Mark Guerin Debut Novel Book Launch- YOU CAN SEE MORE FROM UP HERE at Porter Square Books

“In this novel, author Guerin beautifully captures the powerful contradictions of the relationship between father and son, which combines elements of friendship and antagonism. The author only gradually discloses Walker’s epiphanies about his dad, which not only transform the protagonist’s personal opinion of him, but also the future arc of his own life. The prose is confident and confessional throughout, and Guerin draws the reader into the compelling story by having Walker unflinchingly reveal his sense of disappointment in himself. Like the journalist he is, Walker clamors for the truth, whether it’s consoling or not. A poignantly told story of ruminative remembrance.”– Kirkus Reviews

In 2004, when middle-aged Walker Maguire is called to the deathbed of his estranged father, his thoughts return to 1974. He’d worked that summer at the auto factory where his dad, an unhappily retired Air Force colonel, was employed as plant physician. Witness to a bloody fight falsely blamed on a Mexican immigrant, Walker kept quiet, fearing his white co-workers and tyrannical father. His secret snowballs into lies, betrayals and eventually the disappearance of the Mexican’s family, leading to a life-long rift between father and son that can only be mended by bringing 1974 back to life in 2004 to reveals its long-hidden truths.

Mark Guerin is a 2014 graduate of Grub Street’s Novel Incubator program in Boston. He also has an MFA from Brandeis University and is a winner of an Illinois Arts Council Grant, the Mimi Steinberg Award for Playwriting and Sigma Tau Delta’s Eleanor B. North Poetry Award. A contributor to the novelist’s blog, Dead Darlings, he is also a playwright, copywriter and journalist. He currently resides in Harpswell, Maine, with his wife, Carol, and two Brittany Spaniels. YOU CAN SEE MORE FROM UP HERE will be his first published novel.

Belle Brett reads from GINA IN THE FLOATING WORLD at Blemont Books

Many novelists begin with their own life experiences or familiar settings, but in the course of revising, greatly transform their stories. Belle Brett will read from, discuss, take questions about, and discuss the evolution of her novel, Gina in the Floating World (She Writes Press), which was inspired by her own experiences as a bar hostess in Tokyo in the 1970s.

Fantastic Fiction Reading with Speculative Boston

Speculative Boston is a free quarterly reading series for science fiction, fantasy, and horror of all kinds. Join us at Trident Books & Cafe in Boston, when our guests will be the YA novelist Lyra Selene, and fantasy writers N.S. Dolkart and Elaine Isaak (writing as E.C. Ambrose). The night includes short readings, a lively discussion and Q&A, and plenty of time for signing books and hanging out.

Lyra Selene was born under a full moon and has never quite managed to wipe the moonlight out of her eyes. When she isn’t dreaming up fantastical cities and brooding landscapes, Lyra enjoys hiking, rainstorms, autumn, and pretending she’s any good at painting. She lives in New England with her husband, in an antique farmhouse that’s probably not haunted. Amber & Dusk is her debut novel.

N.S. Dolkart is the author of the Godserfs trilogy of theological epic fantasy novels, beginning with 2016’s Silent Hall and concluding with this past October’s A Breach In The Heavens. In non-writing life, he has taught dementia care and Israeli folk dancing (but not at the same time), sung as Darth Vader in an opera, and sired two children who will one day enslave all the nations of the earth as foretold by prophecy. His website is nsdolkart.wordpress.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @N_S_Dolkart.

Elaine Isaak is the author of The Singer’s Crown and its sequels. As E. C. Ambrose, she wrote The Dark Apostle historical fantasy series about medieval surgery, which concluded in 2018 with book 5, Elisha Daemon, and as E. Chris Ambrose, the Bone Guard international thrillers. Elaine has written how-to articles for the Writer Magazine, and non-fiction at Clarkesworld, and taught at the Odyssey Speculative Fiction Workshop. An art school drop-out, Elaine continues to create wearable art and sculpture. Elaine also works as part-time adventure guide. Under any name, you still do NOT want to be her hero.

New Voices in Fiction: SOPHIE CHEN KELLER and “The Luster of Lost Things”

Harvard Book Store and GrubStreet welcome debut author SOPHIE CHEN KELLER for a discussion of her book, The Luster of Lost Things: A Novel—a fable-like tale in which a boy with an uncanny ability to find lost objects must embark on his most important search yet.

There’s only one place in the world that lonely twelve-year-old Walter Lavender, Jr. feels at home: The Lavenders, his mother’s unusual West Village dessert shop where meringues scud through displays like clouds, marzipan dragons breathe actual fire, and the airy angel food cake makes customers pounds lighter.  When the mysterious and magical Book at the heart of the shop vanishes and a landlord threatens closure, it’s up to Walter to find the Book and save the shop. Despite—or because of—a communication disorder that renders him speechless and friendless, Walter has a special ability to find lost things.

This event is part of the New Voices in Fiction event series presented jointly by GrubStreet and Harvard Book Store.

This book will be for sale at the event for 20% off.  There will also be a signing after the event.

No tickets required for entry.

Ghost of the Innocent Man, a true story by BENJAMIN RACHLIN

Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome local author BENJAMIN RACHLIN for a discussion of his debut book, Ghost of the Innocent Man: A True Story of Trial and Redemption.

During the last two decades, more than two thousand American citizens have been wrongfully convicted. Ghost of the Innocent Man brings us one of the most dramatic of those cases and provides the clearest picture yet of the national scourge of wrongful conviction and of the opportunity for meaningful reform.

This event is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities.

This book will be for sale at the event for 20% off.  There will also be a signing after the event.

No tickets required for entry.