Association of Rhode Island Authors will be having a meet a greet at the Rochambeau Library in Providence, Rhode Island on March 25, 2017 from 1pm to 5pm.
Interested in meeting local authors then this is your chance!
RSVP for the event via Facebook.
Free Admission and parking.
Interested in meeting 125 local authors like Ann Hood, Sean Fay Wolfe, Jon Land and more?
Then you’re in luck!
The Association of Rhode Island Authors is holding their 4th Annual Rhode Island Author Expo on December 3rd from 11am – 5pm at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston, Rhode Island.
There will be: Free parking! Free Admission! Raffle drawings and even Santa!
Every genre will be there from non-fiction to science fiction to horror to fantasy to children books to thrillers and more!
There will be panels going on all day along with Ann Hood signing of her new book!
Books make great stocking stuffers so avoid the lines at the mall and c’mon down and support local authors!
Remember to RSVP on our Facebook Event Page!
The Association of Rhode Island Authors will have several tables at the Rhode Island Comic Con on November 11-13, 2016 at the Providence Convention Center.
We will be at the following tables: 931, 933, 935, 937, 939, Artist Alley Table 731 as well as 12G and 15G.
The following authors will be selling their books during the convention:
Christopher Paniccia – Table 12G
Lisa Jacob – Table 15G
Tim Jones – Artis Alley Table 731
Scott Williams Simmons – Artist Alley Table 433
Authors at tables 931, 933, 935, 937, 939
Sean Fay Wolf
Mike Squatrito
Joseph Mazzenga
Heather Rigney
Joshua Blum
Errick Nunnally
D. R. Perry
L. L. Craft
Tabitha Lord
Peter Larrivee and more!
Today, ARIA starts their Author Radio Interviews on WEMF Boston Citywide Blackout Internet Radio Show and 1540 AM WADK Newport, RI.
If you have time, give them a listen and hear about their books, current project, and news about the RI Authors Expo
Here’s the lineup:
WEMF Schedule:
October 27, 9:00 PM: Loren Walker
November 3, 9:00 PM: Sam Kafrissen
November 10, 9:00 PM: B.J. Knapp
November 17, 9:00 PM: Mike Squatrito
December 1, 9:00 PM: Mark Perry
This Saturday from 11 AM to 5 PM is the 3rd Annual Rhode Island Author Expo presented by the Association of Rhode Island Authors.
This local author event will be located inside Lincoln Mall (go in the double doors between Marshalls and 5 Below).
The Expo Committee consisting of Steve and Dawn Porter, Adam Wassman, Vikki Corliss, Leigh Brown, Nora Hall, Pat Mitchel, Julien Ayotte, myself and J. Michael Squatrito Jr who I shameless “borrowed” this list from have been planning this grand event since mid-spring and I have to say we’ve done a great job.
For those who haven’t been following along with with my reposts from Martha Reynolds’ blog posts for the last month on Twitter/FB/er, well, everywhere (ignoring my website’s recent bandwidth issues, obviously), the Association of Rhode Island Authors who I’m proud to be a member of has been working hard to get local authors at events like the Scituate Art Festival for nearly four years and this Author Expo promises to be our biggest event yet!
Just a take a look at the authors over on the Expo page, we have authors from all walks of genre from non-fiction, fiction, autobiography, children, memoirs and more all under one roof with free parking and admission!
There will be raffles and even hourly panels on different writing subjects!
And just in time for holidays, these books would make great stocking stuffers!
Check out the Expo’s Facebook Event page to RSVP!
This type of event only comes once a year!
But fear not if you can’t make it!
We’ll be keeping all of the author photos up on the Expo site and those photos link back to their websites.
Remember to support your local authors this holiday season!
This post was originally posted on Martha Reynold’s blog and has been reposted here with author permission, minor revisions have been made.
Last week, an eight-year-old girl from San Diego put a spell on herself in the shower, to turn herself into a mermaid. Why hasn’t it worked yet, and how much longer will it take, she asks? Where does such a child turn when they are contemplating their life’s most compelling questions? Well, that would be good old St. Nick, or course, because the allure of Santa Claus to a child makes them think and feel that he is all-knowing.
When I became ‘Post’ Mark, the North Pole Postman, the elf who works in Santa’s mail room, I guess I hadn’t thought I’d be confronted with such far-fetched questions. I more or less expected kids to share some interesting stories, because we all know kids say the funniest things.
For example, Oliver from Australia has a dog named Shelby who he believes is friends with Santa’s reindeer because she doesn’t bark at them. Timmy, in the state of Washington, isn’t sure if Santa will come to his house this year because he tripped and fell down. When he fell, he knocked over the Christmas tree, and broke a few of the ornaments, and thinks Santa is mad at him now.
Working for a boss who is a metaphor means I am the one who has to address these issues all while keeping a straight face when a child or parent visits me at one of my live book-signing events, or logs on to my website to share them.
A message in Santa’s inbox the other day is from a nine-year-old girl in the U.K. who has a crush on a boy, and wants Santa to let the boy know, so he will notice her, but if he can’t do that, she understands. She would just be fine with an iPad underneath the Christmas tree, instead.
While I truly enjoy having the world come to my door with these messages, and feel they are a gift to me, you can imagine this is challenging at times since a child doesn’t know or understand that I might be going into the fourteenth hour of my work day, and there were dozens, if not hundreds of kids that came before them.
Working for Santa is a very rewarding experience, but as kids are taught, and one might expect with being an elf, it requires long hours. I often ask myself, “How much longer can I go on doing this job,” and then, Santa receives a message from Angela in Virginia stating that she will be leaving cookies for him when he comes to her house on Christmas eve, along with carrots for the reindeer, and something for ‘Post’ Mark too because she loved reading his book. Wow! What an honor. I wonder what she’s going to leave me!
It’s almost December! Visit Post Mark and find out how to send a letter to Santa!
This post was originally posted on Martha Reynold’s blog and has been reposted here with author permission, minor revisions have been made.
I’m a late bloomer. Very late! At age 65, I wrote a story featuring a tabby kitten named ZuZu, born in a barn at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I liked it so much I wrote more stories set in the Berkshires and added in lots of farm animals and an extended family. ZuZu’s further adventures bring readers to many interesting and historic places. The Hancock Shaker Village, the Red Lion Inn, Chesterwood, the Berkshire Botanical Garden are some of those places that my husband Charley and I have visited many times and I wanted to share them with others.
A Berkshire Tale is comprised of ten tales following ZuZu and her friend Nick through the seasons of a year. It’s appropriate for children of all ages, even adult children like me. I wrote it so that adults could share the stories with a child. This motivated me to create a blog, Around ZuZu’s Barn, about the book and about the importance of reading, storytelling and imagination in the life of a child. The blog evolved into a conversation with kindred spirits on many topics, with some of my photography interspersed. (I used my photographs to illustrate A Berkshire Tale.)
I had been a teacher and administrator for over thirty years. I’m now retired, living with my husband Charley and our two cats, Roxie and ZuZu, in the woods of South County. People who read this invariably ask, “You have two cats? Well, what about the other cat? Why doesn’t she have a book about her?” To appease my blog followers, I began to write posts of life seen through the eyes of Roxie, “The Other Cat.” People really love these vignettes and it appears there may actually be another book within these posts.
Another question I’m asked is, “Do you have a book set in RI?” I now can answer that I have one in the process of being published. It’s a small book in rhymed verse set in the Botanical Center at Roger Williams Park. The main character is a baby pitcher plant, Adonis, who one morning decides to stop eating meat. This causes much consternation for his mother, Dee, her friends, and the other plants and creatures living around the carnivorous plant section of the gardens. And I’m currently working on a mystery set in South Kingstown, complete with black and white photos of settings in the book.
Although I’m a late bloomer, I am trying to catch up, so that by the time I’m 67, I’ll have more books under my belt. Please visit my blog and check out the photos and “The Other Cat” stories. You’ll also get to know a bit more about me and Charley and the ZuZu stories which I’m continuing in the future.
Claremary Sweeney is also on Facebook.
When I was twelve, I wanted nothing more than a Swiss Army knife. My father had one, and I used to marvel at all the tools that fit in the compact package. Years later, I still marvel at its attempt to “do it all.” But sometimes, a stand-alone knife or can opener just does the job better.
So when I told colleagues that, over the next year, I wouldn’t be working much, instead devoting the majority of my time to caring for our newborn daughter, deep down,
I wondered if I’d end “Swiss Army knifing” it. People had mostly supportive words. Of course, there were some puzzled looks and occasional sarcastic or condescending comments, but what I didn’t expect were the rare, wistful silences (generally left by men), followed by, “I wish I’d taken more time to do that.”
Time, that ephemeral commodity. Before the baby came along, I joked with my wife about what I’d do if I were a stay-at-home husband. I’d water the plants. I’d do aerobics in front of the TV like it were 1982. And I’d finally have time to write.
It wasn’t all jest. Even after the baby came and all evidence suggested otherwise, I still maintained the delusion that when the baby slept, I’d really, truly have time to write. And so it was – except those stretches of quiet lasted a total of forty to sixty minutes a day if I were lucky. Amid all the baby and home related tasks, writing was the last on the list. On the days I worked, I’d go in after my wife and I had done the baby handoff and finish in the wee hours of the morning, so zero writing got done those days. And when the baby woke up in the middle of the night, or at least by at five or six the next morning, I was reminded why my mother was always tired.
Single parents have now assumed epic status in my mind. I’m lucky that my wife takes over in the evening. But despite everything, I look forward to each new day. Seeing my daughter’s smile, her waddling, ataxic steps, and the first gleams of mischief in her eyes make up for the times poo plopped out of the diaper and landed on the floor instead of in the toilet. I understand why those men said they wished they could’ve had more time to watch their children grow. Because I wish for the same. No time is ever enough.
Those naps did eventually add up over a year. I coalesced some of these thoughts into a poem and reworked pictures from one of my novels to create a little book for my daughter, which I’ll give to her this Christmas. I’m sure one of the first things she’ll do is take a bite out of the pages. And I’d like nothing more than to be right there to see her do it.
Joshua Blum is the author of The Thirteenth Hour, a fairy tale/fantasy novel. The book referenced above, Your Star Will Glow Forever, is a picture book about stars, hope, and the love parents have for their children. It will be officially available in the spring of 2016, though it will likely make a debut at the RI Expo this December. More information can be found here.
This post was originally posted on Martha Reynold’s blog and has been reposted here with author permission, minor revisions have been made.
Thanks for inviting me, Martha! It’s delightful to be on your blog during Black Friday! Hopefully, your readers are enjoying their turkey hangovers while shopping online in their warm jammies. Welcome, readers! Give Target a break and spend some time with me for a moment. If you were just out shopping for someone special, perhaps an individual who enjoys a good book, let me introduce myself and present my work. Maybe, together, we can help one another other, and make someone’s holiday extra special!
My name is Heather Rigney and I am native Rhode Islander, former graphic designer, former public school teacher, and a mother to one amazing child. Over the last few years, I have written two books in my series, THE MERROW TRILOGY. These books are based in Pawtuxet Village, Narragansett Bay, Ireland, Cape Cod, as well as continental Europe. Labeled as a dark historical fantasy novels, both Book 1: Waking the Merrow and Book 2: Hunting the Merrow take my readers on a journey through pre-Revolutionary War Rhode Island, then jump to present day, where my narrator, Evie McFagan, the local, drunk funeral director, has just encountered a centuries-old mermaid posing as a playground mom.
In Book 1, I explore mermaid-ish beings found in Irish folklore, known as merrow, a Gaelic term. One of these creatures, Nomia, is not pleasant at all, and has made it her mission to turn Evie’s life upside down. As Evie struggles to keep her family safe from Nomia, Evie learns that her husband’s Irish roots might have some aquatic history of their own.
The second novel, Hunting the Merrow, will be available December 1, 2015. Picking up where Book 1 ends, Hunting further explores the strange history of both Evie, the unlikely hero, and Nomia, the evil mermaid who might have a good reason for being so nasty. Hunting explores a variety of mermaid legends found in historic folklore throughout Europe, as both Evie and Nomia race to find their missing siblings.
Sounds interesting? Don’t just take my word for it. Waking the Merrow was featured as Rhode Island’s Motif Magazine’s 2015 Summer Reading Guide to Classics and Local Soon-To-Be-Classics. To quote the article: Rigney’s Waking the Merrow … was the best book that I read last year. It’s a fantastic tale of anti-hero Evie McFagan who learns that there is a somewhat dark family history that she married into, all while being chased and harassed by mermaids. This work is funny and terrifying, with picturesque descriptions of Pawtuxet Village. I’m eagerly awaiting the next two books in the trilogy.
Or, perhaps this Barnes & Noble blog article will help: “You know what’s great about Rigney’s horror-ific (that’s horror-filled and terrific), hysterical debut novel? Besides the bloodthirsty merfolk, our antihero protagonist is an overweight, drunk, sub-par mother who also happens to be a funeral director. I can’t even describe the premise of this book without getting giddy, because how many times does a plot involve both vicious mermaids and Rhode Island colonists?” —Nicole Hill
Heather Rigney’s books can be found online and at the following local bookstores: Twice Told Tales, Symposium Books, Wakefield Books, and Curiosities & Mischief.