Promo & Giveaway: ARANSAS MORNING by Jeff Hampton

ARANSAS MORNING

by

JEFF HAMPTON

  Genre: Literary Fiction / Family Life

Date of Publication: September 22, 2017

Number of Pages: 304

Scroll down for the giveaway!

When Sam Barnes’ high-flying life in Dallas falls apart, he flees to the coastal town of Port Aransas, Texas and fades into the life of a reclusive beach bum. But things start to change when he meets Dave, a young widower working through his own loss; Shelly, owner of the Dream Bean coffee shop; Bo, a crusty old shrimper; and Allie, Bo’s free-spirited daughter. Together they are tested and forced to confront their own issues. In doing so they discover family and community.

PRAISE FOR ARANSAS MORNING:

“Engrossing characters that keep doing unexpected things. Strong sense of place along the Texas coast and deep knowledge of the culture. This book is about relationships and how ‘family’ and ‘community’ might be redefined.”

“In this heartwarming book, Jeff Hampton took me to a place I’ve never been and captured me with his delightful characters, seaside landscape, and deft use of words to portray a small group of people who came together to create and run the Dream Bean cafe. Great summer reading.”

“I loved the characters, with their flaws and their graces. It is an honest and heart-warming story of redemption coming through community. I’m really glad I read it.”

“Really nice character development, articulating in a very comfortable and readable style the messy, complex, joyous and hopeful ways we build, break and nurture ‘community.’”

“Very quickly in the story, the characters became like friends. The book is engaging and held my interest.”

CLICK TO PURCHASE

◾   Barnes& Noble  ◾   Jeff Hampton Writer   ◾   
  ◾   Etsy  ◾    Amazon   ◾   

During a 35-year career in journalism and communications, Jeff Hampton has covered and written about topics ranging from business and finance to history and faith. His bylines have appeared in publications ranging from The Dallas Morning News to The New York Times.

He attended Baylor University where he majored in journalism and was editor of the Baylor Lariat campus newspaper. He began his professional career at the Waco Tribune-Herald and has written for newspapers, magazines, businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies.

Hampton has based his life and career in Texas where his interest in observing the people around him has led him to write essays, short stories, and novels that explore relationships and communities in their many forms.

Aransas Morning is his fifth book, following Grandpa Jack, When the Light Returned to Main Street, Jonah Prophet and The Snowman Uprising on Hickory Lane.

Watch for Aransas Evening, a sequel to Aransas Morning, in 2018. 

 ║ Website ║ Facebook ║ Twitter ║  
║ Instagram║ Goodreads ║

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JANUARY 23-FEBRUARY 1, 2018
(U.S. Only)

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VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

1/23/18	Promo	A Page Before Bedtime
1/23/18	Promo	Reading by Moonlight
1/24/18	Guest Post	Chapter Break Book Blog
1/24/18	Review	Bibliotica
1/25/18	Excerpt Part 1	StoreyBook Reviews
1/25/18	Excerpt Part 2	Forgotten Winds
1/26/18	Review	Texan Girl Reads
1/27/18	Review	Tangled in Text
1/28/18	Author Interview	The Page Unbound
1/28/18	Playlist	Syd Savvy
1/29/18	Review	The Clueless Gent
1/30/18	Promo	Texas Book Lover
1/30/18	Scrapbook Page	The Librarian Talks
1/31/18	Review	Momma on the Rocks
2/1/18	Review	Missus Gonzo

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Monday Roundup: TEXAS LITERARY CALENDAR 1/29-2/4

Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of January 29-February 4, 2018: 

Special Events:
FronteraFest 2018, Austin, January 16-February 17

How to Self-Publish Your Book -- Economically, Quickly, and Professionally, Dallas, January 23-February 6

Bookworm Festival, Houston, February 3

BrazCon Teen Comic Convention & Geekfest, Pearland, February 3

Ongoing Exhibits:

Fact, Fiction, and the New World: The Role of Books in the Making of America (a Humanities Texas Exhibition), Keene, January 29-February 23

Monday, January 29:

Boerne

Patrick Heath Public Library, Naomi Shihab Nye Writing Workshop for Teens, 4:15PM

Fort Worth

TCU, Dr. Sarah Robbins signing Learning Legacies: Archive to Action through Women's Cross-Cultural Teaching, 5PM

Houston
Cullen Performance Hall, Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series presents a reading by Pulitzer Prize-winner JHUMPA LAHIRI, 7:30PM

Tuesday, January 30:

Austin

BookPeople, MEG GARDINER speaking and signing Into the Black Nowhere and MARK PRYORspeaking & signing Dominic: A Hollow Man Novel, 7PM

Spiderhouse Ballroom, Austin Poetry Slam 2018 Regional Team Selection & Finals, 7:15PM

Dallas

Interabang Books, Derrick Levasseur discussing and signing THE UNDERCOVER EDGE, 7PM

Temple Emanu-El, Arts & Letters Live presents Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa Lahiri in conversation with Ben Fountain, 7:30PM

Houston

Bohemeo's, Glass Mountain reading series, 7PM

Brazos Bookstore, Will Cannady discussing and signing FOUR HOUSES: DESIGNING FOR CHANGE, 7PM

Plano
B&N - Legacy West, Oliver Loving book signing with Stefan Merrill Block, 7PM

San Antonio

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

The Twig Book Shop, Raymond Caballero discussing and signing Orozco: The Life and Death of a Mexican Revolutionary, 5PM

Wednesday, January 31:
Austin
Austin Public Library - Terrazas, Chicon Street Poets Presents Aural Literature, 7PM

BookPeople, STEFAN MERRILL BLOCK speaking & signing Oliver Loving, 7PM

Paramount Theatre, Captain Scott Scott will discuss his memoir, Endurance: My Year In Space and Our Journey to Mars, 8PM

Dallas

Interabang Books, Meg Gardiner reading and signing INTO THE BLACK NOWHERE, 7PM

Houston

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

Brazos Bookstore, Raymond Caballero discussing and signing OROZCO: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A MEXICAN REVOLUTIONARY, 7PM

Murder By the Book, Tom Hunt will sign and discuss Killer Choice, 6:30PM

Rice University, Friends of Fondren Library hosts its annual event honoring Rice faculty, staff, alumni and members of the Friends of Fondren Library who have authored a book, edited a journal, composed a major musical work or mounted a one-person art show in the calendar year 2017, 5:30PM

Thursday, February 1:

Austin

Perry-Castañeda Library, “Two Guys on Your Head”: Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, Austin Public Library Director Roosevelt Weeks, and Director of UT Libraries Lorraine Haricombe discuss the role modern libraries play in creating environments for invention, 6PM

The Writing Barn, Workshop: "Crafting Persona: Creating Strong Voices for Historic Pieces" with Leticia Urieta, 6:30PM

Dallas
Aaron Family JCC, Patricia Bernstein discussing and signing Ten Dollars to Hate, 7PM

Half Price Books Mothership, New York Times bestselling-author Gregg Hurwitz will discuss and sign his new thriller, Hellbent, 7PM [numbered pass required]

Fort Worth
B&N - Hulen Center, Getting Grief Right with Patrick O'Malley, Ph.D. and Tim Madigan, 7PM

Houston

Blue Willow Bookstore, Stefan Merrill Block will discuss and sign his new novel, OLIVER LOVING, 7PM

Brazos Bookstore, Min Jin Lee reading and signing PACHINKO, 7PM

Murder By the Book, Meg Gardiner will sign and discuss Into the Black Nowhere, 6:30PM

San Antonio
Trinity University, MAS Alvarez Seminar: In Between Worlds: Poetry of Reclamation, 5:30PM

San Marcos
Texas State University - Alkek Library, The Wittliff Collections presents a poetry reading and book signing with Naomi Shihab Nye, 3:30PM

Sugar Land

B&N - First Colony, Story time with local author Maria Ashworth, 10AM

Friday, February 2:
Austin

BookPeople, RAYMOND CABALLERO speaking & signing The Life and Death of a Mexican Revolutionary, 7PM

The Long Center, Michael Pollan: One Writer’s Trip – From the Garden to the Plate and the Beyond, in conversation with Raj Patel, 8PM

Houston

Brazos Bookstore, Miles Arceneaux reading and signing HIDDEN SEA, 7PM

Inprint House, First Friday Reading Series: Tony Diaz, 8:30PM

Murder By the Book, Gregg Hurwitz will sign and discuss Hellbent, 6:30PM

Texas Medical Center Library, Friends of the Texas Medical Center Library will host their annual book and author fundraiser: Texas, Her Texas: The Life and Times of Frances Goff, 7PM

San Antonio
Gemini Ink, Spring Open House and Book Launch for J.R. Helton's Bad Jobs and Poor Decisions: Dispatches from the Working Class, 6:30PM

Saturday, February 3:

Austin

BookPeople, W. STONE COTTER speaking & signing Saint Philomene's Infirmary for Magical Creatures, 2PM

Malvern Books, fourth-birthday edition of The Lion & the Pirate Unplugged, an inclusive open mic, 7PM

Paramount Theatre, Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer for President Obama, shares photographs and stories from his new book, Obama: An Intimate Portrait, 8PM

St. Edward's University, Writers' League of Texas workshop: "The Online Suite: Websites, Blogs, and Social Media for Authors" with Stephanie Barko, 9AM

Dallas

Dallas Museum of Art, Arts & Letters presents New York Times bestselling-author Jojo Moyes and Still Me, 7:30PM

El Paso

El Paso Public Library - Memorial Park, Tumblewords Project Workshop: "The God of Small Things" with Kit Wren, 12:45PM

Houston

Blue Willow Bookshop, Florrie Munat will sign her book, BE BRAVE: A WIFE’S JOURNEY THROUGH CAREGIVING, 3PM

Brazos Bookstore, Daniel Peña reading and signing BANG!, 7PM

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

Houston Public Library - Jungman, Library Reading Series: Featured Poets are Chris Diaz, Priscilla Frake, Haven Gomez, and Cait Weiss, plus WITS student and audience Favorite Poem open mic, 2PM

Queensbury Theatre, Free Youth Slam Workshop with Poet Chinaka Hodge, 4PM

Queensbury Theatre, WITS hosts Space City Preliminary Slam for Houston poets, spoken word artists, and emcees, ages 13-19, 6PM

Writespace, Workshop: "Creating Irresistible Narrators in Fiction" with Allegra Hyde, 1PM

Odessa
Ector County Coliseum, Permian Basin Poetry Society presents "Poetry & Hockey" at the Odessa Jackalopes vs. the Amarillo Bulls game, 7PM

San Antonio

Dead Tree Books, Meet the Author: Sherrie Brown, 2PM

The Twig Book Shop, Dusti Sheldon signing Izzy Mae Moves Away, 11AM

San Marcos
Half Price Books, Local author Marieta Hutchison will read, sell, and sign her children's book, Mermaids are Magical - You Can Be Too, 11AM

The Woodlands
B&N - Woodlands Mall, April Houston signing From Damaged to Destined, 1PM

Sunday, February 4:

Austin

BookPeople, LAURA CREEDLE speaking & signing The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily, 2PM

BookPeople, Austin Mystery Writers featuring: Valerie Chandler, Kathy Waller, Laura Oles,Janice Hamrick, Alexandra Burt, Manning Wolfe, George Wier, Mark Pryor, and Scott Montgomery speaking & signing LONE STAR LAWLESS: 14 TEXAS TALES OF CRIME, 5PM

Malvern Books, the release of John Vanderslice’s historical novel, The Last Days of Oscar Wilde, 2PM

Dallas

The Foundry Club, Writing Workshops Dallas presents: "A Writer’s Blueprint for The Social Media Game" with Whitney Davis, 3PM

Half Price Books Mothership, local author Bob May will sell and sign his book, The Best Season: The Challenging Finish, Honoring Black Ball Through Baseball Game Simulation, and motivational speaker and local author Sugar Ray Destin Jr. will sell and sign his inspirational book, Claim Your Destiny!, 1PM

Houston

Writespace, Workshop: "Introduction to Personal Essay and Memoir: Turning the Pen on Ourselves" with Mark Dostert, 3PM

Mansfield

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

                                                    

Donate to Lone Star Lit's INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN!

If you read, write, publish, or sell books about Texas, Lone Star Literary Life is for you.

WE COVER THE TEXAS LITERARY SCENE like no one else, week in and week out. Since 2015, we’ve given Texas authors, booksellers, libraries, publishers, and readers a trusted platform of their own. With shrinking coverage devoted to books in mainstream media — and most of that focused on the same handful of national bestsellers — where were Texas authors to get noticed, and where were Texas readers to discover the books they crave? We’ve stepped up to make sure the Lone Star State doesn’t lose touch with its rich literary heritage, and that Texas books get their due.

Review: THE WHICH WAY TREE by Elizabeth Crook

I reviewed The Which Way Tree: A Novel (Little, Brown and Company) by Elizabeth Crook for Lone Star Literary Life! This is an enthralling adventure, a Texas fairy tale in the truest sense of that term—not a Disney version, but a Brothers Grimm, Old World fairy tale for the New World.

HISTORICAL FICTION
Elizabeth Crook
The Which Way Tree: A Novel

Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover, 978-0-3164-3495-9, (also available as an e-book and on audio CD), 288 pgs., $26.00
February 6, 2018

Judge E. Carlton: How many times did you have contact with [Clarence Hanlin] after seeing him on the Julian?
Benjamin Shreve: It was ongoing, sir, after what my sister done to his finger. He was tracking us for two full days and a portion of another. On occasion he gave chase. There was words spoken. There was shots fired.

Fourteen-year-old Benjamin Shreve lives with his younger sister, Samantha, near Camp Verde, Texas. There are many things to be afraid of on the Texas frontier in the aftermath of the Civil War — “Indians and Sesech and bushwackers and vigilantes.” Benjamin is hunting for dinner when he stumbles upon Hanlin, wearing a Confederate uniform, picking the pockets of eight hanged men at Julian Creek. The next time Benjamin sees Hanlin, he and Samantha are trying to trap and kill a panther, the same panther that had mutilated Samantha and killed her mother several years ago, and had returned to bedevil what’s left of their farm. Hanlin is violently abusing an animal, and Samantha takes a shot at him. The ensuing altercation with Hanlin is interrupted by Mr. Pacheco, a Tejano man traveling on a fine horse with a complicated provenance. During the hullabaloo, the panther escapes, and the entire party, with disparate motivations, heads out to track it down.

The Which Way Tree: A Novel is new historical fiction from Austin’s Elizabeth Crook. It was inspired by an incident during which Crook’s son was lost in the same rough country portrayed in the novel. Search-and-rescue found her son several hours later, no worse for wear and tear, but they also found a mountain lion tracking the boy. The Which Way Tree is experience alchemized by imagination.

Crook had me from the beginning. The Which Way Tree is unlike anything I’ve read before. An epistolary novel, The Which Way Tree is comprised of letters from Benjamin which serve as his grand jury testimony in the matter of murder and highway robbery, in the County of Bandera, in April of 1866. Benjamin possesses a distinctive voice, and his testimony is often unintentionally humorous, in the way of earnest and honest children. Pathos is delivered in a matter-of-fact first-person narration by Benjamin. It’s through his observations only that we know Crook’s characters. Benjamin’s numerous digressions during his testimony serve as autobiography.

The action is suspenseful and fast-paced; the narrative flow seamless; the dialogue often laugh-out-loud funny (“Preacher Dobb said, Vengeance belongs to the Lord, Samantha. She said, Only if he can beat me to it.”); Benjamin’s developing relationship with the judge through his letters is sweetly affecting. Crook’s research is evident in the period details, rhythms of speech, and Texas history.

Benjamin notes that Samantha’s obsession with the panther is like that of Captain Ahab’s obsession with Moby-Dick. That story is an obvious parallel to The Which Way Tree; a less obvious parallel is Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. A diverse cast of travelers, on a journey in the same direction but for different reasons, with different backgrounds — including a Confederate soldier, a young Anglo boy, a young mulatto girl, a reformed minister, and a Tejano who reminds me of Rhett Butler—a reforming scalawag.

The Which Way Tree is an enthralling adventure, a Texas fairy tale in the truest sense of that term—not a Disney version, but a Brothers Grimm, Old World fairy tale for the New World.

Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.

Review: INTO THE BLACK NOWHERE by Meg Gardiner

I reviewed Into the Black Nowhere: An UNSUB Novel (Dutton, Penguin Random House) by Austin's Meg Gardiner for Lone Star Literary Life. Gardiner skillfully builds tension as the pace accelerates toward the most dramatic, exhausting, and satisfying ending I’ve read in quite some time.

THRILLER
Meg Gardiner
Into the Black Nowhere: An UNSUB Novel
Dutton Books
Hardcover, 978-1-1019-8555-7, (also available as an e-book, an audiobook, a paperback large print, and on audio CD), 368 pgs., $26.00
January 30, 2018

Shannon Kerber wakes in the night and discovers her infant daughter crying in the arms of a stranger seated on the living-room sofa. When Shannon’s husband returns from a San Antonio Spurs game, she’s gone, the baby cold and crying in the draft from the open front door. Shannon is the fifth abduction in the area in the last six months. Caitlin Hendrix, a newly minted special agent with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (the famous profilers), heads to fictional Solace, Texas, to hunt a hunter.

Into the Black Nowhere: An UNSUB Novel is Meg Gardiner’s second installment in her new UNSUB series of thrillers, soon to be a CBS television series. Gardiner, a resident of Austin, is a New York Times bestselling-author and an Edgar Award winner (China Lake, Hodder & Stoughton, 2002). I was excited to learn that her newest novel is set in Texas, and Into the Black Nowhere does not disappoint.

With no witnesses and no forensic evidence, it’s as if these women have fallen through a rent in space and time. Lack of information spurs the rumor mill and, this being Texas, the occult is suspected. A local firearms instructor appears on television news to proclaim, “Satan is loose among us.” Apparently, you can shoot Satan dead with a handgun.

Gardiner is merciless with her characters, who are diverse and unusually complex for the genre. Hendrix is our heroine, but honorable mention goes to Special Agent Brianne Rainey. These are smart, tough, courageous women. The small-town Texas extras are authentically quirky.

While I was unimpressed early on with odd adverbs and clichés such as “he attacked cases like a hawk attacks prey,” Into the Black Nowhere quickly matures into a fast-paced, suspenseful part police procedural, part thriller. Just when you think you know where this is going, it disappears down an alley and reappears where you expect it least.

Gardiner draws us in gradually and then hooks us hard. The FBI criminology and technology are familiar from TV and movies, but Into the Black Nowhere goes beyond. The science is innovative and the technology fun, such as using football slant-routes and interception analysis to find a suspect in a crowd.

Gardiner has a sardonic wit. A sexy secretary wears a gold cross on a chain that “dipped into her cleavage like a meat thermometer.” Hendrix regards the suspect’s attitude as “Lord of all he surveyed, beloved of children and small animals and all the birds in the air.” She matches wits with this Ted Bundy–like suspect, creating a hybrid of frightening, comedic tension.

A startling variety of locations and landscapes adds interest. “As the rain turned to sleet, clouds snuffed the sunset and afternoon sank to charcoal darkness.” Sensory details create atmosphere. As search dogs advance through the preternatural hush of the forest, “the clasps of their leads click against their harnesses.”

Into the Black Nowhere is nicely plotted and unusually structured. Gardiner skillfully builds tension as the pace accelerates toward the most dramatic, exhausting, and satisfying ending I’ve read in quite some time. Woman power, y’all.

Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.

Monday Roundup: TEXAS LITERARY CALENDAR 1/22-28

Bookish goings-on in Texas for the week of January 22-28, 2018: 

Special Events:
FronteraFest 2018, Austin, January 16-February 17

How to Self-Publish Your Book -- Economically, Quickly, and Professionally, Dallas, January 23-February 6

Ongoing Exhibits:

National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature exhibition: The Illustrations of Melissa Sweet, Abilene, November 9-January 27

Monday, January 22:

Austin

BookPeople, PIERCE BROWN speaking & signing Iron Gold, 7PM [ticketed event]

Dallas

Interabang Books, Georgia Hunter discussing and signing WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES, 7PM

Houston
Brazos Bookstore, Anthony Graves discussing and signing INFINITE HOPE, 6:30PM

Richardson
Richardson Public Library, Writers Guild of Texas workshop: "The Secret of Clarity" with Lori Freeland, 7PM

Tuesday, January 23:

Austin

BookPeople, ERIC BRYANT speaking & signing Not Like Me, 7PM

Spiderhouse Ballroom, Austin Poetry Slam featuring Mike Rosen (Host: Christopher Michael), 7:15PM

Dallas

Interabang Books, Writers’ League of Texas panel discussion: Building Your Writing Community: How to Find Writing Groups & Support Other Writers with Kathleen Kent, Blake Kimzey, Melissa Lenhardt, and Arianne "Tex" Thompson, 7PM

Houston

Black Labrador Pub, Houston Writers House meeting featuring Shelley K. Wall discussing pitching and query letters, 6:30PM

Brazos Bookstore, E.R. Bills and Friends reading and signing ROAD KILL 2, 7PM

Houston Maritime Museum, lecture with Chet Van Duzer, author of Apocalyptic Cartography: Thematic Maps and the End of the World in a Fifteenth-Century Manuscript. 7PM

Murder By the Book, Nicholas Petrie will sign and discuss his third Peter Ash thriller, Light It Up, 6:30PM

San Antonio

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

South Padre Island
Paragraphs on Padre, Meet the Author Series: author and poet Lynn McLaughlin discussing and signing Child of the System: Little Lynn’s Story, 1PM

Wednesday, January 24:
Dallas

Interabang Books, Katherine Arden reading and signing THE GIRL IN THE TOWER, 7PM

The Wild Detectives, Literary Arts in Dallas: a panel discussion (part of the Dallas Cultural Plan 2018. Led by the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs), 7:30PM

Fort Davis
Fort Davis County Library, Ben English discussing and signing Yonderings: Trails and Memories of the Big Bend, 6PM

Houston

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

Brazos Bookstore, Visiting Treasures from the UH Rare Books Collection, 7PM

Murder By the Book, Alafair Burke will sign and discuss The Wife, 6:30PM

San Antonio
The Twig Book Shop, Mary Moorman discusses and signs Indulgences: Luther, Catholicism, and the Imputation of Merit, 5PM

Thursday, January 25:

Austin

Austin Public Library- Central, Mayor's Book Club Author Event with Osama Alomar (The Teeth of the Comb and Other Stories) and Wendy Pearlman (We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled), 6:30PM

BookPeople, GARY P. NUNN speaking & signing At Home with the Armadillo, 7PM

Malvern Books, an evening with queer poets Jenny Johnson, Shangyang Fang, and Travis Tate, 7PM

Dallas
Highland Park United Methodist Church, Friends of the SMU Libraries present Lea Berman and TREATING PEOPLE WELL, 6PM

Hotel Crescent Court, Max Boot discussing and signing The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam, 6:30PM

Interabang Books, Mandy Mikulencak reading and signing THE LAST SUPPERS, 7PM

The Wild Detectives, Simón Elías Barasoain discussing Alpinismo Bisexual, 7:30PM

Houston

Brazos Bookstore, Katherine Arden reading and signing GIRL IN THE TOWER, 7PM

Half Price Books - North Oaks, popular blogger and author Suzanne Ryan will discuss her new book, Simply Keto: A Practical Approach to Health & Weight Loss, with 100+ Easy Low-Carb Recipes, 7PM

Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Dr. James M. Adovasio lectures from The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Roles of Women in Pre-History, 6:30PM

Poison Girl Bar, Poison Pen Reading Series featuring Alex McElroy, Kerry Beth Neville, and Javier Zamora, 8:30PM

The Printing Museum, Open House: The Print Museum reopens!, 6PM

River Oaks Bookstore, Gay Gaddis discussing and signing Cowgirl Power: How to Kick Ass in Business and Life, 5PM

Sugar Land

B&N - First Colony, Story time with local author Maria Ashworth, 10AM

Friday, January 26:
Austin

BookPeople, GAY GADDIS speaking & signing Cowgirl Power: How to Kick Ass in Business and Life, 7PM

LBJ Library, an evening with former White House Social Secretaries Lea Berman and Jeremy Bernard as they discuss their joint book, Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life, 6PM

Malvern Books, I Scream Social Reading and Open Mic featuring Charlotte Gullick, Aimée Mackovic, and Vivé Griffith, 7PM

Houston

Brazos Bookstore, Writers' League of Texas Panel Discussion: "What Makes Books Sell?" with ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Benjamin Rybeck, and Marina Tristán, 7PM

North Richland Hills
North Richland Hills Library, Behind the Book: Laura Bush's Social Secretary Lee Burman, 1PM

Saturday, January 27:

Austin

Half Price Books - North Lamar, local author Therone Shellman will sell and sign his spiritual book, Third Eye Awakening, 1PM

Malvern Books, the Austin Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations hosts We Are ALL America! Open Mic Night, 7PM

Resistencia Bookstore, Austin Barrio Writers release the Barrio Writers 8th Edition anthology, 2PM

St. Edward's University, Writers' League of Texas workshop: "Crafting Story Openings That Will Capture Readers" with Lindsey Lane, 9AM

Dallas

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, Chef Mary Chamberlin Book Signing & Demo, 11AM

Dallas Museum of Art, Arts & Letters Live presents Selected Shorts: For Better and For Worse: Tales of Marriage with guest readers Michael Cerveris, Jane Kaczmarek, and Maria Tucci, 7:30PM

El Paso

El Paso Public Library - Memorial Park, Tumblewords Project Workshop: "Micro Fiction: The Shortest Story" with Tafari Nugent, 12:45PM

Flower Mound
Flower Mound Public Library, Former U.S. Women's Chess Champion Dr. Alexey Root will sign Prepare With Chess Strategy, plus simultaneous chess exhibition. Players who defeat Root in chess win a copy of the book, 2PM

Houston

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, K.M. Pohlkamp will discuss Locusta, the world's first serial killer from Gaul and poisoner of Emperor Claudius. Locusta was the inspiration for her novel, Apricots and Wolfsbane, 4:30PM

River Oaks Bookstore, Preston Pierott discussing and signing Cheat Codes to High School: Written by a Student, 3PM

San Antonio

Dead Tree Books, Meet the Author: Abraham Moreno, 2PM

Half Price Books - Huebner, Bowie Ibarra signing El Aire vs. The Mummies of San Uvalde, 12PM

The Twig Book Shop, Jessie Simpson and Al Rendon discussing and signing The King William Area, 11AM

Sunday, January 28:

Austin

Malvern Books, Kallisto Gaia Press presents The Ocotillo Review Volume 2.1 (Numerous poets and writers will read excerpts of their work from this edition, including Gloria Amescua, Catherine Castoro, Karen Collier, Marilyn Duncan, Gayle Guernsey, Stephen Hamilton, Lindsey Lane, and Allyson Whipple), 4PM

Dallas

First Presbyterian Church, Arts & Letters Live presents Ronald C. White, Jr. and A. Lincoln, 4PM

The Foundry Club, Writing Workshops Dallas presents: Seminar on Getting to THE END with David Eric Tomlinson, 3PM

Half Price Books Mothership, local author Cristee Cook will sell and sign her children's book, Your Hands Can Change the World! and local author Richard Armstrong will sell and sign his thriller, The Counsel of the Wicked, 1PM

Houston

River Oaks Bookstore, Tarif Youssef-Agha discussing and signing The Chronicles of the Syrian Revolution: The Orphan Uprising the Entire World Betrayed, 3PM

Writespace, Workshop: "Writing Young Adult Fiction" with Joy Preble, 10AM

San Antonio

The Twig Book Shop, Marnie Olson signing Grateful, 12PM

                                                    

Guest Post: ELEPHANT DREAMS by Martha Deeringer

ELEPHANT DREAMS

by

MARTHA DEERINGER

  Genre: Young Adult / Historical Fiction / Sweet Romance

Publisher: Melange Books

Date of Publication: September 2, 2017

Number of Pages: 224

Scroll down for the giveaway!

Desperate to escape her squalid life on the streets of New York City, sixteen-year-old Fiona Finn seeks help at the magnificent Church of the Ascension where Charles Loring Brace, a social reformer horrified by the plight of New York City’s street children, arranges for her to go west aboard an Orphan Train.

Fiona’s homeless, alcoholic father has other plans, however. He wants Fiona to “work” the streets to support his drinking and pursues her across the midwest until she is forced to abandon the train in Houston to avoid a sheriff bent on returning her to her father.

Alone in the dark on the Texas prairie, Fiona’s terrifying experience with a circus elephant, Bolivar, sets the stage for a future she could never have imagined.

PRAISE FOR ELEPHANT DREAMS:

Elephant Dreams will be featured in the January, 2018 issue of the Historical Novel Society magazine.

“What a story! With scenes to be likened to any Charles Dickens novel, the author, Martha Deeringer, carries the reader on a breathtaking journey through despair and hope that changes as often as the wind changes direction. Great characters, a believable story, an insight into another world, and an empathy for a character that a reader would have to have a heart of stone not to sympathise with. Although billed as a young adult story, this will readily appeal to an adult reader. Very visual writing and the makings of a classic.” -- Jane Finch for Readers’ Favorite

“I absolutely adored this novel; I couldn't find a single thing to dislike about it, other than of course the characters we are meant to dislike. The secondary characters were just as well rounded as the primary characters, leaving the reader with a feeling of contentment at the end of the novel. Each character brought his or her own three-dimensional personality to the novel, giving me a reason to either love or hate them passionately.” -- Acwoolet for Online Book Club

“I thoroughly enjoyed Elephant Dreams. It is a captivating story with a spunky heroine who is determined to turn her life around. I loved the unique settings that covered New York City slums, an orphan train and a Texas Circus. I would recommend it for teens through adults.” – 5 Stars, Kindle Edition | Verified Purchase

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The Mollie Bailey Circus

Originally posted on the Texas Co-Op Power online magazine

Article and image, by Aletha St. Romain, reprinted with permission

During the last half of the 19th century, the arrival of the Mollie A. Bailey Show brought rare excitement to small towns.

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Aunt Mollie” Bailey stood at the entrance of the circus tent before each performance to welcome her guests to the Mollie A. Bailey Show. Diamonds sparkled on each of her fingers. A round little woman with a poufy hairstyle, small waist and magnificent clothes, Mollie possessed enough talent to fill a big top. She sang, she danced, she played the piano, and she managed every aspect of her circus down to the smallest detail. Mollie’s soft heart tempered her strong, independent personality. All Civil War veterans got in free. So did children whose families could not afford the price of a ticket. Born in 1844, according to most sources, on a large southern plantation in Alabama, Mollie Arline Kirkland defied her wealthy parents when she married Gus Bailey, a bandleader  and talented musician, whose father owned a circus. Gus Bailey captured Mollie’s heart when she was just 14. The lure of his red hair and romantic lifestyle were too much for Mollie to resist. When she married Gus, her enraged father disowned her and never spoke to her again.

Circus life suited Mollie, and the couple soon set out on their own as the Bailey Family Troupe, putting on plays and musicals. But the Civil War intervened, and Gus enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861. In 1862, he was assigned to  a regiment in Hood’s Texas Brigade. There, he directed the band and performed with a group called Hood’s Minstrels between battles.

Unwilling to be left behind, Mollie went along to serve as a nurse in the field hospital. She entertained the troops, cooked hot meals and tended wounds. Much to the amazement of Gen. John Bell Hood, Mollie once dressed as an old woman, painted lines on her face with makeup, and, summoning all her acting skills, hobbled through the enemy camp leaning on a cane and selling cookies. The soldiers hardly noticed her as she picked up bits of vital information to pass along to the Confederates.

News that her husband’s regiment was desperately in need of medicine prompted Mollie to take on still another role to aid the South. She asked army surgeons to pack medicine into small packets that she hid in her intricate, curled pompadour hairstyle. Successfully passing through the Union lines, she made her way alone to deliver the medicine to suffering Confederate soldiers.

Like nearly everyone in the South, the Baileys were destitute at the end of the Civil War. In 1867, they rented a boat and performed up and down the Mississippi River, but Mollie lived in constant fear that one of her three children would fall overboard and drown. Trading the boat to a farmer for a wagon and a team of mules, the Bailey Family Troupe hit the road again. Business blossomed, and more Bailey children arrived, eventually reaching a total of nine. As they grew older, the children took their own roles in the show. In 1879, the Baileys billed their circus as “A Texas Show for Texas People” and made the Lone Star State their home.

During the last half of the 19th century, the arrival of what had become known as the Mollie A. Bailey Show brought rare excitement to small towns. As the years passed, the circus grew to include 31 wagons and about 200 animals. Nearly all the performers were members of Mollie’s family, and each played many roles in the performances. Many of the circus animals walked from one town to the next following the wagons. When an elephant broke through the rickety bridge over the San Jacinto River near Willis, the whole town turned out to offer advice on how to get him back on his feet.

Mollie managed all circus details after Gus’ death in 1896, but when she fell and broke her hip in 1918, none of her children had developed the organizational skills needed to keep the circus going. The broken hip refused to heal, and Mollie Bailey died in Houston a few months later. Within two years, the circus folded.

The popularity of the Mollie A. Bailey Show in small towns throughout the South is reflected in these lines from a poem by Frank W. Ford:

“It was cotton-picking time down in Texas
And the leaves of all the trees a golden brown.
The children and the old folk all were happy
For The Mollie Bailey Show had come to town.”

Martha Deeringer lives with her husband and their large, extended family on a central Texas cattle ranch. She writes magazine articles, often about history, for children and adults and is a frequent contributor to regional and national magazines. 

Martha also writes Young Adult fiction, occasionally inspired by her teaching experiences or the antics of her children and grandchildren. She loves ranch life and sometimes abandons her writing to cope with assorted issues involving kids, dogs, cats, horses, orphan calves, and occasionally armadillos, coyotes and rattlesnakes. 

 ║ Website ║ Facebook ║ 
║ Amazon Author Page ║ Goodreads ║


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