Parallel Post Hosts Booksigning for Mixologist Greg Genias

PARALLEL POST TO HOST BOOK LAUNCH EVENT FOR

THE FIELD GUIDE TO DRINKING IN AMERICA ON MONDAY, APRIL 20 IN HONOR OF FEATURED BARTENDER GREG GENIAS

“This book is the puzzle piece that has long been missing from drinking in America.  A joy to read and an impressive mountain of knowledge to unearth.”

– Jeffrey Morgenthaler, author of The Bar Book:  Elements of Cocktail Technique

Parallel Post is thrilled to host a happy hour book-signing mixer sponsored by HalfFull Brewery to celebrate the launch of The Field Guide to Drinking in America: A Traveler's Guide to State Liquor Law by Niki Ganong on April 20 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. As the book’s featured bartender representing the entire state of Connecticut, Parallel Post’s acclaimed Greg Genias aka Bootleg Greg will be at the event to sign books and serve up his infamous cocktail concoctions. Tickets are only available for advance purchase at $35++ per person for guests 21 & over (valid driver license must be presented upon arrival). To RSVP for this April 20 engagement, please e-mail parallelpostevents@gmail.com. Event tickets include:

· Half Full Brewery infused craft cocktail samplings prepared by Parallel Post’s leading house mixologist, Bootleg Greg

· An autographed copy of The Field Guide to Drinking in America 

· Passed hors d'oeuvres provided by Parallel Post 

· 10% off dinner discount at Parallel Post for event attendees following the event

· Take home gift courtesy of Half Full Brewery

Inspired by a relentless pursuit to understand America’s confusing liquor laws, Ganong spent the last three years researching each state’s history with alcohol as well as the current laws of the land. The result is a different type of guidebook — one that keeps thirsty travelers informed about how to buy alcohol on the road. With colorful illustrations and arranged in a state-by-state regional format from east to west, THE FIELD GUIDE TO DRINKING IN AMERICA (Overcup Press, April 21, 2015, $19.99) tells the story of America through alcohol in a narrative filled with interesting people, places, conflicts, and values all connected by the thread of alcohol.

“I had a nagging curiosity about America’s history with alcohol,” said Ganong. “After Prohibition was repealed, each state and county was on its own to regulate how liquor was bought and sold, and this lead to confusion once outside the state’s borders. Alcohol is an intricate part of human culture, so I kept asking what have the people in this place historically done to make, sell or consume alcohol. Then we followed that line of thinking to modern times.”

THE FIELD GUIDE keeps thirsty travelers informed when they cross state lines and armchair travelers entertained as they consider the complexity and variety of state laws enacted since the repeal of Prohibition:

•    Find out when bars make last call.

•   Know how packaged liquor, beer and wine are sold in all 50 states and Washington, DC.

•   Get tips from local bartenders, brewers, and distillers about drinking in each state.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Niki Ganong is a food and drink writer from Portland, Oregon. She is a frequent contributor to epicurean publications and is a frequent beer judge. The Field Guide to Drinking: A Traveler's Guide to State Liquor Law is her first book.

ABOUT PARALLEL POST:

Chef Dean James Max returns to his farm-raised roots in his latest venture, Parallel Post, at the Trumbull Marriott Merritt Parkway. Offering a bold and flavorful menu featuring modern American cuisine with Northeastern regional flair, Parallel Post brings an unseen level of quality and creativity to the culinary landscape of Trumbull, Connecticut. The intimate, yet casual eatery uses seasonal, local ingredients prepared with contemporary, healthy techniques. The menu is comprised of a wide array of options from snacks to small plates, large entrees, and a multi-course tasting menu. Parallel Post serves breakfast Monday through Friday from 6:30 to 11:00 a.m. and Saturday through Sunday from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.; lunch Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday through Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.; and dinner daily from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. Parallel Post is located at 180 Hawley Lane, Trumbull, Conn. For more information please visit www.ParallelPostRestaurant.com or call 203.380.6380. 

ABOUT HALF FULL BREWERY:

At Half Full Brewery they're passionate about dreams. Big Dreams. Like, build a brewery big. And they know firsthand that when you’re chasing down a dream, with a glass Half Full, you can’t lose. Want to experience the dream and start thinking about yours? Visit their Stamford, CT facility and see what’s brewing. Operating hours, events, and information on where you can find our beers are available at halffullbrewery.com.  Come visit, and as always, look forward to more…

THE FIELD GUIDE TO DRINKING IN AMERICA

By Niki Ganong; Art Direction & Design by Cole Gerst/option-g

978-0983491729; April 21, 2015; Paperback; $19.99; 224 pp; 220 color illustrations, 52 maps, 52 color photos

The Big Book Club Getaway Presents "Mystery and Martinis" at the Kate

There's mystery and suspense brewing at the The Kate! 

Saturday, September 27 at 7:00 p.m., join the folks that bring you the Big Book Club Getaway and meet bestselling mystery and suspense authors at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook, CT.

There will be Martinis, Hors D'oeuvres, Books and More!  

Here are the authors who will be in attendance!

Tess Gerritsen: Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D. While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction. In 1987, her first novel was published. Call After Midnight, a romantic thriller, was followed by eight more romantic suspense novels. She also wrote a screenplay, Adrift, which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson.


John Searles: John was born and raised in New England, the son of a truck-driver father and stay-at-home mom. When he was a teen, his parents announced that they were going to start sending him trucking with his dad in order to “make a man out of him.” Since there was only so long he could stare out the window or listen to the crackle of other truckers’ voices on the CB, John began devouring books on those trips – most were by Stephen King and John Irving, since those were the mass market titles available at truck stops, along with his father’s trucker erotica, which John would sneak out from their hiding place beneath the mattress in the back. Those books, and all the miles on the road, might not have made a man out of him in the way his parents intended, but they did make him a reader and writer.

Lisa Unger: New York Times and internationally bestselling author Lisa Unger‘s accolades include selections as an International Thriller Writers “Best Novel” finalist, a Silver Medal winner in the Florida Book Awards, a Prix Polar International Award finalist, and a Target “Emerging Author.” Her writing has been hailed as “stellar” (USA Today), “sophisticated” (New York Daily News) and “meaningful” (Washington Post) with “gripping narrative and evocative, muscular prose” (Associated Press). Her novels have been named Indie Next, Walmart Book Club, Today, Good Morning America, Harper’s Bazaar, Washington Life, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Publishers Weekly Best Book, International Book of the Month, and Amazon Top Ten Thriller picks. More than 1.7 million copies of her books have been sold in twenty-six languages. She lives in Florida.



Alafair Burke: Alafair Burke is the author of two power house series that have earned her a reputation for creating strong, believable, and eminently likable female characters, such as NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher and Portland Deputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid. Alafair’s novels grow out of her experience as a prosecutor in America’s police precincts and criminal courtrooms, and have been featured by The Today Show, People Magazine, The New York Times, MSNBC, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Chicago Sun-Times. According to Entertainment Weekly, Alafair “is a terrific web spinner” who “knows when and how to drop clues to keep readers at her mercy.”


David Handler: a recovering journalist who was born and raised in Los Angeles and wrote two highly acclaimed novels about growing up there, Kiddo and Boss, before resorting to a life of crime fiction. He is the Edgar Award-winning author of the Stewart Hoag and Berger & Mitry mysteries. He has also won an American Mystery Award and been a finalist for the Anthony, Dilys and Derringer Awards. Runaway Man, his first novel to feature the feisty 137-pound New York City private eye Benji Golden, debuted last fall. He is currently at work on a sequel. His tenth Berger & Mitry novel, The Coal Black Asphalt Tomb, was published in March by Minotaur. Mr. Handler, who has written extensively for television and film on both coasts, presently lives in a 200-year-old carriage house in Old Lyme, Connecticut.


Hank Phillippi Ryan: Our moderator for the evening, Hank Phillippi Ryan, is the on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s NBC affiliate. She’s won 32 EMMYs, 12 Edward R. Murrow awards and dozens of other honors for her ground-breaking journalism. A bestselling author of seven mystery novels, Ryan has won multiple prestigious awards for her crime fiction: the Agatha, Anthony, Daphne, Macavity, and for The Other Woman, the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. National reviews have called her a “master at crafting suspenseful mysteries” and “a superb and gifted storyteller.” Her newest thriller, The Wrong Girl, has the extraordinary honor of winning the 2013 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel, and the 2014 Daphne Award for Mainstream Mystery/Suspense! A six-week Boston Globe bestseller, it is also an Anthony nominee, a Patriot Ledger bestseller, and was dubbed “Another winner” in a Booklist starred review and “Stellar” by Library Journal. She’s a founding teacher at Mystery Writers of America University and 2013 president of national Sisters in Crime. Watch for her next novel, Truth Be Told, on October 7, 2014.


And it's all for a good cause!

Our charity partner for this year’s Big Book Getaway event at The Kate is REACH OUT AND READ CT.  Reach Out and Read prepares America’s youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. When you purchase your ticket to our September 27th event on our website, BE SURE TO ENTER THE PROMOTIONAL CODE "READ" , and REACH OUT AND READ CT will receive $10 from that ticket purchase.

Visit the The Big Book Club for details and ticket purchase: http://www.thebigbookclub.org/katharine-hepburne-cultural-center-meet-bestselling-novelists/

The Big Book Club Presents "Frighteningly Delicious" - A Fall Halloween Program

On October 27, 2013 the team that launched The Big Book Club Getaway at Mohegan Sun earlier this year is pleased to announce a brand new event  at The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center (“The Kate”). 

This fall Halloween program will be "Frightfully Delicious" and includes a psychic medium and gourmet treats. 

Doors open at 10am and the event will conclude at 3pm

The fabulous line-up of authors that will be presenting that day includes:

Roberta Isleib aka Lucy Burdette, author of the Key West Food Critic murder mysteries, An Appetite for Murder, Death in Four Courses, and Topped Chef

Suzanne Palmieri aka Suzy Hayes, author of The Witch of Little Italy and I’ll Be Seeing You;

Brunonia Barry, author of The New York Times and internationally bestselling novel, The Lace Reader and The Map of True Places,

B.A. Shapiro, New York Times bestselling and #1 Indie pick author of The Art Forger.

 

Local authors, Paul Ferrante (Last Ghost at Gettysburg), Sydney Sherman (You are Not Alone), Eileen Kaplan (Laughter is the Breast Medicine), and Tedd Levy (Remarkable Women of Old Saybrook) will also meet guests and sign their books.

During lunchtime, an art activity will be offered by The Drunken Palette to benefit the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation. http://terribrodeurbreastcancerfoundation.org.  

A portion of the proceeds from all book sales will also go to Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation.

Psychic Medium Angelina Diana will speak about spirit communications and perform random readings throughout the audience.

Tickets are $55 each and include a gourmet boxed lunch and dessert sponsored by Bliss Gourmet of Westbrook.  

Cash bar and themed cocktails available.  

Books will be available for sale by R.J.Julia Booksellers.  

Other sponsors include The Day, the Bee and Thistle Inn, Middlesex Hospital, and Barnum Financial Group.  

Register at http://www.thebigbookclub.org/register-here/

Questions?

CONTACT:  Colleen Doyle LaFrancois at (860) 460-0875 or Susan McCann at (860) 767-1707

The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center

300 Main Street

Old Saybrook, CT 06475

860-510-0473

October 27, 2013
Event Schedule: 10:00am - 3:00pm

Click HERE for schedule details

The Big Book Club is a creation of LaFrancois Marketing Consultants and Essex Books. 

Eric D. Lehman, Afoot in Connecticut, at Essex Books in Ivoryton CT

Today I was able to return to Essex Books at Gather for a book reading and signing by author Eric D. Lehman.

Essex Books at Gather, author Eric D. Lehman (L)  and Sue McCann (R), owner of Essex Books

Eric's latest book, "Afoot in Connecticut: Journeys in Natural History", is a wonderful homage to our beautiful state of Connecticut.

Photo Source: Homebound Publications

Eric's love for Connecticut began in his hiking adventures around the state, where he noted that being "so close to the earth" fostered a sense of kinship and admiration for his surroundings.

There is definitely something to be said for slowing down and looking at the beauty around you when you amble around our great state!

He read some of his favorite passages from the book, and the reading was followed by a lively and interesting discussion with the audience. So many of the people shared their love of CT. Of note is that even when Connecticut isn't their native state, something draws them back to our beloved area.

Eric reads some of his favorite passages from Afoot in Connecticut

As the Director of Creative Writing at the University of Bridgeport, Eric crafts his sentences into beautiful ribbons exploring the paths and trails through our great state.

He writes,

"Connecticut is often the most overlooked state of the New England states. Other states have higher mountains, grander beaches, more famous cities. Other states in the area have become famous, while we linger in relative obscurity, caught between the city-pinchers of Boston and New York. But it is that very obscurity that leaves our state so precious for the walker. Instead of giant parks or famous resorts, we have quiet country lanes and villages." (Lehman 2).

Eric is also the author of two other books on Connecticut available at Essex Books and other outlets, A History of Connecticut Wine and A History of Connecticut Food.

If you have a chance, pick up Eric's book and join him on his Connecticut walking tour.

You won't regret it!

Are you interested in meeting with Eric?

He will be at the Mohegan Sun Author's Trail on September 19.2013.

For more information on the Author's Trail click HERE 

Essex Books frequently hosts speaker series with local authors.  

For information, follow Essex Books on facebook:  HERE 

                                                                            Essex Books at Gather 
                                                                                 104 Main Street
                                                                           Ivoryton, Connecticut 
                                                                                 (914) 310-5824

For more pictures from this event - visit and "like" the Home Place Facebook Page: HERE