Coffee Klatch: Summer Reads

coffee klatch noun
–an occasion when people meet socially to talk and drink coffee (Cambridge Dictionary)

Welcome to the Coffee Klatch. Join us each week for conversation and news for the Writer’s Life community and connect on Twitter (@Writers_Life) at #Writers_Life.

We always serve a full menu of yummy drinks and treats. Help yourself to coffee, tea, hot chocolate or chai. Today I am serving pretzels, in honor of my participation in yoga.

Writer’s Life Happenings

The Writer’s Life Weekly Feature. I have been participating in the Yoga & Writing Challenge even though it has caused me to Creak & Moan last week.  And, I have been working on ideas to help me get In The Mood when I sit down to write. Thanks for all the comments and discussion this week!

Coffee Klatch News

Boost Your Writing

Weekly Writing Progress for Revisions. Arvael O’Tierney (@Arvael_oTierney) wrote, “The idea is why don’t we do revision together; I mean, we can motivate each other, share our experiences, struggles or joy while revising. And because I post a Check-in every Sunday, that can keep us on track! We can tell about the progress we made during the week and help each other if somebody is stuck. Originally, I intented it to be for writers who’re revising, but everybody is welcome who writes and would like to join us! Anytime 🙂 Here are the details.”

A Creative Challenge for Writers. Arvael also shared another challenge offered by Maranwe Telrunya: “Every Monday, a picture is posted and if you participate, you need to write at least 1667 words, inspired by the picture. Then, publish it somewhere on the internet (and link it) or send it to the organizer, so she can post it on her blog (of course, with all credits respectfully to the participant whose work it is). You can find out more about the challenge here.”  You can find the organizer on Twitter @MaranweTelrunya.

Summer Reading With Friends

I have been wanting to read my friends’ books for a long time. Each time they tweet their books or I see them in their sidebar, I think, “Oh yeah, I’ve GOT to get reading.” Well, summer is here and it is time for extra reading. Let’s support our friends and read some of their books this summer. Better yet, read and give them a review if they are on Amazon! Here are several lovely selections:

Fiction

Alex Carrick (@Alex_Carrick)

“Two Scoops” Is Just Right
Humor/lifestyle
Amazon.com: $13.99 US
Kindle: $3.99 US
{Indie}Pendent Books: $11.50 US

This book contains more than just stories about the family. Some entries are dappled impressions of modern life. Some are comedy bits, with the odd gem of a punch line. Others are lighter than air and rise up like whimsy. Others still have a slightly more serious intent, with surprising twists. These funny, short original stories first appeared on the website: www.alexcarrick.com. Mr. Carrick has been a leading economist in the North American construction industry for over 30 years. In early 2008, he was asked by his employer to put together an economics blog. He approached this with a good deal of trepidation, worrying about whether he would have enough material and if he could do it justice. He quickly found he enjoyed the experience. So much, in fact, that he began to branch out with humorous lifestyle blogs he was composing on the weekends and at night, just for fun. It is these entries he would like to share with you.

Donna Carrick (@Donna_Carrick)

The First Excellence: Fa-ling’s MapMystery
suspense/political intrigue/Chinese adoption
Amazon.com: $17.99 US
Kindle: $3.99 US
{Indie}Pendent Books: $15.50 US

Join Fa-ling on an incredible journey into the heart of mainland China as she sets out to discover the land of her birth. In order to determine her future, Fa-ling must first unlock the mysteries of her past. To this end, she travels with a Canadian adoption group to the exotic southern province of Guang-Xi Zhuang. Searching for her lost heritage, Fa-ling encounters murder, kidnapping, political intrigue and organ theft. Together with Detective Wang Yong-qi and his brilliant but uncouth partner Cheng Minsheng, Fa-ling must uncover a high-stakes kidnapping plot –before another child goes missing!

Gold And Fishes
Mystery/suspense/intrigue/current events/International Aid
Amazon.com: $15.99 US
Coming soon: Kindle edition!
Tsunami, 2004 SouthEast Asia

Foreign aid worker Ayla Harris is struggling to bring hope back into the ruins of post-tsunami Indonesia. But when she discovers that her disreputable brother-in-law is missing, she sets out to find him and soon realizes that her own life is in terrible danger.

The Noon God
Mystery/suspense/drama
Amazon.com: $12.99
Coming soon: Kindle Edition!

Living in the shadow of greatness can be a difficult thing. Just ask Desdemona. When her father, the magnificent J. Caesar Fortune, is found murdered inside the offices of the Faculty of Art, there is no shortage of people who carried a grudge against him.

Peter Damian Bellis (@conjuremannovel)

The Conjure Man

One Man with the Fire of God in his eyes….One boy to unleash the power of an alligator charm.

Laura Eno (@lauraeno)

Realms of the Red Rabbit, Book 1
YA Fantasy
Available in Trade Paperback and Kindle
A spoiled, rich young woman is catapulted into an alternate universe because of an ancient legend. As she fights to find her way back home, she must adjust her way of thinking or remain trapped in the Realms for eternity. Along the way she learns the meaning of friendship, love and honor while struggling against the dangerous adversaries who are intent on keeping her there.

Realms of the Red Rabbit-Jake, Book 2
YA Fantasy
Available in Trade Paperback and Kindle

“You belong to me, Alyson,” he whispered softly, but with the clash of steel filling his voice as he spoke. “I will have you.” Loving the wrong woman led to his downfall. Now Jake must spend eternity trapped in the Realms, inflicting terror at his master’s command, the entity known as Green Eyes. Meeting Alyson rips Jake’s carefully constructed world apart, leading him to wonder about his very existence. Havoc reigns as he seeks to keep Alyson against her will. Can her influence change the life he’s led for four thousand years, or is he doomed forever? Read an excerpt at http://www.lauraeno.com

Seducer of Her Dreams
Paranormal Romance
Available in Trade Paperback and Kindle

Emily is beautiful, successful, but has no love life – not with a real man anyway. Involved in the hottest sexual relationship of her life with the ultimate man of her dreams, lately she’s been waking up before the job is finished. Determined to start living her life again in the real world, she banishes him from her nights. An immortal Seducer created to fulfill sexual fantasies, Devan takes the rejection personally. Determined to correct the error, he visits the earth to seduce Emily in person. The only catch…he can’t tell her who he really is, or he will return to the void forever. While Devan learns about life and love in the mortal realm, with humorous and poignant results, Emily learns to trust her own feelings as their sexual passion for each other escalates. But time is running out for them as rules are broken and Fate intervenes. Can their love for each other survive across dimensions when he must return to his own?

Dan Holloway (@agnieszkasshoes)

Songs from the Other Side of the Wall

After her mother walks out and returns to England when she’s just a week old, Szandi grows up on the vineyard in Hungary that has been in her family for 300 years. Now 18, Szandi is part of Budapest’s cosmopolitan art scene, sharing a flat and a bohemian lifestyle with her lover and fellow sculptress, Yang. She has finally found her place in the world. When she discovers that her father has only weeks to live, Szandi must choose once and for all: between the past and the present; between East and West; between her family and her lover.

(Life:) Razorblades Included

(Life:) Razorblades Included is a collection of poems and short stories that celebrates life, and examines what it means, in today’s world, to make the choice to live, in all its messy, exhilarating, terrifying, immoral, impossible, spectacular reality. For all its material deals with suicide, addiction, the hidden side of the porn industry, this book is a celebration of life, of those who, whether they succeed or fail, embrace life in all its complexity.

Silver James (@silverwriter)

Faerie Fate in print & ebook. Wild Rose Press. Also Amazon, B&N & ebook only retailers

If you could go back, do it over again, would you take a chance to find true love?

What if you had no choice?

On her fiftieth birthday, the faerie send Rebecca Miller a thousand years into the past to find her happily ever after with Ciaran MacDermot, Chief of Clann MacDermot, the last Fenian warrior in his line. In the twenty-first century, Becca is old enough to be Ciaran’s mother. In the tenth, she’s young enough to be his bride.

The fae forgot to mention one slight stipulation. The lovers must be bound before the Festival of Light, or Becca will forever disappear into Tir Nan Óg, the faerie Land of the Ever Young.

Eric Krause (@ericjkrause)

The Breath of Life and Other Stories
Get it at: Smashwords
and as a Kindle edition at Amazon
Twenty tales of horror, science fiction, and fantasy make up this collection of short fiction. The stories range from tales of Atlantis, video games that are a bit too real, what happens right after death, battles with vicious dragons, and much, much more.

Monica Marier (@lil_monmon)

Coming Soon! Must Love Dragons
Fantasy/Humour (coming Sept. 2010 courtesy of Hunt Press) (pre-order)

Linus Weedwhacker, a chain-smoking Half-elf stay-at-home dad, is forced out of retirement due to his wife’s complications with kid #6. Now he has to relate to coworkers half his age, complicated new Union rules, and lower back pain. A colourful fantasy comedy with a modern edge.

Marc Nash (@ExisleMoll)

A, B & E

A gangster’s moll on the run from her murderous husband who she betrayed between the sheets, has lost everything and has to sing for her supper. She does this by holding court in bars at a Club 18-30 holiday resort by day and capturing prey to take her into a hotel room by night. Back in Britain, an NHS nurse is under siege from her own abusive patients. She resolves to treat not just their ailing bodies, but their afflicted souls. Two avenging angels, one incendiary convergence.

Emma Newman (@EmApocalyptic)

From Dark Places
Get it from: Amazon Kindle
or Smashwords

Whispering rooms, forbidden needs and love entangled with madness… From Dark Places brings together eleven tales of things unseen and unwanted, things that lurk at the edge of vision and the people they brush against. This anthology of short stories includes links to a secret area of the author’s website containing notes on the origin and development of each story.

Non-Fiction

Dr. Marcia Sirota (@rcinstitute)

Never Diet Again helps women let go of over-eating thru emotional healing & empowerment

In this groundbreaking yet accessible work, Marcia Sirota puts happiness in its rightful place as the true reason for overcoming compulsive eating. She shows why diets and dieting can’t work and how the goal shouldn’t only be weight loss, but freedom from the obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours associated with overeating. Dr. Sirota demonstrates how a woman can overcome her psychological attachment to being overweight, and gives a number of useful tools for understanding and resolving the emotional issues underlying this problem. Ineffective solutions to food addiction are debunked, including the 12-step program, and the philosophy of Ruthless Compassion is explored as a way to more successfully address all addictions.

Coffee Klatch News

If you have news or announcements for the weekly Coffee Klatch (posted on Thursdays) send a DM on Twitter (@Writers_Life) or email to Coffee@AnneTylerLord.com.


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28 responses to “Coffee Klatch: Summer Reads”

  1. This is so kind of you Anne, but I’m not at all surprised, as you’re just naturally a kind soul.

    I decided a few days ago to put reading aside until we go on vacation (just 4 weeks away!), due to a whole lot going on, and I didn’t want to sacrifice my writing. BUT, I’ve already been experiencing withdrawals, (my family knows all too well how addicted I am to reading), and now with this wonderful list of recommendations, I highly doubt I’ll be able to make it another month without reading. Heck, I doubt I’ll even make it another day! Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take a story or two along when I take the kids to the park? Nah, surely not.

    I’m not a pretzel gal, but I AM a chocolate gal, so I’ll just lick that off. 🙂

    Thanks Anne, so very much, for all you do for our community!

  2. Thanks, Anne – what a wonderful set of reads. But what REALLY catches my eye? Those absolutely scrumbulatious looking pudding photos. Now that IS a way to spend a summer 🙂

    1. pudding? where? all I see it pretzels, where is the pudding? I want some!

  3. Absolutely fabulous post, Anne. I guess I have a lot of summer reading to plan for…

  4. Thank you for featuring me in your news section! I think that this link- http://maranwetelrunya.wordpress.com/weekly-writing-challenge/- (the actual page for the challenge, instead of the blog post) would be a better one to send everyone to, as it has the complete rules in it as well as links to the archives (pictures, submitted stories, etc), which the writing post doesn’t. 🙂

    Also, I’ve just bookmarked your blog, because it looks amazing. 😀 I’ll be reading through the archives soon.

  5. I’ve read First Excellence & Two Scoops and loved them both! Terrific books 🙂

  6. Wow, this is a fabulous list. Several books here are already on my to-buy and to-read lists, but so many others I was unaware of. Thanks for pulling this list of books written by this wonderful writing community together. Peace…

  7. Thanks, Laura! Okay, I’m getting it to read after I finish the ebook I’m currently on. Thanks for letting me know. 🙂

  8. Wow. I’m so excited to see so many of my online friends have books and am feeling somewhat shamed that I haven’t finished editing mine for forever. 🙂

    I can say that I read Eric Krause’s
    The Breath of Life and Other Stories and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m interested in Laura’s Red Rabbit books, but I don’t have a Kindle. Is there any chance of it coming out in another ebook format like PDF or ereader? I ocassionally read paper books, but it takes me much much longer to get through them, especially when I’m reading so much web fiction.

    Btw, I’ll take a pretzel! 🙂

    1. They are available at SmashWords in all formats. Thanks for asking!

  9. What a wonderful list and thank you for including me! It’s nice to have titles listed in one place like this so that I don’t forget who wrote what.

    Thanks for the chocolate pretzel… 😉

  10. First off, thanks for including me in there, Anne. I appreciate it. Second, I’m glad to see so many wonderful authors featured. I’ve already read Laura Eno’s Realms of the Red Rabbit Book 1, and I recommend it highly.

    1. Oh, almost forgot. When I saw the quote, “Say! Would you like a chocolate-covered pretzel?” right underneath my entry, I had to laugh out loud. I love Mallrats!

  11. What a great idea, Anne. I’ll be checking out these reads for those long summer days. And may I say that this post looks delicious.

  12. Ohh, chai! It’s been a long time since I don’t drink a good one. *spis* Ahhh! Excellent, thanks Anne. 🙂

    It’s great that you listed everyone’s books in here. I’ll bookmark this post so I can look up later when I make my next book purchase.

    Hope this happens soon, heh.

  13. Lovely of you to do this for the community, Anne.

  14. Last week I mentioned Cecilia Dominic’s new blog (Cecilia’s Random Writings) and open house. She had a few delays in her launch, but it is brand spanking new and ready for a visit at:

    http://ceciliadominic.blogspot.com

    Head over there for cake, wine and a scary cat issuing death threats (well, kinda)

    1. What a lovely blog! I see what you mean about that cat though…

  15. Is it coffee time already? Boy, this has come round fast! I’m in the mood for chocolate; it’s been a demanding week.

    How is everyone? xx

    1. If you have chocolate, I’ll be right over! 😉

  16. Thanks for the listing Anne. Can I just say I’ve read Dan Holloway’s novel “Songs From The Other Side Of The Wall” and an excellent read it is too for anyone interested in post-Communist Eastern Europe and the rise of socially-networked countercultures. I think he’s reading from his new book “Life (razorblades included)” on the same live bill in July. But he won’t be dressing up in a nurse’s uniform like me!

    Thanks again. I look forward to encountering the work of the other writers here.

  17. This is a great assortment of summer reading, and the weekly revision group sounds great, too. I’m going to go check them out now. Thanks, Anne! ~ Olivia

  18. Thank you for featuring those news 😉

  19. Wow! So many of our friends have books out that will go on my reading list. I have read Donna’s book and can report that I loved and enjoyed the story!

    1. Hey, check this out! Donna got a mention by readers:

      Tweet: RT @Donna_Carrick: Check out Comment# 81 NY TimesMystery: The First Excellence @Donna_Carrick http://tinyurl.com/365g4uk Please click Recommend — Thank you!
      http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/books/16noir.html?permid=81#comment81

      1. Wow — so many of our group featured here, Anne! Thank you so much for including Alex and me — we really appreciate it. Now I know where to look when I need new reading material– no further than within our own circle of friends…

        And thank you, Marisa, for the very kind comment!
        Best to all,
        Donna

  20. Authors in this post: Please don’t hesitate to tell me about any changes that are needed. I didn’t have as much time as usual to proof/edit due to an internet outage yesterday.

    Other authors in the Writer’s Life Community: If you didn’t get your book submitted to me in time for this post, just list it in the comments!

    Aren’t those candy covered pretzels good?

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