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2018 LONE STAR BLOGGERS' CHOICE AWARDS

March 30, 2019, 8:00 am
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2018 LONE STAR BOOK BLOG TOURS

BLOGGERS' CHOICE AWARDS WINNERS AND FINALISTS

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦  





















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Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar April 1-7, 2019

March 31, 2019, 10:00 pm
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Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of April 1-7, 2019 compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Lover.

Special Events:
Ongoing Exhibits:

Our People: The Life and Works of Author Angela Shelf Medearis, Austin, February 2-June 22

Worlds of W O N D E R: David Ezra Stein, Abilene, February 14-May 18

Words/Matter: Latin American Art and Language at the Blanton, Austin, February 17-May 26

The Word Embodied: Scripture as Creative Inspiration in Twentieth-Century Book Arts, Dallas, March 1-June 15

Texas Writers: a traveling exhibit by Humanities Texas, San Antonio, April 3-30

Monday, April 1:
Austin
Austin
Dallas
Fort Worth

Houston
Brazos Bookstore, Rachel Harris reading and signing EYES ON ME, 7PM

HCC Eastside Campus, Veterans' Voices in Houston: reading and discussion series, 6PM
Murder By the Book, Joe Lansdale will sign and discuss The Elephant of Surprise, 6:30PM

San Antonio

Dallas

Thursday, April 4:
Austin
Dallas
Blue Willow Bookshop, Ally Condie will discuss and sign THE LAST VOYAGE OF POE BLYTHE, her new book for young adults, 7PM

Brazos Bookstore, Dennis Webb discussing and signing ANNALS OF THE DEEP SKY, 7PM

Rice U, Leer y escribir: de dónde sale una escritora with Selva Almada, Argentine Writer (The Latin American Writer-in-Residency Series), 5PM

Rice U, Cherry Reading Series Presents: poets Jennifer Chang and Michael Collier for a reading and book signing, 6PM

Lubbock
Texas Tech, Creative Writing Program Reading Series featuring John Poch and his fifth poetry collection, Texases, 7:30PM

San Antonio
Gemini Ink, Workshop: “That’s How I Remember It”: Telling Your Story in Nonfiction with Russ Bradford, 6PM

McNay Art Museum, Patrice Banks, owner of Girls Auto Clinic, and an engineer, mechanic, entrepreneur, and storyteller discussing and signing Girls Auto Clinic: Glove Box Guide, 6:30PM

Friday, April 5:
Dallas
Saturday, April 6:
Austin

El Paso
B&N - Fountains at Farah, Matt Mendez discussing and signing Barely Missing Everything, 3:30PM

El Paso Public Library, Tumblewords Project workshop: "The Second Lives of Fools" with Rachel Cachete, 12:45PM

Galveston
Galveston Bookshop, Barbara Ortwein signing In the Heart of Texas But Not Yet at Home, 2PM

Houston

Midland
Haley Library, Patrick Dearen signing Apache Lament, 2:30PM

New Braunfels
The Book Haus, Author Visit with Jeffery Tracey Sr., 1PM

Port Neches
Fleur Fine Books, Bill Thomas signing The Three Souls, 3PM

San Antonio
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, Latina Poets | Book Celebration, 7PM

The Parish, Échale Books 2nd Anniversary Sale y Pachanga, 10AM

The Twig Book Shop, Melissa Aguirre signing From Deserts to Gardens, 11AM

Sunday, April 7:
Austin
Half Price Books Mother Ship, Local Author Sundays: Meet local indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

Richardson
The Drawing Board, Writing Workshops Dallas seminar: "Writing Wickedly Good Villains" with Shayla Raquel, 3PM

San Antonio
Landa Library, Cynthia Freeman Gibbs will discuss her psychological drama, Reasonable Insanity, 3PM

San Antonio Museum of Art, 33rd PechaKucha featuring Texas Poet Laureate Carmen Tafolla, 7PM

Trinity U, GET LIT with Susan Page, author of The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty, 6PM

The Twig Book Shop, Billy Copeland signing Growing Up Lucky, 12PM
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Excerpt & Giveaway: THE STAMP OF HEAVEN by Julia Robb

April 2, 2019, 10:00 pm
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 THE STAMP OF HEAVEN
by
JULIA ROBB

  Genre: Historical Fiction / Civil War
Publisher: self-published
Date of Publication: February 19, 2019
Number of Pages: 196

Scroll down for Giveaway!
  

The Union Army wants former Confederate Army general Beau Kerry for alleged war crimes, but he’s hiding out where the Yankees least expect to find him: in the United States Cavalry. Beau is fighting Apaches out West and praying nobody recognizes his famous face.

But Lieutenant Kerry's luck changes when he runs into Sergeant Ike Jefferson and says, "The last time I saw you, I had you bent over a barrel and I was whipping you.” Ike is not only Beau's best friend (or worst enemy, depending on the day), he's Beau's former slave -- and Ike knows there’s a $5,000 price on Beau’s head.

Caroline Dietrich has vengeance on her mind. Married to Colonel Wesley Dietrich, the Union fort commander, Caroline believes the best path to getting revenge against the Yankees, her husband included, is seducing her husband’s officers. Especially Beau.

From the killing fields of the Civil War, to the savagery of the Indian wars, the characters are also battling each other and searching for what it means to be human.

5-STAR PRAISE FOR THE STAMP OF HEAVEN:

"Her characters are vivid, relatable, and endearing. She brings to life the rigors of frontier duty, the harsh beauty of west Texas, and the complexity of war and reconciliation. A must read!” 

"Julia Robb creates a masterful tale of friendship, loyalty, cowardice, deceit, and redemption in this fascinating story set in the aftermath of the War Between the States...Not a simple western yarn, this novel will keep you thinking and asking the Big Questions long after you finish reading it.”



Chapter One of The Stamp of Heaven
By Julia Robb

I never believed in anything but the beauty of differential calculus until I served in the U.S. Cavalry with Lieutenant Beau Kerry.
Now the world seems wrapped in Moira, the Greek idea of destiny, and when I watch the stars swing across the heavens I wonder.
Who designs our lives?
Does God exist, and if He does, is He an ironic God or is He just?
I’ve pondered these matters for many years and am no closer to understanding than I was when I served with Kerry.
My name is Elliot Lloyd, and I’m the author of the first Kerry biography, published in 1878.
Biographies are supposedly autobiographical fact, but I created Kerry.
My book inspired a stream of tomes, until writing about Kerry (which was not his real name) became an industry.
I would never have predicted this mythic future in July 1870, when I first saw him.
From the first, I sensed something wrong.
I stood on the headquarters porch at Fort Davis when Kerry’s disgusting striker stopped the mule team hauling the wagon–Kerry’s good-looking bay trotting behind–and Kerry grinned at me from the front seat.
Command had transferred Kerry and company from Camp Grant, Arizona Territory.
On the surface, Kerry looked much like other men, although he was a natural horseman, even out-riding Comanches and they were the best riders I’ve ever seen.
Kerry was literally part of the animal, jumping on and off without touching a stirrup. He just grabbed the pommel and sprang on.
He seemed like a confident man, loose jointed, walking freely, swinging his arms. But Kerry didn’t look at home on the ground like he did in the saddle.
No, Kerry’s wrongness lay in his character, although it was difficult to identify the exact malady.
At Davis, other officers talked about each other, who was desperate for a transfer, which company commanders were competent and which ones were fools.
We did know about certain situations we didn’t talk about; such as Mrs. Colonel Dietrich. That could be dangerous.
Most of all, we talked about our recent war, that great catastrophe, the whirlwind which swept tens of thousands of we stout Union men to our silent, and often shallow, graves.
When not wearing out our back ends on a horse, which was most of the time, we sat in the rear of the sutler’s store trading stories around tiny tables covered with wet beer rings.
One officer would remark to the other, “You were attached to Burnside, did you see action at Fredericksburg?”
Or, “Did I tell you about the time we had that devil Mitchell surrounded and the son-of-a-bitch still fought his way clear?”
Discussions would go on for hours and lead to anything about the war, even to comparing the merits of a ten-pound Parrott gun to a twelve-pound Napoleon smooth-bore cannon.
Kerry never mentioned the war. Never once.
And he never commented on another man’s story.
Instead, he sat back in his chair laughing, his legs outstretched, his hair flopping on his collar and in his eyes and told fantastical tales about Apaches.
Kerry was almost Irish in the way he recalled events. Everything was a story. Except he never told a story about his family or his schooling or anything that happened before Camp Grant.
It was suspicious.
Some of us wondered if he was concealing a poor background.
After mulling about that, we decided Kerry was too well-spoken and educated for a poor background.
But we could never place him.
Kerry was also moody, and when he wasn’t joking seemed to darken and stare inward, as if he had something on his mind.
Years later, my hunch about his character was proven true, or maybe it was, while I drank with a friend in a smoky Kansas saloon that smelled like beer and too many sweaty men.
I told my friend about Kerry and the Espajo Canyon fight and he asked, “Was this Kerry a yellow-haired man, could out-ride a Comanche?”
“Yeah, how’d you know?”
“Well, he sounds like Robert Mitchell, the one who vamoosed when the federals tried to arrest him in Virginia. He had a price on his head. Also, folks called him Beau. He was one of the rebs’ boy generals.”
“I remember him.”
“You know our black troops manned Fort Wolcott?”
“There was talk about that.”
“Right. Mitchell’s warmongers took the fort and they went crazy and started slaughtering the men who surrendered, even the white officers. Fort Wolcott was a butcher’s yard. We had five hundred at the fort, and the rebs sent sixteen hundred. We had a gunboat on the river was supposed to protect Wolcott, but when the rebs showed up, the stupid ass crew found out the gun ports were sealed. Why would anyone seal a gun port!”
“Mitchell took part in this?”
“Nobody knows. Mitchell told reb newspapers he wasn’t leading his men when they climbed the walls. He said he didn’t know anything about the massacre until it was over. He claimed our troops refused to surrender. I don’t care what he said. I favor hanging the bastard, if we ever find him.”




Julia Robb is a former journalist who writes novels set in Texas. She’s written Saint of the Burning Heart, Scalp Mountain, Del Norte, The Captive Boy, and The Stamp of Heaven. 

Julia grew up on the lower Great Plains of Texas, and eventually lived in every corner of the Lone Star State, from the Rio Grande to the East Texas swamps. 


--------------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
1st Prize: Signed Copy of The Stamp of Heaven + $5 Cash
2nd Prize: Signed Copy or e-Book Copy of The Stamp of Heaven
April 3-13, 2019
(U.S. Only)

CHECK OUT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

4/3/19
Character Interview
That's What She's Reading
4/3/19
Excerpt
Texas Book Lover
4/4/19
Review
Max Knight
4/5/19
Guest Post
The Page Unbound
4/5/19
Author Interview
#Bookish
4/6/19
Review
Reading by Moonlight
4/7/19
Review
Syd Savvy
4/8/19
Scrapbook
Book Fidelity
4/8/19
Playlist
StoreyBook Reviews
4/9/19
Review
Chapter Break Book Blog
4/10/19
Author Video
The Clueless Gent
4/10/19
Top 11 List
Books and Broomsticks
4/11/19
Review
Margie's Must Reads
4/12/19
Review
Forgotten Winds
4/12/19
Review
Rainy Days with Amanda


blog tour services provided by:


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Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar April 8-14, 2019

April 7, 2019, 10:00 pm
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Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of April 8-14, 2019 compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Lover.

Special Events:
Ongoing Exhibits:

Our People: The Life and Works of Author Angela Shelf Medearis, Austin, February 2-June 22

Worlds of W O N D E R: David Ezra Stein, Abilene, February 14-May 18

Words/Matter: Latin American Art and Language at the Blanton, Austin, February 17-May 26

The Word Embodied: Scripture as Creative Inspiration in Twentieth-Century Book Arts, Dallas, March 1-June 15

Texas Writers: a traveling exhibit by Humanities Texas, San Antonio, April 3-30

Monday, April 8:
Austin
Houston
Bayou City Event Center, Avondale House presents Challenging Autism Luncheon with Ron Suskind, author of Life, Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism, 11:30AM

Blue Willow Bookshop, Biographer Susan Page will sign her new book on Houston's beloved Barbara Bush, THE MATRIARCH, 5PM

Brazos Bookstore, Douglas Brinkley discussing and signing AMERICAN MOONSHOT, 7PM

Katy
Taylor High School Performing Arts Center, book signing and meet-and-greet with Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley, authors of #IMomSoHard, 7PM

Richardson
UT Dallas, French author and translator Brice Matthieussent and his English language translator,  Emma Ramadan, discussing and reading from The Revenge of the Translator, 7PM

San Antonio
Trinity U, Stieren Arts Enrichment Series: An Evening with poet Sharon Olds: A Reading with Commentary, 8PM

Tuesday, April 9:
Arlington

UTA, Dr Robert Jensen discussing The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men, 12PM

Austin
Austin History Center, Meet the Author: Joe Nick Patoski presents From Austin to ATX, 6:30PM

BookPeople, T. KIRA MADDEN speaking & signing Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls (in conversation with Maya Payne Smart), 7PM

Central Presbyterian Church, BookPeople presents CASSANDRA CLARE and WESLEY CHUspeaking and signing Red Scrolls of Magic (in conversation with Katie from Mundie Moms), 7PM

Chez Zee American Bistro, Chez Zee Author Series featuring Bill Wittliff and The Devil's Fork, 6PM

Flat Track Coffee, Chicon Street Poets Living Room Lit | Spoken Word Open Mic, 7:15PM

Home Slice Pizza, Austin Bat Cave Story Department presents "Road Trip," 7:30PM

Malvern Books, Octavio Solis reading and signing Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border, 7PM

Spiderhouse Ballroom, Austin Poetry Slam featuring Addy Lugo, 7:15PM

Canyon
WTAMU, Garry L. Nall/CSAW/DLS Lecture: Growing up Dead in Texas presented by author Stephen Graham Jones, 7PM

Cedar Hill
Zula Bryant Wylie Library, Dallas Area Writers Group meeting featuring "Finding Your Voice" with Rebecca Balcárcel, 7PM

Dallas
Dallas Central Library, Half Price Books presents USA Today’s Susan Page discussing THE MATRIARCH: Barbara Bush and the making of an American Dynasty with Mike Wilson, editor-in-chief of The Dallas Morning News, 7PM [ticketed event]

Dallas Museum of Art, Arts & Letters Live featuring Madeline Miller presenting Circe and Mary Norris presenting Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen, 7:30PM

Deep Vellum Books, Brice Matthieussent in conversation with Emma Ramadan, translator of his new novel, Revenge of the Translator, 7PM

Hall of State at Fair Park, Dallas Historical Society Brown Bag Lecture: Max Krochmal, author of Blue Texas: The Making of a Multiracial Democratic Coalition in the Civil Rights Era, 12PM

Heritage Auctions Design District Annex, Art & Design Speaker Series: William Middleton, author of Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil, 6PM

Fort Worth
Houston


Dallas

Thursday, April 11:

Austin
BookPeople, SLOANE CROSLEY speaking & signing Look Alive Out There, 7PM [ticketed event]

BookWoman, Second Thursday OPEN Mic featuring Lucy Griffith, 7:15PM

Harry Ransom Center, Rachel Cusk reading from Kudos, 6:30PM

Malvern Books, Novel Night with Brice Matthieussent, 7PM

Canyon
WTAMU, An Evening with Tim Seibles: A Poetry Reading, 7PM

Cypress
Lone Star College, Spring 2019 Poetry Slam, 7PM

Dallas
Austin
Body, Mind &Soul, An Evening of Spirit Communication with Mark Anthony, followed by a book signing, 7PM

Brazos Bookstore, Rachel Cusk reading and signing The Outline Trilogy, 7PM

Lawndale Art Center, Gulf Coast Reading Series featuring Justin Torres, Erika Jo Brown, Dallas Saylor, and Brenden Oliva, 7PM

U Houston, 2019 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational, 10PM

Port Neches
Fleur Fine Books, Meet & Greet with Joe R. Lansdale who will be signing The Elephant of Surprise, 5PM

San Antonio
B&N - Northwoods, Meadowbrook: The Neighborhood That Made Me book signing with Joe Bax, 7PM

The Twig Book Shop, The Larger Geometry: poems for peace reading, 5PM

South Padre Island
Paragraphs on Padre, Nashville recording artist and best-selling author Robert Hunter will be performing an acoustic set of his original music and signing copies of his novel, Relapse: A Love Story, 5PM

Southlake
B&N, Tracy Richardson signing The Field, 6PM

Waco
Baylor U, Armstrong Browning Library & Museum proudly presents "Celebrating Elizabeth Barrett Browning Through Cinematic Virtual Reality," 3:30PM

Saturday, April 13:
Austin
Austin History Center, Mike Miller, author of Austin's First Cookbook, presents “How to Prepare a Possum: 19th Century Food in Austin,” 11AM

BookPeople, T.C. BOYLE speaking & signing Outside Looking In, 3PM [ticketed event]

BookPeople, PAULA DISBROWE speaking & signing Thank You for Smoking, 6PM

Howson Branch Library, Local Author Day with Lindsay Leslie (11AM), Mark Pryor (2PM), and Anne Keene, 3PM

Malvern Books, No Love Signs: Readings by Melissa Duclos, Mo Daviau, and Josh Denslow, 7PM

St. Edward's U, Writers' League of Texas workshop: "Structure in Narrative Nonfiction: Putting the Pieces Together" with Michael Hall, 9AM

Canadian
Canadian River Art Center, Literature & Lattes featuring Jodi Thomas, 6PM

Cleburne
The Published Page Bookshop, Meet Texas storyteller Weldon Reed who will be signing Tales of Old Texas, or The Adventures of Bull Frog, 1PM

Dallas

El Paso
El Paso Public Library, Tumblewords Project workshop: "Igniting the 12 Senses" with Robin Scofield, 12:45PM

Galveston
Galveston Bookshop, William Warren signing Murder on Galveston Bay, 2PM

Houston
B&N - River Oaks, James Martin signing M.U.T.T. Night Jackal, 4PM

Body, Mind &Soul, An Evening of Spirit Communication with Mark Anthony, followed by a book signing, 7PM

Discovery Green, annual Writers in the Schools Blooms reading event, 11:30AM

Half Price Books - North Oaks, Local Author Saturdays: Meet local Indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

Hogg Middle School, Blue Willow Bookshop presents Abby Wambach will appear in conversation with Jen Hatmaker to discuss her new book, WOLFPACK, 7PM

Murder By the Book, Patrice Sarath will sign and discuss Fog Season, and Amber Royer will sign and discuss Pure Chocolate, 4:30PM

Writespace, Monthly Workshop Open Mic, 1PM

Irving
East Branch Library, NEA Big Read Irving 2019: One-Panel Cartoon with Julio Suarez (Session 1), 2PM; NEA Big Read Irving 2019: One-Panel Cartoon with Julio Suarez (Session 2), 3:30PM

McAllen
B&N - Palms Crossing, Meet The Author: Ruben Degollado, 3PM

Port Neches
B&N - Northwoods, Noah Green: Junior Zookeeper and the Garage Sale Pet book signing with Carolyn Leiloglou, 1PM

Igo Library, Arlene Gonzales reading from Out of the Dark, 2PM

Las Palmas Library, National Poetry Month Open Mic, 2PM

San Pedro Creek Culture Park, Writers Take a Walk: Poets, writers, and journalists are invited to explore art and nature at the new San Pedro Creek Culture Park, 10AM

The Twig Book Shop, Cynthia Freeman Gibbs signing Reasonable Insanity, 11AM

The Twig Book Shop, Lucy Warner signing Zap! Bam! Now! Superheroes of Music, 2PM

San Marcos
Texas State, French author and translator Brice Matthieussent and his English language translator,  Emma Ramadan, discussing and reading from The Revenge of the Translator, 4PM

Sugar Land
First Colony Library, Houston Writers Guild Library Workshop, 1PM

Webster
B&N, Gulf Coasts Poets meeting featuring Ken Jones, 10:30AM

Sunday, April 14:
Austin
BookPeople, RUSS WHITLOCK speaking & signing The Texas White House, 2PM

BookPeople, ROBERT A. CARO speaking & signing Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing, 5PM [ticketed event]

Malvern Books, Pierre Jarawan reading and signing The Storyteller, 4PM

Dallas
Dallas Museum of Art, Arts & Letters Live featuring Susan Choi presenting Trust Exercise and Nell Freudenberger presenting Lost and Wanted, 3PM

Half Price Books Mother Ship, Local Author Sundays: Meet local indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

Denton
Dan's Silverleaf, Spiderweb Salon presents a Happy Hour Poetry Workshop, 2PM

Houston
JCC Houston, Brunch and Conversation with Ariel Burger, author of Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, 10:30AM

Irving
Valley Ranch Library, NEA Big Read Irving 2019: Chai Tea and Tai Chi, 2PM

Mansfield
Half Price Books, Local Author Sundays: Meet local indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

San Antonio
The Twig Book Shop, Bartee Haile signing Texas Entertainers: Lone Stars in Profile, 12PM
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Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar April 15-21, 2019

April 14, 2019, 10:00 pm
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Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of April 15-21, 2019 compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Lover.

Special Events:
Exhibits:

Our People: The Life and Works of Author Angela Shelf Medearis, Austin, February 2-June 22

Worlds of W O N D E R: David Ezra Stein, Abilene, February 14-May 18

Words/Matter: Latin American Art and Language at the Blanton, Austin, February 17-May 26

The Word Embodied: Scripture as Creative Inspiration in Twentieth-Century Book Arts, Dallas, March 1-June 15

Texas Writers: a traveling exhibit by Humanities Texas, San Antonio, April 3-30

Monday, April 15:
Austin

Austin
B&N - Lincoln Park, Probably Someday Cancer: Genetic Risk and Preventative Mastectomy book signing with Kim Horner, 7PM

Deep Vellum Books, Vellum Ouroboros - A Poetry Open Mic Salon, 6:45PM

Half Price Books Mothership, USA Today bestselling author Chanel Cleeton will discuss and sign her latest novel, When We Left Cuba, 7PM

Hall of State at Fair Park, Dallas Historical Society presents An Evening with Leonard Volk, author of Everyday, followed by a book signing, 6:30PM

Hotel Crescent Court, World Affairs Council DFW presents Douglas Brinkley discussing and signing American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space, 12PM

Interabang Books, Michael Pullara discussing and signing THE SPY WHO WAS LEFT BEHIND, 7PM

Edinburg
UTRGV, Fairy Tales for Truth and Justice: SanTana's Fairy Tales featuring artist and author Sarah Rafael García, 12:15PM

El Paso
The Black Orchid Lounge, The Barbed Wire Open Mic Series, 8PM

Fort Worth
The Dock Bookshop, That's My Mama: storytelling and poetry, 6:30PM

The Dock Bookshop, Poetry and Open Mic, 8PM

Houston
Coates University Center, Democracy in Chains book talk with author Dr. Nancy MacLean, 7PM

The Mix, PuroSlam with DJ Donnie Dee, 9:30PM

The Twig Book Shop, Clay Coppedge discussing and signing Texas Singularities, 5PM

Wednesday, April 17:

Dallas

San Antonio
Thursday, April 18:

Austin
Interabang Books, Scott Warren discussing and signing GENERATION CITIZEN, 7PM

Majestic Theatre, Chelsea Handler discussing Life Will Be the Death of Me, 8PM

Denton
Dan's Silverleaf, Spiderweb Salon presents RADIO POETS LIVE!, 6PM

Houston
Archway Gallery, Archway Readers Special Edition featuring cinepoems, 6PM

Asia Society Texas Center, World Affairs Council of Greater Houston presents Manal al-Sharif, author of Daring to Drive: a Saudi Woman's Awakening, 6:30PM

Blue Willow Bookshop, Kate DiCamillo will discuss and sign her newest book, A PIGLET NAMED MERCY, 5PM

Brazos Bookstore, The Lee Brothers discussing and signing HOTBOX, 7PM

Murder By the Book, Helen Ellis will sign Southern Lady Code: Essays, 6:30PM

New Braunfels
The Book Haus, Story time: Jacky Lamenzo reading Addy Wants to Fit In, 10:30AM

Pflugerville
Wild Magnolias, NeoSoul presents Blaq Mic Poetry featuring Erica Nicole, 8PM

San Marcos
Texas State, Wittliff Collections reading series featuring Viet Thanh Nguyen, 3:30PM

Sulphur Springs
The Bookworm Box, Jana Aston Live Author Takeover!, 7PM

Weslaco
Sanchez Public Librfary, The Storybook Garden presents: Meet Adam Gidwitz & David Bowles, authors of Chupacabras of the Rio Grande, 6PM

Friday, April 19:
Austin
Heroes Lounge, Dallas Poetry Slam: Double Feature with Jus' Marvin & DK Vintage, 8PM

El Paso
Literarity Book Shop, Poetry Therapy - Drink Specials and Giveaways!, 6:30PM

Kyle
Katherine Anne Porter Literary Center, KAP reading series featuring Viet Thanh Nguyen, 7:30PM

San Antonio
The Twig Book Shop, Story time: Catherine Stier presents IF I WERE A PARK RANGER, 10:30AM

Saturday, April 20:
Austin
Dallas
Half Price Books Mother Ship, Local Author Sundays: Meet local indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

Houston
Discovery Green, WITS hosts Poetry & Pose at Discovery Green, 11AM

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↧

Book Trailer & Giveaway: PANIC POINT by Bill Briscoe

April 15, 2019, 10:00 pm
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 PANIC POINT
Pepperman Mystery Series
Book Two
by
BILL BRISCOE

  Genre: Mystery / Crime Fiction / Stand-Alone
Publisher: self-published
Date of Publication: March 26, 2019
Number of Pages: 248

Scroll down for Giveaway!
  

When Earl's bride Morgan vanishes in the Smoky Mountains on their honeymoon, the former Navy SEAL is certain she's been abducted. The park rangers disagree, and after a storm washes away any potential evidence, they call off the official search. Then another man loses his daughter in the same area. Can one last lead help Earl find Morgan before he loses her forever?




WATCH THE BOOK TRAILER



BUY THE BOOK
Amazon║ Barnes and Noble
 ║ Kobo ║ Apple



Bill grew up in the oil and gas refinery town of Phillips in the Texas Panhandle. After graduating from college with a master’s degree, he spent most of his career working for a major insurance company as an agency manager and consultant.

As his retirement was on the horizon, he had an idea about a book. That story, Pepperman’s Promise, became the prequel to The Pepperman Mystery Series, and Perplexity and Panic Point, the next two books in the series, are now available.

Bill and his wife of fifty years live in West Texas. 

Twitter ║ Facebook ║ Email

--------------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
Grand Prize: Autographed Copies of the Full Pepperman Mystery Series
Two Winners: Autographed Copies of Panic Point
April 16-26, 2019
(U.S. Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CHECK OUT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:
4/16/19
Book Trailer
Texas Book Lover
4/16/19
Notable Quotable
Hall Ways Blog
4/17/19
Excerpt
Chapter Break Book Blog
4/17/19
Excerpt
The Clueless Gent
4/18/19
Review
StoreyBook Reviews
4/19/19
Review
#Bookish
4/20/19
Scrapbook Page
All the Ups and Downs
4/20/19
Character Interview
Max Knight
4/21/19
Review
That's What She's Reading
4/22/19
Author Interview
Forgotten Winds
4/22/19
Series Spotlight
Book Fidelity
4/23/19
Review
Reading by Moonlight
4/24/19
Promo
Books and Broomsticks
4/25/19
Review
The Page Unbound
4/25/19
Review
The Love of a Bibliophile


blog tour services provided by:


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Review: HOUSE OF STONE by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma

April 17, 2019, 10:00 pm
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I reviewed House of Stone: A Novel (W.W. Norton and Company) by Houston's Novuyo Rosa Tshuma for Lone Star Literary Life. "A work of remarkable imagination, House of Stone is quickly and evenly paced until it begins coursing toward the denouement, flinging jaw-dropping twists amidst the factional, fractional, bloody birth of Zimbabwe, with mordant wit and keen characterization."

LITERARY FICTION
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
House of Stone: A Novel
W.W. Norton & Co.
Hardcover, 978-0-3936-3542-3 (also available as an e-book, an audiobook, and in paperback), 400 pgs., $26.95
January 29, 2019
“Always, you must be looking back over your shoulder, to see what history is busy plotting for your future."
Zamani is “a man on a mission … to remake the past, and a wish to fashion all that has been into being and becoming.” He is a border in the home of Abednego and Agnes Mlambo in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Unbeknownst to the Mlambos, Zamani grew up in the house they now occupy, his childhood marred by secrets which were followed by revelations that threaten to unhinge his unstable personality. Zamani sees his chance to ingratiate himself with the couple when their son, Bukhosi, goes missing. Zamani assists in the searches for the teenage Bukhosi, and when Abednego refers to him as his “surrogate son” it is the “fruit of a long labor.” As Zamani plies Abednego with Johnnie Walker Blue and Agnes with sympathy, he pries their family histories from them and discovers that his appropriation of a new family hasn’t corrected his history or acquired for him a future, but instead has anchored him in, and allowed a fuller expression of, exactly that which he wished to deny and destroy.

House of Stone is the debut novel of Houston’s (by way of Zimbabwe) Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, whose short fiction collection, Shadows, won the 2014 Herman Charles Bosman Prize for the best literary work in English. A work of remarkable imagination, House of Stone is quickly and evenly paced until it begins coursing toward the denouement, flinging jaw-dropping twists amidst the factional, fractional, bloody birth of Zimbabwe, with mordant wit and keen characterization.

Who gets to tell whose story? House of Stone is told in Zamani’s first-person narration, but he is envious, manipulative, cruel, and ambitious, which begs the question: Is Zamani a reliable narrator? How can we trust Abednego’s account since he’s an alcoholic? Or Agnes’s version because she’s having visions from the Holy Ghost? The government issues an official version, but “those who know [the truth] are the kind of inerudite folk who, aside from being asked to pose for Red Cross and WHO newsletter photos, aren’t thought to possess that much-needed epistemological savoir faire.”

One person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist. Would-be revolutionaries discover the bourgeois nature of their idealism when confronted with the genuine article. “There’s no such thing as truth … truth is optics. And there are so many options out there.” Is anyone to be trusted? How about you? Can you be trusted? Who among us is a reliable narrator?

The cadences of Tshuma’s prose are most assertive when she’s toing and froing in time, often from one paragraph to the next, the singsong give-and-take between the “ballsy exploits of Death” and Zamani’s “arti-farce.” Tshuma’s appreciation of mischief and her delight in language is evident. This account of Bukhosi’s birth in the bush, attended by a village woman and the sudden appearance of a lion, is a prime example:
“...my surrogate father tried to scream but couldn’t find his voice, my inamorata found her voice and screamed, the woman bared her teeth and barked, the beast bared its gums and snarled, the baby was coming, the Khoi San woman was hissing, Thandi was groaning, the lion was growling, she spread her legs, it licked its nose, she fisted her hands, it shook its mane, she began to cry, and off it sauntered.”
Tshuma presents us with a history lesson in the form of these individual lives, demonstrating the folly of denying that the personal is political. Following personal revolutions into political corruptions, Tshuma juxtaposes war narratives with the real thing, warning of the vile, dangerous mixture of religion and nationalism, as well as the risks of nostalgia, that siren song of a glorious, illusory past (“Make Rhodesia Great Again!”) which claims the powers of myth when a people cannot imagine any future they could want for themselves.

After all of this, we feel Tshuma’s steadfast compassion. We feel her hopeful ambition for her characters as they do what they think they must in the chaos and brutality of our darkest endeavors and attempt to rewrite history, re-inventing themselves in the aftermaths.

Originally published by Lone Star Literary Life.
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Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar April 22-28, 2019

April 21, 2019, 10:00 pm
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Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of April 22-28, 2019 compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Lover.

Special Events:
Exhibits:
30 Poems for the Tricentennial: A Poetic Legacy, San Antonio, December 3-April 25

Women of Flatbed: A Retrospective, Austin, January 17-April 28



Garland
B&N - Firewheel, Sky in the Deep book signing with Adrienne Young, 6PM

Houston
Austin
Houston

Thursday, April 25:
Austin
Interabang Books, Writers’ League of Texas presents Jennifer DuBois ON THE CRAFT OF WRITING: THE SPECTATORS, 7PM

The Wild Detectives, Story Collider: Dallas launch, 7PM

El Paso
B-17 Bombers Oyster Pub, Barbed Wire Open Mic, 8PM

Fort Worth
Fort Worth Contemporary Arts Gallery, Spring 2019 Issue Release Party of eleven40seven, 5:30PM

Houston
Brasil Houston, Houston VIP Slam: Science & Sonnets, 6:30PM

Brazos Bookstore, Nell Freudenberger reading and signing LOST AND WANTED, 7PM

Poison Girl, Poison Pen Reading Series featuring Ryan Black, Esther Lin, and Giuseppe Taurino, 8:30PM

River Oaks Bookstore, Ray Viator signing Houston, Space City USA, 5PM

Spring Branch Memorial Library, Celebrate El día de los niños / El día de los libros with author Kathleen Contreras as she reads from her award-winning bilingual picture book, Harvesting Friends / Cosechando amigos, 11AM

Irving
South Irving Library, El dia de los ninos / El dia de los libros, 4PM

La Porte
La Porte Public Library, Celebrate El día de los niños / El día de los libros with author Kathleen Contreras as she reads from her award-winning bilingual picture book, Harvesting Friends / Cosechando amigos, 2PM

Richardson
UTD, A Reading and Conversation with Brazilian Poet Salgado Maranho and his translator Alexis Levitin, 7PM

Sulphur Springs
The Bookworm Box, Cathlin Shahriary Live Author Takeover!, 7PM

Friday, April 26:
Deep Vellum Books, Pegasus Reading Series featuring Lauren Belmore, Machele Johnson, Kat Moore, and Morgan Smith, 7PM

Heroes Lounge, Dallas Poetry Slam: 25th Anniversary Showcase, 8PM

Interabang Books, Anna Quindlen discussing and signing NANAVILLE: ADVENTURES IN GRANDPARENTING, 7:30PM

Houston 
Brazos Bookstore, Launch Event: Music & Literature No. 9 featuring Swiss author Peter Bichsel and Canadian poet Sylvia Legris, 6PM

Irving
Dupree Theater, NEA Big Read Keynote Presentation: An evening with New Yorker cartoonist and author Roz Chast, 5:30PM

San Antonio


Southlake

Saturday, April 27:
Austin

Half Price Books - Clear Lake, Local Author Saturdays: Meet local Indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

Murder By the Book, Pamela Fagan Hutchins will sign and discuss Sick Puppy, 4:30PM

River Oaks Bookstore, S.C. Perkins signing Murder Once Removed, 3PM

Stanaker Branch Library, celebrating El Dia de los Niños, 1:30PM

Writespace, Workshop: "Ten Easy Steps to Writing Timely and Provocative Stories" with Marian Szczepanski, 9:30AM

Irving
East Irving Library, Día de los Niños, Día de los Libros, 2:30PM

Lubbock
B&N, Cowboy book signing with Bob Holt, 2PM

New Braunfels
The Book Haus, One year Anniversary and Independent Bookstore Day, 10AM

Pflugerville
Pflugerville Public Library, Annual poetry reading from entrants in the poetry month contest and members of the Pflugerville Poetry Society, 2PM

Port Neches
Fleur Fine Books, Meet & Greet with author Thomas Schulte, 3PM

San Antonio
Gemini Ink, Workshop: "Writing Place: Homelands in Literature" with Kali Fajardo-Anstine, 10AM

Love Shack Boutique, BookishAF: Pop-Up Book Fair, 3PM

San Marcos
Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos, Barrio Writers Youth Zine-Making Workshop, 12PM

Sunday, April 28:

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Search

Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar April 29-May 5, 2019

April 28, 2019, 10:00 pm
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Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of April 29-May 5, 2019 compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Lover.

Special Events:




Free Comic Book Day, internationally, May 4


Blue Willow Bookshop, Delia Owens will discuss and sign WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, 7PM

Tuesday, April 30:

El Paso
The Black Orchid Lounge, The Barbed Wire Open Mic Series, 8PM

Fort Worth
The Dock Bookshop, Poetry and Open Mic, 8PM

Georgetown
Lark & Owl Booksellers, New York Times best-selling author Delia Owens discussing and signing WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, 7PM [ticketed event]

Houston
Austin

Lone Star College, The Annual Gathering of Poets Dinner Reading, 5:30PM

Dallas
Austin
Saturday, May 4:
Austin
BookPeople, Austin SCBWI Monthly Meeting: The Amazing Idea of Play with author Charlotte Sullivan Wild, 10AM

BookPeople, Authors from AUSTIN BAT CAVE speaking & signing The Austin Bat Cave Anthology, 2PM

BookPeople, DEB GABOR speaking & signing Irrational Loyalty, 5PM

Malvern Books, journalist and author Asher Elbein reading and signing of his new book, Ghost Days, 7PM

St. Edward's U, Writers' League of Texas workshop: "Adapting and Learning From Classic Literary Works" with Jess Hagemann, 10AM

Cleburne
The Published Page Bookshop, Susan Langlois reading, discussing, and signing her new children's book, Everything is Going to Be All Right - A Story About Hurricane Harvey, 1PM

Corpus Christi
By the Book Bookstore, local author Esther Bonilla reading and signing her latest work, From the Porch Steps: Little Stories To Warm The Heart, 12PM

Dallas
Interabang Books, Shakespeare Unlocked, 1PM

The Wild Detectives, Shakespeare in the Bar Groundling Gala fundraiser, 7PM [tickets are by donation to Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT)]

Denton
B&N - Golden Triangle, Local author Tally Adams signing Shadow Pact, 2PM

El Paso
Murder By the Book, Rosemary Poole-Carter will sign and discuss Only Charlotte, 1PM

Murder By the Book, Sam Brown will sign and discuss Unique Eats and Eateries of Houston, 4:30PM

River Oaks Bookstore, David R. Dow reading and signing Confessions of an Innocent Man, 3PM

Writespace, Workshop: "More than Just Describing Place: The Rules of Setting and When to Break Them" with BC Oliva, 9:30AM

Writespace, Workshop: "Bring Your Writing to Life" with Marian Szczepanski, 1PM

Irving
West Irving Library, NEA Big Read Irving 2019: What is a Memoir? with Author, editor, and public speaker Lisa Dale Norton, 2PM

Laredo
Laredo Public Library, Meet the Author - Hilda L. Treviño, 2PM

New Braunfels
The Book Haus, Book signing with children's author Carolyn Leiloglou, 10AM

Odessa
UTPB, Permian Basin Poetry Society Poetry Readings, 7PM

San Antonio
Crownridge Canyon Park and Wilderness Area, Gemini Ink presents Poetry at the Park: The Ode and Nature, 10AM

The Twig Book Shop, Catherine Stier signing If I Were a Park Ranger, 11AM

Sulphur Springs
The Bookworm Box, May the Fourth Be With You Author Signing with Colleen Hoover, Molly McAdams, Devney Perry and Rebecca Yarros, 12PM [ticketed event]

Sunday, May 5:
Half Price Books Mother Ship, Local Author Sundays: Meet local Indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

The Wild Detectives, Bard's Birthday Bash: To Know or not to Know, 7PM

Edinburg
Museum of South Texas History, Sunday Speaker Series: Emma Gonzalez discussing Field Mice-Memoirs of a Migrant Child, 2PM

Houston
Writespace, Workshop: "How to Outline Your Novels" with D.L. Young, 3PM

Irving
West Irving Library, NEA Big Read Irving 2019: Memoir Writing Workshop with author, editor, and public speaker Lisa Dale Norton, 1PM

Mansfield
Half Price Books, Local Author Sundays: Meet local Indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

Richardson
The Drawing Board, Writing Workshops Dallas seminar: Submitting to Journals & Magazines with Mag Gabbert, 3PM

The Drawing Board, Writing Workshops Dallas seminar: The Alchemy of Character with Jaye Wells, 3PM

San Antonio
Dead Tree Books, Ernest D Hernandez signing The Legend of Azul, 4PM

The Twig Book Shop, Norma Elia Cantu signing Cabanuelas, 12PM

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↧

Sneak Peek & Giveaway: GOURMET ON A HOT PLATE by Judy Alter

April 29, 2019, 10:00 pm
$
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GOURMET ON A HOT PLATE
by
Judy Alter
Genre: Cookbook / Cooking Tips / Tiny Kitchen
Publisher: Alter Ego Press
Date of Publication: November 6, 2018
Number of Pages: 132

Scroll down for the giveaway!



Gourmet on a Hot Plate is a collection of recipes and kitchen tips compiled after living for some time in a 600-square-foot cottage, with a tiny kitchen, no stove, no dishwasher, and barely any counter space. Given these limitations, Judy Alter developed a new approach to food, one that let her get in touch with the food itself. She does not have an Insta-Pot, an air-fryer, or a microwave. Her recipes call for using either a magnetic induction hot plate or a toaster oven. In the introduction, she explains her choices for making the best use of her tiny space. 

The collection begins with appetizers because that’s where Alter began her new cooking adventure. Gradually she branched out to main dishes, light suppers, soups and salads, and vegetable side dishes. Most recipes serve two or three. There’s a suggested list of cooking tools along with lists of what to keep on hand in your tiny pantry, your refrigerator, and your freezer, and a small section on condiments and cooking hints.

These pages will guide you to making your own spaghetti sauce—or brightening up a jar of prepared sauce—to making last-minute casseroles and simmer-all-day soups. Want Stroganoff but can’t afford the expensive beef? Alter shows you how to make it with hamburger. Love tuna? She’s got recipes for you. Sections on pasta, eggs, and appetizer trays offer practical and helpful choices for casual entertaining.


Above all, this is a practical guide for cooking with joy when you find yourself in a tiny space.

PRAISE FOR GOURMET ON A HOT PLATE:

Love cooking? Love the minimalist lifestyle? Your tiny kitchen doesn’t need to limit your gourmet dreams. Judy Alter’s Gourmet On a Hot Plate will inspire you with big ideas to satisfy everyone around the table. — Susan Wittig Albert, author of Queen Anne’s Lace

Whether you cook on a hot plate or have access to a full kitchen, this gem of a cookbook contains great recipes for those of us who cook for one. – T.R. Thompson

ORDER YOUR COPY
Amazon║ Barnes and Noble║ Kobo║ OverDrive
║ 24 Symbols ║  Google Play  ║ Playster ║  Scribd ║ 



Recipe for carnitas from
Gourmet on a Hot Plate
By Judy Alter

(image not included in book)

INGREDIENTS:
2-1/2 lb. Boston butt roast, untrimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes

2 cups water

One good-sized onion, roughly chopped

6 strips orange zest (serve orange wedges as a side to the dinner)

5 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

1-1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1-1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 whole cloves
DIRECTIONS:
Ask the butcher to cube the roast for you, if you have access to a butcher. Their idea of cubes is usually pretty big chunks, but it’s a start. You just have to cube the cubes until you get something the size you want—about an inch.

Bring the water and salt to a boil. Add the cubed meat, chopped onion, orange zest, garlic cloves, crushed red pepper flakes, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, oregano, and cloves to the water and reduce to a simmer. Cook for at least an hour and a quarter, or until all the water evaporates. The meat will look unappetizingly white, but cook it longer, stirring occasionally, and the cubes will develop a nice brown crust.

Serve on tortillas with any or all of the following:
   Sour cream
   Chopped Cilantro
   Grated Monterrey Jack cheese
   Finely diced red onion
   Pico de Gallo

Brava! You have tacos de carnitas! Serve in tortillas or in pita pockets with lettuce and tomato.

BONUS! Garlic sauce: 1/2 cup fresh lime juice, 2 garlic cloves, pressed, Salt and pepper—go easy on the salt, as the meat cooked in salted water, but I suggest at least a half tsp. pepper




Without formal culinary training, Judy Alter has cooked her way through life, feeding family and friends at everything from casual dinners al fresco to elaborate meals for twenty. An award-winning author and publisher, she jokes she’ll come back in another life as a chef.

Today Alter finds herself cooking in a four-by-six kitchen where zoning laws forbid built-ins but allow anything that plugs in. So she cooks with a hot plate, toaster oven, and a large refrigerator/freezer. Given these limitations, she has developed a new approach to food, one that she says lets her get in touch with the food itself. By choice, she does not have an Insta-Pot, an air-fryer, a microwave. Her menu choices are dictated by her cooking facilities—and she loves it.

She shares her tiny kitchen tips and recipes, developed over the past couple of years, in Gourmet on a Hot Plate. Alter is the author of three previous cookbooks: Cooking My Way through Life with Kids and Books, Texas is Chili Country, and Extraordinary Texas Chefs,and a contributor to Bake, Love, Write and We’d Rather Be Writing. Her recipe for Doris’ Casserole has been included in so many books it’s almost an American classic by now.

Be part of her ongoing cooking adventure at the Gourmet on a Hot Plate blog, where she encourages discussion and welcomes recipes, comments, and questions.

 ║Website ║ Facebook ║ Judy's Stew Blog ║
║ Twitter ║ Goodreads ║ Amazon Author Page ║
Gourmet on a Hot Plate Blog

-------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!
THREE WINNERS!
2 Signed Copies, 1 eBook Copy
APRIL 24-May 4, 2019
VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:
4/24/19
Author Interview
Story Schmoozing Book Reviews
4/24/19
Bonus Post
Hall Ways Blog
4/25/19
Review
Reading by Moonlight
4/26/19
Excerpt
All the Ups and Downs
4/27/19
Review
Chapter Break Book Blog
4/28/19
Scrapbook Page
The Clueless Gent
4/29/19
Review
Missus Gonzo
4/30/19
Sneak Peek
Texas Book Lover
5/1/19
Top Ten List
Sybrina's Book Blog
5/2/19
Review
The Love of a Bibliophile
5/3/19
Review
Rainy Days with Amanda

  blog tour services provided by
  


↧

Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar May 6-12, 2019

May 5, 2019, 10:00 pm
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Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of May 6-12, 2019 compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Lover.

SPECIAL EVENTS:
Comicpalooza, Houston, May 10-12

Listen to Your Mother, San Antonio, May 11

O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships, Austin, May 11

4th Annual Frisco Book Fest, May 11

EXHIBITS:

Worlds of W O N D E R: David Ezra Stein, Abilene, February 14-May 18

Words/Matter: Latin American Art and Language at the Blanton, Austin, February 17-May 26

The Word Embodied: Scripture as Creative Inspiration in Twentieth-Century Book Arts, Dallas, March 1-June 15

MONDAY, MAY 6:

Fort Worth
Thomas Place Community Center, Poet J. Todd Hawkins at Poets of Tarrant County May meeting, 10AM

Houston
Amarillo
Amarillo Public Library, Jodi Thomas launches The Little Teashop on Main, 4:30PM

Austin
Attabar ATX, 1 Year of Hearsay Poetry! Open Mic, 8PM

BookPeople, ERIC SILVERSTEIN speaking & signing The Peached Tortilla, 7PM [ticketed event]

Central Library, a visit with cookbook author, culinary anthropologist, and self-identified ethnogastronomer Diana Kennedy as she shares stories from her fifty years of traveling and cooking in Mexico, 12PM

Hotel Ella, Hotel Ella Salon Series: a Recent Studies Indicate Happy Hour for the Harried & Hopeful with Sarah Bird, 6PM

Malvern Books, Pterodáctilo presents: Poetry & Ptamales Party, 6PM

The North Door, Owen Egerton hosts One Page Salon with Ethan Azarian, Grant Cross, David Jewell, Jedah Mayberry, and Brad Powell, 7:30PM

The Peached Tortilla, Eric Silverstein is offering a taste of dishes directly from his highly anticipated cookbook, The Peached Tortilla: Modern Asian Comfort Food from Tokyo to Texas, with a limited-time coursed Cookbook Menu, 5PM

The Dock Bookshop, Poetry and Open Mic, 8PM

Frisco
B&N - Stonebriar, Broken Throne: A Red Queen Collection book signing with Victoria Aveyard, 6:30PM [ticketed event]

Georgetown
Lark & Owl Booksellers, Conversation with Natalia Sylvester, author of Everyone Knows You Go Home, 7PM

Houston
The Mix, PuroSlam 20 Year Anniversary, 9:30PM

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8:
Austin
B&N - Arboretum, Paula King-Harper signing Prosperous Living Devotional, 7PM

BookPeople, LAIRD BARRON speaking & signing Black Mountain, 7PM

BookPeople, WRITERS' LEAGUE OF TEXAS presents "On the Business of Writing" with literary agent Kirby Kim, 7PM

BookWoman, Second Thursday Open Mic featuring poet, editor, educator, and life coach K. F. Anthony, 7:15PM

Central Library, Rachel Kushner will discuss The Mars Room with author Deb Olin Unferth, 7PM

Elisabet Ney Museum, Heidi Pitre: "A Permanent Record" opening day (ink drawings on vintage library cards shows how they uniquely merge art and literature, nostalgia and history, and recycling and reusing), 12PM

Malvern Books, Novel Night: Joe Giordano book launch with Kathryn Lane and Phil Hewitt, 7PM

The Peached Tortilla, Eric Silverstein is offering a taste of dishes directly from his highly anticipated cookbook, The Peached Tortilla: Modern Asian Comfort Food from Tokyo to Texas, with a limited-time coursed Cookbook Menu, 5PM

Riverbend Centre, "Tell Me More" will feature a lively conversation with best-selling authors (and friends) Jen Hatmaker and Kelly Corrigan, 6PM

Dallas
Blue Willow Bookshop, Illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser will discuss and sign her new picture book LAMBSLIDE, 5PM

Murder By the Book, Hilary Davidson will sign and discuss One Small Sacrifce, 6:30PM

Irving
South Irving Library, Author Visit: Aurora Rising Tour with Jay Kristoff, Astrid Scholte, and Laure Eve, 7PM

San Antonio
Cody Library, Meet the Author: Jim Denning, 6PM

The Twig Book Shop, Sehba Sarwar reading and signing Black Wings, 5PM

Tahoka
Takoka City County Library, brunch with Jodi Thomas, author of The Little Teashop on Main, 10AM

FRIDAY, MAY 10:
Austin
Dead Tree Books, An Evening with Houston food writer David Leftwich, 6PM

The Twig Book Shop, Wendy Barker & Octavio Quintanilla Poetry Reading, 5:30PM

SATURDAY, MAY 11:
Austin
Blue Willow Bookshop, Cassy Joy Garcia will discuss and sign COOK ONCE, EAT ALL WEEK, 1PM

Half Price Books - Clear Lake, Local Author Saturdays: Meet local Indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

McGovern-Stella Link Library, Stella Link Reopening Celebration, 1PM

Murder By the Book, Book signing with Melissa Algood, 1PM

Murder By the Book, Darynda Jones will sign Summoned to Thirteenth Grave, 4:30PM

River Oaks Bookstore, Sam Brown signing Unique Eats and Eateries of Houston, 3PM

Writespace, Monthly Workshop Open Mic, 7PM

Richardson
Chocolate Angel, Fresh Fiction Afternoon Tea with Magan Vernon, 4PM

San Antonio
↧

Giveaway: THE LITTLE TEASHOP ON MAIN by Jodi Thomas

May 7, 2019, 10:00 pm
$
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THE LITTLE TEASHOP
ON MAIN
by
Jodi Thomas
Genre: Contemporary Literary Fiction / Coming of Age
Publisher: HQN
Publication Date: May 7, 2019
Number of Pages: 336 pages

Scroll down for the giveaway!


A rainy-day ritual—a tea party between three little girls—becomes the framework of not only their friendship, but their lives.
Blonde, curly-haired Zoe is openhearted, kind and free-spirited, and dreams of becoming a famous actor in New York City. Shy Emily struggles with mental health but has the heart and soul of a writer. And Shannon—tall, athletic, strong—has a deep sense of loyalty that will serve her well when she heads off to military college.
As Zoe, Emily, and Shannon grow into women—forging careers, following dreams, and finding love—they’ll learn that life doesn’t always unfold the way they want it to, but through it all, the one constant is each other and their regular tea parties. And when the unthinkable happens, the girls must come together to face the greatest test of all.

A deeply moving novel about the family that raises us, the hearts that nurture us, and the great friendships that define our lives.

PRAISE FOR THE LITTLE TEASHOP ON MAIN:
"Heart-wrenching as well as heartwarming, the book reflects the experiences of these seven multifaceted and compelling characters as they journey through challenging years together."-- NY Journal of Books

“A comforting treasure for regular Thomas readers who enjoy the easy flow of her writing, a little steamy romance to spice things up, and the development of vulnerable, realistic characters.” -- Booklist

CLICK TO BUY:
HARLEQUIN┃  AMAZON ┃ BARNES&NOBLE
 ┃ GOOGLE BOOKS ┃   



With millions of books in print, Jodi Thomas is both a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 45 novels and 14 short story collections. Her stories travel through the past and present days of Texas and draw readers from around the world.

In July 2006, Jodi was the 11th writer to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. With five RITA’s to her credit, along with National Readers’ Choice Awards and Booksellers’ Best Awards, Thomas has proven her skill as a master storyteller.

Honored in 2002 as a Distinguished Alumni by Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, Thomas enjoys interacting with students at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, where she currently serves as Writer in Residence.

When not working on a novel, or inspiring students to pursue writing careers, Thomas enjoys traveling with her husband, renovating an historic home, and “checking up” on their grown sons and four grandchildren.


 ║ Website ║ Facebook ║ Twitter  ║
║ Instagram ║  Amazon  ║ BookBub ║
║ Pinterest  ║ Goodreads ║

-------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!
ONE PRINT COPY OF MORNINGS ON MAIN,
THE FIRST LAUREL SPRINGS BOOK
May 8-18, 2019
(US ONLY)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

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5/10/19
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5/16/19
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5/17/19
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5/17/19
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↧

Review: WHERE WE COME FROM by Oscar Cásares

May 9, 2019, 10:00 pm
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I reviewed Where We Come From (Alfred A. Knopf) by Oscar Cásares for Lone Star Literary Life. This quiet, nuanced drama reflects everyday occurrences in the liminal spaces of the borderlands.

LITERARY FICTION
Oscar Cásares
Where We Come From: A Novel
Alfred A. Knopf
Hardcover, 978-0-5256-5543-5 (also available as an e-book), 272 pgs., $25.95
May 21, 2019

Rules.

We all have rules under which we are expected to operate. Those rules are different, though, depending upon what space we occupy, and those spaces are geographical, psychological, sociological, economic—no end to the variations impacting our options, que no?

Daniel has rules, and those rules are different in Brownsville than in Veracruz. In Brownsville there’s do not come out in the day, do not open the door to anyone, do not be looking out the window, do not be making any noises, do not turn on the air conditioner, do not, no matter what, let anyone see you.

Daniel is hiding in the little pink house in Nina’s backyard. He is twelve years old, from Veracruz, on his way north to reunite with his father in Chicago. The discovery of (probably not) the last mass grave was the last straw.

Orly has rules, and those rules are different in Brownsville than in Houston. In Brownsville there’s no kicking the ball against the side of the house, have respect (this isn’t Houston), always pray before eating, eat all your food (this isn’t Luby’s), stay away from the canal, no computers at the kitchen table (this isn’t Houston), no playing with the dog, La Bronca. The dog’s “chain looks short, but it always turns out to be a little longer than people think.”

Life will bite you; mind the chain.

Orly is visiting his godmother, Nina, in Brownsville for three weeks during summer vacation. Orly is twelve and lives in Houston with his father, older brother, and iPad. Real estate agents in his part of town extol the media room, the wine cellar, the library (no trapdoor). The consensus in his immediate family is that he’s soft, twelve going on nine. His mother died last year and he’s a sensitive child—the counseling, the meds, the vitamins, no junk food—maybe the Valley will toughen him up a little.

Nina is a retired teacher living in her hometown, lonely and frustrated, the default caretaker of her ninety-four-year-old mother. Rumalda crosses the bridge from Matamoros each Friday to clean Nina’s house. One day she asks un favor: Will Nina allow Rumalda’s daughter and granddaughter to hide in the little pink house in the backyard, just for a couple of days, until the next leg of their journey north can begin? Nina’s decision to help Rumalda sets in motion a series of events that will have profound effects on many lives.
There might be more friends who need favors, now that we know where you live …
You called my house to threaten me?
No, señora, I only called to tell you what’s going to happen next.
Where We Come From is the third book and second novel from Brownsville native and Austin professor Oscar Cásares. His first book, a collection of short stories called Brownsville, was named a Notable Book of 2004 by the American Library Association. His first novel, Amigoland, was chosen for the Austin Mayor’s Book Club. We’ve waited ten years for the next book from Cásares, and Where We Come From is a worthy and timely progression.

Immigrants, undocumented, illegals, aliens, shadows “… weren’t exactly slurs but weren’t exactly not slurs either and floated somewhere in between irreverent and offensive, depending on how closely you were willing to listen” los mojados, los pollos, las cucarachas.

Where We Come From is not a dramatic story in the way of action scenes, thrills and chills, or edge-of-your-seat suspense. Instead this quiet, nuanced drama reflects everyday occurrences in the liminal spaces between the Rio Grande and the inland Border Patrol checkpoints strung along the river’s course from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico. The story of Daniel is at once personal and impersonal.

The fact that his story isn’t exceptional is what makes it exceptional. Though evenly and quickly paced, it sometimes seems as if not much is happening, but this novel is suffused with boredom and menace—twins of a fugitive existence, punctuated by moments of pure terror. This is what passes for normal.

Cásares relates his story in alternating third-person narrations interspersed with vignettes of immigrants. The bulk of the story comes from Nina and Orly; scattered throughout the novel we also hear from Juan Pablo in Fort Worth who waits for his wife and daughter, Carlos from Honduras whose son died in the back of a tractor-trailer, Odilia Hernández from Guatemala who died of heatstroke in the scrubland, Felipe from El Salvador who practices English recitation of the breakfast menu at a San Francisco hotel. The story of the Americas does not mean just the United States, to paraphrase Orly’s history teacher, Mr. Domínguez (also from Veracruz and whose work visa has expired).

Cásares’s characters are finely wrought, the adults sharp and distinct, the boys a little fuzzy around the edges, not done developing. Cásares is adept at channeling the pubescent boy he used to be, an age when you mistakenly assume that you are powerful enough to affect the wider world around you, before you discover that you’re not that important. Which is scarier?

I was steadily drawn into Where We Come From by Cásares’s skillful reeling of the line. When it seems he’s in danger of sentimentality, he pulls back just in time. He doesn’t flinch from the ugliness, neither does he hit you over the head with it. Cásares is making a bid for our humanity, but he isn’t peddling fairy tales. Even so, the end(?), which is pitch-perfect, gave me goosebumps and left me nodding, with a small smile on my face.


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Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar May 13-19, 2019

May 12, 2019, 10:00 pm
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Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of May 13-19, 2019 compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Lover.

SPECIAL EVENTS:
Historical Manuscripts Grand Format Auction, Dallas, May 14

Fresh Reads 2019, Dallas, May 16-25

5 Book Dive Presents: The 2019 Summer Reading Splash, Austin, May 18

Spring Book Fling, Fort Worth, May 18

10th Annual Children's Book Celebration, Houston, May 18

Local Author Fair, Spring, May 18

3rd Annual Spring Fling, Sulphur Springs, May 18

Austin 2019 Writers & Illustrators Working Conference, May 18-19

EXHIBITS:

Worlds of W O N D E R: David Ezra Stein, Abilene, February 14-May 18

Words/Matter: Latin American Art and Language at the Blanton, Austin, February 17-May 26

The Word Embodied: Scripture as Creative Inspiration in Twentieth-Century Book Arts, Dallas, March 1-June 15

MONDAY, MAY 13:

El Paso
Houston
Austin

Dallas
The Dock Bookshop, Poetry and Open Mic, 8PM

Houston
THURSDAY, MAY 16:
Austin

The Wild Detectives, Pecha Kucha: Second Thoughts, 7:30PM

Frisco
B&N - Stonebriar, Nexus book signing with Sasha Alsberg, Lindsay Cummings, 7PM

Houston

North Richland Hills
North Richland Hills Library, Behind the Book with Jennifer McMahon, author of The Winter People and Burntown, 1PM [ticketed reception 12PM]

Pflugerville
Wild Magnolias, NeoSoul Poetry Slam: Blaq Mic Poetry featuring RJ Wright, 8PM

Sulphur Springs
The Bookworm Box, Jaci Wheeler Live Author Takeover, 7PM

FRIDAY, MAY 17:
Literarity Book Shop, Poetry Therapy, 6:30PM

Houston 
Murder By the Book, Liv Constantine will sign and discuss The Last Time I Saw You, and Samantha Downing will sign and discuss My Lovely Wife, 6:30PM

Irving
South Irving Library, Author Visit: We Hunt the Flame launch party with Hafsah Faizal, 7PM

Marble Falls
Marble Falls Public Library, Maya Perez on The Golden Ages of Television, 11AM

McAllen
B&N - Palms Crossing, Meet the Author: Iona Cordero, 9AM

San Antonio
Austin
B&N - Lincoln Park, Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life book signing with Randy Travis, 3PM

Deep Vellum Books, A Night of Translation with Sean Cotter: Curl, 7PM

El Paso
Half Price Books Mother Ship, Local Author Sundays: Meet local Indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

Houston
Writespace, Workshop: "Crafting Surprise Scenes" with BC Oliva, 3PM

Richardson
The Drawing Board, Dallas Writing Workshops seminar: "Secrets to Conquering the Writer’s Conference" with Whitney Davis, 3PM
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Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar May 20-26, 2019

May 19, 2019, 10:00 pm
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Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of May 20-26, 2019 compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Lover.

SPECIAL EVENTS:
Fresh Reads 2019, Dallas, May 16-25

Boldface Conference, Houston, May 20-24

EXHIBITS:

Words/Matter: Latin American Art and Language at the Blanton, Austin, February 17-May 26

The Word Embodied: Scripture as Creative Inspiration in Twentieth-Century Book Arts, Dallas, March 1-June 15

MONDAY, MAY 20:

El Paso
Houston
Brazos Bookstore, Rodrigo Hasbun reading and signing LAS PALABRAS, 7PM

Houston Public Library, Houston Poet Laureate reception honoring new Poet Laureate Leslie Contreras Schwartz, 6PM

Murder By the Book, Sujata Massey will sign and discuss The Satapur Moonstone, 6:30PM

Richardson
Richardson Public Library, Writers Guild of Texas workshop: Manuscript Development with Darren Sapp, 7PM

San Antonio
The Twig Book Shop, Clay Coppedge discussing and signing Texas Singularities, 5PM

Seabrook
Evelyn Meador Branch Library, An afternoon with Chitra Divakaruni, author of Before We Visit the Goddess, 11AM

TUESDAY, MAY 21:
Austin
The Dock Bookshop, Poetry and Open Mic, 8PM

Houston
Austin
Austin Central Public Library, HANIF ABDURRAQIB speaking & signing Go Ahead in the Rain, 7PM [ticketed event]

Dallas
Avant Garden, Write About Now Poetry Slam, 7:30PM

Brazos Bookstore, Oscar Cásares reading and signing WHERE WE COME FROM, 7PM

Houston Improv, May: H.A.M. presents his new book, DEMIgOD, 8PM

Houston Public Library, Austin Kleon discussing and signing Keep Going, 7PM

The Menil Collection, The Watchful Eye: A WITS Student Reading, 7PM

San Antonio
The Twig Book Shop, Joy Selak discussing and signing CeeGee'sGift, 5PM

THURSDAY, MAY 23:
Austin
Deep Vellum Books, Fernando A. Flores presents Tears of the Trufflepig, 7PM

Highland Park United Methodist Church, Authors LIVE! presents Rick Atkinson, author of The British Are Coming, 6PM

Interabang Books, Austin Kleon discussing and signing KEEP GOING, 7PM

Houston
Brazos Bookstore, Ray Viator discussing and signing HOUSTON, SPACE CITY USA, 7PM

Houston Public Library, Valerie Jarrett discussing and signing FINDING MY VOICE, 6:30PM

Super Happy Fun Land, Manifesto Form: An evening of music and poetry, 8PM

Sulphur Springs
The Bookworm Box, Meghan March Live Author Takeover, 7PM

FRIDAY, MAY 24:
Austin
Austin

San Antonio
Dallas
Half Price Books Mother Ship, Local Author Sundays: Meet local Indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

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Search

Excerpt & Giveaway: WOOING CADIE MCCAFFREY by Bethany Turner

May 20, 2019, 10:00 pm
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WOOING CADIE McCAFFREY
by
BETHANY TURNER
  Genre: Christian Romance / Humor
Publisher: Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group
Date of Publication: May 21, 2019
Number of Pages: 352

Scroll down for giveaway!


After four years with her boyfriend, Cadie McCaffrey is thinking of ending things. Convinced Will doesn’t love her in the “forever” way she loves him, Cadie believes it’s time for her to let him go before life passes her by. When a misunderstanding leads to a mistake, leaving her hurt, disappointed, and full of regret, she finally sends him packing.

But for Will, the end of their relationship is only the beginning of his quest to figure out how to be the man Cadie wanted him to be. With the dubious guidance of his former pro-athlete work friends and tactics drawn from Cadie’s favorite romantic comedies, Will attempts to win her back. It’s a foolproof plan. What could possibly go wrong?



PRAISE FOR WOOING CADIE McCAFFREY
“Rising star Bethany Turner’s Wooing Cadie McCaffrey highlights the author’s oh-so-readable voice and engaging characters. One of the many things I love about Turner is the way she tackles tough subjects with candor yet writes with the right amount of discretion. Romantics everywhere will sigh happily at the perfect ending. Highly recommended!” -- Colleen Coble,USA Today bestselling author of The House at Saltwater Point and the Rock Harbor series

Bethany Turner has done it again! Filled with wit and loaded with pop culture references, Wooing Cadie McCaffrey is sure to be an instant favorite among fans of Christian romance. I’ve found my new go-to author for rom-com with heart.” -- Carla Laureano, RITA award–winning author of The Saturday Night Supper Club and Brunch at Bittersweet Café

CLICK TO PURCHASE



Prologue from Wooing Cadie McCaffrey
By Bethany Turner

     Four years ago, on my thirtieth birthday, I had two very important realizations.
     1) I didn’t need a man in my life in order to be happy or fulfilled.
     2) My chances of meeting and falling in love with a man—­and having him fall in love with me—­would increase exponentially if I lowered my standards.
     Not my standards for the man, of course. No, with the introduction of realization number one, the standards for the man had never been higher. If I didn’t need a man, then there was no harm in being very picky and waiting for the right one to come along. But with the introduction of realization number two, I could no longer deny that I did very much want to be in love . . . whether I needed to be or not.
     In my heart of hearts, I knew I had no desire to settle for anything less than a man who would make at least one of the Bronte sisters proud. But there wasn’t much chance of falling in love with any man at all if I stayed hung up on the idea of my romantic life playing out like the classic novels and films I loved so much.
     Cary Grant does not exist in my Millennial world.
     Of course, I wasn’t expecting Will Whitaker to show up, or for him to burst onto the scene as if acting out a storybook meet-­cute.
     You know what a meet-­cute is, right? It’s that charming first encounter between two characters that leads to a romantic relationship between them. Suffice it to say, with realization number two, I had given up on ever experiencing a true meet-­cute. Actually, I was pretty convinced that I wouldn’t know a true meet-­cute if it fell on me. I’d spent most of my life trying to force the meet-­cute. Trust me . . . that doesn’t work. Intentionally bumping into guys and dropping your books rarely results in them saying, “Hey, let me help you with that.” I’ve found that “Hey, watch where you’re going!” is more common.
     So by the time I turned thirty, I was absolutely convinced that meet-­cutes were a thing of legend.
     Enter Will, stage left.
     It was a day like any other at ASN, the American Sports Network. That’s where I worked. ASN. But not like in sports or anything. Heavens, no. All I know of basketball, football, lacrosse, or any other sport is how much money is generated in advertising dollars as a result of our coverage of said sport, and how much all of those on-­air sports people get paid. My office is in the part of the ASN complex that the sports people call The Bench. They come to our stark wasteland of blah concrete walls for marketing and accounting needs. Perhaps the occasional human resources disaster. But then they happily return to the glitz and glamour that they refer to as The Field.
     “Gotta get back on The Field,” they love to say. On The Field? That sounds so stupid. But when I say “I’m heading over to The Field for a bit,” I am invariably met with questions that they think are hilarious. “Got some plowing to do, McCaffrey?” Sure.
     So there I was, in The Bench—­or on The Bench, as they continually correct me—­when I heard the most dreaded of all birthday sounds: about twenty tone-­deaf sports experts and about half as many barbershop quartet wannabes from The Bench, all singing “Happy Birthday.” To me, presumably.
     “Oh, wow. You shouldn’t have,” I managed to say in a way that I’m pretty sure sounded grateful, as they made their way into my office—­holding a monstrous cake ablaze with thirty giant candles.
     “Happy birthday, dear Cadie,” they belted. “Happy birthday to you!”
     I waited for Kevin Lamont, who was carrying the cake, to set it down on my desk so I could blow out the candles, but he just kept holding it. Kevin, of course, is now the host and executive producer of The Daily Dribble, the most successful showon ASN. He’s also the vice president over all prime-­time programming for the network, which makes him my boss. But back then he was simply The Daily Dribble’s host and one of my absolute favorite people around the ASN offices. And though he’s gone a bit gray and put on a little around his midsection, he certainly hasn’t lost a centimeter of height from his NBA days.
     “Make a wish and blow out the candles,” Kevin teased as he held the cake at his shoulder height—­which is still at least an inch above my head.
     “Well, I’d love to, but—”
     “Here, Cadie,” Max Post, resident sound engineer extraordinaire, chimed in as he pulled a chair over to my desk. “Climb up here.”
     “Very funny, guys,” I replied with a smile. “C’mon, Kevin. All of the wax is going to melt down onto the cake.”
     “You’d better do something about it then!” he insisted as he jutted out his chin toward a couple of former linebackers.
     In an instant, the linebackers had grabbed my arms and hoisted me up—­not onto the chair by the desk, but onto the desk itself.
     I was so grateful that after six years at ASN, I knew better than to wear a skirt to the office.
     “Very funny,” I repeated, as I did all I could to remind myself that I loved my job—­and that it wasn’t my coworkers’ fault that they were savages. They meant well, and I knew that everything they were doing was an attempt to show me that they cared. They just happened to be from a culture in which you showed someone you cared by snapping them with a wet towel in the locker room.
     I was ready to end the spectacle, so I took in a deep breath and prepared to use every bit of power my lungs could muster to blow out those thirty massive candles in one fell swoop. But just as I released the pressure of air, Lindy Mason called out from the hallway.
     “Hey, everyone. Montana’s here.”
     Kevin turned his 6’9” frame toward the door—­and my cake went with him.
     “Happy birthday, Cadie!” scattered voices called out as they left me in favor of Joe Montana, who was on The Field for an interview. An interview that they’d been waiting months for—­but that only about eight of them were actually required to be present for. The others were just going as fans who happened to get paid to gawk at their heroes.
     “Sorry, McCaffrey,” Kevin said as he shrugged and handed me the cake.
     “Et tu, Kevin Lamont?”
     He smiled and winked as he said, “Next time, don’t have your birthday on a day a legend is scheduled to be in the studio.” And then he ran out after everyone else.
     Perfect.

Click to continue reading the Prologue and all of chapter one!





Bethany Turner is the award-winning author of The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck, which was a Christy Award finalist. When she’s not writing (and even when she is), she serves as the director of administration for Rock Springs Church in Southwest Colorado. She lives with her husband and their two sons in Colorado, where she writes for a new generation of readers who crave fiction that tackles the thorny issues of life with humor and insight.
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK   TWITTER
INSTAGRAM   GOODREADS





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GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!
Grand Prize: Copies of Wooing Cadie McCaffrey and The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck + stationery set
2nd Prize: Copy of Wooing Cadie McCaffrey + bookish coffee mug
3rd Prize: Copy of Wooing Cadie McCaffrey + $10 Amazon Gift Card

May 21-May 31, 2019
(U.S. Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


CHECK OUT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:


5/21/19
Excerpt
Texas Book Lover
5/21/19
BONUS Post
Hall Ways Blog
5/22/19
Top Five List
Chapter Break Book Blog
5/22/19
BONUS Review
Momma on the Rocks
5/23/19
Review
Sydney Young, Stories
5/24/19
Deleted Scene
All the Ups and Downs
5/25/19
Review
That's What She's Reading
5/26/19
Guest Post
The Clueless Gent
5/27/19
Author Interview
Kelly Well Read
5/28/19
Review
StoreyBook Reviews
5/29/19
Review
Carpe Diem Chronicles
5/30/19
Review
Missus Gonzo


   
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Review: SPYING ON THE SOUTH by Tony Horwitz

May 22, 2019, 10:00 pm
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I reviewed Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide (Penguin Press) by NYT-bestselling author and Pulitzer-winning journalist Tony Horwitz, who's been following Frederick Law Olmsted about, for Lone Star Literary Life. Horwitz's immersive journalism holds up a mirror reflecting how our original sins are still with us.

TRAVEL/HISTORY
Tony Horwitz
Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American DividePenguin Press
Hardcover, 978-1-1019-8028-6 (also available as an e-book and an audiobook), 496 pgs., $30
May 14, 2019

Halloween night found Tony Horwitz in a Grafton, West Virginia, bar with a woman costumed as a member of the Butcher Babies, a heavy metal band. She eyes his work boots, plaid shirt, horn-rimmed glasses, and Carhartt jacket with the notebook and pencil in one pocket. “Let me guess,” she said in an exaggerated drawl. “Yankee boy, spyin’ on us hillbillies?”

Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide is Tony Horwitz’s new release, following the New York Times bestselling Confederates in the Attic. Horwitz is a former war correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, Pulitzer Prize-winning national reporter, former New Yorker writer, and author of six previous books of nonfiction. His books are difficult to categorize—part reporting, part travelogue, part history, part sociological study.

In 1854, Frederick Law Olmsted, writing as “Yeoman” on assignment for a brand-new outfit called the New-York Daily Times, set out on a journey across the American South, exploring the phenomenon of “G.T.T.”—Gone to Texas—in the pivotal years just before secession and civil war, when anti-immigrant fervor was on the rise and the “native” Protestants claimed to be besieged. Olmsted’s purpose was to seek “reliable understanding of the sentiments and hopes & fears” of the South. He wanted to gather the facts to counter the diatribes and epithets flying from both sides. Sounds familiar: a divided nation, each faction convinced of its righteousness and the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the other.

Horwitz thought it sounded familiar, so he set off in Olmsted’s footsteps. Alternating the narrative between Olmsted’s day and his own, Horwitz traveled by Amtrak, rental Kia, coal barge, steamboat, foot, and mule from Cumberland, Maryland, to Eagle Pass, Texas, to see what he could learn about our current state of affairs.

One of the most interesting theories Horwitz explores is the feudal region that sported an aristocracy now supports an authoritarian, if not monarchical, president. This goes hand-in-glove with a rejection of expertise and science, which Horwitz had thought “an appendix of the American mind: a vestigial organ.” As one Louisiana preacher wrote in a letter to the editor in the early 2000s, “Learning for the sake of learning is egg head, intellectual elitism.”

Horwitz crossed the Sabine on El Camino Real, expressing confusion behind the Pine Curtain, where certain towns which shall remain nameless still refer to “the Quarters,” that East Texas wasn’t western at all. Something he will learn on his way to the Rio Grande is that there are many Texases. He visits the holy ground of San Jacinto “amidst a petrochemical Mordor” and experiences the High Holy Days at the Alamo, Día de los Muertos in Eagle Pass, and mule trekking around Sisterdale which ended in a concussion.

Horwitz did enjoy the surface manners the South tends to display toward strangers. He was taken with the friendliness of Cajuns whom, when he told them they’d been described to Olmsted as “habitually gay and careless, as well as kind-hearted, hospitable, and dissolute,” agreed that was pretty accurate. Horwitz was energized by the service at Franklin Avenue Baptist in New Orleans where he became “a parody of a white guy in a black church, clapping out of unison and jerking like a headless chicken.” He was viscerally disturbed by the plantation tours and the description of a lecture about the Underground Railroad as “fun and entertaining.” I’ve traveled in places the State Department would rather I not and which inspire my mother to email articles about bombs to me, but the scariest place I’ve ever been is Mississippi.

If you’ve been paying attention, then you won’t find news in Spying on the South. Like Olmsted, Horwitz began this project hoping that Americans could “listen to each other and air their differences in a rational and coolheaded fashion.” He doesn’t say definitively whether that hope survived the journey. Olmsted’s hope did not. Horwitz’s form of interactive and immersive journalism, while mercifully light on judgmental conclusions and personal opinions, holds up a mirror reflecting how our original sins are still with us.

“Bottom line?” Dave from Goliad finally blurts, “The government won’t let us do whatever the hell it is we want to do. That’s it.” Sounds like anarchy to me


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Monday Roundup: Texas Literary Calendar May 27-June 2, 2019

May 26, 2019, 10:00 pm
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Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of May 27-June 2, 2019 compiled exclusively for Lone Star Literary Life by Texas Book Lover.

SPECIAL EVENTS:
Writefest, Houston, May 27-June 2

Dallas Festival of Books & Ideas, May 28-June 1

Friends of the Dallas Public Library Book Sale (supporting summer reading programs), May 31-June 1

Agave Festival, Marfa, June 1-9

Authors in the Parks, various locations, June 1

18th Annual Book History Workshop, College Station, June 2-7

EXHIBITS:
Dead Tree Books, Memorial Day Poetry Readings, 12PM

TUESDAY, MAY 28:
Austin
The Dock Bookshop, Poetry and Open Mic, 8PM

Houston
Austin
Central Presbyterian Church, BookPeople presents ADMIRAL WILLIAM MCRAVEN speaking and signing Sea Stories, 7PM [ticketed event]

Terrazas Branch Library, Chicon Street Poets presents Aural Literature May Reading, 7:30PM

Dallas
Austin
Blue Willow Bookshop, Abbigail N. Rosewood will discuss and sign her novel IF I HAD TWO LIVES, 7PM

Brasil, AIA Houston presents a talk comparing two cases of research, advocacy, and preservation of modern built heritage in U.S. cities, drawing on recent books, Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston and Imagining the Modern: Architecture and Urbanism of the Pittsburgh Renaissance, 6PM

Brazos Bookstore, State of the Art: A Discussion on Art Criticism organized by Gulf Coast, 6:30PM

Irving
South Irving Library, Retired City of Irving police officer Doug Hutchison and his wife Carol discussing and signing Behind the Texas Badge (proceeds to Texas chapters of Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) and Texas Game Warden Association's Great Fall Huntventure, a program for the children of fallen officers), 7PM

San Antonio
Carmen De la Calle, Meditations on the Mind and Mouth: Jazz and Poetry with a Purpose featuring Andrea “VOCAB” Sanderson, 7:30PM

FRIDAY, MAY 31:
Austin
BookPeople, LORENE CARY speaking & signing Ladysitting, 7PM

BookWoman, Book Talk & Reading: Misogyny, Projective Identification, and Mentalization by Karyne Messina, 7PM

George Washington Carver Museum, KAZI Book Review 10th Anniversary: Hopeton Hay in conversation with Dr. Randal Jelks, author of FAITH AND STRUGGLE IN THE LIVES OF FOUR AFRICAN AMERICANS: Ethel Waters, Mary Lou Williams, Eldridge Cleaver, and Muhammad Ali, 6:30PM

Hearth & Soul ATX, A Mile Above Texas book signing with Jay B. Sauceda, 5PM

Dallas
Heroes Grill, Dallas Poetry Slam presents: Glowetry, 8PM

Interabang Books, the Dallas Books & Ideas Festival presents "The Literary City" with keynote speaker Oscar Cásares and a panel discussion with Sarah Hepola, Sanderia Faye, Ben Fountain, and Dr. Jaina Sanga (moderated by Lauren Smart), 7PM

Houston 
Brazos Bookstore, Writefest Keynote with Phong Nguyen, 6PM

Paris
The Blind Pig, Grand Opening Speakeasy Soiree, 8PM

SATURDAY, JUNE 1:
Austin



Mansfield
Half Price Books, Local Author Sundays: Meet local Indie authors and pick up their latest release, while supplies last

Richardson
The Drawing Board, Writing Workshops Dallas seminar: "How to Break into Ghostwriting" with  Blake Atwood, 3PM

Watauga
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Sneak Peek & Giveaway: HITCHIN' POST AND THE TORNADO TWISTIN' 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION

May 28, 2019, 10:00 pm
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HITCHIN' POST
and the Tornado Twistin'
4th of July Celebration
by
JULIE BARKER
illustrated by Carolyn Altman
  Genre: Children's Picture Book / Western / Fantasy
Publisher: BookBaby
Date of Publication: September 28, 2018
Number of Pages: 50

Scroll down for giveaway!


Hitchin’ Post, the cowboy jackrabbit, is back with an all new adventure on the 6Bs Ranch. 

Hitch’s brothers come to visit for the annual 4th of July rodeo and dance, but they get much more than a long-awaited visit with their brother. When a giant tornado threatens to cut their Independence Day celebration short, Hitchin’ Post, his brothers, and the rest of the cowboys have to work hard to save the ranch and the celebration. Hitchin’ Post shows that even though he is just a small jackrabbit, he has the courage it takes to bring everyone together to rebuild what the tornado destroyed. Because of old Hitch being a great leader, the 6Bs' 4th of July celebration will go on! 

This is the second book in the Hitchin’ Post series by Julie Barker, where Julie once again collaborates with her mother, artist Carolyn Altman, who provides the illustrations in this romping, stomping cowboy adventure!

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:
Hitchin’ Post and the Tornado Twistin’ 4th of July Celebration is a brilliantly woven story with a strong plot that will easily entertain anyone. The illustrations by Carolyn Altman are fun and engaging, complementing the story. I love how Barker has written an interesting story that will teach kids how working together as a team makes the hard work a whole lot lighter and much more rewarding. – Readers’ Favorite, 5 STARS

CLICK TO PURCHASE



From Hitchin’ Post and the Tornado Twistin’ 4th of July Celebration
By Julie Barker and Illustrated by Carolyn Altman






Julie Barker is the author of Hitchin' Post, her debut children's storybook. With inspiration from her West Texas roots and being surrounded by the ranching heritage, Julie is fulfilling her dream of becoming a children's author. Along with the encouragement and beautiful illustrations from her mother and artist, Carolyn Altman, the story of Hitchin' Post the cowboy jackrabbit was born and is now officially a series. The second book, Hitchin' Post and the Tornado Twistin' 4th of July Celebration, was released September 2018.
WEBSITE  ┃  FACEBOOK   ┃  GOODREADS 



Carolyn Altman is an artist and the illustrator of the Hitchin’ Post children’s book series, in which she collaborated with her daughter, Julie Barker, the author. Carolyn resides in Vernon, Texas, with her husband Stanley. They have two daughters and six grandchildren, all of whom live nearby. “Touch the Heart with Original Art” is Carolyn’s slogan, which she has used for the past forty years as she creates lighthearted and inspiring art with subjects such as wildlife, horses, cattle, and cowboys, in hopes of helping to preserve this way of life for many years to come. 

The beginning of her art career consisted of using mostly oil and acrylic mediums, then Carolyn began creating baby memory books in which she incorporates her art into each page. Each baby memory book is personalized and truly a work of art in itself. Carolyn believes that her experiences throughout her life are what inspires her art. 

She has spent her life in West Texas surrounded by wide open spaces and the beauty of the farming and ranching heritage, and that way of life will always show up in her paintings and illustrations. Her latest creations include a series of angel paintings depicting what she deems most important in her life—her faith. 

WEBSITE  ┃  INSTAGRAM  ┃  ETSY
TWITTER  ┃  PINTEREST  ┃  FACEBOOK 
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GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

GRAND PRIZE:
Author and Illustrator Signed Copy of Hitchin' Post and the Tornado Twistin’ 4th of July Celebration + $50 gift certificate to CarolynAltmanArt.com; 
TWO WINNERS:  Signed Copy of the Book.
May 29-June 7, 2019
(U.S. Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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Book Blitz & Giveaway: BONNIE AND CLYDE: RADIOACTIVE

May 29, 2019, 10:00 pm
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RADIOACTIVE
Bonnie and Clyde Series
Book Three
by
CLARK HAYS AND KATHLEEN McFALL
Genre: Historical / Alternative History / Romance 
Publisher:  Pumpjack Press on Facebook
Date of Publication: March 23, 2019
Number of Pages: 332

Scroll down for the giveaway!



Bonnie and Clyde: Defending the working class from a river of greed.


It’s January 1945, the height of World War Two. As the bloody conflict drags on, America has undertaken a massive top-secret effort to unleash the power of the atom and develop the first nuclear bomb. A network of Nazi and Soviet spies is determined to steal the technology, or failing that, sabotage the project. 

But first, they have to get past Bonnie and Clyde.

In a heart-pounding adventure spanning the windswept landscapes of eastern Washington to an isolated internment camp in the California mountains, Bonnie and Clyde face deception at every turn.

Can the former outlaws put aside their desire for revenge long enough to help end the war?

As in Resurrection Road and Dam Nation, the story cuts back and forth between 1984 where Royce, a washed-up investigative reporter, teams up with the now-elderly Bonnie Parker to hunt down the truth about their past, and the 1940s undercover exploits of the young Bonnie and Clyde.

And in Radioactive, Royce and Bonnie finally discover the devastating truth: Who Sal — the brains behind forcing Bonnie and Clyde into covert service defending the working class all those years ago — really was.







CLICK TO PURCHASE




Clark and Kathleen wrote their first book together in 1999 as a test for marriage. They passed. 


Radioactive is their seventh co-authored book. 


Twitter║ Facebook ║ Instagram

Clark: Goodreads║ Amazon
Kathleen: Goodreads ║ Amazon  




-------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!
GRAND PRIZE: Signed copies of the full Bonnie and Clyde series
TWO WINNERS: Choice of print or eBook copy of Radioactive
May 23-June 1, 2019
(U.S. Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

5/23/19
Review
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5/23/19
Review
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5/24/19
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5/26/19
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