Karla Huebner's Blog, page 19
March 4, 2022
Now On NetGalley and Edelweiss
As the publication date for In Search of the Magic Theater nears (June 1!), pre-publication reviews become important. Reviewers who use the NetGalley or Edelweiss platforms can now get advance reader copies there.
In Search of the Magic Theater begins as something of a female version of Hesse’s renowned Steppenwolf, but its dual narrators find themselves grappling with unexpected challenges in their search for creative and personal fulfillment.
BOOK CLUB POTENTIAL: Lots of topical discussion points relating to gender roles, generational tension, love and marriage, pursuing one's dream, drug use, power dynamics.
FOR READERS OF WOMEN'S FICTION: Two strong female protagonists deal with issues of personal identity, career, and family/friend/romantic relationships.
FOR PERFORMING ARTS FANS: Set in the world of theater and music, this lively work features the loves and friendships of an experimental playwright, a classical cellist, and guitarists who span classical, jazz, and rock.
In Search of the Magic Theater begins as something of a female version of Hesse’s renowned Steppenwolf, but its dual narrators find themselves grappling with unexpected challenges in their search for creative and personal fulfillment.
BOOK CLUB POTENTIAL: Lots of topical discussion points relating to gender roles, generational tension, love and marriage, pursuing one's dream, drug use, power dynamics.
FOR READERS OF WOMEN'S FICTION: Two strong female protagonists deal with issues of personal identity, career, and family/friend/romantic relationships.
FOR PERFORMING ARTS FANS: Set in the world of theater and music, this lively work features the loves and friendships of an experimental playwright, a classical cellist, and guitarists who span classical, jazz, and rock.
March 3, 2022
Rabble
While I've given a shout-out to Geoff Fox's new historical novel over on Instagram, I realized that I hadn't noted it here! Rabble is a wonderfully rich and lively tale of the Paris Commune.
In 1870, 17-year-old apprentice bookbinder Étienne Bonin travels from Lyon to Paris seeking excitement and professional opportunity. By spring 1871 he is deeply committed to the movement for workers’ power, to his 16-year-old coworker and budding feminist Rose Durand, and to his new comrades. Together they experience celebrations, military disasters, and the final “week of blood.” These workers created the first self-governing, proto-communist society in the modern world, in the most advanced capitalist city of its time. They then had to defend it against bombardment and attacks, which would finally annihilate the Commune but not its ideals.
I highly recommend Rabble for its deep and detailed dive into one of modern history's most interesting periods. You can get a copy from the publisher or from many retailers.
In 1870, 17-year-old apprentice bookbinder Étienne Bonin travels from Lyon to Paris seeking excitement and professional opportunity. By spring 1871 he is deeply committed to the movement for workers’ power, to his 16-year-old coworker and budding feminist Rose Durand, and to his new comrades. Together they experience celebrations, military disasters, and the final “week of blood.” These workers created the first self-governing, proto-communist society in the modern world, in the most advanced capitalist city of its time. They then had to defend it against bombardment and attacks, which would finally annihilate the Commune but not its ideals.
I highly recommend Rabble for its deep and detailed dive into one of modern history's most interesting periods. You can get a copy from the publisher or from many retailers.
March 2, 2022
A Brush with Love
A dental love story? Yes--Mazey Eddings's 2022 Debut A Brush with Love explores the nuances of falling in love while having a mental illness. This does not sound like your average romance! I might need to check this out. Launches March 1.
March 1, 2022
The Tobacco Wives
Adele Myers's 2022 Debut The Tobacco Wives launches March 1st. The Tobacco Wives is a historical novel set in 1946 North Carolina and features a young seamstress who uncovers dangerous truths about Big Tobacco.
February 27, 2022
An Edgar Could in the Works for Erin Flanagan's Deer Season
Deer Season, the debut novel by Erin Flanagan, my colleague over in the English department, has been nominated for an Edgar! The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, presented by the Mystery Writers of America, celebrate the best mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced each year. Deer Season was one of five nominees for the category Best First Novel by an American Author.
Here's a handy list of Edgar winners in all categories for the past decade.
You can order Deer Season from the publisher, University of Nebraska Press, or wherever books are sold.
February 26, 2022
A Little Reminder to Pre-order
It's time to do the obligatory reminder that pre-ordering books (ordering your copy in advance of publication) is very helpful to the author, the publisher, and to bookstores. Pre-orders show that readers are eager to get that book, and if you've ever wondered how something can be a bestseller on its first day in print, pre-orders are how that happens! Lots of people pre-ordered those bestsellers (whether they were individual people or bookstores ordering to stock shelves).
And you, of course, can help In Search of the Magic Theater by pre-ordering. You can order via anyplace that sells books, but I especially recommend ordering direct from the publisher. So if you haven't yet ordered your copy of In Search of the the Magic Theater, you can get it in paperback or special edition hardcover from the Regal House website! There is also an e-book edition.
And you, of course, can help In Search of the Magic Theater by pre-ordering. You can order via anyplace that sells books, but I especially recommend ordering direct from the publisher. So if you haven't yet ordered your copy of In Search of the the Magic Theater, you can get it in paperback or special edition hardcover from the Regal House website! There is also an e-book edition.
Why, the rather staid young cellist Sarah wonders, should her aunt rent their spare room to the perhaps unstable Kari Zilke? Like the nephew in Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf, Sarah finds herself taking an unexpected interest in the lodger, but she is unable to stop at providing a mere introduction to Kari’s narrative of mid-life crisis and self-discovery, and develops her own more troubled tale of personal angst and growth, entwined with the account Kari herself purportedly left behind. Generational tensions, artistic collaborations, and even a romance steeped in Greek myth follow as Kari and Sarah pursue their very different creative paths in theater and music. And while Kari seems to blossom, Sarah must grapple with the question of what the role of mothers, fathers, aunts, mentors, and male collaborators should be in her life as a young musician.
February 25, 2022
In Sadness for Ukraine
On February 24th, Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Observers worldwide hope for a speedy end to this war, but are not optimistic. My heart goes out to the people of Ukraine, and to those of Ukrainian heritage elsewhere in the world, and also to the many people in Russia who oppose their government's unjustified action.
February 24, 2022
One Little Word
Audra McElyea's One Little Word is a 2022 Debut suspense thriller launching February 22nd. Madeleine Barton, a recently widowed single mother, strugges to make ends meet as a freelance reporter and hopes that covering the mysterious death of a bestselling local author could be the career-launching story of her dreams. Of course, this could also be a dangerous undertaking!
February 23, 2022
Beneath the Stairs
Canadian playwright Jennifer Fawcett's 2022 Debut novel Beneath the Stairs takes its characters from their teenaged foray into an abandoned house where murder happened to an adulthood in which one returns to the same house to attempt suicide.
This tale has been compared to Shirley Jackson's classic The Haunting of Hill House; it'll be interesting to see if we agree.
This tale has been compared to Shirley Jackson's classic The Haunting of Hill House; it'll be interesting to see if we agree.
February 22, 2022
The Hitman's Daughter
The Hitman's Daughter, a 2022 Debut by Carolyne Topdjian, is a gothic mystery set in a haunted chateau on New Year's Eve. Guests are trapped there by a massive blizzard, and then there's a murder...
If you enjoy supernatural mysteries, this could be just the thing to read on a chilly winter's night!
If you enjoy supernatural mysteries, this could be just the thing to read on a chilly winter's night!
