Panoramic in scope, Away is the epic and intimate story of young Lillian Leyb, a dangerous innocent, an accidental heroine. When her family is destroyed in a Russian pogrom, Lillian comes to America alone, determined to make her way in a new land. When word comes that her daughter, Sophie, might still be alive, Lillian embarks on an odyssey that takes her from the world of the Yiddish theater on New York’s Lower East Side, to Seattle’s Jazz District, and up to Alaska, along the fabled Telegraph Trail toward Siberia. All of the qualities readers love in Amy Bloom’s work–her humor and wit, her elegant and irreverent language, her unflinching understanding of passion and the human heart–come together in the embrace of this brilliant novel, which is at once heartbreaking, romantic, and completely unforgettable.

Amy will be participating in our monthly Virtual Book Club. On Sunday, October 28, you’ll have the opportunity to chat with the author about her latest book, Away. But you’ll have to sign up for our Virtual Book Club! Joining is easy. Simply send an email to writersrevealed -at- writersrevealed -dot- com with VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB in the subject line, or you can leave a comment here. Either way, we’ll fill you in on all the details.

Congratulations! You’ve got a book deal. Now here’s the bad news: your publicist (your third) has left the company, your editor had a nervous breakdown, and everyone’s lost faith in your little book that could. You could sit at home and wallow over your stacks of autographed books or you could power on the laptop and be a guerilla. This week on Writers Revealed, learn from four authors who have successfully marketed themselves online. From MySpace to Virtual Book Tours to videos, learn how you can be your own marketing & publicity machine.

EXCITED? Then chat live with Kevin Smokler, David Wellington, Andi Buchanan and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, this Sunday 7PM EST/4PM PST. We also have three copies of David Wellington’s book to give away to our lucky readers/listeners! So leave a question here or feel free to phone in on Sunday and you might just score a free copy of Thirteen Bullets! More about the books and authors after the jump.
(more…)

This week on Writers Revealed: Joshua Ferris, author of the novel Then We Came to the End. We’ll be chatting about his novel, the drone of office life, the dot.com era, whether the office is a surrogate of one’s home, and what’s the deal with Chris Yop and the chair anyway? (hint: it’s in the book!). And as soon as I received Michelle Goodman’s incredible book, The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube, in the mail (I ripped the package open with my teeth, people), I knew I had to have her on the show. Click here to access the show & we’re taking callers so feel free to share your questions, LIVE!

About Then We Came to the End:
Then We Came to the End charts the end days of a Chicago ad agency caught in the burst new-economy bubble. As the firm’s employees watch those around them laid off and wait for their own walking papers, they obsess over one another’s behavior and the secrets co-workers may or may not be keeping. In Ferris’ descriptions of entire floors closed off and abandoned as the firm shrinks, and of workers clinging to a futile illusion of business as usual, there’s a tragic and palpable hubris.
- from the Small Spiral Notebook Review

More Links
Joshua Ferris’s website
Powells.com Interview

About The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube The days seem long with too much time for work and the nights seem short with too little time for sleep. What’s a modern girl to do? When you have a passion you want follow it, when you have a dream you want to make it reality, but when you have bills, they must be paid. It often appears as though you can’t have the best of both worlds. Today, lots of women would love to integrate their passion with their career and are seeking advice on how to do just that. Michelle Goodman, a self proclaimed, “wage-slave” has written a fun, reassuring, girlfriend-to-girlfriend guide on identifying your passion, transitioning out of that unfulfilling job, and doing it all in a smart practical way.

More Links
Michelle Goodman’s website
MediaBistro Interview with Rachel Kramer Bussel

Update! Publishers of both books are sending over *free* copies for our readers/listeners! If you have a question for any of the authors, do leave it on the comments section or feel free to call in on Sunday!

How much love is enough? What happened to the smiling mother who whipped up batches of cookies and kept a husband, house and home - all with an effortless smile? Does that woman exist anymore and was she the idyllic image of mom? What does it mean to be a good mother? Should every woman be a mother? Join us on Sunday, 5/27, as I chat live with critically acclaimed authors Sabina Murray, Elissa Schappell, Liesel Litzenburger and Victoria Redel as we discuss fractured families in contemporary literary fiction, emphasizing the bad mother. We’ll also discuss the boomer mother vs. today’s mom - issues, pressures, concerns, mom as best friend gone wrong (exhibit A: Lindsay Lohan) and what it means to be a good mother?click here to tune in this Sunday, 5/27 at 7PM est/4PM pst, or subscribe to my show with ITunes! Got a question for the authors about their work or anything in general? Feel free to leave your questions in the comments field and if we ask your question on the air, you’ll score a free book! After the jump, you’ll learn more about the books we’ll be discussing!
(more…)