First, what is "Seersucker Live" and what do “Shots” have to do with it?! In short, probably the most fun authors performance group in Savannah. And the “Shots” are smaller versions of Seersucker’s larger events held in the cozy venue of The Book Lady Bookstore, located in historic downtown. Seersucker is a 5013c literary arts nonprofit which, in their words, “…aims to treat literature with respect without taking ourselves too seriously.”
MORE ABOUT APRIL GENEVIEVE TUCHOLKE:
Tucholke grew up on a farm, where she spent her time wandering the prairie and daydreaming. She loves coffee, forests, and gothic cities. These 2 statements perfectly explain the genesis of the expansive imagination, energy, and beauty in Tucholke’s body of work and why she is so critically acclaimed and widely published in 3 different genres: young adult, childrens picture books, and adult nonfiction.
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (a 2017 YALSA Popular Paperback & a 2013 YALSA Teens Top Ten nominee) and its followup conclusion, Between the Spark and the Burn, are gothic thriller romances (both published by Penguin) with shades of Stephen King and F. Scott Fitzgerald, set against a creepy summertime backdrop.
Two widely acclaimed companion fantasies featuring women warrior protagonists, Seven Endless Forests (FSG 2020) and Boneless Mercies (FSG 2018), have both earned Tucholke starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, which describes Boneless Mercies as a haunting modern-day epic loosely inspired by Beowulf. The New York Times says,"The Boneless Mercies feels like a cathartic war cry advocating for the power of girls and women [and] a dynamic critique of the hero's journey…" Seven Endless Forests spins a bold and blood-hungry retelling of the King Arthur legend that is perfect for fans of Naomi Novik, Garth Nix, and Laini Taylor. Kirkus Reviews says of Endless Forests, “Tucholke delivers exquisite worldbuilding and imaginative characters, and Torvi's tale is packed with peril and no small amount of sacrifice…Her story also speaks to the joy found in spending time with loyal friends as well as the power and magic of storytelling. Readers won't want this one to end...Simply stunning.”
Another award winner is Tucholke’s Wink Poppy Midnight (Penguin 2016), described by Publishers Weekly as, “A dark, unpredictable mystery that . . . shimmer[s] with sumptuous descriptions and complicated psychologies. . . . Occult accoutrements, descriptions of the wild landscape, and a twisting-turning plot create an uncertain atmosphere that constantly shift readers’ perceptions of who is trustworthy.”
Published just this fall is Tucholke’s gorgeous tale Beatrice Likes the Dark (Algonquin/Workman) beautifully illustrated by Khoa Le. Dark and light are reconciled in, as Publishers Weekly says, “an instance of compassion [that] prompts two siblings to overcome their emotional distance in [this] gothic-inflected picture book debut . . . Le’s earth-toned art revels in fairy tale romanticism as the two protagonists . . . discover that, without changing their fundamental preferences, ‘they can love each other, all the same’.”
Clandestine, upcoming in 2023 from Workman, is Tucholke’s adult nonfiction book co-authored with Stefan Bachmann, which investigates architectural secrets across the globe, from hidden passageways to lost cities, secret rooms to labyrinthine tombs, the grand emotions that built them, and the historical figures whose stories are sealed within.
MORE ABOUT NATE PEDERSEN:
It would be briefer to have a list of things Pedersen doesn’t do! In addition to his publishing books and his current position doing important historical preservation at the Georgia Historical Society, he is also a freelance journalist with over 400 publications in print and online, including in The Guardian, The Believer, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Art of Manliness. He has also been a contributing writer for the magazine, Fine Books & Collections, where he investigates the strange and unusual side of the rare-book market.
A fascinating guide to the most astonishing, weirdest, and sometimes outright dangerous medical practices throughout human history, QUACKERY: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything (Workman 2017), is a compelling, morbidly humorous look at medicine’s dark side. Co-authored by Pedersen with Dr. Lydia Kang, Quackery offers 67 tales of outlandish treatments complete with vintage illustrations and photographs of everything from the equipment needed for Tobacco Smoke Enemas (used to “save” drowning victims in the River Thames) to an ad for the morphine-laced Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup for children. Seamlessly combining macabre humor with science and storytelling, each chapter reveals the odd and often disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine. “Delightful, disturbing, and delightfully disturbing.”–Dylan Thuras, coauthor of Atlas Obscura
As if that wasn’t scary enough, before COVID-19 there was plague, yellow fever, mad cow disease, and countless other sinister maladies. PATIENT ZERO: A Curious History of the World’s Worst Diseases (Workman 2021), co-authored again by Pedersen and Kang, is a fascinating history of disease outbreaks—how they start, how they spread, and the science that ultimately allows us to overcome them. Patient Zero explores the science and stories behind 29 of the world’s worst illnesses, pulling back the curtain on everything from HIV, often erroneously thought to have emerged in the 1980s, to the groundbreaking creation of the first vaccine in the 1790s, to the link between tuberculosis and belief in vampires. “If only my AP Bio textbook had been so fun. From Mad Cow to Monkeypox, here’s everything you wanted to know about the diseases you’re glad you don’t have. Hopefully!”—Mo Rocca, author of Mobituaries
As exercises in collaborative art, Nate edited the Lovecraftian anthologies The Starry Wisdom Library: The Catalogue of the Greatest Occult Book Auction of All Time, (PS, 2014) and Sisterhood: Dark Tales and Secret Histories (Chaosium, 2021). A follow-up to The Starry Wisdom Library, entitled The Dagon Collection, is upcoming in 2022 from PS Publishing.