TBIR Presents: You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom Launch Event

The Bronx is Reading Presents: Bronx native and award-winning author Vincent Tirado's launch event for their newest horror novel YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN NICER TO MY MOM in conversation with Kosoko Jackson, USA Today bestselling author of THE MACABRE !

ABOUT YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN NICER TO MY MOM:
You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom: A Modern Gothic Horror

Demons clash with inheritance claims as secrets unfold and violence is unleashed over twelve harrowing hours trapped in a house with the worst thing imaginable: family.

When Papi Ramon, the patriarch of the wealthy Abreu family dies, he gives the family one last message in the will: “One of you is el bacà, the demon that I made a deal with. Get rid of them or you will be damned.” Xiomara, the uncontested favorite of Papi Ramon (and therefore the least liked in the family), watches as everyone dismisses this as the joke of a senile old man and demands the lawyer obtain the previous will Papi wrote.

While the lawyer drives back to his office, a storm breaks out, forcing the entire family—Xiomara’s aunts and uncles and cousins—to remain in the house. And the words of Papi’s will hangs over their heads even heavier than the rain clouds. Over the course of the night, scandal after scandal is revealed to the public about the family. Suddenly a tense few hours of surviving her family turns into a vicious night of recrimination, violence, accusations…and M**der.

Xiomara is faced with an impossible task: uproot a demon and somehow K*ll it or excise the ghosts that linger within her own family.

And the clock is ticking...

ABOUT VINCENT TIRADO

Vincent Tirado is a nonbinary Afro-Dominican Bronx native. They ventured out to Pennsylvania and Ohio to get their bachelor’s degree in biology and master’s degree in bioethics. Their debut YA novel, Burn Down, Rise Up, was the 2022 winner of the Pura Belpré Award and a finalist for the 2022 Stoker Awards and 2023 Lammy Awards. Their sophomore YA novel was We Don’t Swim Here, and their debut adult novel was We Came to Welcome You.

ABOUT THE MACABRE

From award-winning and USA Today bestselling author Kosoko Jackson comes his adult speculative debut, a stand-alone novel blending time travel and globe-hopping adventure, art history, and dark fantasy about magical paintings and the lengths people will go to collect them, destroy them…or be destroyed.

A picture is worth a thousand nightmares.

Art has always been an escape for struggling painter Lewis Dixon. But other than his mom, who has recently passed away, no one has ever praised his work. If he is being honest, there’s really no one in his life. So he is shocked when the British Museum shows an unusual interest in his art. This is his chance to show the world what he’s capable of…he just has no idea that he might also be saving the world at the same time.

As Lewis soon learns, he has not been invited to participate in a curated show, but rather a test: to see if the fugue-like exhilaration he experiences when painting is actually magic, a power that allows him to enter nine very special paintings—paintings made by his great-grandfather. Spread across the globe, these paintings have unbelievable eldritch abilities…and not necessarily beneficial ones. In terms of power, these are the most valuable works of art in the world, and there are those out there who would do anything to possess just one.

And Lewis, upon passing the test, has been asked to destroy them all.

Partnered with an alluring agent in museum’s employ, Noah Rao, Lewis must travel to Japan, Australia, Nigeria—and the past—plunging himself into a world of black markets, gothic magic, ancient history, and cursed objects to save those unlucky enough to call any of the paintings their own—or to free the world from those who would misuse the power of the paintings. In doing so, he will need to discover if he has what it takes to truly be an artist, the confidence to finally open himself up to someone who could give his lonely life meaning, and the strength to enter and navigate a reality where magic is everywhere.

ABOUT KOSOKO JACKSON

Kosoko Jackson is the Lambda Literary Award–winning author of the USA Today bestseller The Forest Demands Its Due. When not writing, he’s trying to watch one hundred movies a year, working on his MBA homework, or juggling teaching responsibilities. He lives in New Jersey with his golden retriever, Artemis.

ABOUT THE BRONX IS READING

The Bronx is Reading (TBIR) fosters a love of reading and writing among children, teens, and adults. Founded to address literacy needs and promote representation in literature within the Bronx community, our programs include the annual Bronx Book Festival, Bookworm Book Festival, writing workshops, book clubs, and other curated events and initiatives throughout the Bronx including our online and pop-up bookstore Lair of Dreams Bookshop.

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