Loading Events

« All Events

  • This event has passed.

Tim Blake Nelson

February 8, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Magic City Books is thrilled to present native Tulsan Tim Blake Nelson for a book launch event celebrating his debut novel, City of Blows, on Wednesday, February 8 at 7:00 pm. This event will be held at Congregation B’nai Emunah (1719 S. Owasso Ave).

Tim Blake Nelson is an actor, filmmaker and playwright. He has appeared in over eighty feature films, he has directed five films, four of which he wrote, all of which were released theatrically in the United States and internationally, and he has written and published three plays, each produced off Broadway in New York.

City of Blows is Nelson’s first novel, an epic group portrait of four men grappling for control of a script in a radically changing Hollywood. Tim Blake Nelson’s sharp and unsparing voice holds a mirror up to America itself, using Hollywood to investigate the cultural and economic fault lines that have come to dominate and confound us all. You will find yourself unable to turn away from the ruthlessness and despair, the hubris and sheer evil, as City of Blows accelerates to its unimaginable yet inevitable crescendo.

This is a ticketed event, each ticket includes one (1) copy of City of Blows by Tim Blake Nelson ($30.00 value) and one (1) seat at the event on Wednesday February 8 at 7:00 pm.

Tickets on sale here

City of Blows will be published on February 7. All ticket holders will be able to pick up their copy of the book at the event.

All tickets include a copy of the book, there is a limit of four tickets per transaction. Please provide the full name and email address of each ticket holder so that all event notifications and information can be sent to all attendees.

If you have a ticket and are unable to attend the event, you will be able to pick up your book at Magic City Books during normal business hours. The last day for ticket holders to pick up City of Blows by Tim Blake Nelson is Friday, March 24, 2023. We will make an effort to have signed books available for pick up but can not guarantee a signed copy.

About City of Blows

Tim Blake Nelson’s debut novel is an epic group portrait of four men grappling for control of a script in a radically changing Hollywood, or the City of Blows.

It’s early 2020, and legendary producer Jacob Rosenthal is eager to make his next film, Coal, adapted from the bestselling novel by the celebrated writer Rex Patterson. The project–which takes on the controversial topic of race in America–is Jacob’s envisioned magnum opus, and likely his swan song. He selects David Levit to direct, a major opportunity for the classically trained actor/director whose own films, while garnering critical acclaim, have not resulted in box office success.

But the announcement of David’s hiring doesn’t sit well with a producer from David’s past, Brad Shlansky, who channels the last remaining vestiges of his creativity into a revenge plot that could very well scupper the making of Coal, and ruin the lives of its producer and director in the process.

A sprawling, character-driven depiction of the modern film industry, City of Blows reaches back decades to the formative experiences of each of the novel’s central figures to explore what first motivated them to become involved in the quixotic and often venal world of movie-making. Driven by their diverse backgrounds, each must navigate the same huckstering circus that puts films on screen.

From the start, Tim Blake Nelson’s sharp and unsparing voice holds a mirror up to America itself, using Hollywood to investigate the cultural and economic fault lines that have come to dominate and confound us all. You will find yourself unable to turn away from the ruthlessness and despair, the hubris and sheer evil, as City of Blows accelerates to its unimaginable yet inevitable crescendo.

Tim Blake Nelson is an actor, filmmaker and playwright. He has appeared in over eighty feature films, working with directors that include the Coen brothers, Steven Spielberg, Terrence Malick, Ang Lee, Guillermo Del Toro, Tommy Lee Jones, Steven Soderbergh, and Nora Ephron. He has directed five films, four of which he wrote, all of which were released theatrically in the United States and internationally, garnering myriad awards. He has written and published three plays, each produced off Broadway in New York, most recently Socrates, which enjoyed a sold-out run through three extensions at the Public Theater in the spring of 2019.

Praise for City of Blows

“The best, funniest, most incisive depiction of Hollywood’s brute illogic since The Player, and the only one I can think of that so perfectly situates that illogic within the greater American power structures that have deformed us all. Tim Blake Nelson’s City of Blows is phenomenal.” –Matthew Specktor, author of American Dream Machine

City of Blows reveals the ‘business of show business’ for what it often truly is: a desperate, bareknuckle fight to assert identity and insist that, as Arthur Miller put it, ‘Attention must be paid’…. The very best novels about the darker veins under the Hollywood dream are Day of the Locust, What Makes Sammy Run and Play It as It Lays…. City of Blows goes on the shelf right next to those classic bruisers.” –Edward Norton

“Tim Blake Nelson’s City of Blows is a biting exposé lifting the veil on the less glitzy side of the Hollywood movie-making machine. It’s bitterly funny, cruelly accurate and a compelling read.” –John Turturro

“Tim Blake Nelson’s vivid characterizations in City of Blows so humorously, painfully and accurately depicts the savage world of Hollywood that it is too true to be satire. Anyone in show business will recognize people they know from the headlines or from their own experiences. And most poignantly, they will recognize themselves in the Hollywood playground of damaged people who desperately seek external validation. For a show-biz outsider, this powerful, and exquisitely written novel is a cautionary, existential primer on the ego-driven workings behind an entire mega-business.” –Debbie Liebling, executive producer of PEN15 and South Park

Details

Date:
February 8, 2023
Time:
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Website:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launch-with-tim-blake-nelson-tickets-512024718717

Organizer

Magic City Books

Venue

Congregation B’nai Emunah
1719 S. Owasso Ave.
Tulsa, 74120 United States
+ Google Map
View Venue Website