SIGNED copies available!

"Seasonality is the cornerstone to our menu-planning success," says Chef Chris Hastings. The Hot and Hot Fish Club Restaurant is one of the best in the South because it only uses the finest and freshest ingredients in their recipes. From the fresh-caught Pacific seafood flown in from Osprey Seafood in San Francisco to the blackberries and Vidalia onions from local Garfrerick Farms of Alpine, Alabama, Hot and Hot goes to great lengths to make sure that what goes into every dish is always fresh and in season. "The Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook" contains more than 200 creative and delicious recipes that are organized to reflect the seasonal nature of local ingredients. It features profiles of dozens purveyors who supply the restaurant with the freshest ingredients. With more than 50 full-color photographs, lifestyle menus complete with wine and beer pairings, and a sourcing section, "The Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook" is your guide to preparing exquisite, fresh cuisine from the hottest restaurant in the South.

Signed copies still available!

"My New Orleans" will change the way you look at New Orleans cooking and the way you see World-famous chef John Besh. It's 16 chapters of culture, history, essay and insight, and pure goodness. Besh tells us the story of his New Orleans by the season and by the dish. Archival, four-color, location photography along with ingredient information make the Big Easy easy to tackle in home kitchens. Cooks will salivate over the 200 recipes that honor and celebrate everything New Orleans. Bite by bite John Besh brings us New Orleans cooking like we've never tasted before. It's the perfect blend of contemporary French techniques with indigenous Southern Louisiana products and know-how. His amazing new offering is exclusively brought to fans and foodies everywhere by Andrews McMeel. From Mardi Gras, to the shrimp season, to the urban garden, to gumbo weather, boucherie (the season of the pig), and everything tasty in between, Besh gives a sampling of New Orleans that will have us all craving for more. The boy from the Bayou isn't just an acclaimed chef with an exceptional pallet. Besh is a chef with a heart. The ex-marine's passion for the Crescent City, its people, and its livelihood are main courses making him a leader of the city's culinary recovery and resilience after the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. What People Are Saying "John Besh is one of the best American chefs of his generation. His extensive knowledge of true Louisiana dishes and traditions adds tremendous credibility to his writing." --Paul Prudhomme, chef and owner of K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen Magic Seasoning Blends "In his definitive tome, "My New Orleans," John Besh captures the true, sweet, and honest voice of a clarinet playing the jazzy song of one of our most deliciously exclusive regional American kitchens." --Mario Batali, Iron Chef, restaurateur, author "This book is an act of soul. Maestro Besh lives the life he cooks; he doesn't just tell us how to prepare Louisiana favorites, he teaches us what these dishes mean, with an emphasis on how hospitality can enrich civilization." --Wynton Marsalis, musician "John will take you into the heartland of the South, rich with traditions, stories, and of course, its amazing cuisine!" --Daniel Boulud, chef, restaurateur, and author A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Cafe Reconcile, a New Orleans-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing at-risk youth an opportunity to learn life and interpersonal skills, and operational training for successful entry into the hospitality and restaurant industries. Contributor Bio: Besh, John John Besh is the acclaimed chef committed to "bringing back" New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Besh grew up in Southern Louisiana and graduated from The Culinary Institute of America. "Food and Wine" named him one of the Top 10 Best New Chefs in America in 1999. His passion for food and New Orleans is always simmering. Besh owns and operates New Orleans restaurants: August, his downtown flagship. Luke is his newest adventure, a downtown brasserie. La Provence, a rustic French restaurant and mini-farm just north of New Orleans. And, not to be overlooked, the award-winning, Besh Steak.

Signed by both authors AND by Charlie Lucas!

Charlie Lucas is a self-taught artist. Although he has made art since childhood, only since a debilitating accident in 1984 did Lucas turn to art seriously as a form of personal expression. He has since become recognized nationally and internationally as a great innovator in the field of American folk art. From his workshop in Pink Lily, Alabama--a rural wonderland of objects, sculptures, paintings, buildings, and installations--Charlie Lucas makes his art from materials that others have discarded (as he himself believes he was once discarded): old tin, bicycle wheels, shovels, car mufflers, tractor seats, metal banding, wire, and gears. His work is visionary, in every sense of the word, each creation the result of an intense communion with his heritage, ancestors, race, family, and his own choices in life. Every work is imbued with a story. With more than 200 vivid color photographs--of the artist at work, his studio environments, and his finished creations--"Tin Man" presents Lucas through his own words and stories--his troubled and impoverished childhood, his self-awakening to the depths of his own artistic vision, his perseverance through years of derision and misapprehension, and the salvation that has come through international acclaim and recognition, love of family, and his role as a teacher of children.

Signed copies available!

Nobody does barbecue better than Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, winners of the World Championship BBQ Cook-Off for six years in a row. Executive chef Lilly now passes on the family secrets in this quintessential guide. Color photographs throughout.

Signed copies still available!

Dixie Noir is a detective yarn that doesn’t pull any punches, beginning in medias res of a cold-blooded murder somewhere in Montgomery, Alabama. Protagonist Ennis Skinner is a man with little to lose who is bent on “making amends” by any means necessary. The novel is populated by quick-fire dialogue, a liberal application of street nicknames, femme fatales, and seedy criminals, but it is Ennis’s earnest search for redemption that elevates this gritty classic noir tale of sex and betrayal, murder and mayhem, to a believable journey of self-discovery. Behind it all lurks Montgomery, a city of stultifying heat and just-barely-repressed racial hatred.

Ennis is an ex-con returned to the city of his misspent youth with a laundry list of wrongs he intends to right. Yet the moment he gets out, both his criminal past and Montgomery’s own slew of restless ghosts come calling, launching Ennis on a mission to find and save the mentally impaired teen daughter of a deceased lover. Through it all, he navigates a landscape of crooked politicians, two-faced friends, incestuous fathers, warped cops, thugs, and short order cooks—but most of all his own past of failure, addiction, and sex.

Each brilliant character distinguishes itself with a set of simmering passions and obsessions. Carrying their unique but always somewhat dangerous pasts close behind, this cast moves within a history-rich city that is flooded with its own ghosts. Perhaps Montgomery itself is the most important character in Dixie Noir—so fraught is it with memories of racial conflict and conflagration that it seems to infect its inhabitants, its politics, and even its sweltering climate.

Curnutt deftly produces the distinct language of the noir; his characters run the gamut from Raymond Chandleresquefemme fatales to urban-hip meth dealers. An F. Scott Fitzgerald devotee, Curnutt infused the character of Red with a liberal dose of Zelda Fitzgerald. Each character has a way with words that borders at times on the campy, but Curnutt avoids that territory with believable emotions and motives for his characters.

Curnutt’s first book, Breathing Out the Ghost, received critical acclaim and won the2008 Best Books of Indiana Award for Fiction.Readers who aren’t squeamish about sex, violence, and drug use will find Dixie Noir to be a quick, gritty read.(November) Leia Menlove

 

A few signed copies still available!

What could be better than a phenomenon? The return of a phenomenon. Ten years ago Anne Byrn's "The Cake Mix Doctor" began its extraordinary run as one of the most popular baking books of all time. Now Anne Byrn is back with the all-new "Cake Mix Doctor Returns!" From the beloved author who showed home bakers how adding a touch of sweet butter or a dusting of cocoa powder, a dollop of vanilla yogurt or flurry of grated lemon zest could transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Here are 160 brand-new recipes-that's right, 160 amazing cake mix recipes-for luscious layer cakes, sheet cakes, brownies, bars, cookies, and more. And the book is needed more than ever. Today 90 percent of home cooks use prepackaged mixes, while the economy is creating a perfect excuse to let them eat cake-cake equals happiness. And what cakes! 40 layer cakes, from Tiramisu Cake to The Best Red Velvet Cake, Strawberry Refrigerator Cake to Chocolate Swirled Cannoli Cake. 35 sheet cakes. 38 bundt and pound cakes. 16 cupcakes and muffins, plus the cult classic Whoopie Pie. And brownies, bars, and cookies, including Spice Drop Cookies, Angel Food Macaroons, and Chocolate Espresso Biscotti. There's even a wedding cake, a frequent request from the author's passionate online community. The Cake Mix Doctor is back-just say ahhhhh!

Signed copies available

Publishers Weekly (09/21/2009): A Cincinnati couple bravely and lovingly recorded the last months of their six-year-old daughter's life after she was handed the devastating prognosis of terminal brain cancer. A trip to the doctor's office to treat Elena's strep throat resulted in an MRI that revealed a large tumor lodged within the walls of Elena's brain stemin the worst place with one of the worst tumors out there. The kindergartener, who also had a younger sister, Grace, was given three to six months to live. A miracle was what the family hoped for, traveling to Memphis for six weeks of an experimental treatment involving intensive radiation, chemotherapy and tests; already Elena's speech, mobility and ability to eat had been affected, symptoms of the tumor's progression that would recede and recur over the next several months. The parents kept this diary from November 29, the beginning of their daughter's treatment, until her death August 11, Day 256, written in alternating POVs (mostly Keith's; Brooke's is rendered in italics), even recording some of Elena's own musings, such as that all she wanted was to be normal. The parents remained resolute in her treatment, even upbeat despite the anger Keith felt at the unfairness of this disease. Instead of planning their daughter's future, the Desseriches sadly found themselves counting [her] days. This heartbreakingly forthright journal helped the authors push back that second-worst daywhen the memory of their daughter would be forgotten. "(Nov.)" Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

Elena Desserich dreamed of becoming a teacher. Although her time on this earth was far too short to fulfill her dream, she left behind an enlightening lesson plan on life. Wise beyond her years, Elena never stopped teaching those around her to appreciate the miracle of everyday living even as the innocent six-year-old battled a rare form of brain cancer. Through personal and candid journal entries written as a remembrance for Elena's younger sister, Brooke and Keith Desserich share their emotional journey as they negotiated their contradictory impulses to fight Elena's cancer at all costs and realized the inevitable outcome. Page by page, this journal is a reminder to parents everywhere to appreciate and savor every precious moment they have with their own children. "Notes Left Behind" tells a story of humility and inspiration. From the time of her diagnosis, Elena accomplished a truly spectacular series of wishes, big and small, that she alone created, from riding in a horse-drawn carriage to painting a masterpiece that would hang in an art museum. Her life motivated the creation of the foundation, The Cure Starts Now, which today helps children everywhere in their fight against cancer. The authors' proceeds from the sale of this book benefits this foundation. Included in the pages of this book are Elena's private messages that she secretly hid around her home, knowing her family would find them when she was gone. These notes show us how even during the darker moments of life, it is possible to find hope and encouragement through selfless love

Review Quotes: "Elena has left behind a story of resilience, hope and most of all, love. We can't help but take her into our hearts, and carry the best of her into our own lives." -- Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor, The Last Lecture

 "This is a stunning story that teaches us how precious children, family, and life are, and that the sacrifices we make are worth it. I won't forget the Desserich family, and neither will you." -- James Patterson, bestselling author

Signed copies available!

In spring of 2001, a community of people in the Appalachian foothills came to the edge of all they had ever been. Across the South, padlocks and logging chains bound the doors of silent mills, and it seemed a miracle to blue-collar people in Jacksonville, Alabama, that their mill survived. The century-old hardwood floors still trembled under whirling steel, and people worked on in a mist of white air. The mill had become almost a living thing, rewarding the hard-working and careful with the best payday they ever had, but punishing the careless and clumsy, taking a finger, a hand, more. The mill preceded the automobile, the airplane, and they served it even as it filled their lungs with lint and shortened their lives. In return, it let them live in stiff-necked dignity in the hills of their fathers. In these real-life stories, Rick Bragg brilliantly evokes the hardscrabble lives of those who lived and died by an American cotton mill. SIGNED by Rick Bragg!

Signed copies available

by Jim Lacefield

Only our favorite book in the store! Fun, educational, entertaining, colorful. And who'd have thought Alabama used to be where Africa is now?

"Year of the Horse" is literary fantasy at its very bestaa novel that delves into our myths, legends, hopes, and fears; a coming-of-age fable set in our fondly remembered (if often fictional) pastaan adventure more than capable of setting your hair on end. "Year of the Horse" tells the story of Yen Tzu-lu, a child of Chinese immigrants unwillingly pressed into service by a gang of roughnecks bent on stealing a gold mine from a shadowy villain deep in the western wilderness. With Tzu-lu as our guide, we experience a landscape of legend, stand toe-to-toe with those larger-than- life heroes and villains of our shared American mythos, and learn the inescapable facts that have both enriched and plagued our nation from its inception. Resonating with echoes of Mark Twain, Larry McMurtry, and J. K. Rowling, this is a book of fabulous adventure and deep resonance. Allen gives readers a picture of how America sees itself, and in so doing he offers up both a heroic vision of the past and hope for the future.

From "Ragtime" and "Billy Bathgate" to "The Book of Daniel," Doctorow's novels comprise one of the most substantive achievements of modern American fiction. With "Homer & Langley," the master novelist has once again created an unforgettable work.

by Foster Dickson

signed copies available

The life and art of Montgomery, Alabama's most popular artist, as told to his neighbor. A must-have for anyone who owns one of Clark's wonderful paintings.

by Jeanie Thompson

SIGNED copies available!

From wandering the rivers and valleys of her upbringing, to veering off the beaten paths in Italy, for her fourth collection of poems, award-winning poet Jeanie Thompson carries the meditations of her heart across the span of a year. Returning to familiar subjects – love, motherhood, her elegiac Southern landscape, and the continuing search for a deeper connection “running with” her blood, Thompson’s poems bear lessons grounded in her favorite earth, rich with her most important people, and full of grace. Following the late James Wright’s counsel that writing is like the seasons, and “the seasons bear us,” Thompson refocuses her lens on the longings of the human heart. Masterfully crafted, poem after poem searches out the reader, each moment rich in its own season, bearing the good fruits of honesty and grace from a brilliant poet and a life well lived.

by Bobby McAlpine with Susan Sully

McAlpine Tankersley's architecture and interiors gracefully blend and distill popular enduring styles of the past with contemporary features, providing wonderfully comfortable and inspiring residences. This distinguished firm designs idyllic houses that wed historical precedent with gracious modern living. McAlpine Tankersley is renowned nationwide for their talent in creating residences that resonate with nostalgia, fantasy, and a sense of place. Their dwellings--from country and seaside retreats to homes in historic American neighborhoods--offer favorite period styles with a timeless quality. Presented are twenty-five houses in a variety of settings that illustrate concepts running throughout their work. Juxtaposing intimate spaces and lofty entertaining areas and combining unexpected materials, such as stone with thatch, are among the hallmarks of this prestigious firm. Examples include a Mediterranean-revival house with sleek factory-sash windows and old-world stone columns, a beach house with a vaulted hallway leading to a light-filled contemporary salon, and an unusual house that blends Scottish vernacular style with modern details. With lush photography capturing the allure of these houses, "The Home Within Us" is ideal for anyone wishing to be inspired by the poetic design of a romantic home.

Susan Sully is the best-selling author of The Southern Cottage: From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Florida Keys; Casa Florida: Spanish Style Houses from Winter Park to Coral Gables; New Orleans Style: Past and Present; Charleston Style: Then and Now; and Savannah Style: Mystery and Manners. Her articles about decorative arts and architecture have appeared in The New York Times, Town & Country Travel, Art and Antiques, Metropolitan Home, Southern Accents, and Coastal Living. She lives in Charleston.