Texas Books

For several years now, a new range war has erupted in the western states. Despite what is claimed on a certain "reality" television show, fire is not the lifeblood of the tribe. Water is and is the issue in the modern day range war that remains out of most media coverage despite the far-reaching implications.

The battle over water supplies now and in the future is causing major problems in the west. Beyond the fact that former deserts now have lush golf resorts, it is a fact that as the population in major cities continues to swell, water is more and more in short supply, Since water crosses political boundaries above and below ground, it is up to nations to work out ways of accommodating the scarce supply.

One way of doing this is by treaty such as the one between Mexico and the United States originally enacted in 1944. Under the treaty, Mexico is to release water which would eventually flow into the Rio Grande along the Texas/Mexico border. As those of us living in Texas know, instead, despite the many promises of Mexican President Fox to do so, they haven't released the water. Because of that fact as well as a massive multi year drought, the Rio Grande has become a river in name only. Much of the year it is nothing more than a trickle at best. The drought and treaty is the backdrop for this latest effort from Allana Martin.

In this sixth book of the series, it has been six weeks since the death of Commissioner Zanjiv Mehendru who was head of the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission. He had sided with Mexico in the dispute recently angering many of the locals and earning him the derisive name "River Master." In this arid hard scrabble land around Presidio in deep Southwest Texas, his behavior as well as other actions he had undertaken were not met with appreciation and instead for many, made their lives harder as decades of behavior were suddenly against the law overnight. His death in Mexico six weeks ago was considered good riddance by many on this side of the border and still no arrest has been made.

That is until shortly after Texana Jones and her husband Clay, long fixtures in the border country, sit down in a restaurant with good friends, Mario and Olivia. Over dinner they discuss life in the border country until their dinner is interrupted by the arrival of several members of the Mexican Police. Clay is arrested and taken away without explanation and soon Texana learns that her mild mannered veterinarian husband has been arrested for the murder of Zanjiv Mehendru.

Having lived nearly all her life on the border, Texana knows that the concept of innocence or any other tenets of the United States Legal System do not exist in Mexico. Instead, under their system, the process is automatically stacked against the accused across the board on many different levels. In Clay's case, despite the fact that it can be conclusively proved he was far from the border let alone the murder site at time of death, it doesn't matter. Pressure is being brought to make sure that Clay is convicted and sentenced for the crime and proving Clay innocent isn't going to work. Instead, Texana begins to dig into the background of the victim searching for who might have done it while the pressure against her and her husband steadily mounts. Other strange events begin to occur as well which may or may not tie into Clay's problem. One that seems to get worse every day.

This is the sixth novel in the series and while it could be read as a stand alone (more so than earlier ones) I would not recommend doing so. Allana Martin does not write intense thrillers of page turning suspense. Instead, her books are more about the characters and the land of Southwest Texas. Each book, including this one, moves slowly forward as the author paints a deep picture of the region which changes subtly from book to book as the characters evolve. While she is not one to keep the reader glued to his or her seat, she has the ability within a few short paragraphs to transport the author into the whole other world of the border country of Southwest Texas, which she so clearly loves.

Which is precisely why I read her. As a native Texan who had the good fortune to be in that part of the State when I was too young to appreciate it, she has an incredible ability to bring it alive, She gets it and brings her love for the people and the curious blend of Tex-Mex culture alive. Her first book, "Death Of A Healing Woman" brought that imagery alive and every book since has built on that through great writing, ongoing character development, and a unique style all her own. She has quite a legacy at work here and serves as proof that the west and east coast driven bestseller lists often do miss quite a few very good books.

The head of the United States section of the International Boundary and Water Commission Zanjiv Mehendru has made many enemies in America for his decisions favoring Mexico. In Mexico he is regarded, as a hero so when he is murdered, there is a public outcry for the judicales to catch his murderer. When Clay and Texana Jones, the owners of Texana's Trading Post and a veterinary practice go across the Mexican border to the town of Ojinaga to dine with friends at a local restaurant, Clay is arrested.

It is only later that Texana learns that her husband is believed to be the killer of Mehendru but when she goes over their records, she has proof that Clay was nowhere near Ojinaga the night the homicide occurred. The magistrate dismisses her evidence preferring that of a prostitute who insists says she saw Clay kill Mehendru. Someone politically high up wants Clay convicted and Texana must find out whom that person is if she ever wants to see her beloved husband back home with her where he belongs.

Life on the border is definitely different and La Frontera has a culture and a history different from the rest of both countries. The protagonist must work within a court system that finds a suspect guilty until proven innocent and the only way that she can free her husband is to offer up an alternative suspect. Friends on both sides of the border work together to uncover a conspiracy that is keeping an innocent man incarcerated. Allana Martin has written a culturally colorful amateur sleuth novel.

Harriet Klausner

When your typical blues fan thinks of cities that were important to the development of this great art form, he usually thinks of Chicago and maybe Memphis. However, Alan Govenar and Jay Brakefield make the case for Dallas, Texas as a major center for the developement of the blues in no uncertain terms. Of course, Deep Ellum and Central Track is not a blues book per se, but rather a well researched historical and sociological treatise on the birth and development of Big D's Deep Ellum and Central Track districts from the earliest days to the present. The authors use lots of primary source interviews with the surviving denizens of this fascinating area of town and paint a truly engaging picture of the lifestyles and business practices of these predominantly black and Jewish areas, particularly around the 1920's heyday of the earliest great blues artists. Such immortal founding fathers as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson and "Oak Cliff" T-Bone Walker were crucial to the growth of the art form, and these and innumerable lesser artists are covered in meticulous and loving detail. The authors also spend plenty of time covering contributors to the local jazz and country music scenes as well, particularly jazz hornman Buster Smith, and country pickers the Light Crust Doughboys, where western swing icon Bob Wills got his start. Even though the work has a decidedly scholarly bent, the numerous stories of such colorful characters as gambling mogul Benny Binion and mammoth shoeshine entrepreneur "Open the Door Richard", provide enough reading pleasure to keep even casual fans enthralled. Researchers will love the nearly one hundred pages of source appendices, and fans of history, sociology, music, and Big D will all want to read this book as soon as possible, for it proves, among other things, that Dallas, Texas was and is a fascinating city, as well as a major contributor to the history of the blues art form.

This is a well researched and well written description of a time and place in Dallas in the 20's and 30's that has long been overdue. The history of blues, jazz, gospel and country was written in Deep Ellum. It was a "good read", and I recommend it highly.

If you like Hillerman's characters, than you will probably like Miller's. She has captured the dry, honest character of the Arizona world and has a scientists eye for her surroundings. The stories just keep getting better! Thanks Ms. Miller and keep Frankie digging.

I could not put down this book. I found it exciting, fast moving, educational, terrorizing and just plain kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn't want it to end and I can't wait for book three to come out. Write fast, Susan!!!

From the Cover: "Skillfully combining mysticism and history, [this book] brings to life the plight of the residents of Presidio, a village on the border between Texas and Mexico that neither side truly wants to claim as its own. Beginning in 1883 and continuing through 1970, the lost souls of Presidio - both living and dead - tell their own stories, revealing the history of their town to be one of desolation and poverty, where the Devil is the only visitor, and the original occupants and their ancestors have lost their land and consequently the right to rule their own lives. narrated by the villagers' voices - including a lawyer, a renegade, and even an unborn child - the residents of the town strongly evoke through their own words the troubled life of the displaced Mexican. Brito's powerful imagery and passionate writing bring us to a clearer undersanding of these people and their lives than is likely to be found anywehre else."

ARISTEO BRITO'S NOVEL IS AN EMOTIONAL JOURNEY. HIS SINCERITY IS OBVIOUS AND HIS IMAGES ARE TRUE PRINTS OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT.I HAVE NOT BEEN SO MOVED BY THE INTENSITY OF A NOVEL IN A LONG TIME. THE PLIGHT AND HEROISISM OF A PEOPLE SO OPPRESSED COULD ONLY BE DESCRIBED SO ELOQUENTLY BY ARISTEO BRITO. I AM ONLY SADDENED THAT I COULD NOT READ IT IN IT'S FIRST EDITION OF SPANISH, BECAUSE I IMAGINE HIS WORDS WERE EVEN MORE COMPELLING AND BEAUTIFUL.

Fred McKinley's Devil's Pocket vividly captures the aura of an oil boomtown in early twentieth-century Southeast Texas with memorable characters and an intricate plot that covers more than a century. This novel is hard to put down. It held my attention from beginning to end as it built up to a horrifying and shocking climax. I highly recommend Devil's Pocket to anyone who enjoys an intergenerational, suspenseful saga set in an important era of American history that has been much less used in fiction than the Civil War and World War II time-periods. A person who reads Devil's Pocket will gain much insight into the culture of the period in which our civilization changed from being limited to horse-and-buggy-type transportation to being powered by oil and gasoline.

In an exciting historical adventure, Devil's Pocket, Fred B. McKinley brings us sex and secrets during the times when black gold was the lure for men striving to make their fame and fortune. More, he gives us three family stories that twine and intertwine so fully that murder had to result--secrets always come out! McKinley uses his knowledge and research for his earlier book, Black Gold to Bluegrass, a nonfiction account of the second Spindletop oil boom that occurred in 1925 in Beaumont, Texas. With this background, he has created a thrilling first novel that pulls readers into the time and feelings of those who lived and searched for the rich oil lands in early America.

The main thrust of the book follows the life of Morgan, a young ambitious man who moved quickly and easily from one job to another as he sought to secure his financial future. While ambitious, he was also a man who loved and respected his family, working diligently to provide support and a home for his mother and sister.

Rachael fell in love with Morgan upon first sight. She was the daughter of a rich man and the granddaughter of an even richer man! Morgan had come to Rachael's father to seek financial support in one of his ventures. Thoughts of Rachael or any other woman were far from his plans, as he became friends with her father. Many years went by as Rachael waited and longed for Morgan to notice and come to love her.

A simple love story? Not!

While waiting for Morgan, Rachael foolishly flirts with the wrong man, and because he doesn't listen to her when she tells him to "stop," she later finds herself pregnant. Rachael wants both to keep her child and to not have to admit that she is hers. Her lies later leave her daughter in the same situation and with the same man--her father!

As Morgan is busily making an honorable name for himself and working continuously to move forward toward his goals, oil is struck at Spindletop and he gets a touch of the "fever" that many men followed and for which many men failed. Morgan had his sights set on leasing land that he felt would be rich with oil. The only problem was that Rachael's grandfather owned it! Morgan went to his friend, Rachael's father, hoping to work through him to gain support to lease his father-in-law's land, but they had been enemies since the birth of Rachael since his daughter had died giving birth. However, there was one thing that the two men had in common--a love for Rachael so strong that they could put aside their estrangement and secretly work toward making Rachael happy; i.e., married to Morgan!

Devil's Pocket was the bait...

Oil was struck there--richer even than Spindletop! But at what cost? For in the end, Morgan and his sister were dead and so was Rachael, her father, and her grandfather.

Susannah Fletcher, a granddaughter, was one of the few left. She wore a tarnished cross from a grandmother she had never known. And she was given her grandmother's diary to haunt her until she found the true story of what had happened to the family members, now all gone.

The early 1900's were hard times. Women were often left to carry the burden of children from lost loves. Men left to try to find the fortunes that they knew they were due. Some found them; most did not. Devil's Pocket presents the drama behind those lustful times. McKinley may have written the fiction; but readers will easily and quickly believe that all of the events could easily have been real. He has created characters you will hate immediately. Some are crafty and selfish and want their own way. Others love and work hard to provide for their families. They were killed due to greed, love, pride, but most of all, fear.

Readers interested in historical fiction will find this a well-written, well-researched story of the time when black gold fever touched our lands. Devil's Pocket, hopefully, will not be the last story about this time period. This reader is already looking for a McKinley sequel!

This guide is at once scholarly and engagingly written-making it more useful for the student, writer, or reader of contemporary poetry than other, more venerable tomes. By using the helpful cross-listings and the subject guides in the appendices, you can follow both the history and current practice of poetic technique. All the Greek tropes are there with readable entries, but so are cinematic techniques like the "metaphor cut," and "jump cut" along with discussions of how film technique was influenced by poetry and vice versa. The Dictionary of Poetic Terms is the best of its kind by orders of magnitude. No aspiring poet should be without it.

Now in a newly updated edition containing more than 1,600 entries on the devices, techniques, history, theory, and terminology of poetry from the Classical period to the present day, Dictionary Of Poetic Terms by Jack Myers (Director of the Creative Writing Program, Southern Methodist University) and published poet Don C. Wukasch, is an excellent literary resource offering aspiring poets, students, and scholars of literature extensive definitions for literary terms, ranging from threnody, to epyllion, to western ending vs. eastern ending, and a great deal more. A first-rate resource for critics, connoisseurs, students, and writers of poetry and prose alike, the Dictionary Of Poetic Terms is a welcome and scholarly contribution to Literary Studies academic reference collections.

My friend owns this book. It was given to her by her grandfather who is a coushatta. She is learning the language and is teaching it to me because I am interested in her culture. Many times she has let me borrow the book. The book is very helpful because it has guides to help you pronounce the words.

This dictionary is crucial chronicle of the Alabama language. It took the author Sylestine, almost fifty years to complete (Actually completed after her death). The Alabama language is a part of the Muskogeon band of languages that include: Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, Coushatta, and other tribes of the southeast. It is an essential part of my tribe's survival to preserve our culture, and our language is a crucial part in accomplishing this. The dictionary offers translations from Alabama to English( in the first half of the book) and English to Alabama ( in the second half). I recommend this book to all interested in Native languages, and those interested in the Muskogeon languages (for they are not in written form until recently). My recommendation comes from knowing Cora Sylestine (the author) for years, and also my grandmother is one of the contributing speakers credited in the book.

I am in our state Master Gardener program, and the advice is to go organic. You can read contradictory advice out there on the best way to grow crops, flowers, healthy lawns and trees. So far this is the book I've found that clears up the contradictions I've heard and read about and tells you why.
I'm reading a library copy, but just ordered a copy for personal use. I'm sure it will come in handy.

This book is extremely informative, both for the beginning gardener as well as the more experienced. Contains basic planting techniques, how to begin gardening the organic way, (not as daunting or expensive as you might think!) and maintaining your new masterpiece. Disease and pest control, (MANY bugs are beneficial!!) building healthy soil, (which in turns builds healthy plants,) soil and water management, etc. Written in clear, easy-to-understand language, this is the first book I would recommend to anyone with an interest in gardening, or someone looking for a better, safer way to care for their corner of the planet. If you have children or pets, and a yard, this book is for you! If you enjoy spending time outside relishing your greenspace, this book is for you!

I do have one complaint about the writers, though. They just don't get them out fast enough. I loved, loved this book. My concern at first was that I would not get to see enough of Ed and Debbie Sue once the secondary character was introduced. They take Celina under their wing but they are all involved with the madness that happens in New York.

The reviewer from Publisher's Weekly who called Ed and Debbie Sue "silly" must not have any speck of a sense of humor. Don't pay attention to that part of the review. Dixie Cash fans will not be disappointed.

Although they were second choice, Salt Lick, Texas private investigators Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins are thrilled to be invited to speak a at the National Association of P.I.s convention in New York City. Besides a free trip, they plan to investigate all the latest sleuthing gadgetry and designer shoes; not that they can afford any with their beauty parlor being their moneymaker.

The dynamic detecting Domestic Equalizer duo makes friends with natives such as some ladies like Cher who work the street for a living and visitors from Texas like mugging victim Celina. Although they swore no cases while enjoying a bite of the Big Apple, Debbie Sue and Edwina end up in the middle of an NYPD serial killer inquiry in which the murderer considers targeting two dizzy detective dames from Texas.

The latest Domestic Equalizer mystery (see MY HEART MAY BE BROKEN, BUT MY HAIR STILL LOOKS GOOD and SINCE YOU'RE LEAVING ANYWAY, TAKE OUT THE TRASH) is more a culture war between rural Texas and urban Manhattan. The bets are on the two zany Salt Lick hair stylists. As always in this series, the lead duet try to do the right thing as they perceive that to be, but most often cause more problems for those they want to save and leads to plenty of humor. Readers will appreciate the Texas-Manhattan encounter as Debbie Sue and Edwina bring their hearts and humor to Times Square.

Harriet Klausner

Fans of the blues will thoroughly enjoy this outstanding book by Roger Wood and James Fraher, who spent seven years researching and interviewing folks involved with the largely "invisible" blues music scene in Houston and the surrounding area. Fraher's photographs are outstanding, and they help drive the lively text. The authors interviewed musicians, club owners, producers and many others associated with the music scene in Houston's Third Ward and the Fifth Ward. The book moves easily from clubs to ballrooms to barbecue joints, where the music first took root and is still played today. Many legendary blues musicians such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Clifton Chenier, Gatemouth Brown and others of similar rank make appearances in the text. This is a high-quality book from a production standpoint and is an incredible bargain at full price or the Amazon.com sale price.

Roger Wood begins this labor of love with a tacit admission that, on moving to H-town in 1981 for job related purposes, he was unaware of the blues history lining the cracks of the nearby Third Ward sidewalks until the February 1, 1982 obituary in the Houston Chronicle of lifelong native Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins. With this tome under his belt it appears he's made up for lost time since then.

In addition to covering the wealth of blues greats who were either born in Houston or called the area home for any length of time, Wood also documents the underbelly of the lower class club scene, those low rent juke joints and converted shotgun houses that kept the I-IV-V alive all those decades, and still continues to do so. Wood rightfully laments the city's growing distance from it's blues heritage as well as the disappearance of it's historic venues, but "Down in Houston" is a verbal and pictorial testament to the bedrock that no one can strip away.