Robert Olen Butler

Robert Olen Butler discusses The Hot Country.

We are honored to welcome back Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler with a wonderful new novel, ”The Hot Country.” It’s an exciting tale of intrigue and espionage, set in Mexico in 1914 during that country’s civil war and features a swashbuckling American war correspondent. With high spirits and a thriller pace, Bob Butler’s latest novel is not to be missed. We’ll have first edition copies for you to buy and get signed, too. Butler won the Pulitzer for his story collection ”Good Scent from a Strange Mountain,” and among his best-selling novels are ”Hell: A Novel,” ”A Small Hotel,” ”Mr. Spaceman” and ”They Whisper.” (jasbro)… (more)

“No writer in America today can be said to surpass Butler in the eating-his-cake-and-having-it-too category: He’s literary, entertaining; serious and funny.” –The Sun-Sentinel

Please join us for a very special evening when Pulitzer Prize author Robert Olen Butler returns to Octavia Books to read from and sign his just released very first crime novel, The Hot Country, an epic saga full of intrigue, romance and espionage set during the early stages of World War I.

When Christopher Marlowe Cobb (“Kit”), an American newspaper war correspondent, travels to Mexico in 1914, he expects to be covering some of the most news-worthy events of the decade: the country’s civil war, the American invasion of Vera Cruz, and the controversial presidency of Victoriano Huerta, El Chacal (The Jackal). Covering the war in enemy territory and sweltering heat, Cobb doesn’t expect to fall in love with Luisa, a beautiful young Mexican laundress, who is not as innocent as she seems…

Cobb soon witnesses a priest being skillfully shot dead in the cross he wears around his neck. Cobb employs a young pickpocket to help him find out the identity of the sniper and, more importantly, why important German officials are coming into the city in the middle of the night from ammunition ships docked in the port. The investigation will lead Cobb into the heart of war and behind hostile lines in an epic adventure novel. An action-packed chronicle of passion and war, Robert Olen Butler’s The Hot Country is powerful thriller not to be missed from one of our most revered writers.

Robert Olen Butler is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of twelve novels, including Hell and A Small Hotel. He has twice won a National Magazine Award in Fiction and has received two Pushcart Prizes. He teaches creative writing at Florida State University. I hope you will consider a review or feature to coincide with the book’s release in October, and please do not hesitate to be in touch with any questions.

Location: Street: 513 Octavia St City: New Orleans, Province: Louisiana Postal Code: 70115-2055 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

The Hot Country (Mysterious Press, $25), Christopher Marlowe Cobb, the swashbuckling early 20th century American newspaper war correspondent travels to Mexico in April and May of 1914, during that country’s civil war, the American invasion of Vera Cruz and the controversial presidency of Victoriano Huerta, El Chacal. Covering the war in enemy territory and sweltering heat, Cobb falls in love with Luisa, a young Mexican laundress, who is not as innocent as she seems. The intrepid war reporter soon witnesses a priest being shot. The bullet rebounds on the cross the holly man wears around his neck and leaves him unharmed. Cobb employs a young pickpocket to help him find out the identity of the sniper and, more importantly, why important German officials are coming into the city in the middle of the night from ammunition ships docked in the port. An exciting tale of intrigue and espionage, Robert Olen Butler’s powerful crime-fiction debut is a thriller not to be missed.

Location: Street: 265 Aragon Ave City: Coral Gables, Province: Florida Postal Code: 33134-5008 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Robert Olen Butler will sign and discuss The Hot Country (Mysterious Press; $25).

Robert Olen Butler is the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of thirteen novels, including Hell and A Small Hotel. He is also the author of six short story collections and a book on the creative process, From Where You Dream. He has twice won a National Magazine Award for Fiction and has received two Pushcart Prizes. He teaches creative writing at Florida State University.

Location: Street: 2342 Bissonnet St Additional: City: Houston, Province: Texas Postal Code: 77005 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Title: Hot Country

Author: Robert Olen Butler This is the author's first visit, but he comes quite the reputation as a fine writter. We will list some of his other books besides Hot Country . Christopher Marlowe Cobb (“Kit”), the swashbuckling early 20th-century American newspaper war correspondent, travels to Mexico in April and May of 1914, during that country’s civil war and the American invasion of Vera Cruz. But covering the war in enemy territory and in sweltering heat isn’t enough of a challenge for Cobb. Soon, he’s falling in love with a young Mexican laundress, Luisa, who may not be as innocent as she seems, and he’s witnessing the inexplicable attempted sniper assassination of a priest (miraculously, the bullet rebounds off the cross around his neck, leaving him unharmed). Now Cobb is also trying to track down a sniper—and figure out why important German officials are coming into the city in the middle of the night from ammunition ships docked in the port. An exciting tale of intrigue and espionage, Butler’s powerful crime-fiction debut is a thriller not to be missed.

Location: Street: 7419 Madison St. City: Forest Park, Province: Illinois Postal Code: 60130-1502 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Venue: Left Bank Books - Central West End

In Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler's latest book, Christopher Marlowe Cobb ("Kit"), the swashbuckling American newspaper war correspondent, travels to Mexico in 1914, during that country's civil war, the American invasion of Vera Cruz and the controversial presidency of El Chacal (The Jackal). Covering the war in enemy territory and sweltering heat, Kit falls in love with a young, seemingly innocent Mexican laundress.

Location: Street: Left Bank Books - Central West End Additional: 399 N. Euclid Ave. City: Saint Louis, Province: Missouri Postal Code: 63108 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Robert Olen Butler

Thursday, 6:30 p.m., SCAD Atlanta, Welcome Center, second floor, 1600 Peachtree St. NW, Atlanta, Ga. Robert Olen Butler published 11 novels, "The Alleys of Eden," "Sun Dogs," "Countrymen of Bones," "On Distant Ground," "Wabash," "The Deuce," "They Whisper," "The Deep Green Sea," "Mr. Spaceman," "Fair Warning," "Hell." His 12th novel, "A Small Hotel," is due this August. He published six volumes of short fiction, "Tabloid Dreams," "Had a Good Time," "Severance," "Intercourse," "Weegee Stories" and "A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain," which won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. And, he published a volume of his lectures on the creative process, "From Where You Dream," edited with an introduction by Janet Burroway. A recipient of both a Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction and a National Endowment for the Arts grant, he also won the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. He has twice won a National Magazine Award in Fiction and has received two Pushcart Prizes. His stories have appeared widely in such publications as The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Zoetrope, The Paris Review, The Hudson Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares and The Sewanee Review. He is a Francis Eppes Distinguished Professor holding the Michael Shaara Chair in Creative Writing at Florida State University. Admission to the Ivy Hall Writers Series is $15 per person. Admission is free for SCAD students, professors and staff with a valid ID. A book signing is available after the event with the purchase of a book. For more information, contact Lee Barry Todd at ltodd@scad.edu or (404) 253-3324. (jasbro)… (more)

Robert Olen Butler discusses A Small Hotel.

Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler has written fiction about far-ranging topics including hell, extraterrestrials, and the Vietnam War. With A Small Hotel, his twelfth novel, he has turned his attention to a new topic — the complexities of a male-female relationship — and delivers a beautifully told story of love, loss, and redemption. Set in contemporary New Orleans but working its way back in time, A Small Hotel chronicles the relationship between Michael and Kelly Hayes, who have decided to separate after twenty years of marriage. The book begins on the day that the Hays are to finalize their divorce. Kelly is due to be in court, but instead she drives from her home in Pensacola, Florida, across the panhandle to New Orleans and checks into Room 303 at the Olivier House in the city’s French Quarter — the hotel where she and Michael fell in love some twenty years earlier and where she now finds herself about to make a decision that will forever affect her, Michael, and their nineteen-year-old daughter, Samantha. Butler masterfully weaves scenes of the present with memories from both the viewpoint of Michael and Kell y— scenes that span twenty years, taking the reader back to critical moments in the couple's relationship and showing two people deeply in love but also struggling with their own insecurities and inabilities to express this love. An intelligent, deeply moving, and remarkably written portrait of a relationship that reads as a cross between a romance novel and a literary page turner, A Small Hotel is a masterful story that will remind readers once again why Robert Olen Butler has been called the "best living American writer" (Jeff Guinn, Fort Worth Star-Telegram) If you cannot attend the reading, but would like a signed copy of A Small Hotel, you may reserve it at http://acappellabooks.com/ev_ro_butler.asp . (jasbro)… (more)