Top Shelf at Merrick Library Podcast | July 14, 2020

“Let’s hear it for our amazing Episode 40 and let’s hear it for author: R.L. Maizes as we celebrate her debut novel, the incredible, Other People’s Pets.

This novel is not what anyone would think of as a page-turner, but there I was absolutely riveted. I loved the characters, the story, the writing, it was all just a fab five star read for me.  I’m so honored that she sat down with me to talk about her craft, her essays, magical realism and… her pets!  At least listen for that!  Maizes just writes like a dream; what a blast to host R.L. Maizes on this episode.

Other People’s Pets is out July 14th, for heaven’s sake, don’t miss it.  AND, her fabulous book of short stories, We Love Anderson Cooper is out in paperback also on July 14th. What a day!”

Follow the link above to listen to the full interview!

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Manhattan Book Review | July 14, 2020

“Ever since being abandoned by her mother Elissa, La La has relied on her father Zev for everything. Zev is both protective and reckless, allowing La La to accompany him on burglaries starting when she is eight years old. Zev, a locksmith by trade, has made a career out of what he sees as harmless theft, and La La, his apprentice, proves to be a valuable partner. La La is an animal empath, able to both feel an animal’s physical and emotional pain and communicate with animals to calm and support them. With La La able to soothe barking dogs in target houses, Zev is able to expand his success. It all goes wrong, however, when a homeowner has a stroke in Zev’s illicit presence. Forced to earn money for Zev’s legal fees, La La finds herself going deeper into a world she thought she’d left behind, and she risks losing everything she values in life—including veterinary school and her relationship with her fiancé.

Told with humor, irreverence, and warmth, Other People’s Pets is a story about unconventional choices, great loss, and the dangerous hold the past has over the present. Zev and La La operate in a shadowy area where right and wrong have different shades of meaning, and though there are consequences for every action, their love for each other and their open-throated search for happiness will have readers rooting for their freedom all the way.”

Other People’s Pets by R.L. Maizes is available for purchase today wherever books are sold!

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Bustle | July 13, 2020

“A helpful guide on how to maintain friendships, as well as a crime thriller with a surprisingly pet friendly twist, land in stores this week.”

Other People’s Pets by R.L. Maizes was included in this fabulous round-up! Click the link at the top of the page to read more.

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The National Book Review | July 13, 2020

“The family business takes on a new meaning in this deliciously satisfying debut novel by the author of a fine story collection, We Love Anderson Cooper. La La (Louise) is an ‘animal empath’ who connects with four-legged creatures more than humans. She has been raised by her locksmith father, who schools her in the art of home burglaries until he gets caught and she drops out of veterinary school and takes on his legal fees by burgling houses where pets are in trouble and mistreated. In this Robin Hood twist, Maizes tells a fast-paced story with style and keen insights into the mysterious, powerful bonds between animals and people.”

Follow the link to read more about Other People’s Pets and the other books included on this list.

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CBS 8 | July 11, 2020

“There has been a shift in America following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Their wrongful deaths, as well as those of many other Black lives, have sparked nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality, shining a light on racial injustice and oppression.

With more people having conversations about race, many are looking to works of literature to better help them understand the issues that Black people face in the United States. From powerful essays, personal stories, non-fiction accounts of mass incarceration and police violence, Black authors have shared their experiences through the written word. While all wide-ranging, they all have one thing in common, highlighting the perils of racism in the U.S.

Here is a collection of books by Black authors that explore race in America.”

When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele was included in this thought-provoking round-up. Follow the link above to read about the other books on this list.

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Wall Street Journal | July 10, 2020

“When Gwendolyn Brooks was a girl, she heard her father reciting poetry. When she was 11, her own verses appeared in a Chicago newspaper. Twenty-two years after that, Brooks (1917-2000) became the first black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize. Suzanne Slade tells how it all unfurled in a lyrical illustrated biography for children ages 5-9.

‘Exquisite’ (Abrams, 48 pages, $17.99) is a testament to the generative powers of a bookish childhood and cultured, supportive parents. There wasn’t much money in the Brooks home, yet Gwendolyn’s family ‘owned great treasure—a bookcase filled with precious poems.’

In Cozbi A. Cabrera’s expressive naif paintings, we see the joy that these volumes gave. We see young Gwendolyn at the piano, her mother coming in to praise the girl’s literary efforts. Through an awkward adolescence, through marriage and motherhood and a series of unedifying jobs, Brooks kept writing. Using different poetic forms, she sought to capture, as Ms. Slade puts it, the ‘nonstop busyness, the hard-luck grittiness, of life in her South Side Chicago neighborhood—Bronzeville—where businesses boomed on 47th Street, where hardworking families didn’t have enough to eat, where people jumped and jived to a new, jazzy beat’” It was her second collection, ‘Annie Allen’ (1949), that would secure her place in the Pulitzer pantheon.”

Follow the link above to read the entire article!

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Tor.com | July 10, 2020

“Head below for the full list of horror and genre-bending titles heading your way in July!”

Other People’s Pets by R.L. Maizes was included on this list! This title will pub July 14, 2020.

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The Wall Street Journal | July 8, 2020

“Cullors is part of the collaborative project ‘In Plain Sight,’ which recruited sky-typing air fleets to write messages against mass detention and incarceration and which began the weekend of July 4: What I feel really moved by is this idea that you can look up and see a message that’s affirmative.’”

Follow the link above to read the full article.

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O Magazine | July 7, 2020

”Everyone knows that summer is the perfect time for bookworms to dive into a juicy read, whether it's an irresistible beach read or a page-turning thriller. As much of the world still quarantines, reading is fundamental to engage our minds and imagination, especially during the dog days of summer when we all have more time in the day to unwind at the beach with a book or simply at home with a chilled glass of rosé.

But there's one challenge: Finding the right book for your mood can be hard, considering that there are so many amazing options to choose from. Luckily, the Reading Room team at O already helped round up some of the best books of summer 2020, works written by women around the world that will transport you. But if you still don't know where to start, I took things one step further and looked to the stars to help us each find the best book to vibe with our celestial personality.

So sit back, relax, and let the cosmos pick out the best book for you to read this summer, according to your zodiac sign.”

My Mother’s House by Francesca Momplaisir was included on this list (Aries). Follow the link above to see the full list.

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California Book Awards | July 6, 2020

Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis is a California Book Award Finalist for the fiction category! Follow the link above to see the full list of finalists.

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CNN | July 6, 2020

“Over Independence Day Weekend, 80 artists asked Americans to look up at the skies. Throughout July 3 and 4, messages related to immigration were written at 10,000 feet by World War II military planes, sky-typed over 80 sites related to the country's network of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities, immigration courts, and the southern border. The idea was to bring attention to these facilities, which may not be familiar to many Americans.

The project ‘In Plain Sight’ is led by Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artists Rafa Esparza and Cassils.

‘(We have) come together to fight the culture of incarceration and focus (our) attention on abolishing ICE,’ said Cassils over a video call. 

The artists involved included Hank Willis Thomas and Dread Scott; Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors; artist and TV producer Zackary Drucker; and designer and former Black Panther member Emory Douglas. Each artist chose a message to have temporarily written in the sky above a particular site.”

Follow the link above to read more.

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BET | July 5, 2020

“Issa Rae is using her platform for good.

On Thursday (June 2), the Insecure star shared with her 2.7 million Instagram followers the groups and organizations she’s supporting during nationwide protests over police brutality. 

Among the ones she highlighted include, Black Lives Matter, Regional Bail Funds, Defund the LAPD, BLD PWR, National Police Accountability Project, ACLU and Black Table Arts.”

Click the link above to read the entire article.

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The Trend Spotter | July 5, 2020

“Gigi Hadid is releasing a second part to her ‘Gigi’s Journal’ series. The supermodel is a guest editor and the Creative Director of the series, which is a part of V Magazine. In this edition, she called for contributors to take part, and more than 20,000 responded. She then re-opened the submissions to represent more artists of color. Gigi worked on the first edition in 2017.

 ‘I felt strongly that it was important to me, and responsibility of mine and V Magazine, to make sure we are amplifying Black-American voices using this platform and privilege,’ she said. The spreads feature pieces by Patrisse Cullors, who founded the BLM movement, activist and chef, Sophia Roe, and many others. You can pre-order the Journal online – it will debut on July 15th.”

Follow the link at the top of the page to learn more about “Gigi’s Journal” series.

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NPR | July 4, 2020

“As Americans celebrate Independence Day, a group of artists and activists are flying pro-immigrant, anti-incarceration messages in the skies. They hired fleets of airplanes to sky-write their slogans over 80 locations, including immigration detention facilities, jails, courts and the U.S./Mexico border.

[…]

‘Care, not cages’ is the phrase artist Patrisse Cullors sent over the Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles. The co-founder of Black Lives Matter chose to echo the rallying cry of L.A. activists fighting mass criminalization of immigrants and U.S. citizens.

‘L.A. County is the largest jailer in the world,’ she says. ‘Half of the people that are in the jails are there because they can't afford bail. If someone goes inside who's undocumented, instead of being released, they're actually given over to ICE. So what we are challenging the county to do right now is to actually invest into our communities through an alternatives to incarceration fund.’

Each of the sky-typed phrases were followed by a hashtag leading to a website by immigrant justice organizations involved in the project. Among the participants were an ACLU lawyer, Central American immigrant organizations and Native American and Japanese American activists.”

Follow the link above to read more or listen to the piece.

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The New York Times | July 3, 2020

“The Thunderbirds and Blue Angels that President Trump plans to send flying over the National Mall this Fourth of July will have some stiff competition from a group of 70 artists looking to spread their own messages across the nation’s skies.

Two fleets of five skytyping planes each are set for takeoff across the country this Independence Day weekend armed with calls for the abolition of the immigrant detention in the United States as part of the project ‘In Plain Sight.’ (Developed from older skywriting technology, skytyping planes inject oil into their exhaust systems to produce a white smoke that is released into the sky by a computer-controlled system to produce precise letter-writing.) Phrases like ‘Care Not Cages,’ ‘Unseen Mothers’ and ‘Nosotras Te Vemos (We See You)’ will momentarily hover above 80 locations — including detention facilities, immigration courts, prisons, borders and historic sites like Ellis Island — before dissipating into the atmosphere. And some of the messages will be skytyped in nearly 20 languages, including Hindi, Kurdish, Lakota and Punjabi.

The project started a year ago when the artists Cassils and rafa esparza teamed up with a goal of forming a coalition of artists and activists determined to address the ills of mass detention. The initiative’s members include the lawyer Chase Strangio; a founder of Black Lives Matter, Patrisse Cullors; and the artist Hank Willis Thomas — alongside 10 partner organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Raices and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.”

Click the link at the top of the page to read more about “In Plain Sight.”

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Vox | July 2, 2020

“Black Lives Matter was created in 2013 by three Black women — Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi — in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman. Over the last seven years, it has evolved into something much bigger: a broad multiethnic liberation movement focused on criminal justice reform, racist policing, and adjacent causes.

During the course of this shift, the movement has not only expanded but become more radical in its demands for equality across the board. And yet, surprisingly, this has increased, rather than diminished, its appeal.

BLM had little support across the country as recently as 2017. But it has become steadily more popular, and in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, its popularity has surged to the point that it’s now supported by a majority of Americans. By any measure, that suggests BLM is succeeding — culturally and politically. 

But how should we think of Black Lives Matter as a historical phenomenon? Is it the sort of radical social movement we’ve seen before in this country? Or is it something new, something different, without any precursors?

To get some answers, I reached out to Michael Kazin, a professor of history and American social movements at Georgetown University and also the co-editor of Dissent magazine. We discussed how BLM fits into the long tradition of American radicalism, what its proponents can learn from previous eras, and why he thinks BLM is both a political and a cultural struggle.”

Follow the link above to read the conversation.

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Publishers Weekly | July 1, 2020

“Poe Foundation CEO Jules Worthington-Smith, the protagonist of this smoothly plotted thriller from Lillie (Little Voices), wakes up one morning with a hangover at home in Providence, R.I. The night before, Jules hosted an event honoring celebrity professor Terrance Castle, but she remembers little of it. Then Det. Frank Ramos arrives at her door and shows her a wallet that she identifies as hers. Ramos tells her the wallet was found next to a murder victim in an alley. The police take Jules to the crime scene, where she learns the victim is Terrance, whom she vaguely recalls meeting at a bar after the event. The only suspect in the killing, Jules soon loses her job and her reputation. As she struggles to piece together what happened that night, she launches a vlog with the purpose of uncovering Terrance’s murderer. Along the way, Jules must contend with her fraught family history and her drinking problem. Lillie keeps the suspense high up to the shocking ending. Readers will root for troubled Jules every step of the way.“

For the Best by Vanessa Lillie will be published September 1, 2020!

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Marie Claire | June 30, 2020

“To say it was the moment I’d been waiting for all my life would be a lie. Rather, it was a pivotal career turning point I’d never allowed myself to dream of in more than a decade of trying to make it as a writer. My first novel for adults, All the Broken People, suddenly had multiple publishing houses vying for it, and hardest to believe of all—film and TV offers had also begun rolling in. 

So like all fancy people waiting to speak to Hollywood bigwigs, I was hiding out in an emergency-exit stairwell in a loft space in SoHo, a beat-up notebook in my hand, the producer’s printed-out IMDB pages littering the steps. At the ad agency where I was working, it was the only place where the Venn diagram of personal privacy and quality cell reception made sense (curse you, open-plan offices). The call was going great—my fingers might have been shaking the whole time, but I kept my voice smooth (and bonus: no one burst into my stairwell)—but then the question came: ‘I love how you handled the issue of abuse…is this based on real life?’

I froze. I’d been ready to talk about my training as a journalist, my five published YA novels, my interest in potentially adapting the book into a screenplay myself. I was not prepared to answer such a deeply personal question on a professional phone call. What’s more, All the Broken People, which follows Lucy, a young woman who escapes a dangerous boyfriend but gets more than she bargained for when she befriends her new neighbors, isn’t entirely about domestic abuse. It is one part of Lucy’s story, yes, but her relationship with modern femme-fatale, Vera, who convinces Lucy to help her fake her husband’s death, is more central to the novel. Shaking away my surprise, I muttered a quick ‘no,’ and the call went on.”

Vanessa Lillie, author of Little Voices, was quoted in this article from Marie Claire. Follow the link above to read more!

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