April 2015
Dear MIBA Booksellers,
It is April here in Wisconsin, certainly not my favorite month of the year, and yet, my aspen trees are showing tremulous little leaves and my neighbor’s buffalo herd suddenly seems very frisky. I can hear sand hill cranes almost every morning, and I monitor my bird feeders for the arrival of orioles, scarlet tanagers, and indigo buntings. It’s been a busy spring. I’ve been touring the Midwest since February to promote the paperback release of “Shotgun Lovesongs”, a book so many of you really championed beyond my wildest imagination. A few weeks back I drove southwest down Highway 93 for a reading in Winona, MN at Chris Livingston’s book store, The Book Shelf. It was a beautiful day for a drive, to be along the Mississippi River, to walk down the streets of one of my favorite river-towns, shopping at a local comic-book store, drinking a beer at a nice restaurant, eating an ice cream cone outside a gas-station, watching rafts of ice come down the water… I tell people, it’s a strange thing when you achieve your dream, your loftiest goal. It’s as if you’ve passed through some magical membrane, out into a different world, your best world, and yet, you’re still the same person you were before. Thank you, all you booksellers, who have helped me reach my life’s goal. Believe it or not, I think of you, as I’m living this life, this dream, I really do.
This is where I now clumsily segue into writing to you about my new book, “Beneath the Bonfire”, a collection of short stories that I hope you’ll be equally enthusiastic about. Is it similar to “Shotgun Lovesongs”? Yes, I think so. The collection is rooted in the upper-Midwest (Minnesota and Wisconsin, mostly). Thematically, the book is concerned with notions of friendship, love, and decency. But it is also noticeably darker than “Shotgun Lovesongs”. Some stories are concerned with revenge, violence, divorce, and addiction. I guess that my hope is, you’ll support this book as vigorously and passionately as you supported “Shotgun Lovesongs”, maybe more in fact, because this is a collection of short stories. If you’re like me, as much as I like novels, short stories were my first love – from way back, when as a kid, I read Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”, or Saki’s “The Interlopers”, or Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” – books contained in ancient five-cent paperbacks.
Back during my days at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Sam Chang would tell us that short stories are meant to be like dessert, a great little thing to cap your day before bed. I agree with her, but I’m not sure my stories are like a dessert, though, perhaps (my story) “Apples” comes closest. No, I think my stories are closer to a double-shot of espresso, or maybe a belt of bourbon. These are stories rooted in the traditions of those early five-cent classic compilations: GREAT TALES OF ACTION & SUSPENSE!
I hope this note finds you well, and I sincerely hope our paths will cross again soon. In fact, I encourage you to be in touch with my publicist at St. Martin’s Press, the wonderful Dori Weintraub (), for more information.
Best wishes,
Nickolas Butler
Sent on the behalf of Nickolas Butler,
author of SHOTGUN LOVESONGS and BENEATH THE BONFIRE,
by St. Martin’s Press | 175 Fifth Avenue | New York, NY 10010
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