You know you have a relative who spends most of his or her days reading inside a well-lit room. Here’s your chance to New Mexify that loved one’s Christmas or cheer up a friend who moved away. (Or make them even more homesick. Either way.) Here’s a list of fresh, local authors, subject matter or publishers. I’ve included the publisher’s price on the books, but they’re probably available at a lower price on the Internet, you cheap, Scroogey bastard. A debt of gratitude goes out to Laura Kuechenmeister over at Bookworks (4022 Rio Grande NW, 344-8139) for leading me in the right direction with a litany of suggestions. You rule, Laura.
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Fiction Against All Things Ending by Stephen R. Donaldson Albuquerque sci-fi guy Stephen Donaldson delivers the penultimate installment in his “Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever” series. The titular character is a bitter, cynical writer with leprosy who is the protector of a fictional universe. (Putnam Adult, hardcover, $29.99) Beat by Stephen Jay Schwartz Beat tells the story of a sex-addicted L.A. cop who uncovers a sex slavery ring while trolling the Internet. Seedy stuff. Author Schwartz grew up in New Mexico but has moved on to California. (Forge Books, paperback, $14.99) The Bone Fire by Christine Barber Barber takes you into the world of Lucy Newroe, a newspaper editor who drinks too much and must find out who threw the body of a missing toddler into a fire. It wasn’t her schizophrenic neighbor. Merry Christmas. (Minotaur Books, hardcover, $24.99) Bound by Antonya Nelson Nelson lives part time in the Land of Enchantment and has been featured in Harper’s and the New Yorker . This novel concerns the adulterous Oliver, his wife Catherine and, for some reason, the BTK Killer. Serial killers just make for good reading. Yes, they do. (Bloomsbury, hardcover, $25) Eye of the Mountain God by Penny Rudolph This one involves a single mom with an autistic daughter who moves to New Mexico. The paperboy vanishes and she finds some emerald arrowheads. There’s a terrorist in there somewhere, too. (Thomas Dunne Books, hardcover, $25.99) A Glass of Water by Jimmy Santiago Baca Santiago Baca, mostly known for his poetry, comes in with a novel about the treatment of migrant workers. Hint: They don’t get treated very well. (Grove Press, paperback, $14) La Ranfla and Other New Mexico Stories by Martha Egan The book contains seven stories that deal with everything from low-riders to trips to Navajo country and stray dogs. (Papalote Press, hardcover, $24.95) Tengo Sed by James Fleming UNM emergency room doctor James Fleming writes about the life of an E.R. intern who smokes too much. It’s kind of an Albuquerque version of Bringing Out the Dead . (UNM Press, paperback, $16.95) The Three Kings: A Christmas Dating Story by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez Valdes-Rodriguez has left Albuquerque for L.A., but her latest novel is set right here. Three Kings is a romance that follows Christy, a woman whose husband leaves her. Will she fall for the cowboy, the animal lover or the pretty boy? (St. Martins Griffin, paperback, $14.99) The Turquoise Ledge by Leslie Marmon Silko Ms. Silko doesn’t live here any more, but Albuquerque spawned her. This is her first book in nearly a decade, essentially a desert memoir. (Viking Adult, hardcover. $25.95) Nonfiction Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology by David Abram Abram discusses the disastrous consequences of man becoming separated from nature. Gotta love them environmentalists. They sure know how to make you feel good about being a disgusting human. (Pantheon, hardcover, $26.95) Dear John, I Love Jane: Women Write About Leaving Men for Women , edited by Candace Walsh and Laura Andre As the title suggests, this is an essay collection about women who leave relationships to begin new ones with women. It’s been described as arousing, inspiring, bawdy, bold and heartfelt. Dig it. (Seal Press, paperback, $16.95) Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides Not light reading, Hellhound documents James Earl Ray’s stalking of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the subsequent manhunt of Ray. (Doubleday, hardcover, $28.95) The Women Jefferson Loved by Virginia Scharff Apparently he loved a lot of them. Scharff offers a biography of the president through the eyes of the women in his life. (Harper, hardcover, $27.99) Poetry America the Beautiful by Paula Gunn Allen Allen grew up in Cubero, N.M., and eventually became a poet, literary critic and novelist. She taught at UNM where she earned a Ph.D. She also wrote a whole lot of books, many of them concerning American Indian themes. This is her final collection of poems. (West End Press, paperback, $12.95) Bolitas de Oro: Poems from My Marble-Playing Days by Nasario Garcia Garcia takes the reader to Guadalupe, N.M., a place that is no longer there. This book of poems concerns Garcia’s early life and neighbors in West-Central New Mexico. Just like the state in which they are set, the poems are bilingual. (UNM Press, hardcover, $24.95) Art In the Places of the Spirits by David Grant Noble Noble offers 76 duotone plates of the land and people of the Southwest. Duotones are very artsy black and white (sort of … there are hints of color) photographs. Probably a good gift for someone out of state who misses home. (SAR Press, hardcover, $30) One Nation One Year by Don James Photographer Don James drove from one end of the Navajo Nation to the other for one year, taking photos of everything he could find. He walked, road horses and generally got lost. (Rio Grande Books, paperback, $24.99) Startling Art: Revealing the Art of Dennis Larkins by Dennis Larkins Artist Dennis Larkins, who lives in Santa Fe, is most famous for his iconic Grateful Dead posters. He’s put together a collection of some of his work. (Last Gasp, hardcover, $25) Weekends with O’Keeffe by C.S. Merrill Merrill worked for the famed painter and kept a journal of what life with her was like. (UNM Press, hardcover, $24.95)
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Nonfiction Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology by David Abram Abram discusses the disastrous consequences of man becoming separated from nature. Gotta love them environmentalists. They sure know how to make you feel good about being a disgusting human. (Pantheon, hardcover, $26.95) Dear John, I Love Jane: Women Write About Leaving Men for Women , edited by Candace Walsh and Laura Andre As the title suggests, this is an essay collection about women who leave relationships to begin new ones with women. It’s been described as arousing, inspiring, bawdy, bold and heartfelt. Dig it. (Seal Press, paperback, $16.95) Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides Not light reading, Hellhound documents James Earl Ray’s stalking of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the subsequent manhunt of Ray. (Doubleday, hardcover, $28.95) The Women Jefferson Loved by Virginia Scharff Apparently he loved a lot of them. Scharff offers a biography of the president through the eyes of the women in his life. (Harper, hardcover, $27.99)
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Poetry America the Beautiful by Paula Gunn Allen Allen grew up in Cubero, N.M., and eventually became a poet, literary critic and novelist. She taught at UNM where she earned a Ph.D. She also wrote a whole lot of books, many of them concerning American Indian themes. This is her final collection of poems. (West End Press, paperback, $12.95) Bolitas de Oro: Poems from My Marble-Playing Days by Nasario Garcia Garcia takes the reader to Guadalupe, N.M., a place that is no longer there. This book of poems concerns Garcia’s early life and neighbors in West-Central New Mexico. Just like the state in which they are set, the poems are bilingual. (UNM Press, hardcover, $24.95)
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Art In the Places of the Spirits by David Grant Noble Noble offers 76 duotone plates of the land and people of the Southwest. Duotones are very artsy black and white (sort of … there are hints of color) photographs. Probably a good gift for someone out of state who misses home. (SAR Press, hardcover, $30) One Nation One Year by Don James Photographer Don James drove from one end of the Navajo Nation to the other for one year, taking photos of everything he could find. He walked, road horses and generally got lost. (Rio Grande Books, paperback, $24.99) Startling Art: Revealing the Art of Dennis Larkins by Dennis Larkins Artist Dennis Larkins, who lives in Santa Fe, is most famous for his iconic Grateful Dead posters. He’s put together a collection of some of his work. (Last Gasp, hardcover, $25) Weekends with O’Keeffe by C.S. Merrill Merrill worked for the famed painter and kept a journal of what life with her was like. (UNM Press, hardcover, $24.95)
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Children and Young Adult Grandpa’s Magic Tortilla (El Tortilla Magia de Abuelo) by Demetria Martinez and Rosalee Montoya-Read Grandpa almost burns a tortilla, which seems to magically reveal animal shapes. Soon, all the kids in the neighborhood want to see. (UNM Press, hardcover, $18.95) Of All the Stupid Things by Alexandra Diaz Sometimes Santa Fe resident Alexandra Diaz was largely home-schooled in high school and has subsequently developed a fascination with the subject. Stupid Things follows the trials of Tara, who thinks her boyfriend may be cheating on her with a guy. She seems to be falling for a girl. Saucy. Where were these books when I was a kid? (EgmontUSA, hardcover, $16.99) Saving Sky by Diane Stanley Sky lives on a rural New Mexico ranch where the war on terror seems distant. She is forced to stick up for the Middle Eastern kid who gets picked on by bullies. (HarperCollins, hardcover, $15.99) Take Me There by Carolee Dean Dylan is trying to get to Texas to say goodbye to his father, who’s on death row for murder. Dylan is also running from police and gangsters. Again, where were these books when I was a kid? (Simon Pulse, paperback, $8.99)
