Long Way Home by Laura Caldwell – Bookstore Review

Oct 062010

Long Way Home: A Young Man Lost in the System and the Two Women Who Found Him by Laura Caldwell
Published by Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

Back when Margie and Sue, my fabulous bookseller friends, were helping me to plan this month devoted to Chicago Authors, we came across an upcoming nonfiction book by novelist Laura Caldwell. It turns out, Caldwell founded the “Life After Innocence” project after representing a young man named Jovan Mosely who was, as I understand it, coerced into a false confession, after which he went six years without his case being brought to trial. This first work of nonfiction, “Long Way Home” is Caldwell’s account of this case and how it changed both Mosely’s life and her own.

Margie and I both wanted to read this, but since she’s the lawyer, we agreed that she would be a better reviewer for it. I think this was a good choice, because she wrote a fabulous review of it earlier this week, which I highly encourage you to check out. Go ahead, I’ll wait:

http://justthebookstore.blogspot.com/2010/10/chicago-author-month-long-way-home-by.html

Fascinating, yes?

I read just the first and last few pages of “Long Way Home” before passing it off to Margie, but I could already tell it was going to be an extremely interesting book. After reading Margie’s review, I’m really hoping I can snag it back from her soon!

In addition to this work of nonfiction, Laura Caldwell had previously written women’s fiction before turning to the mystery/thriller genre.

4866515992 41b02a5de1 m picture

Laura Caldwell’s website

Other Books by Laura Caldwell:

“Red, White and Dead”
“Red Blooded Murder”
“Red Hot Lies”
“The Good Liar”
“The Rome Affair”
“The Night I Got Lucky”
“Look Closely”
“The Year of Living Famously”
“A Clean Slate”
“Burning the Map”

What’s In A Blog? – Guest Post by Libby Hellmann, Author and Founder of “The Outfit”

Oct 052010

I am pleased today to welcome Libby Fischer Hellmann, founder of the group blog: The Outfit: A Collective of Chicago Crime Writers, as well as an award-winning writer of crime fiction and thrillers. Two of her novels, EASY INNOCENCE (2008) and DOUBLEBACK (2009) feature Chicago P.I Georgia Davis. In addition Chicago video producer and single mother Ellie Foreman is featured in four other novels, which Libby describes as a cross between “Desperate Housewives” and “24.”

Libby has also published over 15 short stories in NICE GIRL DOES NOIR and has edited the acclaimed crime fiction anthology, CHICAGO BLUES. Her next release (December, 2010) is a standalone thriller, SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE. Originally from Washington DC, she has lived in Chicago for 30 years and finds the contrast between the beautiful and the profane in that city a crime writer’s paradise.

We’re not the most popular writers’ blog around (although we did make it to #6 in a Mystery Blog ranking). We’re not the most disciplined, either — eleven writers making deadline? You’ve got to be joking. There’s no strict enforcement of the topics we blog about. Indeed, with posts about baseball, alt lit, crime, or pigeons, the polite word to describe us probably is “eclectic.”

But we’ve been around now over four years. We’ve occasionally broken news, we’ve been nominated for awards, and only one of our seven founding authors has left.

No one is more surprised than me.

I didn’t start the Outfit out of dewy-eyed idealism. I saw it as a practical, marketing tool that would help us connect with readers. And while four years seems like an eternity in today’s blogosphere, we began, more or less, on the cusp of the blog explosion. At the time there were only about four or five crime fiction authors’ blogs, and some of those are now defunct. That we’ve survived is a testament to our stubbornness. Or masochism.

At the time we started, there weren’t any “regional” group blogs, i.e. writers from the same area. And while most people know Sara Paretsky lives and writes about Chicago, there were other authors under the radar, like Barb D’Amato and Michael Dymmoch , whose work wasn’t known as widely. There were also several excellent new voices on the horizon, including Sean Chercover, Marcus Sakey, and Kevin Guilfoile, who deserved recognition.

And let’s face it: in Chicago there’s always something to write about. The lawlessness, the corruption, even the perverse sense of pride Chicagoans take in their “bad boys,” is a never-ending source of material. How many other states have convicted three governors in the past 40 years? (Be quiet, Louisiana)

5033017155 a131d46797 m picture So I gathered together some veterans and some newcomers, and we launched. Now, four years later, Sara has retired, but we’ve added Bryan Gruley, Jamie Freveletti, Laura Caldwell, Dave Heinzmann, and David Ellis, who lives in Springfield but left his heart in Chicago.

What have we accomplished? I think we’ve helped bring Chicago crime fiction authors out of the closet. I see talk about Chicago authors more often these days, and most sources mention the Outfit. So that all-important marketing concept – branding – is happening. Articles like this in various publications haven’t hurt either .

We’ve also shed light on crime-related issues and events. Perhaps our most fascinating series of blogs occurred during 2007, when Kevin Guilfoile posted the first photo of Hans Peterson, accused of murdering Chicago dermatologist Dr. David Cornbleet the previous year. That led to a series of comments between Peterson’s father and the daughter of the victim, all on the Outfit.

Has the Outfit helped us sell books? Probably, although we don’t have accurate measurement data. We know it gives us a platform, and we aren’t shy about using it, whether we’re holding forth on crime, writing, skunks, or letting readers know when we have new books coming.

5033636448 8ec6324763 m picture But the most gratifying result is actually one I never anticipated. None of us really knew each other well four years ago. We do now. And while we communicate largely by email, and sometimes through the blog’s comment section, we’ve also been known to get together. Greek Town will never be the same. In an age where writing a novel and getting it published is both easier and more difficult, the friendship and mutual support has been a delightful – and welcome — surprise.

So if you don’t know us, come on over. We’d love to hear from you. And thanks, Jen, for letting us introduce ourselves to your readers.

Libby Fischer Hellmann, who founded The Outfit, is releasing her 7th novel, SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE December 1, 2010. It’s a stand-alone thriller that goes back, in part, to the late Sixties in Chicago. More at her website: www.libbyhellmann.com

“Someone is trying to kill Lila Hilliard. She doesn’t know who and she doesn’t know why. As she desperately tries to figure it out – and save her life — she uncovers information about her father’s past. Part thriller, part historical novel, and part love story, Set the Night on Fire paints an unforgettable portrait of a turbulent time: the riots at the Democratic Convention . . . the power struggle between the Black Panthers and SDS . . . and a group of young idealists who tried to change the world.”

Skating Around the Law by Joelle Charbonneau – Book Review

Oct 042010

Skating Around the Law by Joelle Charbonneau
Published by Minotaur Books, an imprint of Macmillan

Who says you can’t go home again? Actually, the more pertinent question, to Rebecca Robbins’ way of thinking, is why on earth would you want to go home again? Unfortunately, home is right where Rebecca is. Home from Chicago to small town Indian Falls, IL and trying to sell her mother’s skating rink. Her mother died a year ago, and Rebecca’s grandfather no longer feels that he can run the place – although he seems sufficiently spry to date half of the older women in Indian Falls. Rebecca assumes this sale will take a week or two and that she will then be able to get back to her job as a mortgage broker in Chicago, but then a local teenager finds Mack, a town handyman, dead of foul play in one of the toilets at the rink, something that is sure to scare off potential buyers. Now if Rebecca ever wants to get back to Chicago, she is going to have to figure out what happened to Mack, because Indian Falls’ elderly sheriff certainly can’t be counted on to do the job.

I am still somewhat in awe that “Skating Around the Law” is a debut book. Charbonneau has such a strong and confident voice to her writing that it seems as if she has been doing this for years and years. “Skating Around the Law” was funny without being stupidly silly, but it definitely had me laughing out loud at parts – I don’t want to spoil the amusing surprise for you, so let me just say it has to do with an unexpected hat.

Rebecca was really a great character. She walked very well the line of wanting to get back to her own life in Chicago without seeming so denigrating of Indian Falls that she came off unlikeable. I also very much enjoyed her mutual attraction to the town vet. Charbonneau included just enough sexual tension to keep things fun, without making Rebecca or the book seem skanky.

Fabulous debut, I loved the plotting of the whole thing, and the way that the mystery wrapped up. Really it was just all very well done. Very highly recommended, and I can’t wait for the next in the series.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

4866515992 41b02a5de1 m picture Joelle Charbonneau’s website

“Skating Around the Law” is Charbonneau’s debut book, but we can look forward to the sequel, “Skating Over the Line” (release date TBA).

This review was done with a book received from the publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Sunday Spotlight On: Shel Silverstein

Oct 032010

4866515992 41b02a5de1 m picture Weekends are going to be all about spotlights here during Chicago Author Month! Saturday was my inaugural publisher spotlight. Sundays will be something a little different. Sundays will spotlight either a book I’m dying to read but couldn’t fit a review of in, or a very special author. Today I’m going with the ‘very special author’ format.

When I first decided to devote a month to Chicago-area authors, I asked the lovely Jill from Fizzy Thoughts to do what she does so well, and write a song for me, this one to the tune of Sinatra’s “My Kind of Town.” What I didn’t expect, when I commissioned the song, was that Jill would introduce me Chicago authors I didn’t know about with it. One was Sara Paretsky, who I now can’t believe I hadn’t heard of before – look for a review of her latest book coming later this month – and the other was Shel Silverstein.

Now, of course Silverstein wasn’t actually a new-to-me author. I grew up on and adored “The Light in the Attic” and “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” I also enjoyed “The Giving Tree,” “The Missing Piece,” and “The Missing Piece Meets the Big O,” although they were not as near and dear to my heart as his poetry – I still remember my family’s excitement when “Falling Up” was published in 1996. What I did not know was that he was born and grew up in Chicago, even attending the Art Institute for a year and being published for the first time in the student newspaper at Roosevelt University.

5046279448 5bcf5f4690 m picture I spent countless hours in grade school with Shel Silverstein’s books of highly entertaining, occasionally slightly disgusting poetry. They were an integral part of my childhood, really. So, you can imagine that I was slightly disturbed to read that he was at one point a cartoonist for Playboy magazine. Really, though, it was Silverstein’s editor at Harper & Row who even convinced him to write children’s poetry in the first place, his initial love was cartooning.

Thank goodness for editors, I suppose, because I am eternally thankful that I had the gift of Shel Silverstein’s poetry as a child.

Chicago Publishers: Spotlight on… Other Voices Books

Oct 022010

4866515992 41b02a5de1 m picture In addition to talking about Chicago authors this month, I also want to highlight some of the great publishers based out of Chicago.

For my inaugural Chicago Publisher Spotlight, I wanted to tell you all about a fairly recent discovery of mine, Other Voices Books. I’ve chosen to start with them for a number of reason: I cannot wait to read some of their books, particularly after Margie and Sue from The Bookstore talked so much about Billy Lombardo’s “How to Hold a Woman” (more about this title later this month!); they are a Chicago press with a number of Chicago authors; in 2005 they were one of the first fiction-centered independent publishers to emerge in Chicago, and; they are highly committed to the Chicago literary community and to helping Chicago become more prominent in the publishing community.

But let me tell you why you should care about Other Voices Books!

5043539620 902a4abd56 m picture The genesis for Other Voices Books was the literary magazine Other Voices (1984-2007) by the magazine’s Editor Gina Frangello and a contributing editor, Stacey Bierlein. The mission of the press is to champion short fiction, whether in short stories, novels in stories, or themed anthologies. They feel this is an important goal in an industry that, as they say, “has increasingly marginalized the short story form.” It all started when they held a contest and published the winning short story collection as a book. That first book, “Simply,” ended up the only indie book to be a SCIBA Award finalist that year. Frangello tells me that their “interest is in bold and vibrant literary fiction that is rich in character, takes emotional risks, and is accessible and engaging.”

Another thing I find very interesting about Other Voices (although maybe this is just me, dork that I am), is their operating model. They were essentially the first imprint of Dzanc Books, another independent publisher. There are now 7 not-for-profit imprints of Dzanc, which now all collaborate on printing, design, and marketing, and share a distribution channel. I could be wrong, but this seems like an incredibly smart model for a boutique press like Other Voices which publishes 1 or 2 titles every year, giving that author or two their full attention.

Other Voices’ books, beginning with the most recent:
5042982289 147e9144a4 m picture “Currency” by Zoe Zolbrod* (Chicago author)
“Other Resort Cities” by Tod Goldberg – one of the stories from this collection has been optioned by FX for a tv series
“How to Hold a Woman” by Billy Lombardo (Chicago author)
“Things That Pass for Love” by Allison Amend – IPPY Bronze Medal winner (Chicago author)
“A Stranger Among Us: Stories of Cross-Cultural Collision and Connection” edited by Stacy Bierlein – IPPY Gold Medal and International Book Award winner
“O Street” by Corina Wycoff – Lambda Award finalist
“Simplify” by Tod Goldberg – SCIBA Award finalist

*Note: “Currency” is Other Voices Books’ first novel, and the first book in their Morgan Street International Novel series. They are in the process of expanding their vision to include novels set outside of the United States, another area in which they feel American literature is in deficit.

In Which I am Let Loose in the Blogosphere

Oct 022010

If you feel that you need a little extra Devourer of Books today, you can head on over to The Debutante Ball, a group blog of debut authors, where I am guest blogging today. This week’s theme is ‘worst advice,’ so I’m sharing with everyone the worst advice for working with book bloggers (don’t worry, I snuck some of my best advice in as well).

My Kind of Book (Chicago Is) – Introduction

Oct 012010

4866515992 41b02a5de1 m picture Often when people think of the center of literary prowess in the United States, they think of New York. It makes sense, all of the biggest publishers are headquartered there, and there are certainly lots of authors are based there.

Chicago, however, has a stellar literary tradition of its own, something that the newly formed Chicago Literary Hall of Fame is dedicated to celebrating, and something that I am celebrating here on Devourer of Books this October.

Here’s what you can expect over the coming month. The majority of the week will be comprised of book reviews either here or on The Bookstore’s blog, since Margie and Sue are partnering with me on this project. If a review is residing on their blog, I will write a brief introduction here about their review and why we chose this book, then link you over there to read the full review. Every Tuesday you will be treated to a guest post from a different Chicago author, and Saturdays will spotlight some spectacular Chicago-area publishers. Sundays will vary from spotlights on books by Chicago authors I want to read, to reviews, to guest posts about how certain Chicago authors have touched other people’s lives. There is something here for everyone, and I hope you’ll stick around even if you aren’t intrinsically interested in Chicago, because I will be introducing a great many authors who are fabulous even notwithstanding their illustrious residency.

I will primarily be celebrating living Chicago authors this month, because there are so many fabulous people writing now, but I did want to take a moment today and remember many of the greats who have come before and contributed immensely not only to Chicago literary history, but to the greater pantheon of literature.

For example, here are the 2010 inductees into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame:

Nelson Algren – An early innovator into the field of Chicago crime writing, Algren’s “The Man With the Golden Arm,” which won the first National Book Award in 1950, focused largely on the city’s quasi-criminal underbelly.
Saul Bellow – On faculty at the University of Chicago, Bellow won a Nobel Prize, a Pulitzer Prize, three National Book Awards, and the National Medal of Honor.
Gwendolyn Brooks – The first African-American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize, also the poet laureate for both Illinois and the United States.
Lorraine Hansberry – Her Raisin in the Sun made Hansberry both the youngest American playwright and the and the first African-American woman to be produced on Broadway.
Studs Terkel – Fascinated with the ordinary people in and around Chicago, Terkel captured 20th century urban life in “Division Street: America.” He also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for his depiction of World War II in “The Good War.”
Richard Wright – author of “Native Son” and the memoir “Black Boy.” “Native Son” in particular deals with racial inequality in the Chicago ghettos. I read “Native Son” in high school and I think I can unequivocally state that it was the most eye-opening of everything I read for school.

Newer Entries

Devourer of Books

Long Way Home by Laura Caldwell – Bookstore Review

What’s In A Blog? – Guest Post by Libby Hellmann, Author and Founder of “The Outfit”

Skating Around the Law by Joelle Charbonneau – Book Review

Sunday Spotlight On: Shel Silverstein

Chicago Publishers: Spotlight on… Other Voices Books

In Which I am Let Loose in the Blogosphere

My Kind of Book (Chicago Is) – Introduction

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