Novels in Progress presents…
THE ROWHOUSE by Alaina Johns & Untitled by M.J. Ivory (synopses below)
This fall, join us for one, two, or all three events of the Novels in Progress series, a salon-style reading and conversation featuring the work of two writers deep in the process of a long project. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided. Masks are strongly encouraged!
Sponsored by:
Blue Stoop, a nonprofit "Home for Philly Writers"
The Literature Department at The Free Library of Philadelphia
THE ROWHOUSE by Alaina Johns
Abby, Matt, and Sam are strangers in desperate need of roommates. When they find a South Philly rowhouse, the timing is perfect, except that it’s February 2020. They each have their own secrets, but just as quarantine descends, they start to suspect that there’s someone or something else in the house…and their landlord knows all about it.
Alaina Johns (she/her) is a Philly-based freelance writer and the editor-in-chief of Broad Street Review, Philly's only professional interdisciplinary arts and culture publication. THE ROWHOUSE is her first novel, after 15 years (and counting) of being a journalist.
Untitled by M.J. Ivory
The year is 2120 and the rich have abandoned a Miami half-drowned by climate disaster for an escapist paradise on the sea. Those left behind have formed a new religion prophesying God's message for a planet gone haywire -- and for the superhumans inexplicably cropping up among Black populations across the globe. When the young and pious Elijah betrays his faith and shares a forbidden kiss with his best friend Keith, he manifests a deadly “miracle” that launches the two boys onto separate journeys to answer a single question: if you or your world must face judgment and burn, which receives salvation?
Michael "M.J." Ivory is a Miami, FL native whose journeys have led him to Philadelphia. A preacher's kid by birth and a magician in his daydreams, his writing has been an unending journey to share the magic he feels in the everyday with others. Whether it's the wonder of water, the anointing that is queerness, or the way-making power of Black folks, he wants to help people marvel at it. His work can be read in Waterproof: Evidence of a Miami Worth Remembering and heard in the forthcoming Audio-Anthology: Who We Are is Made, both published with O, Miami. Michael holds an MFA in Fiction from North Carolina State University and can be found using his spare time becoming a Pokemon master or laughing way too loudly.