Lone Star ReviewsMichelle Newby, NBCC,
Contributing Editor
Pickers, poets, and pursuits: two new books
explore the lives of Texas music legends
Review essay by Si Dunn
TEXAS MUSIC
Craig Clifford and Craig D. Hillis, editors
Pickers and Poets: The Ruthlessly Poetic Singer-Songwriters of Texas
Texas A&M University Press
John and Robin Dickson Series in Texas Music
978-1-6234-9446-9 (hardcover, $29.95); 978-1-6234-9447-6 (ebook), 280 pages, index; December 2016
Lloyd Sachs
T Bone Burnett: A Life in Pursuit
University of Texas Press
978-1-4773-0377-1 (hardcover, $26.95), 978-1-4773-1156-1 (ebook), 278 pages; October 2016
Texas, it is often said, is a state of mind. It is also a state of music that now is known around the planet for its distinctive blending of cultures, genres, history, current times, and haunting yet sometimes bittersweet or even darkly humorous sounds.
“Texas music” gets much of its strength and widespread appeal from unique performers who sing and play well but, more important, write “ruthlessly poetic” songs that let audiences experience “something from a perspective that we wouldn’t ordinarily have access to,” the two editors of Pickers and Poets contend. >>READ MORE
Texas ReadsGlenn Dromgoole
>> archive
Texas A&M women’s basketball coach tells his story
With college basketball’s March Madness just around the corner, Texas A&M women’s coach Gary Blair tells his story in a very engaging style in A Coaching Life (Texas A&M University Press, $29.95 hardcover).
Blair has been a highly successful college coach for more than thirty years, the last fourteen of them at A&M. His 2010–11 Aggie team won the NCAA championship. Before going to A&M, Blair coached the girls at Dallas South Oak Cliff High School to three state titles, was an assistant at Louisiana Tech during two national championships, and built nationally-ranked programs at Stephen F. Austin University and the University of Arkansas.
In his memoir, with veteran sports author Rusty Burson, Blair quickly gets to the point of what he values from his coaching experiences.
“What drives me,” he says, “is the need to make a difference in the lives of young people. What motivates me is the concept that victories and defeats, trials and triumphs, and adversities and accomplishments can teach life lessons that will be applicable to my players long after their basketball careers have ended.”
Of the 233 pages in his memoir, the last 100 or so concern his coaching at A&M. Blair, 71, says he is often asked when he might retire. His answer: “When I don’t enjoy it anymore.” He doesn’t see that happening soon.
Two popular authors: I enjoyed zipping through the latest novels from two popular Texas authors.
Wild Horse Springs is Jodi Thomas’s fifth book in her Ransom Canyon series (HQN, $7.99 paperback). Sheriff Dan Brigman and itinerant singer/songwriter Brandi Malone feel a growing passion for a wild and memorable fling with no strings attached, if they can ever get anytime alone.
Meanwhile, a hardened Texas Ranger’s life is saved by a woman park ranger, who seems adept at nearly everything except matters of the heart. A five-year-old girl in a red coat becomes the focus of a resourceful teenager trying to save her from a brutal gang, including one bad guy who is suddenly missing an ear.
Diane Kelly’s Above the Paw (St. Martin’s, $7.99 paperback) is the fifth installment in her entertaining Paw Enforcement series featuring Fort Worth police officer Megan Luz and K-9 partner Brigit. They go undercover at TCU in an effort to find out who is selling a deadly drug called Molly. Exactly how does one go “undercover” with a German shepherd in tow? Kelly gets creative.
Spanish missions: The History Press has published Austin author Byron Browne’s account of the Spanish Missions of Texas (21.99 paperback). He tells the stories of the early Spanish missions—most of them established in the 1700s by Franciscan priests—focusing on those around Goliad, El Paso, and San Antonio as well as Central and West Texas and the Panhandle.
The book includes a number of photographs but cries out for more and larger pictures, as well as maps and lists to make it more accessible to the general reader.
Glenn Dromgoole’s latest book is West Texas StoriesContact 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
Kay Ellington, Editor and Publisher
2.12.2017 San Antonio’s Mayor Ivy Taylor shares her love of literature and literacy
As we commemorate Black History Month this February, an occasion that honors leaders and achievements in the African American community, consider this. San Antonio’s mayor Ivy R. Taylor is the first African American female in U.S. history to ever serve as mayor of city of more than 1 million. Mayor has enthusiastically supported reading in her leadership role, and the city of San Antonio is one of the nation’s leading cities in encouraging literary arts—with the Mayor’s Book Club, the San Antonio Book Festival, the Poets Laureate program, and more.
LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: How did you come to settle in San Antonio, Mayor Taylor, and what attracted you to the city?
IVY R. TAYLOR: The official answer is: a job. I was recruited by the San Antonio Affordable Housing Association to fill a summer position developing a collaborative outreach plan. The real answer is: A man! I was working on my master’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when I had the opportunity to come to San Antonio for a summer internship. At church one Sunday, I met Rodney, and after I finished graduate school, I moved to San Antonio to be with him. We’ve been married eighteen years now.
Texas’s only statewide, weekly calendar of book events
Bookish Texas event highlights 2.12.2017
>> GO this week Michelle Newby, Contributing Editor
ALSO IN IRVING TUES., FEB. 14: La Madeleine, Fresh Fiction presents breakfast with romance author Eloisa James, 9AMAUSTIN Tues., Feb. 14 Austin Public Library – Windsor Park, Stephen Harrigan will discuss A Friend of Mr. Lincoln, 7PMDALLAS Tues., Feb. 14 The Wild Detectives, Spiderweb Salon Love You: POETRY! MUSIC! ART! ZINES! BOOKS! COFFEE! BEER! LOVE!, 7PMSAN ANTONIO Wed., Feb. 15, San Antonio Public Library – Encino, Jan Jarboe Russell will discuss The Train to Crystal City, 6:30PMLINDALE Thurs., Feb. 16, Lillie Russell Memorial Library, Writers’ League of Texas workshop: Texas Writes with Jeramey Kraatz and Liz Garton Scanlon, 10AMTOMBALL Thurs., Feb. 16 Lone Star College, 2016 Texas State Poet Laureate, Laurie Ann Guerrero, will be reading her works, answer questions, and signing books, 12:30PMVICTORIA Thurs., Feb. 16, University of Houston, American Book Review reading series presents Vivian Gornick, 12PMSOUTH PADRE ISLAND Sat., Feb. 18 Paragraphs on Padre Boulevard, discussion and book signing with rodeo historian and author Gail Hughbanks Woerner, 1–3 pm
News Briefs 2.12.17
5th Annual San Antonio Book Festival to feature more than 100 authors, April 8
SAN ANTONIO—The San Antonio Book Festival (SABF) has released its lineup of more than 100 national, regional, and local authors who will appear at the 5th annual Festival, scheduled for Sat., Apr. 8, 2017. A detailed schedule of author sessions will be available at saplf.org/festival in March.
Headlining the 2017 roster is New York Times bestselling author Ann Patchett, whose most recent novel, Commonwealth, has spent 16 weeks on the Times’ bestseller list. Patchett is also known for her PEN/Faulkner award-winning novel Bel Canto, State of Wonder, and This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. >>READ MORE
Stratton to kick off Literary Arts Council and Lone Star College Spring 2017 reading series
CONROE—Montgomery County’s Writers in Performance series will open its spring 2017 lineup with the president of the Texas Institute of Letters, W. K. “Kip” Stratton, appearing on Thurs., Feb. 16, 7 p.m. on the campus of Lone Star College–Montgomery, Room B-102.
A former newspaper journalist, Stratton is best known for his historical nonfiction. His first book, Backyard Brawl: Inside the Blood Feud between University of Texas and Texas A&M, was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. His more recent work, Floyd Patterson, was a finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing and his second volume of poetry, Ranchero Ford; Dying in Red Dirt, was short-listed for the PEN Southwest Book Award. >>READ MORE
Writers’ Organizations ’Round Dallas sponsors WORDfest Mar. 11
DFW writers groups band together to hold public event
HURST—On Sat., March 11, 2017, Writers’ Organizations ‘Round Dallas will host WORDfest, a first-of-its-kind trade fair of over 20 local writers organizations, featuring writing classes, panels, local authors and speakers, critique sessions, and door prizes. Representatives from all participating organizations will be standing by to meet interested attendees.
WORDfest will be held at TCC Northeast Campus in Hurst at the Student Union Building (NSTU) from 10 am to 4 pm Sat., March 11th. >>READ MORE
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BULLETINS FROM DALLAS: REPORTING THE JFK ASSASSINATION by Bill Sanderson
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2/21 Scrapbook Page StoreyBook Reviews
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2/23 Author Interview Texas Book Lover
2/24 Book Trailer Forgotten Winds
2/25 Review Kara The Redhead
2/26 Video Interview The Page Unbound
2/27 Review Blogging for the Love of Authors and Their Books
2/28 Guest Post Byers Editing Reviews & Blog
3/1 Excerpt Books and Broomsticks
3/2 Review Reading By Moonlight
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Lone Star Listens compilation available Aug. 1, 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 Fall 2017
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.
- Lone Star Listens will be available for preorder May 1 and will ship around Aug. 1.
- Examination and review copies will be available May 1 in watermarked pdf format.
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