Welcome to my stop on the book blog tour for River, Sing Out by James Wade. This blog tour was organized by Lone Star Book Blog Tours. On my stop, I have a spotlight of the book as well as a top 5 list from the author. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win two of James Wade's books. Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!
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Author: James Wade
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: June 8th 2021
Print Length: 315 pages
Genre: Coming of Age, Crime Fiction, Rural Fiction
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“And through these ages untold, the river did act as the lifeblood of all those things alongside it.”
Jonah Hargrove is celebrating his thirteenth birthday by avoiding his abusive father, when a girl named River stumbles into his yard, injured and alone. The teenager has stolen thousands of dollars’ worth of meth from her murderous, drug-dealing boyfriend, but lost it somewhere in the Neches River bottoms during her escape. Jonah agrees to help her find and sell the drugs so she can flee East Texas.
Chasing after them is John Curtis, a local drug kingpin and dog fighter, as well as River’s boyfriend, the dangerous Dakota Cade.
Each person is keeping secrets from the others—deadly secrets that will be exposed in violent fashion as all are forced to come to terms with their choices, their circumstances, and their own definition of God.
With a colorful cast of supporting characters and an unflinching violence juxtaposed against lyrical prose, River, Sing Out dives deep into the sinister world of the East Texas river bottoms, where oppressive poverty is pitted against the need to believe in something greater than the self.
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PRAISE FOR RIVER, SING OUT:
''With echoes of Jim Harrison, Cormac McCarthy (and perhaps a smidge of Flannery O'Connor), River, Sing Out is a beautiful, brutal meditation on survival and love in the face of nearly unspeakable violence and depravity in an East Texas community ravaged by the meth trade. Taut, lyrical, and precise, the prose soars in this important new novel by James Wade.'' --Elizabeth Wetmore, New York Times bestselling author of Valentine
''If you read one novel this year, make it this one. James Wade's River, Sing Out, is an instant classic filled with characters that will break your heart, lyrical prose as haunted as the river it evokes, and a Southern Noir undertow that wholly sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages until it's searing, masterful conclusion.'' --May Cobb, author of The Hunting Wives
''Wade, whose striking debut, All Things Left Wild (2020), traveled back a century in Texas history, uses an unlikely friendship to explore an equally wild present-day landscape...A haunting fable of an impossible relationship fueled by elemental need and despair.'' --Kirkus Reviews
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River, Sing Out - Book Trailer from AV FILMS on Vimeo.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
James Wade lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and daughter. He is the author of All Things Left Wild, which is a winner of the 2016 Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest, a winner of the 2021 Spur Award for Best Historical Fiction, and a winner of the 2021 Reading the West Award for Best Debut Novel. His fiction has appeared in various literary journals and magazines.
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Author James Wade’s
Top 5 Novels Set in East Texas
1. The Bottoms by Joe Lansdale
I could have picked almost any Lansdale novel here. He is the quintessential East Texas storyteller (and one of the few successful authors who has remained in the Pineywoods throughout his career). But of all his novels, The Bottoms (Winner of the Edgar Award), is my favorite. It deals with a dark, gothic murder mystery, racism, alcoholism, coming-of-age, and features one of the better twists I’ve ever read.
2. Bonney’s Place by Leon Hale
The godfather of East Texas authors, Hale was a prolific journalist and novelist, and Bonney’s Place, his 1972 tale about a stolen inheritance and an East Texas beer joint, showed off a side of Hale’s writing that many of his Houston Chronicle readers might not have seen.
3. Big Woods by May Cobb
While Cobb’s newest novel, The Hunting Wives, is rightfully garnering high praise, it was her debut thriller, Big Woods, that brilliantly illustrated the eerie East Texas setting.
4. Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
Locke, a superstar screenwriter and novelist, perfectly captures East Texas’s troubled history with racism and the still present racial tensions.
5. Olympus, TX by Stacey Swann
The opening pages of Olympus, TX took me straight into the East Texas setting I grew up in. Swann’s story of dysfunction and family is sure to be a classic.
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GIVEAWAY:
Two winners each receive an autographed first-edition
hardcover copy of River, Sing Out by James Wade + an autographed paperback copy of
multiple award-winning All Things Left Wild by James Wade.
(US only.)
CLICK TO VISIT THE LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE TOUR PAGE
FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST, UPDATED DAILY,
or visit the blogs directly:
6/8/21 - Book Trailer - Texas Book Lover
6/8/21 - BONUS Promo - LSBBT
6/9/21 - Review - The Clueless Gent
6/9/21 - Review - Rainy Days with Amanda
6/10/21 - Top Five - All the Ups and Downs
6/10/21 - BONUS Promo - Hall Ways Blog
6/11/21 - Author Interview - Book Fidelity
6/11/21 - Review - StoreyBook Reviews
6/12/21 - Review - It's Not All Gravy
6/13/21- Excerpt - Reading by Moonlight
6/14/21 - Review - That's What She's Reading
6/14/21 - Audio Review - Forgotten Winds
6/15/21 - Review - Book Bustle
6/16/21 - Author interview - The Page Unbound
6/16/21 - Review - Librariel Book Adventures
6/17/21 - Audio Review - Chapter Break Book Blog
6/17/21 - Review - Jennie Reads
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