On Tuesday, November 28th at 6.00pm, RJ Julia Bookseller is hosting their monthly Local and Independent Author Program. The program gives local authors the opportunity to share their books with the community. The event consists of readings, signings, and a Q&A. It takes place in Madison at RJ Julia Bookstore. Anyone may attend. November’s featured genre is YA or Young Adult litereature. Listed below are the authors and their featured Young Adult novel.

November’s author finalists are:

Rebecca Lowry Warchut – Catastrophe Theory
Rande Goodwin – The Witchfinder’s Serpent
Holly Louise Perry – Camp Kinross

The first finalist, Rebecca Lowry Warchut, is an author, mother, and a teacher. She attended Wake Forest University, Teach for America, and Bank Street College of Education. Curently, she teaches writing and social studies in Simsbury, Connecticut. Rebecca, her husband, and two children live in West Hartford. Catastrophe Theory is her debut novel. The Dali museums located in Florida and Spain inspired the novel. Here is the summary of the YA novel:

“Due to a rare brain tumor, Vera Garcia’s soccer career is suddenly sidelined at the start of her senior year. When her single mother Eliza, terrified at the thought of losing her only daughter, clings too tightly, both Vera’s identity and her freedom are in jeopardy. They make it to St. Petersburg, Florida for surgery, just as Hurricane Phoenix’s trajectory turns directly toward them. As it churns closer and closer, past and present collide in a whirlwind of love, betrayal, and illusion. Will they succumb to loss, or like the phoenix, reinvent themselves, rewrite their stories, and rise anew?” Source: RJ Julia YA Author Event

The second featured author at this event is Rande Goodwin with his debut novel, The Witchfinder’s Serpent, said to be the first of a mystery series. Rande is an author as well as an IT professional and raptor trainer. He resides in New England along with his wife and two daughters. In his novel, the main character, Nate Watson, moves into his aunt’s house. The plot summary below is from RJ Julia’s website.

“When fifteen-year-old Nate Watson moves to Windsor to live with his mysterious Aunt Celia, the last things on his mind are witches and magick and ancient vendettas. While Nate focuses on building a new life for himself and his younger brother, making new friends and adjusting to a new high school, he can’t escape the feeling that something isn’t as it seems.

Nate’s search for answers leads him to a forbidden, locked door in Aunt Celia’s mansion. Inside, he finds a witch’s workshop full of mystical artifacts, some dating back to the time of the earliest Puritan settlers. It’s no coincidence that Nate is now living in the very same town where, forty-five years before the Salem witch trials, Alse Young was hanged as America’s first witch.

Could magick be real? Nate remains skeptical until he picks up the witchfinder’s serpent–a powerful, demonic bracelet that wraps itself around his arm and permanently imbeds itself into his flesh. Now Nate must confront the truth about Aunt Celia’s unlikely ancestry–as well as his own. And with her help, he must find a way to remove the bracelet before the serpent’s previous owner returns–an ancient and powerful enemy who will stop at nothing to get it back.” Source: RJ Julia YA Author Event

The third and final author of the event is Holly Louise Perry. As a child, Holly lived in Carver Massachussetts, but now has a home in Connecticut. For over ten years, she was Managing Editor for Bowrey Boogie, a well-known online publication based in New York City’s Lower East Side. Recently, Holly decided to veer off this course and write her very first novel, Camp Kinross, which takes place in the 19th century. Below is the summary provided on the RJ Julia website.

“It’s the 1990s – best friends Maggie and Tom have been sent to summer camp for the first time, despite being almost too old for it. They are immediately immersed into a picturesque world straight out of the movies, filled with competitive social circles, weird traditions, and classic camp activities… but also a dark past. And then there are the Lifers – a tight knit group of campers who have been chosen to stay at Camp Kinross for the entire summer.

When kids are mysteriously sent home for “breaking the rules” without much explanation, Maggie must uncover the truth about the camp, while also navigating fraying friendships, new crushes, youthful schemes, and the typical anxieties that rattle around in the teenage brain. In doing so, she learns that hidden abilities can often be buried deep, and that trusting others doesn’t always result in getting burned.

Are campers really being sent home, or is a more sinister evil at work at the seemingly perfect Camp Kinross? Will Maggie and Tom become Lifers to buy more time to figure out what’s happening? Can they expose the truth before it’s too late?” Source: RJ Julia YA Author Event

Visit RJ Julia’s Bookstore this evening to support these local authors and their debut novels. It is encouraged to meet the authors and pick up a copy of their books!