This month's pick for book club is Witchmark by C.L. Polk. We will be meeting on Thursday, June 24th in an online video chat. You can RSVP to the event & get the chat link here.

C.L. Polk is an award-winning Canadian author. Their pronouns are they/them. 

After leaving high school early, they have worked as a film extra, sold vegetables on the street, and identified exotic insect species for a vast collection of lepidoptera before settling down to write fantasy novels. 

Mx. Polk lives in Calgary, Alberta in a tiny apartment with too many books & a yarn stash that could last a decade. They drink good coffee because life is too short. You can find them on Twitter or Patreon. You can also subscribe to their free newsletter here. 

So, what's the book about?

Witchmark is the first novel in the Kingston Cycle & the winner of the World Fantasy Award. It was nominated for the Lambda, Locus, Nebula & Aurora Prizes, as well. It's been described as a stunning, addictive fantasy that combines intrigue, magic, betrayal, and romance. Here's the publisher summary: 

Miles Singer trades luxury, comfort, and his real name in exchange for surgical training and seven year’s service in Aeland’s Royal Army. Now home after a haunting, terrible war, Miles takes a job as a physician in Kingston’s cash-strapped veteran’s hospital, hiding the magical gift of healing that would land him in a witchcraft asylum, or worse–returned to the bosom of his power-hungry family.

His quiet life is shattered when an emergency lands a poisoned witch in his caseload, brought into his hospital by the most handsome man he’s ever seen–a man who, after uncovering Miles’ powers, proposes that they investigate the murder of Miles’ patient…together. As they follow the trail of the witch’s poisoner, the sister Miles fled returns to convince him to take his place among the noble families who control the fate of Aeland–as a magical battery and a second-class citizen.
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As Miles resists his sister’s demands and his detective partner’s charm, Miles stumbles on the national secret that cost his patient his life...

​If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. If you're looking for an audiobook, our partners at Libro.fm have it available for easy access on our affiliate website. You can get it here. You can also get it in e-book format, as well! We have a new e-book partner called My Must Reads & you can buy the e-book here.

We are open to the public again (Mon-Sat from 11am-5pm) so you can pickup orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using our pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ & local delivery (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us! 

Finally, you can RSVP on the Facebook event to get reminders & updates about any changes to the event! Do that here!
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A Different Shade of Magic: Witchmark by C.L. Polk -- Tor.com
Witchmark by C.L. Polk -- BookPage
Author Interview: C.L. Polk on Witchmark -- The Illustrated Page
Sleeps with Monsters: C.L. Polk Answers Seven Questions -- Tor.com

This month's choice for the Hatchet Coffee Book Club is the National Book Award winner-Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. We'd decided as a group that we wanted to read this book back when it was only available in hardcover. However, due to the dark nature of the story, we chose to wait until there was more sunshine in the day before we jumped into Jesmyn Ward's tragic family tale. 

Don't know what the book is about? Here's what the publisher says: 
Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn’t lack in fathers to study, chief among them his Black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent White father, Michael, who is being released from prison; his absent White grandfather, Big Joseph, who won’t acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given, who died as a teenager.

His mother, Leonie, is an inconsistent presence in his and his toddler sister’s lives. She is an imperfect mother in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is Black and her children’s father is White. She wants to be a better mother but can’t put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. Simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high, Leonie is embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances.

When the children’s father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the State Penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another thirteen-year-old boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He too has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.

You can get your copy of the book from the store with a 15% discount until the end of the month. If you'd like to purchase online, we have the following the formats available:

Hello folks! Welcome to the new digital home of the Hatchet Coffee Book Club!

Foggy Pine Books and Hatchet Coffee partner together to bring you a monthly book club at their location each month. We meet the final Thursday at 7:30pm. Alcohol drinks will be provided for those who are age 21 and up. If you can, please RSVP to our Facebook event so we can prepare properly for our guests. We hope you'll join us for great conversations about great books.

This month's meeting will be held on Thursday, June 29th at 7:30pm. We will be reading and discussing Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, in honor of Pride Month.  

Book Summary: Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

You can purchase a paperback copy of the book at the store for $9.99 & receive 15% off. 
You can purchase the ebook here for $9.99.
You can purchase the audiobook here for $19.99--or sign up for a monthly membership and get your first book for $0.99!

Here's what we're reading next:
July: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
August: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey