Posts Tagged ‘Natchez Burning’

Monday, April 27, 2015
8:00pm 

Greg Iles
in conversation with David Hudgins

discussing the writing life and his novel
The Bone Tree

William Turner Gallery
Bergamot Station Arts Center
2525 Michigan Avenue,
Santa Monica, CA 90404

PURCHASE TICKETS 
$20 General Admission
$30 Reserved Section Seats
$43 Includes Iles’s book + Seats in reserved section

Greg Iles’ upcoming The Bone Tree is the second in his southern gothic trilogy featuring former prosecutor Penn Cage.  Natchez Burning, the first volume debuted at #2 on The New York Times bestseller list.  His first novel, Spandau Phoenix, was the first of thirteen New York Times bestsellers, and his trilogy continues the story of Penn Cage, protagonist of The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, and The Devil’s Punchbowl. Iles’s novels have been made into films and published in more than thirty-five countries. He is a member of the lit-rock group The Rock Bottom Remainders. 

Greg Iles continues the electrifying story begun in Natchez Burning in this highly anticipated second installment of an epic trilogy of blood and race, family and justice, featuring Southern lawyer Penn Cage.

Former prosecutor Penn Cage and his fiancée, reporter and publisher Caitlin Masters, have barely escaped with their lives after being attacked by wealthy businessman Brody Royal and his Double Eagles, a KKK sect with ties to some of Mississippi’s most powerful men. But the real danger has only begun as FBI Special Agent John Kaiser warns Penn that Brody wasn’t the true leader of the Double Eagles. The puppeteer who actually controls the terrorist group is a man far more fearsome: the chief of the state police’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, Forrest Knox.

The only way Penn can save his father, Dr. Tom Cage—who is fleeing a murder charge as well as corrupt cops bent on killing him—is either to make a devil’s bargain with Knox or destroy him. While Penn desperately pursues both options, Caitlin uncovers the real story behind a series of unsolved civil rights murders that may hold the key to the Double Eagles’ downfall. The trail leads her deep into the past, into the black backwaters of the Mississippi River, to a secret killing ground used by slave owners and the Klan for over two hundred years . . . a place of terrifying evil known only as “the bone tree.”

The Bone Tree is an explosive, action-packed thriller full of twisting intrigue and deadly secrets, a tale that explores the conflicts and casualties that result when the darkest truths of American history come to light. It puts us inside the skin of a noble man who has always fought for justice—now finally pushed beyond his limits.

Just how far will Penn Cage, the hero we thought we knew, go to protect those he loves?

Iles explores issues such as abuse of power, racial inequality and the true meaning of justice served.  He weaving together true historical facts with fictional details.

David Hudgins is an award-winning screenwriter and Executive Producer of multiple television series.

Originally from Dallas, Texas, David Hudgins is a graduate of Duke University. He began his career, as a Staff Assistant to Sen. Al Gore. He then obtained his law degree from S.M.U., and spent eight years working as a trial lawyer.

In 2001, following the untimely death of his sister from breast cancer, Mr. Hudgins made a radical life change. He quit the practice of law, and moved to the hills of Tennessee to pursue screenwriting full time. Two years later, after the sale of his first feature screenplay Scottsboro. 

His credits include:  staff writer and later co-producer on the WB television show Everwood; writer and co-executive producer for the NBC drama, Friday Night Lights; creator and producer for Past Live, a one-hour drama on Warner Brothers Television that ran on the Fox; and writer and Executive Producer on Parenthood. Based at Sony Pictures Television, he is currently writing and producing Game of Silence, a pilot for NBC adapting the New York Times bestselling novel Natchez Burning for Amazon Studios, with Tobey Maguire attached to produce and star.

For his work in television, Mr. Hudgins has received multiple Emmy and Writer’s Guild Award nominations, including Best Drama Series for Friday Night Lights. He is also a recipient of the Peabody Award For Excellence in Broadcasting.

Hudgins is President of The Catherine H. Tuck Foundation, a breast cancer charity he founded in 2012 in honor of his late sister. He serves on the Board of Trustees for The Humanitas Foundation and the Austin Television Festival.