The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

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Spotlight On: A Power Unbound by Freya Marske

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Freya Marske, photo credit Kris Arnold

I am writing romance; all of my characters end up happily in love. I am writing fantasy with intrigue; frankly, the characters don’t have time for too much agonizing. They have conspiracies to unravel, and— to veer abruptly sideways into musical theatre (I am queer, after all) and quote Pippin—magic to do.

I made the very conscious decision to scrap crises of faith, uncertainty of one’s sexuality, and self-hatred entirely. I used the need for secrecy to add to the ‘us against the world’ situation that serves a romance plot so well, and also to emphasize the exquisite surprise and delight when a kindred spirit is recognized.
― Freya Marske, Interview, FyneTime

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske

What booksellers are saying about A Power Unbound

  • *Chef’s Kiss* I was really looking forward to Hawthorn’s story and it didn’t disappoint. Marske is such an exquisite writer, deft with her succinct and evocative descriptions! It was great also getting to see the moments with the other two couples as well.
      ― Angela Trigg, The Haunted Bookshop in Mobile, AL | Buy from The Haunted Bookshop

  • An absolutely delightful and riveting end to the trilogy, one that made me overcome my general aversion to e-books so that I could read this immediately. It was everything I could have hoped for and more, providing us with the much-needed perspectives of Jack and Alan. They race against time, their powerful enemies, and the rising sexual tension as the Last Contract comes closer to its end. Both deliciously queer and wholly enthralling, I’ll never not recommend this trilogy.
      ― Jordan April, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC | Buy from Flyleaf Books

  • This was the perfect ending to a fabulous trilogy. More of Lord Hawthorne is exactly what I needed in my life.
      ― Melissa Taylor from E. Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, GA | Buy from E. Shaver

  • A satisfying conclusion to Marske’s Last Binding trilogy. I thoroughly enjoyed these stories that have a little something for everyone (historical, mystery, fantasy, romance).
      ― Melissa Oates from Fiction Addiction in Greenville, SC | Buy from Fiction Addiction

About Freya Marske

Freya Marske is the author of A Power Unbound, A Restless Truth, and A Marvellous Light, which was an international bestseller and won the Romantic Novel Award for Fantasy. Her work has appeared in Analog and has been shortlisted for three Aurealis Awards. She is also a Hugo-nominated podcaster and won the Ditmar Award for Best New Talent. She lives in Australia.

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Spotlight on: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

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Tan Twan Eng, photo credit Lloyd Smith

In my teenage years, when I first read Somerset Maugham’s The Letter, I was intrigued to discover that he had based it on Ethel Proudlock’s trial in Kuala Lumpur in 1911. She was the first white woman to be charged with murder in Malaya. She claimed that the man she had shot dead had tried to rape her in her home.

The House of Doors is about many things, but at the heart of it all, it is really about the acts of creation: how Maugham had come to hear about the trial, and how he had transmuted it into his story. It’s about the power of stories, how they can transcend cultures and borders, transcend even time itself.
― Tan Twan Eng, Interview, The Booker Prizes

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

What booksellers are saying about The House of Doors

  • I walked the streets of Penang along side Somerset Maugham. I felt the rough paths beneath my feet, as the clatter of Mah jong tiles felll from a doorway. We were on our way to the House of Doors. My fingers caressed the worn wood of its front door. But neither of us gained entry. Entry was reserved for others. This is a rare book. All my senses were captured by Tan Twan Eng. The pages glowed with atmosphere as the story propelled me into the lives of Cassawary House. Best book I’ve read this year.
      ― Trish O’Neill, MacIntosh Books & Paper in Sanibel, FL | Buy from Macintosh Books & Paper

  • Gorgeously written with strong characters telling the tale of Malaysia between the two wars. Who knew I needed to know all of this. We sometimes focus on what happened to us. This story will get right under your skin. I am a huge fan of Somerset Maughn and loved this story that drops him in there. Based on real events you are invited into this world and you won’t be the same!
      ― Suzanne Lucey from Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, NC | Buy from Page 158 Books

  • Nobody transports a reader in time and place like Tan Twan Eng. Bringing the same beautiful, lyrical writing as he did in The Gift of Rain and The Garden of Evening Mists, he sends readers back in time to 1921 when writer Somerset Maugham arrives in Penang at a crossroads in life. The House of Doors reads like a magical look back in time into the life of one of my favorite writers as well as an entirely new story whose layers unfurl one a time, revealing an overlapping web of love, friendship, power and more.
      ― Beth Seufer Buss from Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, NC | Buy from Bookmarks

About Tan Twan Eng

Tan Twan Eng was born in Penang but lived in various places in Malaysia as a child. His first novel, The Gift of Rain, was longlisted for the 2007 Man Booker. His second, The Garden of Evening Mists, was a major international bestseller, shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker, and winner of the Man Asia Literary Prize 2012 and the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. It was adapted into an award-winning film in 2019, directed by Tom Lin. Twan divides his time between Malaysia and South Africa.

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Wolfsong by TJ Klune

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Wolfsong by TJ Klune
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This is my first foray into TJ Klune (I know, I know, I’m behind the times) and I have to say, I loved Wolfsong! I had only read YA gay love stories and it was such an interesting change up reading a book written for gay men opposed to women attempting to write gay men. I loved Ox and how he developed his pack. I also loved that he was just a "What you see is what you get" kind of guy. Not everyone in the world is a deep thinker or an overthinker. And we need a balance. The only thing I didn’t care for was Ox being attracted to Joe when he was still a few months underage. I know that there wasn’t a power imbalance in their relationship, but I’ve seen a lot of hate groups accusing LGBT people of intentionally targeting young people, so I would be afraid for someone who has not read the story in its entirety to judge wrongly from that fact alone.

Wolfsong by TJ Klune, (List Price: $29.99, Tor Books, 9781250890313, July 2023)

Reviewed by Katlin Kerrison, Story On the Square in McDonough, Georgia

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca

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Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca
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Eric Larocca’s newest novel Everything the Darkness Eats weaves cosmic horror with small town prejudice into a tale of creeping dread. Larocca never shies away from the gruesome or the traumatic and weaves these darkest parts alongside love. This Connecticut town is neither cozy nor warm, and is instead full of mysterious and bizarre disappearances, unrestrained bigotry and the dark effects of its most powerful resident Mr. Crowley. Interweaving two resident’s attempts to uncover and stop the horror, Larocca forces his characters to reckon with what means the most to them and to what lengths they’ll go for closure, revenge, and love. Perfect for fans of Clive Barker and other cosmic horror.

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca, (List Price: 16.95, CLASH Books, 9781955904278, June 2023)

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

Spotlight on: Big Gay Wedding by Byron Lane

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Byron Lane, photo credit the author

I just tried to be honest. When I’m honest in my life, about my life, it tends to make others honest about theirs and suddenly we all relate to each other and our lives in a more meaningful way. I don’t know whether it’s been years of therapy or what, but I find I’m generally an optimistic person. Even in sad or heavy situations I can usually find something sweet or helpful or humorous. ― Byron Lane, Interview, The Nerd Daily

Big Gay Wedding by Byron Lane

What booksellers are saying about Big Gay Wedding

  • The most fun, funny, warm, heart-aching book full of big loving family feels I have ever read. Byron Lane writes the kind of page turners I love. Breezy at first glance, devastating as you dig deeper and full of heart.
      ― Rayna Nielsen from Blue Cypress Books in NewOrleans, LA | Buy from Blue Cypress Books

  • This is a beautifully written, engaging, heartfelt book. The characters are quirky, lovable, and memorable. The plot unfolds with funny, sad, bittersweet and joyous events and conversations that ring very true and hit home emotionally. I’ll be looking for other books by this author.
      ― Ruth Goldstein from E. Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, GA | Buy from E. Shaver, Bookseller

  • From Byron Lane, the author of A Star is Bored, comes a new story about a small town, a family on the edge of change, and a big gay wedding. Barnett’s mom hopes he’s coming for a visit to announce he’s moving home to take care of her and the family farm for rescue animals, but she soon finds out her son is getting married – and they want the wedding to take place on the farm. Hilarity ensues as a wide case of soon to be in-laws overtake the farm to plan the wedding of the year, but when the wedding starts to face protest and problems, it’s a lesson in conditional love and support. Big Gay Wedding needs to be in everybody’s beach bags this year!  
      ― Beth Seufer Buss from Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, NC | Buy from Bookmarks

About Byron Lane

Byron Laneis author of A Star Is Bored, hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “wildly funny and irreverent.” He’s a playwright, screenwriter, Emmy Award–winning journalist, and former assistant to actress Carrie Fisher. He’s originally from New Orleans and lives in Palm Springs, California, with his husband, author Steven Rowley, and their rescue dogs, Raindrop and Shirley.

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And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode

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And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode
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And Then He Sang a Lullaby is a powerful debut that follows the story of Segun and August, two college students in Nigeria who yearn for love and connection. Readers will be deeply moved by this brave and beautiful tale of two men who can’t help but deny their attraction despite the risks to themselves and each other.

And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode, (List Price: 27, Roxane Gay Books, 9780802160751, June 2023)

Reviewed by Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

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In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
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An old man and brilliant inventor finds a run down cottage in a forest and decides to live there, far away from the rest of the world. One day he is surprised when a distraught couple who seem to be on the run leave a young boy in his care and ask him to raise the child. Two decades later, the tender-hearted, shy, and brilliant boy finds a broken AI robot and decides to repair it. Shortly after, the world descends upon his family in their forest idyll, forcing the young man to leave on a quest to the world beyond. A place of great danger and risk; but he is accompanied by a small crew of fiercely loyal friends who are determined to help him find what they are looking for. This novel holds all the beautiful, tender sentimentality, found family dynamics, loving humor, and self-discovery that I’ve come to expect from TJ Klune. I absolutely fell in love with every character in this motley crew of creatures. I laughed out loud frequently at the antics of Nurse Ratched and Rambo. I cried when things got tough and painful. I feared for the sweet young man who is trying to find his way. It has all the best parts of a huggable book for me.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune, (List Price: 28.99, Tor Books, 9781250217448, April 2023)

Reviewed by Elizabeth DeWandeler, A Novel Escape in Franklin, North Carolina

The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela

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The Town of Babylon: Stories by Alejandro Varela
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A full-hearted homecoming story of reckoning with the past as it hits you hard and fast all while trying to carve a way forward–when for so long it looked like the only way was straight. Bounces around the lives of late 30s queer Latino and his former classmates and family to map out the landscape of the suburbs and the inner lives America so often pushes aside. Astute, enraged, and charming as hell.

The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela, (List Price: $27, Astra House, 9781662601033, March 2022)

Reviewed by Luis Correa, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

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A Strange and Stubborn Enduranceby Foz Meadows
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The closeted son of a nobleman has his life completely up-ended in one day. After being informed of his betrothal to a noblewoman of a neighboring country to cement a trade alliance, Val is forcibly outed by his abusive ex-lover in the worst possible way. Fortunately for him, the neighboring country is much more accepting than his own and the ambassador’s response to this new information is to switch Val’s intended marriage partner to the brother of the previous woman. The story from there unfolds on two plot lines: the very sweet romance between Val and his husband-to-be and the very bloody political intrigue that erupts due to objections to the political alliance their marriage represents. Overall excellent and I highly recommend it.

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows, (List Price: $27.99, Tor Books, 9781250829139, July 2022)

Reviewed by Kelly McLeod, The Haunted Book Shop in Mobile, Alabama

Let’s Get Back to the Party by Zak Salih

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Let's Get Back to the Party by Zak Salih
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It is just weeks after the legalization of gay marriage in the U.S. in the summer of 2015. We meet two men who grew up together in the D.C. suburbs and are at opposite ends of what it means to be a gay man at this time in American history. Both are involved in obsessive cross-generational friendships. Sebastian has a complicated relationship with one of his out and proud high school students. Oscar is spending time with a Stonewall generation novelist on the decline. Sebastian is anxious to settle down and assimilate. Oscar is infuriated by what he sees as the death of gay culture in favor of what he views as colorless banality. I loved everything about this book. It is beautifully written and full of profound insights on what happens when a formerly ostracized segment of society becomes incorporated into the general population and what that means, good and bad, for the individuals that are part of it. Stunning!

Let’s Get Back to the Party by Zak Salih, (List Price: $16.95, Algonquin Books, 9781643752075, June 2022)

Reviewed by Kelly Justice, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain

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The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain
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Three cheers for Albert Entwistle! I snuggled into this heartwarming "it’s never too late" coming-out story right away and loved watching this gentle man bloom. Albert is painfully lonely, staying far in the back of the closet and avoiding human connections all his adult life. But forced retirement at age 65 pushes him to completely change his life, and he finds that everyone he knows has been rooting for him all along.

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain, (List Price: $15.95, A John Scognamiglio Book, 9781496737755, June 2022)

Reviewed by Serena Wyckoff, Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida

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