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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

In my day, never was longer.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

It’s a doggy dog world.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

So many bastards, so little time.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

You cannot shame the shameless.

This really is a full service blog.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

We still have time to mess this up!

Republicans don’t trust women.

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Authors In Our Midst

You are here: Home / Archives for Authors In Our Midst

Laura Koerber – Survival!

by WaterGirl|  July 23, 20234:00 pm| 27 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst

Our featured writer today is Laura Koerber.  Let’s give her a warm welcome!

If you would like your talent featured in the Artists in Our Midst series or Authors in Our Midst series, send me an email message.  Don’t be shy!  I have no more Artists posts in the queue, so please get in touch if you would like to be featured.

Three Novels:  Old Coyote and Other Spirits

by Laura Koerber

Thank you to WaterGirl and the Balloon community for this opportunity to blow my horn about my books. I do think BJ readers will like my novellas; in fact, I think this community is my target audience. I’ve had trouble selling my books through most ad outlets because my novels don’t resonate broadly. I get reactions from WTF? to outright hostility. On the other hand, I get love from the right readers.

Auto Draft 83

So what do I write about? I write magical realism stories set in an apocalyptic near-future that’s getting nearer every day. The three books I’m presenting here all have a main character who is a nature spirit. My nature spirits are a mash up of European fairies, Greek genius loci, and Coyote and Hare from Native American spirituality—plus some shapeshifting. All three books present the nature spirit against the background of climate disaster.

I write what I know, and what I know is life as a spectator while everything outside my personal experience is going completely to hell. I learned about climate change way back in the seventies, so the catastrophes crashing down on the world aren’t a surprise to me. I’ve been expecting this all of my life. Nature is the closest thing I have to a religion, so I’m watching my deepest values be crushed beneath the weight of human failings.

I’m watching nature be murdered, but I think I’m also watching a transition to a future where most people in most places will be trapped into stunted lives, crushed by circumstances they can’t reasonably be expected to surmount. We are living in an apocalyptic sci fi novel come true.

If I let full awareness impact me, I’d be crying all the time. So what to do?

My stories are about emotional and spiritual survival. Escapist literature for doom freaks.  The three books listed below are cautiously optimistic about the possibility that individuals might be able to salvage their higher Maslow needs out of the wreckage we are making of this planet.

Wild Hare is a call to fight back. Coyote’s Road Trip is about finding connectedness and community. Encounter with Old Coyote is a mostly humorous discussion of the innate spirituality of the universe.

Maybe brief descriptions and reader reviews for the three books would be helpful?

I’ll start with Coyote’s Road Trip  Goodreads

Opening line: “Two customers, one staffer, and one guy at the hookup. I didn’t like those odds, so I strolled outside and around to the back for a long piss in the weeds.”

Synopsis: Coyote, the shapeshifting spirit of a valley in Nevada, is forced by climate change to hit the road and find a new home.

Reader review: “You are now reading one of the best fantasy/magic realism stories I’ve encountered in a while. Consider the “Two customers, one staffer, and one guy at the hookup” opening line. Characterization, setting, voice, and tone in ten words. Genius. Add in the “I didn’t like those odds, so I strolled outside and around to the back for a long piss in the weeds” second line and character, voice, setting, tone, and narrator are locked. Double genius.
And sorry, I can’t stop there. Koerber does brilliantly something few other modern writers can do at all – character-based exposition and narration. The amount of world-building in the first chapter is astounding and so refreshingly done other writers should use this as a textbook for good writing.”

Reader review: “Looking at the long, desolate valley depicted on the cover, and reading the description of the main character as a “guardian spirit of a desert valley in Nevada”, I expected this book to be insubstantial, mystical, and wistful. I was very surprised to find out that it was very human, full of well-constructed, concrete scenes, and absolutely easy to relate to. The book is great. A very fast read. Yes, it is wistful, and in several places, it is very sad, but it’s varied and it’s always interesting.”

Next up, Encounters with Old Coyote Goodreads

Opening line: “After Andrea died, she found herself in the condition of being a ghost. This was a surprise to her because, as an atheist, she’d assumed that death was the end.”

Synopsis: Andrea travels to Basin and Range National Monument to commit suicide under the stars—but she doesn’t completely die. To her surprise, she finds herself still in existence as a ghost. To her further surprise, she’s not alone; the desert is home to Coyote, Miss Vulture, and other spirits. Andrea is startled by the spirits, so she asks, “Is there a god that answers prayers?”

Coyote responds, “I don’t think so. Personally, I’d sooner bet on a poker hand than a prayer.” What follows is a collection of stories shared by Andrea, Coyote, and the other spirits as they chat around the campfire—stories about spiders in the bathroom, how Andrea lost her bra at a truck stop in Yukon Territory, stealing a dog, adventures in vomit, and more of what Coyote calls  “the sublime and the ridiculous.” In the end, Andrea’s question is answered.

I only have one review so far: “What a delightful surprise on an otherwise horrible day. Amazon sent me a message that Laura Koerber had a new book and was I interested? You bet! I love her quirky writing style that manages to sneak in some serious social commentary along the way. She’s done it again. This is Coyote the Trickster 2.0. He uses a cell phone to check Wikipedia and discusses particle colliders. What I didn’t expect was the truly beautiful ending. This was the book I needed today and I’m grateful for it.”

And finally, Wild Hare Goodreads

Listed in Kirkus Review as one of the one hundred best indy novels of 2019.

Opening line: “The world is ending, but my personal life is okay, I guess.”

Synopsis: Bobby Fallon, half-human and half nature spirit of the Wild Hare Clan, tries to raise the money to get his friend Arne out of jail through any means necessary. He lives by the code, “Feed, fuck, and fight.”

From Kirkus Review: “The story manages to weave together a complex tapestry of themes, from climate change to poverty to what qualifies as morality in a world that’s facing catastrophe. The prose is clear and concise throughout, giving readers a sense of each scene and character through the protagonist’s eyes.
A wrenching, complex novel that any fantasy fan would do well to pick up.”

Review from a reader: “Every once in a while a book comes along that is just a pleasure to read. Wild Hare ranks among these. The story line caught me from the very beginning, gradually unveiling truths about the protagonist, like a dance of the seven veils, that rendered him more appealing with each turning of the page. But this characterization doesn’t form the limits of what made this book so appealing. Within it teems an abundance of sardonic, ironic and humorous one-liners that left this reader laughing out loud.”

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to share my books. I’ve been a lurker on BJ since back when John was a Republican and have found this community to be a source of comfort and support many times. Last fall, I stopped lurking and asked for help finding homes for some kittens—and BJ came through! The kittens are all in homes! Now I hope some folks will enjoy a book or two, so thank you all again.  Meanwhile, as the Wild Hare says: Feed, fuck and fight. And as Coyote says, “I gave up on humans a long time ago. Tell me a story. I like the funny ones best.”

 

Laura Koerber – Survival!Post + Comments (27)

Josie – A Dangerous Woman!

by WaterGirl|  July 9, 20233:00 pm| 53 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst

Our featured writer today is Josie.  Let’s give her a warm welcome!

If you would like your talent featured in the Artists in Our Midst series or Authors in Our Midst series, send me an email message.  Don’t be shy!  I have no more Artists posts in the queue, so please get in touch if you would like to be featured.

A Novel of the Mexican Revolution: A Dangerous Woman

by Josie Wilson

Hi Fellow Jackals,

First, I want to thank WaterGirl for allowing me to write about my book. It is my first novel, but hopefully not my last. I have done quite a lot of writing over the years, but it has been almost exclusively academic. This is my first foray into fiction, and it has truly been a learning experience. I find that, at almost 80 years old, I still have much to learn.

It has taken seven years to complete the project, since much research was required, and for several years my brain was zoned out due to the pandemic. I have finally completed my epic and am foolishly considering a sequel. Maybe the new project won’t take as long (she said hopefully). It’s been a family undertaking. My sons and my daughter in law helped by putting up with lengthy discussions of story lines, characterizations, word choices, and other difficulties.. My consuegra (the other grandmother) gave valuable help with editing and proofreading.

Here is the description of my story as it appears on Amazon:

Chihuahua City, Mexico, 1913. Katherine O’Brien reluctantly enters into a marriage of convenience to hide from her abusive ex-fiancé. She struggles to adapt to an unfamiliar culture as she begins to regain her ability to love and trust. Her new husband, a soldier in Pancho Villa’s army, treats her well, although he expects an obedient and docile wife. Kate, a tomboy raised on a west Texas ranch, finds such a role extremely difficult. The two strive to find a middle ground even as he fights beside Villa in the brutal revolutionary war.

 When the Revolution turns against Villa, the couple is separated. Kate must lead her small extended family to a new home without help from her husband… and with her violent ex-fiancé following her tracks. Facing these challenges tests her courage and survival skills to the utmost.

 A Dangerous Woman, a debut historical novel from Texas author Josie Wilson, seamlessly blends fact and fiction to depict a determined woman and an unlikely romance that blooms and endures, even during the hardships and turbulence of war.

Many years ago, I was the librarian at a majority-minority middle school in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. It occurred to me that my Mexican American students needed to know something of their heritage, which was not being taught in the seventh grade Texas History curriculum. As I researched and purchased books on South Texas and northern Mexico, I became immersed in the turbulent history of Mexico. It has long surprised me that we Americans know so little of the history of a country on our doorstep.

I became particularly interested in the Mexican Revolution and its aftermath. So many people involved were fascinating, complicated characters, such as Pancho Villa, Tomás Urbina, Felipe Angeles, Álvaro Obregón, and Rodolfo Fierro, Villa’s fierce executioner/bodyguard. I found it interesting that the stories told about these men varied according to the language in which the stories were written. In many English accounts, they were either heroes or villains. In accounts written in Spanish, they were more fleshed out as real people with both good and bad characteristics.

This was especially true of Fierro. When I finally decided to write about this slice of history, I intended to make my story about him. Indeed, his story is still in there. To my surprise, however, his fictionalized love interest stood up and said that her story was also interesting and important. And so here you have the novel I finally finished after all those years.

I would appreciate your reading my book and leaving a review, as reviews help more people to discover the book. It is available on Amazon Unlimited currently, and, if things go well, I will publish in paperback later this year. Baby steps. I welcome your feedback and will be happy to answer any questions.

Josie

This looks really interesting doesn’t it?

Josie’s book can be ordered on Amazon.

If you pre-order, it will appear in your booklist on Monday, July 10.  ~WG

Josie – A Dangerous Woman!Post + Comments (53)

Richard Roberts – Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Giant Monster!

by WaterGirl|  May 14, 20231:15 pm| 34 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst

Our featured writer today is Richard Roberts.

Let’s give him a warm welcome!

If you would like your talent featured in the Artists in Our Midst series or Authors in Our Midst series, send me an email message.  Don’t be shy!  I have no more Artists posts in the queue, so please get in touch if you would like to be featured.

A Literary Musical Interlude

by Richard Roberts

My latest book is Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Giant Monster!

Richard Roberts – Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Giant Monster!

I first had the idea because I thought a friend of mine disabled with chronic pain from severe arthritis might enjoy seeing someone like herself in a book being an action heroine – or villainess – and breaking things. Then I thought there is probably a large demographic of teenage girls who would like to give into their anger just once and break things.

I already had a girl made of glass in my Supervillain books. Mirabelle is sweet and gentle, because she has to be. When offered the power to turn into a monster, will she still be sweet and gentle? Well, yes. But people who aren’t sweet and gentle want that power, and things get complicated, and somehow it becomes a love story but with throwing cars and breathing fire.

Oh, and can we talk about the connection between music and writing novels?

Are there any songs you associate with your favorite fictional characters? The thing is, once you start writing books, pretty much everything loops back and associates with your own books. I have whole playlists of music that I associate with my characters.

And this is fantastic. It’s convenient. Inspiration, folks. Even somebody whose brain churns out weird like mine needs to be put in the mood to put 10,000 words of that on the page in one day. So instead of writing uninspired, I use music to make me feel my characters, what they’re like, and why I want to tell their stories.

I’m not the only person here who does this, right?

Now, for those of you who read my books, have a few examples, and find out how bewilderingly wandering my musical tastes are! Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain was heavily influenced by Thea Gilmore’s ‘Teach Me To Be Bad’. Boy thinks he’s luring girl to misbehavior but it turns out she likes it more than he does? That was a book writing mood. For every Supervillain book ‘One Night In Bangkok’ is the Chinatown sequence inspiration, to give me the feel of decadence laced with smiling danger. And of course, ‘Get The Party Started’ by P!nk is a fine song for any supervillainess.

To go back to my most serious books, lots of Evanescence in Wild Children. ‘Bring Me To Life’ is so much Coo and Jay’s song. Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Teeth was full of Emilie Autumn music, especially with songs like ‘Opheliac’ and ‘Save You’ putting me in the mood for Self-Loathing’s dysfunctional and, yes, self-loathing love for Fang.

Probably my favorite book of mine is You Can Be A Cyborg When You’re Older. The phrase ‘walk the dark side’ comes from the song ‘Darkside’ by Alan Walker. That and ‘Gasoline’ by Halsey painted a picture for me of a teenage girl who was too full of emotion to sit still, who was going out to do something and do it in style, and lived in a broken world world where she felt a little too close to robots. A FNAF fan song, ‘Survive The Night’, inspired the robot asylum.

For my post-Penny supervillain books, the supervillain Cleric was driven by Disturbed’s cover of ‘Sound Of Silence’. Avery’s boyfriend and girlfriend are inspired by ‘You’re So Creepy’ and ‘Truth Or Dare’.

And I’m here today because of the release of my latest book, Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Giant Monster! I needed songs about someone dealing with anger issues, and it took songs as strong as ‘Monster’ by Skillet and ‘Control’ by Halsey to imagine any anger in sweet, delicate Mirabelle.

There are more. So many more. And I’m not even going to say how many of those I listen to in Nightcore variants.

So again… what about you folks? Authors, do you use music for inspiration? Non-authors, any songs you associate with your favorite characters?

Also, buy my book, and if you like it, please consider leaving a review!

Richard Roberts – Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Giant Monster!Post + Comments (34)

Dorothy A. Winsor’s New Book – Dragons, Defiant Workers, and a Secret Theme!

by WaterGirl|  May 7, 202310:00 am| 35 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst

Our author today is Dorothy Winsor, whose book is being released on May 6!  We all know and love Dorothy, so I don’t even have to remind you to give her a warm welcome!

Dragons, Defiant Workers, and a Secret Theme – what more could we ask for in a book?

If you are an Author or an Artist who is interested in having your work featured, just let me know.

Glass Girl

by Dorothy A. Winsor

My new book, Glass Girl, is (unsurprisingly) about a girl who makes glass.

I got the idea for it probably ten years ago now, when I heard an NPR story about a factory somewhere in Latin America. Yes, ten years ago. This story has sat on my computer for a long time. Occasionally, I would drag it out, tinker with it, decide it wasn’t good enough yet, and put it away for a while. But during the pandemic, I finally wrote a version I liked.

So anyway, in this NPR factory story, the workers (all women) protested when the owner cut their wages. In answer, he threw the key on the floor and told them to pick it up and see if they could do any better, which they did. After they made the factory profitable, of course he wanted it back.

Thus, this was a story of the underdog triumphing. Plus, I was charmed by the idea of the feminine world inside the factory. I settled on glass making because it required a factory-like facility that could exist in my pre-industrial world. To create a compelling plot, I threw in a mystery. The central character’s mother (who is also the factory’s craft mistress) is murdered in the book’s opening chapter, and when the Watch proves inept, she decides to hunt down the murderer herself.

In one way, then, that’s what Glass Girl is about. But really, that’s not what it’s about. It’s not what’s at its heart that kept me coming back to it for ten years.

I’m talking about the book’s theme. By “theme,” I don’t mean message or lesson. I mean something like a topic or a question about what it means to be a human being.

I once read some writing advice to the effect that all good stories have a theme, even if the writer can’t articulate it yet. When I started Glass Girl, I thought it was going to be about trust. I thought the central character was someone who learned to trust, though it was hard for her. And indeed, the theme of trust does run through the book.

But I’ve since realized that the central theme was not trust, but love. In Glass Girl, I am asking myself, the reader, and my characters how flawed human beings can love one another (or not). What does love ask of us? What are we willing to do for people we love? What are we willing to do to gain love, even love of a warped nature? How do we react when we are deprived of it?

So, there’s glass making here, and defiant workers, and, for a bonus, rumors of a dragon sleeping in that smoking volcano. But there are also questions about love. I hope people enjoy the book. I’m going to miss it now that it’s out in the world and on its own.

Glass Girl is available at pretty much all online bookstores including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can also support a small publisher – Inspired Quill – by buying directly from them, though that’s trickier for most jackals since Inspired Quill is in the UK.

Dorothy A. Winsor’s New Book – Dragons, Defiant Workers, and a Secret Theme!Post + Comments (35)

TaMara’s New Book – Recipe for Murder!

by WaterGirl|  April 23, 202312:00 pm| 44 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst

It’s been quite awhile since we’ve had an Authors in Our Midst post, and I’m happy to get us started again with TaMara’s latest book: Recipe for Murder.  Or perhaps it’s really Zander’s new book, as he seems to be claiming ownership!

This book looks really fun!  I bet I’m not the only one who read Recipe for Murder, so here’s your link to order:

Duxbridge Mysteries: Recipe for Murder is available in eBook and paperback.

If you are an Author or an Artist who is interested in having your work featured, just let me know.   I think several BJ peeps have new books, and I always try to remind you guys about this series in the comments when you mention your books; hopefully this will inspire you guys to write something up and send it in!

big orange cat sitting next to computer

It’s amazing I get any work done. As usual, Zander ignores the rules.

First, thank you to WaterGirl for posting this for me. We talked back and forth on my reluctance to post it myself, because it felt a bit like I was taking advantage of the gift Cole gave me oh, so many years ago. So, with WG’s encouragement, we decided that posting it under Authors in Our Midst was a fine idea.

I suppose my reluctance is due in part to my feeling that my books are not profound, or literary or life-changing. I just want you to meet my friends and lose yourself for a few hours in a world that is more fun than disquieting, more hopeful than heartbreaking.

So with that, I bring you my next round of friends and family that populate the (somewhat) fictional village of Duxbridge, MA. Population: Just enough to be in everyone’s business and still have enough leftover for murders and mysteries.

I suppose it was inevitable that after years of writing a recipe blog, my next mystery/romance would involve recipes and murder.  

On the board tonight:

Recipe for Murder

Ingredients

  • 1 cookbook author
  • 1 handsome Kiwi
  • 1 notoriously despicable restaurateur
  • 1 small town, filled with quirky residents
  • A dash of mystery
  • Fine food and conversations to taste
  • Sprinkle with an assortment of friends and family

Instructions
Take Maggie, a successful cookbook author who has returned to her hometown of Duxbridge after an unsatisfying career and relationship in New York City. Dust her with an accusation of murder. Fold with remaining ingredients. Shake vigorously. Pour into a baking dish and heat until bubbling. Serve immediately or allow to cool for all-day nibbling. Pairs well with coffee or wine.

Chapters one and two are available here and here. 

If you’ll indulge me a bit, I wanted to talk about one of those childhood books that shaped more than my reading habits and how that series somehow morphed into the Duxbridge Mysteries and some of the similarities:

show full post on front page

Reflections on Trixie Belden and Duxbridge Mysteries

I received my first Trixie Belden book (The Mysterious Visitor, bk 4 in the series) while I was in the hospital recovering from surgery. Fun fact, when you’re a kid and you get stuck in a hospital, people bring you gifts: books, puzzles, games – oh, and homework – to keep you busy and your mind off all the weird stuff going on. My best friend gave me my first Trixie Belden book and before I finished it, I was hooked. My allowance went to buy more books in the series, which I have to this day.

I stuck with the series until the original author, Julie Campbell, left (to write Cherry Ames among other series). I felt like the books weren’t the same after that and also, my literary tastes were evolving, quickly, as you would expect from a pre-teen. Besides, in some ways, Trixie was dated even back then, though I have come to appreciate the fact the books did not receive any kind of update in the reissues I was reading. Trixie was stuck in the 50s and I liked the kind, uncomplicated (well, if you ignore all the ‘mysteries’ in which they became involved) world of Trixie, Honey, Brian, Matt and Jim.

For a military brat who moved every two years, there was comfort in their world. A consistency and security in their friends and family, that my world just didn’t have. And there was kindness, good deeds, and a sense of belonging. While I moved onto more sophisticated reads – my mom belonged to a book of the month club, so adult content was readily available to a point that most YA fiction held little appeal – I still revisited Trixie’s world at frequent intervals – even as an adult.

But as an adult, I had this longing to somehow, sometime, someway, create an adult version of Trixie’s world.

As I was finishing up Underway, my friend (and cover artist) and I were brainstorming story ideas, thinking we might have fun writing a series together. Something light, fun and PG. We kept coming back to my ducks and what clowns they were and suddenly we hit upon a small town with a duck theme. And since both of us had lived in Massachusetts at one time or another, we decided a small village in New England was the perfect setting, and Duxbridge was born.

Don’t get me wrong, I love TJ Wilde and writing her misadventures in adulting, but those books are most definitely R-rated content.  The idea of writing about a small town, near cranberry bogs, beaches, and dense woods, filled with a population of warm, funny, and quirky characters was very appealing. As we sketched out the town residents and I began to develop the lead characters in the first book, I knew I had inadvertently stumbled upon my adult Trixie books. 

Maggie, along with her cop brother Mike, café owner Jules, her wife Bria, building contractor Jake, and town matriarch Miss Kitty, could have a myriad of adventures over the course of several books. But it would mostly be about their relationships and the town in which they lived. My goal is to make Duxbridge someplace you’ll want to revisit because it makes you feel good to be there.

And the bonus? Since Maggie is a cookbook author, the books include all the recipes she makes.  Which is a little Easter egg of its own – since I did an entire blog series on recipes in my favorite books, including Trixie Belden. 

And for those who keep asking, yes, yes, yes, book three of the TJ Wilde Trilogy is in the works, as is a series that takes place here in Colorado.

What is everyone reading these days? I’m reading John Green’s Anthropocene Reviewed and still wading through Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club. Any good recommendations?  What childhood books still hold power over you to this day?

And as always – if you have a book to promote, let me or WaterGirl know and we’ll get you a post.

 

 

 

TaMara’s New Book – Recipe for Murder!Post + Comments (44)

Open Thread and Colorado Update: Libertarian Spoiler

by TaMara|  November 12, 202210:28 am| 96 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst, Open Threads, Politics

Colorado Update: Libertarian Spoiler

You may remember when I posted about CO-8 going to the Democratic candidate Caraveo, I mentioned that a Libertarian played a bit of a spoiler, pulling in almost 4% of the vote. It gets funnier:

Whether his voters would have voted at all if it weren’t for him, I guess we’ll never know. But rock on, Dan, rock on.

In CO-3 – Boebert has taken enough of a lead to not force a recount, for now. Probably another week before we have an answer. I suspect there will be a recount regardless because there are 6,200 ballots that are “under votes” meaning the machines said they did not vote for either candidate – those will get a closer look if there is a recount.

And on a completely different note: Chicago area peeps – our own Dorothy Winsor will be at two events this weekend if you are looking for something to do.

Central Library
130 South Roselle Road
Schaumburg, IL 60193
Saturday, Nov. 12 • Noon-3 p.m.
Teens, Kids, All Ages, Adults

Join us for our annual fair showcasing local authors. Meet fiction and nonfiction authors writing for youth, teens and adults. Books will be available for purchase.

==========

And on Sunday she’ll be at WindyCon in Lombardi, IL

She’ll be doing a reading at noon and will be on a panel at 1 pm.

I’m having a small dinner party this weekend, so I’ll be busy cleaning and cooking, so no Kindness today. Maybe I’ll put together a recipe post. Menu is fairly simple: chili, collard greens, cornbread and I’m thinking double chocolate cookies topped with vanilla ice cream.

This is an open thread

Open Thread and Colorado Update: Libertarian SpoilerPost + Comments (96)

NaijaGal – A Novel in Interlocking Stories!

by WaterGirl|  September 25, 20222:00 pm| 73 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst

Our author today for Authors in Our Midst is Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi, whose book was just released last week!   Let’s give her a warm welcome!

If you are an Author or an Artist who is interested in having your work featured, just let me know.

Hi Balloon Juicers, my name is NaijaGal (not my usual BJ nym) and I’ve been mostly lurking on Balloon Juice since John was a Republican and I wanted to understand how principled Republicans thought.

Over fifteen years ago, I started writing a book, a novel in stories inspired by my experiences growing up in Nigeria. It features four friends who meet in a Nigerian all-girls boarding school, three of whom migrate to the US. They go back and forth between the US and Nigeria and visit other countries.

Authors In Our Midst –

The book covers a timespan from 1897 (featuring a grandmother of one of the girls) to 2050, when the girls, now women, are in their seventies.

The last story was my first time trying my hand at speculative fiction and I’d love to know what you all think. Some of the stories were previously published in literary journals but the majority are new.

It took me so long because my full-time job involves teaching graduate students and writing or working on NIH grants. There were years when I didn’t even touch the manuscript because I didn’t have the bandwidth.

As you can imagine, I’m very excited that the book is finally published and thrilled that it got a great review in the New York Times Book Review (sorry DougJ)!

Authors In Our Midst – 1

From the press release:

Nigerian author Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi makes her American debut with this dazzling collection of interlocking stories, which explores her homeland’s past, present, and possible future through the eyes of three fearless globe-trotting women.

Nonso, Remi, Aisha, and Solape meet as young, impressionable students at an all-girls boarding school, quickly forming a lifetime bond when they stand up to an older girl’s attempt at hazing. Their sisterhood is soon challenged, however, when they participate in a school rebellion, the uprising causing repercussions that will forever change their lives.

Illuminating the ties of friendship, the tangled bonds of family, the isolation of being an immigrant, and the need for belonging, Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions offers a nuanced portrait of these women as they look back in their attempts to move forward.

Me, again, WaterGirl.  Here’s the beginning of NaijaGal’s lovely review in the NYT.

In the nearly 20 years since I first learned of Aristotle’s belief that the best story endings are “surprising, yet inevitable,” I have rarely been as blindsided — in the best possible way — by the final moments of a book as I was while reading Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi’s “Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories.”

The final chapter will shock you. You will likely pause, flip back a few pages, certain that you missed something. Then you will realize that you did not, in fact, miss anything. You might scream, close the book, go for a walk and return to it, still shocked.

The brilliance of Ogunyemi’s writing is that after that walk, you’ll realize that from the book’s earliest pages (which are set in 1897) to its final pages (set in 2050), she lays out exactly what is to come.

The book can be purchased on IndieBound (preferred) or Amazon.

NaijaGal – A Novel in Interlocking Stories!Post + Comments (73)

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