{"id":938,"date":"2018-12-31T14:48:47","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T14:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=938"},"modified":"2018-12-31T14:48:47","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T14:48:47","slug":"lone-star-reviewsmichelle-newby-nbcc-70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=938","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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<\/span><\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n

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

\u00a0Baron creates quite a stir in Fort Griffin novel<\/h1>\n

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When Baron Jerome Manchester Paget, claiming to be a fifth cousin to the Queen of England,<\/span> steps off the stagecoach in Fort Griffin carrying a satchel full of money, life in the frontier town will never be the same.<\/p>\n

Nearly everyone in town \u2014 and some who haven\u2019t even arrived yet \u2014 start trying to figure how to get their hands on the $25,000 the baron proudly announces he has brought with him to start a buffalo ranch. A buffalo ranch? In a town where buffalo hides drive the local economy? The town residents hoot with laughter.<\/p>\n

San Angelo author Preston Lewis<\/span> spins quite a yarn with his comic western novel, The Fleecing of Fort Griffin<\/span><\/a><\/span> (Wild Horse Press, $19.95 paperback). The novel recently won the Elmer Kelton Award from the West Texas Historical Association for best creative work on West Texas.<\/p>\n

Creative, indeed. Colorful characters abound \u2014 a traveling evangelist huckster, his \u201ccrippled\u201d accomplice,\u00a0 a woman who has already buried five husbands, an unscrupulous buffalo-hide buyer, a couple who run a seduction racket, a one-eyed gunslinger, a disenchanted colonel, a professional gambler \u2014 all trying to figure out how to bilk the baron of his fortune. But the baron proves remarkably able to take care of himself, thanks to his guard rooster and an orphan he befriended on arriving in Fort Griffin. If you\u2019re looking for a delightful tale, check out The Fleecing of Fort Griffin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lewis is the author of about thirty books, mostly western novels, and has won the Elmer Kelton Award twice before and two Spur Awards. He has written under several pseudonyms, including Will Camp<\/span> and Stephen Calder.<\/span> Lewis\u2019s series of innovative western novels \u2014 the Memoirs of H. H. Lomax \u2014 are being reissued by Wild Horse Press. I have read the first book in that series, The Demise of Billy the Kid<\/span>, and can\u2019t wait to get into the second one, The Redemption of Jesse James.<\/span> Writing as Lomax, Lewis tosses around colorful similes and metaphors like a three-handed juggler at a Shrine circus.<\/p>\n

Now in paperback:<\/span> All of Leila Meacham\u2019s<\/span> Texas epic novels are now available in paperback. The latest, Titans,<\/span><\/a><\/span> is $15.99 in trade paperback. If you haven\u2019t read Roses<\/span> or Somerset<\/span> or Titans,<\/span> treat yourself to a Meacham novel. They are all in the 500- to 600-page range, but the pages just fly by.<\/p>\n

Titans<\/span> is set in North Texas in 1900, six years after oil was discovered in Corsicana and a year before the first big boom would blow in at Spindletop, near Beaumont. As oil begins to be a factor in the Texas economy, ranchers face a new set of opportunities and challenges in how to deal with change and its consequences. Twins, adopted by different families shortly after birth, are now twenty years old and figure prominently into the drama.<\/p>\n

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Glenn Dromgoole\u2019s<\/span> latest book is West Texas Stories<\/span><\/a><\/span>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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LONE STAR LISTENS interviews\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

Kay Ellington, Editor and Publisher<\/span><\/h1>\n

5.21.2017\u00a0 Wernersbach and Tracy head into the great wide open \u2014 inviting travelers to chill out in Texas\u2019 favorite swimming spots<\/h1>\n

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A writer\/photographer duo is making a splash <\/span>with their latest book. <\/span>The Swimming Holes of Texas,<\/span><\/a><\/span>a collaboration between<\/span> Julie Wernersbach<\/span>Carolyn Tracy,<\/span> has released this week\u2014just in time for our readers\u2019 Memorial Day and summertime adventures.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If those names jog a memory, we\u2019ll fill in the details. Wernersbach was for years the marketing director at BookPeople, and now\u2019s she\u2019s literary director of the Texas Book Festival, held each fall in Austin. The guidebook to Texas dive-ins is the second co-authored title from Wernersbach and Tracy, a former BookPeople colleague; their previous volume was Vegan Survival Guide to Austin.<\/span> The team talked with us last week via email about their latest book and gave us some tips on their favorite cooling-off spots and what to take on a swimming-hole road trip.<\/p>\n

LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE:<\/span> Basic first question for you both, Carolyn and Julie \u2014 how long have you lived in Austin, and what brought you there?<\/span><\/p>\n

CAROLYN TRACY:<\/span> I\u2019ve lived in Austin for about eleven years. I grew up in the suburbs of Houston, and I think it’s a pretty natural trajectory for young people to escape from Houston to Austin. I specifically moved to Austin after applying, on a whim, for a job at BookPeople, which they hired me for. I had a brief two-year stint in Galveston where I opened a juice bar and then returned home to Austin.<\/p>\n

JULIE WERNERSBACH:<\/span> Books brought me to Texas. I moved to Austin six years ago from Long Island, where I was the publicist and events coordinator for an independent bookstore, to work as publicist and then marketing director at BookPeople, the largest independent bookstore in Texas. I love Austin. I’m never going back.>>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Texas’s only statewide, weekly calendar of book events<\/h1>\n

Bookish Texas<\/span> event highlights\u00a0 5.21.2017
<\/span>>><\/span><\/a><\/span> GO this week\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Michelle Newby, Contributing Editor<\/span><\/h1>\n
SPECIAL EVENTS THIS WEEK: Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Lubbock<\/span><\/span><\/span>SAN ANTONIO\u00a0 Sun., May 21<\/span>\u00a0 B&N – La Cantera, Camille Di Maio signing Before the Rain Falls, 2PM<\/span><\/span><\/span>DALLAS<\/span> Mon., May 22\u00a0 The Wild Detectives, Women Galore Literary Festival: Deb Olin Unferth reading from her latest collection of stories, Wait Till You See Me Dance, followed by a conversation with Ben Fountain, 7:30PM
(Note other events throughout the week)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>HOUSTON\u00a0 Mon., May 22\u00a0 River Oaks Bookstore, Leroy Chiao discusses and signs One Orbit, 6PM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>AUSTIN\u00a0 Tues, May 23\u00a0 <\/span>University of Texas Press offices, Stephen Harrigan discusses and signs They Came From the Sky, 6:30PM<\/span><\/span><\/span>HOUSTON\u00a0 Tues., May 23\u00a0 <\/span>Brazos Bookstore, Deb Olin Unferth reads and signs WAIT TILL YOU SEE ME DANCE, 7PM<\/span><\/span><\/span>SAN ANTONIO\u00a0 Wed.., May 24\u00a0 Witte Museum, Helen Kleberg Groves will sign her new book Bob and Helen Kleberg of King Ranch, 6:30pm (Cocktails 6pm)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>DALLAS\u00a0 Thurs., May 25\u00a0 South Dallas Cultural Center, author Sanderia Faye hosts African Diaspora: New Dialogues with poet Douglas Kearney (plus Candy and Dallas Poetry Slam), 7:30PM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>LUBBOCK\u00a0 Fri., May 26<\/span>\u00a0 B&N, Why the Raven Calls the Canyon book signing with E. Dan Klepper, 7PM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>SAN ANTONIO\u00a0 Sat., May 27\u00a0 The Twig Book Shop, Michael Corcoran discusses and signs All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music, 2PM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>DALLAS\u00a0 Sat., May 27\u00a0 Dallas Public Library, Interabang Books hosts Edward McPherson discussing and signing The History of the Future, 2PM<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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News Briefs 5.21.17<\/h1>\n

Vote for your Favorite Texas Bookstore: Finalist Round through midnight Sat., 5.27<\/h1>\n

Lone Star Lit\u2019s second annual Texas Readers\u2019 Favorite Bookstores<\/span> voting continues through May 27, 2017.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>In Round 2, book lovers in Texas and beyond narrowed the list: from among the state’s nearly 300 independent, chain, and specialty bookstores, your top 20 favorites are listed below, in alphabetical order by city, with store website in case you’d like to check them out. We received 444 votes for favorite bookstores in every corner of Texas, with top top 10 receiving vote counts in the double or triple digits and the second 10 making the list even with single-digit totals.<\/p>\n

After this week’s Finalist Round, we’ll tally your favorite top 10 in order. We\u2019ll announce your final Top 10 picks on May 28. So bookstores, rally your followers, and encourage them to vote online \u2014 one vote per reader per day, please. Here’s the link to share: www.lonestarpublicity.com\/favorite-tx-bookstores-17-<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Readers\u2019 Favortite Texas Bookstores 20 FINALISTS<\/h1>\n

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\u2014\u2014\u00ad\u2014\u2014\u2014 A D V E R T I S E M E N T \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Win BREAKFAST IN TEXAS<\/h1>\n

Terry Thompson-Anderson, with photos by Sandy Wilson<\/span><\/p>\n

Breakfast in Texas: Recipes for Elegant Brunches, Down Home Classics, and Local Favorites<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Hardcover, 978-1-4773-1044-1<\/p>\n

311 pages, 8 x 10, 123 color photos<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/span><\/span>Texans love the morning meal,<\/span> whether it’s bacon and eggs (often eaten in a breakfast taco) or something as distinctively nontraditional as saag paneer omelets, pon haus, or goat curry. A Lone Star breakfast can be a time for eating healthy, or for indulging in decadent food and drink. And with Texas’s rich regional and cultural diversity, an amazing variety of dishes graces the state’s breakfast and brunch tables. The first Texas cookbook dedicated exclusively to the morning meal, Breakfast in Texas<\/span> gathers nearly one hundred recipes that range from perfectly prepared classics to the breakfast foods of our regional cuisines (Southern, Mexican, German, Czech, Indian, and Asian among them) to stand-out dishes from the state’s established and rising chefs and restaurants.<\/p>\n

Enter to win here<\/span><\/a><\/span>, courtesy of the University of Texas Press.<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/span>National Federation of State Poetry Societies 2017 to convene in Fort Worth June 29\u2013July 2, celebrate \u201cThe Art and Soul of Poetry\u201d<\/h1>\n

Hosted by the Poetry Society of Texas, with entertainment, meals, open readings, contests, workshops, music, fun<\/h1>\n

FORT WORTH \u2014 At the 2017 convention of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies<\/span>, there will be music, poems, art, words, and more, as the organization celebrates \u201cThe Art and Soul of Poetry.\u201d Convention headquarters will be the historic Hilton hotel, located in downtown Fort Worth, Texas.<\/p>\n

The convention will feature an impressive lineup of speakers, including Urania Fung,<\/span> instructor at Tarrant County College; Anne McCrady, <\/span>poet and storyteller; Pat Stodghill,<\/span> poet laureate of Texas, past president of PST, and NFSPS; Dr. Nathan Brown,<\/span> poet laureate of Oklahoma\u2014who now lives in Texas; Karla K. Morton,<\/span> poet laureate of Texas; Beth and Mark Ayers,<\/span> Magic Lantern enthusiasts; Scott Wiggerman<\/span> of Dos Gatos Press; and keynote speaker Carmen Tafolla,<\/span> poet laureate of Texas. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/span>Texas teen book festival reveals 2017 keynote authors<\/h1>\n

Young Adult book festival will feature bestselling authors Marie Lu and Jason Reynolds, and star of The Big Bang Theory Mayim Bialik<\/h1>\n

AUSTIN \u2014 The Texas Teen Book Festival has announced the keynote authors <\/span>for the 9th edition of the annual festival, which will feature New York Times bestselling authors Marie Lu<\/span> and Jason Reynolds,<\/span> and actress Mayim Bialik<\/span> from the popular series The Big Bang Theory.<\/span> The 2017 festival will take place on Sat., Oct. 7, at St. Edward\u2019s University. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/span>First annual Texas Sports Hall of Fame Book Festival announces lineup for July 15 in Waco<\/h1>\n

WACO \u2014 The Texas Sports Hall of Fame announces its first Book Festival,<\/span> to be held Sat., July 15, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco. Admission is free.<\/p>\n

Sponsored by Texas A&M University Press, Texas Tech University Press, and Waco City Cable Channel, the one day event will showcase the best in books devoted to Texas sports, and many legendary authors and athletes will be on hand for the event. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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TOP BOOKISH DESTINATIONS 2017<\/h1>\n

<\/span><\/span>From the spur of Texas\u2019s boot-heel<\/span> to the tip of the toe, we\u2019ve traveled the state in search of some delectable destinations for book lovers. Check out all ten on the map as you plan your literary travels!\u00a0 >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Lone Star Listens compilation available Aug. 1, for readers, fans, and writers everywhere<\/h1>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>The present generation of Texas authors<\/span> is the most diverse ever in gender, age, and ethnicity, and in subject matter as well.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Lone Star Listens:<\/p>\n

Texas Authors on Writing and Publishing<\/p>\n

edited by Kay Ellington and Barbara Brannon; introduction by<\/p>\n

Clay Reynolds<\/p>\n

Available in trade paper, library hardcover, and ebook Fall 2017<\/p>\n

360 pages, with b\/w illustrations and index<\/p>\n

Featuring novelists, poets, memoirists, editors, and publishers, including:<\/p>\n

Rachel\u00a0 Caine \u2022 Chris\u00a0 Cander \u2022 Katherine\u00a0 Center \u2022 Chad S. Conine \u2022 Sarah\u00a0 Cortez \u2022 Elizabeth\u00a0 Crook \u2022 Nan\u00a0 Cuba \u2022 Carol\u00a0 Dawson \u2022 Patrick\u00a0 Dearen \u2022 Jim Donovan \u2022\u00a0Mac Engel \u2022 Sanderia\u00a0 Faye \u2022 Carlos Nicol\u00e1s Flores \u2022 Ben Fountain \u2022 Jeff\u00a0 Guinn \u2022 Stephen\u00a0 Harrigan \u2022 Cliff\u00a0 Hudder \u2022 Stephen Graham Jones \u2022 Kathleen Kent \u2022 Joe R. Lansdale \u2022 Melissa Lenhardt \u2022 Attica Locke \u2022 Nikki\u00a0 Loftin \u2022 Thomas\u00a0 McNeely \u2022 Leila\u00a0 Meacham \u2022 John\u00a0 Pipkin \u2022 Joyce Gibson Roach \u2022 Antonio\u00a0 Ruiz-Camacho \u2022 Lisa\u00a0 Sandlin \u2022 Donna\u00a0 Snyder \u2022 Mary Helen Specht \u2022 Jodi\u00a0 Thomas \u2022 Amanda Eyre Ward \u2022 Ann\u00a0 Weisgarber \u2022 Donald Mace Williams<\/p>\n

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\u2014and a great Texas reference volume.<\/p>\n