{"id":1252,"date":"2018-12-31T16:25:40","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T16:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1252"},"modified":"2018-12-31T16:25:40","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T16:25:40","slug":"lone-star-reviewsmichelle-newby-nbcc-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1252","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star ReviewsMichelle Newby, NBCC,"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span><\/span>Lone Star Reviews<\/span>Michelle Newby, NBCC,<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

Contributing Editor<\/span><\/h1>\n
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LITERARY FICTION<\/p>\n

J. Reeder Archuleta<\/span><\/p>\n

The El Paso Red Flame Gas Station and Other Stories<\/span><\/p>\n

Dog Ear Publishing<\/p>\n

Paperback, 978-1-4575-5919-8 (also available as an e-book), 132 pages, $9.99; December 2017<\/p>\n

Where most of us might see only dry, windy, hardscrabble land,<\/span> Far West Texas native J. Reeder Archuleta<\/span> 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.<\/p>\n

Likewise, we might notice a few weathered, seemingly nondescript people if we stopped for gas in a small town near the Texas\u2013New Mexico border. Archuleta, however, would see human stories spanning much of life\u2019s emotions and experiences.<\/p>\n

The El Paso Red Flame Gas Station and Other Stories,<\/span> 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 \u201960s, 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 \u2014 an abandoned child named Josh, who grows into manhood over the course of this well-written collection.\u00a0 >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n

>> archive<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

H.H. Lomax spins another western yarn<\/h1>\n

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San Angelo author Preston Lewis<\/span> picks up his H.H. Lomax series of delightfully humorous western novels with Bluster\u2019s Last Stand<\/span><\/a><\/span> (Wild Horse Press, $19.95 paperback), a tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek account of the military disaster at Little Bighorn in 1876.<\/p>\n

Lomax finds his life in danger as General Custer\u2019s army approaches Little Bighorn, not only because of the threat of Indians but because Custer himself has vowed to shoot him.<\/p>\n

Lomax consistently refers to Custer as \u201cGeneral Bluster\u201d because of his arrogance and maintains that the general ill-advisedly waged battle against the Sioux and Cheyenne to bolster his chances of becoming president. Lomax finds a way to get the entire army laughing at Custer behind his back as they pick up the mysterious chant, \u201cCiaha!,\u201d which further infuriates the general against Lomax.<\/p>\n

Author Lewis, in his introduction, makes a convincing case that there actually was an H.H. Lomax and that Lomax chronicled his adventures on Big Chief tablets that made their way into the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech. The reader should keep in mind that Lewis writes fiction, even in his introductions.<\/p>\n

In his three previous novels in the series, Lewis has Lomax hanging out with Billy the Kid and Jesse James and being on the scene at the O.K. Corral \u2014 a blend of historical and hysterical fiction.<\/p>\n

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Historical fiction:<\/span> San Antonio author Max L. Knight<\/span> covers a lot of colorful historical western characters and events in his novel, Palo Duro<\/span><\/a><\/span> (Page Publishing, $16.50 paperback).<\/p>\n

Among them: Quanah Parker, Charles Goodnight, Billy Dixon, Ranald Mackenzie,\u00a0 Geronimo, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and John Wesley Hardin.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe characters that populate my book,\u201d Knight writes, \u201care a composite of both real people and the products of my imagination\u2026 The dialogue, with very few exceptions, is strictly fictional but captures the essence of the events portrayed and the people involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried to portray the savage nature of the conflict between the Southern Plains Indians and white settlers, buffalo hunters, merchants and soldiers as evenly as possible without bias to either side, and I\u2019ve tried to portray the difference between the lawman and the lawless as a fine line that was often crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Readers of historical fiction will find much to savor in Knight\u2019s novel.<\/p>\n

Obituary:<\/span> I\u2019m sad to report that prolific Texas mystery writer Bill Crider<\/span> of Alvin died last month at the age of 76.<\/p>\n

His more than sixty novels included the Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series, the 24th of which came out last summer, Dead to Begin With.<\/span> Crider always worked in a murder in the small-town series, but his mysteries were not dark and gruesome and I always looked forward to his next installment.<\/p>\n

Crider taught English at Howard Payne University and then Alvin Community College before retiring in 2002 to write full-time.<\/h1>\n

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Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> has been writing his Texas Reads column since 2002, focusing on Texas books and authors. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/p>\n

>> <\/span>Check out his previous Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Lit<\/a><\/span>erary Life<\/span><\/h1>\n

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<\/span><\/span>2018 TEXAS BOOKISH DESTINATIONS<\/h1>\n

Can you name this literary place in the Lone Star State?<\/h1>\n

Admit it: bookfans love traveling almost as much as they love reading itself.<\/span> 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But throughout Texas\u2019s 268,597 square miles, there are also lots of out-of-the-way points of interest that we don\u2019t always have space to cover in our Top Ten pages.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Watch this space each week for a new bookish place that you\u2019ll want to add to your own travel list. Be the first to email us with the correct identification, and win a prize!<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This week, we continue with a bookish place that\u2019s located in 2017\u2019s #2 Top Bookish Destination. There\u2019s plenty of poetry in this literary-rich city, but there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Email us at<\/span> info@LoneStarLiterary.com<\/span><\/a><\/span> with the specific right answer,<\/span> and we’ll send you a free copy of Literary Texas.<\/span><\/p>\n

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LAST WEEK\u2019S PHOTO<\/span> (below<\/span>) was correctly identified as the Capitol Gift Shop, inside the state capitol building in Austin. Congratulations \u2014 your prize is on the way!<\/p>\n

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TOP BOOKISH TEXAS DESTINATIONS 2018<\/h1>\n

<\/span><\/span>From the spur of Texas\u2019s boot-heel to the tip of the toe, <\/span>we\u2019ve traveled the state in search of some delectable destinations for book lovers. Check out #10 through #6 on our 2018 list this week\u2014then next Sunday we\u2019ll reveal the top 5 plus some honorable mentions. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

introducing LONE STAR LIT\u2019S NEWEST FEATURE<\/span><\/h1>\n

LONE STAR LISTENS interviews\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

Author interviews by Kay Ellington<\/span><\/h1>\n

3.11.2018\u00a0 Bryce Milligan<\/h1>\n

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When a city celebrates 300 years of existence<\/span> and an even longer tradition of diverse cultures, it takes a profound editorial vision to understand how those cultures have come together in the present. Author, editor, and musician <\/span>Bryce Milligan<\/span> definitely has the long view. It\u2019s only fitting that we talked with him via email during the week of our Top Ten Texas Bookish Destinations coverage, to share with our readers what Milligan appreciates about literary San Antonio.<\/span><\/p>\n

LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE:<\/span> Bryce, I understand you were born in Dallas but have lived in San Antonio since 1977. What brought you to the Alamo City?<\/span><\/p>\n

BRYCE MILLLIGAN: <\/span>I met my wife in one of the only creative writing classes either of us ever took\u2014at the University of North Texas\u2014when we were both freshmen. Mary was from San Antonio, so when she finished her MLS a few years later, we moved here so she could take a job in the public library while I commuted to Austin to work on my MA. I\u2019d had a fascination with San Antonio since childhood, which only deepened as I came to know the city better.<\/p>\n

You were twenty-four when you arrived in San Antonio. In many ways, you and the city have grown up together. What was San Antonio like in 1977?<\/p>\n

There were several independent bookstores. The most important was Rosengren\u2019s, which was located on the bottom floor of the Crockett Hotel behind the Alamo. Florence Rosengren\u2019s<\/span> store was known throughout the country as an intellectually and culturally important place where writers gathered and readers found nirvana. As Robert Frost<\/span> said, it was \u201cthe best of bookstores.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were plenty of used bookstores too. The best known of those was Brock\u2019s, which occupied half of a city block downtown. Norman Brock<\/span> had amassed close to a million books\u2014so many that when part of a floor gave way, it was supported by a pillar of books in the basement. It\u2019s hard to believe now that they let people down there, but intrepid book scouts like myself thought of it as a place to go treasure hunting. \u00a0\u00a0 >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Texas’s only statewide, weekly calendar of book events
<\/span><\/a><\/span>Bookish Texas <\/span>event highlights\u00a0 3.11.2018<\/span>>> GO this week<\/span><\/a><\/span>Michelle Newby, Contributing Editor<\/span><\/h1>\n

SPECIAL EVENTS THIS WEEK<\/span><\/p>\n