Shelf Life

Category: Book signings

  • I Cheerfully Refuse: Author Discussion & Book Signing

    I Cheerfully Refuse: Author Discussion & Book Signing

    The Book Stall (811 Elm Street in Winnetka) is thrilled to welcome award-winning author Leif Enger to the store on Sunday, April 7 at 2:00 pm for a discussion featuring his new book, I Cheerfully Refuse (Grove Atlantic). A career defining tour-de-force from the New York Times bestselling author of Peace Like a River, Enger’s latest novel is set in a not-too-distant America and epitomizes the “musical, sometimes magical and deeply satisfying kind of storytelling” (Los Angeles Times) for which Leif Enger is cherished.  A rollicking narrative in the most evocative of settings, I Cheerfully Refuse is a symphony against despair and a rallying cry for the future.

    This event is free with registration. To register, please visit The Book Stall’s website or CLICK HERE.

    More About the Book: I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of Rainy, a bereaved and pursued musician, embarking under sail on a sentient Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. An endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, Rainy seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs, and remote islands of the inland sea. Encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, he finds on land an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, crumbled infrastructure, and a lawless society.

    Amidst the Gulliver-like challenges of life at sea and no safe landings, Rainy is lifted by physical beauty, surprising humor, generous strangers, and an unexpected companion in a young girl who comes aboard. And as his innate guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his strengthening wake.

    More About the Author: Leif Enger grew up in Osakis, Minnesota, and worked as a reporter for Minnesota Public Radio before writing his bestselling debut novel Peace Like a River, which won the Booksense Award for Fiction and was named one of the Year’s Best Books by Time Magazine and the Los Angeles Times. His second novel, So Brave, Young, and Handsome, was also a national bestseller. It was a Midwest Booksellers Honor Book, and won the High Plains Book Award for Fiction. His third novel, Virgil Wander, was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and was named a best book of the year by Library Journal, Bookpage, and Chicago Public Library. He lives with his wife in Duluth, MN.

  • John Schu: Author Discussion & Book Signing in Conversation with Heidi Stevens 

    John Schu: Author Discussion & Book Signing in Conversation with Heidi Stevens 

    The Book Stall (811 Elm Street in Winnetka) proudly welcomes to the store author John Schu on Thursday, April 4 at 6:30 pm for a powerful discussion of his new book, Louder Than Hunger. (Candlewick Press). Based on his own experience of these conditions, Mr. Schu presents a vivid and immersive look at a teenage boy’s experience of anorexia, OCD, and depression. As a revered teacher, librarian, and story ambassador, Schu has created a wrenching, transformative, and unforgettable novel in verse with a moving introduction by two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo. Mr. Schu will be in conversation with Heidi Stevens. This book is appropriate for readers ages 12 to adult. 

    This event is free with registration, to register, please visit The Book Stall’s website or CLICK HERE. 

    More About the Book: Jake volunteers at a nursing home because he likes helping people. He

    likes reading mysteries and comics aloud to the senior residents. He likes skating and singing, playing Bingo and Name That Tune. He also likes avoiding people his own age . . . and the cruelty of mirrors . . . and food. Jake has read about kids like him in books, the weird one, the outsider, and would do anything not to be that kid, including shrink himself down to nothing. But the less he eats, the bigger he feels. How long can Jake punish himself before he truly disappears?

    A fictionalized account of the author’s experiences and emotions living in residential treatment facilities as a young teen with an eating disorder, Louder Than Hunger is a triumph of raw honesty. With a deeply personal afterword for context, this much-anticipated verse novel is a powerful model for muffling the destructive voices inside, managing and articulating pain, and embracing self-acceptance, support, and love. 

    Katherine Applegate, author of The One and Only Ivan says, “Every so often a book comes along that is so brave and necessary, it extends a lifeline when it’s needed most. This is one of those books.”

    More About the Author: John Schu is the author of the acclaimed picture books This Is a School and This Is a Story. He also wrote the adult study The Gift of Story: Exploring the Affective Side of the Reading Life and was named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker for his dynamic interactions with students and his passionate adoption of new technologies as a means of connecting authors, illustrators, books, and readers. As a children’s librarian for Bookelicious, part-time lecturer at Rutgers University, and former Ambassador of School Libraries for Scholastic Book Fairs, Mr. Schu continues to travel the world to share his love of books. He lives in Naperville, Illinois. You can find him at www.JohnSchu.com and on social media @MrSchuReads.

    More About Our Conversation Partner: Heidi Stevens is a Chicago-based writer and the Director of External Affairs for the University of Chicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, which works to provide parents, caregivers, and communities the knowledge and tools to optimize foundational brain development in all children. Prior to joining University of Chicago, Stevens worked at the Chicago Tribune for 23 years, where she wrote a daily column called “Balancing Act.” She was awarded the Anne Keegan Award for Distinguished Journalism in 2018. Stevens maintains a nationally syndicated weekly column and serves on the Family Action Network board of directors.

  • “Ladies of the Lights” Showcases Female Lighthouse Keepers

    “Ladies of the Lights” Showcases Female Lighthouse Keepers

    “Ladies of the Lights” Presentation by Michigan Maritime Expert Dianna Stampfler Showcases Female Keepers of Michigan’s Historic Beacons

    “Ladies of the Lights” Presentation Showcases Female Keepers of Michigan’s Historic Beacons

    Michigan lighthouse historian and author Dianna Stampfler has announced a series of presentations of her popular “Ladies of the Lights” in honor of Women’s History Month. This program, which includes readings from newspapers and autobiographies, as well as countless historic photos, sheds light on the dedicated women who served at lights around the state dating back as early as the 1830s.

    These were women before their time, taking on the romantic yet dangerous and physically demanding job of tending to the lighthouses that protected the Great Lakes shoreline. Given this was also a government job, their involvement was even more unique. In all, nearly 50 women have been identified who excelled in this profession over the years.

    One of the most notable was Elizabeth (Whitney) VanRiper Williams who took over the St. James Harbor Light on Beaver Island after her husband, Clement, died while attempting to rescue the crew of a ship sinking in the harbor. She later became the first keeper of the Little Traverse Lighthouse in Harbor Springs, retiring after a combined 44 years of service.

    There is also Julia (Tobey) Braun Way who outlived two husband keepers at the Saginaw River Rear Range Lighthouse in Bay City, and some say who still haunts the place today. Anastasia Truckey served as the interim keeper at the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse in the 1860s while her husband, Nelson, was off serving in the Civil War. Mary Terry served 18 years before she died in a fire at the Sand Point Lighthouse in Escanaba in 1886 – her death still shrouded in mystery 137 years later.

    Stampfler has been researching Great Lakes lighthouses for more than 25 years and is the author of Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses (2019) and Death and Lighthouses on the Great Lakes (2022) both from The History Press. She has penned countless articles and been interviewed extensively about the lighthouses and their keepers. She is also the president of Promote Michigan.

    The March 2023 program schedule includes:

    • Tuesday, March 14 (6-7:30pm)

    Chesterfield Township Library

    www.chelibrary.org

    • Wednesday, March 15 (10am-Noon)

    Saginaw Valley State University, University Center

    OLLI Class (Registration required: $20 members/$40 non-members)

    www.enrole.com/svsu/jsp/session.jsp?sessionId=275W23&courseId=275LADIES&categoryId=D488D638

    • Wednesday, March 15 (5-6:30pm)

    Harbor Beach District Library

    www.hbadl.org

    • Tuesday, March 21 (6-7:30pm)

    Livonia Public Library ZOOM

    https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88565136420

    • Wednesday, March 22 (6-7:30pm)

    St. Clair County Library, Port Huron

    • Thursday, March 23 (7-8:30pm)

    Novi Public Library Zoom

    www.novilibrary.org 

    Stampfler will be selling/signing copies of her books following each presentation.

  • Enjoy a Lakeside Chat with the Grandson of Ernest Hemingway–Author John Patrick Hemingway

    Enjoy a Lakeside Chat with the Grandson of Ernest Hemingway–Author John Patrick Hemingway

     

    Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author (and Walloon Lake’s most noted summer resident) Ernest Hemingway came from a family of creative types and has since left a legacy of writing that extends for generations. Among those is his grandson, John Patrick Hemingway, author of Strange Tribe (The Lyons Press, 2007) – a memoir that details the turbulent, love/hate relationship between his father, Dr. Gregory Hemingway, and his grandfather, the Nobel Laureate Ernest Hemingway.

    As part of a weekend-long Walloon Lake Writer’s Retreat Weekend at Hotel Walloon, the public is invited to a FREE event – A Lakeside Chat with Author John Patrick Hemingway – on Friday, April 14 at the Talcott Event Venue in downtown Walloon Lake. Doors will open at 7pm with a cash bar featuring a Pilar’s Rum Hemingway Daiquiri (see recipe below), along with select wine and beer; the discussion will begin at 7:30pm and a book signing will follow.

    Throughout the weekend, the Canadian/American writer and journalist will lead writers in a series of workshops, readings and other creative exercises meant to inspire personal storytelling. Last year’s inaugural Writer’s Retreat was led by Ernest’s great granddaughter (and John’s niece), Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, author of Ernest’s Way.

    In addition to his memoir, John Hemingway has published a number of short stories in magazines and literary reviews such at The Saturday Evening Post and Provincetown Arts and has also written for many fishing and hunting magazines such as Showboats International and Ducks Unlimited. His first novel, Bacchanalia: A Pamplona Story (2019), takes place in Spain during the Fiesta de San Fermín, a nine-day event that was made famous in the1920s by the publication of his grandfather’s work The Sun Also Rises.

    Ernest Hemingway was just three months old when he made his first trip from his hometown of Oak Park, IL to Walloon Lake where his parents – Clarence and Grace (Hall) – had purchased property along the North Shore. Ernest spent time every summer until 1921 at the family’s beloved Windemere cottage there, the simple cottage still owned by descendants today. The woods and waters in and around Walloon Lake shaped Hemingway’s life in many ways and it was a place he always held dear to his heart. It was here that his 1972 posthumously published book, The Nick Adams Stories, is primarily set.

    To inquire about availability for the “Walloon Lake Writer’s Retreat ” please contact Hotel Walloon at 231-535-5000.

    HEMINGWAY DAIQUIRI

    INGREDIENTS

    • 1.75 oz Papa’s Pilar® Blonde Rum
    • 0.75 oz fresh Lime juice
    • 0.5 oz Ruby Grapefruit juice
    • 1 tsp Maraschino liqueur
    • 1 tsp Sugar (Papa went without)
    • 1 peel of Grapefruit (as little white pith as possible)

    Shake all ingredients and pour into a Coupe glass.
    Garnish with a dehydrated Grapefruit slice.

    *If you want to make it how Papa drank it, double the rum and make it a Papa Doble!

    Recipe and photo courtesy of Papa’s Pilar

  • Santa Museum Hosting Story Teller and “Santa’s Daughter” by Mrs. Pat Koch Book Signing

    Santa Museum Hosting Story Teller and “Santa’s Daughter” by Mrs. Pat Koch Book Signing

    On Saturday, December 3, 2022, at 1:00 pm Central time, guests are invited to gather in the historic Santa Claus Church where the spell-binding Susan Fowler will return to the site to give us her entertaining and interactive rendition of the classic tale Twas the Night Before Christmas. A Merry Memory Sketch souvenir illustration of the afternoon’s story will be available for each family. There is no charge to attend, however donations to help restore the historic church are happily accepted.

    Immediately following the storytelling, Mrs. Patricia Koch, w will hold a book signing for her recently published book entitled Santa’s Daughter. Mrs. Koch’s nostalgic book shares stories about her hometown of Mariah Hill, her experiences at Santa Claus Land and memories of her dad, Santa Jim Yellig. Her goal, at age 91, is to preserve the history of the town of Santa Claus and the surrounding area. Mrs. Koch will be in the historic church to sign books, answer questions and chat with visitors. Mrs. Koch is being honored this year by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb with the 2022 Sachem Award, the state’s highest honor. She also has been inducted into the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame.

    Also at no charge, families are invited to visit the museum, check in with Santa in his Museum Office, browse the gift shop, write letters to Santa in the historic Post Office, view the 12-foot Santa Claus Mural and the 22 foot Santa Claus Statue.

    The Santa Claus Museum & Village is a not-for-profit organization which not only seeks to preserve the history of the town of Santa Claus but also to perpetuate the tradition of answering thousands of children’s letters to Santa. The Museum & Village are open daily Monday through Thursday from 10 am – 2 pm and Friday through Sunday 9 am to 4 pm, closed Christmas Day. The Santa Claus Museum & Village is located just south of Holiday World at 69 State Road 245 in Santa Claus, Indiana. For questions or further information, please call the Santa Claus Museum at 812-544-2434. And for more holiday ideas in the town of Santa Claus, click here.

  • Haunted Lighthouses: Scary Tales of the Great Lakes

    Haunted Lighthouses: Scary Tales of the Great Lakes

    Michigan is home to more lighthouses than any other state and about 40 of those are rumored to be haunted by the spirits of former keepers, mariners and others with ties to these historic beacons.

    Inside the pages of Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses, long-time researcher, writer and promoter of all things Michigan, Dianna Stampfler, shares stories of those who dedicated their lives — and afterlives — to protecting the Great Lakes’ shoreline. Her second book, Death & Lighthouse on the Great Lakes, Stampfler delves into the historic true crime cold case files that have baffled lighthouse lovers for as many as two centuries.

    Throughout the fall season, Stampfler will be speaking at libraries around the state, sharing her lively and upbeat presentation about these lights. Copies of her books will be available for purchase and signing at every program.

    Sun, Oct 9, 2022
    2:00 PM – 3:30 PM    		Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses
    Elk Rapids District Library, Elk Rapids, MI
    Tue, Oct 11, 2022
    6:30 PM – 8:00 PM    		Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses
    Rauchholz Memorial Library, Hemlock, MI
    Wed, Oct 12, 2022
    7:00 PM – 8:30 PM    		Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses
    Northville District Library, Northville, MI
    Wed, Oct 19, 2022
    6:00 PM – 7:30 PM    		Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses
    Reese Unity District Library, Reese, MI
    Thu, Oct 20, 2022
    7:00 PM – 8:30 PM    		Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses
    Otsego District Library, Otsego, MI
    Sun, Oct 23, 2022
    3:00 PM – 4:30 PM    		Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses
    Sanilac County Historic Village & Museum, Port Sanilac, MI
    Wed, Nov 2, 2022
    6:00 PM – 7:30 PM    		Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes
    St. Clair County Library – Main Branch, Port Huron, MI

    For the complete schedule of upcoming events (including other topics beyond lighthouses), visit the Promote Michigan Speaker’s Bureau online.

    About Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses

    Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state, with more than 120 dotting its expansive Great Lakes shoreline. Many of these lighthouses lay claim to haunted happenings. Former keepers like the cigar-smoking Captain Townshend at Seul Choix Point and prankster John Herman at Waugoshance Shoal near Mackinaw City maintain their watch long after death ended their duties. At White River Light Station in Whitehall, Sarah Robinson still keeps a clean and tidy house, and a mysterious young girl at the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse seeks out other children and female companions. Countless spirits remain between Whitefish Point and Point Iroquois in an area well known for its many tragic shipwrecks.

    About Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes

    Losing one’s life while tending to a Great Lakes lighthouse — or any navigational beacon anywhere in the world for that matter — sadly wasn’t such an unusual occurrence. The likelihood of drowning while at sea or becoming injured while on the job ultimately leading to death were somewhat common back in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

    Death by murder, suicide or other unnatural and tragic causes, while rare, are not unheard of. In fact, more than dozen lighthouse keepers around the Great Lakes met their maker at the hands of others – by fire, poisoning, bludgeoning and other unknown means. A handful of these keepers, either because of depression or sheer loneliness, took their own lives. A few we may never know the true story, as the deaths now 100 or more years ago, weren’t subjected to the forensic scrutiny that such crimes are given today.

    In the pages of Death & Lighthouses of the Great Lakes: A History of Misfortune & Murder, you’ll find an amalgamation of true crime details, media coverage and historical research which brings the stories to life…despite the deaths of those featured.

    Stampfler has been professionally writing and broadcasting since high school. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English with emphasis in Community Journalism and Communications with emphasis in radio broadcasting from Western Michigan University. She is a member of the Midwest Travel Journalists Association, Historical Society of Michigan, Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, Great Lakes Maritime Museum, Association for Great Lake Maritime History, Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, Michigan Maritime Museum, Friends of Pilot & Plum Island Lighthouse, National Museum of the Great Lakes and West Michigan Tourist Association.

  • If These Walls Could Talk by Reggie Brooks

    If These Walls Could Talk by Reggie Brooks

            “I wouldn’t have been so open if I had written my book five years ago,” says Reggie Brooks, author of the just released If These Walls Could Talk: Stories from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sideline, Locker Room, and Press Box (Triumph Books 2021, $17.95). “But Covid showed me how important it is to share. There were many people in my life who helped get me to where I am. I also learned that we’re here to serve others and not just ourselves.”

            In many ways his book is a behind the scenes look at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish but for those who groan at the thought of another football book, Brooks wants you to know it’s more than that. He discusses both the highs and lows of his life and career, offering a human look at being a gridiron star as he takes us on his personal journey, often peppering his book with humorous anecdotes. That includes the time he scored a 20-yard touchdown against the University of Michigan in 1993 while unconscious.

            “I didn’t even know I was knocked down,” says Brooks about the incident where, after catching a pass, he was able to break through six Wolverine tackles—the last knocking him out—and still managing to make it across the finish line before falling face first in the end zone.

    “I didn’t really know about the play until I saw it on Sunday during our film session and team meeting,” he says.

            Brooks, a Notre Dame tailback, ended his senior year with  1,372 rushing yards, averaging about 8 yards a carry and scoring 13 touchdowns. He was named an All-American, finished fifth in the voting that year for the Heisman Trophy and was selected in the second round of the 1993 NFL by the Washington Redskins. But after a stellar first year in the league, his career started stalling, in part, he believes by a disagreement he had with the management over the team’s use of his image.

            Welcome to the NFL. For Brooks, it seemed that he had upset the wrong people and paid the price for doing so. But he’s self-aware of how he responded. Feeling as if he were drowning he retreated into himself and didn’t avail himself of the help he was offered.  Brooks’ experiences in the NFL reinforced his realization of how important Notre Dame had been in his life.

            “It allowed me to see more clearly how special my teammates at Notre Dame were and what it meant to be a college football player,” he writes. “It’s the maturity you have to develop and the care for the others—even if you do not consciously think about it.”

            He also saw the power of the Notre Dame network and how it opened doors for him when he was struggling—how the kindness of those he knew there helped him find his way.

            When I ask what impact he hopes his book will have on readers, Brooks responds that he wants to show how his life and Notre Dame intertwined.

            “I also want to get people to realize the value of ‘you’ and what ‘you’ bring to the community,” he says.

            His father was his first coach and taught him the importance of treating others well. The emphasis was not on football as a way make a lot of money (though no one is arguing that isn’t nice) but the impact you can have on others.

            “I still struggle with fandom,” he says. And we laugh about the old saw about never believing in your own press clippings—in other words not letting the hype change who you are.

    “Those who are just starting are as important as the most famous,” he says.

    Married to his college sweetheart, Christina Brooks, the couple have five children. Until recently Reggie Brooks worked for Notre Dame as the university’s Director of Student-Athlete Alumni Relations/Engagement and participated in after game shows. Recently he accepted the position of executive director of Holtz’s Heroes Foundation which precipitated a move from South Bend, Indiana to Prairie View, Texas. But that move was in part participated with his wife getting a job in Fort Worth and it was time, he said, to support her as she had always supported his career and many moves.

    Still there was a sense of loss about leaving. Brooks had followed his brother Tony, who also played football, to the university after high school, played there throughout college and then returned. He loves the school’s values. When I tell him my brother taught accountancy there for 30 years and never ever was pressured to give a break to an athlete, he laughs, saying “You go to class, you do the work, that’s what makes it Notre Dame.”

    He makes sure to complement the university’s accounting program as if wanting to assure me that it’s just as glamorous and important as their fabled football program. It’s just what makes him Reggie Brooks.

    What:  Reggie Brooks book signing

    When: Saturday, October 23 at 12:30pm CT

    Where: Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore, 1 Eck Center on the Notre Dame Campus in South Bend, Indiana

    FYI: 800-647-4641; http://www.bkstr.com/notredamestore

  • George Diamond’s: A Northwest Indiana Classic

    George Diamond’s: A Northwest Indiana Classic

                In 1924, Peter Levant’s opened what was one of Whiting’s famous “perch palaces,” a place that served freshly caught perch right from Lake Michigan. They also advertised such menu items as steak, chicken, and, of course, this being The Region, frog legs—mostly likely from nearby Lake George.

                Indeed, frog legs were so in demand that Vogel’s—which was just down the street and totally classy—raised their own frogs for legs in the lake. But that’s a different story.

                Located at 1247 Calumet Avenue, Levent’s became the home of Juster’s Charcoal Broiled Steaks and then later George Diamond’s. Though my mom liked to cook, my parents were totally into eating out as well and though its been years and years, I remember going with them to George Diamond’s. It was the kind of place where everything was overlarge—the steaks, the salads, the charcoal flames, and even the menus.

                That Diamond (yes, there was a George Diamond) even opened a place in Whiting shows the town’s status as a food destination. Indeed, around that time, there were a lot of great restaurants–and I’m sure I’m leaving a lot of places out–Vogel’s, Phil Smidt’s, Margaret’s Geneva House, Al Knapp’s Restaurant and Lounge, and the Roby Café. But Diamond was international. Besides his flagship restaurant at 630 S. Wabash Avenue in Chicago that was said to have cost over $1 million to renovate in a style I call 1950s swank, all red velvet and red upholstery, he had places in Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Antioch, Illinois on a golf course, and Acapulco, Mexico.

                What I remember most was the house salad dressing which they bottled and sold on the premises. It was so unique that even now it has a cult-like online following with people  searching for the recipe.  It wasn’t Russian and it certainly wasn’t French or at least not the orangish French dressing we buy in bottles now. Diamond’s dressing was an almost translucent reddish pink. And if the recipe I found online is close to the original, it’s main ingredient was tomato soup.

      There’s nothing left of Diamond’s empire today. Diamond died in 1982 at age 80 and the building housing the Wabash Avenue restaurant went up in flames in 2006.  But people still remember that dressing.

    George Diamond’s salad dressing

    • 1 (10-ounce) can condensed tomato soup
    • 2/3 cup oil
    • 1/2 cup each: white vinegar, sugar
    • 1 small onion, peeled and grated
    • 1 clove garlic, peeled and halved
    • 1 tablespoon dry mustard
    • 1/4 teaspoon each: salt, ground black pepper

    Place undiluted soup, oil, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt, pepper, onion and garlic in a blender or food processor fitted with a metal blade. Cover and blend or process on high speed until pureed, about 2 minutes. Serve chilled. Store covered leftovers in refrigerator.

                I’ll be signing copies of my book Classic Restaurants of The Region at Miles Books. 2819 Jewett Avenue in Highland on Saturday, August 21st from 11:30-3pm. For more information, 219-838-8700.

                   Hope to see you there.

  • They Never Learn

    They Never Learn

                  Scarlet Clark, the lead character in Layne Fargo’s newest psychological thriller, They Never Learn, is not your typical English professor. While she takes her studies and students seriously, for 16 years she’s also been on a mission, to eliminate men at Gorman University she considers to be bad guys. By planning carefully and keeping the murder rate down to one a year, she’s managed to avoid discovery. That is until her last killing—the poisoning of a star football player accused of rape—doesn’t go so well.

    She’d posted a suicide note on the guy’s Instagram account, but it turns out you can’t kill a star athlete without some ramifications. Suddenly, the other suicide notes written by Scarlet are under review and her current project—dispatching a lewd department head who also (not all of Scarlet’s killings are devoid of self-interest) is her competitor for a fellowship she desperately wants.  

    Trying to forestall discovery, Scarlet insinuates herself with the police investigation while under pressure to get away with soon with this next kill.

      But it’s even more complex than this, after all it is a Fargo book and the Chicago author who wrote the well-received Temper, likes the complexities and power struggles inherent in relationships.

     In this case, adding to the drama is the transformation of Carly Schiller, a freshman who has escaped an abusive home life and now immerses herself in studies as a way of avoiding life. But when Allison, her self-assured roommate, is sexually assaulted at a party, Carly dreams of revenge.

    Fargo, Vice President of the Chicagoland chapter of Sisters in Crime, and the cocreator of the podcast Unlikeable Female Characters, has a little bad girl in her too.

    “I love the sinister title of They Never Learn,” she says, adding that this, her second thriller, has everything she loves in a book—sexy women, Shakespeare references and stabbing men who deserve it.

    She was enraged at what she saw as the injustice of the appointment of a man accused of rape into a high position.

     “I channeled that all-consuming anger into a story where men like that are stripped of their power, where they get exactly what they deserve,” she says.

    It’s a timely topic and Fargo is excited that PatMa Productions optioned the TV rights for her book, and she’ll be writing the pilot. 

    That’s a form of sweet revenge.

    Layne Fargo Virtual Book Events

    When: Thursday, October 22; 6 to 7:30 p.m. CT

    What: Layne Fargo in conversation with Allison Dickson, author of The Other Mrs. Miller, to celebrate the release of her new novel, They Never Learn.

    This event is hosted by Gramercy Books in Columbus, Ohio, and will be livestreamed on their Facebook page, with participants able to ask questions of both authors in the latter portion of the program.

    For more information and to stream: https://www.facebook.com/GramercyBooksBexley/events/?ref=page_internal

    When: Sunday, October 25, 1 p.m. EST

    What: Fiction: Witches and Other Bad Heroines by Boston Book Festival

    To register: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/bad-heroines/register

  • Old School Love and Why It Works

    Old School Love and Why It Works

                  A Hip Hop artist, even one who whose group has sold millions of records globally and was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, isn’t the person we typically turn to when needing relationship advice.

                  That is, until, you pick up a copy of Old School Love and Why It Works (Dey St. 2020; $26.99) by Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons and his wife, Justine Simmons, long admired by friends for the longevity of their 30 year marriage.  

                  “We’ve had hard times, but we have resilience and we always knew we wanted to be together,” says Rev, front man of Run-DMC.

                  “Now people come up to us, people who see us on TV or follow us on Instagram,” says Justine about their reality shows—Run’s House, All About the Washingtons and Rev Run’s Sunday Suppers. “They ask us for advice or say we should write a book about how we make our marriage work.”

                  You can’t have a marriage without a love story, so let’s start with theirs. They met when Rev Run was just Joey but, still at the age of 15, an up and coming musician. He met Justine when performing at a roller rink. She was 14 but a vision in blue as he remembers. They went out, they liked each other, he wrote her a letter saying, “I will marry you one day.” But though they both lived in New York, the physical distance eventually worked against them. They parted. Joey became Rev Run, front man for the first rap group to earn a Grammy Lifetime Achievement honor. He was on top—fame, gold and platinum records, millions of fans, long days and crazy nights as he recalls. For some that would be all you’d ever need.

    But there must have been something missing because years later when his cousin asked him if he remembered a girl named Justine, Rev Run asked him to get her number. He called and just like that the relationship was on again.

      So what makes a marriage last, I ask Rev and he refers me to the chapter he wrote about that very subject. It’s simple but it all makes sense. “If you want to go partying and clubbing and carousing and drinking, here’s a better piece of advice: Do. Not. Get. Married.” Instead just stay single.

                  He has more to say.

                  “Be selfless, not selfish,” he tells me. “Pay attention, listen to what your spouse is saying, don’t let it be in the background. “If I can see she really wants something or if she doesn’t see my point of view, then I back up.  One of the biggest takeaways I want for this book is that it’s important to listen to the whispers to avoid the screams later.”

                  Takeaways are a big component of their book. Each of the chapters, written alternately by Rev and Justine end with a page of “Takeaways” or their advice on nourishing relationships. 

                  Here’s a big one from Justine.

                  “Both my parents were divorced and remarried,” she says. “If you have children and go into another relationship, make sure that they love your kids like they love you. And make sure you love their kids. If not, then don’t marry that person for your own selfish reasons because your child or their children will suffer.”

                  Luckily, when Justine met Rev she loved his three daughters. When the two adopted after the death of their infant daughter, they all blended into one family. Parenting became so important that the couple wrote Take Back Your Parenting: A Challenge to America’s Parents about how to make it all work.

                  Which brings us to this. Both Rev and Justine, who are a deacon and deaconess, want to help guide others—whether it’s in parenting or love. Helping is what they are all about.

                  One last thought. The letter 15-year-old Rev wrote the note pledging to marry Justine one day—well, she saved it and when they reconnected, she gave it to him.

    What: Rev Run and Justine Simmons presentation, Q&A and book signing event.  Old School Love and Why It Works

    When: Friday, January 31, 7- 9 pm

    Where: Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville, IL

    Cost: Each ticket includes a copy of the book and admits one or two people. You will receive your book when you arrive at the event. They will not be available for pick up before that time. Rev Run and Justine will be signing each attendees book and posing for photographs after their presentation.

    fyi: For more information and to purchase tickets, 630-355-2665; andersonsbookshop.com