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We love good books, just like you do
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Dear Readers,
Welcome to our latest newsletter. Loyal readers will see it's got a brand new look. We've been working hard to get it right, so do let us know what you think! From now on, it'll be landing in your Inbox once a month.
We've also got great news about Marianne K. Martin — and great news too for her fans. And we're looking forward to teaming up with Kate Clinton. See Bywater in P-town below!
Please join us in celebrating the release of Risk, the long-awaited novel by Elana Dykewomon, author of Beyond the Pale; and Verge, the latest winner of the Bywater Prize for Fiction and the first novel by Z Egloff.
As always, we at Bywater strive to bring you the finest in lesbian romance, mystery, and literary fiction. Make sure to check out the coupon at the bottom of this newsletter to receive free shipping when you order directly from us.
Please also note the new number for our telephone order line is 1-734-662-8815.
Till next time!
Kelly Smith
Marianne K. Martin
Val McDermid
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Risk
by Elana Dykewomon
To change the world, you need to take risks. That's something Carol Schwartz knows bone deep. And it's something she's prepared to do.
She learned about risk as a girl. She never understood why, but her father chose to go to Vietnam. She never saw him again.
Now Carol, a Berkeley-educated idealist, tutors high school students. A Jewish lesbian, she's a community activist in Oakland. And she's learned to take risks of her own. She gambles her inheritance, her love, even her own well-being.
Across the years — from the mid-eighties to the post-9/11 world — the stakes get ever higher and her gambles more desperate. Until finally Carol finds out just what's left when the last gamble is lost.
Activist, author, and teacher, Elana Dykewomon is one of the finest thinkers the women's movement has produced. Winner of the Lambda Literary Award and the Ferro-Grumley Award, she has taught composition and creative writing for the past fifteen years. Her books include Beyond the Pale and They Will Know Me By My Teeth.
"Risk is a novel with depth and heart and wisdom, with political
clarity and spiritual dimension and the promise of forever … and — most rewardingly — an inspirational account of the sexual pleasure and emotional sustenance two women can provide each other as caring years pass." — Richard Labonte, Book Marks
"Sensuous, moving, inspiring: Beyond the Pale is a wonderful novel."
— Sarah Waters, author of The Night Watch and
Tipping the Velvet
$14.95
Lesbian Fiction 272 pp ISBN 978-1-932859-69-0
At fine bookstores everywhere
or order directly from Bywater Books.
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Verge
by Z Egloff
Claire has three goals: to stay sober, to stay away from sex, and to get into film school. So far she's blown two of the three and her drunken affair with her professor's wife means she might just have blown the third. Stuck without the camera she needs to complete her course work, she turns to Sister Hilary at the community center for help. Sister Hilary has a camera to lend, but the price is that Claire must volunteer. The only trouble is, Claire's more attracted to Sister Hilary than to helping out.
Claire ought to know there's no future with a nun, but can't this two-timing, twelve-stepping, twenty-something film freak get a chance at happiness?
Z Egloff was born in California, raised in the Midwest, and schooled (academically and otherwise) in Amherst, Massachusetts, and on Cape Cod. Verge is her first novel.
"Verge is powerful, quirky, and fresh. It's a tale not so much of recovery as of regeneration, and the restorative, sustaining power of storytelling itself. Z Egloff creates a rich, inclusive world and a heroine who's one of the most endearingly fallible characters I've met in a long time."
— Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home,
Time Magazine's Best Book of 2006
"A wry story of confronting your demons, Verge has heart and wit and intelligence."
— Emma Donoghue, author of The Sealed Letter and Slammerkin
"With Verge, Z Egloff enters the ring of lesbian fiction with the assurance of an old hand. Using deft strokes, Egloff puts her extremely likeable protagonist — a film student and recovering alcoholic — through a gauntlet of difficulties that are by turns hilarious, sad, moving, romantic, and sometimes quite heated. This is a talented writer I hope we hear from again, and soon."
— Carol Anshaw, author of Aquamarine and Seven Moves
$14.95
Lesbian Fiction 272 pp ISBN 978-1-932859-68-3
At fine bookstores everywhere
or order directly from Bywater Books. |
Marianne K. Martin
Marianne published her first book, Legacy of Love, with Naiad Press and can still vividly remember her first phone call from Barbara Grier. She went on to publish three more novels with Naiad before moving to Bella Books and publishing her first Lambda Literary Award finalist, Mirrors. In 2004, she helped found Bywater Books and has now published three books here.
Before becoming a best-selling author, Martin spent 25 years teaching school and coaching in Michigan. Yes, she was a gym teacher. She was a founder of the Michigan Women's Major Fastpitch Association and its president for ten years and in 1973 she won a precedent-setting case in a Michigan court establishing equal pay for women coaches.
After taking early retirement, she worked as a photo-journalist and concentrated on building a house with her father. In her spare time, Marianne started to write. Now, eight books later, she splits her time between her publishing responsibilities as a co-owner of Bywater Books and her writing. Her other interests include building and remodeling, landscaping, art, and reading. She loves Dancing with the Stars and Whoopie Goldberg.
Many of you will remember discovering Marianne with her best-selling novel, Love in the Balance.Her many fans have long wanted to know what happened to those characters. In Marianne's forthcoming novel, you'll find out. No
publication date yet, as Marianne is still writing it!
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Every month Bywater will be holding a prize draw. To enter, just answer a simple question — it will always be about our authors or our books.
All of the correct answers will be thrown into a hat. The first one to be picked out will win!
This month, we're giving you a chance to win a set of signed copies of all of Marianne K. Martin's books. Here's the question:
Sage Bristo is a character created by Marianne K. Martin. What is the name of Sage's sister?
Send answers to us by e-mail at trivia@bywaterbooks.com or by post to the address in the righthand column above — see To Order Books. |
We're all looking forward to P-town this fall. Kate Clinton will be teaming up with Bywater authors for a lively debate about writing Herstory= (Y)Ourstory. Please come and join us. For more information, see Bywater in P-town below.
We're also delighted to announce that all the novels by Marianne K. Martin are now available from Bywater Books. We have acquired the rights to Marianne's last remaining Bella titles and now all of her books are in one place.
For those of you who may have missed one, Marianne has written eight novels: Legacy of Love, Love in the Balance, Never Ending, Dawn of the Dance, Dance in the Key of Love, and three Lambda Literary Award finalists, Mirrors, Under the Witness Tree, and For Now, For Always.
Finally, we now have our own MySpace page. Come and join us! |
Cynn Chadwickwill be teaching a Master Fiction Workshop during Women's Week in Provincetown, MA, on Friday, October 16. For more information: www.cynnchadwick.wordpress.comOr contact: cynnchad@aol.com
Elana Dykewomon
will read at:
· Works in Progress on Saturday, August 8.
The San Leandro Community Church, 1395 Bancroft Avenue.
· Butch Voices Conference on Sunday, August 23.
Elana will feature in the Spoken Word performance, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Oakland Marriott Center, Calvin Simmons Ballroom, 1001 Broadway,
Oakland, CA 94607.
For more information: www.butchvoices.com
· Montclair Women's Cultural Arts on Thursday, October 15.
This is an all-women event and all women are welcome.
1650 Mountain Blvd, Oakland (Montclair).
For more information: 510-654-4088
Z Egloff
will appear at
· Charis Books & More on Friday, September 4, 8 – 9:30 p.m.
1189 Euclid Ave, NE, Atlanta, GA 30307
For more information: http//:charis.booksense.com
Or contact: 404-524-0304
will be part of
· the Three Debut Authors panel of the Decatur Book Festival on Saturday, September 5 at 1:45 p.m.
For more information: www.decaturbookfestival.com/2009/index.php
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Cynn Chadwick, Z Egloff, Marcia Finical, Marianne K. Martin, Bett Norris, and Mari SanGiovanni will be signing books at Womencrafts on:
· Thursday, October 15: 2 – 4 p.m.
· Friday, October 16: 2 – 4 p.m.
· Saturday, October 17: 1:30 – 3 p.m.
They will also be hosting A Night of Wine and Cheese, again at Womencrafts, on Thursday, October 15, 6 – 8 p.m.
And they will be teaming up with Kate Clinton on the Herstory=(Y)Ourstory panel at the Wave Bar of The Crown & Anchor, on Saturday, October 17, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Listen to a lively authors' chat about writing — from the nuts 'n bolts of pens and PCs to the challenges of penis and P.C. — all in the context of today's book biz. Bring those questions you've always wanted to ask!
Bywater Books would like to thank The Crown & Anchor for their hospitality. Please enjoy a meal at the Central House at The Crown & Anchor.
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People have been talking about Jill Malone! Her first novel, Red Audrey and the Roping, was reviewed by afterellen.com. And check out the review of her upcoming novel, A Field Guide to Deception, in Jane and Jane magazine.
For a great interview with Cynn Chadwick, take a look at Outsmart magazine. And for more insight, check out this blog by Jennifer Saylor. It was posted a while back, but it's still interesting.
And just in case you missed it, check out Stella Duffy's interview with afterellen.com.
Val McDermid sat alongside Stella on the Dangerous Dykes panel at Harrogate Crime Festival, to discuss how lesbian writers have come to dominate the world of crime fiction. |
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Win! Win! Win!
With every newsletter, we will be giving you a chance to win.
This summer's give-
away is Kate Clinton's CD The Marrying Kind.
Everyone who orders books from us during August — whether online, by mail order, or by phone — will be entered into a
prize drawer.
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To Order Books
Order online:
www.bywaterbooks.com
Order by phone:
1-734-662-8815
Order by mail:
Bywater Books
PO Box 3671
Ann Arbor MI 48106
click here to print
order form
Shipping Costs:
Book Post — $2.00*
for as many books as you order
Priority Mail — $7 for first book, plus $2 for each additional book
Overnight — $22 for first book, plus $3 for each additional book
* free shipping with coupon below
Booksellers:
Bywater Books are distributed to
the trade by Consortium Books Sales and Distribution and are available
through major wholesalers.
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Bywater Prize for Fiction
At Bywater Books, we celebrate books written for lesbians, about lesbians, and we're here to publish the best authors.
If you're a writer with something to say, please enter the Bywater Prize for Fiction.
The winner will receive $1000 and publication by Bywater Books.
For those in second and third place, there is a prize of $200 and $100 respectively.
The deadline for this year's competition is October 31, 2009. That's plenty of time for you to polish up your manuscript.
So, what are you waiting for? We want to hear from you.
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