#read99women: Stephanie Thornton

On Sunday, I mentioned that Stephanie Thornton’s new book AND THEY CALLED IT CAMELOT was coming out soon—and now the day is here!

Stephanie Thornton is a writer and high school history teacher who has been obsessed with infamous women from history since she was twelve. The subjects of her novels range from the ancient world’s Theodora of the Byzantine Empire and Pharaoh Hatshepsut to Alice Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s hellion of a daughter so integral to the political scene of her time that she was known as Washington’s Other Monument. Stephanie lives with her husband and daughter in Alaska.

Stephanie Thornton

Stephanie’s #read99women recommendation is Chanel Cleeton’s WHEN WE LEFT CUBA. “This is hands down one of my favorite reads of the year! In a tale as tempestuous as Cuba itself, WHEN WE LEFT CUBA is the revolutionary story of one woman’s bold courage and her many sacrifices for her beloved country. An absolutely spectacular read!”

You can read the full review on BookBub here.

And if you’re wondering what book Chanel Cleeton would recommend for #read99women, guess what? You’ve only got a day to wait…

#read99women: Deanna Raybourn

A little behind-the-scenes peek at the life of an author: for some conferences, you assemble a panel and pitch it yourselves, while for others, you apply as an individual and the conference organizers take charge of putting you together in pairs or groups. A couple of years ago I attended Fall For the Book for the first time. I found myself paired with Deanna Raybourn, whose books I adored, and we clicked so well as paired presenters, we then started pitching ourselves as a double act for other conferences. It’s always a pleasure to appear with Deanna, who’s every bit as clever and entertaining as you’d expect the author of the Veronica Speedwell mysteries to be.

The biographical highlights: Deanna Raybourn grew up in San Antonio, Texas. At the age of 23 she wrote her first novel. She married her college sweetheart and after the birth of their first child she left teaching to become a mom and full-time writer. Her debut novel, SILENT IN THE GRAVE, was published in January 2007. It is the first in the Lady Julia Grey Mystery series. SILENT IN THE GRAVE won the 2008 RITA Award for Novel with Strong Romantic Elements. The Lady Julia Grey series has been nominated for several other awards, including an Agatha, a Daphne du Maurier, a Last Laugh, and two Dilys Winns, and is currently in development for a TV series in the UK. Her newest mystery series featuring Victorian lepidopterist Veronica Speedwell began in 2016 with A CURIOUS BEGINNING, and continues with A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING, A TREACHEROUS CURSE, A DANGEROUS COLLABORATION, and now A MURDEROUS RELATION.

Deanna Raybourn

[Editor’s note: A MURDEROUS RELATION comes out tomorrow, March 10! And I, for one, cannot wait.]

Deanna’s #read99women recommendation is MY SISTER THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite. Says Deanna: “This is one of the tightest, most riveting books I've ever read. I devoured it in an afternoon and loved every twisted minute. It's the book I'm recommending to everyone--including people who never asked for book recs.” 

#read99women: Stephanie Dray

Oh wow! I got a little behind on my spreadsheet and missed the exact moment, but we’re more than halfway through the 99 recommendations of #read99women! So you can look forward to more and more recommendations well into the month of April.

And that brings us to today’s guest, historical fiction powerhouse Stephanie Dray.

Stephanie Dray is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal & USA Today bestselling author of historical women’s fiction. Her award-winning work has been translated into eight languages and tops lists for the most anticipated reads of the year. Now she lives near the nation’s capital with her husband, cats, and history books.

Stephanie’s #read99women pick is AMERICAN PRINCESS by Stephanie Thornton. She says, “In this dishy novel, Thornton skillfully brings to life the incomparable and unapologetic Alice Roosevelt, whose scandalous life was at the center of American politics for nearly a century. Fast-paced and written with verve and sass, this book is a treat and a treasure for history lovers.” Intrigued? You can read the full review on BookBub here.

By the by, Stephanie Thornton’s new novel AND THEY CALLED IT CAMELOT is due out in just a couple of days! And we’ll be welcoming her to the blog to celebrate. Stay tuned!

#read99women: Kat Howard

Happy weekend! As a follow-up to my thoughts yesterday about authors working in multiple genres, it’s worth noting that while authors absolutely need to read widely in the genre(s) they write in, very few authors only read in the genre(s) they write in. Personally, I’ve added a lot of romance into the rotation in the past year or so, though I have no idea whether I’d be capable of writing it or not. I’ve also been reading a lot more fantasy, especially new fantasy novels that break the fusty old mold of Tolkien-esque Man On Quest, With Creatures.

Kat Howard’s AN UNKINDNESS OF MAGICIANS, which features a fierce, powerful magic-making heroine in a beautifully realized alternate world, is one of my favorite recent fantasy reads. I’m delighted to welcome her to the blog as today’s #read99women guest.

Kat Howard is a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and horror who lives and writes in New Hampshire.

Her novella THE END OF THE SENTENCE, co-written with Maria Dahvana Headley, was one of NPR's best books of 2014, and her debut novel ROSES AND ROT was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel. AN UNKINDNESS OF MAGICIANS was named a best book of 2017 by NPR, and won a 2018 Alex Award. Her recent short fiction collection A CATHEDRAL OF MYTH AND BONE collects work that has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, performed as part of Selected Shorts, and anthologized in year’s best and best of volumes, as well as new pieces original to the collection. She's currently the writer for THE BOOKS OF MAGIC, part of DC Comics' Sandman Universe. Her next novel, A SLEIGHT OF SHADOWS, is the sequel to AN UNKINDNESS OF MAGICIANS and will be out in June 2020. In the past, she’s been a competitive fencer and a college professor. You can find her @KatwithSword on Twitter and on Instagram.

Kat Howard

And speaking of crossing genres, Kat’s choice for #read99women is Nina MacLaughlin’s HAMMER HEAD.

“If you had told me at any point before I read it that a memoir on becoming a carpenter would become one of my very favorite books, I would never have believed you. Thankfully, no one asked before sending me an ARC of Nina MacLaughlin's gorgeous book, HAMMER HEAD. The first time I read it, I read it all in one day. And yes, it's about becoming a carpenter and the story of MacLaughlin's journey into that life is beautiful and rich and moved me in ways I didn't anticipate. But this is also a book about the idea of making things - creating space in your own life to remake yourself, learning to see the way pieces of things fit together. It's the book I recommend most. It's the book I go back to again and again when my own words are stuck in my head. It's a kind of spirit level for my soul, and I love it.”

#read99women: Therese Anne Fowler

It must be some kind of record that it’s already March 6th and I haven’t yet mentioned Women’s History Month on the blog! (Rest assured it’s come up plenty on Twitter.) But of course women, history, and especially historical novels featuring women from history are all near and dear to my heart. For the last two years, my spring blog project was a series of #womenshistoryreads interviews; this year it’s the #read99women series, and genre-wise, I’m casting a much wider net.

And a good thing, too, since some of the books I’m most looking forward to this year are outside of the historical fiction genre. One of the most highly anticipated is A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD, coming from Therese Anne Fowler. Of course she’s a historical fiction superstar, best known for her Zelda Fitzgerald novel Z and its followup A WELL-BEHAVED WOMAN; but her newest novel is contemporary, and by all accounts, it’s a real knockout. It hits shelves next Tuesday, March 10.

Therese Anne Fowler (pronounced ta-reece) is a New York Times and USA Today best selling author whose novels present intriguing people in difficult situations, many of those situations deriving from the pressures and expectations of their cultures as well as from their families. Her books are available in every format and in multiple languages, and are sold around the world. Z has been adapted for television by Amazon Studios. A Well-Behaved Woman is in development with Sony Pictures Television.

Therese Fowler

Therese’s #read99women pick is PRIDE AND PROMETHEUS by John Kessel, which she describes as “a brilliantly imagined, vividly rendered tale that puts Mary Bennet from Austen's Pride & Prejudice into Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.”

More: “It's a tensely plotted yet thoughtful examination of Mary Bennett's character set ten years after Lizzie and Darcy wed, when Mary is on the verge of permanent spinsterhood. Kessel, who won awards for his novelette version of the story, originally conceived it when he noticed that Austen's and Shelley's novels were published around the same time. He wondered what might happen if Mary were to meet Victor at a London ball, when Victor is in the city as part of his efforts to create a bride for his creature. The result is a fascinating read. Stories about Mary Bennet have become almost a cottage industry. But Kessel was among the first in, and I would argue that his tale is among the most interesting, skillful, and original of the bunch."

Fascinating!

#read99women: Abby Fabiaschi

It should be no surprise to anyone reading my blog that I’m a constant reader. I believe reading widely is one of a writer’s most important tools for learning how to write even better. But it might surprise you to know that audiobooks form at least half of my reading these days. I get audiobooks for my phone through Overdrive (aka The Library) and audiobooks on CD to play in my ancient car whenever I have a drive of any length (without my kids present. Little pitchers and all that.)

Audiobook narration is an art, like any other kind of performance, and a great narrator — or set of narrators, if the book requires — can really make a good book even better. Sadly the reverse is also true, and awkward narration has definitely interfered with my enjoyment of a book, but the good news is that most narrators out there are pretty great at their jobs. If you have the chance to pick up anything narrated by Julia Whelan or Xe Sands, for example, they’ll take your audiobook experience to the next level.

One of my favorite audiobooks of the past few years is Abby Fabiaschi’s I LIKED MY LIFE. The book has three points of view and the audiobook uses three narrators, and it makes a wonderful story even more of a gut punch. (I mean gut punch in a good way!) I’m thrilled to welcome Abby as today’s #read99women guest.

And here’s her bio: Abby is a human rights advocate interested in economic solutions to social/cultural problems. In 2017 she co-founded Empower Her Network, an organization that paves a path for survivors of human trafficking with a will for independence by breaking down housing barriers, financing education, and uncovering employment opportunities. 

When her children turned three and four in what felt like one season, she resigned from her post as a high tech executive to pursue writing. I LIKED MY LIFE (St. Martin’s Press) is her debut novel. She and her family divide their time between West Hartford, Connecticut and Park City, Utah. When not writing or watching the comedy show that is her children, she enjoys reading across genres, skiing, and hiking. Oh, and travel. Who doesn’t love vacation?

Abby Fabiaschi

Abby’s pick is AMERICANAH by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. “I first learned of Chimamanda in 2009 through her Ted Talk on the dangers of the single-story. (If you haven’t seen it, the topic is more relevant than ever.) After watching her speak, I dove into HALF OF A YELLOW SUN, which was my favorite book of last decade. She earned the title again with AMERICANAH, a novel that changed some things for me.”

She continues, “Her writing sucks me in: ‘There was something in him, lighter than ego but darker than insecurity, that needed constant buffing, polishing, waxing.’ I believe Chimamanda to be the best contemporary novelist out there.”

No higher praise than that!

#read99women: Denny S. Bryce

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about the lineup for #read99women (which is still evolving — 99 is a lot!) is the variation. Everyone’s bringing something different to the table. For example, some of the writers featured have more than a dozen novels out in the world; at the other end of the spectrum, some have yet to release their debuts. Everyone’s bringing her own unique mindset and experience to her choice for the series, and that delights my merry little writer’s heart.

Today’s guest is an experienced reviewer and, of course, a voracious reader; I’m very much looking forward to reading her first novel when it’s published next year. Without further ado, please welcome Denny S. Bryce!

Denny S. Bryce

Denny's debut novel, WILD WOMEN AND THE BLUES, is coming from Kensington Books in the spring of 2021. An RWA Golden Heart® award winner, Denny writes mainstream historical fiction and book reviews for NPR Books and entertainment articles for FROLIC Media. A devotee of Joss Whedon, she began her writing journey in fan fiction. Her fandoms include Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Buffy/Spike), Angel (the TV series), Leverage, and Being Human (BBC).

Some of Denny's favorite historical fiction authors include Stephanie Dray, Diana Gabaldon, Beverly Jenkins, Laura Kamoie, Susanna Kearsley, Attica Locke, Tembi Locke, Jess Montgomery, Walter Mosley, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Kate Quinn, Alice Walker, and Beatriz Williams. A member of the Women's Fiction Writers Association (WFWA), Historical Novel Society (HNS), and Novelists, Inc. (NINC), Denny is represented by Nalini Akolekar at Spencerhill Associates and resides in Virginia. You can follow her on Twitter @dennysbryce.

Denny’s recommendation is REMEMBRANCE by Rita Woods. She describes the novel as a “complex story of loss and survival told across 200 years by four women, united by the color of their skin and the supernatural powers they command. Woods creates memorable characters in all four settings, each with a distinct purpose that helps make the impossible relatable. Remembrance is a well-researched, epic historical fantasy that…delivers upon the themes of pain and suffering, loss and survival — and how they can drive the creation of a safe place that by its very existence is timeless.”

Doesn’t that give you goosebumps? Read the complete review at NPR Books here.

#read99women: Erica Wright

I first met Erica Wright several years ago at the fabulous Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, when we were on a panel together talking about our debut novels. In the intervening years, we’ve both published several more books, and Erica happened to relocate to Washington, DC, becoming one of my favorite local authors to do joint events with. If you’re in DC, you can actually catch us tomorrow at Solid State Books! We’ll be talking about WOMAN 99 (me) and FAMOUS IN CEDARVILLE (Erica.) Check out the event info here.

Erica Wright's new crime novel FAMOUS IN CEDARVILLE received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. She is the author of three previous novels including THE RED CHAMELEON, which was one of O, The Oprah Magazine's Best Books of Summer 2014. Her poetry collections are INSTRUCTIONS FOR KILLING THE JACKAL and ALL THE BAYOU STORIES END WITH DROWNED. She's currently working on a book about snakes for Object Lessons. Her poems have appeared in Blackbird, Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, New Orleans Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She is the poetry editor and a senior editor at Guernica Magazine as well as a former editorial board member for Alice James Books. She has taught creative writing at Marymount Manhattan College and New York University's continuing studies program and currently runs a novel writing group through OneRoom. She grew up in Wartrace, TN and now lives in Washington, DC with her husband and their dog Penny.

Erica Wright

Erica’s recommendation is THE TENTH MUSE by Catherine Chung, which has drawn raves from reviewers everywhere from Bustle to USA Today. Add Erica’s heartfelt praise to the chorus: “I enjoyed every sentence of this smart, moving story. Chung makes math seem both beautiful and thrilling.”

#read99women: Jessica Strawser

Today’s guest is Jessica Strawser, author of yesterday’s #read99women recommendation NOT THAT I COULD TELL. (Love it when that happens!) Her latest novel FORGET YOU KNOW ME comes out in paperback tomorrow. If you hurry, you can still preorder!

Jessica Strawser is the editor-at-large at Writer’s Digest, where she served as editorial director for nearly a decade and became known for her in-depth cover interviews with such luminaries as David Sedaris and Alice Walker. She’s the author of the book club favorites ALMOST MISSED YOU, a Barnes & Noble Best New Fiction pick, and NOT THAT I COULD TELL, a Book of the Month selection. Her third novel, FORGET YOU KNOW ME, released to raves in 2019 and will be new in paperback March 3, 2020 (all from St. Martin’s Press). Honored as the 2019 Writer-in-Residence at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Strawser has written for The New York Times Modern Love, Publishers Weekly and other fine venues, and lives in Cincinnati with her husband and two children.

Jessica Strawser

Jessica’s pick for #read99women is THE MOTHER-IN-LAW by Sally Hepworth. “A brilliantly crafted story of how two people forced to unite as ‘family’ can misunderstand one another for years—getting in their own ways, as all beautifully flawed humans do—only to find love, friendship, and understanding in spite of unrealized good intentions.” She gives it “my highest recommendation—perfect for book clubs and readers who love this intersection of family drama and suspense.”

Read Jessica’s full review here, and follow her on BookBub for other recommendations and more information on her books.

#read99women: Jenni L. Walsh

The conventional wisdom tells authors that once they publish in a particular genre they should stick to it, but more and more, today’s authors are branching out. Sometimes under a single name and sometimes using a pseudonym (or two), authors are crossing genres, co-authoring with others, and generally writing up a storm across the old constraints of category. You love to see it. Today’s guest is a great example of someone successfully writing for several different audiences at once.

Jenni L. Walsh spends her days knee deep in words in Philadelphia’s suburbia. Beyond words, Jenni is a mama (of an soulful six-year-old, an dinosaur-loving four-year-old, and two needy furbabies), a wife, a Philly and 'Nova sports fan. For the mamas, SIDE BY SIDE is the story of America’s most infamous crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde, told in the raw and honest voice of the woman who lived it, Bonnie Parker. In BECOMING BONNIE, a prequel set in the Roaring Twenties, a picture of Bonnie's earlier life, before and while she meets Clyde, is brought to life. For the kiddos, Jenni's debut middle grade books, SHE DARED, features true stories from women who, at a young age, accomplished daring feats of perseverance and bravery. Her next middle grade release is fiction, still untitled, and is inspired by a real-life resistance group, known as the White Rose. Publication is planned for early 2021. Jenni will also be contributing to the Girls Survive series with a book about the London Blitz during the Second World War. Look for that middle grade book in early 2021 as well.

Jenni L. Walsh

For #read99women, Jenni recommends Jessica Strawser’s NOT THAT I COULD TELL. She puts it at the top of her must-read list because “I really connected with the characters and firmly believe that Strawser has an uncanny ability to make situations and lives that, though unfamiliar to my own, feel familiar and relatable. It's a skill that sucks me into a novel and takes me along for all the twists, turns, and page-turning surprises (which this novel most certainly has). I highly recommend!”

You can read the rest of Jenni’s rave review here.

And guess whose recommendation is running tomorrow? Tune in and find out!