{"id":224,"date":"2018-12-31T11:18:47","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T11:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=224"},"modified":"2018-12-31T11:18:47","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T11:18:47","slug":"lone-star-reviewsmichelle-newby-nbcc-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=224","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star ReviewsMichelle Newby, NBCC,"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Contributing Editor<\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

Fiction (Mystery, Thriller)<\/p>\n

Mark Pryor<\/span><\/p>\n

The Reluctant Matador<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Seventh Street Books\/Prometheus, 2015<\/p>\n

Paperback, 978-1-63388-002-3<\/p>\n

299 pgs., $15.95<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Manning Wolfe<\/p>\n

Mark Pryor\u2019s latest thriller<\/span> featuring his recurring character, Hugo Marston, opens with a dead body floating in the Seine in Paris, France. It\u2019s not his friend Bart Denum\u2019s nineteen-year old-daughter, Amy, but when she is a no show for several days, both Hugo and Denum become alarmed. Hugo follows the breadcrumbs and finds that the wannabe model has been secretly working at a strip bar. Further inquiries suggest that she has left with Rub\u00e9n Casta\u00f1eda, a stranger whom she recently met, and is on her way to Spain. <\/span>
>> READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

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

>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span>Wilder Good, Hank books aimed at boys<\/span><\/h1>\n

Two Texas authors have found a special niche<\/span> \u2014 adventure books for boys in grades four to eight.<\/p>\n

Wilder and Sunny<\/span><\/a><\/span> is the third novel in Lubbock author S. J. Dahlstrom\u2019s<\/span> Adventures of Wilder Good series (Paul Dry Books, $7.95). The series features twelve-year-old Wilder Good, whose name reflects two important characteristics of his personality: he loves the outdoors, and he tries to do the right thing when put in tough situations.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/span>Wilder lives with his parents and little sister in a small town in Colorado. His mother is dealing with breast cancer, and his father devotes much of his time and energies to her care. In the previous book, Texas Grit,<\/span><\/a><\/span> Wilder went to Texas to stay with his grandfather while his mother was undergoing treatments.<\/p>\n

This story involves Wilder, his girl friend (or is she a \u201cgirlfriend\u201d?) Sunny Parker, and his seventy-two-year-old fishing partner and mentor Gale Loving. The three set out for a day of trout fishing in the cool Rio Grande River in Colorado. Before the day is over, their outdoor skills, courage, and sense of responsibility will be put to a life-and-death challenge.<\/p>\n

Dahlstrom\u2019s own mentor as a writer is Hank the Cowdog author John Erickson,<\/span> who endorses the Wilder Good series in one short, powerful sentence: \u201cIf you like Hank, you\u2019ll like Wilder Good, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of Erickson, the sixty-fifth book in his incredibly popular and enduring Hank series is The Almost Last Roundup<\/span><\/a><\/span> (Maverick Books, $5.99 paperback). He dedicates the book to three of \u201cmy best students,\u201d one of whom is Dahlstrom.<\/p>\n

In this adventure, Hank and the rest of the ranch gang are dealing with a severe drought \u2014 and then, to top it off, a prairie fire. This could be the last roundup unless they get a good rain \u2014 soon.<\/p>\n

The Hank books didn\u2019t start out to be a series for young readers in Erickson\u2019s mind \u2014 just some stories he thought might appeal to ranch families. Before long, however, elementary teachers and librarians discovered the Hank tales had special appeal to hard-to-reach nine- to twelve-year-old boys.\u00a0 Hank \u2014 and his creator Erickson \u2014 became heroes to the teachers and young readers, and Erickson continues to write one or two Hank books a year while operating his own ranch near Perryton.<\/p>\n

The first Hank book, The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog,<\/span><\/a><\/span> is one of the books in 101 Essential Texas Books<\/span> by Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> and Carlton Stowers.<\/span><\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> is co-author of 101 Essential Texas Books.<\/span><\/a><\/span> Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/p>\n

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

Memoir<\/p>\n

Trinity University Press<\/p>\n

Hardcover, 978-1595342591<\/p>\n

320 pages, $24.95<\/p>\n

June 12, 2015<\/p>\n

\u201c[I]in the modern era, there have been only two wildfires, both in California, more vicious and pitiless than the one that changed my life after nearly killing me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hail of Fire: A Man and His Family Face Natural Disaster<\/span><\/a><\/span> is Randy Fritz\u2019s<\/span> memoir about the Bastrop County, Texas, wildfire of 2011 \u2014 the most destructive in Texas history \u2014 that incinerated the Lost Pines area (almost fifty-five square miles) and left nearly 1,700 families (including the Fritz family) homeless.<\/p>\n

Fritz viscerally conveys the horror, loss, and regret he experienced. He finds that the John Wayne personality traits that served him well before the fire \u2014 antiauthoritarian, argumentative, stubborn, self-absorbed, prideful bordering on hubristic \u2014 fail him utterly when depression and the five stages of grief set in. After a diagnosis of PTSD, Fritz finds relief in therapy, surprising himself.\u00a0\u00a0 >> READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Fiction<\/p>\n

Magnuson, James<\/span><\/p>\n

Famous Writers I Have Known: A Novel<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Read by Kevin T. Collins<\/span><\/p>\n

Audible audio edition, 10 hours and 11 minutes, unabridged, $4.99<\/p>\n

Famous Writers I Have Known<\/span> by James Magnuson,<\/span> director of the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin, is unequal parts noir, caper, and satirical sendup of creative writing programs and the contemporary literary scene, generally.<\/p>\n

Frankie Abandonato is a career grifter in New York forced to flee after his latest con goes murderously awry. The first flight out of La Guardia is to Austin and Frankie takes off. Landing in Austin, he\u2019s mistaken for V. S. Mohle (think J.D. Salinger), a famously reclusive author who has agreed to teach a writing workshop at a prestigious fiction program. Sensing the con of a lifetime, Frankie assumes the mantle of tortured genius and must ultimately confront Mohle\u2019s nemesis, Rex Schoeninger (think James Michener). The two writers haven\u2019t spoken since feuding over a Pulitzer came to blows on The Dick Cavett Show.<\/span>\u00a0 >> READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contributing Editor Fiction (Mystery, Thriller) Mark Pryor The Reluctant Matador Seventh Street Books\/Prometheus, 2015 Paperback, 978-1-63388-002-3 299 pgs., $15.95 Reviewed by Manning Wolfe Mark Pryor\u2019s latest thriller featuring his recurring character, Hugo Marston, opens with a dead body floating in the Seine in Paris, France. It\u2019s not his friend Bart Denum\u2019s nineteen-year old-daughter, Amy, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}