Susan Crandall | Author of Fiction

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Giveaway of Advanced Reading Copies of THE FLYING CIRCUS

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Ever want to be one of the lucky few who gets to read a novel before it hit’s the shelves?  Here’s your chance!

It's 1923. The country is in the throes of change. Come along with barnstormers, Gil, Henry and Cora on the adventure of a lifetime.

It’s 1923. The country is in the throes of change. Come along with barnstormers, Gil, Henry and Cora on the adventure of a lifetime.

Just leave a comment below about one of my books or about a book you’ve absolutely fallen in love with and you’ll be entered to win one of 2 advanced reading copies of THE FLYING CIRCUS.

If you enjoy the book, please spread the word to other booklovers via Goodreads, Facebook, your local bookseller (booksellers are also eligible to win a copy!) book clubs, bookseller review sections, and your friends.

Deadline April 15, 2015

Independent Bookseller Spotlight: Bookshop Santa Cruz

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Independent Booksellers in Support of Whistling Past the Graveyard

Bookshop Santa Cruz - Independent Bookseller in CaliforniaIndependent booksellers are unheralded heroes of the literary world. While Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the like take most of the spotlight, it’s the indies who are the engine behind a book launch. As such, I’d like to thank Bookshop Santa Cruz for featuring Whistling Past the Graveyard on the homepage of their website. I truly appreciate your support of the novel.

If you are an independent bookseller with a window display or a store display for Whistling Past the Graveyard or are doing promotion for the book on your website, please email pictures to content@susancrandall.net so we can feature you on the website!

In addition the fine booksellers who have been so kind and and enthusiastic in their support of Whistling Past the Graveyard on the book tour also deserve a great deal of credit and thanks. If you are a reader near any of these bookshops, I highly recommend a visit. It will be well worth your time, and these fine locally owned, independent businesses deserve your support.

Indiana:

Mississippi:

Tennessee:

Georgia:

Florida:

North Carolina:

South Carolina:

Many thanks to all!

If you’re a bookseller or library and would like to book an event, please contact Stephanie DeLuca, publicist at Simon & Schuster.

Things we Learn on Southern Book Tours

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Facebook on the Southern Book TourSouthern Hospitality isn’t just a phrase. I am a stranger. I am welcome.

I love Southern cooking even more than I realized. May have to go shopping for a Mumu before I return home. I finally stopped “checking in” on FB because I’m ashamed that all of the places are restaurants.

No matter how careful I am, I leave things behind in hotels.

In much of the South you get your picture “made,” not “taken.”

It is less expensive to pay to check two bags on an airline than to pay for weight overage on one (My sincere apologies to my publisher.) This of course was information readily available to me had I checked; and yet I don’t think I could wrangle another bag on my travels with daily hotel changes and various modes of transportation, so it was a bit of a moot point.

FoxTale Book Shoppe First Book Signing

A fine Southern Gentleman (and mother) at his first book signing. (Photo: FoxTale Book Shoppe

Driving on Mississippi highways (non-Interstate) is a joy. Beautiful fields and interesting scenery. Very little traffic. And hey, no potholes! Asphalt loves land without the endless freeze-thaw cycles of my beloved Indiana.

Driving in the Atlanta metro area is confusing and hair-raising. No road runs straight. Ten lanes of traffic is the norm. Many, many streets have multiple names, one to the right, another to the left. Names are reused on different streets and roads with things like SE, CONN or EXT tacked on the end that might indicate meaning to locals but really messes with me and my GPS.

Hotel air conditioners use fake thermostats…I’m convinced none of them actually control the temperature in the room.

3 weeks without my yoga class are going to cripple me.

My Yelp app on my phone is indispensable.

And most importantly: Booksellers are a vast ocean of secret (and yet easily accessible) knowledge and a sometimes untapped resource for booklovers. I have left every book store on this tour with a new and lengthy list of books to add to my TBR pile. I want to share my fabulous discoveries with you. I’ve asked several to be guests on my website with their recommended reads. Too many good books languish in the shadows. Let these booksellers guide you to some wonderful reading.

Forked in Nashville: A Blog from Parnassus Books

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Out of the Mouths of Babes … or Into Their Tiny Hands

Forked in Nashville

An Accidental Forking

It’s hard to be gone from home for nearly three weeks straight, even if I’m having a great time meeting booksellers and readers and discussing Whistling Past the Graveyard. It’s even harder to be away from a 16-month-old granddaughter. To prevent complete Gram-withdraw symptoms, my hubby, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter made a five hour drive from Indianapolis to meet me in Nashville, TN where I was signing books with author and friend Karen White at Parnassus Books.

The signing was wonderful. Lauren at Parnassus did a great job facilitating (even though she still felt the weight of Parnassus’ Neil Gaiman event just a few days prior). Karen and I both gave our spiel about our books and did our little readings before we had a great q&a / discussion with the fine folks in attendance. Interacting with readers who enjoy books as much as Karen and I do is truly a treat, and helps to pull us through long drives and distance from family.

Afterward, Karen joined the Crandall clan for a Saturday evening dinner (the restaurant will remain nameless to protect my identity). It had been a long, long day for baby Olivia, but she was a trooper, an angel at the dinner table. While we adults chatted, she busied herself unloading and reloading my purse (very into organizing, this baby). Of course, Karen, jokester that she is, maneuvered plenty of inappropriate things into Olivia’s reach to be reloaded into Gram’s purse. Before we left the restaurant I removed and returned to the table a salt shaker, a pepper mill, two different bottles of hot sauce, variously used cocktail napkins and sugar packets. Once all that was back where it belonged we left the restaurant. We put our sweet little girl to bed and I was able to lay my head down with images of her bright smile in my head.

Olivia Parnassus Books Nashville

Olivia Grabbyhands at Parnassus Books in Nashville

At breakfast the next morning (in a different restaurant, wherein my husband and son consumed more french toast than perhaps they should), I was searching in my purse for my lip balm and what did I discover? One fork. Misplaced, of course, I won’t go so far as label myself (or my granddaughter) a thief!

At least it looked to be near the end of its useful life.

It is newly loved by me on the road, as a gift from my little Olivia. By the end, this will be one well-traveled fork, and, hopefully, the (nameless) restaurant will be none the wiser.

Whistling Past the Graveyard Heads to Second Printing

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Whistling Past the Graveyard Headed Back to the Printer

Whistling Past the Graveyard - 2013 Summer ReadBefore it’s even been released, the first printing of Whistling Past the Graveyard has sold out! There are probably still first editions to be had through Amazon, and more likely independent booksellers, but if you really want one, order it quick before they’ve all been shipped.

Bookstores on the Whistling Past the Graveyard release party and southern book tour should have first editions available at signings and readings as well.

Whistling Past the Graveyard ranks with Gaiman’s Latest in Summer Reads

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Whistling Past the Graveyard Heats up with Summer Reading Lists

Whistling Past the Graveyard a Hot Summer ReadIndiebound.org, is getting ready to release it’s July Indie Next List for bookseller-chosen titles, ranking some of the summer reads they are most looking forward to. Neil Gaiman (deservedly) takes the top spot, with Susan Crandall not far behind:

  1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman
  2. The Illusion of Separateness: A Novel, by Simon Van Booy
  3. Letters From Skye: A Novel, by Jessica Brockmole
  4. Lexicon: A Novel, by Max Barry
  5. The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells: A Novel, by Andrew Sean Greer
  6. Whistling Past the Graveyard: A Novel, by Susan Crandall
  7. Amy Falls Down: A Novel, by Jincy Willett
  8. Crime of Privilege: A Novel, by Walter Walker
  9. The Curiosity: A Novel, by Stephen Kiernan
  10. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown
  11. In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods: A Novel, by Matt Bell
  12. Sweet Salt Air: A Novel, by Barbara Delinsky
  13. Children of the Jacaranda Tree: A Novel, by Sahar Delijani
  14. Sisterland: A Novel, by Curtis Sittenfeld
  15. Cinnamon and Gunpowder: A Novel, by Eli Brown
  16. Loyalty: A Novel, by Ingrid Thoft
  17. The Resurrectionist: A Novel, by Matthew Guinn
  18. Fin and Lady: A Novel, by Cathleen Schine
  19. Imperfect Harmony: Finding Happiness Singing With Others, by Stacy Horn
  20. Instructions for a Heat Wave: A Novel, by Maggie O’Farrell

What summer reads are you looking forward to this year?