Join us, Thurs., Apr. 23, 5-7 p.m. as Bill Thompson, signs copies of his new book, Art and Craft. (USC, pb., 304 pp $25).
Art and Craft presents the hand-picked fruit of Bill Thompson’s three decades covering writers and writing as book review editor of the Post and Courier. Beginning with a foreword by Charleston novelist Josephine Humphreys, this collection is a compendium of interviews featuring some of the most distinguished novelists and nonfiction writers in America and abroad, including Tom Wolfe, Pat Conroy, Joyce Carol Oates, Rick Bragg, and Anthony Bourdain, as well as many South Carolinians. With ten thematic sections ranging from the Southern Renaissance, literature, biography, and travel writing to crime fiction and Civil War history, Art and Craft also includes a sampling of Thompson’s reviews.
Bill Thompson was a book review editor, film critic and columnist, arts writer, and travel writer for the Post and Courier from 1980 to 2012. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a former sportswriter in Virginia and Florida, he has won numerous awards for his writing. In his retirement Thompson frequently reviews and writes for Kirkus Reviews, the Post and Courier, and Charleston Style and Design. He lives in Charleston.
The 17th Annual Bridge Run Show is back Thurs., March 26, 7:30 pm. Every year, just before the big race, author and store proprietor Jonathan Sanchez reads a sometimes-running-themed story.
And this year we’re very excited to also be celebrating the release of store manager Sara Peck’s 2nd volume of poetry Here You Are (Horseless Press, pb, $14), co-written with Jared Joseph. Check it out here.
This book presents a clutch of lyric contacts, tenderness leaping like a spark across synapses to nest in in a thread of phrases. Here affinity, separateness, loneliness, compatibility, and the sense of being attuned to another send up a quiet array of small-scale yet endearing effects. A playful duet for the End of Time, or for Miller Time. –Joyelle McSweeney
You all know Sara, but just in case. Sara Peck lives in Charleston. She is the store manager here at Blue Bicycle Books, a teacher, tutor, poet, and all around rad human being. She received her MFA from Columbia College Chicago. Her other book of poetry, Yr Lad, Bob is also available for purchase.
Join us, Thurs., Mar. 19, 5-7 pm as Bernie Schein, signs copies of his new book, Famous All Over Town. (USC, hb., 320 pp $30).
Novelist Walker Percy once said that the only remaining unexplored territory in Southern literature was the Jewish southerner. Famous all over Town, the first novel from Southern storyteller Bernie Schein, stakes a claim on Percy’s unexplored terrain with a comically candid multi-generational account of two Jews, a lowcountry native and a Northern transplant, at the epicenter of momentous events in the sleepy southern coastal hamlet of Somerset, a fictitious stand-in for Schein’s native Beaufort.
Schein’s diverse and memorable cast includes Southern Jewish lawyer Murray Gold and his foil, displaced New York psychiatrist Bert Levy; emotionally scarred USMC drill sergeant Jack McGowan and his alluring and unconventional wife, Mary Beth; corrupt and adulterous sheriff Hoke Cooley, his deeply conservative wife, Regina, and their violent son, Boonie; African American madam and later city councilwoman Lila Trulove (also Hoke’s mistress), her brilliant daughter, Elizabeth, and her conflicted Harvard-bound son, Driver; fallen Southern belle turned voice of a generation Arlanne Palmer; remorseful Vietnam veteran and flamboyant transvestite Royal Cunningham; and inspirational schoolteacher Pat Conroy. Famous all over Town also uses its web of interconnected storylines to make its setting, the town itself, a central character with a personality and an arc as complete as that of any other member of the deftly rendered cast.
Bernie Schein is the author of If Holden Caulfield Were in My Classroom: Inspiring Love, Creativity, and Intelligence in Middle School Kids and, with his wife, Martha Schein, coauthor of Open Classrooms in the Middle School. He holds an Ed.M. from Harvard University with an emphasis in educational psychology. A forty-year veteran of middle school instruction and administration, Schein has served as the principal of schools in Mississippi and South Carolina and helped found the independent Paideia School in Atlanta, where he was honored as Atlanta’s District Teacher of the Year in 1978. His stories and essays have appeared in Atlanta Magazine, Atlanta Weekly, the Beaufort Gazette, Creative Loafing, Lowcountry Weekly, and the Mississippi Educational Advance, and he has been interviewed on National Public Radio.
Friday, February 20, 2015
Join us, Sun., Mar. 8, 3-5 pm as Chef Jennifer Booker, signs copies of her new book, Field Peas to Foie Gras: Southern Recipes with a French Accent. (Pelican, hb., 192 pp $27).
Focusing on farm-to-table ingredients, proper techniques, and pristine presentation, Chef Booker serves up a heaping helping of Southern cooking with class. Combining her Mississippi roots and French culinary training, Booker pays homage to her family’s favorite dishes by giving them a sophisticated twist. Inspired by her childhood memories, Booker creates a comforting blend of nostalgia and modernity. The stories that accompany the 135 recipes in this book will transport you to the farmhouse of Booker’s youth-amid the garden, lush with produce. Dishes such as tender Braised Short Ribs, decadent Venison Stew, and elegant Caramel Cake are sure to satisfy your family
Chef Jennifer Booker earned her Bachelors of Arts Degree in Organizational Communication from The University of Tulsa and immediately enrolled in Oklahoma State University-Okmulgee’s Culinary Arts program. There she graduated first in her class with an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science-Culinary Arts. After working several years in the culinary industry Chef Jennifer was afforded the unique opportunity to earn a Cuisine de Base Certificate from Le Cordon Bleu-Paris, once again receiving top honors in her graduating class. She also volunteers her time and resources for the Africa’s Children Fund Annual Fundraiser.
Join us, Thurs., Feb. 19, 5-7 pm as author Tom Turner, signs copies of his new book, Palm Beach Nasty. (Permanent Press, hb., 304 pp $30).
Credit:Lon Kirschner
Burned out New York homicide cop, Charlie Crawford, goes south to take it slow and ends up in steamy Palm Beach, Florida. But after six months of pink and green collar crime, he’s bored out of his mind, desperate for a face-down stiff with a little rigor setting in. Palm Beach has plenty of glitz, glam and hedonism, but murder– not one in the last ten years.
Finally one Halloween night, Crawford is first on scene and finds a twenty year old male swinging from a stately banyan tree. That sets in motion colliding plots involving a billionaire with a thing for young girls, a far-reaching art scam with Crawford’s girlfriend playing a starring role and a ruthless hustler passing himself off as the long lost son of one of the richest men in town. Add to the mix, a sultry real estate broker who knows where all the bodies are buried, a gorgeous forensic cop usually one step ahead of Crawford, a Mutt and Jeff combo of stone cold killers and you’ve got Palm Beach Nasty.
Fast-paced, funny, slightly off-kilter and everything you ever wanted to know about the most scandalous town in America and its larger-than-life citizens.
Tom Turner ran a bar in Vermont after college, then moved to New York and spent time as an award-winning copywriter at several Manhattan advertising agencies. After years of post-Mad Men life, he made a radical change and got a job in commercial real estate. A few years later he ended up in Palm Beach, buying, renovating and selling houses. On the side, he wrote Palm Beach Nasty, its sequel, Palm Beach Poison, and a screenplay, Underwater. While at a wedding, he fell for the charm of Charleston and moved there. He recently completed his third novel entitled, Killing Time in Charleston.
Come stop by the store on Sunday, Feb 1 from 1-4pm as the The Charleston Self-Portrait Project sets up shop in BBB. 
The Charleston Self-Portrait Project is a series of free events encouraging community members to create self-portraits, ultimately producing a collection of hundreds of self-portraits that will be exhibited for public viewing. The emphasis of this project is equally on the art making process and the resulting collection of artwork. The project will provide space and supplies at Portrait-Making Stations for creating self-portraits in a welcoming, collective atmosphere. Each participant can choose to keep his or her self-portrait or donate it to the Charleston Self-Portrait Project Collection for future viewing by the community. Check out their website for more info! http://www.charlestonselfportraitproject.com/
Join us, Tues., Feb. 3, 5-7 pm as local author Andra Watkins, signs copies of her new book, Not Without My Father. (World Hermit Press, pb., 219 pp $15).
Andra Watkins needed a wingman to help her become the first living person to walk the historic 444-mile Natchez Trace as the pioneers did. She planned to walk fifteen miles a day. For thirty-four days. After striking out with everyone in her life, she was left with her disinterested eighty-year-old father. And his gas. The slope apnea machine and self-scratching. Sharing a bathroom with a man whose gut obliterated his aim. As Watkins trudged America’s forgotten highway, she lost herself in despair and pain. Nothing happened according to plan, and her tenuous connection to her father started to unravel. Through arguments and laughter, tears and fried chicken, they fought to rebuild their relationship before it was too late. In Not Without My Father: One Woman’s 444-Mile Walk of the Natchez Trace, Watkins invites readers to join her dysfunctional family adventure in a humorous and heartbreaking memoir that asks if one can really turn I wish I had into I’m glad I did.
Andra Watkins lives in Charleston with her husband, Michael T Maher. A non-practicing CPA, she has a degree in accounting from Francis Marion University.She’s still mad at her mother for refusing to let her major in musical theater, because her mom was convinced she’d end up starring in porn films. She’s the author of three books and counting. Her acclaimed first novel To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis was published by Word Hermit Press on March 1, 2014. Natchez Trace: Tracks in Time is a book of photography, shot during her 15-mile daily hikes on her 444-mile Natchez Trace walk. Not Without My Father: One Woman’s 444-Mile Walk of the Natchez Trace is a memoir about her dysfunctional family adventure.
Join us, Tues., Feb. 10, 5-7 pm as local author Ryan Graudin, signs copies of her new book, All That Burns. (HarperTeen, pb., 464 pp $10). Pre-order the book and receive a custom tea packet!
In this thrilling sequel to All That Glows, the worlds of magic and mortal are colliding as London celebrates its new king, marking an era of unity between the Faery realm and the human one. Emrys, the Faery guard to the British royal family, sacrificed her powers to be with King Richard, choosing love over immortality. But now, as Emrys struggles to navigate her place between the Faery queen’s court and London’s lavish galas, danger looms beyond the Thames.When a prisoner with dark, strange magic breaks out of Queen Titania’s labyrinthine prison, endangering Emrys’s king and sparking an uprising, Emrys must make the hardest decision of all.
Will she reclaim her magic to save Richard’s life and lose him forever? Or stay powerless as the kingdom goes down in flames?
Ryan Graudin grew up in Charleston and graduated from the College of Charleston with a degree in Creative Writing in 2009. In addition to All That Burns, she is also the author of All That Glows and The Walled City. She resides near Charleston with her husband and wolf-dog. You can find her online at www.ryangraudin.com.
Join us, Thurs., Jan. 29, 5-7 pm as author Michael DeValve, signs copies of his new book, A Different Justice: Love and the Future of Criminal Justice Practice in America. (Carolina Academic Press, pb., 250 pp $28).
The criminal justice system in America does not work, and, from the perspective of current criminological thought, no ideas exist for how to truly fix it. The fault lies not with criminology as a discourse, but with us as individuals. We must, together, address three fundamental questions regarding our capacity and willingness to make a justice system of which we would be proud to pass off to our children. Specifically, we must decide (1) whether or not we are permanently saddled with a hobbling justice system; (2) if we are not inextricably bound to brokenness, whether we are brave enough to strike out for the undiscovered country; and (3) if we have the ability to embrace love despite the vulnerability it imposes. Specifically, each of us must find within ourselves the capacity to bravely love, without qualification, ourselves, each other, and our world.
The purpose of this work is to discover what justice would look like were it predicated on love. Sacred sources, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, along with the thought of scholars like Erich Fromm, Karl Marx, Simone Weil, and Paolo Freire, are examined in detail for insights into the nature of love. Space is devoted to an attempt to understand why American justice practice is so broken despite the noble work of so many. The last two chapters offer both a criminology of love and a sketch of a criminal justice system predicated on love.
Michael DeValve is a dad, husband, son, musician, peacemaking criminologist, and an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Fayetteville State University. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University. His research focus is love and its place in criminal justice. He has authored several scholarly works, published in journals like Contemporary Justice Review, Police Quarterly, and The Prison Journal. He has trained and consulted with police departments, and he worked six years for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a researcher. His new book, A Different Justice, offers a new approach to justice and a new criminological theory, all predicated on love as the axle of justice.
Join us, Thurs., Feb. 12, 5 – 7 pm, as author Sherry Harris, signs copies of her new book, It is What it is…and the View is Great. (Spark Publishers, pb., 160 pp., $25).
Island fever! Haven’t we all had it sometime in our lives? In this breezy read, Sherry Harris gives you the inside story about living in Paradise. Both wise and witty, It is what it is… introduces you to island time from a resident-in-training perspective with funny and insightful anecdotes, exquisite photography, and up-close island personalities. Along the way, Sherry reminds us to stop and smell the bougainvillea and embrace our surroundings, wherever that finds us.
Sherry Harris is an interior designer, wife, mother and hip grandmother who loves to travel, play tennis and golf. It is what it is … is her first book about living and working in Paradise.
