Durham
REBECCA STOTT
Regulator BookshopHistorical novels are tricky: If you lean too heavily on factoids, your book might be too dry and arcane for a general audience. But if you play the past too fast and loose, you risk alienating the very history aficionados that are your target audience. In her debut novel Ghostwalkpart supernatural thriller, part academic historyBritish writer (and Cambridge scholar) Rebecca Stott strikes a perfect balance between historical fact and imaginative fiction, producing an immaculately paced novel that’s equally impressive for its hard science and its rhetorical panache. Protagonist Lydia Brooke is enlisted by her ex-lover to finish writing the book his mother was working on at the time of her mysterious death, a controversial study of Isaac Newton’s alchemical experiments. Stott will read from and sign copies of Ghostwalk tonight at 7 p.m. For more info, visit www.regbook.com. Brian Howe
Carrboro
ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT REELS
Cat’s CradleThe last Flicker event of the season will be special for several reasons. First, its Attack of the 50 Foot Reels event will feature shorts shot with only one reel of Super 8 film, with the theme of “Dance Dance Revolution.” In addition, this will be the last Flicker hosted by Nicole Triche, who has served as director since 2004. Doors open at 8 p.m., and the show starts at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $3. For more information, check out www.flickerfestival.com. Zack Smith
