Center Stage

Published author? Here’s how to get a free drink

So a funny thing happened when I called up the Stoneleigh P last week to confirm some details about an appearance by author Joe Nick Patoski on Friday.

Joe Nick, whose Dallas Cowboys book just got reviewed by some New York newspaper, had initially described the event as the “Stoneleigh P Book Festival,” and suggested a few authors who might be attending. I called up Tom Garrison, an owner of the longstanding Dallas hangout (Alan Peppard knows a few stories about it) and heard a rather relaxed Garrison promise that he would buy a round for any published writer who shows up Friday between 5 and 7 p.m.

My first thought was to the number of local writers we’ve reviewed over my tenure as book reviews editor, and thought of the drinking capacity of some of them, and I immediately feared for the bar’s solvency. So I waited a few days, and called Tom back again, just a few minutes ago, just to make sure he meant what he said.

He confirmed: “I’m inviting all published authors to come have a toast,” he said. He even put it on the bar’s Facebook page. Although it’s not stated there, he repeated to me on the phone: “I’ll buy ‘em a drink.”

Now, there are some caveats here: He told me the free drink offer was good from 5 to 7 p.m. The Facebook page says 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Joe Nick said he would be there from 3 to 7 p.m. And I’m not sure what kind of proof of publication he’ll be looking for. So — go at your own risk.

But I would also say: This sounds like fun. If you make it — let me know how it turns out. (The bar is located at 2926 Maple Ave.)

See author Ernest Cline and win his DeLorean

( Dan Winters)
Ernie Cline and his DeLorean

If you happen to pass a DeLorean traveling toward Fairview at just under 88 mph this weekend, pause to wave to Austin author Ernie Cline, who is headed to A Real Bookstore for a signing at 2 p.m. Sunday.

As he and I discussed when I interviewed him in Austin last fall, the DeLorean, which you’ll usually see prominently parked nearby at each stop on his book tour, is the greatest business expense ever. Sure, it’s a dream come true for any 1980s sci-fi nerd. But given the incessant 1980s pop-culture references he expresses in < em>Ready Player One, nobody at the IRS could question its value as a publicity tool. Especially given the attention it draws. (I recall Ernie telling me that he has to keep a cloth handy to wipe the fingerprints off after every event. I think he told me this right before I threw journalistic distance to the wind and “allowed” him to take a picture of me sitting in the cockpit.)

“It’s like an instant ’80s nostalgia party wherever I take the car,” Cline told told USA Today. “And parking it in front of bookstores — I open it up and put on Huey Lewis and … yeah, it’s like a traveling nerd convention.”

But he’s apparently moving on to better things: To celebrate the book’s paperback release, Cline has a contest where you can win that very DeLorean [see update, below.] Here’s the video where he explains the contest:
Continue reading

Gift guide: Best book bargains and Texas writers for the holidays

Because we love books — and who doesn’t? — we shall send you into the weekend with news of bargains from A Real Bookstore in Fairview. Namely, if you purchase “A Real Bag” for $4.50 at the store, you get 20 percent off all regular priced merchandise this weekend. It’s also good for 10 percent off regular prices for the rest of the year.

If you’re closer to a Barnes & Noble, the other bookselling force in Dallas, I see a 30 percent off coupon at their website.

And if you’re trying to figure out what to buy, well, why not spend some time scrolling through our recent book reviews? Or, I’ll highlight some recent stories after the jump.
Continue reading

Your turn: Discuss The Future of Texas Literature

This weekend, we’re running the views from several esteemed members of the Texas Institute of Letters about the future of Texas literature. You can read the story here.

And after you have, you can share your comments below.

James D. Hornfischer, Laura Furman, H.W. Brands win acclaim beyond Texas

Three Texas writers were highlighted on this week’s books pages, but the critical attention they’ve received is hardly provincial.

Continue reading
http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/tag/texas-authors/
artsblog.dallasnews.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2014-52
83033
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:Y2ARQPRKXBCTVSLWFWWK4KIHJNDIPCXO
<urn:uuid:7991d04e-c8a5-4a4c-8d05-e6b0c9055863>
2014-12-20T15:46:40Z
147.136.62.60
sha1:SR337WR7273SGL3MMFLEN47W2RFRNCFK
<urn:uuid:80e8460e-a369-4076-a81b-a41f88d990d5>
http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/tag/texas-authors/
response
<urn:uuid:2f289112-b937-4ee9-95fe-59d10c6fb77c>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2014-52
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for December 2014
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf