TEXAS HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY

Ron Rozelle

Exiled: The Last Days of Sam Houston

Texas A&M University Press

Hardcover, 978-1623495862 (Also available as paperback and ebook), 232 pages, $29.95

December 13, 2017

Reviewed by Si Dunn

Most Texans recall how Gen. Sam Houston was a hero of the 1836 revolution that brought Texas independence from Mexico. Some likewise remember that Houston was a key figure in both the Republic of Texas’s formation and Texas becoming America’s twenty-eighth state in 1845.

But, as Lake Jackson author-historian Ron Rozelle highlights in this engrossing examination of Sam Houston’s final years, the great hero’s accomplishments quickly were hurled aside when he tried to stop Texas from leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy in 1861.

Rozelle writes: “He had been a general of the highest rank, twice the president of a republic, the governor of two states [Tennessee and Texas], a senator, congressman, official ambassador of and to the tribal nations, and a potentially viable candidate, more than once, for the office of president of the United States.”

The often-flamboyant Houston also had gained other labels. “He was called many things in his time: hero, patriot, traitor, firebrand, maverick, Indian lover, genius, drunkard, and liberator.”  >>READ MORE

Lone Star Lit launches Indiegogo campaign ’18: Help us showcase more books, more authors, more ways in 2018!

Lone Star Literary Life covers the Texas literary scene like no one else, week in and week out. Since 2015, we’ve given Texas authors, booksellers, libraries, publishers, and readers a trusted platform of their own. With shrinking coverage devoted to books in mainstream media — and most of that focused on the same handful of national bestsellers — where were Texas authors to get noticed, and where were Texas readers to discover the books they crave? We’ve stepped up to make sure the Lone Star State doesn’t lose touch with its rich literary heritage, and that Texas books get their due.

At the start of our second year, notable Texas literary figures gave us a boost by taking part in a testimonial video, produced by Doug Baum of Waco. We think our case holds up remarkably well — and we’ve featured it in our 2018 campaign as well. Check out out, below.

We hope you’ll be able to spare a tiny bit of your budget to help take our coverage to the next level in 2018. We’ve got some great new books coming up as perks, and some attractive discounts on book promotional packages as well.

Visit the campaign site at https://igg.me/at/LoneStarLiterary

Thanks in advance, y’all!

Texas ReadsGlenn Dromgoole

>> archive

 Happy (Texas) reading in 2018

As announced last week, “Texas Reads” columnist Glenn Dromgoole is taking a well-deserved break for a couple of weeks (and catching up on some choice reading!)

>> FROM TEXAS READS, 12.31.17

Big names: Two best-selling books by Texas-related authors I should have gotten around to this fall, but didn’t, are What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism by Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner, and Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush. I plan to read them early in the new year.

Meanwhile, I’m going to take a short break from the column. I still have a good stack of Texas books to look through, and more will be arriving soon. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.

Happy reading in 2018.

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Glenn Dromgoole writes about Texas books and authors. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.

>> Check out his previous Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Literary Life

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LONE STAR LISTENS interviews   >> archive

Author interviews by Kay Ellington

1.7.2018  “If it’s not interesting or compelling, we wouldn’t be doing a story on it”: Veteran TV journalist Steve Stoler on the stories behind the stories

He’s told stories to millions of people during more than three decades as a television journalist. Steve Stoler had a front-row seat to history as a senior reporter with Dallas’s WFAA, one of the state’s largest television stations, and recently he’s shared his insider’s take in Tonight at Ten. This week tells his own story via an email interview with Lone Star Lit.

LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: Where did you grow up, Steve, and how do you think your upbringing influenced you?

STEVE STOLER: I grew up in South Florida (Hollywood), in a community between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The area became a true melting pot of culture. During my childhood, I found people were very accepting of each other. Religion, ethnicity and race didn’t seem to matter to young people. That seemed to change when I went to college at a small university in the deep South.

What attracted you to journalism and then, specifically to television journalism?

I did an internship in a newsroom at a Miami television station, WTVJ. I witnessed for the first time what the business was really like. I was intrigued and excited by the possibility of becoming a broadcast journalist. I thought it would be the perfect career for me. It would allow me, as a journalist, to become a torch carrier for truth and at the same time, allow me to use my creativity in how I told my stories.  >>READ MORE

Texas’s only statewide, weekly calendar of book events
Bookish Texas event highlights  1.7.2018 >> GO this week   Michelle Newby, Contributing Editor

SPECIAL EVENTS THIS WEEK

• 2018 Pulpwood Queen’s Girlfriend Weekend, Nacogdoches, January 11-14

HOUSTON  Mon., Jan. 8  Brazos Bookstore, Rob Reynolds reading and signing WIRE MOTHER MONKEY BABY, 7PM

AUSTIN  Tues., Jan.9  BookPeople, E.R. BILLS speaking & signing Texas Far and Wide, 7PM

DALLAS  Tues., Jan. 9  Interbang Books, Jack Repp discussing and signing Dreams and Jealousy: The Story of Holocaust Survivor Jack Repp, 7PM

AUSTIN  Wed., Jan. 10 BookPeople, BILL MINUTAGLIO and STEVE DAVIS speaking & signing The Most Dangerous Man in America, 7PM

ALSO SIGNING IN HOUSTON Thurs,. Jan. 11, Brazos Bookstore, 7 PM

BURNET  Wed., Jan. 11 Herman Brown Free Library, Coffee Talks Series presents Vanetta Chapman, author of the Shipshewana Amish Mystery Series and the Pebble Creek Amish Series, 1:30PM

HOUSTON  Thurs., Jan. 11 MECA, Savannah Blue Arts & Outreach presents Black Lines Poetry featuring Anthony McPherson, ranked 2nd in the world at the Individual World Poetry Slam 2017, RJ Wright, winner of the 2017 Bayou City Poetry Slam, and Nigerian poet Ayokunle Falomo, 7PM

HOUSTON  Fri., Jan. 12 Katy Budget Books, Banned Books Discussion Group: how book banning happens, why it’s a problem, and what it’s looked like historically and in the present. If you’re interested in how the community can get involved in the current local situation involving The Hate U Give, come join in the conversation and find out what we can do as concerned community members, 7PM

PLANO Sat., Jan. 13  B&N – Preston Colonnade, Polly Holyoke signing The Neptune Promise, the final book in her award-winning Neptune Trilogy for children, 2PM

SAN ANTONIO  Sat., Jan. 13  San Antonio Public Library – Central, Our Family Reads: The Mayor’s Book Club Kick Off, 2PM

HOUSTON  Sun., Jan. 14  Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School, Inprint Houston and Blue Willow Bookshop present “Cool Brains!” with Newbery Honor Award-winner Ann M. Martin, 3PM

News Briefs 1.7.18

North Texas Teen Book Festival 2018 confirms 76 authors confirmed for one of the nation’s largest teen book fests, April 2018

IRVING — The North Texas Teen Book Festival has announced 76 rock-star and debut authors attending the fourth annual event. April 20 and 21, more than 12,000 students, parents and educators are expected to pack the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas for the massive event. The festival began as a dream of an Irving Public librarian, and in 2017, the festival earned the distinction of becoming the nation’s largest educator- and librarian-run book festival for teens and tweens.

Presenters include the world-renowned Dav Pilkey, famous for the “Captain Underpants” franchise; Cassandra Clare, author of the Mortal Instruments series; and Angie Thomas (above), whose meteoric rise to fame began with her 2017 debut novel The Hate U Give. The 2018 event includes a wide assortment of new and returning bestselling authors appealing to the young and the young at heart, such as Jenny Han (Always and Forever, Lara Jean), Jennifer and Matthew Holm (Babymouse), Leigh Bardugo (The Language of Thorns), Nicola Yoon (The Sun is Also a Star) and local favorite Michael Merschel (Revenge of the Star Survivors).  >>READ MORE

Events That Echo: Photos by Jim Bones and poets’ responses to Museum of the Big Bend’s first book publication, Jan. 13

by Marilyn Westfall

The Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas, will host an exhibition of photographs and a poetry reading celebrating the publication of Echoes of the Cordillera: Attitudes and Latitudes Along the Great Divide Sat., Jan. 13, 2018.  It is the first book published by the museum. The poetry reading is also a first.

The anthology features photographs by Jim Bones, whom Texas Parks and Wildlife called “a visual evangelist with a mission to help others understand, enjoy and become stewards of this world.” >>READ MORE

TLA anounces Steves, Díaz as keynoters for April 2018 conference

The Texas Library Association (TLA) is proud to announce that Rick Steves and Junot Díaz will deliver keynote presentations at the 2018 TLA Annual Conference in Dallas, April 3-6, 2018.

The organization invites paritcipants to broaden their your global perspectives at General Session I. Libraries and travel have much in common; both expand our understanding by exposing people to different cultures and perspectives.

>>READ MORE

Bess W. Scott Scribes Scholarship open to applications Feb. 1

Application deadline is March 25, 2018

The Bess W. Scott Scribes Scholarship was established in 2000 to honor Bess Whitehead Scott, a pioneer Texas journalist and writer who died at age 107. She had a long career as a newspaper reporter and editor, publicist, teacher, ad agency manager and magazine writer. The $2,000 award (as of 2018) is granted annually to an individual age 40 or over pursuing study or a degree in journalism, writing or a related field. The scholarship program is intended to provide financial assistance to further educational objectives of individuals either employed or making career transitions in these areas.  >>READ MORE

Texas Writes at the Alvarado Public Library in Alvarado Jan. 13, 2018

Texas Writes is a statewide program that brings accomplished authors to rural libraries for a half day of presentations and panel discussions. Each event is free and open to the public.

This event will feature presentations from authors Jeramey Kraatz and Karen Witemeyer at the Alvarado Public Library in Alvadaro, Texas, Jan. 13, 2018, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.. More information on the presentations will be posted prior to the event. To pre-register for this event, contact the library at (817) 783-7323.

KidLit: Writing for Children and Teens

Writing for kids is a terribly rewarding endeavor, but can be tricky; How do you know what age group your story is for and ensure that your work is resonating with your audience? In this talk Jeramey Kraatz breaks down the differences between Middle Grade and Young Adult novels and focuses on strategies to make your kidlit stories as dynamic as possible.

Jeramey Kraatz is the author of The Cloak Room series and The Space Runners series from HarperCollins. He lives in Texas, where he writes scripts for the cartoon industry and teaches.

Tapping Into Personal Emotions to Create Unforgettable Characters

No matter what genre you write, the key to creating a memorable experience for your reader is to tap into that universal element that makes us all human—emotion. The good news is that you’ve already done all of the necessary research. You lived! This workshop will teach you how to take personal emotion and turn it into powerful prose that will grab a reader’s attention and capture their heart by developing a genuine author voice, utilizing a deep point of view with your characters, and mastering the aspects of narrative pacing.

Karen Witemeyer is a life-long bookworm, living her dream by writing historical novels. Her books have consistently hit bestseller lists and garnered numerous awards. She lives in Abilene with her family. www.karenwitemeyer.com

 ——­——— A D V E R T I S E M E N T —————

Lone Star Listens compilation available spring 2018, for readers, fans, and writers everywhere

The present generation of Texas authors is the most diverse ever in gender, age, and ethnicity, and in subject matter as well.

Week in, week out, Lone Star Literary has interviewed a range of Texas-related authors with a cross-section of genre and geography. To capture this era in Texas letters, we’re pleased to bring you

Lone Star Listens:

Texas Authors on Writing and Publishing

edited by Kay Ellington and Barbara Brannon; introduction by Clay Reynolds

Available in trade paper, library hardcover, and ebook Spring 2018

360 pages, with b/w illustrations and index

Featuring novelists, poets, memoirists, editors, and publishers, including:

Rachel  Caine • Chris  Cander • Katherine  Center • Chad S. Conine • Sarah  Cortez • Elizabeth  Crook • Nan  Cuba • Carol  Dawson • Patrick  Dearen • Jim Donovan • Mac Engel • Sanderia  Faye • Carlos Nicolás Flores • Ben Fountain • Jeff  Guinn • Stephen  Harrigan • Cliff  Hudder • Stephen Graham Jones • Kathleen Kent • Joe R. Lansdale • Melissa Lenhardt • Attica Locke • Nikki  Loftin • Thomas  McNeely • Leila  Meacham • John  Pipkin • Joyce Gibson Roach • Antonio  Ruiz-Camacho • Lisa  Sandlin • Donna  Snyder • Mary Helen Specht • Jodi  Thomas • Amanda Eyre Ward • Ann  Weisgarber • Donald Mace Williams

As a collection of insights into the writing and publishing life, the book will be useful in creative writing classes (not just in Texas alone) and other teaching settings, as well as for solo reading and study—and a great Texas reference volume.

• Examination and review copies will be available fall 2017 in watermarked pdf format.