McHuston Booksellers

Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

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Table-Topping and Bistro-Hopping.

August 2, 2014 /

Table for four?

Right this way. We’re hopping to it, reversing a trend. Adding tables and chairs instead of taking them away to be stored in the loft. For the past two years, I’ve been serving lunch guests as the waiter, cook, busboy, and dishwasher (and cashier), and it – unfortunately – caused some limitations. I learned early on that taking care of more than a dozen folks at a time was simply more than I could manage. Hey. I’m not as young as I used to be.

So, I took out some tables and that worked out fine – most days.

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Dustin and I have just wrapped up three weeks of working together at lunchtime. There are still some routines to be ironed out, but as a father/son team, we’re doing all right. He’s a quick-study in the kitchen (I think it must be some sort of culinary DNA thing that started with his great-grandfather at The Palace in Parsons, KS…). Dustin is already ordering in supplies, maintaining inventory levels, testing new recipes, and keeping up with the lunch orders.

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Oh – and he stays ahead on keeping the dishes sparkly clean.

Sweet.

The result? One of the decommissioned tables that had been stowed away was returned to the front of the house this past week. A test run, of sorts. We were able to keep up with the extra seats, and did it well enough that we were able to bring out another table, thanks to Greg – our Rose District neighbor at Southern Magnolia. He donated a three-foot tabletop that Dustin and I attached to an extra base we had upstairs.

I know seating has been a premium at times, but we now have additional accommodations for parties of three or four.

We’ve been running daily chalkboard specials that have proven popular, including some selections not on the regular menu. Dustin spent time in the kitchen Saturday testing new recipes, and I believe he has some tasty dishes planned for next week. He even managed a visit to the Rose District farmer’s market to pick up some fresh local produce.

It’s helped me enjoy my work a lot more. Don’t get me wrong. It’s always been a pleasure being at the shop, talking books and serving guests during the noon hour. But having someone at my side takes all the stress out of it. I’ve been preparing and running food out to guests on my own for two years – having help is such a novelty that it has injected a load of fun where all that stress had been.

I like that.

Hope you’ll let us serve you lunch one day next week. We’ll be peeling and chopping with the best of them and are planning some tasty meals and even more surprises!

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

The Catch: Q & A with Author Taylor Stevens

July 30, 2014 /

The year? 2011. That’s when the world was introduced to Vanessa Michael Munroe, a force to reckon with, and a combination of James Bond, Jason Bourne, and Lisbeth Salander. Her creator is Taylor Stevens, a Dallas author who has a personal story nearly as interesting as that of her character. (Some might argue MORE interesting, in that Ms. Stevens’ own story is non-fiction.) The Informationist first set the stage, and The Catch is the latest offering in the series. In between: The Innocent, The Doll, and the novella The Vessel.

1aCatchBlurb

Taylor Stevens is currently on tour promoting the release, and (in addition to providing us a signed copy to give away here in Broken Arrow) has taken the time to answer a few quick questions:

McHUSTON: Your daring and dangerous protagonist, Vanessa Michael Munroe, has ventured everywhere from Cameroon to Dallas, Buenos Aires, and now, in your latest novel, The Catch, Djibouti, Africa. Is it fair to say that exotic locales are important to you and your characters?

TAYLOR STEVENS: Being able to travel and experience new cultures, sights, smells, and tastes ranks at the top of my list for fun, and the books and movies that I enjoy the most also tend to take me to faraway places, so I think it’s that same real-life draw to the exotic that makes these off-the-beaten-path locations so appealing as story settings.

1aCatchTaylor

McH: Over the course of the four novels and one novella that feature Vanessa Michael Munroe, did her makeup as a character ever change in a way you didn’t anticipate?

TS: Well, four novels and one novella was certainly a change I never saw coming. This series has grown book by book and with that Munroe’s character has grown, because in each new adventure she’s affected by the events of the previous one. But none of this was ever planned out from the beginning, so I guess, in that way, you could say all of her character growth has been a bit of a surprise.

McH: There are rumors of a James Cameron-related movie adaptation of the first Vanessa Michael Munroe book, The Informationist. If you were casting the lead role of the movie version, who would top your list of possible actresses to play Vanessa Michael Munroe?

TS: This is such a fun question and I think my answer sometimes surprises people because everyone has an idea in their head, and usually it’s a big star: Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Hillary Swank, Gina Carano – who is totally badass, by the way. If it was my choice, which it isn’t, I’d want an unknown actress who has no big-screen baggage so that she could take the role, own it completely, and make it hers, and in this way Munroe could be born on screen as a woman who is uniquely her own.

McH: Your novels are so detailed about so many underbelly operations – gunrunning, ransoms, cults. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your research as a novelist?

TS: The cult research was easy because nearly everything that happened in that story was a fictionalized account of something that had happened in my childhood, not necessarily to me – although some of it did – but to someone or someones that I knew. The rest has been a lot more challenging, as I strive for a high sense of accuracy. But I also know that the more detailed a story gets, the easier it is to get those details wrong. I’ve been blessed to know people who live in a lot of countries and who have vastly different life experiences, so it’s allowed me to draw on others for help to keep things real.

McH: As the person who defines her, what would you consider as Vanessa Michael Munroe’s single most important quality?

TS: She is very self-aware, and she takes ownership of every decision she makes, even when she’s doing wrong, which is often. Even if all of the choices suck, she acknowledges that she still has a choice in the outcome, and she owns that choice completely, for better or worse.

There are another fifteen questions rolling around in my head, but those will have to come at a point down the road. Thanks and a big appreciate to Taylor Stevens and Sarah at Crown Publishing for allowing us to share in the release of The Catch!

Our signed copy of the book will be given away next week, so get your name in for the drawing!

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

What’s your grade?

July 29, 2014 /

I’m guessing everyone would rather have a five-star review than not. A lot of our jobs aren’t evaluated publicly. I’ve had those year-end sessions with the boss, when the past year’s performance is evaluated. Like a report card for grownups.

That’s partly why I never wanted to grow up.

In radio, we called it “The Book.” As in, the ratings book. Back when I was around microphones (we had just retired the tin cans tied to a taut string), it was a tense time, when the Book came out. Who was number one?

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And if it wasn’t you, there was plenty of digging into the numbers and demographics of that radio report card in an attempt to find some little part of it that could be spun into good news. Or at least some fact to be unashamed of, if pride was too much of a stretch. Not just here in the Tulsa market. Lots of folks across the country lost their jobs or were denied raises or faced a transfer to another market because of poor ratings.

I’m not certain what the report card is for artists. Maybe one of you will let me know. Sales might figure into it – if you’re selling lots of your work, you must be doing a good job. But that can’t be right. Consumerism as a determining factor in the art world would eliminate anything avant garde or risky.

Authors can have a tough go of it. Sites like Amazon have consumer-reviews that – I’m guessing – can have a debilitating effect on sales, if they don’t go well from the start. Those first written report cards might have a residual effect. There are authors who pay review services to stack the deck.

It’s a four-star review currently for The Catch, the latest thriller from Dallas author Taylor Stevens. I’m sure she’d rather have a five, but in today’s climate, four-stars plus a tasty Associated Press write-up has to be satisfying.

Here is the quote from the AP reviewer: “Intelligent writing, masterful pacing, and tense and fluid action scenes that feel ready-made for the cinema.”

I’ll agree with that for all Ms. Stevens titles, and since the website is now allowing the posting of images, I can now upload my photo of her book and poster, courtesy of Crown Publishing. It is a signed copy, and we’ll be giving it away on the evening of August’s First Thursday in the Rose District.

You have time to get your name entered in the drawing, so –

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

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