Booksmith is thrilled to host the virtual launch event for Lindsay Merbaum and her debut novel, The Gold Persimmon. She'll be in conversation with Fox Henry Frazier (Raven Crown / On Account of All the Rattlesnakes). The evening will also include a cocktail and mocktail demonstration – everyone who registers for this event will receive the list of ingredients so you can follow along at home, if you'd like. Join us!

Please note:

• This event is free and all ages, but RSVP is required. Event link will be sent to everyone who registers.
• You can order The Gold Persimmon here and we'll ship them directly to you (or hold for pickup at our San Francisco shop).
• All pre-orders of The Gold Persimmon include a compendium of custom cocktail and mocktail recipes, created by the author! The launch will include a demonstration of the novel's signature cocktail – RSVP for the ingredients.
• We are happy to fulfill orders anywhere in the world – international postage will be invoiced separately. If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to contact [email protected].

About the book

Clytemnestra is a check-in girl at The Gold Persimmon, a temple-like New York City hotel with gilded furnishings and carefully guarded secrets. Cloistered in her own reality, Cly lives by a strict set of rules until a connection with a troubled hotel guest threatens the world she’s so carefully constructed.

In a parallel reality, an inexplicable fog envelops the city, trapping a young, nonbinary writer named Jaime in a sex hotel with six other people. As the survivors begin to turn on one another, Jaime must navigate a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Haunted by specters of grief and familial shame, Jaime and Cly find themselves trapped in dual narratives that explore sexuality, surveillance, and the very nature of storytelling.

About the authors

Lindsay Merbaum is a queer feminist author and high priestess of home mixology. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, she earned her MFA in Fiction from Brooklyn College, where she was a recipient of the Himan Brown Award. Her award-nominated short fiction has appeared in PANK, Anomalous Press, The Collagist, Epiphany, Gargoyle, Day One, Harpur Palate, and Hobart, among others. Her essays and interviews can also be found in Electric Literature, Bustle, Bitch Media, The Rumpus, and more. Lindsay lives in Michigan with her partner and cats and serves as an editor of book reviews at Necessary Fiction. The Gold Persimmon is her first novel.

Fox Henry Frazier is a poet, essayist, and editor. She received her MFA from Columbia University and her PhD from the University of Southern California. Fox is the author of two prize-winning poetry collections. She created and manages the micro-press Agape Editions. She lives in upstate New York with her daughter, her dogs, her gardens, and her ghosts.

This event is free and all ages, but RSVP is required.