All But True - New Door Books

New YA Fiction: Magical Thrillers for Adventurous Readers

11/19/2018

NEW DATE!
Tuesday, December 11, 2018, 6 p.m.
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Just in time for holiday shopping, the All But True series returns with two authors who specialize in magical thrillers for young adults.

In Nova Ren Suma’s A Room Away from the Wolves, Bina is on the road, with an old suitcase, a black eye, and a humming sense of betrayal. She’s fleeing trouble at home including two hostile stepsisters, and heading for a young women’s residence in Greenwich Village. But Catherine House has its own tragic history and dark, magical secrets, and once there, Bina must struggle to untangle the truths and lies of her own past. Heart-pounding and atmospheric, this is an updated gothic ghost story from a #1 New York Times bestselling author.

“This beautiful story is full of magical realism and luscious, lyrical writing.” —Buzzfeed

“Nova Ren Suma is a YA horror legend, and in her latest book she proves her prowess at writing dark, unsettling, page-turning tales.” --Bustle

In The Spy with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke, Ilse and Wolf Klein share a secret ability to work magic with their blood. The brother and sister are blackmailed into using their gifts during World War II—Ilse to help develop the atomic bomb in the US, and Wolf to sabotage Germany’s nuclear program. Loyalties and identities are tested in this sweeping, fast-paced fantasy and thriller that bravely explores the tensions at the dawn of the nuclear age—a companion book to Locke’s award-winning The Girl with the Red Balloon.

“Blending historical fiction, action, suspense, and magical realism, the story is intricate and rich.” --Foreword Reviews

“Ilse is a complicated, fascinating protagonist . . . [The novel] has broad appeal for alt-history and urban fantasy readers.” --Booklist

Come hear these two brilliant authors at Penn Book Center, 34th & Sansom Streets in West Philly, adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania. The event includes author readings, discussion, book signings, and refreshments.

The Wry Eye: Cutting Looks at Contemporary Life

8/21/2018

In a world that seems too absurd to be true, is there still a use for satire?

In the September 2018 All But True event (Wednesday, 9/26, 6 p.m.), two gifted authors take cutting looks at contemporary life. Their books alternate satire and poignancy, deeply felt scenes and laugh-out-loud passages. They delve into both the mysteries and the ridiculousness of our skewed contemporary life.

THE GLITCH by Elisabeth Cohen is a send-up of tech life and its frenzied have-it-all culture. Shelley Stone, a super-efficient Silicon Valley CEO and mother of two, thinks she has everything under control. She takes power naps while waiting in line and schedules sex with her husband for when they’re already changing clothes. But when she meets a young woman also named Shelley Stone who has the exact same scar on her shoulder, Shelley has to wonder: Is she finally buckling under the pressure?

“The Glitch takes a hard look at the definition of work-life balance. Through hilarious antics and sensational story lines, Elisabeth Cohen encourages readers to slow down, take a breath and consider the perspective of a younger you. Would that person think you are living your best life?” --THE WASHINGTON POST

“An ambitious and entertaining novel … Cohen is a shrewd writer.” --THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Kathy Anderson’s BULL AND OTHER STORIES (winner of the Autumn House Fiction Prize) mixes dark humor with raw moments of pain and misunderstanding. Focusing on characters whose predicaments are typically ignored—a funeral driver, a lesbian power couple, a boy upset that his father has become a woman—she pulls us into situations that are just far enough beyond the conventional to intrigue and disturb us. Are these lives tipping into farce or tragedy—or both?

“These short stories pack an emotional punch and leave the reader feeling both pleasure and an immense feeling of loss. The collection asks the reader to move on, but the emotional weight stays with you long after you finish.” --MID-AMERICAN REVIEW

“Disorienting and illuminating, playful and often penetrating, the stories of Kathy Anderson astonish. She has already established herself as a powerful new voice on the national literary scene.” —David Lynn, editor of THE KENYON REVIEW

The event includes author readings, discussion, book signings, and refreshments. The venue is the Penn Book Center, 34th & Sansom Streets in West Philly, adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania.

How Do We Deal with Tragedy? Two Novels About the Aftermath of Mass Shootings

5/3/2018

If the juxtapositions in the composite image feel a bit unsettling, that's appropriate, because the next All But True reading, on June 6 at 6 p.m., features two just-released novels about mass shootings. Both are by acclaimed writers. Both are tough and strong—yet they’re different in many ways.

For such a terrible subject, it may seem odd to turn to novels for insight. But fiction writers often have a way of cutting through the chatter and hysteria to expose deeper underlying truths about our psychology, our society, our illnesses.

IF WE HAD KNOWN by Elise Juska takes us to a small town in rural Maine, where Maggie Daley, a single mother and English professor, learns that a former student of hers has shot four people at a mall. Then a post on social media claims that an essay he wrote in her class contained red flags. Is she responsible? In the growing media storm she must make choices that threaten not only her own well-being but her daughter’s as well.

“A tender, whip-smart meditation on the origins and aftermath of tragedy. Here Juska asks us an important and quietly devastating question: In what ways are we responsible to and for each other?” —Carmen Maria Machado, author of HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES

“Well-written, realistic, and suspenseful to the point of dread.” --KIRKUS REVIEWS

Tom McAllister’s HOW TO BE SAFE similarly focuses on the aftermath of a mass shooting, and the main character is also an accused educator—but the novel takes a radically different tone than Juska’s. Protagonist Anna Crawford has a long history with abusive men. A heavy drinker, she’s sardonic and slightly mad herself. When the town’s mania subjects her to jeers, threats, and relentless judgment, Anna’s response amounts to a wild and piercing feminist howl. There are many moments of exquisite dark humor as the novel dissects the hypocrisy of America’s gun culture.

“McAllister delivers here a portrait of a nation vibrating with failure and humiliation.… The writing sears—and reminds us of literature’s power to fill a void that no amount of inhaling the vapors of Twitter will satisfy.” —Lauren Mechling, NEW YORK TIMES

“A blistering, Swiftian portrait of a nation that has lost its moral center, this book is compelling from start to finish. Enthusiastically recommended for fans of literary fiction, psychological drama, and dystopian fiction.” --LIBRARY JOURNAL

The event includes author readings, discussion, book signings, and refreshments. The location is the wonderful Penn Book Center, 34th & Sansom Streets in West Philly, adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania.

Short & Strange: Flash Fiction with a Surreal Twist

3/23/2018

Next up in the ALL BUT TRUE reading series:

SHORT AND STRANGE: Flash Fiction with a Surreal Twist
featuring Sebastian Castillo and Sharon White
Thursday, April 19, 2018, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Penn Book Center, 130 S. 34th Street, Philadelphia

Both of these authors use the short-short-story form to explore surreal situations that bear a provocative resemblance to our "ordinary" world.

Sebastian Castillo's 49 VENEZUELAN NOVELS confounds readers' expectations by stripping the novel down to its barest bones. Each novel occupies a single page. Some consist of a single sentence. Yet Castillo draws on the power of innuendo, intimation, and absence to create narratives eerily rich in their sparseness. Castillo was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and grew up in New York. Said Blake Butler, author of 300,000,000, “Sebastian Castillo’s micro-fictional assemblages invoke a logical illogic wherein nothing is untrue or impossible, secrets have secrets, and any sentence can change the world.... A magical, medicinal mini-encyclopedia for our ongoing human rune.”

Sharon White, a multi-award-winning poet and author of creative nonfiction, turns to fiction with the inventive BOILING LAKE (ON VOYAGE), micro-tales of travel to the past, present, future--and other worlds. White’s exquisite prose and off-kilter juxtapositions turn even familiar territory strange and unsettling. “With mad singing in strange lands and familiar places, these tiny stories speak a language of dark lyricism,” says Amy Parkison, author of THE PETALS OF YOUR EYES. White's awards include include the Italo Calvino Prize in Fabulist Fiction, the Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction from Philadelphia Stories, the Neil Shepard Prize in Fiction from Green Mountains Review, a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction, the Leeway Foundation Award for Achievement, a Colorado Council on the Arts Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

The event includes author readings, discussion, book signings, and (following our tradition) lots of snacks.

Note the new location: Penn Book Center, 34th & Sansom Streets in West Philly, adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania.

Kelly Wins Newbery!!!

2/12/2018

Congratulations to Erin Entrada Kelly, who appeared in the All But True series in September 2017.

The novel she read from, Hello, Universe, has just won the Newbery Medal for the outstanding children’s book of 2017!

Here's the news release:
http://ala.unikron.com/2018/

Generations of Immigrants - November 16, 2017

10/9/2017

Coming next in the All But True series, on Thursday, November 16, 2017, at 7:00 p.m.: Generations of Immigrants, a program featuring novelists Rahul Mehta and Annie Liontas.

NO OTHER WORLD by RAHUL MEHTA is a coming-of-age story set in a small community in western New York. Kiran Shah, the American-born son of Indian immigrants, struggles to find both his cultural place and his sexual identity. His parents, meanwhile, go through their own difficult adaptations, and Kiran’s sister Preeti is traumatized by a racist boyfriend in an incident he thinks he could have mitigated. Haunted by guilt and shame, he travels to India, where he finds himself strangely affected by a teenage hijra, a member of India’s ancient transgender community. Under her influence, he begins to make sense of his troubled life.

“NO OTHER WORLD is deeply satisfying, a novel so moving that I worried about its main characters for weeks after I finished reading it. Rahul Mehta is a writer with astonishing emotional subtlety and generosity; I loved this beautiful book.” (Lauren Groff, author of FATES AND FURIES)

LET ME EXPLAIN YOU by ANNIE LIONTAS is an unforgettable novel about a Greek American family and its enigmatic patriarch. Stavros Stavros Mavrakis, Greek immigrant and proud owner of the Gala Diner, believes he has just ten days to live. As he prepares for his final hours, he sends a scathing email to his ex-wife and three grown daughters, outlining his wishes for how they each might better live their lives. With varying degrees of laughter and scorn, his family and friends dismiss his behavior, but when Stavros disappears, those closest to him are forced to confront the possibility of his death. The novel is told from multiple perspectives: Stavros himself, brimming with pride and cursing in broken English; his eldest daughter Stavroula, a talented chef in love with her boss’s daughter; her sister, the wounded but resilient Litza; and many other voices who compose a veritable Greek chorus.

“Pitch perfect ... very much alive” (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE)
“The novel’s true heart is one filled with love and forgiveness” (MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE)

The event includes discussion, book signings, and free snacks.

Mighty Writers West is at 3861 Lancaster Avenue (corner of 39th Street) in West Philly. Phone: 267-244-4005.

September 21: Your Handy Flyer

9/7/2017

September 21: Erin Entrada Kelly + Christine Kendall

8/11/2017

The All But True series is moving to Thursday nights this year, still at Mighty Writers West in Philadelphia, at 7:00 p.m.

For the first program, September 21, we have two of Philly's best writers for young adults and middle grades who will read from and discuss their latest novels.

In HELLO, UNIVERSE, the newest celebrated middle-grades novel by ERIN ENTRADA KELLY, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his loud and boisterous family. Valencia Somerset is deaf, smart, brave, and secretly lonely. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic whose little sister Gen is always following her around. And Chet Bullens thinks they’re all a bunch of weirdos. They aren’t friends—not until Chet pulls a prank that puts Virgil in danger, leading the others on an epic quest to find him.

In RIDING CHANCE by CHRISTINE KENDALL, Troy learns that life is full of chances—and his opportunity arrives in a way he never expected. After taking a wrong turn, he’s forced to endure something worse than any juvenile detention he can imagine—he’s sent to the city stables and made to take care of horses. It’s a disgusting, gritty job. Yet in this unlikely setting he discovers a new dedication and new friends. Set in present-day Philadelphia, Kendall’s stunning debut is a hero’s journey through uncertain city streets, the challenges of brotherhood, and the chances we all take to find ourselves.

The event includes discussion, book signings, and free snacks.

PLUS: Special young guest readers from Mighty Writers!

Mighty Writers West is at 3861 Lancaster Avenue (corner of 39th Street) in West Philly. Phone: 267-244-4005.

FAULTLINES - the environment in fiction - May 12

4/18/2017

Coming on Friday, May 12, an All But True reading featuring two novels with environmental themes:

In our new era of climate-change denial and environmental rapine, Kate Brandes offers a timely contribution to the genre of ecofiction. The Promise of Pierson Orchard, debuting on Earth Day, centers on an impoverished rural community in Pennsylvania and a family torn apart by one son’s decision to allow fracking on their ancestral farm. Kirkus Reviews praises the book as “An expertly paced, moving exploration of grief and responsibility and an eloquent portrait of a small town struggling with compromise.” After a 20-year career as a geologist and environmental scientist, Kate know whereof she speaks. This is her debut novel.

In Viet Dinh’s After Disasters the earth doesn't wait for humans to fracture it. The book follows the lives of four aid workers as they respond to a massive earthquake in India. A finalist for the 2017 PEN/Faulkner Award, this richly layered novel has earned international acclaim for its unflinching probe of the traumas inflicted by disaster—psychological, physical, and environmental. Dinh was born in Vietnam, grew up in Colorado, and currently teaches at the University of Delaware. He has received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and an O. Henry Prize for his short fiction.

All But True readings take place at Mighty Writers West, 3861 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia. The event begins at 7 p.m. In addition to reading from their works, the authors will discuss them with the audience and autograph copies. No tickets or reservations are needed, and refreshments are complimentary.

The Past in the Present - Fiction Meets History

3/5/2017

The All But True series resumes on Friday, April 14, 7:00 p.m., at Mighty Writers West, 3861 Lancaster Ave. in West Philly. We'll be featuring the authors of two fine works of historical fiction.

The readers are Diane McKinney-Whetstone and Jim Remsen.

Diane McKinney-Whetstone is the acclaimed author of six novels, all set in Philadelphia. Her first five books spotlighted eras of Philly history from the 1940s through the 1990s. The latest, Lazaretto, from which she'll read on April 14, takes us back to the end of the Civil War. Abe Lincoln has just been assassinated. Two brothers, after being abused in an orphanage, get in trouble with the law when one retaliates against the injustice. A midwife has reluctantly given up a newborn baby to the machinations of the high-status people who want to hide the birth. Meanwhile, at the Lazaretto, the city's quarantine hospital, the African American staff are getting ready to celebrate a wedding. The characters and plot lines converge there in McKinney-Whetstone's typical spellbinding fashion.

Jim Remsen, longtime journalist and former Religion Editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer, will read from his middle-grades novel Visions of Teaoga. In a blend of history, suspense, and coming-of-age tale, a contemporary girl visits a seemingly out-of-the-way Pennsylvania town on a summer vacation and has close encounters with its amazing past, including the story of a Native American queen who fought British and French colonists to protect her people. The novel shifts between 1790 and today as it interlinks the two narratives. Remsen will also bring his latest book, Embattled Freedom, a nonfiction history for adults about another remote town in Pennsylvania that served as a station on the Underground Railroad. After finding refuge there, some of the fugitive slaves risked their necks by returning South to fight for the Union.

As always, the readings are open to all, we'll have complimentary refreshments, and the authors will be happy to autograph their books.