BBB Author Series

Mary Alice Monroe Launches A Lowcountry Christmas, Join Mary Alice for Lunch at High Cotton October 25

Join us Tuesday, October 25th at noon for Blue Bicycle Books Charleston Author Series luncheon at High Cotton, with Mary Alice Monroe on the launch day of her new novel, A Lowcountry Christmas.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS

In her own words, "It's the story of a wounded warrior and his family as they face the challenges of PTSD to discover the true meaning of Christmas. It's a powerful story about real life issues but that makes it all the more uplifting--and I hope inspiring-- at the emotional end. Think "It's A Wonderful Life." Those of you who've read my Lowcountry Series will recognize Taylor, the hero in the books. The story takes place six years earlier when he returned home from Afghanistan at Christmas and was paired with his service dog, Thor.

I've wanted to tell this story for three years, ever since I volunteered with the Wounded Warrior project. The story would not go away, nudging me until I couldn't write anything else. I had so much I wanted to share!

So come with me to the small shrimping village of McClellanville, SC at Christmas. Where women go out to the Marion National Forest to forage for pine boughs and pine cones, magnolia leaves and moss, pecans and chestnuts to make handmade holiday decorations. Meet Taylor and his family and share the miracle of how one dog can change the lives of not only a Marine but his family and a whole community."

Tickets are $61 to meet Mary Alice, enjoy a delicious three-course luncheon at High Cotton, and signed copy of A Lowcountry Christmas. A portion of ticket sales will benefit Pets for Vets, a program dedicated to supporting veterans and providing a second chance for shelter pets by rescuing, training and pairing them with Americas veterans who could benefit from a companion animal.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS

New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe found her true calling in environmental fiction when she moved to coastal South Carolina. Already a successful author, she was captivated by the beauty and fragility of her new home. Her experiences living in the midst of a habitat that was quickly changing gave her a strong and important focus for her novels.

Mary Alice Monroe writes richly textured books that delve into the complexities of interpersonal relationships and the parallels between the land and life. Monroes novels are published worldwide. With the same heart of conservation, Monroe has written two childrens picture books as well.

Her novels have achieved many lists, including the New York Times, USA Today and SIBA. She has received numerous awards, including several Readers Choice Awards; the 2014 SC Book Festival Award for Excellence in Writing; the 2015 SW Florida Book Festival Distinguished Author Award; RT Lifetime Achievement Award; and the 2008 South Carolina Center for the Book Award for Writing.

Monroe was also featured at the National Festival of the Book. In 2011, her novel The Butterfly's Daughter won the International Book Award for Green Fiction. It was also selected as a finalist for the 2012 Book of the Year by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA).

Monroe's novel The Beach House will be adapted into a Hallmark Channel Original Movie, starring three-time Golden Globe nominee Andie MacDowell and premiering exclusively on the network in 2016.

Monroe lives with her family on a barrier island outside Charleston, South Carolina. She is an active conservationist and serves on the Board of the South Carolina Aquarium, The Leatherback Trust, and Charleston Literacy Volunteers. She is a frequent speaker at book festivals, conferences, and private events. Monroe is also a frequent contributor to magazines and blogs.

Doors open at 11:30 AM and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar for your enjoyment.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS

High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street, where the luncheon and discussion will take place. Parking is available at the Cumberland Street Garage, other municipal lots or at meters on the street.

Can't make it this time, but you're a book lover and want to hear about book events in Charleston? Click here to sign up for special email invitations. We have some great authors stopping by and some delicious luncheons planned. 

Holly Herrick Launches New Cookbook, MASHED: Beyond the Potato, Join Holly for Lunch at High Cotton September 9

Join us Friday, September 9th at noon for Blue Bicycle Books Charleston Author Series luncheon at High Cotton, with Charleston's own Holly Herrick, author, food critic and chef extraordinaire. Tickets are just $31 for the author talk and delicious three-course luncheon at High Cotton, or $56 that includes the luncheon plus a signed, hardcover copy of Mashed. 

September 9 is the release date for Mashed, and you'll be among the first to pick it up. Join us as we introduce VIP Seating. Pre-order your signed book with lunch tickets; you'll enjoy VIP priority seating and a free bookmark. You'll also be support Blue Bicycle Books, Charleston's independent, locally owned bookstore since 1995.

High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street in downtown Charleston. Of course, there will be a full-service cash bar, and Chef Shawn Kelly will prepare recipes from Holly's Mashed for you to enjoy.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR TICKETS NOW!

About the Book

This fresh take on classic comfort foods includes not only delicious variants on mashed potato dishes, but also gratins, soups, dips, sauces, guacamoles, pâtés, casseroles, panna cottas, and sorbets made with a plethora of vegetables, fruits, beans, grains, nuts, eggs, and even meats. Hot or cold, savory or sweet, classic or innovative, rustic or elegant, Mashed shows that mashing doesn’t need to stop at just traditional mashed potatoes. Mashed is published by Gibbs Smith, a company publishing fine, beautiful books in art, design, and cooking since 1969.

Holly Herrick is a graduate of Boston College and studied at Le Cordon Bleu, where she earned Le Grande Diplome in Cuisine and Pastry. A long-time restaurant critic for the Charleston Post and Courier and a multi-awarded food writer, Holly is the author of The French Cook—Sauces, Tart Love, Southern Farmers Market Cookbook, and The Charleston Chef’s Table.

Doors open at 11:30 AM and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar for your enjoyment.

High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street, where the luncheon and discussion will take place. Parking is available at the Cumberland Street Garage, other municipal lots or at meters on the street.

 

Can't make it this time, but you're a book lover and want to hear about book events in Charleston? Click here to sign up for special email invitations. We have some great authors stopping by and some delicious luncheons planned. 

 

You can also order this book, signed by the author, and Blue Bike will ship it to your door. Click here for that easy solution!

 

 

High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street, where the luncheon and discussion will take place. Parking is available at the Cumberland Street Garage, other municipal lots or at meters on the street.

 

Can't make it this time, but you're a book lover and want to hear about book events in Charleston? Click here to sign up for special email invitations. We have some great authors stopping by and some delicious luncheons planned. 

 

You can also order this book, signed by the author, and Blue Bike will ship it to your door. Click here for that easy solution!

 

 

High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street, where the luncheon and discussion will take place. Parking is available at the Cumberland Street Garage, other municipal lots or at meters on the street.

 

Can't make it this time, but you're a book lover and want to hear about book events in Charleston? Click here to sign up for special email invitations. We have some great authors stopping by and some delicious luncheons planned. 

 

You can also order this book, signed by the author, and Blue Bike will ship it to your door. Click here for that easy solution!

 

 

Everest Climber Harry Farthing and His New, Action-Packed Thriller "SUMMIT"

Join us Friday, August 26th at noon for Blue Bicycle Books Charleston Author Series luncheon at High Cotton, with mountain climber Harry Farthing and his new, action-packed, debut thriller SUMMIT. Tickets are only $31 for the author talk and delicious three-course luncheon at High Cotton, or $61 that includes the luncheon plus a signed, hardcover copy of SUMMIT. 

High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street in downtown Charleston. Of course, there is a full-service cash bar for your enjoyment.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR TICKETS NOW!

ABOUT THE BOOK:
It is 1938, the eve World War II, when Josef Becker, a renegade member of the German mountain infantry, is caught guiding a group of Austrian Jews over the mountains to escape to freedom into Switzerland.

Now, under arrest for treason and at the mercy of SS Jurgen Pfeiffer, Becker is presented with the choice to embark on a clandestine, SS-sponsored expedition up Mount Everest to bring glory to the Reich by planting the Nazi flag at the summit, or else his mother and sisters face execution. Becker, an expert climber, has no choice but to accept the challenge to secretly climb Everest.

On his long journey to Everest, Becker meets Magda, a beautiful Jewish girl escaping the Third Reich, but their romance is threatened when the watchful Nazi accompanying Becker becomes aware of the growing relationship between the two. Becker's greatest challenge lies ahead once he reaches India and begins the death-defying climb up Everest, accompanied only by Ang Noru, an accomplished Sherpa.

Becker brings with him his army issued ice axe, with his initials inscribed in the handle, and a 35mm Leica 111 with which to record his climb. Years later, both the axe and the camera will become objects that men are willing to kill for.

In the present day, Englishman Neil Quinn, an Everest-veteran, guides climbers up the formidable mountain for a living, but when an expedition with the 16-year-old son of a very wealthy man turns tragic, Quinn's life is upended. During the fraught descent, Quinn discovers an old ice axe that whilst it may save him on the mountain soon leads him into even graver danger below. Jean-Phillipe Sarron, Quinn's violent and corrupt employer, under heavy scrutiny himself in the wake of the tragedy, is out for his blood. Nepali thugs and Russian gangsters are soon pursuing Quinn and his Sherpa colleagues, sending Quinn racing down a path that leads him into the most disturbing corners of a resurging, neo-Nazi underworld.

Luckily, Quinn encounters important allies along the way, among them the Collector, an eccentric Munich antiques dealer, and Henrietta Richards, a retired British Embassy official in Kathmandu and passionate Everest expert. Both enlighten and help Quinn as he seeks out the origins of the mysterious ice axe and Beckers Leica, the value and symbolism of which are dangerously much more than they might seem at first.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
The author of SUMMIT, Harry Farthing, is himself an experienced climber and has a great love of mountain climbing history, in particular that of Everest. Farthings firsthand knowledge of Everest paints a vivid picture of the majesty of the mountain and also the hellish rigors climbers face in trying to conquer it as background to an exciting story, part-thriller, part-historical novel.

SUMMIT, his debut novel, marries his knowledge of world travel, adventure sports, mountaineering and modern history to create a gripping action story that is both compelling and thought provoking. Farthing has had a lifelong interest in exploration, archaeology and world history, both published and alternate.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and has traveled widely to extreme environments such as the Sahara Desert, the Himalaya, the Amazon and the Arctic North. An experienced mountaineer, he has climbed Mt Blanc and the Matterhorn in the Alps, Mt McKinley in Alaska, Shishapangma, the highest mountain in Tibet, and on Mount Everest itself.

In 2010 he successfully led all 13 members of a charity climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro in Africa. In 2011 he made a journey across North America by BMW Motorcycle that linked the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific Oceans and traveled 2000 miles of unpaved roads above the 60th Parallel. That trip was the latest in a series of long motorcycle journeys that started with a ride from the UK to the Moroccan Sahara when he was just 19. An accomplished public speaker, he has also raised substantial funds for charity through his climbing.

Tickets are $31 for the author talk and luncheon, or $61 that includes the luncheon plus a signed, hardcover copy of SUMMIT. Click Here For Ticket Information. Doors open at 11:30 AM and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar for your enjoyment.

High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street, where the luncheon and discussion will take place. Parking is available at the Cumberland Street Garage, other municipal lots or at meters on the street.

Coyotes Among Us Are The Subjects of John Lane's New Book, Featured at BBB Charleston Author Series August 12

Join us Friday, August 12 at noon for Blue Bicycle Books Charleston Author Series luncheon at High Cotton, when renowned poet, essayist and environmental studies expert John Lane discusses his book, Coyote Settles the South.

Tickets are only $31 for the author talk and delicious three-course luncheon at High Cotton, or $61 that includes the luncheon plus a signed, hardcover copy of Coyote Settles the South.

Click here to purchase tickets

High Cotton Charleston is located at 199 East Bay Street downtown. Of course, there is a full-service cash bar for your enjoyment.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Coyote Settles the South is the story of Lane's journey as he visits coyote territories: swamps, nature preserves, old farm fields, suburbs, a tannery, and even city streets. Along the way, he gains insight concerning the migration into the Southeast of the American coyote, an animal that, in the end, surprises him with its intelligence, resilience, and amazing adaptability.

Co-existing with coyotes is a trending topic here in Charleston as coyote populations have increased on Isle of Palms, Sullivan's Island and Mount Pleasant. And, it's not just East of the Cooper where residents are concerned. The coyote population has increased in Folly Beach, James and Johns Islands as well. Recently the SC Senate budget panel shot down a proposal that would tag coyotes throughout the state for hunters to pursue for a $1,000 reward. Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington said there are better ways to spend that money in the $7.5 billion budget. "We want to talk about dealing with education, roads, health care and all those things versus paying someone to kill a coyote," Setzler said. "It's all about priorities."

According to the Post and Courier, "The catch is that hunting and discharging a firearm or bow is outlawed in municipalities such as Mount Pleasant and Isle of Palms where the coyote's presence continues to be a problem. Currently city landowners may only trap a coyote. A petition started earlier this year "to tell government officials that residents of Isle of Palms and those who visit the island should not be asked to co-exist with coyotes," has garnered only 66 names to date.

Lane's own argument is for folks to stop hating the coyotes, and instead to see them as part and parcel of their environment. The Department of Natural Resources suggests just that.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Lane teaches environmental studies at Wofford College, where he also directs the Goodall Center for Environmental Studies. In 1995 he co-founded a community press and literary arts organization in Spartanburg called The Hub City Writers Project. His poems have been published in magazines such as The Virginia Quarterly Review, Harvard Magazine, Ironwood, Ploughshares, and Nimrod, among many others.

Pamela Graham Anderson, former WSPA Emmy Award Winning TV Anchor, now owner of Pamela Graham Associates, will interview Lane about the topic, which will be shown interactively on Facebook Live. Watch for updates on charlestonauthorseries.com

Tickets are $31 for the author talk and three course luncheon, or $61 that includes the luncheon plus a signed, hardcover copy of "Coyote Settles the South." Doors open at 11:30 AM and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar for your enjoyment.

High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street, where the luncheon and discussion will take place. Parking is available at the Cumberland Street Garage, other municipal lots or at meters on the street.

NY Times Best-Selling Author Jane Green's New "FALLING: A Love Story," Friday, July 22 at High Cotton

Join us Friday, July 22nd at noon for Blue Bicycle Books Charleston Author Series luncheon at High Cotton, when NY Times Best-Selling author Jane Green, discusses her just-released novel FALLING: A Love Story.

Tickets are only $30 for the author talk and delicious three-course luncheon, or $56 that includes the luncheon plus a signed, hardcover copy of Falling. High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street in downtown Charleston. Of course, there is a full-service cash bar for your enjoyment.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR TICKETS

About the Book:
Jane’s new novel FALLING: A Love Story is the first girl-meets-boy love story she has written since her wildly popular early novels Jemima J and Mr. Maybe. Loosely based on Green’s own “meet cute” with her husband, the novel is an irresistible story about two people from vastly different backgrounds falling in love—and is certain to appeal to fans of Jojo Moyes’s Me Before You and Erich Segal’s classic Love Story.

Whether set in a ramshackle cottage, a chic London flat, a weathered beach bungalow, or a stately mansion, Jane’s compelling stories with relatable multi-faceted characters are, at their core, about home and family—the family you’re born into and the family you create.

Emma re-invented herself after escaping her stifling upper-crust life, complete with overbearing mother and uptight boyfriend. She became a high-powered banker in New York City, trading in British high society for a fast-paced urban life in Manhattan—a life she soon realized wasn’t what she wanted either. Craving a slower pace, a home of her own, and meaningful relationships, Emma leaves the city and settles into a fixer-upper rental cottage on the beach in Westport, Connecticut.

Emma charms her new (and single) landlord Dominic into letting her renovate the cottage’s dated interior, and reignites her passion for interior design in the process. As the seasons change, her friendship with Dominic and his young son Jesse grows, and eventually blossoms into love and a new life together. But just as Emma and Dominic are beginning to imagine their future, life throws them a curve-ball, and Emma learns that love and family don’t always happen when you expect it, but that they’re always worth fighting for.

Emma’s story is loosely based on a true story – that of Green’s move to a small cottage in Westport with her children after her first marriage ended, and eventually falling in love with her landlord – and now husband.

About the Author:
Jane Green is the author of 17 novels, 16 of which were New York Times bestsellers, including her last novel, Summer Secrets. Previous novels have included The Beach House, Second Chance, Jemima J, and Tempting Fate. She is published in over 25 languages, and has over 10 million books in print worldwide.

She joined the ABC News team to write their first enhanced digital book— about the history of Royal marriages, then joined ABC News as a live correspondent covering Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton. A former journalist in the UK, she has had her own radio show on BBC Radio London, and is a regular contributor on radio and TV, including as well as regularly appearing on television shows including Good Morning America, The Martha Stewart Show, and The Today Show.

Together with writing books and blogs, she contributes to various publications, both online and print, including anthologies and novellas, and features for The Huffington Post, The Sunday Times, Cosmopolitan and Self. She has taught at writers’ conferences, does regular keynote speaking, and has a weekly column in The Lady magazine, England’s longest running weekly magazine.

A graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York, Green filled two of her books, Saving Grace and Promises to Keep, with recipes culled from her own collection. She says she only cooks food that is “incredibly easy, but has to look as if you have slaved over a hot stove for hours.” This is because she has five children, and has realized that “when you have five children, nobody ever invites you anywhere.”

She lives in Westport, Connecticut with her husband and their blended family. When she is not writing, cooking, gardening, filling her house with friends and herding chickens, she is usually thanking the Lord for caffeine-filled energy drinks. A cancer survivor – she has overcome Malignant Melanoma, she also lives with Chronic Lyme Disease, and believes gratitude and focusing on the good in life is the secret to happiness.

Tickets are $30 for lunch plus tax and processing fee, or $56 for lunch and a signed, hardcover copy of Falling. Click here to order your tickets.

Doors open at 11:30 AM and lunch is served promptly at noon. This lovely venue provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar bar for your enjoyment.

Marjory Wentworth, Herb Frazier and Dr. Bernard Edward Powers Discuss Their Book "We Are Charleston" Fri., July 8 at High Cotton

Join us Friday, July 8th at noon for Blue Bicycle Books Charleston Author Series luncheon at High Cotton when Herb Frazier, award-winning journalist and childhood member of Mother Emanuel, Dr. Bernard Edward Powers, A.M.E. Church member and professor of history at the College of Charleston, and Majory Wentworth, South Carolina’s Poet Laureate, will discuss their new book We Are Charleston.   Tickets are only $35 for the author talk and delicious three-course luncheon at High Cotton, or $60 that includes the luncheon plus a signed, hardcover copy of We Are Charleston. A portion of ticket sales will benefit "Reading Partners" which provides one-on-one help for local, area students who struggle with reading.   High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street in downtown Charleston. Of course, there is a full-service cash bar for your enjoyment.   CLICK HERE TO ORDER TICKETS NOW!   About the Book: On June 17, 2015, at 9:05 p.m., a young man with a handgun opened fire on a prayer meeting at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine members of the congregation.   The captured shooter, 21 year-old Dylan Roof, a white supremacist, was charged with their murders. Two days after the shooting, while Roofs court hearing was held on video conference, the families of his nine victims, one by one, appeared on the screen forgiving the killer. The Emanuel Nine set a profound example for their families, their city, their nation, and indeed the world.   We Are Charleston not only recounts the events of that terrible day but also offers a history lesson that reveals a deeper look at the suffering, triumph, and even the ongoing rage of the people who formed Mother Emanuel A.M.E. church and the wider denominational movement.   In many ways, this church's story is America's story: the oldest A.M.E. church in the Deep South fighting for freedom and civil rights but also fighting for grace and understanding. Fighting to transcend bigotry, fraud, hatred, racism, poverty, and misery. The shootings in June 2015, opened up a deep wound of racism that still permeates Southern institutions and remains part of American society.   We Are Charleston tells the story of a people, continually beaten down, who seem to continually triumph over the worst of adversity. Exploring the storied history of the A.M.E. Church may be a way of explaining the price and power of forgiveness, a way of revealing Gods mercy in the midst of tremendous pain. We Are Charleston may help us discover what can be right in a world that so often has gone wrong.   About the Authors: HERB FRAZIER is the public relations and marketing manager for Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. He is the author of Behind God’s Back, a collection of stories from Cainhoy, Huger, Wando, St. Thomas Island and Daniel islands, South Carolina. His forthcoming book, Crossing the Sea on a Sacred Song, tells the story of how an African funeral song links a woman in Georgia with a woman in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Mr. Frazier was raised in Mother Emanuel A.M.E. church. He knew Reverend Benjamin Glover who organized the youth to protest during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement in Charleston, and he has vivid memories of rallies at Mother Emanuel where members sang “We Shall Overcome” in a dimly lit church during night-time services. He is still very close to the church where he spent his childhood. BERNARD EDWARD POWERS JR. has been at the College of Charleston as professor of history teaching courses in United States and African American history since 1992. He served as Behavioral Sciences Curriculum Coordinator and Lecturer in Social Science at Malcolm X College from 1977-78. He is the author of Black Charlestonians: A Social History 1822-1885. He served as an associate editor of the Encyclopedia of South Carolina. His most recent journal article appeared in the South Carolina Historical Magazine and is entitled “’The Worst of All Barbarisms’: Racial Anxiety and Secession in the Palmetto State.” His latest book chapter entitled “Churches as Places of History: The Case of Nineteenth Century Charleston, South Carolina,” is published in Max van Balgooy, Interpreting African American History and Culture at Museums and Historic Sites. His present work focuses on the development of African Methodism in South Carolina. MARJORY WENTWORTH is on the faculty at The Art Institute of Charleston. She is the co-founder and former president of the Lowcountry Initiative for the Literary Arts. She serves on the Editorial Board of the University of South Carolina’s Palmetto Poetry Series, and she is the poetry editor for Charleston Currents. Her work is included in the South Carolina Poetry Archives at Furman University, and she is the Poet Laureate of South Carolina. Her poems have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize five times. Her books of poetry include Noticing Eden, Despite Gravity, and The Endless Repetition of an Ordinary Miracle and New and Selected Poems. She is the co-writer with Juan Mendez of Taking a Stand, The Evolution of Human Rights, co-editor with Kwame Dawes of Seeking, Poetry and Prose inspired by the Art of Jonathan Green, and the author of the prizewinning children’s story Shackles. Tickets are $35 for the author talk and luncheon, or $60 that includes the luncheon plus a signed, hardcover copy of We Are Charleston. Doors open at 11:30 AM and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating  provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar bar for your enjoyment. Order Tickets Here.   High Cotton is located at 199 East Bay Street in downtown Charleston. Parking is available at the City Parking Garage on Cumberland, multiple private lots or meters on the street.    Can't make it this time, but you're a book lover and want to hear about book events in Charleston? Click here to sign up for special email invitations. We have some great authors stopping by and some delicious luncheons planned.

"Pit Bull" by Award-Winning Writer Bronwen Dickey, Saturday, July 2 at Halls Chophouse

Join us Saturday, July 2nd at noon for Blue Bicycle Books Charleston Author Series luncheon at Halls Chophouse, when award-winning writer Bronwen Dickey, presents her just-released book Pit Bull.

Tickets are only $30 for the author talk and delicious three-course luncheon, or $57 that includes the luncheon plus a signed, hardcover copy of Pit Bull. Halls Chophouse is located at 434 King Street in downtown Charleston. Of course, there is a full-service cash bar for your enjoyment.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR TICKETS NOW

About the Book:
When Bronwen Dickey brought her new dog home, she saw no traces of the infamous viciousness in her affectionate, timid pit bull. Which made her wonder: how had the breed—beloved by Teddy Roosevelt, Helen Keller, TV's "Little Rascals"—come to be known as a brutal fighter.

Her search for answers takes her from nineteenth-century New York City dog-fighting pits — the cruelty of which helped spark the founding of the ASPCA — to early 20th-century movie sets where pit bulls cavorted with Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton; from the battlefields of Gettysburg and the Marne, where mascot pit bulls inspired American troops, to desolate urban neighborhoods where the dogs were brutalized.

Whether through love or fear, hatred or devotion, humans are bound to the history of the pit bull. With unfailing thoughtfulness, compassion, and a firm grasp of scientific fact, Dickey offers us a clear-eyed portrait of this extraordinary breed, and an insightful view of Americans' relationship with their dogs.

"A thoughtful examination of pit bulls and an intense look at ourselves and society. Dickey adeptly scrutinizes the science used to condemn pit bulls to separate fact from fiction and thus weaves a narrative that artfully relays both the hard science and the emotion of the pit bull issue . . . This exceptional, thoroughly researched, and expertly written work is a must.” ---Library Journal (starred review)

About the Author:
Bronwen Dickey is the youngest child of the late poet and novelist James Dickey, one of the South’s most revered writers and author of Deliverance.

She is an essayist and journalist and a contributing editor for the Oxford American. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Newsweek, Outside, Popular Mechanics, Best American Travel Writing 2009, Slate, Garden & Gun, The San Francisco Chronicle, Southern Living, World Hum, Sport Diver, and The Independent Weekly, among other publications.

In 2009 she received a first-place Lowell Thomas Award in travel journalism and a residency grant from the MacDowell Colony. 

In 2013 Bronwen penned an essay The Last Wild River for Vanderbilt Magazine about the Chatooga River, the setting for her father’s famous film, Deliverance. The Chattooga is generally recognized to be the wildest, most unforgiving in Southern Appalachia.

“I wasn’t born until 10 years after Deliverance was filmed. What I knew of the river—and by extension, what I knew of Southern Appalachia—I knew only from the film and from memories of my father. I wanted to see the river while it remained, as it was called in the movie, “the last wild … river in the South,” she wrote.

She is a graduate of Duke University, where she studied American history and English literature, and Columbia University, where she received two fellowships in creative writing and taught literary nonfiction. She lives in North Carolina.

Tickets are $30 for lunch plus tax and processing fee, or $57 for lunch and a signed, hardcover copy of Pit Bull. Click here to order your tickets.

Doors open at 11:30 AM and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar bar for your enjoyment.

Lunch With Dottie Frank Friday, June 3 at Stars Rooftop & Grill Room

Join us Friday, June 3rd at noon for Blue Bicycle Books  Author Series luncheon at Stars Rooftop & Grill Room (495 King St.) with Dorothea Benton Frank. Dottie will talk and sign copies of her latest novel, All Summer Long. Our annual "Lunch with Dottie" has proven to be one of our liveliest, most fun events each year. Don't miss it!

Tickets are only $62 for the author talk, signed, hardcover book and delicious three-course luncheon at Stars. Of course, there is a full-service cash bar for your enjoyment.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR TICKETS NOW!

About the Book:
"All Summer Long" follows one charming New York couple  prominent interior designer Olivia Ritchie and her husband Nicholas Seymour, an English professor and true southern gentleman. They are seemingly polar opposites, yet magnetically drawn together and in love for more than 14 years.

As they prepare to relocate to Charleston, S.C., Olivia, the ultimate New Yorker, has reservations about the promise she made to retire in the Lowcountry, where Nick wants to return home and lead a more peaceful life. They are moving north to south, fast pace versus slow pace and downsizing. Nick is ecstatic. Olivia is not.

She can't let Nick know that their finances are not what he thought. Her client list is evaporating, their monetary reserves are dwindling and maybe that house she picked out on Sullivans Island needs too much work. Thank God, for her assistant, Roni Larini, her right (and sometimes left) hand.

As they find themselves pondering the next step of their lives, Olivia and Nick travel with her billionaire clients and their friends and are swept up into the world of the ultra-rich and explore the globe with a cast of zany eccentrics over one tumultuous, hot summer. All as Olivia grapples with what lies ahead for her and Nick.

This is a story of how plans evolve and lives change in unexpected ways, how even those who have everything are still looking for something more. Even the most successful people can often struggle to keep things together. All Summer Long asks the ultimate question: can money buy happiness?  From Sullivans Island to Necker Island to Nantucket to the beaches of Southern Spain, we'll come to recognize the many faces of true love, love that deepens and endures but only because one woman makes a tremendous leap of faith. And that leap changes everything.

About the Author:
Dottie Frank was born and raised on Sullivans Island, she attended Bishop England High School in Charleston and graduated from General William Moultrie High School in 1969. She now splits her time between Sullivans and New Jersey.

Her first novel, SULLIVANS ISLAND, debuted on the NY Times list at number nine and went back to press over 25 times, has well over one million copies in print and can be found in ten foreign languages. Her subsequent novels PLANTATION, ISLE OF PALMS, SHEM CREEK, PAWLEYS ISLAND, FULL OF GRACE, BULLS ISLAND, THE CHRISTMAS PEARL and LAND OF MANGO SUNSETS, LOWCOUNTRY SUMMER, RETURN TO SULLIVANS ISLAND, FOLLY BEACH, PORCH LIGHTS, and THE LAST ORIGINAL WIFE were all NY Times bestsellers and may also be found in various foreign languages.

Tickets are $62 for lunch plus tax and processing fee. Click here to order tickets.

Doors open at 11:30 AM and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating  provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar bar for your enjoyment. Stars Rooftop & Grill Room is located at 495 King Street, where the luncheon and discussion will take place.
                
Parking is available at the Visitors Center Garage on Ann Street between King and Meeting Streets, the Camden Exchange Garage between John and Hutson Streets, or at meters on the street.

Award-Winning Author Deborah Cramer's Latest Book "The Narrow Edge"

Join us Friday, May 13th at noon for Blue Bicycle Books Charleston Author Series luncheon at Halls Chophouse, when author Deborah Cramer discusses her latest book The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab, and an Epic Journey.

Tickets are only $30 for the author talk and delicious three-course luncheon or $48 that includes the luncheon plus a signed, paperback copy of The Narrow Edge. Halls Chophouse is located at 434 King Street in downtown Charleston. Of course, there is a full-service cash bar for your enjoyment.

(CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR TICKETS NOW.)

About the Book:
Each year tiny sand pipers red knots under take a near miraculous 19,000 mile journey from one end of the earth to the other and back. In this firsthand account, Deborah Cramer accompanies them on their extraordinary odyssey along the length of two continents, tracking birds from remote Tierra del Fuego to the icy Arctic.

On the full moon of springs highest tides, she seeks out horseshoe crabs, ancient, primordial animals whose eggs are essential to migrating shorebirds, and whose blue blood, unbeknownst to most people, safeguards human health.

"The Narrow Edge" offers unique insight into how the lives of humans, red knots and horseshoe crabs are intertwined, and is an inspiring portrait of loss and resilience, of the tenacity of birds, and the courage of the many people who, bird by bird and beach by beach, keep red knots flying.

About the Author:
Deborah Cramer lives with her family at the edge of a salt marsh in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where each year she awaits the arrival of horseshoe crabs and alewives in tidal creeks, and the passage of migrating sandpipers and herons. She writes about science, nature, and the environment and is a visiting scholar at MIT.

Cramer has written three books, Great Waters: An Atlantic Passage, Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water Our World, and The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab, and an Epic Journey.

She has lectured about her writing and the sea on both sides of the Atlantic, at science and maritime museums, environmental and teachers organizations, and undergraduate and graduate schools in oceanography and journalism.

Her writing has most recently appeared in the Boston Globe and on the op-ed page of the New York Times. The Narrow Edge received, in the book category, the 2016 Reed Award for Environmental Writing from the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Tickets are $30 for lunch plus tax and processing fee, or $48 for lunch and a signed, paperback copy of The Narrow Edge. Doors open at 11:30 AM and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar bar for your enjoyment.

Click Here to Order Tickets.

Halls Chophouse is located at 434 King Street in downtown Charleston. Parking is available at the Visitors Center Garage on Ann Street between King and Meeting Streets, the Camden Exchange Garage between John and Hutson Streets, or at meters on the street. 

Can't make it this time, but you're a book lover and want to hear about book events in Charleston? Click here to sign up for special email invitations. We have some great authors stopping by and some delicious luncheons planned. 

A Discussion of "Spoleto 40" With Nigel Redden, Spoleto USA General Director

Join us Join us Tuesday, May 10th at noon for Blue Bicycle Books Charleston Author Series luncheon at Halls Chophouse, when with Spoleto USA General Director Nigel Redden discussing Spoleto 40 written by NY Times classical music critic, journalist and author Allan Kozinn.

Redden will illuminate the 40-year history of this extraordinary festival, from its inaugural offerings in 1977 to this year's wide-ranging celebration.

This book is a must-read for anyone who has an appreciation of the festival itself, its performers, and producers as well as what it means to the remarkable city that has been its host for 40 years.

ORDER YOUR TICKETS HERE

Tickets are only $30 for the author talk and delicious three-course luncheon at Halls Chophouse, or $105 that includes the luncheon plus a hardcover copy of "Spoleto 40." Halls Chophouse is located at 434 King Street in downtown Charleston. Of course, there is a full-service cash bar for your enjoyment.

About Nigel Redden
Spoleto USA General Director Nigel Redden will give an insider's look at 40 years of highlights up to this year's Festival that runs from May 22 through June 7. For 17 days and nights each spring, Spoleto Festival USA fills Charlestons historic theaters, churches and outdoor spaces with performances by renowned artists as well as emerging performers in opera; theater; dance; and chamber, symphonic, choral and jazz music.

As general director of Spoleto Festival USA, Nigel Redden is responsible for all aspects of the festival including fundraising, financial administration, marketing, union negotiations, artists' contracts, board development and programming. Redden rejoined Spoleto Festival USA in October 1995. He had previously been general manager from 1986 to 1991.

After leaving the festival in 1991, Mr. Redden served as executive director of the Santa Fe Opera and executive producer of the Lincoln Center Festival. Spoleto Festival USA was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, Christopher Keene, and others who sought to create an American counterpart to their annual Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. Looking for a city that would provide the charm of Spoleto as well as its wealth of theaters, churches and other performances spaces.

About the Book
Spoleto 40 — written by classical music critic, journalist and author Allan Kozinn — illuminates the the history of this extraordinary festival, from its inaugural offerings in 1977 to this year's wide-ranging celebration. That history has not always been a smooth path. There have been battles over the festivals artistic shape and direction, as well as times when global economic pressures and even the forces of nature took their toll.

But the festival has consistently met these challenges and emerged triumphant, with its artistic mission intact and capacity to grow undiminished. Mostly, though, the story of the Spoleto Festival USA is the story of the artists who have come to Charleston to perform.

Some have come to the festival with programs that show what they do best. Some have brought tryouts of works in progress, giving the festivals audiences an advance view of a production. When the Spoleto Festival USA was launched in Charleston four decades ago, it was offered almost as an act of faith.

Although the festivals founders had put together a world-class schedule, no one could be certain that arts lovers would flock to Charleston to attend, and if they did, whether they would return year after year. With the wisdom of hindsight, we know that they have.

The festival has become an important part of the annual global arts calendar, with a reputation for innovative and varied music, dance and theater productions as well as groundbreaking art and multi-media projects. It has also contributed importantly toward the revival and transformation of Charleston itself, which this year celebrates not only the 40th installment of the festival but the opening of the new world-class Gaillard Center, which will be home to the festivals opera productions and dance presentations, as well some of its pop and classical concerts.

Tickets are $30 for lunch plus tax and processing fee, or $105 for lunch and a hardcover copy of Spoleto 40. ORDER YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and lunch is served promptly at noon. Limited seating provides an intimate experience with the author. There is a cash bar bar for your enjoyment.

Halls Chophouse is located at 434 King Street, where the luncheon and discussion will take place. Parking is available at the Visitors Center Garage on Ann Street between King and Meeting Streets, the Camden Exchange Garage between John and Hutson Streets, or at meters on the street.