Skylight Books Podcast Series

The Sounds of Songs Across the Water (MP Publishing)It's the summer of 1995, and in the heat of the hills above Los Angeles, Riley Oliver is trying to find redemption in rock 'n' roll. Fifteen years have passed since his band flamed out at CBGB, and Riley sees the life his former guitarist Will Turner has built -- successful producing career, the lovely Lena for a wife, a gated home -- and he wants some of that luck for himself. Jumping the fence, Riley brings the shadows of the past back to Will, and long-buried conflicts darken the sunny Southern California scene. Lena herself is restless in this creative world; she has been living in the background of the music industry far too long, and this summer becomes one of longing and self-discovery for her and for her uninvited guest. The Sound of Songs Across the Water traces creation and betrayal, joining and fissure at a time when lovers still made mixtapes to show they cared. Rob Yardumian's language vibrates like a string under the pressure of fingertips, sliding and reckless as he tells the story of bittersweet inspiration and the pain of bringing art to life. Rob Yardumian's fiction has appeared in The Southern Review, The Antioch Review, The New Orleans Review, and other literary journals. He has an MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers, and this is his first novel. He currently lives in Portland, OR.  THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 17, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE:http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781849822374

Belle Epoque (Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers)  Join us for the launch of this young adult novel! "With resonant period detail, elegant narration, and a layered exploration of class and friendship, this provocative novel is rife with satisfaction."--Booklist When Maude Pichon runs away from provincial Brittany to Paris, her romantic dreams vanish as quickly as her savings. Desperate for work, she answers an unusual ad. The Durandeau Agency provides its clients with a unique service-the beauty foil. Hire a plain friend and become instantly more attractive. Monsieur Durandeau has made a fortune from wealthy socialites, and when the Countess Dubern needs a companion for her headstrong daughter, Isabelle, Maude is deemed the perfect adornment of plainness. But Isabelle has no idea her new "friend" is the hired help, and Maude's very existence among the aristocracy hinges on her keeping the truth a secret. Yet the more she learns about Isabelle, the more her loyalty is tested. And the longer her deception continues, the more she has to lose. Inspired by a short story written by Emile Zola, Belle Epoque is set at the height of bohemian Paris, when the city was at the peak of decadence, men and women were at their most beautiful, and morality was at its most depraved. ELIZABETH ROSS studied French at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and between semesters she worked in Paris and Brittany. She lives in Los Angeles. When she isn't writing, she edits feature films.  THIS READING WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 15, 2013 COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780385741460

The Lullaby of Polish Girls (Spiegel & Grau)  Inspired by her parents’ political history and her family’s immigrant story, Dominczyk has written THE LULLABY OF POLISH GIRLS, a beautiful debut novel that follows the friendship of three women — Anna, Justyna and Kamila — from their coming of age in a small Polish town in the 1980s to their complicated adult lives. When Anna and her parents emigrate to the United States in the 1980s, they settle in Brooklyn among immigrants of every stripe, yet Anna never quite feels that she belongs.  Then, at the age of twelve, she spends a summer in Kielce, Poland, with her grandmother.  She quickly develops a close friendship with beautiful Justyna and awkward Kamila.  With each passing summer when Anna returns, they renew that bond. Over a decade later, when they have each gone their separate ways — Anna, an actress in New York; Kamila, a divorcee in Michigan, and Justyna, a wife and mother in Poland — a shocking murder pulls them together again in the place where their friendship first began.  “The Lullaby of Polish Girls is a striking and vivid debut novel, absolutely buzzing with energy. Dagmara Dominczyk's freshly observed story about the intertwined lives of three friends is both sexy and sensitive, with a raw, openhearted center. Dominczyk's love for her complicated characters is apparent from the first page to the last, and by the novel's end, the reader cares for them just as deeply.” — Emma Straub, author of Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures Dagmara Dominczyk was born in Poland and immigrated to New York City at the age of seven. She has acted in numerous films, TV series, and plays. Most recently she appeared in the motion picture Higher Ground and on Broadway in Golden Boy. She is married to the actor Patrick Wilson, with whom she has two sons. She lives in New Jersey. Photo by Patrick Wilson   THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 11, 2013 COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780812993554

On the eve of LGBT Pride Weekend, Skylight hosts its second annual "LGBT Writers Who Inspired Us."  Writers Bernard Cooper, Eduardo Santiago, Myriam Gurba, Alexis Fancher, Trebor Healy read the works of  LGBT literary giants Reynaldo Arenas, Susan Sontag, Tom Spanbauer and more! Curated by Noel Alumit. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 7, 2013.

KING OF GOOD INTENTIONS (Verse Chorus Press) Set in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, John Andrew Fredrick's debut novel chronicles the early days of an indie band as they meet, practice, make their first recordings, and get their first break/ big gig.  It's also the story of the flowering love affair between John and Jenny, the two charming but, let's say, troubled guitarists/singers in the band.  John is by day a misanthropic substitute teacher in the crazy, sometimes horrifying world that is the LA Unified School District, while Jenny is a mysterious recovering child prodigy. Along the way, the couple and their bandmates make all kinds of discoveries about themselves and the Hollywood milieu in which they are trying to succeed, a world peopled by narcissistic actors, wannabe screenwriters, pretentious musicians, weirdo fans, crazy neighbors--oh, and an emu. Advance praise for The King of Good Intentions: "Stylish, poetic and mischievous, this is the funniest contemporary novel I've read in a long time"--John Tottenham, author of The Inertia Variations "Witty, quirky, and painfully funny... offers a sweet, sharp take on music, love, and Los Angeles, not to mention subbing.  Wonderful."--Meg Gardiner, author of Ransom River John Andrew Fredrick is the principal singer and songwriter for indie rock band the black watch, who have released 17 CDs to considerable underground acclaim.  His comic novella, the knucklehead chronicles, was published in 2008.  He has taught in The Writing Program at USC, and the English Departments at LMU, SMC, and UCSB, where he received his Ph.D. in English Literature.  He lives in Los Angeles, plays tennis five times a week, and often has been known to treat audiences at his readings to a few acoustic songs from his vast canon as a songwriter. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 6, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781891241109

ODD DUCK (First Second) Prolific young adult author and longtime friend of Skylight Books Cecil Castellucci is BACK with a brand new graphic novel picture book for children and the young at heart.  Illustrated by the wonderful Sara Varon! (Robot Dreams) Theodora is a perfectly normal duck. She may swim with a teacup balanced on her head and stay north when the rest of the ducks fly south for the winter, but there's nothing so odd about that. Chad, on the other hand, is one strange bird. Theodora quite likes him, but she can't overlook his odd habits. It's a good thing Chad has a normal friend like Theodora to set a good example for him. But who exactly is the odd duck here? Theodora may not like the answer. Sara Varon ("Robot Dreams") teams up with Cecil Castellucci ("Grandma's Gloves") for a gorgeous, funny, and heartwarming examination of the perils and pleasures of friendship. Advanced praise for ODD DUCK: "Fresh and funny."--New York Times "Varon's gentle art and Castellucci's nuanced writing combine in a sweet, quiet tale that celebrates the joys of being unique." -- Booklist "This clever celebration of individuality delights." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review "A lively friendship story that shows it's more fun to be different than "normal," and most fun of all to be different with a buddy." -- The Horn Book Cecil Castellucci is the author of books and graphic novels for young adults including Boy Proof, The Plain Janes, First Day on Earth, The Year of the Beasts and Odd Duck. Her picture book, Grandma’s Gloves, won the California Book Award Gold Medal. Her short stories have been published in Strange Horizons, YARN, Tor.com, and various anthologies including, Teeth, After and Interfictions 2. She is the YA editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, Children’s Correspondence Coordinator for The Rumpus and a two time Macdowell Fellow. She lives in Los Angeles. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 25, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781596435575

Welcome to the first edition of the Shelf Talker podcast - where Skylight booksellers talk about books they love. It's an audio recommendation for your ears! This edition of the Shelf Talker features our graphic novel master - Dan Kusunoki. He talks about: The Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon - http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781906838423 Hair Shirt by Patrick McEown  - http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781906838270 and Sandcastle by Frederik Peeters - http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781906838386 All these books are published by one of Dan's favorite publishers - SelfMadeHero. You can find them here: www.selfmadehero.com Enjoy.

NANTUCKET BLUE (Disney Press) Join us to celebrate the launch of a highly-anticipated new young adult novel from Disney Press! For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she'll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams. Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn't. When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer. But it's the things Cricket hadn't counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality. A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue. “Debut author Howland’s descriptions for everything from a summer storm (“The grass in the back yard was rain-drunk”) to the stirrings of first love (“There was this lightness that occasionally took me over, making me feel like I was made of balloons”) are lush and moving. Readers should feel empowered by Cricket’s efforts to grow up into a strong, honest, and emotionally intelligent young woman, even as they are enchanted by the romantic and exclusive island setting. This is a natural beach read, but will easily win Howland year-round fans, too.” -Publishers Weekly (starred review) A graduate of Georgetown University, Leila Howland spent five years acting in New York in everything from an MTV public service announcement for safe sex to a John Guare play at Lincoln Center and was a proud company member of the award-winning Flea Theater in Tribeca. Currently, she teaches high school English and English as a second language in downtown Los Angeles and occasionally moonlights as an extra on the Young and the Restless. This is her first novel. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 24, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/%5Bmodel%5D-64   

Pacific (Grove Press) Tom Drury’s depictions of the stark beauty of the Midwest and the futility of American wanderlust have earned him comparisons to Raymond Carver, Sherwood Anderson, and Paul Auster.  His new novel, PACIFIC, marks a triumphant return to the characters that launched his career two decades ago in the fictional Grouse County, Iowa, the setting of his landmark debut, The End of Vandalism. When fourteen-year-old Micah Darling travels to Los Angeles to reunite with the mother who deserted him seven years ago, he finds himself out of his league in a land of magical freedom. He does new drugs with new people, falls in love with an enchanting but troubled equestrienne named Charlotte, and gets thrown out of school over the activities of a club called the New Luddites. Back in the Midwest, an ethereal young woman comes to Stone City on a mission that will unsettle the lives of everyone she meets—including Micah’s half-sister, Lyris, who still fights fears of abandonment after a childhood in foster care, and Micah’s father, Tiny, a petty thief. An investigation into the stranger’s identity uncovers a darkly disturbed life, as parallel narratives of the comic and tragic, the mysterious and everyday, unfold in both the country and the city. A portrait of two disparate communities united by the restlessness and desperate hope of their residents, Drury’s haunted souls, adrift between promise and circumstance, reveal our infinite capacity to “get in and out of trouble in unexpected ways” and still find a semblance of peace at the end.   "As in his previous masterful novels, Drury weaves carefully metered sentences, deeply felt scenes, and struggling characters into an endlessly entertaining tapestry of human comedy and small-town living."—Jonathan Fullmer, Booklist “Reading Pacific makes me once again fall in love with Drury’s words, and his perception of a world that is full of dangers and passions and mysteries and graces.” —Yiyun Li Tom Drury's fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, and Mississippi Review. He is the author of The Driftless Area, The Black Brook, and Hunts in Dreams. Drury was raised in Iowa and lives with his wife and daughter in California. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MAY 23, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780802119995  

Yes Is the Answer: And Other Prog Rock Tales (Barnacle Books/Rare Bird Books) Progressive rock is maligned and misunderstood. Critics hate it, hipsters scoff at it. Yes Is The Answer is a pointed rebuke to the prog-haters, the first literary anthology devoted to the sub genre. Featuring acclaimed novelists, Rick Moody, Wesley Stace, Seth Greenland, Charles Bock, and Joe Meno, as well as musicians Matthew Sweet, Nathan Larson, and Peter Case, Yes Is The Answer is the first book that dares to thoughtfully reclaim prog-rock as a subject worthy of serious consideration. So take a Topographic Journey into a 21st Century Schizoid land of Prog-Lit! Marc Weingarten is the author of The Gang That Wouldn't Write Straight and Station to Station. He is producer of the 2011 documentary God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, as well as television's The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. He lives in Malibu, CA. Tyson Cornell is the founder of Rare Bird Lit, a Los Angeles and New York-based literary PR and marketing company specializing in book promotion for authors, publishers, and organizations in North America and Europe. He lives with his wife and two children in downtown Los Angeles. Joining the editors of Yes is the Answer in lively discussion will be the following contributors:  John Albert cofounded the semilegendary cross-dressing band Christian Death and also enjoyed a stint as the drummer in Bad Religion. He lives in Los Angeles and has contributed to LA Weekly, Hustler, and BlackBook, among others. He won the Best of the West Journalism Best Sports Writing Award in 2000, for the LA Weekly article from which his first book, Wrecking Crew, derived. Margaret Wappler has written for LA Weekly, Rolling Stone and The Believer. She loves ginger tea, F. Scott Fitzgerald and the judicious use of the drum solo. Matthew Specktor is the author of That Summertime Sound and The Sting, his writing has appeared in Harper's Magazine,Salon, and Open City, and is forthcoming in Tin House, The Believer, and The Paris Review. He is presently collaborating with James Franco on a film adaptation of Steve Erickson's novel Zeroville. A MacDowell Colony fellow and a founding editor of theLos Angeles Review of Books, he lives in Los Angeles. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JUNE 13, 2013. COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE:  http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9780985490201