Reflections of South Carolina, Volume 2

Reflections of South Carolina, Volume 2

Photographs by Robert C. Clark
Text by Tom Poland
Foreword by Mary Alice Monroe
(2014)
10 x 12
248 pages
236 color and 14 b&w illus. 

Idgie Says:

South Carolina is a beautiful state and this book shows it in it's full glory.  What I enjoy about this particular coffee table book is that it not only shows landscaping of the state, but it shows the people.  I recognized several people in the pictures, including Betsy Teter of Hub City Books - a most fabulous bookstore/press, and this made the book "personal" to me.   

There aren't a lot of ocean photos in the book which is a shame as the beaches in South Carolina are fabulous, but remember - this is Book Two - I'll have to go have a look at Book One, they might be there. 

Regardless, this would be a fine collection to your home or as a gift to others.

Book Description:

A pictorial essay that showcases the natural beauty of the Palmetto State and its inhabitants

From the Appalachians to the Atlantic, South Carolina's awe-inspiring beauty is revealed in this visually stirring and heart-warming tribute to one of America's favorite vacation destinations. Rich with 250 stunning photographs, this second volume of Reflections of South Carolina uncovers the geological, natural, and cultural grandeur the Palmetto State packs into 32,000 square miles. A foreword by New York Times best-selling author Mary Alice Monroe complements the photographs and text.


In a landscape abundant with waterfalls, rivers, lakes, and surf, South Carolina overflows with flora and fauna, as well as astonishing vistas. On their new journey, photographer Robert C. Clark and writer Tom Poland set out on a path of discovery that reveals charming country stores, water-powered gristmills, enchanting meadows, and extraordinary people and places. From angles high and low, this keepsake book illuminates the state's summits, swamps, shores, and islands that brim with life, beauty, and culture. Turn the pages and explore the mountain majesties, fruited plain, and shining sea—South Carolina holds so much of what makes this country "America the Beautiful."


Reflections of South Carolina, Volume 2 documents the state's surprising variety as well. You can stand atop Sassafras Mountain in August and yet feel fall's chill or walk Charleston's cobblestone streets in shorts in the middle of February. Clark and Poland advise visitors and residents alike to take their time exploring South Carolina and whenever possible to take the road less traveled—for the next turn might reveal an antebellum-era slave chapel, a farmer peddling honey and tomatoes, a mountain's reflection in a sparkling lake, or a peach orchard exploding pink. What could be next? A praise house? An unforgettable character? Art on an abandoned boat? Discovery makes a great companion.

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Robert C. Clark's work has appeared in National Geographic books, Newsweek, Smithsonian, photographic awards annuals such as Print and Communication Arts, and magazines too numerous to list. He has collaborated on three previous USC Press books with Tom Poland—South Carolina: A Timeless Journey, South Carolina: The Natural Heritage, and Reflections of South Carolina—and one, University of South Carolina: A Portrait, with Chris Horn.

Tom Poland writes columns about the South and its people, traditions, lifestyle, and culture for newspapers and journals in Georgia and South Carolina. In addition Poland has coauthored Save the Last Dance for Me: A Love Story of the Shag and the Society of Southern Stranders, also published by USC Press. Poland lives in Columbia.

New York Times best-selling author Mary Alice Monroe is the author of The Beach House, Skyward, Sweetgrass, Swimming Lessons, Time Is a River, Last Light over Carolina, The Butterfly's Daughter, and other books.

Books for Tupelo Auction!

Emily Gatlin @emilygatlin · 

 

We are so incredibly fortunate. Neighbors and friends have lost everything. Just now learning the scope. Everyone is OK.

So yeah, it was kind of the Mondayest of Mondays. I was still wearing my helmet, hiding in my basement, and afraid to open the door (which kept blowing open during the tornado, by the way, and I could SEE THINGS) when messages from my book industry colleagues and fellow Rioters started coming in. I mean, at that point I didn’t know if my friends on the other side of the street were OK. Everyone said the exact same thing. “So glad you’re OK. What can I do to help?”

I thought about it for a few days. I was helping people because I lived in the middle of it. Our natural instinct as humans is to help others (at least it should be), and it’s hard to stand back, watch people suffer and not do SOMETHING.

 

Then, my New York Times Bestselling author friend Stephanie McAfee came to town. She was so horrified by what she saw that she offered to stand on my street corner and sing for dollars. Something. Anything. “Can I give books? Do people need books?” she asked.

Give books. “I give dollars for books every week,” I thought. PEOPLE WOULD GIVE DOLLARS FOR BOOKS!

I started reaching out to my author friends who had asked if there was anything they could do. I told them they could give me a signed book, and I’d put them all together on eBay as one big lot and sell ‘em off to the highest bidder. The next day, packages upon packages upon boxes started arriving. Then word started to spread among the publishing community. Celebrities were sending me books. Bookstores were donating near priceless inventory. And publishers sent HEAVY boxes of signed books. The postman gave up at one point and left the whole carrier at my door.

I ended up with over 150 different titles, including a verified signed first edition copy of J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy (thank you Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee) and a signed first edition copy of George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons. Oh, and there’s a special edition hand numbered copy of Larry McMurtry’s The Last Kind Words Saloon. And even a signed first edition copy of Memories of John Lennon signed by Yoko Ono.

After hundreds of hours of planning, organizing, WordPressing, and eBaying, all 150 titles are now being auctioned off. Every dime I receive will be donated to CREATE Foundation’s Northeast Mississippi Tornado Relief Fund, where the money is distributed to organizations on a need basis.

I hope you’ll take a gander at the books. It’s been fun having them in my really small house that some might consider a glorified U-Haul box with a seriously leaky roof, but I can’t wait to ship them out to happy, generous readers all over the country. The auctions end between August 5th and 6th.

Visit http://www.booksfortupelo.com for auction information and a complete list of books and participating authors.

Website HERE.

Full Article Here.

Alloy Entertainment Publishes First Three Books Today!

Alloy Entertainment Launches New Digital-First Imprint with Amazon Publishing

First three books release today

SEATTLE—(NASDAQ: AMZN)—July 29, 2014—Today, Amazon Publishing and Alloy Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Television Group, announced a digital-first imprint that will focus on young adult, new adult and commercial fiction. The new imprint, named Alloy Entertainment, will be part of Amazon Publishing’s Powered by Amazon program. Powered by Amazon enables publishers and authors to leverage Amazon’s global distribution and personalized, targeted marketing reach.

Today also marks the publication date for the imprint’s first three titles:

·        Imitation by Heather Hildenbrand, which follows Ven, the clone of a wealthy, 18-year-old named Raven. Imitations like Ven only leave the lab when their Authentics need them—to replace the dead, be an organ donor, or in Ven’s case, serve as bait when Raven’s life is threatened. It is Ven’s job to draw out Raven’s assailants, but she must decide if she is prepared to sacrifice herself for a girl she has never met. 

·        Every Ugly Word by Aimee Salter, a coming-of-age story about a teenager named Ashley who sees her 23-year-old self when she looks in the mirror. Her older self has been through it all before, and helps Ashley survive torment from high school bullies, unrequited love for her best friend and a volatile relationship with her mom. But her older self also carries the scars of a terrible and imminent event in Ashley’s life that she’s powerless to stop.

·        Rebel Wing by Tracy Banghart, a sci-fi fantasy adventure set in the war-torn Dominion of Atalanta. For Aris, the fighting is worlds away from the safety of her seaside town until her boyfriend Calix is drafted into the military. When Aris herself is recruited to become a pilot for an elite search-and-rescue unit, she leaps at the chance, hoping to be reunited with Calix. But what starts as mission driven by love turns into one of duty as Aris becomes a true soldier determined to save her Dominion…or die trying.

Alloy Entertainment acquired the books based on the unique voices of the authors and originality of the stories. The company worked closely with each of the writers throughout the publishing process in an effort to gain the widest possible readership. The books will be published under the Alloy Entertainment publishing banner, which currently includes more than 75 New York Times bestsellers.

“One of our strengths is working with talented authors to create and develop properties that have mass entertainment appeal,” said Leslie Morgenstein, President of Alloy Entertainment. “This program is an exciting extension of our business and will allow us to leverage Amazon’s ability to distribute to an incredibly diverse and broad readership.”

"Rebel Wing is the book of my heart. It’s a story I felt compelled to tell, both from the perspective of an Army wife and as someone who believes you can never have enough strong female characters in the world," said author Tracy Banghart. "Being given the opportunity to work with the incredibly talented folks at Alloy to make it the best version of itself was an exciting and affirming process, and knowing that its distribution will be handled by Amazon—a company that has already made so much possible for me as an indie author—is pretty much the definition of win-win as far as I’m concerned."

“Alloy has a tremendous track record developing stories, like Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries, that our customers love,” said Jeff Belle, Vice President of Amazon Publishing. “We’re thrilled to promote these books from Alloy Entertainment with our Powered by Amazon program. It’s a great fit.”  

Authors who publish with Alloy Entertainment’s new digital-first imprint receive an advance and royalties paid on a monthly basis. Alloy Entertainment will also look for opportunities to develop acquired titles as television series, feature films, and digital entertainment.

About Alloy Entertainment

Alloy Entertainment, a division of the Warner Bros. Television Group, develops and produces original novels, television series and feature films. More than 75 of AE’s books have been on The New York Times bestseller list, including The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Luxe, Veronica Mars: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line, and The 100. AE has successfully adapted several of its properties into hit television shows for broadcast across multiple networks, including The CW, ABC, ABC Family and Nickelodeon. Current Alloy Entertainment television series include Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and The 100. AE feature films include Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 1 & 2, Sex Drive and The Clique, with several additional projects currently in development including Sisterhood Everlasting, The Merciless and The Brokenhearted.

About Amazon.com

Amazon opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by three principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, and long-term thinking.  Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire phone, Fire tablets, and Fire TV are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.

The Fortune Hunter

 Idgie Says:  Here's a lush summer historical romance for you - perfect for beach, pool or that rainy day!  (not a review, just a shout out)

THE FORTUNE HUNTER (St. Martin’s Press; July 29, 2014) is a brilliant, new novel that explores the irresistibility of the public lives and private longings of grand historical figures. Empress Elizabeth of Austria, known as "Sisi," is the Princess Diana of nineteenth-century Europe. Famously beautiful, as captured in a portrait with diamond stars in her hair, she is unfulfilled in her marriage to the older Emperor Franz Joseph. Sisi has spent years evading the stifling formality of royal life on her private train or yacht or, whenever she can, on the back of a horse.

Captain Bay Middleton is dashing, young, and the finest horseman in England. He is also impoverished, with no hope of buying the horse needed to win the Grand National—until he meets Charlotte Baird. A clever, plainspoken heiress whose money gives her a choice among suitors, Charlotte falls in love with Bay, the first man to really notice her, for his vulnerability as well as his glamour. When Sisi joins the legendary hunt organized by Earl Spencer in England, Bay is asked to guide her on the treacherous course. Their shared passion for riding leads to an infatuation that threatens the growing bond between Bay and Charlotte, and all of their futures.

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Author Bio: DAISY GOODWIN, a Harkness scholar who attended Columbia University’s film school after earning a history degree at Cambridge University, is now a leading television producer in the UK. She is also a book reviewer for the London Times and was Chair of the judging panel of the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction. Daisy and her husband, an ABC TV executive, have two daughters and live in London. Visit www.DaisyGoodwin.co.uk

Video: http://us.macmillan.com/thefortunehunter/DaisyGoodwin#media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDaisyGoodwin

Twitter: https://twitter.com/daisygoodwinuk

Archetype and Prototype

Archetype and Prototype
M.D. Waters
Dutton Adult

Idgie Says:
These two novels were different reads from the general "futuristic/dystopian" books that usually come across my desk.   They are set in the future, but in one that's rather timeless.  There are new techniques and teleporters and such, but there's also dirty dishes, walks in the woods, and messy beds.

The novels contain a fine combination of intrigue, mystery and futuristic science, while at the same time wrapping all of that around a very twisty love story and a lot of hand to hand combat.

These two novels were written very close together and given the way books series are developed these days I enjoyed that fact.  No longer are books such as this stand alone - they tend to drop right into the next book, which is fine for a short wait, but frustrating when the books are a year apart.  The paperback of Archtype came out only a month before Prototype and the hardback just a few months earlier in February so it was easy to hang onto the story line and not have to struggle to catch up again. 

M.D. Waters is an author I can see sticking around a while and continuing to give this genre a new breath of life.  
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Archetype
First Edition Hardcover - February, 2014
Paperback June, 2014

Introducing a breathtakingly inventive futuristic suspense novel about one woman who rebels against everything she is told to believe.

Emma wakes in a hospital, with no memory of what came before. Her husband, Declan, a powerful, seductive man, provides her with new memories, but her dreams contradict his stories, showing her a past life she can’t believe possible: memories of war, of a camp where girls are trained to be wives, of love for another man. Something inside her tells her not to speak of this, but she does not know why. She only knows she is at war with herself.

Suppressing those dreams during daylight hours, Emma lets Declan mold her into a happily married woman and begins to fall in love with him. But the day Noah stands before her, the line between her reality and dreams shatters.

In a future where women are a rare commodity, Emma fights for freedom but is held captive by the love of two men—one her husband, the other her worst enemy. If only she could remember which is which. . . .
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Prototype
First Edition Hardcover, July 2014

The stunning debut that began with Archetype— and has readers buzzing—concludes in Prototype, when a woman’s dual pasts lock onto a collision course, threatening her present and future.

Emma looks forward to the day when she can let go of her past—both of them. After more than a year on the run, with clues to her parents’ whereabouts within her grasp, she may finally find a place to settle down. Start a new life. Maybe even create new memories with a new family.

But the past rises to haunt her and to make sure there’s nowhere on the planet she can hide. Declan Burke wants his wife back, and with a little manipulation and a lot of reward money, he’s got the entire world on his side. Except for the one man she dreads confronting the most: Noah Tucker.

Emma returns to face what she’s done but finds that the past isn’t the problem. It’s the present—and the future it represents. Noah has moved on and another woman is raising their daughter.

In the shocking conclusion to M.D. Waters’s spectacular debut, Emma battles for her life and her freedom, tearing down walls and ripping off masks to reveal the truth. She’s decided to play their game and prove she isn’t the woman they thought she was. Even if it means she winds up dead. Or worse, reborn.

The Flight of the Golden Harpy

Flight of the Golden Harpy
Susan Klaus
Tor Books
June, 2014

Idgie Says:
I'll be honest, I had issues keeping interest in this book.  Perhaps it's because Fantasy is not a genre I generally read - but I found that while the plot line held a lot of promise, which is why I agreed to review the book, the story itself - to me - was choppy in dialogue and sentence flow.  The characters never really drew me in and the moments of "alien erotica/romance" just made me turn the page. 

Now saying that, I believe that if a reader is fond of fantasy worlds/characters and also enjoys reading romance books, this could be an interesting read for them - though I believe the choppiness of the word flow could still be an issue.  Again, it has a solid plot base - it just wasn't the book for me.

Book Description:
Kari, a young woman, returns to the jungle planet of Dora after ten years in Earth’s schools determined to unravel the mysteries surrounding the harpies, a feral species with the appearance half-bird, half-human.

The human colonists believe harpies are dangerous animals, which are known to steal women. The creatures are hunted like wild game, their wings considered rare trophies. But Kari distrusts these rumors. When she was attacked by a monster in the jungle as a child, a male harpy with rare golden coloring rescued her.

Constant hunting by men has driven the harpies to the brink of extinction. Is Kari’s savior, the elegant golden harpy, is still alive? If so, how long can he and his flock survive the ravages of mankind?

Susan Klaus's Flight of the Golden Harpy is an imaginative and romantic fantasy novel that questions what it means to be human.

Go Here for Excerpt.

I Love My Job, I Really Do, but...........

I have one of the greatest jobs in the world - Publishers, Publicists and Authors send me books to read and share with others on a daily basis - really, it's like magic!  I'm so lucky to have achieved a nice level of success with this over the EIGHT years that I've been writing reviews on the Dew.  

But I find that over the last few years I've been running into time management issues with the reviews as I remain a one man show who has been receiving enough books to keep a three ring circus busy.  

I never thought I'd get to the day where I wince when I walk in the door and find a pile of books waiting to find their way to my desk.  But I am starting to do just that - and I surely don't like that feeling at all.


To keep the Dew going without Idgie having a reading breakdown, I have to make a few changes to what I have always demanded of myself. 

Therefore I have decided that if books arrive I haven't had a conversation with the Publisher/Author/Publicist about before hand or I haven't requested, I will no longer feel the self-imposed pressure that I HAVE to review it. 

I'll be happy to give it a shout out on the Dew (which you have seen happen more and more recently) and I might still review it, but no promises.  This isn't tough love to anyone but myself so that I don't wear down and close up shop one day.  

I want to share all of these books with everyone, I just simply can't read them all!

Joe Potato's Real Life Recipes

Joe Potato's Real Life Recipes

By Meriwether O'Connor

Idgie Says:

Okay I have to say that I love the cover of this collection of shorts.  I want to sit and spend time with a woman that knows how to belt out a full laugh like that.  

As for the book, I'm delighted to be able to present this to you.  Meriwether has written for the Dew for quite a while,even had a regular Friday column on the Dew - "Letters from the Barn" for a bit.  She delighted the reader with fun and also emotional stories.  It's great to see her in print.  "Joe Potato" and "Malachi Jones" first appeared in Dew on the Kudzu.  I suggest you take a few moments and enjoy a story or two.  You can find Joe Potato HERE at the Dew.

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File Size: 790 KB
Print Length: 64 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Appalachia North (July 14, 2014)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Book Description:
Pity the wolf that scratches at the door of Joe Potato's Real Life Recipes. He might get invited in for dinner. Only if Flannery O'Connor and Gabriel Garcia Marquez swapped tall tales at an M.F.K. Fisher dinner party, would you find characters like these. Quirky souls with their feet in the mud and the blood inhabit this thin volume of short stories with an Appalachian cadence and a Texas sense of humor.

The Pearl that Broke Its Shell

Idgie Says:
This book gives a fascinating and detailed look into the lives of women in Kabul - during the modern era and also a century past.   It starts with Rahima, who has only recently been allowed to attend school due to changes in government policy.  But that doesn't last as there as so many obstacles to being a female in public.. and the female is always to blame.  

Then there is Shekiba, who was scarred in a kitchen accident as a young child and can find no marriage.  When her father dies, she's left alone in the world and soon finds that being a man has many more advantages for her. 

The novel flits back and forth between both stories, each filled with trauma, anguish, fear.... and hope.  These women do not ever lead an easy life.  You remain on the edge of your seat wondering what will befall them next... and if they will survive it. 

I recommend this book. 

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The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
Nadia Hashimi
ISBN: 9780062244758
ISBN 10: 0062244752
Imprint: William Morrow
On Sale: 05/06/2014
Format: Hardcover

About the Book

Afghan-American Nadia Hashimi's literary debut novel is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See.

In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age. As a son, she can attend school, go to the market, and chaperone her older sisters.
But Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this unusual custom. A century earlier, her great-great grandmother, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way.

Crisscrossing in time, The Pearl the Broke Its Shell interweaves the tales of these two women separated by a century who share similar destinies. But what will happen once Rahima is of marriageable age? Will Shekiba always live as a man? And if Rahima cannot adapt to life as a bride, how will she survive?