Boston Book Festival

SPARK: Reading Series.
Any writer worth their salt knows about “The Hero’s Journey”, Joseph Campbell’s archetypal template for storytelling. The first step on that journey? The hero gets a “call to adventure”… and what happens next is up to the novelist. In Stephen McCauley’s You Only Call When You’re In Trouble, the story begins with a literal call that sends the main character on a journey to save a family member’s career—and shows us how meaningful the bonds of even the most dysfunctional family can be. This witty novel is a perfect example of there being  “no greater pleasure than reading a seasoned writer at the top of his form” (Shelf Awareness). Mark Cecil’s Bunyan and Henry reimagines the origin stories of folk heroes Paul Bunyan and John Henry, who join forces in the novel to battle the ultimate nemesis: corporate greed. “This big-hearted take on the mythic past feels all too relevant right now” (Ben Percy). In Crystal King’s In The Garden of Monsters, a model receives a call to a truly surreal adventure: to accompany Salvador Dali on an artistic journey to the Sacro Bosco—Italy's Garden of Monsters. Eerie and hauntingly atmospheric, the novel “is an exciting reinterpretation” (Publishers Weekly) of the myth of Prosperpina. This session will be moderated by Whitney Scharer, founder of the Arlington Author Salon and author of The Age of Light.