Marlon James presents Moon Witch Spider King, in conversation with Ben Percy
Presented by Magers & Quinn
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
6 pm Doors // 7 pm Show (includes reading, discussion moderated by Ben Percy, and Q&A)
$38 Advance General Admission (includes signed copy of Moon Witch, Spider King)
$48 At The Door (includes signed copy of Moon Witch, Spider King)
All Ages
Ticket Purchases are Final and Non-Refundable
The Parkway Theater requires Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination or Negative Test Result for entry to all events.
Celebrate the release of Marlon James' Moon Witch, Spider King,
the second installment in the Dark Star Trilogy!
Tickets include a signed copy of Moon Witch, Spider King.
Author Ben Percy will moderate the evening.
“A fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made.” —NEIL GAIMAN
“The literary equivalent of a Marvel Comics universe.” —MICHIKO KAKUTANI, THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Absolutely brilliant.” —JEFF VANDERMEER, LOS ANGELES TIMES
“[James writes] with an acrobatic sense of invention.” —WIRED
“Virtuoso storytelling.” —THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Vibrant, complex, and haunting.” —RON CHARLES, THE WASHINGTON POST
“A standard-bearer for future fantasies.” —STAR TRIBUNE
“The well of James’s imagination here feels virtually bottomless.” —ROLLING STONE
“If Toni Morrison had written Ovid’s Metamorphoses . . . upsettingly beautiful.” —NPR
“One of the most talked-about and influential adventure epics since George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire was transformed into Game of Thrones.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS
Marlon James is the author of the New York Times bestselling National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the Booker Prize–winning A Brief History of Seven Killings, and The Book of Night Women and John Crow’s Devil. In addition to the Booker Prize, his novels have won the American Book Award, the Los Angeles Times’ Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Born in Jamaica, James lives in New York City.
In Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Sogolon the Moon Witch proved a worthy adversary to Tracker as they clashed across a mythical African landscape in search of a mysterious boy who disappeared. In Moon Witch, Spider King, Sogolon takes center stage and gives her own account of what happened to the boy, and how she plotted and fought, triumphed and failed as she looked for him. It’s also the story of a century-long feud—seen through the eyes of a 177-year-old witch—that Sogolon had with the Aesi, chancellor to the king. It is said that Aesi works so closely with the king that together they are like the eight limbs of one spider. Aesi’s power is considerable—and deadly. It takes brains and courage to challenge him, which Sogolon does for reasons of her own.
Both a brilliant narrative device—seeing the story told in Black Leopard, Red Wolf from the perspective of an adversary and a woman—as well as a fascinating battle between different versions of empire, Moon Witch, Spider King delves into Sogolon’s world as she fights to tell her own story. Part adventure tale, part chronicle of an indomitable woman who bows to no man, it is a fascinating novel that explores power, personality, and the places where they overlap.
Benjamin Percy has won a Whiting Award, a Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, an NEA fellowship, and the iHeartRadio Award for Best Scripted Podcast. He is the author of the novels The Ninth Metal, The Unfamiliar Garden, The Dark Net, The Dead Lands, Red Moon, and The Wilding, three story collections, and an essay collection, Thrill Me. He also writes Wolverine and X-Force for Marvel Comics. He lives in Minnesota with his family.
