More Events at Boswell This Week: Okla Elliott Tonight, James Bradley at the Milwaukee Public Library Wednesday, Scott Douglas Prill on Saturday at 4, Plus a Skype Event with Steve Berry (Also Tonight

It's another busy week for us. Yesterday I posted our four events for National Children's Book Week, but it turns out there were several other events that did not ft in the NCBW parameters, mostly because they were for adults. I had to admit to attendees at our in-store lit group discussion last night for Redeployment that I hadn't finished the book; I thought I'd have time on returning from the conference I went to in California, but since then, it's been go, go, go.

Tuesday, May 5, 7 pm (that's tonight), we're hosting Okla Elliott, who has ostensibly translated, with the help of Raul Clement, the esteemed Russian science fiction writer Aleksandr Vadim and his masterwork, The Doors You Mark are Your Own, the first volume of the Joshua City Trilogy. From the publisher, here is the setup: "Joshua City is one of seven city-states in a post-apocalyptic world where water is scarce and technology is at mid-twentieth-century Soviet levels. As the novel opens, the Baikal Sea has been poisoned, causing a major outbreak of a flesh-eating disease called nekrosis. Against this backdrop of political corruption, violence and oppression, a struggle for control of Joshua City ensues, and a revolutionary group called The Underground emerges."

The story is annotated by Elliott and Clement, the translators, but the truth is that Elliott and Clement actually the book; Vadim is a fictional creation, just to add another layer to this story. Elliott is a distinquished fellow at the University of Illinois. Opening for him will be several local writers: David Bowen, Loretta Mccormick, and the always popular Molly Boutell.

At 6 pm (note time) on Tuesday, May 5 (yes, that's also tonight), The Capitol branch of The Milwaukee Public Library presents a Skype event with Steve Berry, the thriller writer whose most recent book is The Patriot Threat. We are testing selling books at these events; we should also have signed bookplates for folks who purchase a copy. The Capitol Library is located at 3969 N. 74th Street, at Capitol Drive, of course.

Here's the setup from the publisher. "Cotton Malone, once a member of an elite intelligence division within the Justice Department known as the Magellan Billet, is now retired and owns an old bookshop in Denmark. But when his former-boss, Stephanie Nelle, asks him to track a rogue North Korean who may have acquired some top secret Treasury Department files—the kind that could bring the United States to its knees—Malone is vaulted into a harrowing twenty-four hour chase that begins on the canals in Venice and ends in the remote highlands of Croatia." Just a reminder--Steve Berry is appearing by Skype; he won't be physically at this event.

Wednesday, May 6, 7 pm offers another Milwaukee Public Library event, this time at the Loos Room at Central, 733 North Eighth Street. We're presenting James Bradley, acclaimed author of Flyboys and Flags of Our Fathers, whose newest book is The China Mirage: The Hidden History of the American Disaster in Asia.

Library Journal explained it best: "Has a fundamental misunderstanding of China led America to make serious foreign policy mistakes in Asia? Bradley traces the history of U.S.-China relations from the early 19th century to the 1970s, with a special focus on the World War II era.,,Bradley argues that a better understanding of China could have helped America to avoid war with Japan in 1941 and subsequent wars in Korea and Vietnam."

Steve Inskeep spoke to James Bradley on NPR's Morning Edition.

After a number of kid-themed events, we are hosting a launch event for local writer Scott Douglas Prill and his new novel, Into the Realm of Time, set in ancient Rome. By day, he is an environmental consultant for a major law firm, but by night, he has been crafting a Roman epic of love, power, greed, valor, and sacrifice! This event is Saturday, May 9, 4 pm (note time).

It is 372 AD and the Roman Empire is on the cusp of its great decline. The fierce Roman General Marcus Augustus Valerias contemplates his future. Though at the peak of his success and power, through victories against both external and internal enemies of Rome, the General is weary of the brutality of continual war and yearns for a different life away from his legions and battlefields.

At the same time, Claire, the widowed queen of a kingdom in Britannia, risks everything to protect her children from a bloodthirsty usurper. A priest, named Joseph, tries to hide his dark past as he pursues salvation in the Christian faith. Flavius, a Roman officer who has deserted his legion, seeks redemption for the cruel actions he has inflicted on behalf of a corrupt tyrant. All the while, two Hun brothers, Uldric and Rao, are ruled by their ambitions to ruthlessly establish and expand a Hun empire. The story of these intertwined destinies in this turbulent period leads to an epic battle.

Next Monday, May 11, 7 pm, at Boswell, we'll be hosting Sandy Tolan, whose new book continues writing about the Israeli-Palistinean conflict he first wrote about in The Lemon Tree. In Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land, he chronicles Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, a young boy pictured in 1987 throwing stones at Israeli soldiers from his refugee camp, who became a music student and then founded a music school.

The starred Booklist review offers this praise :"This is an engrossing and powerful story, moving skillfully amid the failure of the never-ending battles and peace talks between Israel and Palestine and the determination of one brave young man to change his world."

Don't forget that we still have three more kids' book events celebrating National Children's Book Week. Visit yesterday's blog for more info.