Buy This Book: The Volunteer by Barbara Taylor Sissel

Barbara Taylor Sissel released her second (of many, I hope) book on Kindle and Nook this week. The Volunteer is a compelling novel about a psychologist who's been sought out by the family of a death row inmate after he declares his wish to be voluntarily executed. Playing out alongside the heartrending plight of his wife and children is the search for the ancient Mayan artifact for which this guy was apparently willing to commit murder and the dark private history of the psychologist herself.

The author does an amazing job of first making us care about these people, pinging curiosity just enough with the mystery surrounding the codex, then pretty much tearing our hearts out with the beautifully written final chapters. She weaves the story from fine, unexpected threads. Characters are complex and thoughtful. Places are fragrant and real. Conversations ring true and meaningful. Plots unfold with startling but graceful turns. She's a terrific author I want everyone to discover -- especially readers who love issues-oriented, character driven fiction by authors like Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve.

THE VOLUNTEER is a satisfying read, and that's enough in itself, but I think book clubs will find a whole additional dimension for discussion. Beyond the big questions that gray the core topic of capital punishment, there's the complicated realm of family relationships, the definition of "the honorable thing" and whether or not it's even possible to redeem oneself by living or dying for a private cause.

This is the kind of indie fiction I'm thrilled to see: a beautifully crafted book by a creative, accomplished author. I've known Barbara for a long time and been inspired by her artistic integrity and uncompromising dedication to her craft. She's taken on the indie adventure with a profoundly healthy energy, and other indie authors would do well to follow her example.

Buy the book from B&N

Buy the book from Amazon

Author Sherry Jones reads from her forthcoming novel "Four Sisters, All Queens"

Story time! Below, the fabulous Sherry Jones reads from her forthcoming novel, Four Sisters, All Queens, which promises to be another well told, impeccably researched story.

From the flap:

From the award-winning author of the controversial international bestseller The Jewel of Medina, a historical novel that chronicles the lives of four sisters, all daughters of Beatrice of Provence — all of whom became queens in medieval Europe. When Beatrice of Savoy, countess of Provence, sends her four beautiful, accomplished daughters to become queens, she admonishes them: Family comes first. As a result, the daughters — Marguerite, queen of France; Eleanor, queen of England; Sanchia, queen of Germany; and Beatrice, queen of Sicily — work not only to expand their husbands’ empires and broker peace between nations, but also to bring the House of Savoy to greater power and influence than before. Their father’s death, however, tears the sisters apart, pitting them against one another for the legacy each believes rightfully hers — Provence itself.

Told from alternating points of view of all four queens, and set in the tumultuous thirteenth century, this is a tale of greed, lust, ambition, and sibling rivalry on a royal scale, exploring the meaning of true power and bringing to life four of the most celebrated women of their time—each of whom had an impact on the history of Europe.

Buy This Book: Jewball by Neal Pollack

A while back, I posted about Neal Pollack's decision to go indie with his forthcoming novel, Jewball, which forthcame today! Congratulations, Neal! I read the smart, funny teaser chapter and can't wait to read the rest. (It's burning a hole in my Kindle as we speak.)

"This isn't a book that's going to move via traditional channels," Pollack says on his website. "Its success won't and can't be easily quantified. But if the Internet does what it does best--spread the word about things that are awesome--then Jewball stands a chance in the glutted digital marketplace."

From the metaphysical flap:

From the bestselling satirist and memoirist Neal Pollack comes a funny, gritty historical noir about a tough Jew on the brink and about a great American game coming into its own.

1937. The gears of world war have begun to grind, but Inky Lautman, star point guard for the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association, America's greatest basketball team, is dealing with his own problems. His coach has unwittingly incurred a massive gambling debt to the German-American Bund. His main basketball rival is self-righteously leading public protests against the rise of homegrown American fascism. And his girlfriend wants him to join a Jewish student organization that's all talk and no action. It's more than Inky can deliver. He just wants to play ball and occasionally beat people up for money. The tides of history are flowing against a guy like Inky. Can he make his free throws and still make it through the season alive?

This...is Jewball.

Buy This Book: Love at First Bark by Julie Klam

The wonderfully funny author Julie Klam won me over with You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness, a hilarious love song to Boston terriers, and Please Excuse My Daughter, a memoir of her privileged upbringing and stormy young adulthood.

Coming to bookstores this month, Love at First Bark: How Saving a Dog Can Somehow Help You Save Yourself is about the alternately hilarious and heart-ripping task of rescuing dogs, who have a habit of turning around to either bite you or rescue you right back.

Visit Julie's website here and check out the great trailer.

#BuyThisBook: Trailer for Alice Hoffman's "The Dovekeepers" coming in October

Read an excerpt from The Dovekeepers

Pre-order from IndieBound

BuyThisBook: Barbara Taylor Sissel's The Ninth Step

Barbara Taylor Sissel crafts a sure-handed, beautiful garden of a novel on ground tilled by Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve. Firmly confronting issues of human frailty, redemption, and letting go, The Ninth Step is a story about what is, but it aches with the stories of what might have been as one man's quest for forgiveness leads him to the impossible task of forgiving himself, and the lives of the people he's wronged are drawn into a shattering spiral of events.

Barbara Taylor Sissel's vibrant voice, rich characters, and deft plotting draw the reader in and keep pages turning to the gripping, unexpected end.

Join me and Topo Gigio wishing Colleen a Happy Birthday (and buy her book while you're at it!)

Bust out the sopapilla cheesecake and the guitarron, it's Colleen's birthday! May I recommend giving yourself a present? If you scurry, you can get a copy of Colleen's fantasy epic The Night Holds the Moon (written with buddy Parke Roberts) on Kindle for just $1.99 this weekend. TNHTM is a story-telling, world-building tour de force. Magic flute! Wayward maiden in the opposite of distress! Dark Highlander Count just begging for a serious kick in the kilt!

Happy Birthday, Colleen, and a delicious reading weekend to all!

Buy This Book: "Milkshake" is a smart, funny fiction debut for Boston Globe columnist Joanna Weiss

What makes me happy as a reader: a book that makes me think, a book that makes me laugh, a book that makes me care. Milkshake, the refreshing, thoroughly enjoyable debut novel from Boston Globe columnist Joanna Weiss did all three. It's takes balls to write a satiric novel about breastfeeding, and when I heard the high concept, I think I was smiling one of those frozen, vaguely baffled smiles that basically says, "Gahfwah?" I couldn't wait to get my hands on the manuscript to see if Weiss actually pulled it off, and I'm delighted to report that she did.

Milkshake strongly reminded me of two of my all time favorite sass-in-a-box books: Jane Smiley's brilliant academia send-up Moo and My Year of Meats, Ruth L. Ozeki's hilarious spoof on reality TV and the meat-packing industry. Plus a smattering of Primary Colors.

Like all of the above, Milkshake satisfies with bright wit, fast-paced story, zingalicious dialogue and engaging characters. For those of us who tend to take ourselves a little too seriously when it comes to personal choices and political stands, it's a friendly but incisive calling out. For those of us who'd rather not see the man behind the political curtain, it's a gentle nudge with an electric cattle prod.

When an innocent wardrobe malfunction places mild-mannered mom Lauren Bruce in the middle of a political flap about breastfeeding in public, gubernatorial hopeful Candace Calloway and her savvy campaign machine latch on. Now, in addition to coping with all the usual issues of new motherhood, Lauren is being pursued by the media and shoved into the political fray, which we get to follow from the POV of pragmatic Maisy, Candace's war-weary campaign manager, a delicious voice of cynicism and sanity.

One of the growing legion of established writers opting to indy publish, Weiss is a great example of how to do it right. Milkshake is well-written and properly edited with a quirktastic cover design by artist Wendy Wahman.

Read more about Joanna's indy pub journey on author Jenna Blum's blog, The Writer's Life.

Monday Jump Start: Abigail Pogrebin's "Showstopper"

Start your writing week with a delicious little Kindle Single: In Showstopper, Abigail Pogrebin chronicles her experience as a 16 year old cast member (along with then 21-year old Jason Alexander) in Merrily We Roll Along, the show famous for being the only flop in the legendary repertoire of Steven Sondheim. In the first 400 words, we see the production falling apart around the company who's struggling to give it heart and soul. Pogrebin quotes from her journal: "Two weeks before opening we have a new lead..." A week later: "Tonight was the biggest walk out we've had yet..." The next day: "The choreographer was fired..."

Anyone who's done theatre will get the biggest laughs, but the tragicomic tale of this epic Broadway turkey goes to the heart of the creative struggle...

"The experience taught me that creativity takes audacity, that Utopia materializes, that failure can be survived. It was formative to see that songs - which underwhelmed some critics in 1981 - could become classics ten or twenty years later; that a bedeviled flop could become folklore, that art can keep breathing after it's declared dead, and even come to life again many times over."

Totally applicable to the writing life and well worth the tiny price of a Kindle Single, my new 99 cent addiction.

Buy This Book x 2: "In Malice, Quite Close" by Brandi Lynn Ryder and "Mice" by Gordon Reece

Last week, Colleen mentioned being a bit fatigued by women-as-victim books, and I definitely inhaled the cure for that over the weekend with these two August releases from Viking.

In Malice, Quite Close is a complex and beautifully written debut novel by Brandi Lynn Ryder, a finalist for Amazon's 2009 Breakthrough Novel Award. The title comes from a poem by Rimbaud (yes, one of the ones that got him in trouble) and sets the perfect tone of vaguely perverse literary suspense. If you read the first chapter (which should be featured in a 400 level creative writing class called "How to Write Your Arse Off in Your First Chapter"), you'll be dragged kicking and screaming under the surface of this sophisticated mystery in which the lines between abduction and seduction are blurred, time and POV keep deftly shifting, and the authenticity of the soul-sick main characters is nothing less than chilling.

Tristan, a wealthy French dilettante, becomes fixated on disaffected all-American girl Karen, who is Lolita-teen-and-a-half and eager to escape her creepy hands-on father. "You make me a monster, Karen," Tristan tells her when she realizes she's a milk carton waiting to happen, "but I'll tell you a secret. You can make me anything you like." He lures her (or does she lure him?) into a life of hidden identities, tangled love quadrangles and secret passageways, where the only light is Nicola, the precocious 11-year-old daughter of Karen, who's now a grown woman known as Gisele, who sleeps with pretty much every guy in the book. Nicola may or may not be Tristan's daughter and either is or isn't becoming the next apple of his obsessive eye, so drama drama WHAT? drama NO! drama drama I did NOT see that coming drama ensues to literally the last page.

Candidly, the Gordian plot is going to be one toke over the line for some people, but if you love a lushly crafted novel and are willing to follow this talented author into the twisty turny catacomb, you'll come out, towel off and sit by the window waiting for her next book. (Note to Aspiring Writers: If nothing else, seriously, read that first chapter. That, my friends, is how it's done.)

On the total flip side stylistically is the more hard-boiled (or perhaps shirred, because it's Australian) Mice by Gordon Reece. Sixteen year old Shelley, the victim of a horrific act of school bully violence, moves with her mum to a cozy cottage in the country, where they quietly and mousishly sip hot chocolate and listen to Brahms until late one night when a crank-fiend burglar breaks into the house, ties them to a couple of chairs and acts quite boorishly in general. Shelley manages to free herself from both her ropes and her victim complex within about six minutes and opens up a can of whoopass on the guy, which believe me, no guy is prepared for, even if he's high on crank. What follows is more heist-comedy than horror flick. Shelley and Mum are still Shelley and Mum, even with blood on their crumpets, so caper caper WHAT? caper NO! caper caper I did NOT see that coming caper ensues to literally the last page.

Honestly, I hope this book is supposed to be funny, because I really laughed out loud, even during (especially during!) the most unfortunate turns of event. I kinda wish they'd packaged it with more of a Carl Hiaasen feel, because it's a fast, delicious little thriller that requires a sense of humor to facilitate suspension of disbelief, and the packaging had me expecting something much darker and Carrie-like.

The spare prose and off-the-rails but streamlined trajectory of the plot is the antithesis of what you get from In Malice, Quite Close, but that's exactly what made these two books such a pleasure to read back to back.

Visit Brandi Lynn Ryder's website for a sneak peek at the forthcoming sequel to IMQS. And check out Gordon's Reece's graphic novel featuring Count Oblonsky, Russia’s greatest detective (even Sherlock Holmes writes to him for advice!) assisted by Petrov, his trusty Cossack manservant, and Boris, the weight-challenged dachshund.

Buy This Book: Read "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay before you see the movie

Can't wait to see this movie based on Tatiana de Rosnay's beautiful novel Sarah's Key. She's an amazing writer, and this is her 10th novel but (amazingly) the first one she's written in her native language, English.

Sarah's Key is a fiction take on actual WWII events in France. In 1942, thousands of Jewish families were rounded up, held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver, and transported to Auschwitz. In 2002, American journalist Julia Jarmond (married to philandering French jerk Bertrand) is assigned to write about the 60th anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv' roundups. She discovers that Bertrand's family has a dark history connected to the events and becomes engrossed in a search for the little girls who once lived in their apartment. All the complications of tangled loyalties and twisted truth ensue. Totally gripping and beautifully written.

Buy This Book: Read the first four chapters of Colin Meloy's "Wildwood"

Anticipating a bombastic release for one of the most enticing books of the summer for children of all ages. Colin Meloy's bucolic YA adventure Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I arrives in bookstores in August.

Far be it from me to offer anyone a way to avoid work on a Monday morning, but Like the Wildwood Facebook page to unlock the first four chapters.

#BuzzThisBook: The Mistress Contract by She and He

Coming to bookstores in October. I got a look at the galley and couldn't take my eyes off it. Apparently Rebecca Schinsky of The Book Lady's Blog felt the same way. (Look for her on our FeedMe bar under "Shakin' It Like a Polaroid".)

Pre-order and/or buzz accordingly.

Buy This Book: Humiliation by Wayne Koestenbaum (and enjoy this helpful video on Book Party Shame)

"Repeatedly, I watch clips of Liza Minelli on YouTube. I want to see her humiliation. And I want to see her survive the grisly experience and turn it into glory," says Koestenbaum.

Per the PR: "Wayne Koestenbaum considers the meaning of humiliation in this eloquent work of cultural critique and personal reflection."

From John Waters: “This literary ‘topping from the bottom’ is the funniest, smartest, most heartbreaking yet powerful book I’ve read in a long time.”

No, really. Being hilarious doesn't make it not true. I notice Amazon "Vine" reviewers are hating on it, and that makes me want to read it even more. From the bit I've seen, it's very funny, and frankly, if everybody loves you, you're not doing anything interesting.

Buy This Book: Ben Loory's strangely cool "Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day"

Okay, I have no idea how to sum this up except to say that I stood on a kitchen chair for about an hour yesterday, watching a walking stick amble slowly along the angle where the wall meets the ceiling, and every once in a while he'd reach out and grab a little bug -- sometimes a bug too small for me to see -- and he'd devour it and amble on again. It was completely bizarre and beautiful and engrossing, and the experience of reading this book was pretty much just like that.

Here's a bit from the first story, "The Book":

The woman returns from the store with an armload of books. She reads them quickly, one by one, over the course of the next few weeks. But when she opens the last one, the woman frowns in surprise.

All the pages in the book are blank.

Every single one.



The woman takes the book back to the store, but the manager won’t let her return it.

Right there on the cover, the manager says, This book has no words and is non-returnable.

The woman is angry. She wouldn’t have bought the book if she’d known there were no words inside it. But the manager simply will not relent.

The woman leaves in a huff.

She throws the book in the trash.



A few days later, the woman sees a man reading the book on the subway. She gets mad; she screams across the crowded car--

There are no words inside, you can’t read it!

But the man is defensive.

You can pretend, he says. There’s no law against pretending.

I think there might be words if you look at it under a special light, says a woman sitting nearby.

This other woman is holding her own copy of the book.

That’s so stupid! the woman yells. Don’t you see how stupid that is? Don’t you see that’s crazy?



At the next station, a policeman is called and has to break up the fight.

A television crew arrives on the scene.

The woman is interviewed on the news.

She complains loudly about the book for some time.


The next day, the book appears on the bestseller lists, under both fiction and nonfiction...

Visit Ben Loory at The Nervous Breakdown to read the rest of this story, and yeah. Buy this book! It's just a little bit of crazy awesome. And then buy it for someone else and make them wonder about you.

Buy This Book: Adam Mitzner's "A Conflict of Interest"

Nearing the top of my TBR pile is Adam Mitzner's debut novel, A Conflict of Interest. Talking about his journey to publication on his website, Mitzner says, "I have always been interested in writing, and yet, oddly enough, never took any courses in college (or after) and actually never seriously tried to write until a few years ago. I showed a first draft of my work to a friend whose brother is an agent for cookbooks, and he suggested I retain a private editor, Ed Stackler. Meeting Ed was the turning point. He was the first person who thought I had publishable talent, and working with him was like taking every creative writing course I missed in college. Of equal importance, when my first novel was finished, Ed hooked me up with my agent, Scott Miller of Trident Publishing."

Mitzner's first novel was close but no cigar with a few publishers, but didn't sell. There was interest among a few houses, but no offers.

So, back to the drawing board. For my next work I decided to try something different from a legal thriller, and I wrote a political one, focusing on the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice. Mitzner misfired with a second novel and was advised by his agent to stick with New York City legal dramas.

"Fast forward another eighteen months (but it actually didn't go by that quickly) and I finished A Conflict of Interest," says Mitzner.

The book sold to S&S imprint Gallery Books and scored a starred review in PW when it was released last month. (Cue the bangin' pull quote!) "Mitzner's assured debut...compares favorably to Presumed Innocent.... Mitzner tosses in a number of twists, but his strength lies in his characters and his unflinching depiction of relationships in crisis. This gifted writer should have a long and successful career ahead of him."

Per the PR:

Alex Miller is a criminal defense attorney and, at thirty-five, the youngest partner in one of the most powerful law firms in New York City. He's a man at the top of his game with the life he's always dreamed of. Then, at his father's funeral, Alex meets a mysterious and nearly mythic figure in Miller family history—who presents Alex with a surprising request: to represent him in a high-profile criminal investigation. As Alex gets involved and the facts come out, shocking secrets are revealed that threaten everything Alex believes in—about the law, his family, and himself...

"Cemetery Road" author Gar Anthony Haywood joins Murderati blog crew

The unkillable Gar Anthony Haywood, author of Cemetery Road (and a boatload of other books), talks about the ups and downs of his long publishing career in his first post as a Murderati contributor...

The mid-list crunch was on throughout the industry and my sales numbers made me an easy target for dismissal... What followed, in 2004, was a crater in the ol' career path not unlike the one that asteroid in Armageddon might have left on the face of the earth had Bruce Willis and company not blown it to smithereens. No one wanted to touch the proposal I'd written for a third standalone and any conversation about a new book in either of my two series was a non-starter. Oh, and that burning smell I was gradually beginning to notice turned out to be my agent's disappointment grinding his faith in me as a saleable commodity down to a smoldering nub.

Read the rest here, and when you have a minute, scroll down the FeedMe bar on the right. We follow Murderati and a lot of other great blogs that dish publishing and book talk.

Buy This Book: "The Secret Sisters" (aka "The Dirty Dirty Dildo Sex Book") is now on Kindle

The Secret Sisters was my fifth book, originally pubbed in hardcover by HarperCollins in 2005 and now available on Kindle with added bonus content, including reading recommendations from my own fabulous sisters. It's a bit of a departure from my previous work. I've always been a happy and optimistic person by nature - and I still am - but this novel definitely leans more toward tragedy than comedy. It's darker, more erotic, and more message-driven than anything else I've ever written.

An agoraphobic (Pia) is taken by a con artist. A party girl (Lily) goes to jail for vehicular homicide. A bereaved mother (Beth) is forced to confront the fact that her cherubic child was actually a little pain in the patootie. Each of the sisters has constructed a private prison for herself. They each serve hard time searching for redemption.

My prime directive is always to tell a great story, but deeply saddened by what I saw happening in the world after 9-11, I wanted to tell a deeper, more thought-provoking tale. Pia's story is a parable about what we sacrifice when we embrace fear as a lifestyle. It's about the art of manipulation, the craft of seduction, and the blissful but dangerous state of denial, but this book is also about empowerment and accountability.

Every character in every novel I write is on a quest for peace, and I'm humbly grateful to all the readers who've opened their hearts and minds, engaged the page, and journeyed with me. This book taught me not to take that good will for granted. A lot of people found The Secret Sisters offensive, partly because of the lefty politics, but more because of the graphic sexual content. (Note to self: When using sex as a metaphor, prepare to be horsewhipped, and refer to this post on sex as a literary device. And when feeling low, refer to this lovely review from Armchair Interviews.)

My original title for this book was The Prodigal Wife. I wish I'd been stronger when pressured to change it. Or maybe I should have gone with Gary's title suggestion: The Dirty Dirty Dildo Sex Book. A lot of people couldn't see any further than that. And knowing what I now know as a writer, I understand why. The book says exactly what I wanted to say, but it made a lot of people uncomfortable. (Personally, I'm uncomfortable with unnecessary wars and the torture of illegally held prisoners. Guess we all have our little hangups, huh.)

Do I regret it? No. Would I do it again? Given the chance, absolutely. But in the publishing industry, you don't always get another chance. That was a tough lesson to learn.

Buy This Book: Jojo Moyes' beautiful heartbreaker "The Last Letter From Your Lover"

I've become a fan of Pamela Dorman Books, a Viking imprint that dependably delivers unique, well-written novels I'd classify as "accessible literary fiction." Meaning the writing is gorgeous, the characters talk like real people, and the stories engage from front cover to back.

The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes (arriving in bookstores right after the holiday weekend and available for pre-order now) weaves together two love stories (and then some) with all the chic of the Mad Men era and all the complications of love in the time of text messages.

Per the PR:

It is 1960. When Jennifer Stirling wakes up in the hospital, she can remember nothing-not the tragic car accident that put her there, not her husband, not even who she is. She feels like a stranger in her own life until she stumbles upon an impassioned letter, signed simply "B", asking her to leave her husband.

Years later, in 2003, a journalist named Ellie discovers the same enigmatic letter in a forgotten file in her newspaper's archives. She becomes obsessed by the story and hopeful that it can resurrect her faltering career. Perhaps if these lovers had a happy ending she will find one to her own complicated love life, too. Ellie's search will rewrite history and help her see the truth about her own modern romance.

Moyes seamlessly navigates complex shifts in time, place, and perspectives. The writing is simply lovely when it's about love and heartbreaking when it's about heartbreak. Poetry at times. The unabashed sentiment is delivered with the necessary wit and mitigated by plenty of messy reality.

I have agonizingly little time for fiction reading right now, but I made time for this book, and I'm so glad I did. Rich writing, textured story, and a fully satisfying end that never dips to the sappy. The Last Letter from Your Lover is a delicious summer book and a terrific book club selection. If you don't need Kleenex, you need a heart transplant.

Buy This Book: Liane Moriarty delivers on an intriguing premise in "What Alice Forgot"

With bright, engaging style and smart plot choices, Liane Moriarty makes the most of a genius idea in What Alice Forgot, fresh in bookstores this month from Amy Einhorn. (Is it impossibly nerdy than I am the groupie of certain imprints?)

Per the PR:

What would happen if you were visited by your younger self, and got a chance for a do-over?

Alice Love is twenty-nine years old, madly in love with her husband, and pregnant with their first child. So imagine her surprise when, after a fall, she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! she HATES the gym!) and discovers that she's actually thirty-nine, has three children, and is in the midst of an acrimonious divorce.

A knock on the head has misplaced ten years of her life, and Alice isn't sure she likes who she's become. It turns out, though, that forgetting might be the most memorable thing that has ever happened to Alice.

As she did with her debut novel, Three Wishes, Moriarty brings a welcome bite that takes her books beyond the usual chick lit. It's hipper than most women's fiction, however, so I guess I'd call it...chicktion?

Check her out.