The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
Author: Grady Hendrix
Publisher: Quirk Books
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2020-04-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 168369144X

“This funny and fresh take on a classic tale manages to comment on gender roles, racial disparities, and white privilege all while creeping me all the way out. So good.”—Zakiya Dalila Harris, author of The Other Black Girl Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this New York Times best-selling horror novel about a women's book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town. Bonus features: • Reading group guide for book clubs • Hand-drawn map of Mt. Pleasant • Annotated true-crime reading list by Grady Hendrix • And more! Patricia Campbell’s life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she’s always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they’re as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families. One evening after book club, Patricia is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing the neighbor's handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn’t felt in years. But when children on the other side of town go missing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. The real problem? James is a monster of a different kind—and Patricia has already invited him in. Little by little, James will insinuate himself into Patricia’s life and try to take everything she took for granted—including the book club—but she won’t surrender without a fight in this blood-soaked tale of neighborly kindness gone wrong.

Carry the One

Carry the One
Author: Carol Anshaw
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2012-10-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1451656939

When a car of inebriated guests from Carmen's wedding hits and kills a girl on a country road, Carmen and the people involved in the accident connect, disconnect, and reconnect throughout twenty-five subsequent years of marriage, parenthood, holidays, and tragedies.

My Best Friend's Exorcism

My Best Friend's Exorcism
Author: Grady Hendrix
Publisher: Quirk Books
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2016-05-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1594748632

Soon to be a major motion picture. This ENHANCED DIGITAL EDITION features TONS of TOTALLY AWESOME ’80s bonus materials—including Satanic Panic educational pamphlets, a do-it-yourself exorcism cheat sheet, a Spotify playlist of awesome ’80s tunes, animated cover artwork, and much more! From the New York Times best-selling author of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, this unholy hybrid of Beaches and The Exorcist blends teen angst and unspeakable horrors into a pulse-pounding supernatural thriller. The year is 1988. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act…different. She’s moody. She’s irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she’s nearby. Abby’s investigation leads her to some startling discoveries—and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?

Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady

Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady
Author: Florence King
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 289
Release: 1990-09-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1466816260

Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady is Florence King's classic memoir of her upbringing in an eccentric Southern family, told with all the uproarious wit and gusto that has made her one of the most admired writers in the country. Florence may have been a disappointment to her Granny, whose dream of rearing a Perfect Southern Lady would never be quite fulfilled. But after all, as Florence reminds us, "no matter which sex I went to bed with, I never smoked on the street."

Southern Lady Code

Southern Lady Code
Author: Helen Ellis
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2019-04-16
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 0385543905

A collection of essays that are "like being seated beside the most entertaining guest at a dinner party" (Atlanta Journal Constitution), from the New York Times bestselling author of American Housewives “Thank you Helen Ellis for writing down the Southern Lady Code so that others may learn.” —Ann Patchett, bestselling author of The Dutch House Helen Ellis has a mantra: “If you don't have something nice to say, say something not-so-nice in a nice way.” Say “weathered” instead of “she looks like a cake left out in the rain” and “I’m not in charge” instead of “they’re doing it wrong.” In these twenty-three raucous essays, Ellis transforms herself into a dominatrix Donna Reed to save her marriage, inadvertently steals a Burberry trench coat, avoids a neck lift, and finds a black-tie gown that gives her the confidence of a drag queen. While she may have left Alabama for New York City, Helen Ellis is clinging to her Southern accent like mayonnaise to white bread, and offering readers a hilarious, completely singular view on womanhood for both sides of the Mason-Dixon.

Under Her Skin

Under Her Skin
Author: Linda D. Addison
Publisher: Black Spot Books
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2022-04-05
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1645480313

A showcase of poetry from some of the darkest and most lyrical voices of women in horror. Under Her Skin features the best in never-before-published dark verse and lyrical prose from the voices of Women in Horror. Centered on the innate relationship between body horror and the female experience, this collection features work from Bram-Stoker Award&® winning and nominated authors, as well as dozens of poems from women (cis and trans) and non-binary femmes. Edited by Lindy Ryan and Toni Miller, Under Her Skin celebrates women in horror from cover to cover. In addition to poems contributed by seventy poets, the collection also features a foreword penned by Science Fiction Poetry Association (SFPA) Grand Master and recipient of the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, Linda D. Addison; interior illustrations by Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association Grand Master and recipient of the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award Marge Simon; and cover art by noted horror artist Lynne Hansen. "Not for the faint of heart...Each word and phrase has been structured in such a way that the reader will experience an intense depth of emotion and feelings." —EGuide Magazine "...varied themes, approaches, and poetic structures create a diverse series of horror inspections. Under Her Skin is unparalleled in scope, creativity, and literary strength." —Midwest Book Review

Southern Women

Southern Women
Author: Editors of Garden and Gun
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2019-10-29
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0062859374

From the award-winning Southern lifestyle magazine Garden & Gun comes this rich collection of some of the South’s most notable women. For too long, the Southern woman has been synonymous with the Southern belle, a “moonlight and magnolias” myth that gets nowhere close to describing the strong, richly diverse women who have thrived because of—and in some cases, despite of—the South. No more. Garden & Gun’s Southern Women: More than 100 Stories of Trail Blazers, Visionaries, and Icons obliterates that stereotype by sharing the stories of more than 100 of the region’s brilliant women, groundbreakers who have by turns embraced the South’s proud traditions and overcome its equally pervasive barriers and challenges. Through interviews, essays, photos, and illustrations these remarkable chefs, musicians, actors, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, designers, and public servants will offer a dynamic portrait of who the Southern woman is now. The voices of bona fide icons such as Sissy Spacek, Leah Chase, and Loretta Lynn join those whose stories for too long have been overlooked or underestimated, from the pioneering Texas rancher Minnie Lou Bradley to the Gee’s Bend, Alabama, quilter Mary Margaret Pettway—all visionaries who have left their indelible mark not just on Southern culture, but on America itself. By reading these stories of triumph, grit, and grace, the ties that bind the sisterhood of Southern women emerge: an unflinching resilience and resourcefulness, an inherent love of the land, a singular style and wit. And while the wisdom shared may be rooted in the Southern experience, the universal themes are sure to resonate beyond the Mason-Dixon.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club

The Saturday Night Ghost Club
Author: Craig Davidson
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2018-08-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0735274835

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROGERS WRITERS' TRUST FICTION PRIZE: An infectious and heartbreaking novel from "one of this country's great kinetic writers" (Globe and Mail)--Craig Davidson's first new literary fiction since his bestselling, Giller-shortlisted Cataract City When neurosurgeon Jake Baker operates, he knows he's handling more than a patient's delicate brain tissue--he's altering their seat of consciousness, their golden vault of memory. And memory, Jake knows well, can be a tricky thing. When growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls, a.k.a. Cataract City--a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place--one of Jake's closest confidantes was his uncle Calvin, a sweet but eccentric misfit enamored of occult artefacts and outlandish conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turned twelve, Calvin invited him to join the "Saturday Night Ghost Club"--a seemingly light-hearted project to investigate some of Cataract City's more macabre urban myths. Over the course of that life-altering summer, Jake not only fell in love and began to imagine his future, he slowly, painfully came to realize that his uncle's preoccupation with chilling legends sprang from something buried so deep in his past that Calvin himself was unaware of it. By turns heartwarming and devastating, written with the skill and cinematic immediacy that has made Craig Davidson a star, The Saturday Night Ghost Club is a bravura performance from one of our most remarkable literary talents: a note-perfect novel that poignantly examines the fragility and resilience of mind, body and human spirit, as well as the haunting mutability of memory and story.

Come As You Are

Come As You Are
Author: Jennifer Haupt
Publisher: Central Avenue Publishing
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2022-03-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1771682264

Can we alter our dreams and stories from the past to create a better future for our children? Zane and Skye are two misfit teens drawn together by their love of music and their loneliness, both part of Seattle’s grunge scene in the early ’90s. They dream of moving to LA together, Zane’s music career following the trajectory of Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder, and Skye drawing Picasso-esque portraits on the Venice Beach boardwalk. When a tragedy violently catapults them from best friends to lovers, their bond is forever strengthened and their relationship destroyed. Ten years later, they must come together as parents, putting aside abandoned dreams and broken promises. The question is, can they face the truth of who they are and become the parents their daughter needs them to be?