Don and I are in the COVID19 high risk group, so we are isolating ourselves. We already had a fully stocked pantry and freezer in anticipation of the snowstorms and thunderstorms that can knock out power for a few days at a time. So far, the pandemic is a spectator sport for us.
In all honesty, we can’t pretend that social distancing is much of a challenge. We’re the kind of introverts who always feel a bit of relief when some gathering has been called off. That said, all the book events that would have supported sales for The Women of the Copper Country have either been cancelled or postponed to tentative dates in August.
Sales are going to take a hit but at least Copper Country got a good start last year. So let me recommend to you two authors whose newest books will be published in the next few weeks and whose work deserves a robust readership.
David Sosnowski is a wonderful writer whose Happy Doomsday is perfect for current events. His new one is Buzz Kill. Here’s my blurb for that one:
“David Sosnowski’s novels have all been funny, insightful, and utterly of the moment, and yet he accomplishes what the great nineteenth century novelists strove for: he makes us understand that everyone around us — sullen teenagers, homeless guys, demented old women — everyone has a vivid interior life and a compelling story.”
And then there is Susan Petrone, whose newest novel is dead solid perfect. The Heebie Jeebie Girl is set in Youngstown, Ohio, in the 1970s when the steel mills were shutting down and people were feeling their way through end of one economy and the beginning of another — something that many people will be experiencing over the coming months.
Susan’s characters are beautifully individual, diverse, and well-drawn, but the genius of this story is making the city of Youngstown a character who comments on events as they unfold. I just loved it.
Please help to support your local independent bookstore and order books from stores in your community. As always, you can order signed copies of my books from my local independent, Mac’s Backs/Books on Coventry.
Stay safe. Flatten the curve. Be kind.
Maybe also try bookshop.org (https://bookshop.org/pages/about). Order online, proceeds / commissions go to support independent bookstores.
I have been so excited since I learned of your Women of Copper Country tour coming to my town in Romeo, Michigan. Even though I understand the reason for cancelling I am so disappointed!
Stay well…. thanks for recommendations.
Hi Mary, the libraries are closed here, and Powell’s is barely holding on now, but I guess most people could read online (ugh, not me). I recently bought all Robert Caro’s books on LBJ. It’s a great way to just be somewhere else for hours at a time. I have the complete works of William Shakespeare. Hey, what a great time to actually read all the books on your shelves! You and Don stay safe and everyone please remember the only way out is through. We will get through this.
My wife and I are, likewise, in the COVID-19 target zone and are sheltering at home. We were pretty well hoarded up for the usual late spring Minnesota blasts, but I have yet to think of everything for any event. Stay safe and keep writing.
Be safe. God Bless us all
Yeah, we’re all in!
I was thinking of your great work while, shaking my head as TCM programmed Wyatt Earp day yesterday!
So glad to read this. David & I are also introverted so being isolated is our usual M.O>
Looking forward to reading your new book!!
Love the others.
Stay healthy, all good wishes,
Zuki
Recommendations appreciated. Stay safe and well.
“We’re the kind of introverts who always feel a bit of relief when some gathering has been called off. ”
Amen to that! Thanks for the post, and encouragement to keep buying books 🙂
Although my husband owns Sparrow and others, I had never read anything of yours (BAD LIBRARIAN!). However, I have just remedied that with Women of the Copper Country…still wiping the tears from my eyes after the last chapters. I have no words. Just wanting to let you know that having toured the Quincy Mine on the Keweenaw Peninsula and hearing absolutely NOTHING about the events of 1918, I was fascinated and horrified. Thank you so much from Portage County OH.
I got to tell you, Ms. Russell, you’re a great writer. Thanks for putting so much thought into your work in this, the Age of Nonstop Action and Thrills.
Thank you so much for writing the book: A Thread of Grace. I read one book after another – and many are re; WWII and the Nazi’s. I grew up with Jewish people, black people, Arabic people, and Italians ( I married one.) I am Irish/ English. How I loved this book. It’s not often I find such an interesting, gripping historical book. ( I am77 yrs old, hubby is 80 now) We are both war babies. 🙂 Married 56 yrs to my Italian. 🙂
I have been a Lawrence of Arabia fan ever since the movie came out the first time. And within the last few years I saw an expanded version in the movie theater in Highland Park Village, Dallas and, of course, noticed where all they “new bits’ were. I was delighted to see that you had written a book that includes T,E. Lawrence. I read it during the corona time and flagged parts for including in my book journal. Today I completed that task and savored and delighted in your words again. I first encountered you in A Thread of Grace as a book club read. Later I discovered Doc. I loved that book. I read it and listened to it and wrote out quotations from it that I have referred to numerous times over the years. I followed it up with Epitaph. And in March read The Women of the Copper Country. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your beautiful writing….I am still off in the Middle East with Agnes and Lawrence
Thank YOU for being such an appreciative reader!