The Next Best Book Club discussion

Next month, we'll be discussing Fallen Land with author Taylor Brown.

His publisher has given us a total of 10 copies to give away - your choice of either Hardcover or Audio Download.

This giveaway is limited to US residents only. Sorry, guys!

In order to be considered, you must comment here or on the blog for a shot at winning one and secure a spot in the discussion that kicks off on March 21st.


http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...

This giveaway will run through February 12th.


Winners will be announced here and via email (if you provide one) on February 13th.


Here's how to enter:

1 - Leave a comment here or in the giveaway thread over at TNBBC's blog (linked above). Let us know which format you prefer - Hardcover or Audio Download. You must be a US resident to qualify for this one.

ONLY COMMENT ONCE. MULTIPLE COMMENTS DO NOT GAIN YOU ADDITIONAL CHANCES TO WIN.

2 - State that you agree to participate in the group read book discussion that will run from March 21st through March 27th. Taylor has agreed to participate in the discussion and will be available to answer any questions you may have for him.

*If you are chosen as a winner, by accepting the copy you are agreeing to read the book and join the group discussion right here in this thread next month.

3 - If your goodreads profile is blocked (set on private), please leave me another way to contact you.


GOOD LUCK!!!!

I would love to enter the giveaway and participate in the book discussion(:

Please include me in the giveaway. I'd like to try the audio download. I agree to participate. :)

I would love to readvthis book and discuss it. Enter me for the hardcover.

I'd love to review this book and agree to participate if chosen. I prefer hardcover since I don't read ebooks and live in the States (aka US).

I would love to read and review this book. I live in the U.S., as long as California still counts. ;-)
I would prefer hardcover.

Matty wrote: "I would love to enter the giveaway and participate in the book discussion(:"

Matty, do you have a preferred format?

@Lori I would prefer hardcover (:

I would like to participate in this. A hardcover copy would be good.

I'd like to be participate. I'm a hardcover reader and live in the U.S. Thanks! Hooray for new author/reader discussion :)

Oh would love to participate. I would like the audio download =) if chosen
Thanks

I've been reading raves about this book? I would love to participate.Hardback please

I'd like to participate. I prefer hardback, but would accept either

I would love to win a copy, I agree to participate in the discussion. I would prefer hardcover but audiobook is okay too.

I love to enter and agree to participate in the discussion. I've never done an audio before; I'd like to give that a try as well.

Please include me in the giveaway. I'd like to try the audio download.

I would definitely like to be apart of the book give away and the future discussion. Should I be picked I would love a hard cover copy!!

I would love to be part of this discussion. Hardcover is my first choice.

Hey all! Winners have been chosen via Random.org... I entered everyone who had a valid comment (there were 20 of you!) into the randomizer and have our 10 winners!

From the blog: The first Rhonda and the second Anonymous
From this thread: Both Kims, Karin, Tabitha, Cindy, Rhonda, the first Jennifer, and Amanda

I'll be sending emails out in a few moments. Keep an eye on your goodreads inbox : )

Congrats to everyone who won and thanks to everyone who entered! There will be another giveaway next month, so if you didn't win this time, maybe the "force" will be with you next time?!?!

For clarification, the Rhonda who won from goodreads is the one who made comment #13. However, when I went to send her a message about winning, I discovered the profile is set to private. So that entry is now invalid.

That means I move down to the person who listed in the 11 spot on the Randomizer generated list.... and that person is.......

Jennifer from comment #16 : )

Lori wrote: "Hey all! Winners have been chosen via Random.org... I entered everyone who had a valid comment (there were 20 of you!) into the randomizer and have our 10 winners!

From the blog: The first Rhonda ..."

Thanks!

Thank you!

The book has arrived and I'm hoping to start it this weekend. Thanks again!

Awesome to hear it came so quickly!

I'm still here I am the deleted user above. Sorry for any confusion this might cause.

haha! Welcome back Cindy : P

Has anyone else had problems with the audio version? I'm being directed in circles trying to find the right kind of app to open it with.

Yes! Me too! I thought I was just an idiot! I cannot get it to open. I downloaded the app that it suggested then it told me i had to upgrade. I even emailed the girls that sent me the link. They told me to drag the file to a current media player. That did not work. I wish I would have opted for the actual book.

Oh no you guys, I am sorry it's such a hassle. I'll check in with the publisher...

Those who requested audio... have you all been able to finally download it? Anyone still having issues with it?

I was not able to download it, but Courtney replied to me this morning that she sent a book out to me today.

Awesome!

I still haven't been able to download it.

Thanks Lori =)
For some reason the files/chapters that downloaded are out of order.

I started this today.

Whew! I made it to the end. Have my questions in hand and ready to discuss!

So far, so good with this book.

I finished the book now, and am ready for the discussion.

Great news Karin!

How's everyone else coming along?

Hey everyone! Are you ready? The discussion starts tomorrow and I cannot wait to see what you thought of the book!

Taylor, I know I am a day early, but I work a long day tomorrow and wanted to make sure I welcomed you to the group, so .....

Welcome!

I am so thrilled to have had the opportunity to share your book with the group. It was such an amazing read.

For a debut novel, you must be pretty darn proud of it! How long did it take to write?

Hi Taylor,

Thanks for joining us in this discussion. Here are a few questions for you.

1. You've maybe been asked this before but, why the Civil War as a backdrop for telling this story?

2. I picked up on this motif of animal violence within the story. Is there something deeper going on there or did it naturally come about given the situations that the characters were in?

3. The protagonists are not the typical, formulaic couple. Their relationship seemed less based on love/infatuation and more on a subconscious, intrinsic need for survival. Like, it was really devoid of fluff :) Were you going for, perhaps, a more atypical relationship grounded in the reality of the character's circumstances?

4. What are you hoping readers take away from your novel?

Thanks! Congrats on your novel :)

Hey Taylor, great work. What is it that drew you to write about the post civil war period? Did you research the time period, or is your writing based more on stories passed down over time?

Jennifer wrote: "Hey Taylor, great work. What is it that drew you to write about the post civil war period? Did you research the time period, or is your writing based more on stories passed down over time?"

Hi Jennifer! Thank you so much for the kind words.

I think I was drawn to this period for two reasons:

1. The novel began as a short story, and that short story was based on an old ballad: "When First Unto This Country." Although the ballad likely predates the Civil War, it feels "of the era" to me.

2. I was living in Asheville, North Carolina, when I started this book, and I was learning how fractured the loyalties were in the mountains during this time. It was certainly not a case of clear blue and gray battle lines, but rather a guerrilla war. That felt very relevant to me, even contemporary.

I did a lot of research on the period--books on Sherman's March, the Confederate Partisan Rangers, and diaries and first-person accounts--and I was lucky enough to have a friend--Blaine Capone--who was serving as a land steward on a nearby mountain and living in a very primitive fashion, with horses as his primary mode of transportation. I spent a good bit of time with him up there. This sort of "practical" research informed the novel in a big way.

Tabitha wrote: "Hi Taylor,

Thanks for joining us in this discussion. Here are a few questions for you.

1. You've maybe been asked this before but, why the Civil War as a backdrop for telling this story?

2. I picked up on this motif of animal violence within the story. Is there something deeper going on there or did it naturally come about given the situations that the characters were in?

3. The protagonists are not the typical, formulaic couple. Their relationship seemed less based on love/infatuation and more on a subconscious, intrinsic need for survival. Like, it was really devoid of fluff :) Were you going for, perhaps, a more atypical relationship grounded in the reality of the character's circumstances?

4. What are you hoping readers take away from your novel?"

Tabitha, great questions here!

1. In some ways, I feel like the Civil War picked me. I was never a Civil War buff growing up, but living in the Blue Ridge Mountains and learning about the guerrilla-style, true "brother against brother" war of the mountains really caught my interest. Secondly, I grew up on the Georgia coast and attended the University of Georgia, and driving back and forth from college, I was following quite closely the path of Sherman's March across the state. We are very concerned with end times and apocalypse these days, I think, and here was a time in history that must have seemed very much like the end of a certain world to the people of Georgia, no matter their race or creed. You can read more of my thoughts on this topic over at the LitHub, where I wrote a piece called "How I Accidentally Wrote a Civil War Novel.

2. That's a good question. Animals turn up again and again in my work, and I'm not sure why. I am an animal-lover, true, and I think many of us, unconsciously, subscribe to this myth that we as humans are somehow above the rest of the beasts. That we are superior. And yet we are the source of so much violence against the animal kingdom, and I think we tend to overlook the devastating effects of war on species beyond our own. Perhaps, subconsciously, I wanted to show that. To have us look beyond ourselves.

3. To me, the dire circumstances that surround Callum and Ava give their relationship a blood-and-bone authenticity, as they have nothing really to depend on but each other (and Reiver, thank God). I did not set out to create a romance like this. But, to be honest, my ex-girlfriend and I had gotten ourselves into a bad living situation--an ex-brothel in a bad part of town--and we did not feel safe sometimes, and that feeling of danger caused us to cling more tightly to each other (and our own savior-animal, a rescued bird dog named Waylon). And I think that true-life experience probably influenced Callum and Ava's relationship, though it wasn't conscious on my part. (I've got a piece on Waylon coming out in Garden & Gun this summer.)

4. Good question. I want readers to feel the world of the novel, to taste the blood and dirt and smell the smoke and have their hearts ring a little with the idea of love in a wrecked world--something all of us can probably relate to, even if the era and circumstances don't seem as "epic" as Callum and Ava's.

Hi Taylor so beautifully written I was drawn in from first scenes,What was your inspiration for Callum&Ava. Wasvfascinated by Callums' youth but also his strength of character in rescuing Ava

Rhonda wrote: "Hi Taylor so beautifully written I was drawn in from first scenes,What was your inspiration for Callum&Ava. Wasvfascinated by Callums' youth but also his strength of character in rescuing Ava"

Thank you, Rhonda! It's hard for me to say what inspired Callum and Ava. I think the voice of the main character in the ballad "When First Unto This Country" served as my original inspiration, and the characters evolved from there.

I come from a family of iron-willed women, and I think that probably led to Ava :)

Love iron willed women my family is the same.To quote my husband strong women strong opinions.I am always interested in strong willed women especially one so young treated so horribly,

I think one of the questions I have that hasn't already been asked is why did you choose to have them so continually injured? The starvation I understand, of course, and naturally there were risks involved.

I have to say I liked Ava from the start, and you won me over to Callum by how he protected her. I am not sure if I'd have rooted for him nearly as soon without that deep and abiding compassion deep within him despite all the other things he'd done.

Karin wrote: "I think one of the questions I have is why did you choose to have them so continually injured? The starvation I understand, of course, and naturally there were risks involved.

Good question, Karin. I think that such a journey as theirs is a test of endurance, and an almost constant battle against misery and pain and cold and fear. Having them injured helps the reader understand this, and I think their exterior wounds probably echo their interior ones. They are wounded beings, these two, and some wounds are more easily seen than others.

Also, the risks involved are huge. I wanted the reader to question, continually, whether these characters would make it, would survive. Hell, I myself wasn't sure whether both of them would make it, and I was the one writing the book!

Taylor wrote: "Tabitha, great questions here!
."

Taylor,
Thanks for the answers. As a fellow animal-lover, I get what you were trying to impart to your readers and think it's admirable.

Your true story of living in an ex-brothel sounds fascinating! Would make a story story :)

I also wanted to ask you about that final show-down between Callum and the bounty hunter (sorry; I'm at work with the book not in front of me!). I thought it was genius, but again, interesting because it deviated from the traditional "dual/show down" finale I was expecting. Were the events of the story the only realistic way that Callum could survive this man, rather than confronting him face to face?