ecuador’s most infamous expat, Lorena Bobbit, this series of cracked “family portraits” provides a cast of picaresque heroes and anti-heroes in stories that sneak up on a reader before they know what’s happened: they’ve learned a great deal about a country whose more well-known exports — soccer, coffee, and cocoa — mask an intriguing national story that’s ripe for the telling. Family Album is Alemán’s rollicking follow-up to her acclaimed English-language debut, Poso Wells. Alemán was joined in conversation by Rodrigo Fuentes, author of Trout, Belly Up.Get a copy of Family Album here: powells.com/book/family-album-stories-9780872868823
Daniel James Brown presents Facing the Mountain in conversation with Tom Ikeda Powells Books 2022-05-19 | From Daniel James Brown, author of The Boys in the Boat, comes a gripping World War II saga of patriotism and courage that tells the story of the special Japanese American Army unit that overcame brutal odds in Europe; their families, incarcerated back home; and a young man who refused to surrender his constitutional rights, even if it meant imprisonment. They came from across the continent and Hawaii. Their parents taught them to embrace both their Japanese heritage and the ways of America. They faced bigotry, yet they believed in their bright futures as American citizens. But within days of Pearl Harbor, the FBI was ransacking their houses and locking up their fathers. And within months many would themselves be living behind barbed wire. Facing the Mountain (Penguin) is an unforgettable chronicle of war-time America and the battlefields of Europe. Based on Brown's extensive interviews with the families of the protagonists as well as deep archival research, it portrays the kaleidoscopic journey of four Japanese-American families and their sons, who volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible. But this is more than a war story. Brown also tells the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were forced to shutter the businesses, surrender their homes, and submit to life in concentration camps on U.S. soil. Woven throughout is the chronicle of a brave young man, one of a cadre of patriotic resisters who stood up against their government in defense of their own rights. Whether fighting on battlefields or in courtrooms, these were Americans under unprecedented strain, doing what Americans do best — striving, resisting, pushing back, rising up, standing on principle, laying down their lives, and enduring. Brown was joined in conversation by Tom Ikeda, former executive director of Densho and author of Facing the Mountain’s foreword.Get a copy of Facing the Mountain here: powells.com/book/facing-the-mountain-9780525557425
Maya MacGregor & Jenn Reese in conversation with Rebecca Mahoney Powells Books 2022-05-13 | In Maya MacGregor’s queer contemporary YA mystery, The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester (Astra Young Readers), a nonbinary teen with autism realizes they must not only solve a 30-year-old mystery but also face the demons lurking in their past in order to live a satisfying life. Now, as Sam's own 19th birthday approaches, their recent near-death experience haunts them. Sam's life seems to be on the upswing after meeting several new friends and a potential love interest in Shep, their next-door neighbor. Yet the past keeps roaring back — in Sam's memories and in the form of a 30-year-old suspicious death that took place in Sam's new home. Sam can't resist trying to find out more. When Sam starts receiving threatening notes, they know they're on the path to uncovering a murderer. But are they also approaching their own end? A girl's quest to save a forest kingdom is intertwined with her exploration of identity in Every Bird a Prince (Henry Holt), a gorgeous middle-grade contemporary fantasy by Jenn Reese, author of A Game of Fox & Squirrels. The only time Eren Evers feels like herself is when she's on her bike, racing through the deep woods. Until she rescues a strange, magical bird, who reveals a shocking secret: their forest kingdom is under attack by an ancient foe — the vile Frostfangs — and the birds need Eren's help to survive. When her own mother starts behaving oddly, Eren realizes that the Frostfangs — with their insidious whispers — are now hunting outside the woods. In order to save her mom, defend an entire kingdom, and keep the friendships she holds dearest, Eren will need to do something utterly terrifying: be brave enough to embrace her innermost truths, no matter the cost. MacGregor and Reese were joined in conversation by Rebecca Mahoney, author of The Valley and the Flood.MacGregor's The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester: powells.com/book/the-many-half-lived-lives-of-sam-sylvester-9781635923599Reese's Every Bird a Prince: powells.com/book/every-bird-a-prince-9781250783448Mahoney's The Valley and the Flood: powells.com/book/the-valley-and-the-flood-9780593114377
Jeff VanderMeer presents Hummingbird Salamander in conversation with Hank Green Powells Books 2022-05-12 | From the author of Annihilation comes a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things. The security consultant “Jane Smith” receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, was a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spiral beyond her control. Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina’s footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As Jane desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out — for her and possibly for the world. Hummingbird Salamander (Picador) is Jeff VanderMeer at his dazzling, cinematic best, wrapping profound questions about climate change, identity, and the world we inhabit into a tightly plotted tale full of unexpected twists. VanderMeer was joined in conversation by Hank Green, author of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor.Order Hummingbird Salamander: powells.com/book/hummingbird-salamander-9781250829771
Gregory D. Smithers presents Reclaiming Two Spirits in conversation with Raven E. Heavy Runner Powells Books 2022-05-11 | Gregory D. Smithers’s Reclaiming Two-Spirits (Beacon) decolonizes the history of gender and sexuality in Native North America. It honors the generations of Indigenous people who had the foresight to take essential aspects of their cultural life and spiritual beliefs underground in order to save them. Before 1492, hundreds of Indigenous communities across North America included people who identified as neither male nor female, but both. They went by aakíí’skassi, miati, okitcitakwe, or one of hundreds of other tribally specific identities. After European colonizers invaded Indian Country, centuries of violence and systematic persecution followed, imperiling the existence of people who today call themselves Two-Spirits, an umbrella term denoting feminine and masculine qualities in one person. Drawing on written sources, archaeological evidence, art, and oral storytelling, Reclaiming Two-Spirits spans the centuries from Spanish invasion to the present, tracing massacres and inquisitions and revealing how the authors of colonialism’s written archives used language to both denigrate and erase Two-Spirit people from history. But as Smithers shows, the colonizers failed — and Indigenous resistance is core to this story. Reclaiming Two-Spirits amplifies their voices, reconnecting their history to Native nations in the 21st century. Smithers was joined in conversation by Raven E. Heavy Runner, one of the many Two-Spirit voices in the western United States and author of Reclaiming Two-Spirits’s foreword.Order Reclaiming Two-Spirits: powells.com/book/reclaiming-two-spirits-9780807003466
Kathryn Miles presents Trailed in conversation with Lacy Crawford Powells Books 2022-05-06 | In May 1996, Julie Williams and Lollie Winans were brutally murdered while backpacking in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, adjacent to the world-famous Appalachian Trail. The young women were skilled backcountry leaders and they had met — and fallen in love — the previous summer, while working at a world-renowned outdoor program for women. But despite an extensive joint investigation by the FBI, the Virginia police, and National Park Service experts, the case remained unsolved for years. In early 2002 and in response to mounting political pressure, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that he would be seeking the death penalty against Darrell David Rice — already in prison for assaulting another woman — in the first capital case tried under new, post-9/11 federal hate crime legislation. But two years later, the Department of Justice quietly suspended its case against Rice, and the investigation has since grown cold. Did prosecutors have the right person? Journalist Kathryn Miles was a professor at Lollie Winans's wilderness college in Maine when the 2002 indictment was announced. On the 20th anniversary of the murder, she began looking into the lives of these adventurous women — whose loss continued to haunt all who had encountered them — along with the murder investigation and subsequent case against Rice. As she dives deeper into the case, winning the trust of the victims’ loved ones as well as investigators and gaining access to key documents, Miles becomes increasingly obsessed with the loss of the generous and free-spirited Lollie and Julie, who were just on the brink of adulthood, and at the same time she discovers evidence of cover-ups, incompetence, and crime-scene sloppiness that seemed part of a larger problem in America’s pursuit of justice in national parks. She also becomes convinced of Rice’s innocence, and zeroes in on a different likely suspect. Miles's new book, Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders (Algonquin), is a riveting, eye-opening, and heartbreaking work, offering a braided narrative about two remarkable women who were murdered doing what they most loved, the forensics of this cold case, and the surprising pervasiveness and long shadows cast by violence against women in the backcountry. Miles was joined in conversation by Lacy Crawford, author of Notes on a Silencing.Order Trailed: powells.com/book/trailed-9781616209094
Rachel M. Harper presents The Other Mother in conversation with Jacqueline Woodson Powells Books 2022-05-06 | Rachel M. Harper’s The Other Mother (Counterpoint) is a page-turning generational saga about a young man’s search for a parent he never knew, and a moving portrait of motherhood, race, and the truths we hide in the name of family. Jenry Castillo is a musical prodigy, raised by a single mother in Miami. He arrives at Brown University on a scholarship — but also to learn more about his late father, Jasper Patterson, a famous ballet dancer who died tragically when Jenry was two. On his search, he meets his estranged grandfather, Winston Patterson, a legendary professor of African American history and a fixture at the Ivy League school, who explodes his world with one question: Why is Jenry so focused on Jasper, when it was Winston’s daughter, Juliet, who was romantically involved with Jenry’s mother? Juliet is the parent he should be looking for — his other mother. Revelation follows revelation as each member of Jenry’s family steps forward to tell the story of his origin, uncovering a web of secrecy that binds this family together even as it keeps them apart. Moving seamlessly between the past and the present, The Other Mother is a daring, ambitious novel that celebrates the complexities of love and resilience — masterfully exploring the intersections of race, class, and sexuality; the role of biology in defining who belongs to whom; and the complicated truth of what it means to be a family. Harper was joined in conversation by Jacqueline Woodson, author of Brown Girl Dreaming and Red at the Bone.The Other Mother: powells.com/book/the-other-mother-9781640095045
Bill Roorbach presents Lucky Turtle in conversation with Nina de Gramont Powells Books 2022-05-05 | When 16-year-old Cindra Zoeller is sent to a reform camp in Montana after being involved in an armed robbery, she is thrust into a world of mountains and cowboys and prayers and miscreants and people from all walks of life like she’s never seen in suburban Massachusetts. At Camp Challenge, she becomes transfixed by Lucky, a camp employee of mysterious origin — an origin of constant speculation — and the chemistry between them is instant and profound. The pair escape together into the wilderness to create an idyllic life far from the reach of the law, living off their resounding love, Lucky’s vast knowledge of the wilderness, and a little help from some friends. But they can run from the outside world for only so long, and the consequences of their naïve fantasy of a future together — and circumstances shaped by skin color — will keep them apart for decades. Cindra gets trapped in a relationship, safely if stultifyingly suburban, where she is both cosseted and controlled by a man who claims to be her rescuer. But for Cindra, there will never be another Lucky, and she dreams of one day finding him, the only man she’s ever fully trusted, her soulmate. Page-turning, full of vivid characters, delicious suspense, and ultimately joy, Lucky Turtle (Algonquin) is a big-hearted, deeply engrossing love story from Bill Roorbach, author of Life Among Giants, one of our most entertaining and perceptive writers. Roorbach was joined in conversation by Nina de Gramont, author of The Christie Affair and The Last September.Lucky Turtle: powells.com/book/lucky-turtle-9781643750972
A. J. Jacobs presents The Puzzler in conversation with David Kwong Powells Books 2022-04-29 | What makes puzzles — jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus — so satisfying? Be it the formation of new cerebral pathways, their close link to insight and humor, or their community-building properties, they’re among the fundamental elements that make us human. Convinced that puzzles have made him a better person, A. J. Jacobs — author of The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All, master of immersion journalism, and nightly crossworder — set out to determine their myriad benefits. And maybe, in the process, solve the puzzle of our very existence. Well, almost. In The Puzzler (Crown), Jacobs meets the most zealous devotees, enters (sometimes with his family in tow) any puzzle competition that will have him, unpacks the history of the most popular puzzles, and aims to solve the most impossible head-scratchers, from a mutant Rubik’s Cube, to the hardest corn maze in America, to the most sadistic jigsaw. Chock-full of unforgettable adventures and original examples from around the world, The Puzzler will open readers’ eyes to the power of flexible thinking and concentration. Whether you’re puzzle obsessed or puzzle hesitant, you’ll walk away with real problem-solving strategies and pathways toward becoming a better thinker and decision maker — for these are certainly puzzling times. Jacobs was joined in conversation by David Kwong, magician, puzzle creator, and author of Spellbound.Order The Puzzler: powells.com/book/the-puzzler-9780593136713
