Eric wound his way across the country on a book tour through the Southwest, South, Midwest, Rustbelt, East Coast, and New England throughout September and October, 2014. He read at various bookstores, bars, universities, and coffee shops, alongside some good company, in support of his acclaimed debut novel, Above All Men. Copies of the novel were available at every location, as was the chance to chat with Eric and to have book copies signed.

THIS BOOK TOUR WAS GENEROUSLY FUNDED BY OUR SPONSORS:

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO WHEN: Saturday, August 2, 2014, at 3 p.m.
WHERE: Op.cit. Books, 500 Montezuma St, Ste 101, Santa Fe, NM 87501  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest author Meg Tuite (author of Bound by Blue). Free cookies provided. Free event.
Meg Tuite is the author of two short story collections, Bound by Blue (Sententia Books, 2013) and Domestic Apparition (San Francisco Bay Press, 2011), and three chapbooks, including, Her Skin Is a Costume (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2013). She won the Twin Antlers Collaborative Poetry Award from Artistically Declined Press for her collaborative poetry collection, Bare Bulbs Swinging (2014), and is currently working on a mixed-genre collection to be published in late 2014. She teaches at Santa Fe Community College.


LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO WHEN: Saturday, August 9, 2014, from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
WHERE: COAS Books, 317 N Main St, Las Cruces, NM 88001  [Map]
WHAT: Signing and selling only, in the front foyer of the bookstore, during New Mexico’s largest farmers and crafters market, taking place across the street. Free event.



DEMING, NEW MEXICO WHEN: Saturday, August 30, 2014, at 3 p.m.
WHERE: St. Clair Winery & Tasting Room, 1325 De Baca Rd SE, Deming, NM 88030  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing. Wine is available for tasting and purchase: 2 complimentary wine tastings, or 6 tastings for $6. Complimentary pretzels, chips, and salsa are offered. Other light snacks and cheese plates are available for purchase. Free event.



AUSTIN, TEXAS WHEN: Friday, September 5, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Malvern Books, 613 W 29th St, Austin, TX 78705  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Lauren Becker (author of If I Would Leave Myself Behind), Vincent Scarpa, and Ray Shea. Refreshments provided. Free event.
Lauren Becker is editor of Corium Magazine. Her work has appeared in Tin House (online), Los Angeles Review, Necessary Fiction, Alice Blue Review, and elsewhere. Her book of short fiction, If I Would Leave Myself Behind, was released in June by Curbside Splendor. She lives in Austin, Texas.


Vincent Scarpa is a James Michener Fellow in Fiction at the University of Texas-Austin. His stories and essays have appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Austin Review, The Baltimore Review, and other journals. He is the host of the podcast Two Birds One Stoned with the writer Jess Stoner, and tweets at @vincentscarpa.


A native of Boston and New Orleans and a graduate of Rice University, Ray Shea has lived in Austin for most of the last two decades. His writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Hobart, apt, Sundog Lit, Fourteen Hills, and elsewhere. His essay, “Forensic Biography and the Art of the Screenwriter,” was recently a finalist for the Phoebe 2014 Annual Creative Nonfiction Award judged by Cheryl Strayed. He is currently at work on a collection of personal essays and a book-length memoir about fatherhood, violence, addiction, and memory, and writes poetry in his spare time.


DALLAS, TEXAS WHEN: Saturday, September 6, 2014, at 2 p.m.
WHERE: The Wild Detectives, 314 W Eighth St, Dallas, TX 75208  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors, David Eric Tomlinson and Matt Bondurant (author of The Night Swimmer and The Wettest County in the World). Bookstore has a café that sells coffee, espresso, baked goods, pastries, and cheese plates, and a bar with local drafts, bottled beer, and Spanish wines. Free event.
David Eric Tomlinson is a writer from Dallas. He was born and raised in Oklahoma, educated in California, and now lives in Texas. He is currently finishing his forthcoming debut novel, American Prayer.



A former John Gardner Fellow in Fiction at Bread Loaf, Kingsbury Fellow at Florida State, and Walter E. Dakin Fellow at Sewanee, Matt Bondurant has recently held residencies at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. He is the author of The Night Swimmer (Scribner, 2012); The Wettest County in the World (Scribner, 2008), an international bestseller made into a feature film (Lawless); and The Third Translation (Hyperion, 2005), an international bestseller, translated into 14 languages. He currently teaches literature and writing at the University of Texas at Dallas.


OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA WHEN: Monday, September 8, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Sauced, 2912 Paseo Dr, Oklahoma City, OK 73013  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Brian Ted Jones (author of The Waterbed Salesman), Nathan Knapp, and Rilla Askew (author of Fire in Beulah and Kind of Kin). Restaurant sells pizza, salads, subs, beer, and wine [Menu]. Free event.
Brian Ted Jones was born in 1984 and raised in the towns of Talihina and Red Oak, Oklahoma. He is a graduate of St. John’s College, and holds a law degree from the University of Oklahoma. He lives with his wife, Jenne, and their sons, Oscar and GuyJack.


Nathan Knapp is the editor of The Collapsar. His writing has been published in or is forthcoming from Frequencies, Parcel, The McNeese Review, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and other publications. He lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma.



Rilla Askew’s first novel, The Mercy Seat, received the Oklahoma Book Award and the Western Heritage Award, was a Boston Globe Notable Book, and was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Dublin IMPAC Prize. Fire in Beulah, her novel about the Tulsa Race Riot, received the American Book Award and the Myers Book Award. Her novel, Harpsong, received the Oklahoma Book Award, the Western Heritage Award, the WILLA Award from Women Writing the West, and the Violet Crown Award from the Writers League of Texas. Her latest novel is Kind of Kin.


FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS WHEN: Tuesday, September 9, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Nightbird Books, 205 W Dickson St, Fayetteville, AR 72701  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Rodney Wilhite, Kody Ford, Kara Bibb, and Benjamin Del Shreve. Bookstore is connected to a café that sells locally sourced coffee, baked goods, and beer. Free event.
Rodney Wilhite is a native of rural Northeastern Oklahoma. His poems have appeared in Pleiades, 14 Hills, Cartographer, The Idle Class, Art Amiss 15, The Puritan, and Splash of Red. He teaches at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and lives in Fayetteville with his wife and infant daughter.


The son of a traveling minister and a butcher’s daughter, Kody Ford is the founding editor of The Idle Class Magazine, which covers the arts in Arkansas. He writes novels and screenplays and the occasional short story.



A resident of Little Rock, AR, Kara Bibb is a lover of poetry, music, and performing. She is the creator of the popular poetry blog, There Will Be Flowers, the co-host of Shoog Radio on KABF 88.3FM, and a co-host of the Vino’s Live from the Back Room Series, which encourages first time readers to share poetry and prose on stage. She is currently working on her debut poetry collection to be published by The Idle Class Press in 2014.

Benjamin Del Shreve is a poet and an award-winning singer/songwriter whose albums, The Diamond, Brilliant & Charming, and Sleeping Sweetly, have garnered critical acclaim. He lives in Fayetteville with this dog Frank and teaches songwriting to children in his free time.




MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE WHEN: Wednesday, September 10, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Booksellers at Laurelwood, Laurelwood Shopping Center, 387 Perkins Rd Extended, Memphis, TN 38117  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Tara Mae Mulroy (author of Philomela) and David Wesley Williams (author of Long Gone Daddies). Bookstore contains a bistro. Free event.
Tara Mae Mulroy is a graduate of the MFA program in poetry at the University of Memphis and currently teaches Latin at a private school. Her poems, stories, and essays are published or forthcoming in Third Coast, CutBank, [PANK], Waccamaw, and others.


David Wesley Williams’ first novel, Long Gone Daddies, was published in 2013 and was a literary-fiction finalist in Foreword Reviews’ IndieFab Book of the Year Awards. His short fiction has been published in the Harper Perennial collection, Forty Stories, and is forthcoming in Akashic Books’ Memphis Noir. A native Kentuckian, he lives in Memphis, where he is Sports Editor of The Commercial Appeal newspaper.



ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI WHEN: Thursday, September 11, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: The Book House, 7352 Manchester Rd, St. Louis, MO 63143  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors James Brubaker (author of Pilot Season), Fred Venturini (author of the forthcoming The Heart Does Not Grow Back), and Scott Phillips (author of Hop Alley and The Ice Harvest). Free event.
James Brubaker is the author of Pilot Season (Sunnyoutside Press) and Liner Notes (forthcoming from Subito Press). His short stories have appeared in such venues as Zoetrope: All Story, Hobart, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Collagist, and The Normal School. James teaches creative writing at Southeast Missouri State University, and helps run an online literary journal called The Collapsar.

Fred Venturini grew up in Patoka, Illinois. His short fiction has been published in the Booked Anthology, Noir at the Bar 2, and Surreal South ’13. His story, “Gasoline,” was featured in Chuck Palahniuk’s Burnt Tongues collection. He lives in Southern Illinois with his wife and daughter.


Scott Phillips was born and raised in Kansas, and lived for many years in France. The author of eight book-length works of fiction, he also works as a screenwriter. His first novel, The Ice Harvest, won the California Book Award for best first fiction, and was made into a feature film directed by Harold Ramis and starring John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Connie Nielsen.



DECATUR, ILLINOIS WHEN: Friday, September 12, 2014, at 2 p.m.
WHERE: Millikin University, 1184 W Main St, Decatur, IL 62522  [Map]  [Campus Map]
WHAT: Speaking to Composition students about writing identity and workshopping. Located in Shilling Hall, Room 422. Free event, but open only to Millikin students.



DECATUR, ILLINOIS WHEN: Friday, September 12, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Wildflour Artisan Bakery & Café, 256 W Main St, Decatur, IL 62523  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Amy Sayre Baptista, James Warner (author of Social Studies), and Aubrie Cox (author of Tea’s Aftertaste). Bakery has a café that sells artisan breads, light fare, cakes, pastries, sandwiches, soups, and coffee beverages [Lunch Menu]. Free event.
Amy Sayre Baptista’s poetry and fiction appears in Alaska Quarterly Review, Ninth Letter, Sou’wester, LUNA LUNA (online), and Chicago Noir. Her play, The Widows of Whitechapel, was selected as the featured performance for Illinois’ National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, April 2013. Sayre Baptista is a 2011 Dzanc Books Disquiet Literary fellow to Lisbon, Portugal, a 2012 CantoMundo fellow, and a 2013 Pushcart nominee.

Jim Warner’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in various journals, including The North American Review, [PANK] Magazine, Drunken Boat, The Minnesota Review, and Midwestern Gothic, and he is the author of two collections, Too Bad It’s Poetry and Social Studies (PaperKite Press). Jim is the Managing Editor of Quiddity, housed by Benedictine University, and writes the weekly column, “Best Worst Year,” for SunDog Lit.

Aubrie Cox received her MA in Creative Writing at Ball State University, and she is now an adjunct professor at Millikin. She serves as the haiga editor for the online haikai journal, A Hundred Gourds, and writes for Ripples, Haiku Society of America’s newsletter. Her first chapbook collection, Tea’s Aftertaste, was published by Bronze Man Books in 2011, and she has had poetry and prose published in a variety of journals, including Modern Haiku, bottle rockets, and NANO Fiction.


INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
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WHEN: Saturday, September 13, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Well Done Marketing, 1043 Virginia Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46203  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Adam Fleming Petty, Sarah Layden (author of the forthcoming Trip Through Your Wires), and Jedidiah Ayres (author of Peckerwood). Complimentary snacks, pretzels, chips, and candy will be provided, and wine and beer is available for purchase. Free event. In partnership with Second Story. Donations for Second Story are appreciated. 10% of the sales of each copy of Above All Men will go to support Second Story, as well.
Adam Fleming Petty’s work has appeared in The Millions, The Cultural Society, and The Christian Courier. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and daughter, where he is writing a novel about Dungeons & Dragons.



Sarah Layden’s debut novel, Trip Through Your Wires, is forthcoming from Engine Books. A graduate of Purdue University’s MFA program, her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in Stone Canoe, Blackbird, Artful Dodge, Reed Magazine, [PANK], Ladies’ Home Journal, The Humanist, and elsewhere. She is a lecturer in the Writing Program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Jedidiah Ayres is the author of three books, Fierce Bitches, A F*ckload of Shorts, and his first novel, Peckerwood, published in 2013 by Broken River Books. He runs the literary event Noir at the Bar, keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland, and is co-editor of the fiction anthologies, Noir at the Bar Vols. 1 & 2 and D*CKED.




DICKSON, TENNESSEE
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WHEN: Monday, September 15, 2014, at 6 p.m.
WHERE: Reading Rock Books, 122 N Main St, Dickson, TN 37055  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Dave Wright (author of Riverwalkers) and Josh Spilker (author of Ambient Florida Position). Refreshments will be provided. Free event.
Dave Wright is the author of Riverwalkers and an editor and publisher at Dig That Book Co.




Josh Spilker is the author of About Mr. Warren, What Kmart Is Like Now, and Ambient Florida Position, and is currently a copywriter. He is the founder of the lit review tumblr, I AM ALT LIT, and its ‘friend,’ I AM NOT ALT LIT. He publishes small books through Deckfight Press, is a semi-regular blogger for Vol.1 Brooklyn, and lives in Nashville, with his wife, his daughter, and one too many dogs. His book, Taco Jehovah, is forthcoming from Dig That Book Co. in spring 2015.


ROME, GEORGIA
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WHEN: Wednesday, September 17, 2014, at 1 p.m.
WHERE: Berry College, 2277 Martha Berry Highway NW, Mt Berry, Rome, GA 30149  [Map] [Campus Map]
WHAT: Speaking to Creative Nonfiction students about the writing process. Located in Evans Hall, Room 226. Free event, but only open to Berry College students.



ROME, GEORGIA
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WHEN: Wednesday, September 17, 2014, at 4 p.m.
WHERE: Berry College, 2277 Martha Berry Highway NW, Mt Berry, Rome, GA 30149  [Map] [Campus Map]
WHAT: Reading, Q&A, and signing. Located in McAllister Auditorium in McAllister Hall. Free and open to public and students.



ATLANTA, GEORGIA
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WHEN: Friday, September 19, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: A Cappella Books, 208 Haralson Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Will Donnelly and Justin Lawrence Daugherty. Complimentary wine will be served. Free event.
Will Donnelly’s fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Hobart, [PANK], Five Chapters, and elsewhere. He’s an assistant professor of English, Rhetoric, and Writing at Berry College and is an associate editor for Juked.



Justin Lawrence Daugherty is the author of Whatever Don’t Drown Will Always Rise (Passenger Side Books, 2013), is the Managing/Founding Editor of Sundog Lit, is a co-founder of Cartridge Lit, and lives in Atlanta. He says nothing on Twitter @jdaugherty1081 and usually forgets that he has a website: justindaugherty.wordpress.com.




MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA
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WHEN: Saturday, September 20, 2014, at 6 p.m.
WHERE: Second Cup, 7819 N Kings Hwy, Myrtle Beach, SC 29572  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Pat Siebel, Cara Blue Adams, and Schuler Benson (author of The Poor Man’s Guide to an Affordable, Painless Suicide). The coffee shop offers an array of hot and cold coffee beverages, gourmet treats, and free Wi-Fi. Free event.
Pat Siebel’s work has appeared in Go Read Your Lunch, Hobart, Susquehanna Review, and Black Heart Magazine. He currently attends Coastal Carolina University, where he is the editor of Tempo Magazine.



Schuler Benson’s fiction and poetry have appeared in Kudzu Review, Hobart, The Idle Class, and elsewhere, and he has been nominated for three Pushcart Prizes. He completed his undergraduate studies at University of Arkansas and is currently enrolled in the MA program at Coastal Carolina University. The Poor Man’s Guide to an Affordable, Painless Suicide (Alternating Current, 2014) is his first book. You can find him on Twitter at @schulerbenson.

Cara Blue Adams’ stories have appeared in Narrative, The Sun, The Missouri Review, The Mississippi Review, The Kenyon Review, Epoch, and other magazines. She has been named one of Narrative’s ‘15 Below 30’ and awarded The Missouri Review’s William Peden Prize and The Kenyon Review’s Short Fiction Prize and is the recipient of scholarships and fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is an assistant professor of creative writing at Coastal Carolina University.


WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA
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WHEN: Sunday, September 21, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Old Books on Front Street, 249 N Front St, Wilmington, NC 28401  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Schuler Benson (author of The Poor Man’s Guide to an Affordable, Painless Suicide) and Taylor Brown (author of In the Season of Blood & Gold). Bookstore sells beer and wine with awesome literary themes (A glass of Once Upon a Vine, anyone?), and there will be trays of vegan and regular snacks provided by Tidal Creek Co-op. Free event.
Schuler Benson’s fiction and poetry have appeared in Kudzu Review, Hobart, The Idle Class, and elsewhere, and he has been nominated for three Pushcart Prizes. He completed his undergraduate studies at University of Arkansas and is currently enrolled in the MA program at Coastal Carolina University. The Poor Man’s Guide to an Affordable, Painless Suicide (Alternating Current, 2014) is his first book. You can find him on Twitter at @schulerbenson.

Taylor Brown was born and raised on the Georgia coast. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in more than twenty publications, including Chautauqua, The Baltimore Review, CutBank, storySouth, and The New Guard. He has been the recipient of the Montana Prize in Fiction, as well as a finalist for the Press 53 Open Awards, the Machigonne Fiction Contest, the Doris Betts Fiction Prize, and the Wabash Prize in Fiction. His short story collection, In the Season of Blood & Gold, was published by Press 53 in May 2014.


DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
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WHEN: Monday, September 22, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: The Regulator Bookshop, 720 Ninth St, Durham, NC 27705  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Alice Osborn (author of After the Steaming Stops) and Belle Boggs (author of Mattaponi Queen). Free event.
Belle Boggs grew up in King William County, Virginia. Her first book, Mattaponi Queen, was published in June 2010 by Graywolf Press and won the Bakeless Prize and the Library of Virginia Award, was shortlisted for the 2010 Frank O’Connor Short Story Award, was one of Kirkus Review’s Top Fiction Debuts for 2010, was longlisted for The Story Prize, and was a finalist for the Library of Virginia People’s Choice Award for Fiction.

Alice Osborn is a poet, an editor-for-hire, a writing coach, and a dynamic speaker/facilitator. After the Steaming Stops is her most recent collection of poetry; previous collections are Right Lane Ends and Unfinished Projects. Alice is also the editor of the short fiction anthology, Tattoos, and the forthcoming Homes, and she’s currently at work on her upcoming collection, Heroes without Capes. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She serves on the NC Writers’ Network Board of Trustees and lives in Raleigh.


GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA
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WHEN: Tuesday, September 23, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Scuppernong Books, 304 S Elm St, Greensboro, NC 27401  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Angie Turner Jeffreys, Anna B. Sutton, and Valerie Nieman (author of Neena Gathering). Bookstore serves local beer, wine, coffee, and light fare for purchase [Menu]. Free event.
Angie Turner Jeffreys received a B.A. in English with a concentration in creative writing from Hollins University. Angie’s poetry has appeared in Moonwise, Barbaric Yawp, and Poiesis Review, in addition to the forthcoming, premiere issue of Footnote: A Literary Journal of History. Angie lives in Greensboro, NC, where she cares for her father’s health, full time.

Anna B. Sutton is a co-founder of The Porch Writers’ Collective, web editor of One Pause Poetry, on staff at Gigantic Sequins and Dialogist journals, and the sales and marketing assistant at John F. Blair, Publisher, in Winston-Salem, NC. Her work appears in or is forthcoming from Third Coast, Quarterly West, Barrow Street, Superstition Review, and others. She received her MFA from UNC Wilmington and a James Merrill Fellowship from Vermont Studio Center.

Valerie Nieman is the author of three novels, the most recent being Blood Clay, winner of the Eric Hoffer Award in General Fiction and a finalist for the John Gardner Fiction Book Prize. Her 1988 novel, Neena Gathering, was returned to print by Permuted Press as a classic in the post-apocalyptic genre. Currently a North Carolina Arts Council Fellow, her second poetry collection, Hotel Worthy, will be published in 2015. A graduate of West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte, she now teaches creative writing at North Carolina A&T State University.


ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
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WHEN: Wednesday, September 24, 2014, at 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Cork & Keg Wine Bar & Taproom at Weinhaus, 86 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28801  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Heather Newton (author of Under the Mercy Trees) and Charles Dodd White (author of A Shelter of Others and Sinners of Sanction County). Venue is a wine bar and taproom that sells beer, wine, cheese plates, and light fare. An Irish Session group will play at 7 p.m., so stick around for beer and music. Free event.
Charles Dodd White was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in both the city and the woods. He has been a Marine, a fishing guide, and a journalist. He is the recipient of the Jean Ritchie Fellowship, an individual artist grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, and is the author of the novels, A Shelter of Others (2014) and Lambs of Men (2010), as well as the story collection, Sinners of Sanction County (2011). He is at work on a new novel called, Feasts of the Sun.

Heather Newton’s debut novel, Under The Mercy Trees (HarperCollins, 2011) won the 2011 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, was chosen by the Women’s National Book Association as a Great Group Reads Selection, and was named an Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. Her fiction has appeared in 27 Views of Asheville, The Drum, Crucible, Encore Magazine, and elsewhere. She is a founding member of the Flatiron Writers and has been a fellow at Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.


MOREHEAD, KENTUCKY
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WHEN: Thursday, September 25, 2014, at 2 p.m.
WHERE: CoffeeTree Books, 159 E Main St, Morehead, KY 40351  [Map]
WHAT: Meet & Greet, Q&A talkback discussion. Bookstore is connected to The Fuzzy Duck Coffee Shop that serves hot and cold coffee and tea products, sandwiches, soups, wraps, salads, and other fare [Menu]. Free and open to public and students. Presented by Morehead State University.



MOREHEAD, KENTUCKY
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WHEN: Thursday, September 25, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Morehead State University, 105 University Blvd, Morehead, KY 40351  [Map] [Campus Map]
WHAT: Reading and book signing. Located in Kibbey Seminar Room, Bert Combs Building, Room 109. Free and open to public and students.



LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
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WHEN: Friday, September 26, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Celia’s Art Gallery, Mellwood Art & Entertainment Center, 1860 Mellwood Ave, Louisville, KY 40206  [Map]
WHAT: Books, Bluegrass, Bourbons. Reading and signing with Ashley Farmer (author of Beside Myself), Ryan Ridge (author of Hunters & Gamblers), Aaron Burch (author of Backswing), Leesa Cross-Smith (author of Every Kiss a War), and Chad Simpson (author of Tell Everyone I Said Hi). Weather permitting, the show will be outside; weather not permitting, it will be inside at or near Celia’s. A bluegrass band will play, bourbon will abound, and there will be cookies. Free event.
Ashley Farmer is the author of Farm Town (Rust Belt Bindery, 2012) and the collection, Beside Myself (Tiny Hardcore Press, 2014). Her work can be found in Flaunt, The Progressive, Buzzfeed, Gigantic, Hobart, Salt Hill Journal, and elsewhere. A managing editor for Juked, she writes in Louisville, Kentucky. Please say hello at ashleymfarmer.com.


Aaron Burch is the author of the story collection Backswing (2014), and the novella How to Predict the Weather, (2010) and editor of the literary journal Hobart.



Ryan Ridge is the author of the story collection Hunters & Gamblers, the poetry collection Ox, and the chapbooks Hey, It’s America and 22nd Century Man. His next book, American Homes, is forthcoming from the University of Michigan Press. His work can be found in places like [PANK], McSweeney’s Small Chair, and The Los Angeles Review. A former editor for Faultline Journal of Arts & Letters, Bull, and others, he currently serves as a managing editor for Juked.

Leesa Cross-Smith’s debut short story collection, Every Kiss a War, was a finalist for both the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction (2012) and the Iowa Short Fiction Award (2012) and was published by Mojave River Press (April 2014). Her work has appeared in places like Midwestern Gothic, Carve Magazine, Word Riot, Little Fiction, and SmokeLong Quarterly, among others. She and her husband run a literary magazine called WhiskeyPaper.

Chad Simpson is the author of Tell Everyone I Said Hi, which won the 2012 John Simmons Short Fiction Award and was published by the University of Iowa Press. His work has appeared in many print and online publications, including McSweeney’s Quarterly, Esquire, American Short Fiction, and The Sun, and he has received awards from the Illinois Arts Council, The Atlantic Monthly, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. He lives in Monmouth, Illinois, and is an Associate Professor of English at Knox College.


ATHENS, OHIO
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WHEN: Saturday, September 27, 2014, at 5 p.m.
WHERE: Donkey Coffee & Espresso, 17½ W Washington St, Athens, OH 45701  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Sarah Einstein (author of Remnants of Passion) and Alison Stine (author of Wait). The coffee shop features fair trade coffee beverages and local treats  [Menu]. Free event.
Alison Stine is the author of the forthcoming novel, Supervision (HarperVoyager, 2015), along with three books of poems: Wait (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011), Ohio Violence (University of North Texas Press, 2009), and Lot of My Sister (Kent State University Press, 2001). A former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, her writing has appeared in The Nation, The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, and many others.

Sarah Einstein is the author of Mot: A Memoir (University of Georgia Press, 2015), which was awarded the 2014 AWP Series Prize in Creative Nonfiction, and of Remnants of Passion (Shebooks, 2014). Her essays and short stories have appeared in Ninth Letter, Fringe Magazine, [PANK], Sixfold, The Fiddleback, and other journals, and has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, a Best of the Net, and a Notable Essay in Best American Essays. She lives in Athens, where she is a PhD student in Creative Nonfiction at Ohio University.


PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
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WHEN: Sunday, September 28, 2014, at 2 p.m.
WHERE: East End Book Exchange, 4754 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Aubrey Hirsch (author of Why We Never Talk About Sugar), Jeffrey Condran (author of Prague Summer), and Tameka Cage Conley (author of the forthcoming This Far, By Grace). This event is BYOB, so feel free to bring refreshments, food, or drinks. Free event.
Jeffrey Condran is the author of the story collection, A Fingerprint Repeated, and the novel, Prague Summer (Counterpoint, 2014). His fiction has appeared in journals such as The Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, and Epoch, and has been awarded the 2010 William Peden Prize and Pushcart Prize nominations. He is an Assistant Professor of English at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and the co-founder of Braddock Avenue Books.

Aubrey Hirsch is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. She is the author of Why We Never Talk About Sugar and This Will Be His Legacy. Her work has appeared in such literary journals as American Short Fiction, Third Coast, Hobart, SmokeLong Quarterly, and The Los Angeles Review. She has been a runner-up for the Micro Award and a top-25 finalist in Glimmer Train’s Fiction Open, and she currently teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.

Tameka Cage Conley received her PhD in English from Louisiana State University, where she was a recipient of the Huel Perkins Doctoral Fellowship. She has been published in 24 Gun Control Plays, Callaloo, African American Review, and Huizache and has received writing fellowships from Cave Canem, the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Squaw Valley Writers Conference, the August Wilson Center, and the Eben Demarest Trust Grant. This Far, By Grace is her forthcoming novel.


WASHINGTON, D.C.
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WHEN: Tuesday, September 30, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Coupe, 3415 11th St NW, Washington, D.C. 20010  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors David Olimpio, Laura Ellen Scott (author of Death Wishing), and Tara Laskowski (author of Modern Manners For Your Inner Demons). Venue sells beer and wine, hot and iced coffee products in their coffee shop, and food. Happy Hour runs from 6-8 p.m., with $5 wine, sangria, and saison biers.  [Menu]  [Beverage Menu]. Free event.
Laura Ellen Scott is the author of the novel, Death Wishing (Ig Publishing), and the short collection, Curio (Uncanny Valley Press). She lives in Fairfax, Virginia, and teaches writing at George Mason University. She has just completed a new novel set in Death Valley, called The Juliet.


A native of Wilkes-Barre, PA, Tara Laskowski now lives and works outside of Washington, D.C. She is the author of Modern Manners For Your Inner Demons (Matter Press, 2012) and the senior editor at the flash fiction magazine, SmokeLong Quarterly, where she served as a Kathy Fish Fellow and writer-in-residence. She earned a BA in English with a minor in writing from Susquehanna University and an MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University.

David Olimpio grew up in Texas, but currently lives and writes in Northern New Jersey. He believes that we create ourselves through the stories we tell, and that is what he aims to do every day. Usually, you can find him driving his pick-up around the Garden State with one of his dogs in the passenger seat and the other on the floor of the cab behind him. He has been published in The Austin Review, Rappahannock Review, CRATE, and other places. You can find more about him at davidolimpio.com, including links to his writing and photography. He tweets as @notsolinear.


BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
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WHEN: Wednesday, October 1, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Artifact Coffee, 1500 Union Ave, Baltimore, MD 21211  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors David Olimpio, Kate Wyer (author of Black Krim), and Andrew Keating (author of Participants). Café serves coffee and tea beverages and food.  [Menu]  [Beverage Menu]. Free event.
David Olimpio grew up in Texas, but currently lives and writes in Northern New Jersey. He believes that we create ourselves through the stories we tell, and that is what he aims to do every day. Usually, you can find him driving his pick-up around the Garden State with one of his dogs in the passenger seat and the other on the floor of the cab behind him. He has been published in The Austin Review, Rappahannock Review, CRATE, and other places.

Andrew Keating is the founding publisher and managing editor of Cobalt Press and Cobalt Review. His first collection of short fiction, Participants, was published by Thumbnail Press in 2012 (Thumbnail was acquired by Cobalt in 2014). Keating holds an MFA from University of Baltimore and an MBA from Johnson & Wales University. He lives and teaches in Baltimore.

Kate Wyer’s work has appeared in The Collagist, [PANK], Exquisite Corpse, decomP, Wigleaf, and other journals. Her novel, Black Krim, is forthcoming from Cobalt Press and was excerpted in Unsaid, where she was awarded the Joan Scott Memorial Award and nominated for a Pushcart. Wyer has a BA in English from Goucher College and an MFA from the University of Baltimore and is the recipient of the Elizabeth Woodworth Reese Prize, presented by Madison Smartt Bell, and a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation’s Women Writing About Women contest winner.


PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
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WHEN: Thursday, October 2, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Ln, Philadelphia, PA 19119  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Matthew Jakubowski and Joshua Isard (author of Conquistador of the Useless). Free event.
Matthew Jakubowski’s writing has appeared recently in Fiddleblack, The Kenyon Review Online, Kirkus Reviews, and the Irish literary magazine, gorse. He edits the interviews section for Asymptote, a journal of world literature, and his essay, “honest work,” won a Charm Quark in the 3QD Arts and Literature Prize 2014. He grew up in the U.S., Germany, and Australia, and lives with his wife and son in West Philadelphia.

Joshua Isard is the author of Conquistador of the Useless, a novel, and his short stories have recently appeared in journals such as Northwind, Wyvern Lit, and StoryChord. He is the director of the MFA program in creative writing at Arcadia University, and lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife, daughter, and two cats.




HAWTHORNE, NEW JERSEY
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WHEN: Friday, October 3, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Well Read New & Used Books, 425 Lafayette Ave, Hawthorne, NJ 07506  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Brian Mihok (author of The Quantum Manual of Style) and Wallace Stroby (author of Shoot the Woman First). Free event.
Brian Mihok’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Everyday Genius, Vol.1 Brooklyn, Fast Company, and Rain Taxi. His novel, The Quantum Manual of Style, was released in 2013 by Aqueous Books. He is the editor of matchbook, a literary journal, and Associate Editor at sunnyoutside press. He also makes videos and lives in New York City.


Wallace Stroby is the author of seven novels, the most recent of which is Shoot the Woman First, the third in his series about professional thief Crissa Stone. The fourth in the series, The Devil’s Share, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in May. A former journalist, he was an editor at the Newark Star-Ledger, Tony Soprano’s hometown paper, for 13 years. A Long Branch, NJ, native, he’s a lifelong resident of the Jersey Shore.



BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
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WHEN: Saturday, October 4, 2014, at 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Molasses Books, 770 Hart St, Brooklyn, NY 11237  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Mike Scalise, Brandon Lewis, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Nora Maynard, and Paula Bomer (author of Inside Madeleine). Bookstore sells beer and wine, hot and iced coffee products, and snacks. Free event.
Brandon Lewis lives in NYC with his wife and baby girl. He received an MFA in poetry at George Mason, and his writing has appeared or is forthcoming in such places as The Missouri Review, Salamander, American Poetry Review, Spork, apt, HTMLgiant, and Poet Lore. This year he was a finalist for 3 poetry prizes.


Kaitlyn Greenidge has received scholarships from Bread Loaf Writers Conference (2010-2012) and was a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Work Space Fellow as well as Johnson State College’s 2011 Visiting Emerging Writer. She received her MFA from Hunter College where she was a Hertog Fellow. She hosts a podcast on writing and writers, The Workshop, and her debut novel, We Love You Charlie Freeman, is forthcoming from Algonquin Press.

Mike Scalise’s work has appeared in Agni, Indiewire, Ninth Letter, Paris Review, Wall Street Journal, and other places. He’s an 826DC advisory board member, has received fellowships and scholarships from Bread Loaf, Yaddo, and the Ucross Foundation, and was the Philip Roth Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University.


Nora Maynard’s recent work has appeared in Salon, The Atticus Review, Necessary Fiction, and The Millions. She’s been a contributor to the Ploughshares blog and Apartment Therapy: The Kitchn, is a winner of the Bronx Writers’ Center/Bronx Council on the Arts’ Chapter One Competition, and has received fellowships from Ragdale, Ucross, Blue Mountain Center, and more. She is currently the VP of the Board of Directors for The Millay Colony for the Arts.

Paula Bomer is the author of the collection, Inside Madeleine (2014), called “remarkable” at HTMLgiant and “gut-wrenching” by Kirkus; the novel, Nine Months (2012), of which Library Journal warned “Mommy Lit Lovers will be horrified”; and the collection, Baby and Other Stories (2010), which received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly and O Magazine listed as number one in their “Titles to Pick Up Now,” calling it a “brilliant, brutally raw debut collection.” She grew up in South Bend, Indiana, and now lives in New York.


NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
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WHEN: Sunday, October 5, 2014, at 3 p.m.
WHERE: Book Culture, 536 W 112th St, New York, NY 10025  [Map]
WHAT: Book signing only. Free event.



SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS
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WHEN: Monday, October 6, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Arts at the Armory Café, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02143  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Steven LaFond, Leah Angstman, Georgia Bellas, and Emily O’Neill. Free event, but donations are appreciated and welcomed for Arts at the Armory.
Steven LaFond is a writer who lives in Arlington. His recent work has appeared in apt, The Drum, Spaces, Little Fiction, and others. His work was also featured in the Derby Shorts fiction anthology and the Good Men Project. He received his MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars.


Emily O’Neill is a writer, artist, and proud Jersey girl. Her recent poems and stories can be found in Gigantic Sequins, Muzzle Magazine, and Vector, among others. She teaches writing at the Boston Center for Adult Education and her debut collection, Pelican, is the inaugural winner of Yes Yes Books’ Pamet River Prize and forthcoming in November 2014.

Georgia Bellas is an editor and artist living in Somerville. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Sundog Lit, Bird’s Thumb, WhiskeyPaper, The Collapsar, and [PANK], among other journals, and her poem in Cartridge Lit received a nomination for the 2014 Best of the Net anthology. You can follow her teddy bear, host of the Internet radio show Mr. Bear’s Violet Hour Saloon, on Twitter at @MrBearStumpy.

Leah Angstman is Editor-in-Chief of Alternating Current Press & Promotions; writes historical fiction, poetry, and plays; has had 20 chapbooks published; and has earned two Pushcart Prize nominations. She recently won the Nantucket Directory Poetry Contest and took honorable mentions in the Bevel Summers Prize for Short Fiction, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society Poetry Contest, and the West Coast Eisteddfod Poetry Competition. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including Los Angeles Review of Books, Tupelo Quarterly, and Shenandoah.


BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
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WHEN: Tuesday, October 7, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Lansdowne Pub, 9 Lansdowne St, Boston, MA 02215  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Brent Rydin, Connor Ferguson, Sarah Sweeney, and Leah Angstman. Located in the Big Snug room. Free event.
Brent Rydin lives and works in Boston. He’s the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Wyvern Lit, and his writing can be found in Pithead Chapel, The Island Review, Cartridge Lit, WhiskeyPaper, Chicago Literati, CHEAP POP, and elsewhere. He tweets at @brntrydn and has a fairly minimalistic website at brntrydn.com.


Sarah Sweeney’s poems and essays have appeared in Rattle, [PANK], Quarterly West, Barrelhouse, Muzzle, Cream City Review, Four Way Review, and more. She founded the storytelling series Seasonal Regression at Oberon, and writes for the Harvard Gazette.


Connor Ferguson’s fiction and essays have appeared in The Rumpus, Gargoyle Magazine, Food Riot, The Good Men Project, Punchnel’s, and others. He has served as the Tumblr editor for BULL: Men’s Fiction since 2012. Originally from Southern California, he lives outside of Boston. He tweets incessantly as @csferguson.


Leah Angstman is Editor-in-Chief of Alternating Current Press & Promotions; writes historical fiction, poetry, and plays; has had 20 chapbooks published; and has earned two Pushcart Prize nominations. She recently won the Nantucket Directory Poetry Contest and took honorable mentions in the Bevel Summers Prize for Short Fiction, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society Poetry Contest, and the West Coast Eisteddfod Poetry Competition. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including Los Angeles Review of Books, Tupelo Quarterly, and Shenandoah.


FITCHBURG, MASSACHUSETTS

WHEN: Wednesday, October 8, 2014, at 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Fitchburg State University, 160 Pearl Street, Fitchburg, MA 01420  [Map] [Campus Map] [Campus Parking Map]
WHAT: Speaking to fiction-writing students about the writing and publishing process. Located in Percival, Room 202. Free event, but only open to Fitchburg State University students.



FITCHBURG, MASSACHUSETTS
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WHEN: Wednesday, October 8, 2014, at 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: Fitchburg State University, 160 Pearl Street, Fitchburg, MA 01420  [Map] [Campus Map] [Campus Parking Map]
WHAT: Reading, Q&A, and signing. Located in Hammond, Room G01. Free and open to public and students.



CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE
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WHEN: Thursday, October 9, 2014, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Gibson’s Bookstore, 45 S Main St, Concord, NH 03301  [Map]
WHAT: Reading and signing with special guest authors Nathan Graziano (author of Some Sort of Ugly) and Tim Horvath (author of Understories). Located inside the bookstore is a branch of True Brew Café, selling an array of hot and cold coffee, espresso, and tea beverages, alongside breakfast fare, sandwiches, wraps, and crepes, and now serving beer and wine. Free event.
Nathan Graziano lives in Manchester, New Hampshire. A high school teacher, he has an MFA in fiction writing from The University of New Hampshire. He is the author of three collections of poetry, Not So Profound (Green Bean Press), Teaching Metaphors (Sunnyoutside), and After the Honeymoon (Sunnyoutside); two collections of short prose, Frostbite (GBP) and Hangover Breakfasts (Bottle of Smoke Press); and several chapbooks of fiction and poetry.

Tim Horvath is the author of Understories, (Bellevue Literary Press) and Circulation (Sunnyoutside). His stories have appeared in journals such as Conjunctions, Fiction, The Normal School, and elsewhere. His story “The Understory” was selected by Bill Henderson, founder and president of the Pushcart Press, as the winner of the Raymond Carver Short Story Award. He teaches creative writing in the BFA and low-residency MFA programs at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. He received his MFA from and won the Thomas Williams Prize at University of New Hampshire.


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