The Friendly City Books Podcast

Author Interview - Kate Fagan

Devan talks with Kate Fagan about her debut fiction novel The Three Lives of Cate Kay! - Kate Fagan [https://www.bykatefagan.com] is an Emmy-award winning journalist and the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of WHAT MADE MADDY RUN, which was a semi-finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting. Her first book was the coming-of-age memoir THE REAPPEARING ACT, and her third book, ALL THE COLORS CAME OUT, was released in May 2021 from Little, Brown. In March of 2023, her fourth book — HOOP MUSES: an insider’s guide to pop culture and the (women’s) game — a collaboration with WNBA legend Seimone Augustus and artist Sophia Chang was released by Twelve. Kate previously spent seven years as a columnist and feature writer for espnW, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. She was also a regular panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn and host of Outside the Lines. Kate covered the Philadelphia 76ers for three seasons and played college basketball at the University of Colorado. She lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her wife, Kathryn Budig, and their dog, Ragnar. - About The Three Lives of Cate Kay (bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/a/13869/9781668076217])(libro.fm [https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781668118993-the-three-lives-of-cate-kay]): The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past. Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she's one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn't really exist. She's never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now. As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she'll be a whole person again. - Thank you for supporting Friendly City Books by listening to our podcast. Shop with us in store and online at friendlycitybooks.com/shop [https://www.friendlycitybooks.com/shop] or through bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/shop/friendlycitybooks] and libro.fm [https://libro.fm/friendlycity]. - Find us on social media - Facebook: facebook.com/friendlycitybooks [https://www.facebook.com/friendlycitybooks] Instagram: @friendlycitybooks [https://www.instagram.com/friendlycitybooks/] Tiktok: @friendlycitybooks [https://www.tiktok.com/@friendlycitybooks] Youtube: @friendlycitybooks2586 [https://www.youtube.com/@friendlycitybooks2586] - Host: Devan Torrance Guest Author: Kate Fagan Music: Rear Projection by Hartle Road [https://hartleroad.bandcamp.com/album/rear-projection-feel-me] Production Assistance: Neon Newt Media LLC Friendly City Books Inc. Friendlycitybooks.com [https://www.friendlycitybooks.com/]

Author Interview - Beth Kander

Beth Kander joins Emily in the FCB studio to celebrate her debut novel, I Made It Out of Clay, a darkly funny Jewish holiday romance. - Beth Kander [https://www.bethkander.com/] is a USA Today best-selling writer with tangled roots in the Midwest and Deep South. She is the author of the novel I MADE IT OUT OF CLAY and several books for younger readers. The granddaughter of immigrants, her work often explores how worlds old and new intertwine—or collide. Described as a “genre-defying author and playwright” (Oxford American), her work has been called “riveting” and “habit-forming.” Beth earned an MSW from the University of Michigan and an MFA in Creative Writing from Mississippi University for Women, where she now serves as visiting faculty. She currently calls Chicago home, and is lucky to live there with her very favorite characters: her heroic husband, their two hilarious kids, and a giant rescue dog named Oz. Right this moment, she’s probably revising a scene while drinking too much coffee. Representation: Allison Hellegers, Stimola Literary Studio. Beth's debut novel, I Made It Out of Clay (bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/a/13869/9780778368120])(libro.fm [https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781488231605-i-made-it-out-of-clay?bookstore=friendlycity]) is a darkly funny and surprisingly sweet novel, where a woman creates a golem in a desperate attempt to pretend her life is a rom-com rather than a disaster. - About I Made It Out of Clay: Nothing's going well for Eve: she's single, turning forty, stressed at work and anxious about a recent series of increasingly creepy incidents. Most devastatingly, her beloved father died last year, and her family still won't acknowledge their sorrow. With her younger sister's wedding rapidly approaching, Eve is on the verge of panic. She can't bear to attend the event alone. That's when she recalls a strange story her Yiddish grandmother once told her, about a protector forged of desperation...and Eve, to her own shock, manages to create a golem. At first, everything seems great. The golem is indeed protective--and also attractive. But when they head out to a rural summer camp for the family wedding, Eve's lighthearted rom-com fantasy swiftly mudslides into something much darker. With moments of moodiness, fierce love and unexpected laughter, I Made It Out of Clay will make you see monsters everywhere. - Thank you for supporting Friendly City Books by listening to our podcast. Shop with us in store and online at friendlycitybooks.com/shop [https://www.friendlycitybooks.com/shop] or through bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/shop/friendlycitybooks] and libro.fm [https://libro.fm/friendlycity]. - Find us on social media - Facebook: facebook.com/friendlycitybooks [https://www.facebook.com/friendlycitybooks] Instagram: @friendlycitybooks [https://www.instagram.com/friendlycitybooks/] Tiktok: @friendlycitybooks [https://www.tiktok.com/@friendlycitybooks] Youtube: @friendlycitybooks2586 [https://www.youtube.com/@friendlycitybooks2586] - Host: Emily Liner Guest Author: Beth Kander Music: Rear Projection by Hartle Road [https://hartleroad.bandcamp.com/album/rear-projection-feel-me] Production Assistance: Neon Newt Media LLC Friendly City Books Inc. Friendlycitybooks.com [https://www.friendlycitybooks.com/]

Author Interview - Boyce Upholt

Patrick Dean talks with Boyce Upholt, author of The Great River: The making and Unmaking of the Mississippi, his debut book. - Boyce Upholt is a journalist and essayist whose writing has appeared in the Atlantic, National Geographic, the Oxford American, and Virginia Quarterly Review, among other publications. He is the winner of a James Beard Award for investigative journalism, and he lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. - About The Great River: The making and Unmaking of the Mississippi bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-great-river-the-making-and-unmaking-of-the-mississippi-boyce-upholt/20610156?ean=9780393867879]: The Mississippi River lies at the heart of America, an undeniable life force that is intertwined with the nation's culture and history. Its watershed spans almost half the country, Mark Twain's travels on the river inspired our first national literature, and jazz and blues were born in its floodplains and carried upstream. In this landmark work of natural history, Boyce Upholt tells the epic story of this wild and unruly river, and the centuries of efforts to control it. Over thousands of years, the Mississippi watershed was home to millions of Indigenous people who regarded "the great river" with awe and respect, adorning its banks with astonishing spiritual earthworks. The river was ever-changing, and Indigenous tribes embraced and even depended on its regular flooding. But the expanse of the watershed and the rich soils of its floodplain lured European settlers and American pioneers, who had a different vision: the river was a foe to conquer. Centuries of human attempts to own, contain, and rework the Mississippi River, from Thomas Jefferson's expansionist land hunger through today's era of environmental concern, have now transformed its landscape. Upholt reveals how an ambitious and sometimes contentious program of engineering--government-built levees, jetties, dikes, and dams--has not only damaged once-vibrant ecosystems but may not work much longer. Carrying readers along the river's last remaining backchannels, he explores how scientists are now hoping to restore what has been lost. Rich and powerful, The Great River delivers a startling account of what happens when we try to fight against nature instead of acknowledging and embracing its power--a lesson that is all too relevant in our rapidly changing world. - Thank you for supporting Friendly City Books by listening to our podcast. Shop with us in store and online at friendlycitybooks.com/shop [https://www.friendlycitybooks.com/shop] or through bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/shop/friendlycitybooks] and libro.fm [https://libro.fm/friendlycity]. - Find us on social media - Facebook: facebook.com/friendlycitybooks [https://www.facebook.com/friendlycitybooks] Instagram: @friendlycitybooks [https://www.instagram.com/friendlycitybooks/] Tiktok: @friendlycitybooks [https://www.tiktok.com/@friendlycitybooks] Youtube: @friendlycitybooks2586 [https://www.youtube.com/@friendlycitybooks2586] - Host: Patrick Dean Guest Author: Boyce Upholt Music: Rear Projection by Hartle Road [https://hartleroad.bandcamp.com/album/rear-projection-feel-me] Production Assistance: Neon Newt Media LLC Friendly City Books Inc. Friendlycitybooks.com [https://www.friendlycitybooks.com/]

Author Interview - Minrose Gwin

Emily talks with Minrose Gwin, author of Beautiful Dreamers, her fourth novel and ninth book. - A native of Tupelo, Mississippi, Minrose has been a writer all of her working life, starting out as a newspaper and wire service reporter and working in Mobile, Atlanta, Nashville, and Knoxville. She has taught as a professor at universities around the country, most recently at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has spent many summers leading creative writing workshops at the University of New Mexico Writers' Conference in Taos and Santa Fe. She lives in Austin, TX, and Albuquerque, NM. - About Beautiful Dreamers bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/p/books/beautiful-dreamers-minrose-gwin/20945693?ean=9798885740364]: From Minrose Gwin, award-winning author of The Accidentals, comes Beautiful Dreamers, a story of a precocious teen and her mother, their gay best friend, and the con man who unravels their family. It's 1953 when Memory Feather and her mother, Virginia, are welcomed back home to the Mississippi Gulf Coast community of Belle Cote by Virginia's childhood friend Mac McFadden, whose verve and energy buoy the recently divorced Virginia to embrace this new chapter. Memory ("Mem") is unlike other girls: she is attuned to the voices of plants and animals and is missing two fingers on her twisted left hand. The three of them knit their lives together and become a close, though unconventional, family. While Mac's wealth, brains, and good humor have allowed him to carve out a niche in Belle Cote, his position as a gay man active in the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement exposes him to censure, harassment, and even brutality. When the unscrupulous and charismatic Tony Amato arrives in Belle Cote as Mac's "guest," he sets in motion a series of events that will shatter familial bonds and forever change Mem's life. Now, an adult Mem recounts the story of the scars Tony left in her teenage years, confronting her culpability in the disastrous events of that final summer. Sweeping, dramatic, and vividly rendered, Beautiful Dreamers is a novel of innocence and betrayal, love and intolerance, and the care and honesty we owe the families we choose. - Thank you for supporting Friendly City Books by listening to our podcast. Shop with us in store and online at friendlycitybooks.com/shop [https://www.friendlycitybooks.com/shop] or through bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/shop/friendlycitybooks] and libro.fm [https://libro.fm/friendlycity]. - Find us on social media - Facebook: facebook.com/friendlycitybooks [https://www.facebook.com/friendlycitybooks] Instagram: @friendlycitybooks [https://www.instagram.com/friendlycitybooks/] Tiktok: @friendlycitybooks [https://www.tiktok.com/@friendlycitybooks] Youtube: @friendlycitybooks2586 [https://www.youtube.com/@friendlycitybooks2586] - Host: Emily Liner Guest Author: Minrose Gwin Music: Rear Projection by Hartle Road [https://hartleroad.bandcamp.com/album/rear-projection-feel-me] Production Assistance: Neon Newt Media LLC Friendly City Books Inc. Friendlycitybooks.com [https://www.friendlycitybooks.com/]

Author Interview - Brom

American gothic author and artist Brom joins Rachel in the FCB Studio to discuss his newest book, Evil in Me - available now! - Over the past few decades, acclaimed dark fantasy artist Brom has lent his distinctive vision to all facets of the creative industries, from novels and games to comics and film. He is the nationally bestselling author of Slewfoot, The Child Thief, Krampus, The Lost Gods and the award-winning illustrated horror novels The Plucker and The Devil's Rose. Brom is currently kept in a dank cellar just outside of Savannah. - About Evil In Me (bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/a/13869/9781250622013])(libro.fm [https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781250910769]): Evil in Me is bestselling author Brom's newest novel of possession, damnation, and rock 'n' roll, where one woman must get the world singing in order to save her soul. Aspiring musician Ruby Tucker has had enough of her small rural town and dysfunctional family. But a falling out with her best friend and bandmate has killed her dreams of escaping and making it big in the Atlanta punk scene. While helping her eccentric neighbor organize his religious artifacts, an ancient ring clamps down on her finger--possessing her with the spirit of a blood-thirsty demon. There's no exorcizing it unless hundreds of people chant a spell to set Ruby free. And what's worse, the ring is a beacon for evil, drawing an unimaginably wicked mob straight to Ruby, hungry for her flesh. If Ruby can get her band back together, she has a shot at salvation. It's time for her to face the music and put her whole soul into a song--one powerful enough to raise some Hell. This devilish tale includes nearly two dozen of Brom's immersive paintings and brilliant endpapers. - For a video version of this interview, check out the Friendly City Books Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@friendlycitybooks2586] - Thank you for supporting Friendly City Books by listening to our podcast. Shop with us in store and online at friendlycitybooks.com/shop [https://www.friendlycitybooks.com/shop] or through bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/shop/friendlycitybooks] and libro.fm [https://libro.fm/friendlycity]. - Find us on social media - Facebook: facebook.com/friendlycitybooks [https://www.facebook.com/friendlycitybooks] Instagram: @friendlycitybooks [https://www.instagram.com/friendlycitybooks/] Tiktok: @friendlycitybooks [https://www.tiktok.com/@friendlycitybooks] Youtube: @friendlycitybooks2586 [https://www.youtube.com/@friendlycitybooks2586] - Host: Rachel Derise Guest Author: Brom Music: Rear Projection by Hartle Road [https://hartleroad.bandcamp.com/album/rear-projection-feel-me] Production Assistance: Neon Newt Media LLC Friendly City Books Inc. Friendlycitybooks.com [https://www.friendlycitybooks.com/]