Author Archives: Tracey

TOPSY / Fontenot / White

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What a fabulous Friday night at Malvern Books! We kicked things off with some lively cabaret from one of our favorite local bands, TOPSY. Our heartiest thanks to band members Joy Beth, Brett Reeves, Mario Gonzalez, and Cephas Wozencraft for sharing their hoppin’ honky-tonk with us. It’s quite the feat to make a bunch of reticent book nerds tap their toes to the music and emit the occasional (shy) holler—but TOPSY manage it every time! And if you’d like proof, do check out the footage below; I guarantee you’ll be bopping along enthusiastically in no time…

TOPSY are a tough act to follow, but writers Ken Fontenot and Lowell Mick White were up to the challenge. Ken can frequently be found browsing our Malvernian shelves, and it was a joy to finally have him share some of his words with us!

Lowell Mick White is a long-time Austinite who now finds himself living in the fine state of Kansas, teaching creative writing and literature at Pittsburg State University. We’re very glad he stopped by to visit Malvern Books on a trip to dear ol’ TX.

Queen Cocaine

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Craving a little end-of-week literary excitement? Malvernite Adam has an adventurous reading recommendation for you…

Queen CocaineThe novel Queen Cocaine by Spanish journalist Nuria Amat tells the story of Wilson Cervantes, a Marxist journalist in Colombia, and his girlfriend Rat, a young writer originally from Barcelona. The pair are forced to go on the lam after Wilson writes unfavorable articles about the Colombian government. They endure countless hardships while hiding out in a remote seaside cabin during the country’s brutal drug war. Whether it’s the paramilitary police burning down the nearby coca fields, the ruthless drug dealers fighting over territory, or the state’s Guerrilla army performing random executions, the plot never loses momentum in this exciting novel. There is not a dull moment for the protagonists, with the story shifting from moments of intimacy to sheer horror in a matter of minutes. A definite must-read for fans of adventure novels.

BookExpo Exploits

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It’s that time of year again—BookExpo America, during which publishers, buyers, and assorted book-fiends from across the country meet at the Javits Center in Manhattan for a few days of bookish ballyhoo. Last year we met Grumpy Cat (“no touching Grumpy Cat, please”); this year he eluded us, but there were plenty of other (non-feline) folks to meet…

Javits Center

Mr. Javits was there, as always, guarding his Crystal Palace. Much like Grumpy Cat, Mr. Javits does not like to be touched; a man who sat in his chair was promptly moved along.

David Mitchell

A ginormous and somber David Mitchell loomed over us all. (If the nightmares don’t stop soon, I shall invoice Random House for the therapy.)

Penguin

In contrast, the Penguin Mobile Bookshop was fairly adorable and non-threatening… but my heart belongs to the Warrington Perambulating Library.

Monster

Inside the main exhibition center, Mr. Chewbacca was sporting this season’s lego tuxedo. (Shameful fact of the day: I have never seen Star Wars and had to goggle-image-search “giant hairy orange and gray lego bloke” in order to identify the subject of this photo.)

Leuchturm

We checked out the latest wares from our favorite journal makers, Leuchtturm1917 (thanks for the tour, Laura)! Their notebooks are beautiful, durable, and ethically made; ask us about them next time you’re in the store.

City Lights

And we also paid a visit to some of our most beloved indie presses, including City Lights, who have a ton of great stuff coming up for y’all. Thousand Times Broken features three never-before-translated texts from the idiosyncratic Henri Michaux… look for it on our shelves in the Spring.

NY Review

Also coming soonish to Malvern Books… classic titles from the New York Review of Books!

Stamm

BEA = ARCS ARCS ARCS! Other Press were well-stocked with proofs of Peter Stamm’s All Days Are Night.

bea-04a

BEA-ing is tiring work, and I really don’t blame this chap for making the most of his “new-fangled, super-comfy and supportive lounge bag.”

Break time

We took a little break ourselves… TOO. MANY. CATALOGS. And complimentary tote bags were in short supply this year; it seems stickers and pens are the swag du jour. Also on offer: a bafflingly aggressive invitation to meet Ms. Bethenny Frankel, who has apparently written a book about a resentful dog. We politely declined this invitation, on the grounds that we are not insane. (Leave it to Page Six to make sense of this peculiar incident.)

Overview

Recaffeinated, we headed back out to the endless blue aisles, in search of future Malvern vendibles… and furious, untouchable cats.

Meet The Malverns #9

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June is International Crime Month, and what better way to kick off a celebration of literary lawlessness than with the introduction of a noir-savvy Malvernite? Please make the acquaintance of Becky Garcia, our store manager, staff sorter-outer, and sterling supervisor of all things Malvern. Becky would like to take y’all on a journey down the murky and mysterious streets of hard-boiled Dublin…

Becky

This isn’t Frommer’s Dublin. And I doubt the Irish Tourism Board would recommend trying to reconstruct a walking tour of Dublin Noir’s story locations. But if you like your fiction short with a touch of dark humor and an often brutal twist at the end, these stories are for you. It’s hard to decide who to root for when the protagonist goes bad (as they usually do); so you end up just being along for the wild ride through the darker side of Ireland. Watch it! Don’t let that blood get on your shoe…



Dublin Noir is one of an award-winning series of original noir anthologies from Akashic Books carried at Malvern Books.

Meet The Malverns #8

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Today I’d like to introduce you to Malvern’s resident computer boffin and expert on all things automotive, William Earl Taylor. And Will, in turn, would very much like to introduce you to one of his favorite novels, Termite Parade by San Francisco writer Joshua Mohr (and Will’s not alone in his appreciation of Mr. Mohr’s wry tale; Termite Parade was also selected as an Editors’ Choice by the New York Times Book Review).

Will and Termite Parade

Termites are eating away at young Derek’s brain, influencing him to drop his sweet Mired down a flight of stairs. This story tells a tale of an abusive relationship gone totally wrong and right at the same time. Throw in some armed robbery and bad coffee, and this is a must read!

May’s Mic Maestros

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On Saturday evening we were delighted to once again team up with VSA Texas and Pen2Paper for another magnificent and merry installment of The Lion and The Pirate Unplugged. Our May open mic got off to a swingin’ start with an improvised performance by dance group Body Shift (pictured below). Launched in 2010, Body Shift is a mixed-ability dance project that seeks to create a welcoming environment where everyone can find their own unique way to enjoy contemporary dance. Three of the group’s members, Susie Angel, Juan Munoz, and Tanya Winters, gave a wonderful, expressive performance that captured the joy and spontaneity dance can bring to people’s lives.

Body Shift

But wait, there’s more! The ever-popular Dude Choir returned to the Malvern stage—and this time they brought with them a new dude, Caleb Garcia (below left, with Eric Clow and Felipe Archer). The first song they performed dealt with the “precarious situation” of falling in love with one’s personal care attendant! Have a listen…

Dude Choir

And do check out the other fantastic acts below (and the additional pics on our Facebook page). We have performances from past mic-ers “Bear” Beam and Camille Euritt, as well as marvelous turns from Lion & Pirate newcomers Pamela Brouker and Stan VanSandt—and there’s also the debut of a play by K.K. Marshall, read by K.K., Pamela, Caleb, and April Sullivan. Thanks to everyone for making it such a brilliant night of open mic magic, and we hope to see y’all next month!