Grab a Louisiana book this fall!

Looking for a good fall read? Here’s some new releases to choose from…

First, I have to brag, the fifth book in my Viola Valentine paranormal mystery series, “Give Up the Ghost,” hit online bookshelves Oct. 13. I will be discussing this book and “Ghost Trippin’,” the fourth book in the series, at the Louisiana Book Festival on Nov. 2 in Baton Rouge. But you can find my ebooks at all online stores and paperbacks at Amazon.

UL Press and the Center for Louisiana Studies have just released “O Malheureuse: French Writing by Louisiana Women,” edited by Ashlee Wilson Michot and featuring the work of 50 contributing female authors writing in Louisiana French.

UL Press has also released “Taking the World, by Storm: A Conversation with Warren ‘Storm’ Schexnider, the Godfather of Swamp Pop” by Yvette Landry.

In honor of the American Folklore Society annual meeting, folklore titles from the University Press of Mississippi are 30 percent off until Nov. 16 (apply code FOLKLORE19 at checkout for the discount). Some of the titles are: 

“When They Blew the Levee: Race, Politics, and Community in Pinhook, Missouri” by David Todd Lawrence and Elaine J. Lawless; “Downtown Mardi Gras: New Carnival Practices in Post-Katrina New Orleans” by Leslie A. Wade, Robin Roberts and Frank de Caro; “Jockomo: The Native Roots of Mardi Gras Indians” by Shane Lief and John McCusker; and “Language in Louisiana: Community and Culture,” edited by Nathalie Dajko and Shane Walton.

Jody Plauche recalls the bitter crime he experienced at the hands of his Baton Rouge karate teacher with “Why, Gary, Why? The Jody Plauche Story.” 

Billionaire and sole owner of Fertitta Entertainment, Tilman Fertitta, relates his personal strategies to help the next generation of entrepreneurs achieve success in his new book, “Shut Up and Listen!”

Deanna Chase’s “A Witch for Mr. Holiday,” a story in set in Christmas Grove, where holiday magic and matchmaking is in the air, will be out in time for the holidays. You can read her “Power of the Witch” now, book seven in the “Wtiches of Keating Hollow” series.

Bayou Diversity blogger and multi-published author Kelby Ouchley has published “Natural Words: A Dictionary for Naturalists,” a guide for nature lovers with an interest in learning the terminology used to relate to the natural world. It is available from Amazon in paperback and e-book here.

Waights Taylor turns to young adults in his latest book, “Henry Tuttle: The Boy who Ran to Glory” where a teenager must overcome bullies, a troubled friend, a courtroom trial, an attempted murder, and a forest fire to achieve his dream. The book is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.

Louisiana artist Jax Frey has published her a humorous debut novel “The Gumbeaux Sistahs,” set in Covington and New Orleans. The story involves five Southern women who wage a war against the ageism problems of one of their sisters using their improbable friendships, oh-so-numerous cocktails and a shared passion for good gumbo.

Norman German just launched his new murder-mystery novel “Cripple Bayou Two-Step,” a fast-paced journey through the dark side of the back waters of Lake Charles with a politically incorrect one-armed PI named Shreve West. It was a finalist in St. Martin’s Private Eye Writers of American first novel contest. German is also the author of “A Savage Wisdom,” a fictional take on the first and only woman to be executed in Louisiana's electric chair in 1942.

Louisiana author Liz Talley is having a great year, with a Christmas book out now titled “A Down Home Christmas” by Hallmark. Her “Room to Breathe” by Montlake hits bookstore shelves on Nov. 1, and was chosen as an Amazon First Reads book.

Miki Pfeffer focuses on the period shortly after Grace King wrote her first stories in post-Reconstruction New Orleans in “A New Orleans Author in Mark Twain's Court: Letters from Grace King's New England Sojourns.” She will discuss the book at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the East Bank Regional Library in Metairie.

Louisiana author Shevelle Ford pens a tale of a young girl named Liesa and her daily walks with her mother in the children's book “The Dog that Would Not Bark.” As the two travel the neighborhood, Liesa takes in the city's sights and sounds and develops a special love for the local animals. She’s very curious about one particular pup who does not bark like the rest of the neighborhood dogs.

Coming up…

Ellen Byron's "Fatal Cajun Festival," part of her Cajun Country Mystery series, arrives just in time for the Louisiana Book Festival on Nov. 2. Byron will be speaking about her book at the festival panel, "Building a Mystery: Creating a Series in Genre Fiction" with yours truly. So, grab a book and come hear us speak.

“Essence of the Witch” by Deanna Chase will be released Dec. 2 and features cursed Miranda Moon who suffers one bad date after another. After lighting a man’s hair on fire and ending up on a blind date with her cousin, she’s ready to lose herself in the books she writes and live her life as a spinster… until Gideon Alexander, the one man she’s always wanted, walks back into her life.

Suzanne Stone looks at New Orleans java background in “New Orleans Coffee: A Rich History.” She will discuss the book at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

Louisiana spring titles to explore

Lots of new books out this spring, and plenty of literary events on the horizon.

Liz Talley, who lives in north Louisiana, has released the ebook “Prince Not Quite Charming: A Morning Glory Novella.” New Yorker Frances Genovese agrees to stay in Morning Glory, Miss., for a few weeks after her brother’s wedding to help with his new restaurant. She clashes with contractor Clem Aiken, who’s going to teach the sophisticated beauty what it’s like to live in a southern small town. Talley has written numerous books set in the fictional town of Morning Glory.

June Shaw is currently under a three-book contract with Kensington. Her first cozy mystery set in Louisiana, “A Fatal Romance,” hit bookshelves recently and features two divorced sisters with the same secret romantic interest — and murder. Upcoming books are “Dead on the Bayou,” releasing in August, and “Saving Mom,” to be published early next year. Read more at www.juneshaw.com.

Deborah Burst of Covington has published “The Resistance: United in Love,” an anthology of poems, letters and essays featuring 28 authors discussing the political climate of today. All the proceeds from the book will go toward the American Civil Liberties Union. The book is available in print and ebook form at Amazon.com.

Lenora Weiss, an award-winning writer who spent time in Louisiana, has published “The Golem: Poems of Love, Loss, and Being Mortal.” The book contains three movements: “Past Perfect, Present Tense, and Future Fictitious,” exploring love, grief and death to find the courage in being mortal. The poems travel across the United States and include Louisiana, with the last section a sonnet sequence that reinvents the golem myth borrowed from Jewish folklore and the mystical tradition. Weiss makes her home in Oakland, Calif.

Louisiana native Timothy David Jones has written a story of a troubled young veteran named Wesley Booth in 1971. “Booth” resembles an autobiography, Jones said, but the novel is fictionalized. The setting of “Booth” incluses Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Pineville, Bunkie, Cheneyville, Mamou, Ville Platte and Pass Christian, Miss. It’s available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle versions.

R. Randy Veillon, a retired loan officer with experience in what makes or breaks a business loan, has published “Behind the Lender’s Desk,” an effort to de-mystify the loan process. The book offers the reader advice on how to work through loan applications and is available on Amazon.com. 

Cheré Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country.” She writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com. 

Shreveport Conference is Written in the Stars

            The Written In The Stars Conference, sponsored by the North Louisiana Storytellers & Authors of Romance, will be March 1 and 2 in Shreveport. More than a dozen speakers will present topics in three tracks of workshops. 

             Industry professionals attending include: Barbara Vey, contributing editor, Publishers Weekly; Elizabeth Mazer, editor, Harlequin; Karen Reid, editor, Harlequin-Canada; Kerri-Leigh Grady, editor, Entangled Publishing; Tessa Woodward, editor, Avon Books; Jill Marsal, literary agent, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency and Mary Sue Seymour, literary agent, The Seymour Agency. 

            Authors include Christa Allen, Beth Cornelison, Elizabeth Mazer, Lenora Worth, Liz Talley, Sarah Harner, Tessa Woodward and much more.

            Registration is $135 until Feb 23.

            For more details visit http://nolastars.com/conference/ or contact the conference chair at conf-chair@nolastars.com.

Mother and son team publish Eunice history

    Mother and son team Alma Brunson Reed and Van Reed have teamed up again for another historical look at Eunice with “Legendary Locals of Eunice” by Arcadia Publishing.
    The authors also collaborated on “Eunice,” part of the Arcadia Publishing Images of America series. 

    Their new book features a variety of Eunice residents, from city founders and early settlers to business people, musicians, veterans and NFL football record-holder Kyries Hebert, among many others.
    The Reeds will discuss “Legendary Locals of Eunice” at noon Friday, Sept. 21, in the Louisiana Collection Room of the LSU-Eunice LeDoux Library in Eunice. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Book Sale
    The Friends of the Lafayette Parish Library Book Sale will be Monday through Thursday, Sept. 17-20, at the Heymann Convention Center Ballroom. A Friends member-only sale will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, followed by the public sale from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.
    For those who are not members but wish to attend the first night sale, you can join the Friends of the Lafayette Parish Library at the door. The membership fee is minimal.
    To date, the Friends of the Library has donated $566,249.16 to the Lafayette Public Library system with much of this money raised through book sales.
    In addition to the book sale at the Heymann Center, there will be a Silent Auction at the South Regional Library from now until Oct. 4.
    For more information, visit the Friends’ website at www.friendsofthelafayettelibrary.org.

New releases
    New Orleans jazz musician Wynton Marsalis take children on a tour of interesting sounds with a new children’s board book titled “Squeak! Rumble! Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!: A Sonic Adventure,” will illustrations by Paul Rogers.

    Liz Talley of northern Louisiana traveled to Breaux Bridge to create the fictional town of Bayou Bridge for “The Boys of Bayou Bridge” series published by Harlequin. Her first two books in the series were “Waters Run Deep” and “Under the Autumn Sky,” and conclude this month with “The Road to Bayou Bridge.” All three are set in Louisiana. For more information, visit http://www.liztalleybooks.com.
    Pelican Publishing releases several new cookbooks this month. They are “The Art of Brazilian Cooking” by Sandra Cuza; “Mr. Dickey’s Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes from a True Texas Pit Master; “New Orleans Classic Cocktails” by Kit Wohl; “The Louisiana Seafood Bible: Fish Vol. 1 by Jerald and Glenda Horst: “Meanwhile, Back at Café Du Monde: Life Stories about Food,” created and edited by Peggy Sweeney-McDonald with photographs by Troy Kleinpeter and a foreword by Karen Benrud; and “A Savannah Christmas” by Kimberly Ergul and Holley Jaakkola with photography by Richard Leo Johnson.
    Joe Reese follows up his “And the Flowers Began to Dance” with “Swann Song:  A Leah Swann Mystery,” part of a series featuring a non-traditional graduate student at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette who’s attacked by an alligator, stalked by a psychotic professor, lured into the Atchafalaya and accused of murdering her mentor.
    Dr. Hillary Keeney, adjunct faculty in UL-Monroe’s marriage and family therapy program, and Dr. Bradford Keeney, professor and Hanna Spyker eminent scholars chair in education, released a new book, “Circular Therapeutics: Giving Therapy a Healing Heart.” Dr. Stephen Lankton, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, said it is a “fantastic book capable of transforming the entire thinking and practice of therapy.” For more information and to purchase a copy, visit: http://www.zeigtucker.com/
    Geoff Wyss has published a collection of short stories that pose questions such as “How did we get here?” titled “How.” The book won the Ohio State University Prize in Short Fiction. Wyss will be reading from and signing books at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, at Maple Street Bookstore in New Orleans.
    Tyrone “Li’l T” Roberts meets Buddy when his family’s car accidentally hits the stray dog on their way to church and the dog becomes part of the family —until Hurricane Katrina arrives and they must leave Buddy behind. Li’l T refuses to give up on Buddy after they return and the dog is long gone, but his perseverance makes up “Buddy,” a young adult book by M.H. Herlong. Kirkus Reviews calls it “A touching tale of hope, of holding on when you can, and of letting go when it’s the right thing to do.” Herlong will sign copies of “Buddy” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at Maple Street Bookstore in New Orleans. Herlong is a teacher, writer and the author of “The Great Wide Sea,” a YALSA 2010 Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults.
    Now in paperback is “The Homecoming of Samuel Lake” by Jenny Wingfield, about a preacher and his family who leave Louisiana and return to the preacher’s homestead in Arkansas after the death of the preacher’s father-in-law.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at chere@louisianabooknews.com.

Lafayette teens win state library 'Video Challenge' with 'Fast Food'

Courman Winters and Michael Hilburn won the State Library of Louisiana’s Own the Night Teen Video Challenge 2012. Their winning video was titled “Fast Food” and filmed at the Lafayette Public Library. The Teen Video Challenge is a national competition aimed at getting teens involved with reading and their public library’s summer reading program. Winners were selected from 23 participating states and their videos are recognized as official Own the Night Teen Video Challenge winners. The winning videos will be used to promote summer reading programs in libraries nationwide and each winning video will earn its creators $275 from the CSLP. To view the winning videos, including the very clever “Fast Food,” visit www.cslpreads.org. For more information about Louisiana summer reading programs and the State Library visit www.state.lib.la.us.

           

University presses

            Last week I mentioned two new books from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press but failed to mention “New Orleans Sojourn: Premiers pas a la Nouvelle Orleans” by French artist Gersin.

            Part travel diary (Gersin spent three months in the city), part artist sketchbook, this lovely tribute to New Orleans is written in French highlighted by Gersin’s remarkable line and watercolor drawings. It’s the perfect gift for those learning the language and for our cousins and friends across the pond. Of course, you don’t really need to understand French to know what Gersin is honoring; the descriptive photos of the Crescent City tell it all.

            For information, visit UL Press at http://ulpress.org.

            And speaking of university presses, LSU Press has two interesting books out now — “Louisiana Aviation: An Extraordinary History in Photographs” by Vincent P. Caire of New Orleans and “The Garden Diary of Martha Turnbull, Mistress of Rosedown Plantation,” edited and annotated by Suzanne Turner, professor emerita of landscape architecture at LSU.

            “Louisiana Aviation” takes readers through the state’s frontier days of flying to the present-day and the annual Acadiana Air Show. Accompanied by dozens of photographs, the book highlights pioneers, barnstormers, designers and more. There’s Delta Airlines founder C. E. Woolman, aircraft designer James Wedell and Harry P. Williams, who with Wedell founded the Wedell-Williams Air Service in Patterson. Visits by famous aviators including Charles Lindbergh and John Moisant, whose tragic crash inspired the naming of the New Orleans airport (now you know what those letters mean on your airplane tickets!).

            But that’s only the tip of the wing. The book is a must for aviation lovers but general history readers will find it fascinating as well. I know I did.

            Martha Turnbull owned Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville and kept a diary of her extensive gardening exploits from 1836 to 1894. Through these notes, editor Suzanne Turner not only documents in “The Garden Diary of Martha Turnbull” how Turnbull created a plantation garden, giving insight to American horticulture of 19^th century upper crust society, but also the daily lives of a Louisiana planter family. 

New releases

            Liz Talley, who grew up in Minden, has published a romantic suspense titled “Waters Run Deep,” a Harlequin Superromance featuring an undercover agent on a case in a town modeled after Breaux Bridge. She has books coming out in July and September of this year as well. “My first one has a little suspense, my second is based on LSU football recruiting and the last one is a coming home reunion story,” she wrote me by email. “I worked hard to make sure I made it authentic Louisiana.” For information, visit http://www.liztalleybooks.com.

            Hurricane season came early this year even though it’s officially June 1. With climate change wrecking havoc on everything, why not stay vigilant all year long? Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider offers a guide to surviving flash floods, tornadoes, heat waves, tsunamis, and yes, hurricanes in “Extreme Weather.” This book offers advice for all kinds of bad weather including earthquakes, fires and more, plus shows readers how to create a family disaster plan, prepare for emergencies with pets and work with social media. It’s a handy guide to keep with the flashlight and bottled water.

            Rich Cohen has written “The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King,” about Samuel Zemurray, the son of a Jewish Russian farmer who ran United Fruit and influenced Central American politics in the early part of the 20^th century. “Cohen claims Zemurray was to New Orleans what Rockefeller was to New York, but the better comparison may be to Robert Moses, who bulldozed both land and people to build many of New York’s roads, parks, and bridges,” wrote Publisher’s Weekly. Cohen will sign copies of his book at 6 p.m. Monday, June 4, at Octavia Books in New Orleans.

            Ken Budd has published “The Voluntourist: A Six-Country Tale of Love, Loss, Fatherhood, Fate, and Singing Bon Jovi in Bethlehem,” which includes his work volunteering for Hurricane Katrina disaster relief in New Orleans, among other causes around the world.

            The spring issue of The Southern Review is now on bookstore shelves, featuring poems, drama, photographs, essays and fiction. The Southern Review was founded in 1935 by Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks and is published four times a year by LSU.

            James W. Miller has published “Where the Water Kept Rising: A College Athletic Director’s Fight To Save a New Orleans Sports Institution” by Arthur Hardy Enterprises, a New Orleans publisher. Miller was athletic director at UNO.

            Bill Loehfelm has published a mystery, “The Devil She Knows,” and will sign copies of this book from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 5, at the Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans. Also at the bookstore will be true crime writer August Palumbo signing copies of “Assassin Hunter,” which deals with New Orleans mafia and the “underworld of the Cajun French,” among others, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 9.

Book awards

            Curt Iles’ “A Spent Bullet” won the Director’s Award at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. Iles is a Christian author and storyteller who lives in Dry Creek.

           

Cheré Coen is the author of “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at chere@louisianabooknews.com.