‘Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow’ by Christina Henry will be released on Tuesday, September 28, 2021. Photo: amazon
Christina Henry is a horror and dark fantasy author whose works include “Near the Bone,” “The Ghost Tree,” “Looking Glass,” “The Girl in Red,” “The Mermaid,” “Lost Boy,” “Alice,” “Red Queen,” and the seven-book urban fantasy Black Wings series. Her new book, “Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow,” is an atmospheric, terrifying novel that strongly draws from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” spinning an engaging and frightening new story from a classic tale. It is set for release on September 28, 2021. (amazon, 2021)
“Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow” – Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt’s grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it was said the Horseman chased the upstart Crane out of town. Brom says that’s just legend, the village gossips talking.
Twenty years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play “Sleepy Hollow boys,” reenacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the sinister discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow have ever said. Could the Horseman be real after all? Or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?
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‘Hidden Salem’ is Kay Hooper’s new book. Photo: amazon
Kay Hooper is the award-winning author of “Sleeping with Fear,” “Stealing Shadows,” and more than ten other novels of suspense and intrigue along with dozens of other books. Her first book “The Lady Thief” was published in 1981 and since then she has published over 70 books. She made The New York Times Best Sellers List in 2000 with “Stealing Shadows” and was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best Original P.I. Paperback for “House of Cards,” part of The Bishop Series. Her new book “Hidden Salem” (Bishop/Special Crimes Unit) is about a town shrouded in the occult and an evil that lurks in the dark. (amazon, 2021)
“Hidden Salem” – Nellie Cavendish has good reasons to seek out her roots. Not only because she has no memory of her mother but she hardly knew the father who left her upbringing to paid caregivers. In the eight years since her twenty-first birthday, very odd things have begun to happen. Crows gather near her wherever she goes, electronics short out when she touches them, and when she is upset, really upset, it storms. At first, she chalked up the unusual happenings to coincidence, but that explanation does not begin to cover the vivid nightmares that torment her. She can no longer pretend to ignore them. She has to find out the truth. And the only starting point she has is a mysterious letter from her father delivered ten years after his death, insisting she go to a town called Salem and risk her life to stop some unnamed evil. Before her thirtieth birthday.
As a longtime member of the FBI’s Special Crimes Unit, Grayson Sheridan has learned not to be surprised by the unusual and the macabre–but Salem is different. Evidence of Satanic activities and the disappearance of three strangers are what brought Salem to the attention of the SCU, and when Gray arrives to find his undercover partner vanished, he knows that whatever is hiding in the seemingly peaceful little town is deadly. But what actually hides in the shadows and secrets of Salem is unlike anything the agents have ever encountered.
‘Chasing the Boogeyman: A Novel’ by Richard Chizmar will be released August 17, 2021. Photo: amazon
Richard Chizmar is the author of “Gwendy’s Button Box” (with Stephen King) and “A Long December,” which was nominated for numerous awards. His fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and multiple editions of The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA’s Board of Trustee’s award. His third short story collection, “A Long December,” was recently published to starred reviews in both Kirkus and Booklist, and was featured in Entertainment Weekly. Chizmar’s work has been translated into many languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, guest speaker, panelist, and guest of honor. In his new book “Chasing the Boogeyman: A Novel,” due out August 17, recent college graduate Richard Chizmar goes against a serial killer who may not be entirely human. It is available for pre-order on amazon. (amazon, 2021)
“Chasing the Boogeyman: A Novel” – In the summer of 1988, the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town. The grisly evidence leads police to the terrifying assumption that a serial killer is on the loose in the quiet suburb. But soon a rumor begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human. Law enforcement, as well as members of the FBI are certain that the killer is a living, breathing madman—and he is playing games with them. For a once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and suspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end.
Recent college graduate Richard Chizmar returns to his hometown just as a curfew is enacted and a neighborhood watch is formed. In the midst of preparing for his wedding and embarking on a writing career, he soon finds himself thrust into the real-life horror story. Inspired by the terrifying events, Richard writes a personal account of the serial killer’s reign of terror, unaware that these events will continue to haunt him for years to come. A clever, terrifying, and heartrending work of metafiction, Chasing the Boogeyman is the ultimate marriage between horror fiction and true crime.
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The Beach-Bound Book Bash is set for Saturday, June 12, 2021. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
The Beach-Bound Book Bash, the annual literary tea and author reading, is back. The event will happen virtually on Saturday June 12, from 3p.m. to 4:30p.m. PT / 6p.m. to 7:30p.m. ET. Presented by Books That Make You and Black Château Enterprises, The Beach-Bound Book Bash is an opportunity for booklovers to discover their next favorite author and new reads for the summer. The event features live book readings presented virtually to booklovers around the world, as well as prizes, networking, and lots of bookish fun. (Black Château, 2021)
The Beach Bound Book Bash 2021 is hosted by LaFern Cusack, host of The Experience on 710-AM ESPN Radio Los Angeles, and by Desireé Duffy, founder of Black Château Enterprises, The BookFest®, and Books That Make You.
Attendees can enter the huge Beach-Bound Book Bash Giveaway featuring a whole sack of books and summer goodies including a Kate Spade Tote, a Gathre vegan leather mat, a beach towel, floppy hat, and sunglasses—valued at $300. Winner announced at the end of the event.
To take part in the Beach-Bound Book Bash, get updates, and connect with other passionate readers, join the Beach-Bound Book Bash Facebook Group. The Beach-Bound Book Bash 2021 will be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube. Use hashtags #BBBB ad #BBBB2021.
The line-up of readers include:
T.L. Bequette, a criminal defense attorney in Oakland, California, turned writer. “Good Lookin’” is his debut novel and weaves his expertise from the courtroom into the pages of a thrilling mystery.
George Galdorisi, a career naval aviator and a multiple award-winning and The New York Times bestselling author. He wrote fifteen books, including the acclaimed Rick Holden thriller series.
Leah Guy, aka the Modern Sage, a new thought leader and expert in emotional healing and personal development. She has written three books, the latest being ”Overcoming Toxic Emotions, A Practical Guide to Building Better Relationships with Yourself and Others.”
Gerald Everett Jones, multiple award-winning author of literary fiction and mystery novels. Compared to literary giants such as Roth and Vonnegut, he releases his latest book, “Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner,” on June 29, 2021.
Seven Joseph, an attorney, negotiator, speaker, and award-winning author of “The Last Surviving Dinosaur: The TyrantoCrankaTsuris” and “The Crankatsuris Method: A Grownup Guide to Effective Crankiness.”
Debbie Monteggia, an interior designer turned writer on mission to inspire other people through her poems. “Tears of Change” is her debut poetry book.
Gabrielle Alexa Noel, a bisexual creator, columnist, software developer, and author of “How To Live With The Internet And Not Let It Run Your Life.” Her content is sex-positive and positively highlights marginalized communities.
Scott Ryan, an author, publisher, and television historian who captures the truth of what really happened. His latest book, “Moonlighting: An Oral History” is the never-before-told inside story behind the making of the pioneering TV series.
Edgar Scott, an economist-turned computer scientist and author of the near-future dystopian science fiction, ”418: I Am a Teapot.”
Flo Selfman, an in-demand copyeditor-proofreader for award-winning books, a contributing author to Media Magnetism and Office for One. She is currently working on a memoir.
Laila Tarraf, a senior human resource executive and the author of “Strong Like Water: How I Found the Courage to Lead with Love in Business and in Life,” a book that offers insights and inspiration for finding a natural balance and leading as a whole person.
Laura Tohe, a poet, writer, librettist, scholar of Indigenous American Literature, and Navajo Nation Poet Laureate. Her work was published in multiple languages and includes ”Code Talker Stories,” an oral history book with the remaining Navajo Code Talkers.
Sara Winokur, a geneticist and researcher turned author. Her award-winning mystery novel, “Double Blind: The Icelandic Manuscript Murders,” dives deep into the culture, history, and gorgeous landscapes of the Land of Fire and Ice.
Black Château is an award-winning marketing and public relations agency located in Southern California. It specializes in promoting authors, books, small press, personality brands, and creative individuals from around the world with a full-spectrum of services. The company’s motto is: We believe in storytellers. Black Château’s sister company, Books That Make You, is a multi-media brand that promotes books through its website, radio show/podcast, and magazine features.
The 26th annual Texas Book Festival in October will consist of virtual events and in-person activities. Photo: Texas Book Festival, used with permission.
Texas Book Festival is excited to announce that the 26th annual Texas Book Festival will take place October 25 through October 31 as a hybrid event. Starting Monday, October 25, virtual sessions will lead up to the Festival Weekend on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol and along Congress Avenue in downtown Austin. The Festival will include a diverse lineup of established, emerging, and debut literary talent of all ages. (Texas Book Festival, 2021)
The 2020 all Virtual Festival featured more than 175 authors, illustrators, poets, journalists, artists, and thought leaders including Matthew McConaughey, Dean Koontz, and Erin Brockovich. The annual First Edition Literary Gala was held virtually and raised more than $600,000 to fund all the nonprofit organization’s literary and literacy programs.
In 2021, book enthusiasts can look forward to the return of everything they love about the Texas Book Festival, including a terrific author lineup, timely and thoughtful panel topics, food trucks, a Saturday evening Lit Crawl, and more.
The 2021 Texas Teen Book Festival will also take place during the hybrid Festival, featuring conversations with acclaimed Young Adult authors. The annual First Edition Literary Gala will take place Friday, October 29 as an in-person celebration featuring some of literature’s brightest stars and storytellers, with indoor and outdoor seating options. Guests can attend sessions in the outdoor tents and are welcome to visit the in-person and virtual Exhibitor Marketplace, which features book publishers big and small, university presses, booksellers, independent authors, and a wide variety of items for the literary shopper.
With a vision to inspire Texans of all ages, the Texas Book Festival connects authors and readers through experiences that celebrate the culture of literacy, ideas, and imagination. Founded in 1995 by former First Lady Laura Bush, Mary Margaret Farabee, and a group of volunteers, the nonprofit Texas Book Festival promotes the joys of reading and writing through its annual Festival Weekend, the Texas Teen Book Festival, the Reading Rock Stars Title I elementary school program, the Real Reads Title I middle and high school program, grants to Texas libraries, and year-round literary programming. This year’s hybrid Texas Book Festival will take place from October 25 through October 31, with virtual events October 25 – 28 and the Festival Weekend taking place on the grounds of the Texas Capitol October 30 – 31, featuring renowned authors, panels, book signings, and children’s activities. Thanks to generous donors, sponsors, and volunteers, the Festival remains free and open to the public.
“Festival-goers have shared with us how eager they are to see us return downtown, safety permitting. And now, encouraged by growing vaccination numbers and only after many conversations with authors, publishers, attendees, partners, other event organizations, and the City of Austin, we’re eager as well. We’ll never abandon what we learned about virtual, though—readers told us they enjoyed that too. Stepping into the hybrid space provides everyone the opportunity to participate in a big, vibrant, diverse Festival program, virtually or in-person.” – Literary Director Matthew Patin.
Stephen King’s ‘Lisey’s Story’ has been adapted into a horror drama miniseries for Apple TV+. Photo: amazon
Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes “If It Bleeds,” “The Institute,” “Elevation,” “The Outsider,” “Sleeping Beauties” (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: “End of Watch,” “Finders Keepers,” and “Mr. Mercedes” (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel “11/22/63” was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. His 2016 novel “Lisey’s Story” is about Lisey Landon, the widow of a famous and wildly successful novelist, Scott Landon and consists of two stories-Lisey’s in the present, and that of her dead husband’s life, as remembered by Lisey. It has been adapted into a miniseries scheduled to premiere on Apple TV+ on Friday June 4, 2021. It stars Julianne Moore as Lisey Landon and Clive Owen as Scott Landon. (amazon, 2021)
Lisey lost her husband Scott two years ago, after a twenty-five year marriage of profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and an extremely complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey knew there was a place Scott went—a place that both terrified and healed him, could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it is Lisey’s turn to face Scott’s demons, to go to that terrifying place known as Boo’ya Moon. What begins as a widow’s effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. Lisey has a hard time keeping herself grounded in this world, often finding that she slips back to Boo’ya Moon in her sleep and sometimes while awake.
The adaptation of ‘The Underground Railroad’ is now available on Amazon Prime Video. Photo: amazon
Colson Whitehead is the author eight novels and two works on non-fiction, including “The Underground Railroad,” which received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Carnegie Medal, the Heartland Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Hurston-Wright Award, and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Whitehead’s “The Nickel Boys” received the Pulitzer Prize, The Kirkus Prize, and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. He is a recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a MacArthur Fellowship. “The Underground Railroad” has been adapted into a TV series for Amazon by Barry Jenkins and is now available for viewing on Amazon Prime Video. It chronicles a young slave’s adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South and stars Thuso Mbedu and Aaron Pierre. (amazon, 2021)
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is on the cusp of womanhood—where greater pain awaits. And so when Caesar, a slave who has recently arrived from Virginia, urges her to join him on the Underground Railroad, she seizes the opportunity and escapes with him.
In Colson Whitehead’s novel, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor: engineers and conductors operate a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora embarks on a harrowing flight from one state to the next, encountering, like Gulliver, strange yet familiar iterations of her own world at each stop. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the terrors of the antebellum era, he weaves in the saga of our nation, from the brutal abduction of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is both the gripping tale of one woman’s will to escape the horrors of bondage—and a powerful meditation on the history we all share.
It is a fictional “alternative reality” story of people attempting an escape from slavery in the southern United States in the 1800s. In reality, “The Underground Railroad” was a network of abolitionists, hidden routes, and safe houses that helped enslaved African-Americans escape to freedom in the early to mid-1800s. In the novel and the series, it is an actual railroad complete with engineers, conductors, tracks, and tunnels.
Photo: google
First impression: There are a total of ten episodes, all released on May 14, 2021. After watching the first, I doubt I will watch the rest of the series. I love historical dramas, but this one has too much graphic violence for me. I have not read the book, so my opinion is based solely on the first episode of the television series. While I understand the director/producer wanted to make the African American slavery experience as real as possible on screen, for me the whipping and burning alive scenes of a slave who attempted escape were too graphic. These topics are not new to me, I have read and watched other films about them, but I think I will skip this one. If the use of gratuitous violence does not bother you, this is an interesting series on the subject of slavery.
‘Jesus Christ Movie Star’ by Phil Hall will be released on Monday, June 7, 2021. Photo: amazon
Phil Hall is the author of the critically acclaimed books “The History of Independent Cinema” and “In Search of Lost Films” and host of the award-winning podcast The Online Movie Show. BearManor Media is proud to present “Jesus Christ Movie Star,” the new book by the award-winning film historian and podcaster Phil Hall. The 176-page illustrated book will be available beginning on June 7 in a $22.00 paperback edition and a $32.00 hardcover edition. (CW-PR, 2021)
In “Jesus Christ Movie Star,” Phil Hall takes the reader on the most extraordinary odyssey in cinematic studies by tracing how filmmakers from across the years and around the world have sought to fill theaters with the story of Jesus. Beloved classics and bizarre curios are part of this memorable journey as the “light of the world” brings illumination through the lens of a movie projector. The life of Jesus Christ has challenged and inspired filmmakers from the pioneering works of the late 1890s through today’s digital cinema. No other life story has been the subject of so many films, with so many wildly different interpretations. The big screen Jesus has traveled through multimillion dollar epics and microbudget underground films, recreating the miracles of the Gospels while also advocating for modern political issues. Moviegoers have seen Jesus walk on water and conquer death, and also break into show tunes and play straight man to a zany Bette Midler. Films about Jesus have inspired a diverse range of controversies, ranging from a groundbreaking copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Thomas Edison to an intellectual scandal that rocked the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair to accusations of anti-Semitism against Mel Gibson’s distinctive interpretation of the New Testament.
“Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service’ is Carol Leonnig’s new book, out May 18, 2021. Photo: amazon
Carol Leonnig is a national investigative reporter at The Washington Post, where she has worked since 2000. A three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and co-author of the #1 The New York Times bestseller “A Very Stable Genius,” Leonnig is also an on-air contributor to NBC News and MSNBC. Her new book “Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service” is the first and definitive account of the rise and fall of the Secret Service, from the Kennedy assassination to the alarming mismanagement of the Obama and Trump years, right up to the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6. It will be released on Tuesday, May 18, 2021. (amazon, 2021)
Carol Leonnig has been reporting on the Secret Service for The Washington Post for most of the last decade, bringing to light the secrets, scandals, and shortcomings that plague the agency today—from a toxic work culture to dangerously outdated equipment to the deep resentment within the ranks at key agency leaders, who put protecting the agency’s once-hallowed image before fixing its flaws. But the Secret Service was not always so troubled.
The Secret Service was born in 1865, in the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but its story begins in earnest in 1963, with the death of John F. Kennedy. Shocked into reform by its failure to protect the president on that fateful day in Dallas, this once-sleepy agency was radically transformed into an elite, highly trained unit that would redeem itself several times, most famously in 1981 by thwarting an assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan. But this reputation for courage and excellence would not last forever. By Barack Obama’s presidency, the once-proud Secret Service was running on fumes and beset by mistakes and alarming lapses in judgment: break-ins at the White House, an armed gunman firing into the windows of the residence while confused agents stood by, and a massive prostitution scandal among agents in Cartagena, to name just a few. With Donald Trump’s arrival, a series of promised reforms were cast aside, as a president disdainful of public service instead abused the Secret Service to rack up political and personal gains.
To explore these problems in the ranks, Leonnig interviewed dozens of current and former agents, government officials, and whistleblowers who put their jobs on the line to speak out about a hobbled agency that is in desperate need of reform. “I will be forever grateful to them for risking their careers,” she writes, “not because they wanted to share tantalizing gossip about presidents and their families, but because they know that the Service is broken and needs fixing. By telling their story, they hope to revive the Service they love.”
‘The Plot’ is Jean Hanff Korelitz’ exciting new novel. Photo: amazon
Jean Hanff Korelitz is the author of the novels “You Should Have Known Better” (adapted for HBO as “The Undoing” by David E. Kelley, and starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant and Donald Sutherland), “Admission” (adapted as the 2013 film starring Tina Fey), “The Devil and Webster,” “The White Rose,” “The Sabbath River,” and “A Jury of Her Peers.” Korelitz is the founder of BOOKTHEWRITER, a New York City based service that “Pop-Up Book Groups” where readers can discuss books with their authors. Her new novel, “The Plot” is a propulsive read about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it and was just released this week. (amazon, 2021)
In “The Plot,” Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he is teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what is left of his self-respect; he has not written―let alone published―anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he does not need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then he hears the plot.
Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that―a story that absolutely needs to be told.
In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first barrage in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says. As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing” of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?
SA Examiner 