When William Gibson published his first novel, Neuromancer, thirty years ago, he triggered a seismic shift in the landscape of science fiction. With its vision of a gritty near-future populated by cowboy computer hackers and cybernetically-enhanced mercenaries, the book singlehandedly established cyberpunk as a genre, in the process foreshadowing the…
This week, sit at the feet of an eminent poet, celebrate a rustic sleuth or examine the farm-to-fork experience in a new cookbook with a local twist. Keep reading for details. See also: Boulder Book Store Presents Chuck Palahniuk…
Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, says the working title for his new book was Fifty Shades of the Twilight Cave Bear Wears Prada. In what became Beautiful You, he lampoons a few tropes from chick-lit and mommy porn. Palahniuk will be reading from the book on Tuesday, October 28…
Marrying George Clooney: Confessions From a Midlife Crisis isn’t actually a how-to book penned by newlywed Amal Clooney. Rather, it’s a memoir written by Amy Ferris chronicling her journey through menopause. Waking up in the middle of the night, Ferris would fantasize about marrying Clooney and simultaneously Google her ex-boyfriends,…
Jeff Miller’s grandfather never talked much about how he happened to meet Jeff’s grandmother while he was assisting civilian relief efforts in German-occupied Belgium during the Great War. That reticence stirred Miller’s writerly curiosity about the little-known exploits of the American-led Commission for Relief in Belgium, which went to ingenious…
When musician, performer (and sometime Westword contributor) Luke Leavitt set out to create “Pockets of Contextless Waste As Points,” he saw it as a way to finally cross paths with an Internet friend. The part-music, part-poetry, part-performance art event happening at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 18 at DIY space Hamsterdam,…
This week you can cheer on performance poets or listen thoughtfully to the literary variety; if you prefer novels to poetry, you can hear the author of one runaway bestseller discuss his next book. Keep reading for details. See also: Mountain to Mountain Author Shannon Galpin on Bicycles and Violence…
Cultural critics have been debating the virtues and perils of youth-obsessed literature all summer long. In the New York Times, A.O. Scott lamented “The Death of Adulthood in American Culture.” Slate’s Ruth Graham wrote the screed “Against YA,” bashing older fans of young-adult fiction. Both say they fear that the…
The book of poetry penned by Uche Ogbuji that won a 2014 Colorado Book Award is titled Ndewo, Colorado. That name should give you some idea of the gorgeous contradictions between its covers, poetry that pays homage equally to landscape and scientific concepts, penned by a computer engineer and immigrant…
Breckenridge resident, women’s right activist and avid cyclist Shannon Galpin (whose adventures we featured in the July 2012 cover story, “Peak Performance”) has quite the story to tell in her just-released autobiographical tale, Mountain to Mountain: A Journey of Adventure and Activism for the Women of Afghanistan, which chronicles the…
This week, you can mix your bedtime reading with explorations of beer-making and improving health through medical marijuana, or just enjoy an old-fashioned open-mic poetry reading at the Arvada Center. Keep reading for the details. See also: A Sense of Multidiscipline: Albert Chong: The Photomosaics/Mark Amerika Book Release…
Erika T. Wurth, now a creative writing professor at the Western Illinois University, went to school in Idaho Springs. She already has one book of poetry under her belt and now a novel, Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend, set in the mountain town. She’ll be back in Colorado on Monday, September 29…
This week’s picks include a how-to book for folks not willing to accept a first diagnosis and a four-event poetry marathon, held in tandem with readings around the world. Read on for the details. See also: Denver Cartoonist Spills Colfax Avenue’s Secrets in 30 Miles of Crazy!…
Colorado authors and poets will be in the spotlight this week at ceremonies, readings and head-to-head competitions, proving that diversity is alive and well in our state’s literary community. Take a look at what Colorado has to offer at these three very different events. See also: Bogged Down: Peter May…
This week’s featured readings feature exciting new voices in fiction and an author whose riff on the new economy unfolds in novel form. And in the slam poetry realm, competition among local poets vying to represent Denver at the Individual World Poetry Slam in October is heating up with help…
Growing up in northwest Denver, Diann Kissell carried a terrible secret inside for more than half of her first thirteen years. Her father, an insurance salesman and the patriarch of a proud Latino family, had singled her out among his ten children for furtive and persistent sexual abuse. His demands…
Books can unfold great adventures or embrace an experience that’s as easy as pie. This week’s picks explore both roads; take a last summer vacation with these diversions. Read on… See also: Five Amazing Zines From the Denver Zine Library…
The do-it-yourself ethic is one of the great legacies of the punk movement. For over forty years, people have been creating their own zines — self-published magazines, a subject Djake Carroll explores in his short documentary, Zinester: The Art of Individualism in the Era of Mass Media, which will have…
Somewhere between the first time a cave man chiseled an idea into stone and an early adopter tweeted a phrase in 140 characters, the zine was born. Zines are self-published magazines, often hand-drawn, collaged, typed on old-fashioned typewriters or scrawled in Sharpie, pen and pencil. The contents vary: Some are…
It’s not too late to travel this summer. The best thing about books is that they can take you anywhere — and you never have to leave your house. They challenge your mind or simply tickle it, and like the best travels, memories stay with you long after the trip…
This week’s literary picks bounce between a promising novelist’s debut, a pop star’s foray into fiction and a bookish wine tasting; read on for all the details. See also: The ten best comedy events in Denver this August…
This week in the local lit world, you can learn everything you ever needed to know about sleep, laugh it up at a book-signing by a comedian who’s taken to writing young-adult novels, or watch authors’ stories come alive onstage — and still have time to go home and get…
