Category Archives: Book Talk

Book Talk, Upcoming Titles

Heather Cox Richardson Has a New Book Coming Out

2 Comments

Heather Cox Richardson is an amazing writer and she has just announced her new book Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America. The book is due in stores sometime in September 26, 2023. Here is the cover (I love the sunrise glow coming up from the bottom):

Heather Cox Democracy Awakening
ISBN 9780593652961

I first stumbled upon Heather Cox Richardson’s writing back in 2020 when I read How the South Won the Civil War. Which I found fascinating. Her premise is insightful, the research was well done and the writing even better. It was the kind of book that makes you see the impact of historical decisions playing out in the day-today news and happenings all around you. It’s also the kind of book that leaves you with questions as you may not see eye-to-eye with her, but man is the conversation worth having. There is no downside to reading whatever Heather Cox Heather Cox Richardson writes.

Which is why I signed up for her newsletter, back in 2020, just after reading that book. Turns out most folks know her through her newsletter and online writing and discover her books later. Who knew?

Her new book Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America is just 250 pages broken into 30 chapters. As she tells it: “…it tries to explain how we got to this political moment…and how we get out.” Sounds like another worthwhile and thoughtful read – whether you agree with her or not.

Alabama, Authors, Book Talk, Events

Alabama Writers Hall of Fame – Class of 2023

Leave a comment

The Alabama Writers Hall of Fame will induct its 2023 class during a march 10th dinner in Tuscaloosa. Tickets start at $150 per plate if you’re eating. The occasion begins at 6 p.m. with cocktails and dinner at 7 p.m.

Founded in 2014, the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame is the highest honor an Alabama author can receive from the state. The 2023 inductees are Tom Franklin, Trudier Harris, Angela Johnson, Howell Raines, Michelle Richmond, and Daniel Wallace (Daniel Wallace has a very good book coming out in April that I mentioned in a previous post). 

Authors Eugene Walter and Kathryn Tucker Windham will be inducted posthumously.

Billed as a ‘gala event,’ this year’s proceedings will be overseen by Harper Lee Award winner Carolyn Haines. The dinner features food and cocktails by Eugene Walter, who was famous for hosting parties with Truman Capote way back when.

Alabama Writers Hall of Fame images
Official promotion image created by the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame

This is the first in-person gathering held by the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame since before the pandemic.

During that event, they inducted seven Alabama authors. The 2020 class included Mark Childress, Faye Gibbons, Carolyn Haines, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, and Michael Knight, with authors Ralph Ellison and Zelda Fitzgerald being inducted posthumously.

Here is a list of all the past Alabama Writers Hall of Fame inductees:

The 2018 Inductee List

  • Joseph Glover Baldwin
  • William Bradford Huie
  • Shirley Ann Grau
  • Gay Talese
  • Wayne Greenhaw
  • Charles Gaines
  • James Haskins
  • Winston Groom

The 2016 Inductee List

  • E. O. Wilson
  • Fannie Flagg
  • Rodney Jones
  • Rebecca Gilman
  • Truman Capote
  • T.S. Stribling
  • Margaret Walker
  • Mary Ward Brown
  • Sequoyah

The 2015 Inductee List

  • Rick Bragg
  • Andrew Glaze
  • Johnson Jones Hooper
  • Zora Neale Hurston
  • Helen Keller
  • Harper Lee
  • William March
  • Albert Murray
  • Sena Jeter Naslund
  • Helen Norris Bell
  • Sonia Sanchez
  • Augusta Jane Evans Wilson

I assume that no one was inducted in 2021 and 2022 due to the pandemic, which is perfectly understandable. I have looked and looked, and I can not find a mention of why there were no Alabama Writers Hall of Fame classes for the years 2017 and 2019. If you know why that is, chime in and let a curious book blogger know.

Book Talk, On the TV

SILO, based on Hugh Howey’s WOOL, is coming to AppleTV+

1 Comment

Hugh Howey’s SILO book series is coming to AppleTV+, and the first teaser trailer dropped today. Anyone can watch the teaser trailer below:

Howey became one of the first hugely successful self-published authors when he took his debut story Wool, which he wrote while working as a bookstore clerk and first published by a small press in 2011. He then independently published each chapter on Amazon’s Kindle platform. Things took off from there. After Wool grew into a novel, it became a trilogy that spawned Howey’s meteoric career.

silo tv show movie poster

Wool takes place during a post-apocalyptic period on Earth. What’s left of the human race is living in a Silo that stretches 144 levels underground. Eventually, the main characters discover the truth of their situation and unravel the hidden secrets proving just how far some people will go to stay in control.

I always look forward to Hugh Howey’s writing, and while the SILO trilogy gets all of the press, his other stories are also fun. His books and stories scratch the same itch as John Scazli’s books.

I read Sand a few years ago. While it was fast-paced and imaginative, it did not have the same depth as the Wool trilogy. So I am glad that Wool is the first of Howey’s series headed to the small screen. Though, I still have Across the Sand about halfway down my ‘to be read’ pile and look forward to reading it.

I thought AppleTV+ did an excellent job with their new Foundation series based on Isaac Asimov’s book series. The visuals and production quality were amazing. I’m not a purist, which is probably why I liked it as much as I did. Not being a purist will likely serve me well, too, with the SILO series. 

silo is based on the wool books
The box set covers designed by Heads of State. Beacon 23 design by Hugh Howey. Half Way Holme cover designed by Carly Miller. Across the Sand cover art by M.S. Corely.

Rereading is something that I have never been very big on. There are just too many good books and fresh ideas to take in. I did enjoy my Asimov reread for the Foundation series, so I may have to go back and pick up the books and spend some more time with Holston, Juilette, and the world’s last human survivors as they try and make a life down in the silo.

Authors, Book Talk, Upcoming Titles

More Terry Pratchett Stories Have Been Found

Leave a comment

I love stories like this one. In the 1970s and 1980s, Terry Pratchett wrote under a different name. Now someone has connected the dots, and 20 of his “lost to time” stories are being brought back and published in a new book.

Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett from WikiPedia

The publisher is Pratchett’s longtime publisher Transworld, though none of these stories are set in Pratchett’s well-loved Discworld universe. It sounds like the new book is titled A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories.

Pratchett died in 2015, and it’s exciting to think about new-to-us stories being released.

Pratchett’s career spanned decades. Officially he was Sir Terry Pratchett, and he penned more than 41 novels, plus short stories, plus articles, plus essays… the man was prolific.

According to The Guardian story, the twenty-story collection will be released on October 5th. They have some tidbits to share about what kinds of stories have been found. You’ll have to click through to that news story to read about those.

Terry Pratchett cover
This is not the final cover design.

My favorite part of this whole saga is that it was fans that did the digging and connected all the dots to find these once-published-but-lost stories.

And since these stories have technically been published before – they’re “free game” and not covered by Pratchett’s wishes that “no unpublished works be released after his death.” A final wish that his assistant carried out by running a steam roller over Pratchett’s hard drives.

This whole discovery is undoubtedly one for the Sir Terry Pratchett fans. Here is hoping the novelist’s early short stories are as interesting as his longer speculative writings!

You can pre-order Terry Pratchett’s new book here.