Some writers write for money. Some write for fame. Others write just for kicks. Every once in a while, though, you'll come across a scribe who puts pen to paper intending to change the world.

Roberto Rugerio Guerrero at the Dartmouth Street Gallery

When you first glance at Roberto Rugerio Guerrero's paintings, they seem almost quaint. The muted hues—grays, browns, deadened oranges and blues—combined with his angular, fragmented, feminine forms are reminiscent of work by the major early 20^th century Cubists: Braque, Gris, Leger, Picasso.

Mónica Sánchez

National Hispanic Cultural Center

Back in October, a one-night-only performance of The Chronicles of Odisia Sanchez, a play by Mónica Sánchez, sold out fast as lightning. This time Sánchez' play about a woman's journey from San Francisco deep into the heart of Mexico will run for two weekends, exploring relations between the first world and the third. Reservations are advisable. The show runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through Feb. 8. $10 general, $8 students/seniors. 246-2261.

James R. Cain's Australian publication, Dark Animus, took me back to a time here in the states when horror was horror and King was king.

A retired window-washer with a love of opera goes to Vegas on vacation and wakes up in a ditch behind a construction site. He soon finds himself mixed up with New York mobsters. Advance readers say Stella's latest crime novel is fast, funny and brilliant from start to finish.

Bookish events in February

Local writers will be peddling their deliciously decadent homemade smut at Bookworks (4022 Rio Grande NW, (505) 344-8139) on Feb. 14, at 7 p.m. Well, all right, maybe it isn't exactly smut. We sophisticated types prefer the term "erotic writing." Whatever you want to call it, you can steam up your otherwise chilly Valentine's Day by heading down to the store to listen to sexy, sensual passages read by Kate Horsley, Lisa Lenard-Cook, Demetria Martinez, V.B. Price, David Stuart and Sharon O. Warner.