Earlier this month, Kirkus Reviews named my novel, The Last Grand Tour, one if its “100 Best Indie Books of 2025.” The books on the list are chosen from the thousands of small-publisher titles Kirkus reviews each year.
In Kirkus‘s review of the book, published in January 2025, their reviewer called it “a captivating exploration of the promise and burden of passionate love” and “an entertaining, deeply felt story of giddy hopes straining against harsh realities.”
The reviewer also praised its “smart, elegant prose” and “sharp-edged but complex characters who revel in European culture while approaching the open road as a pathway to liberation or a flight from responsibility.”
This honor comes just 13 days before the novel’s release on January 28. On that day, Powell’s Books in downtown Portland, OR, will be hosting the book’s launch. At the event, I’ll be in conversation with the brilliant documentary filmmaker Brian Lindstrom. Brian’s latest film is the fascinating “Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill.” Click on the title to watch a trailer for it.
A huge thank you to Powell’s for hosting this celebration!
Panel Discussion, From Manuscript to Marketplace: The Last Grand Tour’s Collaborative Journey
Tuesday, Jan. 28 | 3pm | FMH 302
Discussion with PSU Creative Writing alumni from local small press Korza Books and Professor Emeritus Michael N. McGregor about their collaborative work to prepare McGregor’s Kirkus-starred and highly acclaimed debut novel, The Last Grand Tour, for its release that day. Michael and the Korza staff will give attendees an inside look at the journey from manuscript to published book, focusing on the practical steps of manuscript evaluation, revision and editing, cover and page design, promotion and marketing, and more.
The Last Grand Tour is one of just four new “standout” books featured in Oregon Winter, Willamette Week‘s annual winter activity magazine. The guide can be picked up for free at locations all around Portland, OR.
In an article titled “These Standout New Books by Pacific Northwest Writers Will Transport You This Winter,” WW writer Michelle Kicherer recommends Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir Reading the Waves, John Larison’s novel The Ancients, Judy Nahum’s poetry collection I Have Wrestled with the Way Clouds Weep, and The Last Grand Tour for “cozying up indoors this winter.”
“The Last Grand Tour,” Kicherer writes, “offers a grand escape this winter that might make you grateful to be home under a blanket.”
The publication-day launch for The Last Grand Tour is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, at Powell’s Books in downtown Portland!
I hope you’ll be there!
If you can’t come, you can pre-order the book from Powell’s and they’ll send you a signed copy right after the event. Just click here.
I’m delighted to have documentary filmmaker Brian Lindstrom interviewing me that night. A few months ago, I attended a pre-release showing of Brian’s latest film, Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill, and was blown away. It’s a thoroughly fascinating look at the difficult times of a terrifically talented singer-songwriter whose name and songs might have become as common as those of Joni Mitchell or James Taylor if her life had gone differently.
Lost Angel is available on Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime. And Brian’s earlier documentary, Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse, is available on Kanopy. He is currently working on a documentary about the marathon program at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, OR, and a follow-up to his 2016 film Mothering Inside about the Family Preservation Project at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, OR.
I hope you’ll come out on January 28 to celebrate the release of The Last Grand Tour into the world!
For those who don’t know about Kirkus starred reviews, here’s what one author wrote about them:
“Kirkus stars are like diamonds: extremely rare. A starred review is the top of the top, a prestigious, Holy Grail that highlights books of “exceptional merit.” A starred review represents outstanding writing.”
This kind of attention is huge for a first novel from a small publisher. I’m deeply thankful to the unnamed reviewer.
PLEASE SHARE THIS NEWS WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA! THANK YOU!
Note: I’m an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local bookstores. If you buy a book through a click on this website, I’ll earn a small commission that helps defray the costs of maintainingthis website.
The Advance Reader Copies of THE LAST GRAND TOUR arrived over the weekend, giving me a chance to hold the fruits of my labor in my hands for the first time.
What an immense joy.
You can pre-order it on Amazon now. It should be available on other sites soon!
The inaugural Cascadia Writers-in-Conversation evening took place last night, with the delightful and eminently charming Sharma Shields as our first featured author. In a beautiful museum setting, with Z. Vanessa Helder’s magnificent watercolors of Eastern Washington on the walls, 60+ people had the great fortune to listen to a terrifically talented writer talk in depth about her life and her work.
Among the topics Sharma discussed were: how she became a writer, how fairy tales can help us find a different path to a deeper reality, the source of her ability to write funny, a writer’s relationship to the serious issues of our times, and the importance in her life of the stories of Hans Christian Anderson (the subject of her next novel).
Sharma listens and smiles with Z. Vanessa Helder’s watercolors behind her.
She also talked at length about the development and “weirdness” of her three books–Favorite Monster, The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac, and The Cassandra. One of the evening’s many treats was Sharma’s reading of three short stories about witches that showcased her humor and love for tales as well as the unique blend of edginess and tenderness that characterizes much of her work.
The audience waits for the conversation to begin, surrounded by Helder’s watercolors.
Writers-in-Conversation events take place at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, WA, and are sponsored by the Edmonds Bookshop and the Holman Company.
Kicking things off with thank yous and the story of how the Writers-in-Conversation series came to be.
Photos by Gene Openshaw and Rod Ralston.
Note: I’m an affiliate of Bookshop.org, where your purchases support local bookstores. If you buy a book through a click on this website, I’ll earn a small commission that helps defray the costs of maintainingthis website.
