What is Alex Bledsoe reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Alex Bledsoe, author of The Fairies of Sadieville.

His entry begins:

In fiction, I’m currently reading an advance copy of The Darkest Time of Night by Jeremy Finley (out June 28 from St. Martin’s Press). I’m friends with his agent, who sent it to me because a) he correctly thought it would be right up my alley, and 2) Finley, like me, is a Tennesseean.

There are two things about it that immediately grabbed my attention. One is the topic: possible alien abduction of a child. Two is the first-person protagonist, a sharp, tenacious elderly grandmother. There are inevitably some X-Files moments, but for the most part the story stays focused on the emotional reality of the characters, rather than the intricacies of plot or...[read on]

About The Fairies of Sadieville, from the publisher:

Charming and lyrical, The Fairies of Sadieville continues Alex Bledsoe's widely-praised contemporary fantasy series, about the song-wielding fairy descendants living in modern-day Appalachia.

“This is real.” Three small words on a film canister found by graduate students Justin and Veronica, who discover a long-lost silent movie from more than a century ago. The startlingly realistic footage shows a young girl transforming into a winged being. Looking for proof behind this claim, they travel to the rural foothills of Tennessee to find Sadieville, where it had been filmed.

Soon, their journey takes them to Needsville, whose residents are hesitant about their investigation, but Justin and Veronica are helped by Tucker Carding, who seems to have his own ulterior motives. When the two students unearth a secret long hidden, everyone in the Tufa community must answer the most important question of their entire lives — what would they be willing to sacrifice in order to return to their fabled homeland of Tír na nÓg?

Learn more about the book and author at Alex Bledsoe's website.

The Page 69 Test: Wisp of a Thing (Tufa #2).

The Page 69 Test: Long Black Curl (Tufa #3).

My Book, The Movie: Gather Her Round (Tufa #5).

The Page 69 Test: Gather Her Round (Tufa #5).

The Page 69 Test: The Fairies of Sadieville (Tufa #6).

Writers Read: Alex Bledsoe.

--Marshal Zeringue