New, provocative literature
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Leave it to Lynn Levin to publish an enormous collection of short stories that seemingly takes five minutes to read. With House Parties, her first fiction collection, you’re through almost before you’re ready to be done. You go back and reread. The stories exert their spells all over again. They...
A group of fiction authors, including our own Janice Deal, who write about small towns in Illinois -- is that where we'll all retreat as the world crumbles?
In any case, their books are fascinating.
Last call! If you aren't there tonight, you'll have missed it.
Readings & discussion by Ann de Forest, Sterling Duns, & Nathaniel Popkin, three of the authors in WAYS OF WALKING.
If you walk there, be sure to mention that. You may get extra library points.
Wed. night in , at the Falls of the Schuylkill Library (a lovely Carnegie bldg.), 3501 Midvale in East Falls, 6:30. Three contributors to WAYS OF WALKING reflect on the most influential walks they have taken and what they have learned along the way.
Wed. night in , at the Falls of the Schuylkill Library (a lovely Carnegie bldg.), 3501 Midvale in East Falls, 6:30. Three contributors to WAYS OF WALKING reflect on the most influential walks they have taken and what they have learned along the way.
Tomorrow in Chicago!
I'm so looking forward to October 17, when I'll be joining authors Christina Marrocco and Ryan Elliott Smith at The Cliff Dwellers for a panel discussion, "Winesburg, Illinois--Short Story Collections About Small Towns"!
Newcity critic and Society of Midland Authors board member Mary Wisniewski will moderate the panel, which focuses on our short story collections about small towns in Northern Illinois, and the importance of a sense of place. Details follow here:
WHEN: Tuesday, October 17; 6-7pm for cocktails, 7-8pm for program.
WHERE: Cliff Dwellers, 200 S. Michigan Avenue, 22nd Floor Penthouse.
COST: Free and open to all; $5 suggested donation. Books are for sale, provided by Madison Street Books.
Come on over and join the fun!
This Wednesday in !
A provocative for a remarkable book.
Categories Author Playlists Janice Deal’s playlist for her story collection “Strange Attractors” “…I am struck once again by how music so beautifully, and evocatively, captures the emotions of fiction—and life.” Post author By largeheartedboy Post date October 15, 2023 In the Book Note...
Cleaver editors are at work on our Winter Issue — and we want to read your writing! We read submissions of , , , , and .
Submit your cutting-edge creations via Submittable:
https://cleavermagazine.submittable.com/submit
Patterson has pledged a personal contribution of $300,000, to be distributed in amounts of $500, to 600 booksellers from ABA member bookstores.
Coming in a week!
Three of the ramblin' authors from WAYS OF WALKING at the Falls of Schuylkill Library in , 10/18, 6:30pm, 3501 Midvale Ave.
Come find out what the concept of "walking artist" is about. Maybe you're one already.
Free shipping at Bookshop today and tomorrow! And the books are always discounted. You can buy our new title, STRANGE ATTRACTORS by Janice Deal, or anything else!
https://bookshop.org/p/books/strange-attractors-the-ephrem-stories-janice-deal/19972448
Join us for the Bricks Reading Series at H&H Books Wednesday, October 18 @ 7PM. The readers for this event are Minda Honey, Isle McElroy, and Camille Acker.
This event is sponsored by Blue Stoop! Light refreshments will be provided. Link in bio!
The Bricks is a reading series dedicated to building transcultural conversations on literature & aesthetics.
I'm so looking forward to October 17, when I'll be joining authors Christina Marrocco and Ryan Elliott Smith at The Cliff Dwellers for a panel discussion, "Winesburg, Illinois--Short Story Collections About Small Towns"!
Newcity critic and Society of Midland Authors board member Mary Wisniewski will moderate the panel, which focuses on our short story collections about small towns in Northern Illinois, and the importance of a sense of place. Details follow here:
WHEN: Tuesday, October 17; 6-7pm for cocktails, 7-8pm for program.
WHERE: Cliff Dwellers, 200 S. Michigan Avenue, 22nd Floor Penthouse.
COST: Free and open to all; $5 suggested donation. Books are for sale, provided by Madison Street Books.
Come on over and join the fun!
event: Wed., Oct. 18, 6:30 p.m., at Falls of Schuylkill Library, 3501 Midvale Ave., East Falls.
An evening with Ann de Forest, Sterling Duns and Nathaniel Popkin, editor & authors of WAYS OF WALKING. Join them for conversation about the power of taking things slowly.
For those near Chicago:
"Winesburg, Illinois–Short-Story Collections About Small Towns," panel from from Society of Midland Authors.
Cliff Dwellers’ Club, 200 S. Michigan Ave., 22nd Floor Penthouse, Chicago.
Tues. 10/17, 6:00 for cocktails, 7:00 for program.
Another great review of STRANGE ATTRACTORS: THE EPHREM STORIES by Janice Deal! The reviewer, , is a wonderfully insightful member of the National Book Critics Circle, and she highlights key aspects of the book. Some quotes:
On the collection of characters in these linked stories: "Native or stranger, all feel like outsiders, misfits. Who can encounter misfits without remembering Flannery O’Connor? Deal’s voice and people are uniquely her own, but share something of O’Connor’s eerie magnification, a hallucinatory exposure of evil within the quotidian."
"Janice Deal has said of her earlier award-winning fiction that place is often her muse. Now in Strange Attractors: The Ephrem Stories, that muse—that place—is the fictional town of Ephrem, Illinois. The town itself becomes a composite multi-voiced character."
"The author has said before that she hopes her stories resonate like the blues. Here Deal surely achieves musical resonance. The cumulative effect of these mingled voices evokes another choral collection also set in Illinois: Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology. Deal’s choir is singing the blues, amplified, electric blues. Close the book and Strange Attractors reverberates."
Full review here:
https://www.cleavermagazine.com/strange-attractors-the-ephrem-stories-by-janice-deal-reviewed-by-ellen-prentiss-campbell/
We're really proud to have published this book!
A review of Janice Deal’s new book, “Strange Attractors: The Ephrem Stories.”
Another great review for STRANGE ATTRACTORS!
“The Midwestern town of Ephrem, Illinois, is a place that exists only in author Janice Deal’s imagination. But in her beautifully woven linked story collection STRANGE ATTRACTORS: THE EPHREM STORIES, the town and its residents are so completely realized I found myself poking around Google maps, trying to determine which actual place it might be based on. Thankfully no reference is needed, as this collection begins with a delightful hand-drawn map identifying the homes of Deal’s characters, as well as landmarks that any reader who grew up in semi-rural America will recognize: the local community college, omnipresent Walmart and Jewel-Osco, a dying mall at the edge of town, the one hotel that’s really a motel, a remote location near the lake where teenagers go to hook up (nicknamed “the Babymaker”). Every location on the map is rendered vivid through Deal’s meticulous storytelling.
"The characters in Ephrem lead mundane lives, until Deal telescopes in to moments of revealed truths, sudden outbursts and hidden traumas, making the residents more complex and deeply relatable. The challenges they face in this Wisconsin border town are universal: loneliness, financial insecurity, strained family relationships, alcohol abuse, a persistent feeling of restlessness.…
"The people of STRANGE ATTRACTORS might be your neighbor or coworker, your friend or family member. They might even be you.”
—Elizabeth Niarchos Neukirch, CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS
https://chireviewofbooks.com/2023/09/25/strange-attractors-the-ephrem-stories/
We were proud to have Janice in our hometown of for three readings this week! Now she's headed back to Illinois (after a date with a roller coaster), where she'll do more appearances. Her book STRANGE ATTRACTORS is available at Bookshop.org (where it's discounted) as well as at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. -- plus, of course, through your local bookstore.
Zoomies tonight, 6:30 ET!
Got your link? If not, you can still register at
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/all-but-true-big-doings-in-small-towns-tickets-714801619887
Can't wait!
What a week coming up September 18-22! New Door Books, the publisher of my collection of linked short stories “Strange Attractors: The Ephrem Stories,” has arranged some great events in the Philadelphia area (where New Door Books is located). Here’s where I’ll be (all times are Eastern Time):
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 6:30 p.m.
Head House Books
619 S. 2nd Street, Philadelphia
I will be in conversation with author Elise Juska about my book. More info here:
https://www.headhousebooks.com/.../evening-janice-deal...
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m.
Rosemont College Reading Series as part of the Rosemont College MFA in Creative Writing Program
Main Building, Rosemont College
1400 Montgomery Avenue
Rosemont, Pennsylvania
Gregory Frost will read from his new novel “Rhymer,” and I’ll read from “Strange Attractors”!
Thursday, Sept. 21, 6:30 p.m.
I will take part in the Working Writers Group/A Novel Idea on Passyunk All But True reading series with Shannon Bowring, Writer, whose novel “The Road to Dalton” is set in a small town in Maine. We’ll both give the audience a taste of fiction set in small town America. This event is available online. To register and attend:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/all-but-true-big-doings-in-small-towns-tickets-714801619887
I am grateful to New Door Books for these opportunities and cannot wait to visit Philadelphia and talk about writing!
Janice Deal is coming to this week for three appearances!
- Tues., 9/19, 6:30, at Head House Books
- Wed., 9/20, 7:30, Rosemont College Reading Series
- Thurs., 9/21, 6:30, ONLINE via A Novel Idea on Passyunk
Details at:
https://newdoorbooks.net/post/happy-pub-day
Janice's linked stories, set in a small town in IL, have been compared to the work of Sherwood Anderson, Flannery O'Connor, Willa Cather, and . . . wait for it . . . Anton Chekhov.
"I am drawn to humble people and places when I write. Deep human truths don’t always unfold on a big stage. Life happens to unassuming people, in modest environs, and I am intrigued by the revelations that can hide in plain sight under seemingly unassuming circumstances." -- from my newly published conversation with Deborah Kalb. We talked about the places that inspired the fictional town of Ephrem in my book "Strange Attractors: The Ephrem Stories" from New Door Books, Flannery O'Connor's misfits, and the ways in which revelations can hide in plain sight. To read the entire Q&A, click below. Thank you for the opportunity, Deborah!
https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2023/09/q-with-janice-deal.html?m=1
See the list of events, and help us welcome Janice to Philly!
What a week coming up September 18-22! New Door Books, the publisher of my collection of linked short stories “Strange Attractors: The Ephrem Stories,” has arranged some great events in the Philadelphia area (where New Door Books is located). Here’s where I’ll be (all times are Eastern Time):
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 6:30 p.m.
Head House Books
619 S. 2nd Street, Philadelphia
I will be in conversation with author Elise Juska about my book. More info here:
https://www.headhousebooks.com/.../evening-janice-deal...
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m.
Rosemont College Reading Series as part of the Rosemont College MFA in Creative Writing Program
Main Building, Rosemont College
1400 Montgomery Avenue
Rosemont, Pennsylvania
Gregory Frost will read from his new novel “Rhymer,” and I’ll read from “Strange Attractors”!
Thursday, Sept. 21, 6:30 p.m.
I will take part in the Working Writers Group/A Novel Idea on Passyunk All But True reading series with Shannon Bowring, Writer, whose novel “The Road to Dalton” is set in a small town in Maine. We’ll both give the audience a taste of fiction set in small town America. This event is available online. To register and attend:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/all-but-true-big-doings-in-small-towns-tickets-714801619887
I am grateful to New Door Books for these opportunities and cannot wait to visit Philadelphia and talk about writing!
Reminder to folks: Janice Deal's events in the area this coming week:
- Tues., 9/19, 6:30, at Head House Books
- Wed., 9/20, 7:30, Rosemont College Reading Series
- Thurs., 9/21, 6:30, ONLINE via A Novel Idea on Passyunk
Details at:
https://www.newdoorbooks.net/post/happy-pub-day
For ways to meet Janice Deal in next week (Tues., Wed., Thurs.), check this link:
https://www.newdoorbooks.net/post/happy-pub-day
Janice is coming to next week!
Quotes from Janice Deal's interview with Deborah Kalb, just posted:
"I’m deeply interested in the profound changes and events that exist, inevitably, in the everyday. I am drawn to humble people and places when I write. Deep human truths don’t always unfold on a big stage. Life happens to unassuming people, in modest environs, and I am intrigued by the revelations that can hide in plain sight under seemingly unassuming circumstances."
On writing: "One does the work without any guarantees that a given project will come together, no matter its length. There’s definitely a leap of faith in there. So, yeah: patience. And faith. Those are two gifts writing has given me."
Full interview at:
https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2023/09/q-with-janice-deal.html
September 12 is book launch day! I am excited to announce today’s official release of my linked story collection “Strange Attractors: The Ephrem Stories.” Warm thanks to New Door Books for believing in these stories and giving them a home in the world! Oh, and I’m also pleased to share some of the advance notice the book has received in recent days:
Newcity says, “Because it is set in a small town, it is tempting to compare Deal’s collection to Sherwood Anderson’s “Winesburg, Ohio.” There are certain similarities. But Deal seems a little closer to Anton Chekov than Anderson. She handles fine grades of emotion with humor and wistfulness, and with a surgeon’s delicate touch . . . These strange stories stay with you, attracting more meaning when they’re read again.”
And Booklist notes, “Deal’s sensitive stories reflect both the hope and the despair experienced in a small town where not much will ever truly change.”
Order your copy from the link below unless you are attending my upcoming book readings, where copies are available onsite. Thank you!
https://www.newdoorbooks.net/strange-attractors
Support independent literary publishers by picking a read from the list below, which features new books forthcoming in September 2023 from CLMP members. Read Me: Selected Works by Holly Melgard Ugly Duckling Presse | September 1, 2023 Read Me: Selected Works features “a representative selection...
Janice Deal will be visiting Philly the week of 9/18 in connection with the launch of her linked-story collection, STRANGE ATTRACTORS: THE EPHREM STORIES. We've tried to set up events for everyone:
For folks in the city:
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 6:30 p.m.: Head House Books, 619 S. 2nd Street. Janice will be in conversation with Elise Juska. More info here:
https://www.headhousebooks.com/event/evening-janice-deal-conversation-elise-juska
For folks in the suburbs:
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m.: Rosemont College Reading Series, Main Building, Rosemont College, 1400 Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont, PA. Greg Frost will also be reading from his new novel, so you'll get a combination of his imaginative fantasy with Janice's compassionate yet quirky realism.
For folks who love their sofas:
Thursday, Sept. 21, 6:30 p.m.: You can meet Janice by Zoom from your own living room. She'll take part in our All But True reading series with Shannon Bowring, whose novel The Road to Dalton is set in a small town in Maine. To register for the Zoom, go here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/all-but-true-big-doings-in-small-towns-tickets-714801619887
Check out the praise for Janice's book on our website:
https://www.newdoorbooks.net/strange-attractors
It's the official pub day for STRANGE ATTRACTORS: THE EPHREM STORIES by Janice Deal. Early reviews have compared the author to Sherwood Anderson, Willa Cather, Flannery O'Connor, and Anton Chekhov. Does that sound extravagant? You'll need to read the book to find out.
For events on the author's book tour, check the list here:
https://www.newdoorbooks.net/post/happy-pub-day
Another great review for STRANGE ATTRACTORS!
As Janice Deal begins a packed several weeks of appearances, NEWCITY LIT offers extraordinary praise, ending thus:
"Because it is set in a small town, it is tempting to compare Deal’s collection to Sherwood Anderson’s 'Winesburg, Ohio.' There are certainly similarities. But Deal seems a little closer to Anton Chekhov than Anderson. She handles fine grades of emotion with humor and wistfulness, and with a surgeon’s delicate touch. There is not just a child’s love for a mother—but subtle gradations of it. How much do I owe her? How badly should I feel, about this slight or this absence, or this food stain on a bedspread? The answers are unknown. There is order in chaos, and chaos in order. These strange stories stay with you, attracting more meaning when they’re read again."
OK, Chekhov, we'll take it.
- For the full review, see https://lit.newcity.com/2023/09/11/order-and-chaos-a-review-of-strange-attractors-the-ephrem-stories-by-janice-deal/
- To catch Janice in person or on Zoom, see the list of her events at:
https://www.newdoorbooks.net/strange-attractors
We're so proud of our author Janice Deal, whose linked-story collection STRANGE ATTRACTORS is coming out in September. She's just published a novel as well, and here she gives a lively interview about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJfOmMzKiLc
We are now accepting proposals for Fall 2023 Thursdays on the Stoop sessions until July 17 @ 11:59 PM EST! Share your creativity with our audience (and get paid to do it!) We welcome all to submit! Link in bio.
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Coming in a week! Three of the ramblin' authors from WAYS OF WALKING at the Falls of Schuylkill Library in #Philly, 10/18, 6:30pm, 3501 Midvale Ave. Come find out what the concept of "walking artist" is about. Maybe you're one already.
STRANGE ATTRACTORS by Janice Deal: Official pub. date: September 12 Author's first two events: 1. Printers Row Lit Fest, Chicago, 9/9, 10:00 a.m, Grace Place (1st Floor). Janice in a panel discussion on "The Ordinary and Outlandish in Short Stories." 2. Thursday, 9/14, 2023, 7:00 p.m., Barbara's Bookstore, 120 Yorktown Shopping Center, Lombard, IL. Janice in conversation with Kathy Bergen. Philly-area events, 9/19 & 9/20 (details on our website, https://www.newdoorbooks.net/strange-attractors) The book is already on sale at Bookshop.org and Amazon!
University of Pennsylvania Press
Spruce Street
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