HAPPY SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY!!!

 JENN McKINLAY: Happy Small Business Saturday! Yes, this has been a national holiday since 2010 when American Express launched it to give small businesses a post-recession boost and it was quickly co-sponsored by the Small Business Administration. 

Because I am fortunate enough to live down the street from The Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Old Town Scottsdale, I will start my day by doing some gift shopping there and then move on to the Old Town Farmer’s Market and The Mercantile, which houses 70 different artists and makers. I’m not a shopper by nature (as in, I loathe shopping) but I do love books, fresh food, and arts and crafts, so it’s not really shopping. 

How about you, Reds, what are some of your favorite local small businesses? 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Oh, there is the cutest store in our town center, just two blocks away, called THE PAPER MOUSE. It is owned by an artist who uses the name Felix Fu  and is full of his Felix Dolittle creations; cards and stationery and bookplates. Here’s an example of a Felix Doolittle card:  

It also has as every single gorgeous stationery item you could possibly imagine.Washi tape. Wrapping paper. Amazing pens. And the whole little store is shockingly gorgeous, not an item out of place, all very Zen. It is my supplier of my beloved Blackwing pencils, and just—beware if you go inside. It is jaw-dropping and irresistible. https://www.thepapermouse.com/  And yes, they do mail order! 

PS. Debs, here is the fountain pen page. https://www.thepapermouse.com/collections/fountain-pens-and-accessories

And for all, here is the wrapping paper and such.  https://www.thepapermouse.com/collections/gift-wrap-accessories

 

LUCY BURDETTE: In Key West and Madison CT, I am lucky to have three independent bookstores within easy reach: Books and Books Key West, Key West Island Books, and RJ Julia Booksellers. What else could we possibly need? Oh, and ps, I also did some shopping ahead at the Strand Bookstore in NYC earlier this fall, and picked up some stocking stuffers in Scandinavia. I think I am set!

HALLIE EPHRON: After one after the other of our local independent bookstores closed, finally (drum roll) one is opening! WELCOME to “The Next Chapter Bookstore” in Quincy, Ma. The owner is a retired high school assistant principal (of course!) fulfilling her dream. So brave and so fortuitous for me since I live literally ten minutes away.

RHYS BOWEN:  I’m lucky that Book Passage is my local indie bookstore. They had  a talk on Saturday with suggestions for books that make great presents. The only problem was that I checked off half of them!  We have a new shoe shop opened but I don’t think it will survive. I love going up to my daughter in Sonoma where the whole plaza is full of fabulous small shops ( all rather expensive but…..)

What I really love is our farmers market each week. Local cheeses, fish, mushrooms, eggs as well as veggies. 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Count me in on the farmer’s market as well! We have so many terrific vendors that I buy from every week. It’s not just the fresh fruits and veggies–there’s the pasta stall, the tamale stall, the pizza stall, the Mexican food stall (which sells amazing whole wheat chicken tetrazzini!!) There’s my friend Sarah who makes wonderful soy candles and goat’s milk soaps (always on my Christmas gift-giving list,) and the Texas Olive Oil stall, ditto. There are many more, I’ve just cherry-picked some favorites.

As for actual shops, we have the most amazing bakery and we feel so fortunate. Also our local butcher shop, housed in what was once the Greyhound Bus station just off the town square. They sell a good deal more than meat. There is some produce, wine and specialty cheeses, house salad dressings, dairy from Texas producers, etc., etc. You can even find candles (from the market vendor above), bread, honey, olive oil, and tea. In short, they are the “village shoppe.”

We do now have an independent bookstore that I am ashamed to say I have not been in. A visit there will be on my Christmas shopping list.

Your turn, Readers, what are some fabulous small businesses is your area?

Naughty or Nice?

DEBORAH CROMBIE: So Thanksgiving is over and all of a sudden it's almost December and time to Christmas shop and--EEEK--I have not found a single gift!  The only thing I bought yesterday on Black Friday was some socks that I needed. How incredibly sad is that?

 I have to admit I've never been one of those super organized people who shop all year and have everything tagged and wrapped by Thanksgiving (I do really, honestly have a good friend who does this) but most years by almost December I usually at least have a LIST.

But this year I am absolutely CLUELESS. I cannot even wrap my mind around it. And since I'm probably doing all my shopping online, there's really no excuse.

Not to mention that today is Small Business Saturday, and if we ever needed to support small businesses, it's this year. 

And of course we all want to support our indy bookstores! Two of my faves are Murder by the Book in Houston, and The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale. They both have BOOKS, obviously, but Murder by the Book has all sorts of other gift-y goodies, like puzzles and mugs, t-shirts and socks, and both stores ship nation-wide.

Just thinking about this has inspired me enough that I may actually tackle a list today...

REDS and readers, have you started/finished holiday shopping? What super-duper gift ideas do you have for those of us who are struggling?

And please share with us your favorite independent bookstore, so that we can spread the love!

Shopping with Your S.O.

 With Tom Wickersham

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I spent yesterday at bookstores...helping with Small Business Saturday! And it was not only fabulous and fun, it was a real time of insight into relationships. How people deal with each other while shopping--that's worthy of a PhD thesis.

I was staffing the "do you have it" computer at Brookline Booksmith for part of the day. It was such fun! (with Michael Blanding of wonderful The Map Thief and Joan Wickersham of The News From Spain, and Joan's son Tom, the social events coordinator. Oh, and young Cleo Blanding, age about 7, who can recite the first paragraph of  her father's The Map Thief and who is a whiz on the "do you have it" computer!) 

  But I cannot begin to tell you how often my question of "can I help you find something?" was answered with --"Yeah, can you find my wife?"  and just as often "Yeah, can you find my husband?"

SO, yeah. Relationships come out during shopping, that's for sure. And thriller author John Caranen has been thinking about relationships, too.  And not just on Small Business Saturday.

What 're you thinking?

by John Caranen

How does a man see inside a woman's head? How does he discern what motivates her? How does he even begin to understand a woman, especially one who is intelligent, complex, and  -  lethal? Sigmund Freud, whose mother dressed him funny, once said, "My God, what do women want?" Or at least, that's the way I heard it.

In my debut novel, Signs of Struggle (Neverland 2012) I introduce a fine young lass of a woman, Wendy Soderstrom. I had no idea at the time that she would turn out to be a killer. All I had in my head was the image of a beautiful athletic woman sprinting down a country lane toward my protagonist, Thomas O' Shea, who happens to be driving by in his pickup truck. Oh, yeah, and she is covered with blood and is screaming. O' Shea, being, according to him, "the most selfish person I know," contemplates not helping her. He has his own issues. He wants to pretend he doesn't even see her.

But he does, and he makes a huge decision to offer his help.

Wendy's husband has been chewed up by a mower and has bled out. A farm accident. O'Shea renders aid to the young widow until the EMS guys show up to take over as professionals. O'Shea sees to it that Wendy is removed from the scene by a kindly neighbor, who takes Wendy into town to be checked out for shock.

It begins to rain, and with the showers come questions. What, exactly, happened to cause Wendy's young husband to fall from his tractor and be flailed to death by the mower? What distracted him? Why?

Well, these are questions, and Thomas starts asking around. And people start trying to discourage him. He perseveres and discovers that there's more to Wendy, and a simple farm accident, going on in the picturesque farm community of Rockbluff, Iowa. Like, there was no farm accident. And more people die, and Wendy Soderstrom, sweet and alluring, flirtatious and mourning, is involved in more than one would guess, if one were naive, and that's something Thomas O' Shea is not.

When I write about women, it comes from years of observation. I know, I know. I said "observation" because I grew up with a mother and two  older sisters, and I paid attention. Then I dated, a lot, and continued to observe and wonder. Now I have been married for decades and have two grown daughters. They're all women! Even if I weren't paying attention, you'd think I'd learn something. I observe (not stalk) and I listen (yes, eavesdrop) and learn stuff. So, there it is.

HANK:  So--yeah. We'll bite. Let's talk about this. John, what did you learn?  Reds, do you go shopping with your spouse? HOw well does that work?

*****************

John Carenen, a native of Clinton, Iowa, graduated with an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from the prestigious University of Iowa Writers Workshop and has been writing ever since. His work has appeared in numerous popular and literary magazines, and he has been a featured columnist in newspapers in North and South Carolina. A novel, Son-up, Son-down was published by the National Institute of Mental Health.
His debut Thomas O'Shea mystery novel, Signs of Struggle, was published in October of 2012. A Far Gone Night, the long- anticipated sequel, continues the exploits of the enigmatic protagonist and the quirky characters of Rockbluff, Iowa.

John is currently an English professor at Newberry College in Newberry, South Carolina. He and his wife live in their cozy cottage down a quiet lane in northern Greenville, South Carolina. He is a big fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Boston Red Sox. 

A Far Gone Night
by John Carenen

Suffering from insomnia, wise-cracking tough guy Thomas O'Shea goes for a late-night stroll through the peaceful streets of Rockbluff, Iowa, and finds himself pausing downtown on the bridge that spans the Whitetail River. When he glances downstream, something catches his eye...something that looks like a body. He scrambles down to the riverbank, pulling the body of a young girl from the water. The girl is naked, with two bullet holes in the back of her head. Ever suspicious of law enforcement, O’Shea chooses not mention the bullet holes when Deputy Stephen Doltch, on routine patrol, discovers him at the river's edge.
When the coroner's report lists the cause of death as "drowning," Thomas goes into action. Confronting the coroner, he is met with hostility. But then the coroner and his wife disappear, along with the body of the dead girl. Once again, Thomas gears up to find answers that will reveal who put the bullets in the girl's head, why she was killed, and her identity, which may hit a little too close to home.
Teaming up with his friend Lunatic Mooning and Clancy Dominguez, an old buddy from his Navy SEAL days, Thomas and the other two men join together to bring justice to the dead girl, a quest that takes them to the Chalaka Reservation in Minnesota, seedy businesses adjacent to the Chalaka Casino, and straight into the world of organized crime.
A fast-paced story, laugh-out-loud moments and familiar, quirky characters from Carenen's debut novel, Signs of Struggle, contribute once again to the complex world of Thomas O'Shea.