Margaret Killjoy in Conversation With Robert Evans
Friday, November 1 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
In The Sapling Cage (Feminist Press) — the gripping first novel in the Daughters of the Empty Throne trilogy — author Margaret Killjoy spins a tale of earth magic, power struggle, and self-invention in an own-voices story of trans witchcraft. Lorel has always dreamed of becoming a witch: learning magic, fighting monsters, and exploring the world beyond the small town where she and her mother run the stables. Even though a strange plague is killing the trees in the Kingdom of Cekon and witches are being blamed for it, Lorel wants nothing more than to join them. There’s only one problem: all witches are women, and she was born a boy. When the coven comes to claim her best friend, Lorel disguises herself in a dress and joins in her friend’s place, leaving home and her old self behind. She soon discovers the dark powers threatening the kingdom: a magical blight scars the land, and the power-mad Duchess Helte is crushing everything between her and the crown. In spite of these dangers, Lorel makes friends and begins learning magic from the powerful witches in her coven. However, she fears that her new friends and mentors will find out her secret and kick her out of the coven, or worse. Killjoy will be joined in conversation by Robert Evans, author of After the Revolution.
Emily Varga in Conversation With Courtney Gould & Anita Kelly
Friday, November 1 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
Framed for a crime she didn’t commit, Dania counts down her days in prison until she can exact revenge on Mazin, the boy responsible for her downfall, the boy she once loved — and still can’t forget. When she discovers a fellow prisoner may have the key to exacting that vengeance — a stolen djinn treasure — they execute a daring escape together and search for the hidden treasure. Armed with dark magic and a new identity, Dania enacts a plan to bring down those who betrayed her and her family, even though Mazin stands in her way. But seeking revenge becomes a complicated game of cat and mouse, especially when an undeniable fire still burns between them, and the power to destroy her enemies has a price. As Dania falls deeper into her web of traps and lies, she risks losing her humanity to her fight for vengeance — and her heart to the only boy she’s ever loved. Emily Varga’s For She Is Wrath (Wednesday Books) is a sweeping, Pakistani romantic fantasy reimagining of The Count of Monte Cristo. Varga will be joined in conversation by Courtney Gould, author of Where Echoes Die, and Anita Kelly, author of How You Get the Girl.
Kids’ Storytime With Forrest Burdett
Saturday, November 2 @ 10:30am (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
Miles wakes up on his adoption day with butterflies in his tummy. He’s excited, but also nervous and a little scared. His new new dads, Teddy and David, bring tender support, and waiting at home is his new big sister Michelle. She can’t wait to show Miles his room, take him ice skating, and share all the amazing joy that makes their family great. Love takes time, but as they get to know each other better, the kindness of his sister and the dedication of his dads help their bond grow. Authored by Sarah S. Brannen and gorgeously illustrated by Forrest Burdett, Miles Comes Home (Little Bee) celebrates gay parents and the power of family.
First Thursday: Ascending the Alpine
Thursday, November 7 @ 6:30pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
In their watercolor paintings, Portland artist and climber Eloise Bacher draws from their personal experiences climbing throughout the Pacific Northwest, primarily in the Cascades. Ascending the Alpine features the unique perspective one can see in these high places, both in the landscape and their fellow climbers.
Phillip Margolin
Thursday, November 7 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
Charlie Webb is a third-rate lawyer who graduated from a third-rate law school and, because he couldn’t get hired by any of the major law firms, has opened his own law firm, where he gets by handling cases for dubious associates from his youth and some court appointed cases. Described as “a leaky boat floating down the stream of life,” Charlie has led an unremarkable life, personally and professionally. Until he’s appointed to be the attorney for a decidedly crackpot artist who calls himself Guido Sabatini (born Lawrence Weiss). Sabatini has been arrested — again — for breaking into a restaurant and stealing back a painting he sold them because he was insulted by where it was displayed. But as Lawrence Weiss, he’s also an accomplished card shark and burglar and while he was there, he stole a thumb drive from the owner’s safe. Not knowing what else Sabatani has stolen, Webb negotiates the return of the painting and “other items” for the owner dropping charges against Sabatini. But the contents of the flash drive threaten very powerful figures who are determined to retrieve it, the restaurant owner (Gretchen Hall) and her driver (Yuri Makarov) are being investigated for the sex trafficking of minors, and there are others who have a violent grudge against Sabatini. When a minor theft case becomes a double homicide, and even more, Charlie Webb, an insignificant lawyer assigned to an insignificant case, is faced with the most important, and deadliest, case of his life. Going back to his long-time bestselling roots, Phillip Margolin returns with An Insignificant Case (Minotaur), a brilliant standalone legal thriller in the tradition of John Grisham.
Peter Ames Carlin in Conversation With Rick Emerson
Friday, November 8 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
In the spring of 1980, an unexpected group of musical eccentrics came together to play their very first performance at a college party in Athens, Georgia. Within a few short years, they had taken over the world — with smash records like Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster, and Green. Raw, outrageous, and expressive, R.E.M.’s distinctive musical flair was unmatched, and a string of mega-successes solidified them as generational spokesmen. In the tumultuous transition between the wide-open ’80s and the anxiety of the early ’90s, R.E.M. challenged the corporate and social order, chasing a vision and cultivating a magnetic, transgressive sound. In this rich, intimate biography, critically acclaimed author Peter Ames Carlin looks beyond the sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll to open a window into the fascinating lives of four college friends — Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry — who stuck together at any cost, until the end. Deeply descriptive and remarkably poetic, steeped in ’80s and ’90s nostalgia, The Name of This Band is R.E.M. (Doubleday) paints a cultural history of the commercial peak and near-total collapse of a great music era, and the story of the generation that came of age at the apotheosis of rock. Carlin will be joined in conversation by Rick Emerson, author of Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries.
Kids’ Storytime With Young Vo
Saturday, November 9 @ 10:30am (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
From Young Vo — the creator of Gibberish — comes Makers (Levine Querido), a friendship story about different ways to think and create. It begins with two boys who together dream of sailing across the wide sea. As they grow and both become boat makers, their differences grow bigger and bigger. One has a wild and fresh imagination, with tons of great ideas, but he has trouble with quality control. The other is meticulous and strives for perfection, but he has trouble finishing even one boat! Only when the two friends reunite can they form a perfect team and reach their hearts’ desires.
Matt Lamothe & Jenny Volvovski
Saturday, November 9 @ 3pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
From the rocky coastline of Maine to the lush rainforests of Hawai‘i, read about the many different places American kids call home — and about 50 real kids who live there. Matt Lamothe and Jenny Volvovski document the daily lives of 50 children from America’s 50 states in All About U.S. (Chronicle), the compelling companion to the award-winning picture book This Is How We Do It. Fifty unique, authentic portraits of growing up in America include: families who live in a variety of dwellings, from houseboats and yurts to farms, Native reservations, and Air Force bases; children with adoptive families, stepfamilies, single-parent families, two moms or dads, and those who live with their grandparents; children living with health conditions such as leukemia and muscular dystrophy; and families from a range of social, religious, and economic backgrounds. This illustration-packed nonfiction children’s book depicts a diverse collection of families, homes, and dreams, highlighting what makes each child’s world so unique yet also familiar. All About U.S. brings us together by celebrating the similarities and differences between kids’ day-to-day experiences across the United States.
Jaydra Johnson & Diana Oropeza
Sunday, November 10 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
Raised in a rural Oregon town plagued by poverty, artist and writer Jaydra Johnson excelled in school and chased upward mobility, desperate to escape the adversity that she saw as her inheritance — and the certainty that she grew up as trash. Johnson’s powerful memoir, Low (Fonograf Editions) — selected by acclaimed writer Maggie Nelson as the winner of Fonograf Editions’ inaugural essay contest — tells the redemptive story of an artist who came to embrace her lineage. In the tradition of other outcast artists who have spun refuse into art, the essays in Low reclaim trash as a precious resource and a medium for storytelling. In this bracing debut, Johnson describes her life and art, including the cut paper collages that punctuate these essays, in vivid detail while offering smart and visceral reflections on a wide range of literary and visual artists who have inspired her, from Shakespeare to contemporary conceptual artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles. As Nelson writes, “Low‘s provocations and attestations stayed with me long after I turned its final page. I found myself rooting hard for its narrator — while also realizing that there is no need, as she has clearly found her way, and is now our teacher.” An indispensable meditation on poverty and art, and a compelling corrective to conventional memoirs about overcoming disadvantage, Low announces the arrival of an important new voice in creative nonfiction.
Missing: The Statue of Liberty. A lost Raphael self-portrait last seen with a military unit named Hellfish. A manuscript by the artist Sophie Calle. Your local scorpion population. An astronaut-parent. A housekeeper. A leg. Unfiled files. D.B. Cooper. That volcano erupting behind you. The present tense… These are just a handful of the many disappearances Diana Oropeza explores in her startling debut book, An Incomplete Catalog of Disappearance (Future Tense), a hybrid work of flash fiction and creative nonfiction that haunts at every turn. Many voices, named and unnamed, document the unresolved nature of disappearance and unending grief that follows in its wake. As you read, the book itself disappears in your hands.
A. J. Hackwith in Conversation With Caitlin Starling
Tuesday, November 12 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
The true hero of The Wizard of Oz takes center stage in Toto (Ace Books), the brilliant, delightfully snarky reimagining from A. J. Hackwith, author of The Library of the Unwritten. I was mostly a good dog until they sold me out to animal control, okay? But if it’s a choice between Oz, with its creepy little singing dudes, and being behind bars in gray old Kansas, I’ll choose the place where animals talk and run the show for now, thanks. It’s not my fault that the kid is stuck here too, or that she stumbled into a tug-of-war over a pair of slippers that don’t even taste good. Now one witch in good eyeliner calls her pretty and we’re off on a quest? Teenagers. I try to tell her she’s falling in with the wrong crowd when she befriends a freaking hedge wizard made of straw, that blue jay with revolutionary aspirations, and the walking tin can. Still, I’m not one to judge when there’s the small matter of a coup in the Forest Kingdom. Look, something really stinks in Oz, and this Wizard guy and the witches positively reek of it. As usual, it’s going to be up to a sensible little dog to do a big dog’s job and get to the bottom of it. And trust me: Little dogs can get away with anything. Hackwith will be joined in conversation by Caitlin Starling, author of Last to Leave the Room and The Luminous Dead.
Jon Waterman in Conversation With David Stevenson
Wednesday, November 13 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
Forty years ago, park ranger Jon Waterman took his first journey into the Alaskan Arctic, to the Noatak headwaters. He was astonished by the abundant wildlife, the strange landscape, and its otherworldly light — how the “frequent rain showers glow like lemonade poured out of the sky.” Taken with a new sense of wonder, he began to explore the North on several trips in the 1980s. After a 30-year absence from the Noatak, he returned with his son in 2021. Amid a now-flooded river missing the once-plentiful caribou, he was shocked and heartbroken by the changes. The following year, in 2022, he took one final journey “into the thaw” to document — for his lushly illustrated and scholarly book, Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis (Patagonia) — the environmental and cultural changes wrought by the climate crisis. An award-winning author and photographer, Waterman’s narrative alternates between adventure and wilderness memoir and plainly stated natural history of the area. Chased by bears, sometimes alone for weeks on end amid hordes of mosquitoes, he notes the extraordinary changes from 1983 until the present day: brush grown over the tundra in a phenomenon called Greening of the Arctic, tear-drop-shaped landslide thaw slumps — a.k.a. thermokarsts — caused by thawing permafrost, and an increasing loss of sea ice as he travels along the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Waterman also spends time with the kindhearted, welcoming Inuit or Inupiat most affected by the Arctic crisis, who share how their age-old culture has attempted to cope with “the thaw.” Stricken by the change, Waterman paints an intimate portrait of both the villages and the little-visited landscape, because “it’s high time that we truly understand the Arctic.” He writes, “Lest we forget what it once was.” Through his quest for wonder — in prose illuminated by humility and humor — Waterman shows how the Arctic can confer grace on those who pass through. Despite the unfolding crisis, as a narrative of hope, at the book’s end he suggests actions we can all take to slow the thaw and preserve what is left of this remarkable, vast frontier. Waterman will be joined in conversation by David Stevenson, Book Review Editor for the American Alpine Journal and author of Points of Astonishment: Alpine Stories.
John Straley in Conversation With Willy Vlautin
Wednesday, November 13 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
Diagnosed with terminal cancer, retired marine biologist Delphine is on the brink of throwing in the towel. She has outlived her PI husband and worries she’s become a burden to her son and his growing family. One night, while contemplating how to go on, Delphine witnesses a violent argument between a man and his girlfriend. When Delphine discovers the woman has gone missing along with her young child, Delphine embarks on a quest to find them. What begins as a chance encounter balloons into a rescue mission across the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, Delphine encounters the dregs of humanity — grappling with schemers, kidnappers, and murderers — as well as its joys. With the help of a few friends, a retired PI, and a queer biker gang, Delphine is determined to see her mission through… knowing full well it may be her last. While Big Breath In (Soho Crime) stands alone, longtime John Straley fans will recognize the characteristic wit, heart, and contemplation of life that threads through every one of his books — and discover a new heroine to fall in love with. Straley will be joined in conversation by Willy Vlautin, author of The Horse.
Mary E. Pearson in Conversation With Makiia Lucier
Thursday, November 14 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
From bestselling author Mary E. Pearson comes The Courting of Bristol Keats (Flatiron), a thrilling romantic fantasy full of dangerous fae, dark secrets, and addictive romance. After losing both their parents, Bristol Keats and her sisters struggle to stay afloat in their small, quiet town of Bowskeep. When Bristol begins to receive letters from an “aunt” she’s never heard of who promises she can help, she reluctantly agrees to meet — and discovers that everything she thought she knew about her family is a lie. Even her father might still be alive, not killed but kidnapped by terrifying creatures to a whole other realm — the one he is from. Desperate to save her father and find the truth, Bristol journeys to a land of gods and fae and monsters. Pulled into a dangerous world of magic and intrigue, she makes a deadly bargain with the fae leader, Tyghan. But what she doesn’t know is that he’s the one who drove her parents to live a life on the run. And he is just as determined as she is to find her father — dead or alive. Pearson will be joined in conversation by Makiia Lucier, author of Dragonfruit.
Tarah DeWitt in Conversation With Alison Cochrun
Friday, November 15 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
They say love and construction don’t mix. By that logic, hate and construction may as well be condemned. LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds had one short and contentious summer fling when they were teens — certainly nothing to build a foundation on. But a decade later, when their grandmothers have left them with shared ownership of their dilapidated Santa Cruz building, they’re thrust back together and have to figure out how to brace up the pieces. LaRynn has the money, but in order to access her trust, she has to be married. Deacon has the construction expertise, but lacks the funds. A deal is struck: Marry for however long it takes to fix up the property, collect a profit, and cut ties. In a home without walls, LaRynn and Deacon quickly learn that it’s easy to hide behind emotional ones, even in a marriage. But with all the exposure and pitfalls that come with living with the opposite sex (and none of the perks, much to their growing mutual frustration) they’ll also have to learn what it means to truly cooperate as a team. Filled with crackling tension, Tarah DeWitt’s The Co-op (St. Martin’s Griffin) is a steamy second-chance romance about restoration and renovation, and uncovering all the things that build character within ourselves. It’s about the never-ending construction project that partnership is, and finding enjoyment at every stage. DeWitt will be joined in conversation by Alison Cochrun, author of Here We Go Again.
Rosiee Thor in Conversation With William Ritter
Friday, November 15 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
Rosiee Thor’s Aim to Misbehave (Titan Books) — the ninth exhilarating and original Firefly novel tying into the fan-beloved series from creator Joss Whedon — follows Mal, Book and the rest of the crew mounting a madcap heist to untangle themselves from a sinister web of lies on a backwater moon. It all started with the geese. The Firefly crew is eager to get paid for their latest job, but when payment arrives as a gaggle of geese instead of a purse, their stay on the planet Brome gets an indefinite extension. Don’t matter that the geese will fetch a pretty penny once they get somewhere to sell them. Without coin, they can’t buy fuel, and without fuel, they can’t get off-world. Serenity is stuck. Luckily the foreman of the local fuel refinery, Lyle Horne, wants to hire them, but not to work in the factory. A philanthropic authority known as The Governess has been kidnapping his workers. Lyle’s fixing to get them back — with the help of Mal and his crew. Only trouble is, Lyle’s got a mysterious past with Shepherd Book, one the preacher ain’t too keen to talk about. Out of options and out of time, they launch a three-pronged plan: Mal will break into her fortress of an estate to retrieve the workers, Inara and Simon will pose as potential donors to the Governess’s charity as a distraction, and Jayne will stay behind to keep an eye on Lyle. But things never do go smooth, and soon the crew finds they have more than a few geese running amuck on Serenity. Thor will be joined in conversation by William Ritter, author of the Jackaby series.
Kids’ Storytime With Julie Showers
Saturday, November 16 @ 10:30am (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
A homeless cat named Toby roams the streets of Portland, Oregon in search of food and friendship. One afternoon, Toby’s nose leads him to a warm and welcoming cafe, where people from all walks of life gather to enjoy free meals. Toby becomes a familiar face at the cafe, weaving through the tables and curling up next to the diners. The people there, many of whom are experiencing homelessness or poverty, find comfort and joy in Toby’s presence. Each day, Toby meets new friends with unique stories, teaching him and young readers about the challenges and resilience of people facing hard times. Despite their hardships, the diners at the cafe form bonds, helping each other and sharing what little they have. All thanks to a little help from Toby. The friends Toby meets along the way gift him with scraps of fabric, which he collects. A man named Oscar, who had been a regular at the cafe, returns with the joyous news that he’s found a job and a place to live. Remembering the comfort Toby brought him and others during their toughest days, Oscar decides to adopt the orange cat who had become a symbol of hope and friendship for so many. Toby Finds a Home (Blanchet House) — co-written by Julie Showers (with co-author Marie Showers and illustrated by Eva Wrzesinski) — is a heartwarming story that highlights the realities of poverty and homelessness while celebrating the power of community and compassion. Through Toby’s journey, young readers learn to see beyond circumstances, recognizing the humanity and hope in everyone they meet and the importance of taking care of each other. Toby Finds a Home is published by Blanchet House of Hospitality in Portland, Oregon, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that operates a free cafe with transitional housing. Its mission is to alleviate suffering which includes building compassion for marginalized people experiencing poverty and homelessness.
Sonja Overhiser in Conversation With Holly Erickson
Saturday, November 16 @ 3pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
Whether it’s a weeknight dinner or a homespun candlelit date night, somebody has to get dinner on the table. And what if that task was something you could do in tandem with someone you feel close to, making the work more pleasurable and spending quality time together? Enter Sonja and Alex Overhiser’s A Couple Cooks (Chronicle Books), your guide to making this dream a reality. With over 100 recipes for all occasions, from everyday dinners and large gatherings to intimate dinners for two, this book is designed to make meal planning and prep a stress-free and enjoyable experience. With designated roles for each partner, each recipe is crafted to be made lovingly by two. Brimming with vibrant photography, A Couple Cooks includes tips and tricks for hosting, upping the romance in the home, table setting and styling, and enhancing your home bar cart. Much more than your average weeknight cookbook, this is an inspiring and hardworking guide on how to make the most of the quotidian moments that make up our days by relishing time spent together, working as a team. Sonja Overhiser will be joined in conversation by Holly Erickson of The Modern Proper.
Tom Pyun in Conversation With Joselyn Takacs
Sunday, November 17 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
Winston Kang and Jared Cahill seem like the perfect couple. When they check in for their flight to Cambodia, where they’re headed to meet the surrogate carrying their baby girl, even the woman at the airline counter recognizes it: “I’m so happy that marriage is legal for you guys,” she says. But while Jared is already planning for their second kid — half white like him, half Korean like Wynn — Wynn isn’t ready to give up his dreams of becoming a hip-hop dancer to become “the hostage of a crying, pooping terrorist.” So he does what anyone in his position would do: He leaves Jared at the airport. Wynn sets off on a journey around the globe, trying to figure out what it means to put himself first, from auditioning for Misty Espinoza’s comeback tour to organizing a Prince-themed flash mob. Oceans away, Jared starts to panic that no one in his life can talk to Meryl about her period or what it’s like to grow up Asian American. Told in alternating points of view, Tom Pyun’s sardonic and addictive page-turner, Something Close to Nothing (Amble Press), confronts questions of race, identity, and privilege, pulling at the loose threads of the American Dream and facing the question of whether it’s ever too late to finally face yourself and grow up. Pyun will be joined in conversation by Joselyn Takacs, author of Pearce Oysters.
Rob Sheffield in Conversation With Chuck Klosterman
Thursday, November 21 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
A cultural phenomenon. A worldwide obsession. An agent of emotional chaos. There’s no parallel to Taylor Swift in history: a teenage girl who turns into the world’s favorite pop star, songwriter, storyteller, guitar hero, live performer, changing how music is made and heard. An all-time great on the level of The Beatles, Prince, or David Bowie. Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music (Dey Street) is the first book that goes deep on the musical and cultural impact of Taylor Swift. Nobody can tell the story like Rob Sheffield, the award-winning author of Dreaming the Beatles, On Bowie, and Love Is a Mix Tape. The legendary Rolling Stone journalist is the writer who has chronicled Taylor for every step of her long career, from her early days to the Eras Tour. Sheffield gets right to the heart of Swift and her music, her lyrics, her fan connection, her raw power. At once one of the most beloved music figures of the past two decades and one of the most criticized, Taylor Swift is known as much for her life beyond her music as she is for her hits — the most public of stars, yet also the weirdest and most mysterious. In the tradition of Sheffield’s Dreaming the Beatles, Heartbreak Is the National Anthem will inform and delight a legion of fans who hang on every word from Taylor and every word Rob writes on her. Sheffield will be joined in conversation by Chuck Klosterman, author of The Nineties and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs.
Christopher Brown in Conversation With Michelle Nijhuis
Friday, November 22 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
A Natural History of Empty Lots (Timber Press) is a genre-defying work of nature writing, literary nonfiction, and memoir that explores what happens when nature and the city intersect. During the real estate crash of the late 2000s, Christopher Brown purchased an empty lot in an industrial section of Austin, Texas. The property — abandoned and full of litter and debris — was an unlikely site for a home. Brown had become fascinated with these empty lots around Austin, so-called “ruined” spaces once used for agriculture and industry awaiting their redevelopment. He discovered them to be teeming with natural activity, and embarked on a twenty-year project to live in and document such spaces. There, in our most damaged landscapes, he witnessed the remarkable resilience of wild nature, and how we can heal ourselves by healing the Earth. Beautifully written and philosophically hard-hitting, A Natural History of Empty Lots offers a new lens on human disruption and nature, offering a sense of hope among the edgelands. Brown will be joined in conversation by Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction.
Matt Dinniman
Friday, November 22 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman! You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic, intergalactic game show. That’s what. Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world — or just get to the next level — in a video game-like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show. Dinniman will present the first three of his Dungeon Crawler Carl books: Dungeon Crawler Carl (Ace Books), Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (Ace Books), and The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook (Ace Books).
Preorder a Signed Edition (Dungeon Crawler Carl)
Preorder a Signed Edition (Carl’s Doomsday Scenario)
Preorder a Signed Edition (The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook)
Juhea Kim in Conversation With Theo Downes-Le Guin
Tuesday, November 26 @ 7pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
On a White Night in 2019, prima ballerina Natalia Leonova returns to St. Petersburg two years after a devastating accident stalled her career. Once the most celebrated dancer of her generation, she now turns to pills and alcohol to numb the pain of her past. She is unmoored in her old city as the ghosts of her former life begin to resurface: her loving but difficult mother, her absentee father, and the two gifted dancers who led to her downfall. One of those dancers, Alexander, is the love of her life, who transformed both Natalia and her art. The other is Dmitri, a dark and treacherous genius. When the latter offers her a chance to return to the stage in her signature role, Natalia must decide whether she can again face the people responsible for both her soaring highs and darkest hours. Painting a vivid portrait of the Russian ballet world, where cutthroat ambition, ever-shifting politics, and sublime artistry collide, City of Night Birds (Ecco) unveils the making of a dancer with both profound intimacy and breathtaking scope. Mysterious and alluring, passionate and virtuosic, Juhea Kim’s second novel is an affecting meditation on love, forgiveness, and the making of an artist in a turbulent world. Kim will be joined in conversation by Theo Downes-Le Guin, president of the Ursula K. Le Guin Foundation.
The Magic We Miss: An Anthology of Magic All Around Us
Saturday, November 30 @ 3pm (PT) / Powell’s City of Books
In a city (very much inspired by Portland and its surrounding boroughs) we find a young lady riding alone on public transit. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she catches a glimpse of the strangest sight. An ogre! An actual ogre wearing a tattered overcoat, a flat cap, and reading a newspaper! What follows is a growing friendship between the girl and the world-weary magical creature. Their interactions will help reveal a world of wonders that exists parallel to our own, but invisible to most. The stories in Brian and Josie Parker’s anthology, The Magic We Miss (Believe in Wonder Publishing) — crafted by a diverse group of authors and visionaries — will unfold in this setting, each one a unique take on the idea of “magic all around us.” The stories will feature magic, mystery, chills, thrills, and true connection, all with a focus on imagination, resilience, and embracing the unknown. Anthology editor Brian Parker will be joined in conversation by The Magic We Miss contributor Benjamin Gorman, with readings by contributors John Slovacek, Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq, Sean Fishback, Annie Carl, Colleen East, and Stephanie Carrier-Boodram.
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