Family Secrets and Speculative Fiction

All families are complicated, with legacies, personal choices, and societal expectations shaping or breaking the bonds that hold them together. These two novels add in ghosts and time travel for additional complications. In When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women by Ellen Morris Prewitt, Etoile leaves her childhood in Mississippi for New Orleans, where she accidentally conjures figures from the past into 2018 New Orleans—including her own three grandmothers. In A Ghost Among Magnolias by James Slater Simmons III, a young woman guided by a mysterious specter grapples with the past and future of her influential Black family. These debut novelists will discuss family secrets, their historical research, and magical realism.  

Purchase your book from Charis Books & More. When you check-out from that link, please mention that you will need to pick your book up at the event. Books will also be for sale on-site by Charis, and a portion of your purchase will benefit the Decatur Book Festival.

This event is free and open to the public. No tickets are required, and seating is first come, first served. Signing information: Signing time: 5:00 PM

Signing location: Marriott Conference Center

About the Authors

Ellen Morris Prewitt is an award-winning author and former lawyer who weaves her Southern life—and family secrets—into her fiction. Her stories have twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Ellen is a former Peter Taylor Fellow and currently serves as writer-in-residence at 100 Men Hall. Her pieces have been featured in major publications such as Image, The Pinch, Alaska Quarterly Review, Gulf Coast, Fourth Genre, Barrelhouse, Porchlight, River Teeth, EAP, Luna Station Quarterly, and Salvation South. She splits her time between Memphis, the Gulf Coast, and New Orleans. When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women is her new book.

James Slater Simmons III is trained as a playwright and has worked with St. Ann’s Warehouse, La MaMa ETC, and Dixon Place. In 2022 he was invited to Djerassi Resident Artists Program. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children. A Ghost Among Magnolias is his first novel.

About the Moderator

Katie Mitchell is the author of Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores, a critically acclaimed book celebrating the cultural significance of independent, Black bookstores. Katie is also the recipient of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s 2026 Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Award and a 2026 Georgia Author of the Year nominee.