Best Book by a Local Author

Short-story writers have a rough job. They can toil away, publishing bits and pieces in literary magazines for years with hardly anyone taking much notice. Even when collected into a book, the public rarely pays attention. But when Jamie Quatro’s I Want to Show You More was published in March, people did take notice. It was as if Quatro revealed the door to a mine she had been digging for years. She hit a deep well of sex and spirituality, of complicated infidelities and a rapturous God. In More, her first book, she appears to have emerged from that work as a writer who has mastered the full range of her craft. Though Quatro just barely lives in Georgia - her house is on the Georgia side of the Tennessee border in Lookout Mountain - we’re proud to claim her as our own. www.jamiequatro.com. less...

When we reached out to Congressman John Lewis about guest editing an issue of Creative Loafing this year, we had only heard a little about the forthcoming March: Book One, the first volume of Lewis’ three-part graphic novel memoir. With the help of his aide (and self-described comic book nerd) Andrew Aydin and the talents of illustrator Nate Powell, Lewis has crafted a story that blends the personal and political. Inspired by an influential comic about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from 1956, the Congressman’s coming-of-age story is eloquently woven into the historical context of the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. Powell’s illustrations give a dynamic pacing and vivid impact to the scenes. Timed perfectly to the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the book shot immediately to New York Times best-seller status. www.topshelfcomix.com. less...

The short stories of Jack Pendarvis find security guards watching over a shock jock buried alive, an unemployed man spying on sinister squirrels, and a very, very bad writer attempting to write the history of America. In THE MYSTERIOUS SECRET OF THE VALUABLE TREASURE, Pendarvis’ words are as wild and possessed by the same mad genius as his characters.
$21. MacAdam/Cage. 187 pages.

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