The release of an acclaimed new crime novel called “The Second Life of Nick Mason” also marks, in a way, the start of a second life for its best-selling author, Michigan native Steve Hamilton.

Why? Because after publishing novels with St. Martin’s Press for 17 years — books that earned Hamilton two Edgar Awards, inclusion on two New York Times notable books lists, a Shamus Award, an Alex Award and more — Hamilton, 55, walked away from his latest four-book contract with SMP last August, even though his agent, filmmaker-screenwriter Shane Salerno, had to pay $250,000 back to SMP to buy out the author’s contract.

The shake-up made headlines, in part because of the reason Hamilton left SMP: He was about to launch a new book series  by way of “Second Life,” and although SMP had promised him a strong marketing plan, Hamilton learned as the book was about to be printed that no such plan was in place.

So Hamilton — best known for his series about Alex McKnight, an ex-cop who lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula — took a risk, and it paid off. After 10 publishers vied to publish “Second Life,” Hamilton signed a four-book deal with G.P. Putnam’s Sons. (Two will be Nick Mason books, two will be Alex McKnight.) And that whole promotion thing? Hamilton’s 28-stop national book tour for “Second Life” kicks off Monday in Detroit and includes  13 stops in Michigan. READ THE REST HERE

The Ark has numerous sold out shows this week – Sam Beam (a/k/a Iron & Wine) and Jesca Hoop on Tuesday; former J. Geils Band frontman Peter Wolf on Thursday and Friday; and Martin Sexton on Saturday night – but even if you’re not lucky enough to have tickets to these shows, there’s still plenty to do around town.

Lesley Stahl talks about her book, ”Becoming Grandma: The Joys and Science of the New Grandparenting.” Veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl discusses her new book, a blend of memoir and investigative reporting. Signing. (I’ll be covering this event for Pulp, so watch for my write-up in the coming days.) Monday from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty St. in Ann Arbor. Free.

Bestselling author Steve Hamilton discusses “The Second Life of Nick Mason.” Presented by the Ann Arbor District Library and Aunt Agatha’s. Hopwood Award-winning U-M grad Steve Hamilton, a two-time Edgar Award-winning veteran mystery writer, will discuss his new book, a noir thriller set in Chicago about a man recently released from prison. Signing. (Check out my Detroit Free Press story on Hamilton here. The new book’s a true page-turner!) Tuesday from 7-8:30 p.m. in the AADL multipurpose room, 343 S. Fifth Ave. in Ann Arbor. Free. Continue reading →

Puerto Rico has lately become a political football, but for the narrator of Ann Arbor novelist Camille Pagan’s “Life and Other Near-Death Experiences,” it’s a place to figure out what to do when everything’s falling apart.

In sharp contrast, everything now seems to be coming together for Pagan.

Some initial good news came last fall, when editors at Amazon chose “Life” as a Kindle First selection.

Each month, editors at Amazon choose six new fiction titles for Kindle First and offer them to Prime subscribers before the books’ official release dates. Subscribers may choose to download one of the offerings  free, while nonsubscribers can purchase them for $1.99. Pagan’s book was part of October’s Kindle First grouping, and  it soon topped Kindle’s overall best-seller list, staying at No. 1 for most of that month. (More than 2,600 readers have reviewed “Life” on Amazon, and their combined rating for the novel is an impressive 4.5 out of 5 stars.)

Yet in the moment, when “Life” was riding high in Amazon’s Kindle rankings, Pagan struggled to believe it. READ THE REST HERE

Tuesday night’s Moth Ann Arbor GrandSLAM Championship at the Ark may be sold out, but Pioneer Theatre Guild continues its run of the musical “Rock of Ages,” while world premiere theater productions at the Purple Rose Theatre (Matt Letscher’s “Gaps in the Fossil Record”) and Theatre Nova (David Wells’ “Irrational,” with music by R. MacKenzie Lewis) also keep chugging along, as does the acclaimed production of “Always … Patsy Cline” at Dexter’s Encore Theatre. In addition, check out these additional local entertainment options for the week.

Michigan Playwrights Festival at Theatre Nova. On Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, see staged readings of different new plays by Michigan playwrights each night. May 3-4, 8 p.m.: An evening of 10-minute plays by U-M and Oakland University students. May 7: “Clutter” (1 p.m.), Brian Cox’s drama about a middle-age man with a deeply troubled marriage who recalls, relives, and reinterprets his life as he clears his cluttered desk; and “Draw Me Out” (4 p.m.), Laura Uzarski’s drama about a troubled 15-year old boy with bipolar disorder who’s unable to find his own way in the world until he meets a brash, outspoken teen girl. May 8: “Last of Ken” (6 p.m.), Ann Eskridge’s drama about a repressed middle-age man with a dead-end life whose dead relatives come back to hold an intervention to encourage him to live up to his potential. The Yellow Barn, at 416 W. Huron in Ann Arbor. Tickets: $10 suggested donation, or pay what you can afford, available in advance at theatrenova.org and 734-635-8450.

Hot Club of Detroit at Kerrytown Concert House. This popular Django Reinhardt-style jazz ensemble, led by fast-fingered Reinhardt disciple Evan Perri, is known for its fresh spin on Gypsy jazz. They often veer from the Reinhardt repertoire with intriguing originals and Gypsy-style covers of big band tunes and other genres. Musicians include accordionist Julien Labro, rhythm guitarist Ivan Peña, and bassist Jordan Schug. Wednesday at 8 p.m. at KCH, 415 N. Fourth Ave. in Ann Arbor. Tickets cost $20-$35 (students, $10), and reservations are recommended at www.Kerrytownconcerthouse.com, or by phone at 734-769-2999. Continue reading →

In 2011, R.J. Fox, who teaches video production and English at Huron, began sharing chapters from his humorous memoir, Love and Vodka: My Surreal Adventures in the Ukraine, on Facebook. The unpublished book described Fox’s impulsive trip to Ukraine, at age twenty-three, to propose to a girl he’d met only once.

At around that same time, Ann Arbor residents Jon and Laurie Wilson–whose son, Kyle, had been Fox’s student–outlined a book project of their own. Titled Northern Souls, it would focus on their experiences growing up in the world of ’70s and ’80s pop culture on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Jon is from Manchester, England, where Laurie–who grew up in Canton–emigrated in the late ’80s. They married in 1989 and moved to Ann Arbor in 1993. Both have experienced cultural dissonance and are drawn to fish-out-of-water stories–to such a degree that, by 2012, they were kicking around the idea of launching a publishing company that specialized in them.

The couple read Fox’s Love and Vodka chapter “A Day at the Circus,” and were hooked. “Fox’s writing was so visual that it immediately brought this Soviet-style circus to life,” says Jon. “And the part where he describes the ‘Flying Dogs of Dnipropetrovsk’–where dogs were literally shot out of a cannon and floated down on parachutes–really stuck with us.” READ THE REST HERE

Matt Letscher’s Gaps in the Fossil Record, now having its world premiere at Chelsea’s Purple Rose Theatre, starts with an awkward paleontology professor, Richard (Mark Colson), giving an introductory class lecture. (We, the audience members, are stand-ins for his students.)

Mark Colson and Aja Brandmeier in “Gaps in the Fossil Record” at the Purple Rose Theatre. (Photo by Sean Carter Photography)

Richard points out that the basic skeletal structure of a human arm is echoed, again and again, in countless animal species, thus demonstrating a common point of origin and prompting questions like: what first motivated our genetic ancestors to leave their watery home and venture onto dry land? And regarding two human, 5,000 year old skeletons, found near Verona, Italy in 2007, who appear locked in an embrace – who were they, and what was their story?

Such questions represent, of course, unfillable gaps in the world’s fossil record; the queries for which there’s no hope for resolution, no matter how many ancient bones we unearth. READ THE REST HERE

Sonja Marquis and Emmi Veinbergs in “Always … Patsy Cline” at Dexter’s Encore Theatre. (Photo by Michele Anliker)

A “Saturday Night Live” writer once said that the show could leaven a risky sketch simply by putting Amy Poehler in it, calling the comedienne “a charm machine.”

But Dexter’s Encore Theatre, now staging Ted Swindley’s “Always … Patsy Cline,” may now lay claim to its own charm machine: Sonja Marquis, who plays a brassy Houston single mom (and Cline fanatic) named Louise.

When Louise learns that country music superstar Patsy Cline (Emmi Veinbergs) will be performimg in her town, she heads out to the venue hours early; meets and befriends the country music star; and convinces Cline to forgo her hotel reservation and instead spend the night at Louise’s home. After staying up into the wee hours sharing stories, the two women exchange addresses and sustain their friendship through a series of letters.

This set-up may sound far-fetched, but the two-hour show was inspired by a true story. And although the show is primarily a showcase of Cline’s music and distinctive vocal style, the admittedly light story of Cline’s friendship with Louise provides the show with a loose narrative framework. READ THE REST HERE

The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, presented by UMS, play in Ann Arbor on Saturday.

Kiefer Sutherland at The Ark. This veteran movie actor and “24” star recently took up songwriting, and he’s about to release his debut CD, “Down in a Hole,” a collection of 11 songs he describes as “the closest thing I’ve ever had to a journal or diary … There is something very satisfying about being able to look back on my own life, good times and bad, and express those sentiments in music.” Monday at 8 p.m., The Ark, 316 S. Main in Ann Arbor. Tickets cost $21, available in advance at mutotix.com, theark.org, and 734-763-TKTS.

The Moth Storyslam. Popular monthly open mic storytelling competition sponsored by The Moth, the NYC-based nonprofit storytelling organization that also produces a weekly public radio show. Each month, 10 storytellers are selected at random from among those who sign up to tell a 3-5 minute story on the monthly theme, and the 3 judges are recruited from the audience. Monthly winners compete in a semiannual Grand Slam. Space limited, so it’s smart to arrive early. This week’s theme is “Romance.” Tuesday 7:30-9 p.m. (doors open and sign-up begins at 6 p.m.) at Circus, 210 S. First in Ann Arbor. Admission costs $10. Continue reading →

Joseph Sammour and Hannah Flam in U-M’s “Guys and Dolls.” (Photo by Peter Smith Photography)

One of the biggest laugh lines in U-M’s new production of “Guys and Dolls” belongs to Miss Adelaide (Hannah Flam), who says, after her gambling fiance Nathan Detroit (Joseph Sammour) stands her up on the night of their scheduled elopement, “Tell him I never want to talk to him again, and have him call me here.”

That’s the crux of “Guys,” of course. Based on the stories of Damon Runyon, with a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, and music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, the show explores the comical ways that love inspires us to ignore logic and, by extension, act in ways that seem to run counter to our self-interest.

Set in a cartoonish version of 1950s New York – scenic director Edward T. Morris designed a stage striped in shades of blue and purple that eventually climb up the backdrop and form a New York skyline – “Guys” tells the story of Detroit, who struggles to find a venue for his floating crap game just as his long-suffering fiancee of 14 years, nightclub performer Adelaide, pushes him to finally set a date for the wedding; and big-time roller Sky Masterson (Will Branner), who makes a $1,000 bet that he can get teetotaling missionary Sarah Brown (Solea Pfeiffer) to accompany him to Cuba.

Mark Madama directs U-M’s 2 1/2 hour production of “Guys,” but the first thing likely to jump out at you – and I mean that literally – is Mara Newbery Greer’s sharply polished choreography. From the humor-infused “Runyonland” opening (featuring a not-so-blind beggar, and a male stroller who won’t compromise his exaggeratedly long gait for any reason); to Adelaide and the Hot Box Girls’ flirty, sexy show numbers; to a smoking hot dance floor in Havana; to the one that beats them all for sheer athleticism and thrills, “The Crapshooter’s Dance/Luck Be a Lady,” Greer gives you plenty to watch while hearing the show’s beloved score. Continue reading →