FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Page & Palette, 32 S. Section St. in Fairhope, will host writer N.M. Kelby on Oct. 16 as she speaks and signs at the downtown bookstore.

She will speak at 5 p.m. about her two latest works, “The Constant Art of Being a Writer” and “A Travel Guide for Reckless Hearts.”

The latter is a collection of stories, rooted in the Midwest, for those of us who suddenly find ourselves displaced tourists in our own lives.

Reminiscent of the work of Lorrie Moore and Jill McCorkle, this 10-story collection features the sweetly off-beat love story “Jubilation, Fla.,” where two highly unlikeable people share dairy products, and “The Faithful,” a funny yet tender story about a family torn apart by their beautiful mother, Kitty, who will not give up her coyote fur or cat’s-eye sunglasses for anything.

We also meet landlocked mermaids and a twisted Camp Fire Girl troupe who will do anything to sell the most P-Nuttles in history.

The collection includes the riotous “The Last Rites,” featuring Zimmer, a rock idol who “had always wanted to be buried in his 1953 Cadillac Eldorado convertible,” and is not disappointed.

Kelby’s stories have appeared on National Public Radio’s “Selected Shorts,” on NPR’s CD “Travel Tales” and in the prestigious “New Stories from the South: Best of 2006.”

Whimsical, surreal, touching and often fiercely funny, this collection takes a clear-eyed look at what it means to be disconnected from our loved ones, our landscapes and ultimately ourselves.

Kelby is a New York Times best-selling author who was at Page & Palette in January for her last novel, “Murder at the Bad Girl’s Bar & Grill.”

Her other books include “In the Company of Angels,” “Theatre of the Stars” and “Whale Season,” which is currently in film production to star actor/singer Dwight Yoakum.

Page & Palette will then host poet Fred Marchman on Oct. 17. He will sign his works “Word in Space & Duets with Erato,” from 2–4 p.m.

The new anthology is filled with thought-provoking and poignant poetry. Marchman’s gift of verse shines in his latest work, a collection that illuminates and brings hope to an often dark world.

“Word in Space & Duets with Erato” is a book of cosmic and love poetry. Its ambitions are lofty and metaphysical, yet it also attempts the comical to balance the intense effort to understand the depth of life on this world and in this universe and such things.

It is greatly inspired by theosophy and the metaphysical quest as reflected in Marchman’s life during the 1980s, 1990s and into the current millennial period.

A part of this collection are romantic poems, which reflect the amorous fantasies of a fictional persona, “Valzdek Monetas,” for Erato the muse of erotic and love poetry.

Whether cosmic or love poetry, “Word in Space & Duets with Erato” takes us to exhilarating moments filled with emotion, soul and higher consciousness.

Marchman is a graduate of the University of Alabama (1963), where he received a degree in painting, sculpture and printmaking, and of Tulane University (1965) in sculpture and oriental art.

In 1966 he went to Ecuador as a Peace Corps volunteer and worked with native craftspeople and taught sculpture at the Universidad Central School of fine arts in Quito.

He has taught drawing and painting at Faulkner State Community College in Fairhope since 2003.

Marchman has continued to publish poetry and some short fiction in various anthologies as well some art reviews and cartoon strips in the alternative newspaper, “The Harbinger.”

He periodically reads poetry at the Carpe Diem coffeehouse in Mobile where he has lived since returning to his hometown in 1979.

The authors will exclusively sign all books purchased from Page & Palette.

For more information, call (251) 928-5295.