Napa Bookmine is thrilled to present debut author Kira Jane Buxton's incredible novel, Hollow Kingdom, at the gorgeous downtown Napa tasting room, Cru @ the Annex! Your ticket gets you a copy of the book at a discount, a glass of wine at Cru @ the Annex, and the opportunity to hear Kira read from her amazing novel and get your book signed! Additional wine and books will be available for purchase.
Hollow Kingdom is the incredible tale of one scrappy little crow who comes beak-to-beak with a brave new world. S.T. lives happily with his human Big Jim and an embarrassingly dimwitted bloodhound, Dennis. S.T. loves Cheetos and the History Channel, and his MoFo (human) Big Jim. But something's happened to Big Jim; he's lethargic and antisocial, plus there's that whole episode where his eyeball fell out... S.T.'s attempts to snap Big Jim out of it fail, and the duo are forced to lock him up in the house they once shared and seek answers in the wider world.
Much to their dismay, the streets of Seattle are not the busy thoroughfares they used to be, but are instead a violent domain of crashed cars and buses. MoFos are few and far between, but the ones S.T. and Dennis do find are no longer what they used to be. And the natural world is taking over with a vengeance. Though S.T. has rarely deigned to converse with his fellow animals, he's now forced to tap into their network to try and figure out what's going on. S.T. is no ordinary crow, and his journey for answers and redemption is an astonishing one.
Hollow Kingdom is uproariously funny; S.T. is a master of sarcasm and impeccably crafted insults. But more importantly, there is an effulgent love of nature laced throughout the narrative. Trees, grass, and earthworms all play their part in Mother Nature's grand scheme, the biggest animals no greater than the smaller ones, and a return to pure nature levels all playing fields. As S.T. gets back in touch with his corvid roots, albeit reluctantly, we see how humans, though disruptive, are a part of all this too. Hollow Kingdom, as well as being a roaring good read, is a call to action, even if that action is just listening to the world around us a little bit more deeply.
But don't just take our word for it... Check out what these authors have to say about Hollow Kingdom!
“Ugh, I love this book so much! I wanted to set it on fire while hugging it. I wanted to hasten the apocalypse just to see how my own pets fare in a more humane world without humans. Kira Jane Buxton’s voice is fresh, like a newly dug grave, but so joyful and honest you’ll laugh out loud, and then check to make sure you haven’t lost an eyeball. HOLLOW KINGDOM is a wildly original debut and a paean to my favorite city.”
—Jamie Ford, NY Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
“HOLLOW KINGDOM is a grown-up’s Watership Down for our times—or the end of them. Kira Jane Buxton has
created a crow so full of personality you won’t even miss the company of humans, who are devolving at hyper-speed rates into something sub-literate and grotesque. But Buxton shows there’s humor in our plight and strength in tenderness, and she portrays the intelligence and astounding beauty of the natural world in a completely fresh way. This book is a triumphant feat of imagination, and it had me believing that the bonds we’ve formed with our pets might help them save us after all. I’ll never look at a corvid the same way again.” —Zoe Zolbrod, author of The Telling and Currency and former editor at The Rumpus
“A plucky hero, a boisterous tale, startling prose and eerie events combine for a thoroughly enjoyable account of the end of the world as we know it. The Secret Life of Pets meets The Walking Dead.” —Karen Joy Fowler, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
“HOLLOW KINGDOM offers a bird’s-eye view of the apocalypse we all want and need—especially when the bird in question is a plucky, Cheeto-loving domesticated crow… With infinite heart and humor, Kira Jane Buxton’s fine-feathered narrator guides us through richly imagined animal realms while braving the terrifying collapse of the human world. A dazzling, wholly original debut, revealing the great paradox of humanity’s fatal flaws and resilient spirit.” —Mona Awad, author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl and Bunny
A finalist for the 2020 Thurber Prize for American Humor!
"The Secret Life of Pets meets The Walking Dead" in this big-hearted, boundlessly beautiful romp through the Apocalypse, where a foul-mouthed crow is humanity's only chance to survive Seattle's zombie problem (Karen Joy Fowler, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author). S.T., a domestic