Book Report: December book events

• Meet some of the freaks from Arts2People‘s Freaks of Asheville 2010 Calendar. A signing is to be held at Craggie Brewing Company (197 Hilliard Ave., Asheville, 254-0360). 4:30-10:30 p.m.

• Bookends Used Bookstore (at Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St., Asheville, 250-4700) holds a blowout book sale on Friday, Dec. 11, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Hardbacks and videos are 24 cents each, paperbacks and children’s books are 10 cents each. Return to the sale on Saturday, Dec. 12, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. for half off Friday’s sale prices. Bring your own boxes and bags; proceeds benefit Friends of the Library.

•  Paul Weidknecht and Emily P. W. Murphy will both be included in the anthology A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, published by the Bethlehem Writers Group. Both authors will sign books at Mountain Lore Books & More (408 N. Main St., Hendersonville, 693-5096) on Saturday, Dec. 19 at 1 p.m. and at Malaprop’s (55 Haywood St., Asheville, 254-6734) on Sunday, Dec. 20 at 2 p.m.

Malaprop’s (55 Haywood St., Asheville, 254-6734) hosts the following signings:
Friday, Dec 4
• Sallie Bissell signs her series of thrillers set in the Appalachian Mountains about half-Cherokee Mary Crow, 4 p.m.
• Vicki Lane signs her Elizabeth Goodweather mysteries, 5 p.m.

• Dale Wayne Slusser signs copies of In the Near Loss of Everything, 6 p.m.
• Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Dale Neal‘s novel Cow Across America is inspired in part by the raucous humor of Mark Twain. 6 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 5
• Local New York Times bestselling author Sarah Addison Allen will sign copies of her novels, Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen. 2 p.m.
• In Life is a Verb, Patti Digh poses the question: What would you be doing today if you only had 37 days to live? 3 p.m.
• Steampunk author and one of the world’s best fantasists, Jeff Vandermeer discusses Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer at 3 p.m. Signing of Finch and City of Saints and Madmen, 4 p.m.

• Joanne Mauldin signs Thomas Wolfe: When Do the Atrocities Begin? at 5 p.m.
• Richard Chess, Director of UNCA’s Center for Jewish Studies and Creative Writing Program, signs copies of Third Temple, 6 p.m.
• Catherine Reid signs In Coyote: Seeking the Hunter in our Midst, 7 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 6
• Liesel Appel signs Wunschkind about a young girl born into and indoctrinated by a Nazi family under Hitler, 1 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 11
• Nan Chase signs Asheville: A History and Bark House Style, 3 p.m.
• Christine Hale signs Basil’s Dream, 4 p.m.

• Page Bryant, a professional psychic and intuitive counselor, signs The Spiritual Reawakening of the
Great Smoky Mountains, 5 p.m.
• Fantasy artist Charles Vess has illustrated for countless publishers and writers, including Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clark, and George R. R. Martin. He will give a slide presentation and take questions before signing copies of his new 200 page, hardcover retrospective book, Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess. 7 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 12
• Wayne Caldwell signs Cataloochee, a novel about the people affected by the formation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 1 p.m.
• Maria Fire signs Knit One, Haiku Too , 2 p.m.
• Hiking afficionado Danny Bernstein signs Hiking the Carolina Mountains and Hiking North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Heritage, 3 p.m.
• Robert Roskind signs copies of Memoirs of an Ex-Hippie, Rasta Heart: A Journey into One Love and 2012: The Transformation from the Love of Power to the Power of Love, 4 p.m.
• Laurel Winter signs young fantasy book Growing Wings, 6 p.m.

• Musician Nic Brown‘s first book, Floodmarkers, is about a disparate cast caught in Hurricane Hugo. 7 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 13
• UNC Tar Heels Men’s Basketball Coach Roy Williams signs copies of Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court at UNCA’s Justice Gym from 1:30-2:30 p.m. If you are unable to attend, call Malaprop’s to purchase a signed copy.
• Laurey Masterson, owner ofLaurey’s Catering and Gourmet-to-Go, signs copies of Elsie’s Biscuits, her culinary memoir (with recipes). 3 p.m.
• Gene Cheek, author of The Color of Love, signs Butter My Butt and Call Me a Biscuit: And Other Country Sayings, Say-Sos, Hoots, and Hollers. 4 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 18
• Investigative poet Pat Riviere-Seel signs copies of The Serial Killer’s Daughter. 3 p.m.

• Poet Holly Iglesias signs copies of Souvenirs of a Shrunken World. 4 p.m.
• Karen Chavez signs copies of Best Hikes with Dogs North Carolina. 5 p.m.
• Local author and UNCA lecturer Cynn Chadwick signs books from her lesbian fiction series including Girls with Hammers, Cat Rising and Babies, Bikes, and Broads. 6 p.m.
• Katherine Min signs copies of Secondhand World, about a Korean-American family struggling with tradition and identity. 7 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 19
• Penelope J. Stokes signs copies ofHeartbreak Café, a novel full of Southern comfort for fans of Joshilyn Jackson and Fannie Flagg. 12 p.m.
• Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham sign copies of Christmas Presence, a unique collection of Christmas stories, essays, poems, and memoirs by women writers who have roots in and connections to Western North Carolina. They will also sign copies Clothes Lines, a new anthology from 75 Western North Carolina women writers. 1 p.m.
• Medical pioneer, humanitarian, veteran and artist, Dr. Lewis Rathbun, talks about life in medicine and life after medicine in his memoir, A Doctor All My Life. 2 p.m.
• Karen Miller signs her children’s book Monsters and Water Beasts: Creatures of Fact or Fiction?. 3 p.m.

• Local author Terrell Garren will sign copies of his popular Civil War novels The Fifth Skull and The Secret of War. 4 p.m.
• Allan Wolf will sign copies of his young adult novel, his children’s book of poetry and his instructional children’s poetry book, Immersed in Verse. 5 p.m.

• Photo-journalist Rob Amberg has documented many aspects of mountain living in books such as Sodom Laurel Album and his latest book, The New Road: I-26 and the Footprints of Progress. 6-8 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 20
• Susan Reinhardt signs Dishing with the Kitchen Virgin. 3 p.m.
• Mark de Castrique, sets his Sam Blackman mystery novels here in the Asheville area. 4 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 23
• Katherine Russell Rich signs copies of her memoir Dreaming in Hindi: Coming Awake in Another Language, about her time spent in a total immersion Hindi program in India. 2 p.m.

—Alli Marshall, A&E reporter