Downtown Christmas Open House - Tomorrow Night!

Drop by for our annual Christmas Open House on Thursday, November 19, 2009 between 6 pm and 9 pm. We will have delicious refreshments and a drawing for prizes every 15 minutes. You will be able to preview our Christmas merchandise, and choose from a Large Selection of Christmas Boxed Cards (50% OFF), Christmas Gift Wrap (50% OFF) and all Thanksgiving and Christmas Counter Cards are 50% OFF! The first 20 customers to make a purchase that evening will receive a free 2010 Page-A-Day Eat Sleep Read calendar.

Meet and Greet Author Batt Humphreys and South Carolina Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth. Both will speak, read and sign copies of their books during our Christmas Open House. Batt Humphreys, a Georgia native, began his career in television news in Charleston, South Carolina. He spent 15 years at CBS News in New York, most as a senior producer, before leaving to return to his beloved South. He managed the coverage of many of the events that have shaped our lives over the past quarter century, including the first hours of the morning of September 11, 2001, several wars, elections, and as a reporter covering hurricanes, executions, and more murders than he cares to remember. He now lives on a farm outside of Charleston with his wife, and horses, dogs, and cats of varying populations. Dead Weight, his first novel, is based on a true story. In one of America's most beautiful cities, an ugly crime has been committed. Based on events that took place in Charleston, South Carolina, a hundred years ago, Dead Weight tells the story of the murder of a Jewish merchant, the black man accused of the murder and the white populace primed for a hanging. Into these real events steps a fictional character - a reporter from New York is assigned to cover the hanging. The outsider's view of Charleston just after the turn of the century, still clinging to a cultural past and caught in the racial realities of the time, adds to a plot that is anything but a simple tale of racial wrongdoing. Marjory Wentworth was born in Lynn, Massachusetts. Educated at Mt. Holyoke College and Oxford University, she received her M. A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from New York University. Her poems have appeared in numerous books and magazines, and she has twice been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. Marjory teaches poetry in an arts and healing program for cancer patients and their families at Roper Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. She writes a poetry column for The Charleston Post and Courier and works as a publicist. In 2003 she was appointed Poet Laureate of South Carolina. Shackles is a must read for children of all ages. Based on a true story, it describes what happens when a group of little boys search for buried treasure in their backyard on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, and dig up a bit of history - a set of shackles used centuries ago on slaves who were held on the island.