Atlanta Writers, come meet author John Jeter!

Meet the author of 'the Plunder Room', John Jeter!

Handlebar Talent Buyer John Jeter To Appear ‘A Cappella’ For Novel

A Cappella Books, the independent bookstore in Atlanta’s Little Five Points, will play host to novelist John Jeter, co-founder of Greenville, S.C.’s award-winning concert venue, The Handlebar, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 11.

Jeter -- whose “normal” job is to book touring bands and musicians for the concert hall he opened with his wife, Kathy Laughlin, in 1994 -- will sign his novel, THE PLUNDER ROOM (St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books), at Opal Gallery, adjacent to the bookstore, which is located at 484 Moreland Ave. NE.

The novel tells about a family whose proud Southern legacy disintegrates after the death of the narrator’s war-hero grandfather. By turns snarky and humbled, the paraplegic protagonist watches his family struggle with and against that legacy … until a lurid scandal threatens to destroy them all. Honor lies at the thematic heart of the novel, a Southern allegory about America’s devolution from the Greatest Generation to Generation X.

“THE PLUNDER ROOM’S characters are vivid and believable,” the San Antonio Express-News writes, “while the sense of setting and place are beautifully rendered and true to the modern-day South. Any Deep South venue is refreshing, particularly when guided by an author with John Jeter’s skills.” Asheville’s Mountain Xpress calls the book a “character-driven literary work, a return to the age of story telling in the vein of fellow Southerner Walker Percy.” Acclaimed North Carolina author Ron Rash calls the book “an impressive debut.”

Before opening The Handlebar in 1994, Jeter was a reporter and editor for the Chicago Sun-Times, St. Petersburg Times and Express-News. He also holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He had a kidney transplant in 1984; appeared on Oprah!; and has traveled to Vietnam, Honduras, China and Hong Kong – all settings in the novel. The Handlebar is similar to the Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse, having featured many of the same performers, including John Mayer, Joan Baez, John Hiatt and others.

For information, contact Kate Gales, publicist, St. Martin’s; Phone: 646 307 5568, katherine.gales@stmartins.com, or John Jeter at The Handlebar at (864) 233-6173; john@handlebar-online.com. For details about the signing, contact A Cappella Books: (404) 681-5128. Details about the book are at http://theplunderroom.blogspot.com.