More library used book sales

This is the time of year that makes readers gleeful.

Just about every public library has a used book sale in the fall.

The used book sale at the Goshen County Library in Torrington begins 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 228 East 20th Ave. Items are individually priced during the first week of the sale. All bids for Silent Auction items will be accepted until 3 p.m. on Oct. 9. Successful bidders will be contacted by telephone on Tuesday of the last week of the sale. During the last week, items will be sold by the box.

FMI: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Torrington-WY/Goshen-County-Library/207587390928#!

Reminder: Deadline for public art proposals for new Torrington prison is Sept. 10

The date for submitting proposals for the Torrington Prison Art in Public Buildings project is September 10, 2010. For details, go to the Wyoming Arts Council web site at http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/pdf/AIPBCallforEntriesBrochure2010Torrington.pdf or call Rita Basom at 307-777-7473.

Fabian and Talbot sign books at State Museum

SPCR press release:

Two Wyoming authors, Linda Graves Fabian and Starley Talbot, will be at the Wyoming State Museum, Wednesday, June 9, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 6:30 p.m., to sign their new books, “Douglas,” and “Fort Laramie,” respectively.

“Douglas,” by Graves Fabian and Carol Price Tripp, features a series of historical photographs chronicling the growth of the east-central Wyoming town. The photographs were provided through the generosity of Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum Executive Director Arlene Ekland-Earnst.

“Fort Laramie,” by Talbot, features historical photographs of one of the most important frontier outposts of the American West. These photographs are from the Fort Laramie National Historic Sites, state and national archives and the author, Talbot.

Both books are part of the Images of America series, which celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stores from the past that shape the character of the community today.

FMI: 307-777-7022.

Arcadia Publishing release two new history books by authors from Wyoming

From John Michael Tabakian at Arcadia Publishing:

I’m pleased to announce the release of Fort Laramie and Douglas, the newest additions to Arcadia Publishing’s popular "Images of America" series.

Both books are by local authors. Fort Laramie is by Starley Talbott, a Wyoming native, freelance writer, and former newspaper reporter. This is her second book in the "Images of America" series. Photographs in this book are from the Fort Laramie National Historic Site, state and national archives, and the author.

The authors of Douglas, Linda Graves Fabian and Carol Price Tripp, both native Douglasites, carefully and lovingly selected photographs from the extensive photographic collections of the Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum in Douglas, thanks to the generosity of executive director Arlene Ekland-Earnst.

With more than 200 historic photographs, the books are full of great content.

For more information about the books, contact John Michael Tabakian, publicist, Arcadia Publishing, ph: 843.853.2070 x601and fax: 843.853.0044. Explore more than 6,500 titles at http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/

EWC fetes Spur Award winner John D. Nesbitt

Wayne Deahl from Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington sends this invitation:

Please join us this Friday, April 30, from 12:30-2 p.m. in the EWC Auditorium Lobby to recognize author and English professor John Nesbitt. His books recently received two Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America.

The reception is free and open to the public.

John has won a creative writing fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council and is on the WAC artists' roster.

Here's more info on the awards from John's March 22 blog post:

My novel Stranger in Thunder Basin won the Spur Award for Best Mass-Market Paperback Original. This is a great development for me, as I won in the same category last year with Trouble at the Redstone and was a finalist the year before with Raven Springs. All three of these novels have been published by Leisure Books / Dorchester Publishing.

In addition to winning in Mass-Market Paperback, I had the stunning surprise of also winning in the Best Short Fiction category. My short story "At the End of the Orchard," originally published by Hardboiled Magazine, won here. This story, about 9,000 words, is a mystery/noir piece set in a peach orchard and labor camp in the 1960s.

Marcia Hensley on the road to promote her book about women homesteaders

Nancy Curtis of High Plains Press in Glendo sends this announcement about one of her authors:

Marcia Hensley, author of STAKING HER CLAIM: WOMEN HOMESTEADING THE WEST, will be giving presentations and signing books at the Torrington Library on Monday, March 29 at 7 p.m.; at the Lusk Library Brown Bag Lunch on Tuesday, March 30, at noon; and at the Platte County Historical Society meeting at the Wheatland Library on Wednesday March 31, at 7 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

She has a good PowerPoint presentation and her talks always draw lots of input from the audience. Those women homesteaders were something!

John D. Nesbitt of Torrington wins two Spur Awards from WWA

This news from Western Writers of America came out last week but it's worth repeating because writers from Wyoming fared so well.

Here's the WWA press release:

Western Writers of America announced the winners and finalists of its annual literary contest Saturday, March 20, during the National Festival of the West in Scottsdale, Ariz.

John D. Nesbitt of Torrington (shown in photo dueing book signing at Cheyenne's City News) won two Spurs, claiming his second consecutive Spur for Best Original Mass Market Paperback Novel with “Stranger in Thunder Basin” (Leisure Books) and for Best Western Short Fiction Story, “At the End of the Orchard” ( Hardboiled Magazine).

Winners and finalists will be honored at the WWA Convention, June 22-26 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The complete list of winners and finalists:

Long Novel -- Winner: Robert Flynn, “Echoes of Glory” (TCU Press). Finalists: Bob Cherry, “One-Eyed Jacks” (Cicada Wing); Mary E. Trimble, “Tenderfoot” (Treble Heart).

Short Novel -- Winner: Robert Olmstead, “Far Bright Star” (Algonquin). Finalists: Sandi Ault, “Wild Sorrow” (Berkley Prime Crime); Robert Greer, “Spoon” (Fulcrum).

Mass Market Paperback -- Winner: John D. Nesbitt, “Stranger in Thunder Basin” (Leisure). Finalists: Lyle Brandt, “Hanging Judge” (Penguin/Berkley); William Blinn, “A Cold Place in Hell” (Pinnacle/Kensington).

Nonfiction-Biography -- Winner: David C. Humphrey, “Peg Leg” (Texas State Historical Society). Finalists: Clyde Milner and Carol O’Connor, “As Big as the West: The Pioneer Life of Granville Stuart” (Oxford University Press); Polly Aird, “Mormon Convert/Mormon Defector: A Scottish Immigrant in the American West (Arthur H. Clark).

Nonfiction-Historical -- Winner: Douglas C. McChristian, “Fort Laramie” (Arthur H. Clark). Finalists: William B. Schillingberg, “Dodge City: The Early Years, 1872-1886” (Arthur H. Clark); Paul Horsted, Ernest Grafe and Jon Nelson, “Crossing the Plains with Custer (Golden Valley Press).

Nonfiction-Contemporary -- Winner: Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler, “The Secret War in El Paso: Mexican Revolutionary Intrigue, 1906-1920” (University of New Mexico Press). Finalists: Katherine Benton-Cohen, “Borderline Americans: Racial Division and Labor War in the Arizona Borderlands” (Harvard University Press); Timothy Egan, “The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Short Nonfiction -- Winner: Roger Di Silvestro, “Teddy’s Ride to Recovery” (Wild West). Finalists: Kerry Oman, “Rejoicing in the Beauties of Nature: The Image of the Western Landscape During the Fur Trade” (Great Plains Quarterly); Michael A. Amundson, “These Men Play Real Polo: An Elite Sport in the Cowboy State, 1890-1930” (Montana: The Magazine of Western History).

Short Fiction -- Winner: John D. Nesbitt, “At the End of the Orchard” (Hardboiled Magazine). Finalists: Matthew Mayo, “Half a Pig” (Express Westerns); J.J. Clark, “As Is” (High Desert Journal).

Juvenile Fiction -- Winner: Johnny D. Boggs, “Hard Winter” (Five Star). Finalists: Victoria McKernan, “The Devil’s Paintbox” (Knopf); Melodie Cuate, “Journey to Goliad” (Texas Tech University Press).

Juvenile Nonfiction -- Winner: Nancy Plain, “With One Sky Above Us” (Mondo Publishing). Finalists: Annica Benning, “Arizona: Nations and Arts” (Walnut Canyon Press); Charles C. Mann, “Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491” (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster).

Storyteller -- Winner: Sandra Day O'Connor (author) and Tom Pohrt (illustrator), “Finding Susie” (Random House); Finalists: Joe Gribnau (author) and Adrian Tans (illustrator), “Kick the Cowboy” (Pelican); Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (author) and R. Gregory Christie (illustrator), “Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal” (Lerner Publishing).

Documentary -- Winner: Candy Moulton, “In Pursuit of a Dream” (Boston Productions Inc.). Finalists: Ric Burns, “We Shall Remain: Tecumseh’s Vision” (WGBH); Lyman Hafen, “Born to Ride” (Southern Utah University).

Poem -- Winner: Paul Zarzyski, “Bob Dylan Bronc Song” (Two Medicine). Finalists: David Memmott, “Where the Yellow Brick Road Turns West” (Wordcraft of Oregon); Larry D. Thomas, “Glass Mountains” (Southwestern American Literature).

Audiobook -- Winner: Gary McCarthy, “River Thunder” (Books in Motion). Finalists: Monty McCord, Mundy’s Law (Books in Motion); Phil Mills Jr., “Where a Good Wind Blows” (Books in Motion).

Song -- Winner: Wylie Gustafson and Paul Zarzyski, “Hang-n-Rattle: (Two Medicine Music/Bucking Horse Moon Music). Finalists: Steve Moulton, “Steamboat” (Butch Hause/The Ranger Station); Daron Little, “Pete French” (self-published).

WAC holds town meeting 3/25 in Cheyenne

The Wyoming Arts Council is holding its Southeast Region Town Meeting on Thursday, March 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m., in the Sunflower Room on the third floor of the Laramie County Library, 2200 Pioneer, Cheyenne.

More info later...