Fountain Bookstore The quirkiest, heartwarmingest bookstore on the planet. April / May 2017 WARNING: May Contain Snails 1312 E. Cary Street KELLY LOVES KELLY FANCIES Shockoe Slip The Collapsing Empire Escargot Richmond, VA 23219 by John Scalzi by Dashka Slater, illus. by Sydney Hanson 804-788-1594 There are few writers I love more than John Scalzi. He gives What a treat: this book! A charming, funny, interactive picture me everything: adventure, big ideas, and even bigger belly book that is ideal for picky eaters and animal lovers alike. Bonjour! info@ laughs. His newest delivers on all fronts! A newly crowned Escargot is a beautiful French snail who wants only two things: fountainbookstore.com emperor, a scientist, and a starship captain are in a race 1. To be your favorite animal. 2. To get to the delicious salad at the against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged end of the book. But when he gets to the salad, he discovers that from an interstellar empire on the edge of collapse. It’s a there’s a carrot in it. And Escargot hates carrots. But when he final- Store Hours bawdy, cacophony of a space opera. Suitable for long time ly tries one—with a little help from you!—he discovers that it’s not sci-fi fans and those unfamiliar with the genre. Genius! Tor so bad after all. Best read in a horrible French accent. Farrar, Monday-Saturday 10-6 $25.99. Straus and Giroux (BYR) $16.99. Avail. 4/11 Sunday 12-5 CARL DIGS KATIE CELEBRATES The River of Kings: A Novel The Book of Mistakes Extended hours for events by Taylor Brown by Corinna Luyken and by appointment Sometimes a place becomes part of you, providing and A beautiful children’s book that shows how mistakes help make us www.fountainbookstore.com teaching you everything you know. Sometimes you find that who we are. Gorgeous illustrations and a message that we all need you don’t know a place as well as you think. Taylor Brown’s to hear—mistakes can lead to something amazing. I can’t wait to second novel follows two brothers returning their father’s share this book with my nieces and nephews (and to be quite hon- ashes to the river that they were raised on. But the river con- est, my own shelf). Dial $18.99. Avail. 4/18 Find us on tains dark secrets lurking underneath, secrets that may be related to the death of Social Media! their father. The Altamaha River in south- Look Inside For ... east Georgia plays the main character with GET OUT . 2 the narrative jumping between present Dramatic New Fiction . 3 day, the father’s struggles of the past, his Thrillers, Fantasy/Sci-Fi . .4 devotion to the river, and a struggling Hot New Picks in YA . 5 colony of French settlers in 1564. River of Tales for Tots . 6 Kings is full of heart, strength, struggle, Kids, Tweens, and Teens . .7 history, and danger, as any important piece New in Paperback, WWII Spotlight . 8 of Southern literature should be. St. Political and Natural Sciences . 9 Martin’s $25.99. Exploring the Human Spirit . 10 Katie’s Young Adult Picks, More Fountain Favorites . 11 Fountain Events . 12 Howdy! GET OUT! I’ve been thinking a lot about the theme of “growing” lately. (It is an unseasonably warm February morn- Big Dreams, Small Garden ing as I write this, and I have spring by Marianne Willburn fever looking at the daffodils bloom- Creating a spectacular garden is challenging when you thought ing in my yard). you’d be living somewhere else by now. How do passionate gar- If you have noticed I’ve been out of the shop a lot lately, deners struggling with limited resources manage to put aside feel- you’re not alone. People have been asking where I’ve been, ings of inadequacy and envy and begin to create an oasis in the and this always surprises me as I’m working more now than I midst of numerous obstacles? Why should they even try? In her ever have. So, where am I? When not at the shop, I’m usually debut book, Big Dreams, Small Garden: A Guide to Creating one of three places: Something Extraordinary in Your Ordinary Space, columnist and 1. At a conference trying to become a better bookseller. blogger Marianne Willburn presents a comprehensive step-by-step plan for creating an ideal garden in less-than-ideal circum- 2. Working in a place with few distractions on things that stances—encouraging the discouraged to pick up their trowels, put require full concentration. (Being in the shop is deli- on their gloves, and get on with it. We love it! Skyhorse $17.99. ciously distracting! I would much rather be hanging out with you!) These tasks include: a) Stuff I ain’t too good Sunshine Spaces at like The Maths and The Webs. b) Visualizing the by Beci Orpin future, because you can’t get there if you can’t see there. Make and create a range of fun homewares and other fabulous 3. And this is my favorite of the three: I’m selling books ideas for your outdoor space, including outdoor entertaining as somewhere else! well as how to bring a little of the outdoors inside your home! No question: selling books at the shop is my favorite thing Inspired by the color and beauty of nature, projects include about bookselling. But selling books “offsite” jerks me out of planter pots and hanging pots, picnic blanket and outdoor cush- my comfort zone, putting me with people I would have oth- ions, hammock and swing, sun umbrella and many more. Using a erwise never met. I dig that. Some of the places I have sold range of easily accessible materials including wood, flowers and books in the last few years: public parks, private clubs, million plants, fabric, rope and string, concrete and some recycled prod- dollar homes, underfunded public schools, museums, con- ucts, Beci shows you everything you need to know about bringing vention centers, libraries, country clubs, churches, a barn, a the sunshine into your life and home in Sunshine Spaces: Naturally beachside hotel…. Beautiful Projects to Make for Your Home & Outdoor Space. Hardie Grant $24.99. Avail. 4/11 Speaking of hotels: I believe I have sold books in almost every hallway of any given metro Richmond hotel. Can you Barbecue Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades— answer a question for me, Hotel-People? Do you want me to Bastes, Butters & Glazes, Too freeze to death??? Seriously, I feel like I’ve always been very by Steven Raichlen nice to you. Whatever. We are still licking our chops from the dinner we did with this I sell at events too. Some of the groups that have invited me: author a while back! Steven Raichlen, America’s “master griller” nurses, entomologists, political conventioneers, Civil War (Esquire), has completely updated and revised his bestselling ency- reenactors, hospice workers, Anglophiles, African-American clopedia of chile-fired rubs, lemony marinades, buttery bastes, sorority members, oenophiles, beer lovers, gourmands, vege- pack-a-wallop sauces, plus mops, slathers, sambals, and chutneys. tarians, fitness fanatics, casual gardeners, venture capitalists, It’s a cornucopia of all the latest flavor trends, drawing from irre- futurists, car dealers, ministers, tech geeks, visual artists, sistible Thai, Mexican, Indian, Cajun, Jamaican, Italian, and book clubs, writers (of course)…. So, yeah. I get out there. French cuisines, as well as those building blocks from America’s You know what is common to all of these offsite events? They own barbecue belt. There are over 200 recipes in all, including a are filled with individuals: we may be very different, but we are full sampler of dinner recipes using the sauces. And the book now going to share a transactional moment over a the sale of a has full-color photographs throughout. Great gift! (2nd Edition) book, a conversation, or a glance. In that moment, we’re just Workman $17.95. Avail. 5/2 two people. And, you know what? Most people are pretty Gardening in the South nice—even the ones at the gigs I might have dreaded based on my personally biased notions of the group. And, let’s face it, by Mark Weathington we all have preconceived ideas about others even if we try not As a devotee of low input gardening, Mark Weathington searches to. Getting out of the shop and doing these events helps me for ornamental plants that provide beauty and utility to the garden shatter my assumptions. It makes me grow. And that is good. without needing a surplus of time, energy, or chemicals to grow and thrive. Gardening in the South: The Complete Homeowner’s Guide is comprehensive, enthusias- Cheers, tic, and accessible to gardeners of all levels. It features information on site and plant selection, soil preparation and maintenance, and basic design principles. Plant profiles highlight the region’s best perennials, annuals, trees, shrubs, and bulbs. Color photographs throughout show wonderful exam- Kelly ples of southern garden style. Timber $24.95. Avail. 5/3 2 Dramatic New Fiction A Piece of the World Eveningland: Stories by Christina Baker Kline by Michael Knight From the author of the bestseller Orphan Train, a stun- A master of the form, Michael Knight delivers an arrest- ning novel of friendship, passion, and art, inspired by ing collection of interlinked stories set among the “right Andrew Wyeth’s iconic painting Christina’s World. “Later kind of Mobile family” in the years preceding a devastat- he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting.