Books, books, and more books!
It should come as no surprise that authors and publishers of all varieties are jumping at the chance to support the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy. What better cause to support than one whose goal is to foster a love of books and reading in all Georgia’s children?
Here is a sampling of the signed books we will have up for auction – more to follow soon!
Kathryn Tucker Windham is a master storyteller, author of twenty-four books, playwright, accomplished photographer, and popular public television and radio personality. Her National Public Radio segments for “All Things Considered” have won her national acclaim. She has generously donated a signed copy of 13 Georgia Ghosts and Jeffrey and a signed copy of 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey.
A Presbyterian pastor and his wife and family move to rural North Carolina to pastor a church and are met not just by a hostile congregation but by murder and abduction in Patricia Sprinkle’s The Remember Box. Signed copies of The Remember Box and it’s sequel, Carley’s Song, will be up for bid thanks to the author’s generous donation.
“Charlotte Miller has illuminated a dark corner of the American South with remarkable grace and beauty.” — Melinda Haynes, author of Mother of Pearl, the Oprah Book Club selection for June 1999
“First-time novelists just aren’t supposed to be able to do things like this. Charlotte Miller has a superb sense of place and time.” — Robert Inman, author of Dairy Queen Days and Home Fires Burning
“Good news! Southern Literature is not dying. It is being revived by a writer named Charlotte Miller.” — Vicki Covington, author of Night Ride Home, and co-author of Cleaving
Read Charlotte Miller’s full trilogy: Behold, This Dreamer, Through a Glass, Darkly, and There is a River thanks to this donation from New South Books.
What do a trigger-happy bootlegger with pancreatic cancer, an alcoholic helicopter pilot who is afraid to fly, and a dead guy with his feet in a camp stove have in common? What are the similarities between a fire department that cannot put out fires, a policeman who has a historic cabin fall on him from out of the sky, and an entire family dedicated to a variety of deceased authors? Where can you find a war hero named Termite with a long knife stuck in his liver, a cook named Hoghead who makes the world’s worst coffee, and a supervisor named Pillsbury who nearly gets hung by his employees? Sequoyah, Georgia is the answer to all three questions. They arise from the relationship between A. J. Longstreet and his best friend since childhood, Eugene Purdue. After a parting of ways due to Eugene’s inability to accept the constraints of adulthood, he reenters A.J.’s life with terminal cancer and the dilemma of executing a mercy killing when the time arrives. Take this gripping journey to Sequoyah, Georgia and witness A.J.’s battle with mortality, euthanasia, and his adventure back to the past and people who made him what he is – and helps him make the decision that will alter his life forever. Thanks so much to author Raymond L. Atkins for the donation!
700 Kitchen Cooking School
Whether your friends call you Chef or you’ve never mastered the art of cooking pasta, the Mansion on Forsyth Park’s 700 Kitchen Cooking School will add new tastes and flavors to your life. And thanks to their generous donation to the Ferst Things First auction, we are happy to offer for bidding a cooking class for 2!
Chef Darin Sehnert, Culinary Director of 700 Kitchen Cooking School, has enjoyed an illustrious career which includes a degree with honors in culinary studies from the prestigious Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. Before joining 700 Kitchen Cooking School, Chef Darin was most recently chef instructor at the Walt Disney World Resort® Disney Institute in Orlando, Florida, and sous chef for the main kitchen of the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. Chef Darin has also worked in London and in partnership with Le Cordon Bleu-Paris conducting summer culinary programs for the public.
Just Show Up
The Savannah Yoga Center is located in the heart of the historic district. Only three blocks south of Forsyth Park, this locally owned and operated business has been serving the Savannah community for over 5 years. It has been voted Best Yoga Center 2009 by Savannah Magazine and three years running by Connect Savannah readers. SYC offers 30+ classes a week providing students with many opportunities to participate in a wide range of yoga styles and class times. Numerous workshops are held at the center each month, covering topics such as Meditation, Ayurveda, Seasonal and Yin Yoga and the always delightful Kirtan musical performances. In addition, SYC offers a Yoga Alliance certified 200HR Teacher Training program, that prepares aspiring teachers and dedicated students for a Joy Filled Life by furthering their own practice and giving them the tools to guide others on the path of yoga. Savannah Yoga Center provides these health practices for all people regardless of body type or experience level. SYC’s goal is to help you achieve lasting peace and tranquility through the practice of the moving meditation known as yoga
Come sweat. Come relax. Come get energized. Come to chill out. Come to laugh. Come to smile.
“JUST SHOW UP!” Let yoga do the rest for you.
Animal Alphabet
| Designed to inspire young minds, the Animal Alphabet poster is a fun and colourful way to teach children both their ABC’s and animals at the same time. A perfect addition to any bedroom or nursery, the Animal Alphabet poster is sure to be a hit! A2 (420mm x 594mm) (16.5″ x 23.3″) Donated by English Muffin Shop, Vienna, Austria |
Attention Book Clubs!
What could be better than winning an autographed copy of Jonathan Rabb’s fantastic new book Shadow & Light? How about having the author himself visit your book club to discuss the novel!!
What the critics are saying:
“Set in 1927 Germany, Rabb’s superb sequel to Rosa correlates the advent of talking movies with the rise of Nazism. When Kriminal-Oberkommisar Nikolai Hoffner investigates the apparent suicide of an Ufa film studio executive, the trail leads the Berlin policeman to the sex and drug trade as well as to the National Socialist German Workers Party’s local leader, Joseph Goebbels. Working with Helen Coyle, an attractive American talent agent for MGM, Hoffner learns how cutthroat the picture business is. Rumors of films with sound threaten to change the industry. ‘Without sound, all you have is shadow and light,’ an inventor tells Hoffner. With sound, movies can do a lot more than entertain, as soon to be shown by Nazi propaganda films and newsreels. Rabb’s meticulous research brings to life a corrupt society vulnerable to extremism. Well-conceived cameos by director Fritz Lang and actor Peter Lorre add to the intrigue.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Nazi noir is hot . . . In 1927, Hoffner is called to the movie studio Ufa to rubber-stamp the suicide of an executive. Except that it’s clearly murder, and Hoffner can’t help poking around. What he finds is a plot of Chandlerian complexity. It starts with a new invention to synchronize sound and action on film, but that’s really a McGuffin of sorts, leading Hoffner to the brownshirts and a plan to rearm Germany. Rabb keeps both balls in the air effectively, introducing a host of real-life figures (Josef Goebbels and legendary director Fritz Lang among them) and dallying with subplots involving Hoffner’s sons (one a brownshirt) and the inspector’s romance with an MGM talent scout, also in search of the sound device. There’s plenty of Weimar decadence on view here, but it’s the fascinating slice of film history overlaid with a sense of the gathering storm that gives the novel its punch. That and Hoffner himself, a noir hero in every way, from his unquenchable thirst for potables to the inevitability with which he finds himself caught in the riptide of history.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Morose, self-loathing Nikolai Hoffner, chief inspector in Weimar Berlin’s Kriminalpolizei, was first introduced in Rosa, in which he investigated the murder of German Communist Rosa Luxemburg. It’s now 1927, and Hoffner is called in to investigate the death of a German film magnate—a murder disguised to look like suicide . . . Rabb’s second entry in his German trilogy is both a first-rate historical novel and a singularly artful crime noir that will remind readers of Alan Furst (The Spies of Warsaw). That’s good company! Enthusiastically recommended.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“Weimar Berlin’s legendary film industry provides the cinematically dissolute milieu for Jonathan Rabb’s stylish noire Shadow and Light, in which Fritz Lang himself makes a cameo.”
—What People are Talking about, Vogue
Hot Digital Dog
Just look at that face! This adorable vintage pet portrait, along with equally fetching cat and mouse versions, are up for auction thanks to Hot Digital Dog artist Cindy Jerrell. Guaranteed to get a smile every time.
Bouncing Angels
Need to wear the kiddos out a little? Burn off some of that amazing toddler energy? There is no place better for the job than Bouncing Angles Inflatable Play Center, and with 2 12-pass jump cards up for bids there could be a lot of bouncing in your future!
The Lady Herself
That’s right folks! Savannah’s very own Paula Deen has generously donated not one but FOUR signed cook books for the auction! Come on y’all – let’s get cookin’!
Working Class Studio
Set an incredibly stylish table with this amazing set of melamine dinnerware donated by Working Class Studio. The set includes 8 dinner plates, 8 salad plates, 8 bowls and 8 glass tumblers from the Kay Collection. Estimated value $250.
Julian & Co jewelry
I can’t think of a more beautiful gift for a new Mom than this amazing locket from Julian & Co. They have generously donated a $50 gift certificate to the auction – use it on any of their amazing line of customized jewelry for Mom, Dad or children.
Ferst Things First 