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claraxbarton · 3 years

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Oh hey!

A thing about John Winchester!!

Remember when Dean is sent back to save his Dad from joining the Scooby gang in s4e3 The Beginning.

Remember also how John is greeted by Townie #6 as Corporal and “good to have you back”?

Also, just putting this out here, but dear John was born in 1954.

Now, we all know how much SPN takes care to preserve continuity (script supervisor? Literally who is SHE???) but.

That makes John 19.

And sure, in Vietnam when you were drafted you served for 18-24 months (roughly). So theoretically John could have done his time and come home.

Except.

John Winchester was a Marine.

And the Marines? They didn’t take draftees. You had to volunteer for that shit. Which meant three years of service minimum.

Okay.

So now we know that.

Let me draw our attention back to John’s rank: that of Corporal. That’s the first Non-Commissioned Officer rank. Which means he led fire teams, was someone other people respected and listened to.

Typically it takes 26 months (today) to get promoted to corporal. Which... we’ve already established John didn’t serve that long. So either he got a battlefield promotion (discontinued after Vietnam but totally still in effect during) or he got it as a kind of honorary pat on the ass when he was discharged. Which... questionable.

See those medals and badges?

Let me tell you a bit about them.

First off we have our Rifle Expert. This means John was THE SHIT with a rifle. This is the highest marksman you can achieve wjth a rifle, and John was a marine- not to be all “this branch is better” (after all my grandfather was a Green Beret so fuck the Marines is what I’m saying) but the Marines in general are THE SHIT with rifles during Vietnam. So good job Johnnie.

Then we have this random friend- if any of you know what the fuck she is, please share.

Because MY research suggests that she’s some weird version of the Pathfinder Badge.

Which is a thing you get for completing ARMY Pathfinder School at Fort Benning (this is a big deal, it means you’re a badass who is cool to leap out of shit and save the day- think Sam Wilson but he was Air Force so just... paratrooper badass okay? Not as badass as Ranger School, okay? But like... more badass than basic.

So notice I said Army Pathfinder School.

It’s okay. You could be from any branch and complete that kind of training. Pathfinder school takes 3 weeks. So not a huge amount of time but. Let’s just keep that in mind.

Add that to the basic training for the USMC was 8 weeks (cut down from 11). Which together adds up to 11 weeks okay?

THEN AGAIN look what I found on ye olde Uncle Jeff’s website for sale.

Huh. Look at her. Not the same- literally I cannot find that enamel pin in the US military (and before you asked yeah I checked Canadian hardware but didn’t find a match either). But she exists and there’s no reason for Properties to make a fake enamel pin when they could run down the street to literally any military surplus store and get all the pins they need.

But if it IS this pin, okay so the Marine Pathfinders were- like the Army kind- the first in, last out kind. The scouted the territory.

That sounds fair and fine right?

Well the thing is, Marine Pathfinders were always part of Force Reconnaissance. Without going into too much detail... basically these dudes went in deep, found out all the shit needed to keep allies alive abs kill enemies dead and a lot of times did a lot of enemy dead actions themselves. They operated independently behind enemy lines.

Listen my dudes. Friends and foes.

John Winchester was 18/19, a Rifle Expert, a Corporal when he should have been a Private, a Pathfinder and in FORECON. I cannot stress enough... how mindblowingly scary this makes him?

This kind of scary.(if you haven’t seen Full Metal Jacket I cannot in good conscience recommend it. But if you want a character study of John Winchester you MUST watch that and Deer Hunter).

So now to those pretty pretty ribbons.

These are pretty standard but still worth explaining for anyone who hasn’t had to costume military period pieces before like I have.

First up we have our Bronze Medal.

So she’s been awarded since 44 (my dudes in no way is it appropriate to call them ladies- so of course I call them ladies). Given for engaging in action against a US enemy; engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; serving with friendly forces engaged in an armed conflict against opposing forces when the US isn’t a belligerent.

Basically this means people shot at you and you shot back and no one can prove you shot the wrong people.

Look not to sound trite because it Is a medal and you DO earn that shit. 719,969 were given out during Vietnam (about 2.5 million soldiers served).

This means John was definitely in the combat zone and he definitely didn’t embarrass anyone.

Next up we have the Purple Heart.

(Scroll to the top to see her)

You get this when you are wounded or killed in combat.

Now we can ASSUME John didn’t die in combat- but please rec any fics you’ve got where he did.

I’m gonna skip that pretty maroon badge for just a minute now and go to the yellow dude: our Vietnam Service ribbon. I can’t add any more images so scroll back to the top to see it.

So yes, John served in Vietnam.

But

Now let’s look at that sexy maroon and blue ribbon okay?

Because this baby...

Well.

This is the Good Conduct Award

Do you know how you earn her in the Marine Corps?

“Three consecutive years of honorable and faithful service” are required to be eligible.

Which means Johnnie needs to be 21 (20 if he got in at 17) to earn this.

Unless

Of course

John Winchester was already pulling scams before the yellow-eyed demon ever came into the picture.

Anyone else have no difficulty imagining 16 John Winchester handing over fake papers to enlist in the Marines?

—

Then again... anyone else have no difficulty imagining the writers not actually thinking about it enough to do the math?

Either way, there’s some John Winchester stuff for you all to chew on.

Let me know what you think friends and foes!

#supernatural #SPN #winchesters #Winchester #john winchester #marines #usmc #Vietnam #meta #costumes #props #journal #john Winchester journal

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emsysquared · 6 years

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Top 10 Things I Learned From Artist Alleys

Hi guys! I thought I’d write a post on some things I’ve learned from selling my own art at artist alleys over the years & talking to fellow artists, as it’s something I’ve wanted to discuss and thought people would be interested. This isn’t really an Artist Alley 101 guide, as I wrote this in mind for both for beginners and veterans, because even if you’ve been tabling for years, there are things about the artist alley scene that can keep changing, or things you never knew about. Hope this helps!

LONG POST IS LONG WARNING

10. Bigger doesn’t always mean better – people keep thinking this, but it’s not always true.

Smaller conventions are easier to talk to attendees/artists because there’s often slow periods, and are good if if they’re local and you need a place to start. You can also get away with having only a few things to sell and if it doesn’t go well it won’t be a huge loss. Smaller cons tend to also have a lower table cost, and because the artist alley is smaller, it’s easier to “stand out”. Probably because of this, I’ve heard some cases where some people have made the same amount of profits from certain small cons vs. big cons, meaning, they actually got more sales per person at the smaller con.

Bigger conventions CAN command big bucks and keep you busier with sales because there’s more attendees and potentially more money to go around. However, they are also more competitive: if all you have is ONE print when everyone else around you has huge displays, you risk people passing by you because they may think you don’t have anything of interest to offer. As an example, maybe at the small con, your Overwatch solo D.Va print was the only one there and it did well, but at a big con, 20 other artists could also have similar D.Va prints and are now competing with each other, which is something you should consider.

Every con is different so when researching, you want to take into consideration the ratio of artist/vendor tables available in conjunction to attendee count, events/guests, and the con environment.

With both cons, if you frequent the same ones, try to keep things fresh and make new stuff or else you risk oversaturating your market and having people come up to your table thinking “I’ve seen that same poster 3 years already, and I already have it. What’s new?”

9. Just because something is popular doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll sell right away – there’s a fine line between “it’s popular so fans will buy it” and “it’s popular but it’s oversaturated because everyone and their mom drew it and it won’t sell unless you differentiate your work from everyone else”. I’d argue if you’re passionate about a series and it just happens to be popular, go for it! You should draw what you like, because it’ll show in how you interact with other fans and the effort you put into it.

If you’re only drawing for the popularity, well, there’s a bit of debate about this. And let’s be honest, some of us need to pay bills. I’ll argue if you ONLY draw whatever is popular to sell out, it can reflect in the quality of your work and make you unmemorable (and you can still risk it not selling), but hey, you do you. But drawing only niche things may also be tricky, since the fans are probably very passionate, but few in number. Sometimes finding a balance between both can work, but at the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide what path you want to take. Most artists start out doing fanart as it’s easier for someone to walk up to your table if they recognize their favorite character than a table full of random OCs standing in a backgroundless void. But that’s not to say originals can’t sell because....

8. Originals sell! Don’t be afraid to make original content – this might shock some of you but original merchandise DOES sell, according to many successful anecdotal stories from artists and art friends who’ve done it, and a lot of people have said it is very rewarding, especially when you consider how prevalent fanart is. However, originals can be harder to sell – it will highly depend on the subject matter you’re drawing and attendees at certain cons may be more or less receptive to them than others, so you may have to try different cons to find your market. What has worked for others may not work for you. You might even need time to develop a consistency with your work so people know what to expect from you.

There are also a few conventions out there, such as Otakon, which do require you to have a certain % of originals when you apply for their artist alley, so there’s that.

7. Have stuff with different price points at your table – my personal opinion is “Do not do print-only tables” but I know there are artists out there who DO command good profits only selling prints and posters of their artwork.

But why I say this is because (especially at anime cons) there are usually younger kids who don’t have much disposable income or don’t have a lot of wall space and thus, can’t always afford big $20 posters, which is where having smaller items like charms and buttons can help as impulse purchases. It may take you 10 purchases of $2 buttons to reach that equivalent amount, but if you do get enough sales they’ll add up. Plus, it’s easier for some people to make use of charms and buttons.

Prints are still good because the profit margin is better and they're a way for your audience to see your "portfolio" and art style from afar. At larger cons where there’s a sea of artists, having many prints can help others see what you have or help find your table from a distance. Try and stick to common print sizes such as 11x17 inches, 8.5x11, 4x6 or 5x7, mostly on the basis that they’re easier to frame.

One thing - unless you plan on traveling to many conventions in your life, you do NOT need to print 50+ copies of each print if all you do is table at your small local con once a year. You will regret it and be stuck with them until you die (I’m not kidding). Unless a piece has proven to you it’s a best seller, I recommend printing 5-10 copies a print, 2-4 if you aren’t confident. You can always reprint more if they sell well, or replace them with newer prints.

Comic cons I hear are a little different, as their audience is usually older, but I can’t say much about them since I never actually vended at one before.

6. You gotta spend money to make money – You wanna make cool stuff like charms, lanyards, enamel pins? A button maker to make your own buttons? A dealer’s room spot instead of a regular artist alley table? Travel to cons outside your city? Heck, just buying table display stuff and getting new prints? That all costs money, bruh. This might require you save up, and some people I know even use their day job to help fund them to afford nice things. But artist alley IS also a business, and if you want your business to grow, you’ll need to take risks and invest in it. However, know that this should happen gradually over time and NOT overnight. If you literally have no previous experience selling your art and knowing what worked for you, do NOT carelessly throw down money to make every fancy merchandise imaginable.

5. Talk to people and engage with attendees! I say this because I’ve seen quite a few artists who are great at their craft, but aren’t good at business at all. Even if you aren’t confident about your work, still strive to be as professional as possible. And be your own cheerleader/salesman to your art! If the con is slow, don’t ignore customer’s questions by playing mobile games on your phone. People get energy off of you, and if you happen to seem like you hate people, attendees pick up on that. A lot of people who go to anime cons can be introverted/shy as well, so just saying hi and ask how they’re enjoying the con is a good start to engage with them! If you notice they’re cosplaying a character, tell them you like their cosplay or happen to have that character as a button! You’d be surprised some people may not know you offer a product because they overlooked it.

I usually let customers browse the table without bothering them, as people get uncomfortable if you’re being too desperate with sales.

4. Displays and Table Placement matter- Your table placement at a convention can dictate a HUGE majority of your sales, and how you display yourself also counts as well. You could have amazing art, but maybe your table is in some back corner where it’s not getting enough foot traffic compared to the people in the front. Additionally, if you have merchandise hidden behind other merch, other people can’t see it as they walk by. Presentation is important, there are so many possibilities you can do to make your table look nice.

The most common way people display their prints are usually either by using grid cubes, photography stands or PVC pipes with clamps. All of these have their pros and cons, and some artists even use a combination of the 3.

3. Cons are extremely volatile. Artist alley is NOT a place to “get rich quick” – To be blunt (and unfortunately, speaking from personal experience), you can’t predict when you’ll get dicked over by a badly-run con. No two cons are the same, and the same convention can even vary from year to year, depending on things like how it was run by staff, its location, when it was held, etc. At one con, you may sell out of prints. At another, only your commissions do well. Even something as simple as a venue change and increasing the amount of artist/vendor tables can affect sales. You can only prepare as much as you can and hope you survive the rainy days.

I used to think as you got older and sold at more artist alleys, your profits could only go up and boy was I wrong with that notion. The realest piece of advice I’ve learned is seeing seasoned veterans (who are used to making 4-digit profits or artists who have done this for over 7 years) having times where they hit a bad con and don’t even break even. If you’ve never had a terrible con before, you are either very lucky or you have not vended at enough different cons to experience this.

A lot of different factors can come into play, and while some you can’t control, think of the ones that you can – was your setup bad? What do you see other attendees buying? Or maybe was this your first con in a completely different area and it caught you off guard? If you feel your art was lacking, don’t lose confidence. Look at it as an opportunity to find yourself again, and work hard on your craft so you can show everyone at your next event “hey, this is the new and improved me! Look at how far I’ve come!”

2. Artist alleys can be stressful and are getting more competitive, but it’s important to develop a thick skin to keep moving on – I should clarify this, AA should NOT be a sea of cutthroat competition because every con has its mix of those starting out, the veterans who have been doing this for 10 years, and everyone else in between. And everyone has something different to bring to the table. However, the fact is… artist alleys are getting competitive each year just to GET IN. At some popular cons, there’s always more applicants than tables available, and you can’t take it personally when 1,000+ people are in a lottery for 90 tables.

As artists, we are always our worst critics as well, just because art can be highly personable to us. There’s a lot of things that can go wrong in the moment. Maybe you got more commissions than you can handle. Your new merchandise didn’t arrive on time. Or you worry your art isn’t “sellable”. All of these can be pretty frustrating and question your self-worth as an artist. But just know you are not alone, all of us have had those moments at least once, maybe even multiple times in our lives. Sometimes you just have to keep marching on, despite things. And if you need time to step away to take a breather, go ahead and take care of yourself first.

1. … But you keep wanting to do them because they are also one of the best experiences you can have as a creative – despite the above, artist alleys have been an integral part of my growth as an artist. Seeing what everyone has to offer has challenged me to keep improving my art and helped me meet fellow artist friends thru our comradery of shared experiences, interests, and stresses. It’s very easy to feel dejected, but if you can keep pushing thru, you’ll probably benefit the most than those who give up at the slightest hint of being butthurt. The artist alley life isn’t exactly easily, but it’s heartwarming when you have moments where “doing what you love” and “drawing what you like” feel like it paid off.

Don’t feel bad if your first shows don’t go logistically or financially great! I never realized how lucky I was that my first AA, I broke even AND made profit, because many apparently don’t. Go into it as an opportunity to market your work, meet other artists and customers, and figure out what people like about your art. Artist alley is not for everyone, but if you find that you’re growing to love it despite the hiccups, keep going! My AA experience isn’t as extensive as others, but I hope with this, this is my way of giving back to the artist alley community that helped me grow as an artist.

If you’re still worried if you’re “good enough” to do artist alley, here’s my final advice: just do it, bruh.

#artist alley #artist alley tips #first time artist alley #how to be a con artist #if you read this far THANK U AND I HOPE THIS HELPED. and feel free to send me an ask or message if you have any questions!1

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alex-writes-things · 3 years

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100 Things I Love

1. Poetry and beautiful quotes from literature

2. Feeling it start to rain on a hot day or when you’ve been exercising

3. Sitting in a dimly lit room, writing and listening to music

4. Old typewriters and record players

5. Kelly Macdonald/Joanne Davidson

6. People who ship Wolfstar, Flemson, Cazzie etc

7. Watching someone play with children or be affectionate with children

8. Huge open fields

9. Laying in said fields with my girlfriend (hi beth if you’re reading this)

10. Queer women represented in fiction

11. Drinking fanta on a hot day

12. Cities, especially Rome, especially in summer or when it’s raining

13. Watching storms and rain from a window

14. Smiling when I think of old memories

15. Line of Duty (sorry, had to mention it)

16. Listening to music very loud through headphones

17. Looking at people in cities and towns and wondering what their story is

18. Trains, and the feeling of looking out of your window and watching miles fly by

19. Making/finding and giving gifts

20. At concerts when they hold out their mic to the audience and everyone screams back the lyrics

21. Beth’s laugh. And her voice. And pretty much all her mannerisms 😊

22. Cats

23. Hozier, Frank Turner, Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, The Head and The Heart, The Strumbrellas, and countless other artists that make me feel at home with their music

24. Pretty flowers and bright green lawns and huge houses with hidden ruins and statues and secrets!

25. Watching someone in love look at their person

26. Road trips and car journeys

27. Theme parks and running from one side to the other so you don’t miss your favourite ride

28. Talking to my friends

29. Talking to people that I don’t often talk to and falling platonically in love with little things about them

30. Coming home after a long day

31. Being accepted after coming out to someone or mentioning that I have a girlfriend

32. Reading all day and being so gripped that I forget anything else exists

33. Texting someone at 1am and getting a reply

34. Being told that I helped someone or made their day a bit better

35. Holding hands (with Beth), hugging (Beth only. Like sorry. But no hugs.), leaning on (Beth’s) shoulders.

36. Sleepovers, and staying up so late talking that the sky starts to lighten outside the window

37. Finally understanding something I’ve been struggling with

38. Walking

39. Packing bags for holidays, school trips and days out

40. When someone sees that you’re upset and doesn’t say anything but helps quietly

41. Lesbians. Girls. Women. Girls that love girls. Literally lesbians.

42. Picnics

43. Stargazing and cloud watching either with someone I love or by myself

44. Beaches early in the morning

45. Running through the shallow waves on a beach with a dog at my heels

46. Finding pretty rocks and shells or cool creatures out in nature, watching other people do this too!

47. Sleeping beside someone you care about and you see their sleepy smile and messed up hair in the morning

48. Willow trees and clear chalk rivers

49. Mountains and tall buildings and anything incomprehensibly huge

50. Casual touches between people who are completely comfortable with one another

51. Writing poetry when I’m alone

52. Being alone, especially on a journey or home alone

53. Fish, and seals, and whales and dolphins and all of those crazy sea creatures that exist

54. The fact that there are so many humans out there that live and create and love and hate and feel things? And we’re all stuck in our one life. I hate it but I also think it’s wonderful

55. Sexual and romantic tension in books. It isn’t necessary but sometimes it’s what makes me fall in love with a book even more

56. Fajitas, burritos, guacamole, street food, dim sum, Vietnamese restaurants

57. Watching plays and musicals

58. How much opportunity there is in the world, and how much we still have left to learn

59. Cliffs

60. Wind in trees, in hair, in clothes

61. Finding beautiful things out about people I love

62. Listening to someone tell me their childhood stories (to an extent haha)

63. Playing guitar especially when I’m alone

64. Figuring out the chords to a song I like on my guitar

65. Vicky McClure/Kate Fleming, Martin Compston/Steve Arnott, Adrian Dunbar/Ted Hastings, Kelly Macdonald (again), Scarlett Johansson, Keeley Hawes, Jennifer Lawrence

66. Being truly alone or being in a crowd with nobody that knows me

67. Black nail polish

68. Jewellery especially rings and earrings

69. Denim jackets, cord jackets and other kinds of jackets like this

70. When people smile at each other across the room

71. When people scrunch their noses as they smile or laugh or something

72. Reading people’s head canons about tv shows and fandoms they’re passionate about, even when I don’t agree

73. Analysing poems in English class (don’t ask why)

74. Watching banter between old friends

75. Rediscovering music I haven’t heard in a while

76. Salt and vinegar crisps

77. Leaving school at the end of term with my friends

78. Singing with my friends

79. The Midnight Library (Matt Haig), Children of Blood and Bone (Tomi Adeyemi), Red White and Royal Blue (Casey McQuinston), A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder (Holly Jackson)

80. Enamel pins

81. Stationery of all kinds, but especially notebooks

82. Antiques shops and old book shops

83. Edinburgh, York, Cambridge, Snowdonia, London, Rome, Palma

84. The sound of people laughing, people shouting, people chatting

85. Acting

86. Having fun and doing stupid things with my friends, my girlfriend, my drama group

87. Wearing nice clothes and then the feeling of being complimented on them

88. Climbing mountains and canoeing

89. The taste of cold water on a hot day

90. Online/window shopping just for fun and not to buy anything just to look

91. Crying at a sad book, film, poem or TV show

92. Finding out a famous person that I look up to or respect is part of the LGBT+ community

93. Researching for a project I care about

94. Frogs, rats, kittens, dinosaurs

95. Pretty ukuleles and guitars

96. Finally understanding something in a maths or chemistry lesson and feeling like I’m not as stupid as I think

97. Huge communities of people coming together

98. Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, ancient mythology, literature from a very long time ago

99. The film 1917

100. Finishing a good book and never wanting to let it go ever again

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mercerislandbooks · 6 years

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Fall Book Preview 2018

It was a tough year for journalists with the rise of fake news, presidential name-calling, layoffs, and increasing threats worldwide. Authors, on the other hand, wrote from a safer position. They had the luxury of hiding longer in their offices. Writers and editors had a better chance of stepping back from the brutal news cycle and taking the longer view.

That time to breathe was a good thing. The book publishing industry’s deeper immersion in its work will be on full display this fall, which promises to be a good one for book junkies. From political exposés to psychological suspense to locally-inspired cookbooks to iconic memoirs, I’m not exaggerating when I tell you our fall tables will be a reader’s feast. Here’s a small sliver of what’s coming, and a few special preorder perks you’ll want to know about.

Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart (Sept 4): Narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded, and divorced from the real world as most of us know it, hedge-fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his three-year-old son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart. Meanwhile, his super-smart wife, Seema—a driven first-generation American who craved the picture-perfect life that comes with wealth—has her own demons to face. How these two flawed characters navigate the Shteyngartian chaos of their own making is at the heart of this piercing exploration of the 0.1 Percent, a poignant tale of familial longing and an unsentimental ode to what really makes America great.

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (Sept 11): With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.

Cooking from Scratch: 120 Recipes for Colorful, Seasonal Food from PCC Community Markets by PCC Community Markets (Sept 18): Eating healthy, local food prepared from scratch is at the heart of this cookbook from PCC Community Markets. Going strong for sixty-five years, they are respected and appreciated throughout our area for their commitment to local producers, sustainable food practices, and healthful, organic seasonal foods. You will find 120 recipes organized for every meal of the day, including many of PCC's most popular dishes, such as their treasured Emerald City Salad. The book also includes cooking, storing, and shopping tips—everything you need to know to make the most of the local bounty.

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh (Sept 18): During Sarah Smarsh’s turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, the forces of cyclical poverty and the country’s changing economic policies solidified her family’s place among the working poor. By telling the story of her life and the lives of the people she loves, Smarsh challenges us to look more closely at the class divide in our country and examine the myths about people thought to be less because they earn less. Combining memoir with powerful analysis and cultural commentary, Heartland is an uncompromising look at class, identity, and the particular perils of having less in a country known for its excess.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green (Sept 25): In his much-anticipated debut novel, Hank Green spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight YouTube celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined. Both entertaining and relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with big themes, including how the social internet is changing fame, rhetoric, and radicalization; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration spring from the same dehumanization that follows a life in the public eye.

***If you preorder An Absolutely Remarkable Thing from us before September 24th, you’ll receive an exclusive enamel pin as long as supplies last.

Transcription by Kate Atkinson (Sept 25): In a dramatic story of WWII betrayal and loyalty, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever. Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat.

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis (Oct 2): What are the consequences if the people given control over our government have no idea how it works? "The election happened," remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. "And then there was radio silence." Across all departments, similar stories were playing out: Trump appointees were few and far between; those that did show up were shockingly uninformed about the functions of their new workplace. Some even threw away the briefing books that had been prepared for them. Michael Lewis’s narrative takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its own leaders. If there are dangerous fools in this book, there are also heroes, unsung, of course. They are the linchpins of the system―those public servants whose knowledge, dedication, and proactivity keep the machinery running. Michael Lewis finds them, and he asks them what keeps them up at night.

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami (translated by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen) (Oct 9): A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art—as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby, Murakami’s latest follows a thirty-something portrait painter in Tokyo abandoned by his wife and holed up in the mountain home of a famous artist. When he discovers a previously unseen painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances. To close it, he must complete a journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the woods behind the artist’s home, and an underworld haunted by Double Metaphors.

***If you preorder Killing Commendatore from us by October 8th, you’ll receive a free exclusive tote bag as long as supplies last.

The Witch Elm by Tana French (Oct 9): Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who's dodged a scrape at work. He’s out celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life—he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family's ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he’s always believed.

Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott (Oct 16): "All truth is paradox," Lamott writes, "and this turns out to be a reason for hope. If you arrive at a place in life that is miserable, it will change. That is the time when we must pledge not to give up but "to do what Wendell Berry wrote: 'Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.'" In her profound and funny style, Lamott calls for each of us to rediscover the nuggets of hope and wisdom that are buried within us that can make life sweeter than we ever imagined. Divided into short chapters that explore life's essential truths, Almost Everything pinpoints these moments of insight as it shines an encouraging light forward.

Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver (Oct 16): Willa Knox has always prided herself on being the embodiment of responsibility for her family. Which is why it’s so unnerving that she’s arrived at middle age with nothing to show for her hard work but a stack of unpaid bills and an inherited brick home in Vineland, New Jersey, that is literally falling apart. The dilapidated house is also home to her ailing father-in-law and her two grown children: her stubborn, free-spirited daughter, Tig, and her debt-ridden son Zeke, who has arrived with his unplanned baby in the wake of a life-shattering development. In an act of desperation, Willa investigates the history of her home, hoping that the local historical preservation society might fund the direly needed repairs. Through her research, Willa discovers a kindred spirit from the 1880s, Thatcher Greenwood. A science teacher with a lifelong passion for honest investigation, Thatcher finds himself under siege in his community for telling the truth: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting new theory recently published by Charles Darwin. Unsheltered is the story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum, as they navigate the challenges of surviving a world in the throes of major cultural shifts.

Becoming by Michelle Obama (Nov 13): As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African-American to serve in that role—Michelle Obama helped create a welcoming and inclusive White House, established herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, changed the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and stood with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. In her memoir, Michelle chronicles the experiences that have shaped her, from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.

–Miriam

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