Scott Semegran's Blog, page 3
June 25, 2024
Austin Liti Limits Episode 56 with AMANDA CHURCHILL is Out Now
Austin Liti Limits Episode 56 with debut author AMANDA CHURCHILL is now available! Check it out now over at the Austin Liti Limits website.
Go here to watch: https://austinlitilimits.com/episodes/episode-56-amanda-churchill.html
June 6, 2024
Newsletter: June 2024 Edition
It's been a little bit since my last newsletter and so much has happened since March 1st. My new novel, The Codger and the Sparrow, was released on March 22nd by TCU Press. On March 28th, the book launch event was at BookPeople in Austin, Texas. It was a night to remember! Fifty friends, family members, and readers came out to watch the conversation I had with extraordinary writer James Wade. I sold a bunch of books and signed a bunch more and hugged a lot of necks. It was such a fantastic event!
On March 30th, I drove down to San Antonio, Texas with my wife and daughter Sophia for a book event at Nowhere Bookshop. I was in conversation there with exceptional writer Andrew Porter. Afterwards Andrew, my wife, daughter, and I had dinner and drinks and it was such a great night!
On May 1st, the audiobook for The Codger and the Sparrow was released by Vibrance Press. Narrated by Brian P. Craig, he did such an exceptional job bringing my novel to life, particularly with voicing main character Hank. I am so proud of this audiobook!
MY PURPLE WRITER BRAIN: June 2024 Edition
Subscribe to My Purple Writer Brain and receive the latest newsletter in your email inbox. It's FREE! My email service is Mailchimp. Subscibe today!
It's been a little bit since my last newsletter and so much has happened since March 1st. My new novel, The Codger and the Sparrow, was released on March 22nd by TCU Press. On March 28th, the book launch event was at BookPeople in Austin, Texas. It was a night to remember! Fifty friends, family members, and readers came out to watch the conversation I had with extraordinary writer James Wade. I sold a bunch of books and signed a bunch more and hugged a lot of necks. It was such a fantastic event!
On March 30th, I drove down to San Antonio, Texas with my wife and daughter Sophia for a book event at Nowhere Bookshop. I was in conversation there with exceptional writer Andrew Porter. Afterwards Andrew, my wife, daughter, and I had dinner and drinks and it was such a great night!
On May 1st, the audiobook for The Codger and the Sparrow was released by Vibrance Press. Narrated by Brian P. Craig, he did such an exceptional job bringing my novel to life, particularly with voicing main character Hank. I am so proud of this audiobook!
May 8, 2024
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Enter a chance to win a FREE paperback copy of my new book The Codger and the Sparrow on Goodreads!
The giveaway dates are May 11 - May 23, 2024. U.S. residents only. Five copies available in the giveaway. Good luck!
Enter here:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/389311-the-codger-and-the-sparrow
April 30, 2024
Author Interview: Scott Semegran on The Codger and the Sparrow
Interviewed by Dania Kreisl
What was your inspiration for the story, and what gave you the ideas for Hank and Luis?
In the fall of 2020, the pandemic was upon us and my wife and I got into this unwanted routine of randomly waking up in the middle of the night, probably from stress. I was up late one night petting my cat when I had a vision of two guys in a car driving somewhere, one an old white guy and the other a young Black guy. But in this scene, they didn’t seem like a grandfather and grandson. By the way they were sitting in the car, they just looked like two dudes, like friends. The kid had his feet out the window and the old guy had his arm casually draped over the steering wheel. I kept thinking, “How are these two friends? They seem like friends. How would an old white guy and a young Black guy be friends?” As a humor fiction writer, I liked the odd-couple dynamic right away. I knew there could be humor in the dynamic between different generations and ethnic backgrounds. But once I started to work out their backstories—who they were and what they were like and what their family lives were like, etc.—then their similarities became clear to me. They both have mixed backgrounds—Hank is Jewish and German / Irish, Luis is Puerto Rican. Their past trauma connected these two; it’s what brought them together to be friends. They understood each other on an emotional level; they had similar needs even though their background and appearance was so different, and that was interesting to me.
The car is a very important aspect to the story, what is the backstory behind the car, and why did you choose this specific vehicle?
There is not much in The Codger and the Sparrow from my life personally, but the story of how Hank got the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda painted Panther Pink was my father-in-law’s story. My late father-in-law, Ed Hoadley, had this exact car when he was a young man. He told us this story several times over the dinner table, about how when he was finishing up his tour in Vietnam, he had an opportunity to buy a Barracuda through a military benefit. He ordered one and waited for it when he got back home, but there was a storm in Amarillo that damaged his specially-ordered car, and only a pink one was available with the exact engine he wanted. His stories of having a hot sports car and zooming around in it, confusing a lot of people in his small hometown because it was pink, would get us all laughing until we had tears in our eyes. I remember telling my wife at the time it was just too good a story to not use in a novel. When I started writing The Codger and the Sparrow, it was immediately clear to me that Hank—this tough, surly loner—would own a car like this, a muscle car painted pink. It just seemed like the right fit for Hank. So now, my father-in-law’s story is Hank’s story, how he came about to own a hot pink 1970 Plymouth Barracuda.
March 3, 2024
MY PURPLE WRITER BRAIN: March 2024 Edition
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March 2024 is here and the only topic I have for this month’s newsletter is this: my new novel THE CODGER AND THE SPARROW will be released on March 22nd! It’ll be available in paperback and eBook and you can find it at the retailers below. The audiobook will be available from Vibrance Press around the end of April 2024. Preorders are so important for sales and I would appreciate it if you would preorder this comical yet moving story about a widower’s unlikely friendship with a young troublemaker.
Here’s what some of my favorite writers had to say about my new novel.
“Scott Semegran’s The Codger and the Sparrow is a wondrous novel of the road, where two unlikely people seek out the larger world, and in their uncertainty, help each other navigate the way toward something like home. Told with such an abundance of both humor and tenderness, this is a novel of discovery, of searching for answers, and I could not think of two people I’d rather ride alongside than Hank and Luis.” – Kevin Wilson, New York Times Bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang
“The Codger and The Sparrow is delicious fun. A story told with an abundance of surprise and humor; I loved the characters, the snappy dialogue, and hitting the road in the pink Barracuda. Scott Semegran is one hell of a writer, and this is a terrific novel.” – Annie Hartnett, author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals
“Semegran deftly blends humor with heart in a road trip romp that crosses generational divides. A coming-of-age for one, a coming-to-terms for the other, Semegran’s characters are deeply drawn in a way that envelops readers from the start of their journey to its unexpected end. The Codger and the Sparrow is a fun, fresh meditation on friendship, loss, and new beginnings.” – James Wade, Spur Award-winning author of All Things Left Wild and River, Sing Out
“Scott Semegran’s characters capture the essential human contradiction: that deep flaws and bad decisions exist right alongside our beautiful capacity for kindness and compassion. With equal parts heart and humor, The Codger and the Sparrow is an ode to the strange, messy, and transformative power of friendship.” – Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas
Also, the book launch event for THE CODGER AND THE SPARROW will be at BookPeople in Austin, Texas on Thursday, March 28th at 7pm. I’ll be in conversation with the wonderful James Wade. A second book launch event will be in San Antonio on Saturday, March 30th at Nowhere Bookshop at 6pm. I’ll be in conversation with the fantastic Andrew Porter. Links to both events are also below.
Thank you for your support. I hope you enjoy this novel and I hope to see you at one of these events.
Preorder the paperback and eBook here: Bookshop, BookPeople, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Thrift Books, TCU Press
Book launch event at BookPeople on Thursday, March 28th: RSVP and preorder the book
Book Launch event at Nowhere Bookshop on Saturday, March 30th: Preorder the book
I’ll be back next month with regularly scheduled programming about books, reviews, interviews, and more. Until then: take care and read more books.
Sincerely,
Scott
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February 8, 2024
Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby
Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby is a novel categorized as a crime thriller. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Beauregard "Bug" Montage is an honest mechanic, a loving husband, and a hard-working dad. Bug knows there's no future in the man he used to be: known from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida as the best wheelman on the East Coast. He thought he'd left all that behind him, but as his carefully built new life begins to crumble, he finds himself drawn inexorably back into a world of blood and bullets. When a smooth-talking former associate comes calling with a can't-miss jewelry store heist, Bug feels he has no choice but to get back in the driver's seat. And Bug is at his best where the scent of gasoline mixes with the smell of fear. Haunted by the ghost of who he used to be and the father who disappeared when he needed him most, Bug must find a way to navigate this blacktop wasteland...or die trying.”
This is the second novel I’ve read by S. A. Cosby, the first being Razorblade Tears which I absolutely loved. Although for me not as emotionally charged as Razorblade Tears, there’s still so much to enjoy about this thrilling, fast-paced, crime novel.
Beauregard "Bug" Montage is trying to be a good man, father, husband, and son, but life keeps throwing him combinations that he has a hard time outmaneuvering. His mother is in a nursing home and needs over $30,000 to keep her bed. His bills are piling up at home and at his floundering auto repair shop. It just seems like he can’t keep up. When Ronnie Sessions, a small-time hood, approaches Beauregard about joining a heist, we learn that Beauregard is known around that part of the country as the best getaway driver there ever was, even better than his crooked father was. When Ronnie temps Beauregard with a close to six-figure payout, Beauregard takes the bite even though he knows that Ronnie isn’t trustworthy. What ensues is a nail-biting crime thriller that takes many twists and turns, most of which are surprising and gripping.
Be Brief and Tell Them Everything by Brad Listi
Be Brief and Tell Them Everything by Brad Listi is a novel of autofiction. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “A darkly funny meditation on creativity and family, Be Brief and Tell Them Everything tracks the life of a middle-aged author who is struggling to write his next novel while trying to come to grips with his son's disabilities, set against a backdrop of ecological catastrophe and escalating human insanity in contemporary Los Angeles. A beautiful, powerful, concise work of autofiction that is reminiscent of My Struggle and Grief is the Thing with Feathers, Be Brief documents the stops and starts of adulthood and marriage, and the joys and challenges of parenting, while defining what it means to be a good man, and a good writer.”
The fictional Brad in this novel is very similar to real-life Brad Listi. They both are married with children and live in Los Angeles and host a podcast about a writer talking to other writers. It’s difficult to tell from listening to Brad on his podcast and reading Brad’s thoughts in his novel where—or if—the two “Brads” diverge. Certainly, they’re the same person, right? That’s the conundrum, but what a fun one to read and explore.
Autofiction is a flavor of fictionalized autobiography, heightening the question of what is real and what is embellished. In television, think of Seinfeld. In movies, think Almost Famous. In other recent literature, think of The Red-Headed Pilgrim by Kevin Maloney. In most cases, there’s a modification of real-life events or the invention of subplots or tangents that help in the search for the self—the examination of the author’s “character.” The embellishing in this book procures comedic gold. Be Brief is observationally funny as Brad picks apart the positive and negative aspects of the city of Los Angeles, the lunacy of the endless failures and iterations of writing books, the foibles of parenting by people who have barely figured out their own lives, along with the untimely deaths of his loved ones and the guilt from being raised Catholic.
February 1, 2024
MY PURPLE WRITER BRAIN: February 2024 Edition
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Book Publicity
Hello, hello! I’ve been busy getting ready for the publication of my new novel, THE CODGER AND THE SPARROW! If you’re in the Austin area on March 28th, there’ll be a book launch event at BookPeople, a fantastic bookstore in downtown Austin, Texas. RSVP and preorder the book at this link. The event starts at 7pm and I’ll be in conversation with James Wade. There will also be an event at Nowhere Bookshop in San Antonio, Texas on March 30th at 6pm. I don’t have a link yet. I’ll be in conversation with Andrew Porter at this one. Both events should be fun! Hope to see you at either one. These are the only two events I’ll be doing in March; more events to come later in the year (I’m looking at you Texas Book Festival).
Now that there’s only 49 days (!!!) until my new novel is published, I’ve been in book publicity mode, not my favorite mode to be in, but I do it nonetheless because I want readers to find my books and read them and enjoy them and hopefully feel inspired by them. But in this day and age, all of us creative types of people (I refuse to call us “creatives” because that’s stupid; I’m a writer, not a creative) are pretty much forced to put on our marketing and publicity hats and tasked with selling our wares…I mean products----I mean, our books. Most authors, including myself, are not extroverts or salespeople or marketers, not our strong points, anyway. We like to be by ourselves and write stories, preferably with lots of coffee and a fuzzy pet nearby. Asking us to publicize our books is a BIG ask. But why do publishers expect us to promote our books when our specialty is to write down our words in a secluded room? You got me. Doesn’t seem to me to be the best strategy for selling books. But what do I know?
Author to Author Interview with Scott Semegran and Kerri Schlottman
Check out a fun Author to Author Interview featuring me and excellent fiction author Kerri Schlottman in WELL READ MAGAZINE! Kerri and I talk about all kinds of writerly things like book publicity, character development, and so much more. Plus, the latest from Mandy Haynes, Robert Gwaltney, and too many authors to count. Read it here:
https://issuu.com/wellreadmagazine/docs/february_2024_magazine_aff2/140
