Join us for the seventh event in our Novel Night series, a monthly celebration of all things prose! Here’s how it works: two published authors will read from their books and there’ll be an audience Q & A. We’ll then have an open mic for writers who have signed up to read from their unpublished short stories or novels. And finally, we’ll have “Book Talk,” in which an intrepid Malvern staff member will introduce you to one of our favorite prose titles and invite questions from the audience. Also worth noting: there will be snacks!

This month Mark Davis will be sharing his late father’s work and reading from Midnight Road and talking a bit about his life and work. Phil Hewitt will be reading from his first novel, The Mariscal Canyon Dead.

Mark Davis was born and raised in Texas, and studied at the University of Texas at Austin and Stanford University. For the last 20 years, he has worked as a business consultant. He is the co-author, with Richard Torrenzano, of Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand, or Business Against Online Attacks (St. Martin’s Press, 2011). His op-eds have appeared in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal to The Washington Post. Mark recently completed two epic science fiction novels, Darwin’s Arrow and Bruno’s Relic, now out on Kindle and Kindle Select. But tonight, he turns his focus to his father, Jada Davis, who wrote several noir and coming of age novels in the 1950s.

Phil is the same kind of Texan that Sam Houston and David Crockett were—from Tennessee. He grew up in Memphis (he actually met Elvis) and came to Austin to complete a Ph.D. in history. A year later he took a summer job at the Institute of Texan Cultures, the state’s exhibit at HemisFair. He is a teacher, a former magazine owner, museum consultant, and former truck driver. Phil is currently working on the second and third books in the series: The Head in the Laundromat and Santa Elena Floater: Confederate Gold and Carlotta Silver. He lives in Austin, where he gardens (poorly), fishes (avid but mostly inept) and kayaks when he can get time. And he has recently taken up learning to play the piano.