The List of Footnotes to Our Shepherd Express Ad.

While I like to keep the same basic look for our ads, I find myself wanting to change it up a bit, and dream for any sort of interactivity. I decided to annotate the ad, but of course there was no way to include the actual footnotes at the bottom of the ad, and I certainly did not have the budget for a second ad. The answer of course was to put the footnotes on the blog. Here they are.

1. While I'm well aware of the harvest moon, I had no idea that every full moon is named. The June moon is the strawberry moon, named after the fruit at their peak. In Europe it's been called the rose moon. Here's the list on the Farmer's Almanac page of all the full moons.

2.Saturday, June 7, 7pm, at Boswell: Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Song of the Shank
I always say to publishers, "We'll take an author at 2 in the morning if we really love them" and while we have not done that, we have hosted Alice McDermott and Jeffrey Eugenides on weekend mornings, which I should note is very unusual for tour visits, unless it is part of a conference. So the issue with Allen is that we're being added on to a visit to Printer's Row Lit Fest in Chicago, but this is going on ten days before Song of the Shank officially comes out. So you're probably thinking, who is Jeffery Renard Allen, especially because his first novel, Rails Under My Back, came out a long time ago, and while it got really great reviews, it is no longer available. So there will be a lot of amazing attention on Allen, but it will all be happening after our event. The "brilliant" quote is from Booklist, the trade review organ of the American Library Association. Here's their starred review in full.

3. Tuesday, June 10, 4 pm, at the Greenfield Public Library: Rachel Renee Russell, author of Dork Diaries 7: Tales of a Not-So-Glam TV Star.
Actually our event is with Rachel Renee Russell and her daughter Nikki and Erin, who each sign the book and when I mean sign, there are pictures and everything. There was not enough room for all three Russells, but this brings up an issue that comes up that dual author events don't place well graphically in the Shepherd because to include both author photos, I'd have to make them too small. As I was trying to figure out which five events to feature for the month, this was something that came into play. This is probably going to be a slow signing line, which is one reason we are giving out line letters at 3 pm, and that's also why we'll have some activities to pass the time, like the photo booth, the locker wall, and the DJ.

4. Tuesday, June 17, 2 pm (note special time) at Boswell: Katy Butler, author of Knocking on Heaven's Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death.
The quote comes from Dr. Sherwin Nuland, author of the groundbreaking book, How We Die. Another great quote comes from Anne Lamott, who writes: “Riveting, poetic, and important, this book will challenge and nourish you. I am deeply grateful for its truth, wisdom, and gorgeous stories, some heartbreaking, some life-giving, some both at the same time.” Regarding the 2 pm, we had pitched the idea of doing a daytime event in Milwaukee and an evening event in Milwaukee. Apologies to folks who work and can't take off, but we've done a few weekday daytime events and they've gone very well. This is a busy day, as we have another author, Marquette's James Marten, appearing in the evening.

5. Wednesday, June 18, 7 pm, at Boswell: Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project.
We had great reads from Mel, me, and the now-at-Harper Stacie, plus I worked with a number of other booksellers on the Indies Introduce panel, who were also huge fans. This book had me laughing out loud, and I have to confess that I read a lot of "funny" books that don't make that happen. It's a classic romantic comedy with a bit of a twist. While Don, the geneticist who is looking for love in very, very, very logically and structurally sound but completely wrong way, has his issues, he is always first and foremost an endearing fellow.

I know that you folks don't really know how much fun this event is going to be. Let me first pitch the book. Here's Heller McAlpin on NPR: "This charming, warm-hearted escapade, which celebrates the havoc — and pleasure — emotions can unleash, offers amusement aplenty. Sharp dialogue, terrific pacing, physical hijinks, slapstick, a couple to root for, and more twists than a pack of Twizzlers — it's no surprise that The Rosie Project is bound for the big screen. But read it first."

6. Monday, June 30, 7 pm, at Boswell: Jonathan Lethem, author of Dissident Gardens.
Jonathan Lethem is certified genius by the MacArthur Foundation, who gives out annual genius grants. Read this interview in The Daily Beast called "How I Write" which discusses the MacArthur Genius, just in case you feel you were overlooked and want to start writing crazy letters to the board members. We've already had a post dedicated to Dissident Gardens, where I walked around Sunnyside Gardens in Queens, where much of the book is set. Visit it here.