Contributing Editor
CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOKS / ART
Cathey Graham Nickell
with illustrations by Bill Megenhardt
Twenty-Eight Creative, Feb. 2016
978-0996115001, hardcover, 40 pages, with color illus., $19.99
Houston, Texas, as Cathey Graham Nickell’s informative afterword to Arthur Zarr’s Amazing Art Car tells us, nearly three decades ago started the nation’s first official parade for art cars. Or artcars, if you’re among the enthusiasts who’d like to see this art-fusion compound fused for all time in your Merriam-Webster’s.
Texas ReadsGlenn Dromgoole
>> archiveAuthor offers thoughts on Texas politics
Mary Beth Rogers, who was Gov. Ann Richards’s campaign manager in the 1990s, offers suggestions to Democrats in her new book, Turning Texas Blue: What It Will Take to Break the GOP Grip on America’s Reddest State (St. Martin’s Press, $26.99 hardcover).
“What I’ve learned from my own personal history, and Texas history in general,” Rogers writes, “is that nothing is ever permanent. Change is always around the corner. In politics, change usually occurs when those in power grossly overextend themselves.
“Republicans have held power so long in Texas,” she continues, “that they have become as sloppy, overconfident and arrogant as Democrats used to be. But there are other factors pushing change as well, and some of them are actually beginning to cause a few leaks in their big red bubble.”
Rogers traces how Republicans came into power in Texas and continued to solidify their hold on state government during the past two decades.
In the last three chapters, she deals with the increasing Hispanic influence in Texas, other changes taking place on the political landscape, and her ten recommendations on what Democrats need to do to again be viable statewide, which include finding the right leader, running a whole-state campaign, and spreading the word about what she calls “Republican extremism.”
“Isn’t it time,” she writes, “to call out the crackpots and cranks and make thoughtful Republicans and other normal people feel a little embarrassed to be associated with them?”
First novel: Abilene teacher Marguerite Martin Gray’s first novel, Hold Me Close: Revolutionary Faith, Book One (WestBow Press, $19.95 paperback) is set in Charles Town, S.C., in 1772, before the American Revolution.
Her story revolves around Louis Lesterjette, a young Frenchman who mysteriously shows up in Charles Town (which didn’t become Charleston until 1783) and eighteen-year-old Elizabeth Elliot, who moved with her family to Charles Town two years earlier from Boston. Residents have begun debating whether to continue their allegiance to England or seek independence.
Hold Me Close grew out of Gray’s study of her own family history and is the first of a planned series of four historical, faith-based novels in the “Revolutionary Faith” series featuring Louis and Elizabeth. The second one should be out this summer or fall.
Gray teaches French at Abilene Cooper High School.
Meditations: Wichita Falls inspirational author Sheri A. Sutton has published In Remembrance of Me: Meditations for the Season of Lent ($9.95 paperback). Each daily selection, from Ash Wednesday to Easter, includes a scripture verse, a meditation of about two hundred words, and a prayer. It is her third published book of meditations. Read more at sheriasutton.com.
* * * * *
Glenn Dromgoole is co-author, with Carlton Stowers, of 101 Essential Texas Books Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.
>> Check out his previous Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Lit
Lone Star Lit welcomes Kristine Hall to Lone Star Book Blog Tours; thanks to outgoing blog coordinator Pope
Lone Star Literary Life makes a change to its team lineup this month with the arrival ofKristine Hall as book tour coordinator for Lone Star Book Blog Tours. Hall, a professional reviewer for numerous publicity services, authors, and publishers, is a graduate of Texas A&M University and earned her master’s degree in library science from Sam Houston State University. She is an active member of the Texas Library Association and a proud member of the Grammar Police. Her book reviews can be found on her blog, Hall Ways.
We bid farewell, with great thanks for her service during our first year, to our inaugural blog tour coordinator, librarian Tabatha Pope of Spring. Pope remains on the team as a tour blogger.
If you blog about Texas books and authors and would like to apply to participate in Lone Star Book Blog Tours—for the joy of reading, and free advance copies of new books in your interest areas—contact Kristine Hall at kristinethall@yahoo.com.
We’ll also be officially rolling out our new blog tour and publicity site next week. Take a sneak peek at www.LoneStarPublicity.com.
Lone Star Literary Life to introduce new features, crowdfunding in celebration of first anniversary Feb. 2
On February 2, 2015, Lone Star Literary Life published its first issue of Texas’s only comprehensive statewide books-news coverage. We launched on Groundhog Day with a robust subscriber list of Texas booksellers, publishers, libraries, authors, and, most important of all, readers.
We pledged to deliver thoughtful reviews of new Texas books, first-person profiles and interviews of Texas authors, news and coverage of awards, festivals, and author tours, and the state’s only full calendar of book events — every week. And we’ve done so for almost 52 weeks now, bringing readers, writers, publishers, publicists, and librarians the latest in bookish Texas news and information.
We’re supported by advertising, providing a guaranteed vehicle to promote Texas-related books. And in our first year, we introduced such popular features as Lone Star Book Blog Tours, author podcasts, and Top Texas Bookish Destinations, which present editorial content around which publishers, booksellers, and authors can build paid campaigns.
We’ve got even bigger plans in store for 2016. Stay tuned over the next few weeks. And watch for details on our Indiegogo campaign — to learn how you can help Lone Star Lit grow and also earn unique perks.
Make a note of our hashtag: #LoneStarLit2016
Leave a Reply