WORD logo

What's happening at WORD?



Manuel Gonzales
Manuel Gonzales, reading at a multimedia launch for The Miniature Wife that also included
local band Sweet Soubrette and photographer Emily Raw.
Photo credit: Emily Raw 

 

Our 2013 is off to a killer start. Not only did we have a busy month here in the store, but wewordjc_demo announced our big news: we're opening a second store in Jersey City. Located on Newark Avenue, near the Grove Street PATH station, WORD Jersey City will have all the things you'd expect -- new fiction and nonfiction, events of all kinds, stationery, loads of staff picks -- with the added bonus of enough space for a cafe and an expanded kids' section! (Once the demolition is done, that is.) We'll be opening this summer, and we've got a lot of plans; if you'd like to be in the loop, you can sign up for the Jersey City email list here (after you enter your email address, you'll be able to update your preferences and select the Jersey City group!).

Of course, Brooklyn will continue to be our home base, and there is plenty going on in February to keep you occupied and hopefully take your mind off the crazy weather. Full details below, and on our website
This month's featured event:

Come help us celebrate the launch of what may very well be the first time travel noir -- trust us, you'll love it. Brooklyn's own Sean Ferrell will read from his new novel Man in the Empty Suit, discuss the acoustic properties of time travel, take questions, and sign.

Fans of WORD favorites Charles Yu (How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe) and Ryan Boudinot (Blueprints of the Afterlife), this one is for you. Every year, our time-traveling protagonist celebrates his birthday with all his other selves at a New York hotel. But on his 39th birthday, one of his selves turns up dead. How do you solve your own murder when you might also be the killer?

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
fullThis month at WORD!

For kids and fellow klutzes:
Sunday, February 3, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Happy Birthday, Amelia Bedelia!


It's Amelia Bedelia's 50th birthday, and we're throwing a party in her honor! Stop by anytime between 1:30 and 3:30 to make a craft, have some cake, and get some fun Amelia Bedelia goodies. Recommended for kids ages 3 and up, and their families.

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
DFW For gradutes of the Enfield Tennis Academy:
Wednesday, February 6, 7 p.m.
Finding DFW: David Foster Wallace Appreciation Society, Meeting 2

At the second meeting of the David Foster Wallace Appreciation Society, Stephanie Anderson, Tobias Carroll of Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Joe Winkler, and WORD manager Emily Pullen will share their stories of how they first came to read Wallace. There will also be name-tags for everyone to declare their own first read, refreshments, and time for everyone to compare notes. The Appreciation Society is open to all, and meets quarterly at WORD.

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
Fluent City For fans of other languages:
Friday, February 8, 7 p.m.
Fluent City presents the Art of Translation


Join Fluent City and WORD for a lively panel on the art of translating literature and learn what it truly takes to make a book or poem universal in several different languages. Panelists include author Lila Zemborain, an Argentine poet and curator of the KJCC Poetry Series at NYU, and translator Esther Allen. The event will be moderated by poet and translator Jordan Lee Schnee. Fluent City offers adult language classes in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Hebrew.

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles For fans of ambiguity:
Tuesday, February 12, 7 p.m.
Brooklyn Launch: Ron Currie and Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles


Staff favorite Ron Currie (Everything Matters!, God is Dead) presents his new genre-bender of a novel, Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles. The protagonist has a problem� -- or rather, several of them. He's a writer whose latest book was destroyed in a fire. He's mourning the death of his father, and has been in love with the same woman since grade school, a woman whose beauty and allure is matched only by her talent for eluding him. Worst of all, he's not even his own man, but rather an amalgam of fact and fiction from Ron Currie's own life.

Join Currie for a reading and discussion of the blurry line between truth and fiction. He'll be introduced by Jami Attenberg (The Middlesteins).

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
Shadowed Sun Salsa Nocturna For fans of sci-fi/fantasy:
Wednesday, February 13, 7 p.m.
Kindred Reading Series: N.K. Jemisin and Daniel Jos� Older


WORD is delighted to welcome the Kindred Reading Series, which highlights the talents of authors of color who write science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream, steampunk, and other genre forms. This month, they'll be presenting N.K. Jemisin (The Shadowed Sun, The Killing Moon) and Daniel Jos� Older (Salsa Nocturna).

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
For aspiring do-gooders of all ages:
Sunday, February 17, 1:30 p.m.
Superheroes with Dennis Shealy


Join us for an afternoon of fun with Dennis Shealy (aka Billy Wrecks), author of Little Golden Books Batman!, The Mighty Avengers, I'm a Monster Truck, and I'm a T. Rex! Listen to some stories, find out how a book is made, and create your own superhero story! Superhero costumes are encouraged (and if you don't have your own, you can get one here at WORD). Recommended for kids ages 3 and up, and their families.

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
Scarlet For fans of (not necessarily) happily ever after:
Monday, February 18, 7 p.m.
Rewriting Fairytales with Ellen Datlow and
Marissa Meyer


Award-winning editor Ellen Datlow (After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia) and young adult author Marissa Meyer (Scarlet, Cinder) will discuss fairytales, the perils and joys of rewriting them, and more.

In Meyer's Lunar Chronicles, Cinderella is a cyborg girl living in New Beijing, Little Red Riding Hood a farmer from France, Prince Charming a not-terribly-bright space captain on the run from the law -- and that's just from the first two books, with more twists on the way. Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories for almost thirty years, and has seen more than her fair share of fairytale retellings.

There will also be fairytale trivia and prizes!

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
Narrows Concrete Fever For the DIY crowd:
Wednesday, February 20, 7 p.m.
Author as Auteur: Nathaniel Kressen and M. Craig


Local authors Nathaniel Kressen (Concrete Fever) and M. Craig (The Narrows) have not only self-published, but taken an active role in the production of their books, and will discuss the process of indie publishing, both logistically and creatively.

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
For gamblers and gamers:
Thursday, February 21, 7 p.m.
Gaming Night with Sarah MacLean


Romance novelist Sarah MacLean presents the newest book in her Rule of Scoundrels series, One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, with a game night, discussion with Morgan Doremus of RT Book Reviews, and signing. Come and learn some new dice games and get the scoop on London's Regency gambling culture! Prizes, refreshments, and fun guaranteed.

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
Start Here For everyone:
Wednesday, February 27, 7 p.m.
Book Riot presents Start Here


Join the contributors of Book Riot for a celebration of Start Here, their crowd-funded guide to 25 great authors. There will be trivia, stories from the contributors on how they came to love their favorite authors, a raffle, and more!

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
Glow When She Woke For fans of words and music:
Thursday, February 28, 7 p.m.
Largehearted Lit: Hillary Jordan and Jessica Maria Tuccelli


This special edition of Largehearted Lit doubles as a launch party for Jessica Maria Tuccelli's Glow. She'll be joined by musician Rachel Loshak and fellow novelist Hillary Jordan (When She Woke, Mudbound). Largehearted Lit is a regular series curated by blogger David Gutowski, celebrating words, music, and their overlap.

(Facebook RSVPs are encouraged, but not required.)
All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.
Every time you attend an event, you get a chance to
enter
our event book raffle for a signed set of featured books!
Facebook RSVPs appreciated but certainly not mandatory.

Book groups

Discussions this month:

      Safe as Houses Raven Prince Bartleby What Are You Doing Here

Reading for next month:

       

As always, all book group picks are 10% off in the month before their discussion. And if you need help remembering to mark your calendar, or can't make the discussion but still want to complain about that thing that happened on page 210, you can join our Facebook groups! There's one for the regular group, one for Classics, and one for Music Writing

WORD's January bestsellers  

  1. One Good Earl One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, Sarah MacLean (ebook available)
  2. Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group, Ian Svenonius
  3. Tenth of December, George Saunders (ebook available)
  4. The Miniature Wife: and Other Stories, Manuel Gonzales
    (ebook available)
  5. Drinking With Men, Rosie Schaap (ebook available)
  6. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (ebook available)
  7. The Mini Minimalist, Mark Bittman
  8. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief,
    Lawrence Wright (ebook available)
  9. This Is How You Lose Her, Junot Diaz (ebook available)
  10. Safe as Houses, Marie-Helene Bertino (ebook available)

Quick links

This email not enough WORD for you? No worries, we're all over the Internet:
Visit our website
 


This has been another production of the book-lovin' fools at:

WORD 126 Franklin St Brooklyn NY 11222

Open for your reading needs from: 10am to 9pm, seven days a week

Available during those hours at: 718.383.0096

And always open at: wordbrooklyn.com