Lone Star ReviewsMichelle Newby, NBCC,
Contributing Editor
MUSIC BIOGRAPHY
Roy Orbison Jr., Wesley Orbison, and Alex Orbison, with Jeff Slate
The Authorized Roy Orbison
Center Street
Hardcover, 978-1-4789-7655-4 (ebook and audio versions also available), 264 pages, $15.99
October 2017
Reviewed by Si Dunn
Texas native Roy Orbison remains a major name in popular music nearly thirty years after his untimely death at age 52 in 1988. His hit songs such as “Only the Lonely,” “Running Scared,” “Blue Bayou,” and “Oh, Pretty Woman” and his distinctive, wide-ranging voice continue to be heard around the world in recordings and movies.
This new book, written by Orbison’s sons (all in the music business), plus songwriter and veteran music journalist Jeff Slate, presents an “authorized” account of Orbison’s life, career, sudden death from a heart attack, and continued impact on the music world.
Orbison, a singer-songwriter-musician who was born in Vernon, Texas, and achieved his earliest stardom in the West Texas oil town of Wink, tried hard to keep much of his private life, including his marriages, divorces, and children, out of the limelight. But this entertaining, enlightening biography is rich with background details and many previously unpublished photographs from his home life, as well musical concerts and tours with other stars, including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and the Eagles, to name just a few. >>READ MORE
LITERARY FICTION
J. Reeder Archuleta
The El Paso Red Flame Gas Station and Other Stories
Dog Ear Publishing
Paperback, 978-1-4575-5919-8 (also available as an e-book), 132 pages, $9.99; December 2017
Where most of us might see only dry, windy, hardscrabble land, Far West Texas native J. Reeder Archuleta can see beauty. Of course, it’s beauty that can turn harsh and unforgiving if you forget to pay much attention to the vast sky sweeping overhead.
Likewise, we might notice a few weathered, seemingly nondescript people if we stopped for gas in a small town near the Texas–New Mexico border. Archuleta, however, would see human stories spanning much of life’s emotions and experiences.
The El Paso Red Flame Gas Station and Other Stories, Archuleta’s second book, is an absorbing coming-of-age tale that unfolds within a collection of eight short stories. Set in the 1950s and ’60s, in a small town that is not named, the stories have changing viewpoints and changing casts of interconnected characters. Yet one figure is present in each story — an abandoned child named Josh, who grows into manhood over the course of this well-written collection. >>READ MORE
Texas ReadsGlenn Dromgoole
>> archive
James Patterson writes about Texas true crime case
James Patterson, the mega-bestselling novelist, turns his storytelling talents to true crime, featuring a Texas murder-for-hire case in Murder, Interrupted (Grand Central Publishing, $30 hardcover, $15.99 paperback).
The book includes two stories, the first of which deals with the case of upstanding Carrolton church and family man John Frank Howard paying to have his wife killed. Accosted in her garage in 2012, she was shot in the eye but miraculously survived.
In the edition I read, Chapter 39 referred to a murder trial, but no one actually died, so shouldn’t it have been attempted murder? Perhaps that was fixed in later printings.
The Texas story kicked off Patterson’s new “Murder Is Forever” TV series this year on the Discovery Channel. You can read Murder, Interrupted — 178 pages — in one or two sittings. The second story, 120 pages or so, is Mother of All Murders, about a teenaged girl who comes to realize that she isn’t the invalid her mother has claimed she was all these years.
Texas kids: Amber Manning packs a lot of Texas history and culture into a rhyming children’s book, Mighty Big and Super Great: Texas Is the Lone Star State! (Bluebonnet Kids, $15.95 hardcover), illustrated by Kory Fluckiger.
“The Lone Star State is our nickname,” she writes, “full of glory, honor and fame; bigger than four states combined, undaunted through the tests of time.”
Similar quatrains cover Texas heroes, the Texas flag, the Texas Rangers (law enforcement), bluebonnets, armadillos, cowboys and cowgirls, cotton, oil, nature, and more. She concludes with four pages of fun Texas facts, a ten-question test about Texas, the Texas pledge and state song, and a map which, unfortunately, includes only a few Texas cities. Maybe in a future printing it could be expanded to include such places as Fort Worth, Abilene, San Angelo, Midland-Odessa, Bryan-College Station, Beaumont, Galveston, Tyler, and Texarkana, without getting too crowded. A more inclusive map might also translate into a broader market for the book, you think?
Snowed in: Abilene authors Paul and Cyndi Cook have produced a children’s book, The Adventures of Lily Penguin: Stuck Inside on a Snowy Day (Sweethearts Publishing, $9.95 paperback), illustrated by Toby Mikle and projected to be the first of a series featuring Lily.
In this story, Lily wonders what it would be like to be in a warmer climate, especially today when she is snowed in. Papa Penguin reads her a story, and she feels better about where she is — but she still dreams of faraway places.
Maybe she’ll get there in future books.
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Glenn Dromgoole has been writing his Texas Reads column since 2002, focusing on 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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2018 TEXAS BOOKISH DESTINATIONS
Can you name this literary place in the Lone Star State?
Admit it: bookfans love traveling almost as much as they love reading itself. Beginning March 4, 2018, Lone Star Literary Life will roll out #10 through #6 in our annual list of Top Texas Bookish Destinations, for readers who want to visit the settings of their favorite books, the birthplaces and haunts of favorite authors, and hot spots for book buying, readings, and other literary activity.
But throughout Texas’s 268,597 square miles, there are also lots of out-of-the-way points of interest that we don’t always have space to cover in our Top Ten pages.
Watch this space each week for a new bookish place that you’ll want to add to your own travel list. Be the first to email us with the correct identification, and win a prize!
This week, we continue with a bookish place that’s located in 2017’s #2 Top Bookish Destination. There’s plenty of poetry in this literary-rich city, but there’s a Poet Tree, too. Can you name the city? And extra credit for telling our readers the neighborhood or street where they can find it, too.
Email us at info@LoneStarLiterary.com with the specific right answer, and we’ll send you a free copy of Literary Texas.
LAST MONTH’S PHOTO (below) was correctly identified as the Capitol Gift Shop, inside the state capitol building in Austin. Congratulations — your prize is on the way!
TOP BOOKISH TEXAS DESTINATIONS, MARCH 2018
From the spur of Texas’s boot-heel to the tip of the toe, we’ve traveled the state in search of some delectable destinations for book lovers. Check out three honorable mentions on our 2018 list this week, as you make your own bookish travel plans. >>READ MORE
introducing LONE STAR LIT’S NEWEST FEATURE
LONE STAR LISTENS interviews >> archive
Author interviews by Kay Ellington
3.25.2018 Texas Women’s Hall of Famer Mary Beth Rogers on timely topics from turning Texas blue to #MeToo
In 1982 the Texas Democratic Party swept the entire slate of statewide elections, choosing a little-known Travis County commissioner as state treasurer. In one of her first acts in that office, Ann Richards hired Houston native Mary Beth Rogers of Dallas as deputy treasurer, and the two created a department that was a model of efficiency for the entire country. Eight years later Rogers served as Richards’ campaign manager — the last time a Democrat won state office. Rogers has spent a lifetime in public service and writing about public servants and trailblazers. Next week she will be inducted in the Texas Institute of Letters, and we caught up with her fittingly in the month of March — primary season — to get her take on Texas politics, writing, and life in the times of Trump.
Where did you grow up, Mary Beth? Was your family political, or involved in public service? And how did you meet Ann Richards, future governor of Texas?
My family was always interested in politics, but never engaged in any kind of official activities. Political discussions were part of our lives, and my mother volunteered in campaigns for progressive Democratic candidates in Dallas. I actually met Ann Richards through my mother’s involvement with a group of women who studied and took action about issues they believed to be important. At the time, Ann was living in Dallas, and my husband and I were living in San Antonio, where I became actively involved in local politics. I had the opportunity to work in political causes and develop the kinds of skills that are required to manage successful political campaigns. It was also during this time that I began writing articles for the Texas Observer and other publications.
By the time my husband and I, along with our two children, moved to Austin in 1970, Ann and her husband David Richards had lived there about a year. One day I got a call from Ann, who said, “Your mama wanted me to call you and welcome you to Austin.” >>READ MORE
Texas’s only statewide, weekly calendar of book events
Bookish Texas event highlights 3.25.2018>> GO this weekMichelle Newby, Contributing Editor
SPECIAL EVENTS THIS WEEK
- Anime Matsuri Convention, Houston, March 29–
April 1 - 3rd Annual Books2Eat Celebration, Houston, March 31
- 16th Annual Austin Edible Book Festival, April 1
DALLAS Mon., Mar. 26 Interabang Books, Michael Noll discussing and signing THE WRITER’S FIELD GUIDE TO THE CRAFT OF FICTION, 7PM
AUSTIN Tues., Mar. 27 BookPeople, JOE LANSDALE speaking & signing Jackrabbit Smile, 7PM
ALSO SIGNING IN DALLAS Wed., Mar. 28 Interabang Books, 7PM
ALSO SIGNING IN HOUSTON Thurs., Mar. 29 Murder By the Book, 6:30PM
CYPRESS Tues., Mar. 27 Lone Star College, An evening reading, Q&A, book sale, and signing with Mat Johnson, author of Loving Day and Incognegro: A Graphic Mystery, 7PM
DALLAS Tues., Mar. 27 Half Price Books – The Mother Ship, New York Times bestselling-author Lisa Wingate will discuss and sign her bestselling novel Before We Were Yours, 7PM [numbered-pass event]
HOUSTON Tues., Mar. 27 Rothko Chapel, William Middleton discussing and signing Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil, 7PM
ALSO SIGNING IN DALLAS Wed., Mar. 28 Dallas Museum of Art, Arts & Letters Live, 7:30PM
ALSO SIGNING IN AUSTIN Thurs, Mar. 29 BookPeople (In Conversation with Veronica Roberts, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Blanton Art Museum), 7PM
ALSO SIGNING IN MARFA Sat, Mar. 31 Crowley Theater, 6PM
SAN ANTONIO Tues., Mar. 27 The Hotel Emma, “When Words Sing: An Evening of Poetry” featuring works by Christopher Merrill, author of Self-Portrait With Dogwood, 6:30PM
ARLINGTON Wed.., Mar. 28 UT Arlington, Hermanns Lecture Series featuring writers Sanderia Faye, Sasha Pimentel, and Lina María Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas, 10AM
COLLEGE STATION Wed., Mar. 28 Brazos Valley African American Museum, Soup & Story: Women’s History Month edition luncheon and storytelling, 11AM
AUSTIN Fri., Mar. 30 BookPeople, LUIS ALBERTO URREA speaking & signing The House of Broken Angels, 7PM [ticketed event]
ALSO SIGNING IN HOUSTON Sat., Mar. 31 Brazos Bookstore, 7PM
SAN ANTONIO Fri., Mar. 30 Imagine Books & Records, Dali’s Mustache: a night of poetry and music, 8PM
AUSTIN Sat., Mar. 31 The Long Center, Deepak Chopra discussing and signing The Healing Self, 8PM
SULFUR SPRINGS Sat., Mar. 21 The Bookworm Box, Over the Rainbow: a book signing featuring ten authors, 1PM
News Briefs 3.25.18
International Edible Book Festival delights foodies and bookies, April 2018
<< SANCHO PIE-NZA, ANYONE? Don Quixote dish celebrates Cervantes novel (photo provided)
Starting in the year 2000, bibliophiles, book artists and food lovers around the world have gathered to celebrate the art of books through food. Participants create an “edible book,” which is a culinary interpretation of any book, character, literary pun, or plot.
The International Edible Book Festival, scheduled each year on or after April 1 (the birthday of 18th-century French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin), has been observed at libraries, bookstores, and cultural venues around the world. Here’s a roundup of Texas participants that we’ve found for 2018. >>READ MORE
San Antonio names Octavio Quintanilla as new poet laureate
Local author and professor Octavio Quintanilla will serve as San Antonio’s fourth poet laureate for a two-year term from 2018–20, the city announced Tuesday.
The first male to hold the position, Quintanilla is tasked with “[generating] public interest in and preserving the art of poetry, while celebrating the culture and history of San Antonio,” the first major city in Texas to recognize and appoint a Poet Laureate.
“Since I’ve been here all I have done is my best to promote the literary community and that writers that live here,” Quintanilla told the Rivard Report. “[As Poet Laureate] I am planning to do what I do now, which is promoting literacy, promoting community, and promoting poetry.” >>READ MORE
————— 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.
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