Blue Bicycle Books

Join us Wed., Mar. 22, 5 pm as we celebrate Brendan Reichs‘s solo debut Nemesis. Brendan will be joined by local young adult sensation Ryan Graudin, who is the author of Wolf by Wolf & Blood for Blood. Come hear Brendan and Ryan discuss their new books NEMESIS and BLOOD FOR BLOOD, ask them questions and walk away with some thrilling reads.

It’s been happening since Min was eight. Every two years, on her birthday, a strange man finds her and murders her in cold blood. But hours later, she wakes up in a clearing just outside her tiny Idaho hometown–alone, unhurt, and with all evidence of the horrifying crime erased.

Across the valley, Noah just wants to be like everyone else. But he’s not. Nightmares of murder and death plague him, though he does his best to hide the signs. But when the world around him begins to spiral toward panic and destruction, Noah discovers that people have been lying to him his whole life. Everything changes in an eye blink.

The planet has a bigger problem. The Anvil, an enormous asteroid threatening all life on Earth, leaves little room for two troubled teens. Yet on her sixteenth birthday, as she cowers in her bedroom, hoping not to die for the fifth time, Min has had enough. She vows to discover what is happening in Fire Lake and uncovers a lifetime of lies: a vast conspiracy involving the sixty-four students of her sophomore class, one that may be even more sinister than the murders.

Brendan Reichs was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. He graduated from Wake Forest University in 2000 and The George Washington University School of Law in 2006. After three long years working as a litigation attorney, he abandoned the trade to co-write the Virals series. He lives in Charlotte with his wife, Emily, daughter, Alice, and son, Henry. The second book in the series, GENESIS, will release in spring 2018.

Blood for Blood is set in a world ruled by the Axis Powers of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Death camp survivor Yael, who has the power to skinshift, is on the run because the world has just seen her assassinate Adolph Hitler. But the truth of what happened is even more complicated. As Yael and her unlikely comrades dive into enemy territory to try to turn the tide against the New Order, they have no alternative but to see their mission through to the end at any the cost.

Ryan Graudin was born in Charleston, SC with a severe case of wanderlust. When she’s not traveling, she’s busy photographing weddings, writing, and spending time with her husband and wolf-dog. She is the author of The Walled City, Wolf by Wolf, and Blood for Blood.

Join us Tues., Mar. 14, 5:00 pm as Michael Farris Smith discusses and signs copies of his new novel Desperation Road (Lee Boudreaux Books, hb., 304 pp., $26).

In the vein of Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone and the works of Ron Rash, Desperation Road takes place in a tough-and-tumble Mississippi town where drugs, whiskey, guns, and the desire for revenge violently intersect.

After completing an 11 year jail sentence, Russell Gaines believes his debt to society has been paid. But when he returns home, he discovers that revenge lives and breathes all around him. Meanwhile, a woman named Maben and her young daughter trudge along the side of the interstate. Desperate and exhausted, the pair spend their last dollar on a room for the night, a night that ends with Maben holding a pistol and a dead deputy. With the dawn, destinies collide, and Russell is forced to decide whose life he will save – his own or those of the woman and child.

Michael Farris Smith is a native Mississippian who has spent time living abroad in France and Switzerland. He is the recipient of the 2014 Mississippi Author Award and has been awarded the Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Arts Fellowship, the Transatlantic Review Award for Fiction, and the Alabama Arts Council Fellowship Award for Literature. His short fiction has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and his essays have appeared in The New York Times, Catfish Alley, Deep South Magazine, and more. He lives in Columbus, Mississippi, with his wife and two daughters.

Join us Wed., Mar. 1, 12 pm for lunch at High Cotton (199 East Bay St.), as Dr. A. Roger Ekirch discusses his latest book American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution (Pantheon, hb., 320 pp., $30). Tickets are $31 for the author talk and three-course luncheon, or $61 for the luncheon plus a signed copy of the book.

Get tickets here.

American Sanctuary delves into the far-reaching ramifications of a violent mutiny aboard a British frigate named the HMS Hermione. The book builds a strong case that the politics informing the controversy were instrumental in the historical refusals of the U.S. to extradite aliens charged solely with political crimes. Dr. Ekirch, a meticulous historian who writes with flair, brings the political theater of the early 1800s into full view.

A. Roger Ekirch was born in the nation’s capital, and raised in Alexandria, Virginia. He holds degrees from Dartmouth College and John Hopkins University, and has received a Guggenheim fellowship. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Huffington Post. He now lives in Roanoke, Virginia, where he is a professor of history at Virginia Tech.

Join us Thurs., Mar. 2, 5:30 pm as Matt Lee discusses and serves bites from his and Ted Lee’s reissue of Princess Pamela’s Soul Food Cookbook (Rizzoli, hb., 240 pp., $30). Pamela Strobel owned the legendary Little Kitchen in New York City’s East Village, where regulars such as Andy Warhol, Sidney Lumet, Gloria Steinem, and Diana Ross, among others, came for Southern home-style cooking and live jazz sessions.

This project has been spearheaded by Matt and Ted, who first encountered Pamela Strobel’s cookbook when they bought it from a used bookstore in 2004. This new edition offers 147 recipes and practical advice gained from a lifetime of experience, as well as Strobel’s heartfelt musings and sage advice. Matt and Ted have added an introduction that fleshes out Strobel’s life story. They also share tips and updated measurements in helpful Editor’s Notes that ensure even a novice can recreate these dishes with ease.

Pamela Strobel was born in Spartanburg, and went to New York to pursue her love of jazz. In 1965, she opened her restaurant, serving the soul food of her childhood while singing for her guests.

Matt Lee and Ted Lee have written three cookbooks, including The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen. They contribute to Bon Appétit, the New York Times, Fine Cooking, and Food & Wine.

Join us Sat., Jan. 14, 12 pm for lunch at High Cotton (199 East Bay St.), as Karen White discusses her latest mystery novel The Guests on South Battery (Berkley, hb., 352 pp., $26). Tickets are $57 for the author talk, three-course luncheon, and a signed copy of the book.

Get tickets here.

The Guests on South Battery begins when Melanie Trenholm is woken by a phone call with no voice on the other end—and the uneasy feeling that the ghostly apparitions that have stayed silent for more than a year are about to invade her life once more. Melanie knows nothing good can come from unearthing the past. But some secrets refuse to stay buried.

Karen White is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, known internationally for her mystery series set in Charleston. She spent most of her growing-up years in London and is a graduate of the American School there. She now lives near Atlanta with her husband, two children, and her dog Quincy (who appears in several of her books).