Readers at The Gate Book Club: In Conversation with J.R. Dawson, Author of The First Bright Thing. Includes: Book, Reading, Discussion, Signing
Event Date:
October 19, 2023
Event Time:
7:00 pm
Event Location:
Dungeon
We wanted to share a *slight* change of plans for our Book Club Special Event with Jen Dawson on Thursday. Jen just relocated from Omaha to Minneapolis; during the move she rolled her ankle. She just reached out to say she’d been to the hospital and it turns out she has a broken foot. She cannot drive and is awaiting a decision on whether she’ll need surgery. Her wife is traveling this week, so she is without a way to appear in person here on Thursday.
So, here is the plan:
> Our event will still happen Thursday–we’re closing the store at 6:30 so we have the space just for Book Club. We have yummy treats being made just for you and we’ll have hot cider and, for those who wish, alcohol add-ins. We have fun freebies created to celebrate two years of Book Club that you can take home.
>Jen will now appear in person via Zoom on the big screen. We’ll follow the original plan…she will share with us and I will interview her, then she’ll take your questions. Jen has also agreed to suggest books for us to vote on for November and she’ll tell us about those as well!
>There will still be a book signing–Jen has graciously agreed to sign and personalize bookplates for each of you. We’ll have notecards for you to use to indicate your preferred personalization. Thank you all for understanding–we are grateful for the last two years of Book Club and we are soooo looking forward to Book Club on Thursday! Oh, and, come hungry!
Dungeon’s Gate’s Readers at The Gate Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club is kicking off Year 3 on October 19, and we’re excited to announce that Author J.R. Dawson, whose book, The First Bright Thing, is our October Book Club Pick, will be in attendance to help us ring in our third year! J.R. Dawson will be at Dungeon’s Gate for our Book Club on Thursday, October 19, at 7 PM, where she’ll read from her book, take questions, and sign your books!!! We’ll provide special drinks and treats for all attendees as part of this special celebration! Registration is required–your ticket is the price of the book & includes a fun conversation with the author, a hardcover copy of the book, the opportunity to have it signed, plus drinks & treats! Your book will be available to pick up early, so you can read it in time for this special Book Club event! You’ll want to be there when the circus comes to Dungeon’s Gate!
About J.R. Dawson:
Dawson’s shorter fiction can be found in places such as F&SF, Lightspeed, The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, DSF, and more. She’s worked in theatre education most of her life. In 2021, she collaborated with Institute of Holocaust Education and Circle Theatre to write “When We Go Away,” a TYA play about survivors in the Midwest. Her debut novel, THE FIRST BRIGHT THING, was released by Tor in Summer 2023.
About The First Bright Thing:
If you knew how dark tomorrow would be, what would you do with today?
Welcome to the Circus of the Fantasticals.
Ringmaster – Rin, to those who know her best – can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odette, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. With the scars of World War I feeling more distant as the years pass, Rin is focusing on the brighter things in life. Like the circus she’s built and the magical misfits and outcasts — known as Sparks – who’ve made it their home. Every night, Rin and the Fantasticals enchant a Big Top packed full with audiences who need to see the impossible.
But while the present is bright, threats come at Rin from the past and the future. The future holds an impending war that the Sparks can see barrelling toward their Big Top and everyone in it. And Rin’s past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow Rin can’t fully escape. It takes the form of another Spark circus, with tents as black as midnight and a ringmaster who rules over his troupe with a dangerous power. Rin’s circus has something he wants, and he won’t stop until it’s his.
“This is the magic circus book that I have been looking for my whole life.”
– Seanan McGuire
“A celebration of artistry and wonder as essential talismans we wield against despair.”
– Travis Baldree
“A masterpiece of the fantastical and the human.”
– Freya Marske
“A heartfelt celebration of difference.”
– Publisher’s Weekly
“Dawson mashes up history, fantasy, and the magic of the circus in an emotionally immersive, character-driven story.”
– Library Journal
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