Reading fiction set in New Mexico is a painless and pleasant way to learn more about NM, especially when the works are set in nearby and familiar areas. More than a few NM mysteries also show distinct characteristics of magical realism, not uncommon in fiction from peripheral regions with a strong oral traditions.
The Mountainair Community Library has a NM authors / SW fiction section that is popular with readers. Not all of the NM authored books have been moved to those shelves yet so you may need to do some homework. A few author suggestions to help:
Rudolfo Anaya - first and best known novel, Bless Me Ultima (1972), a classic Chicano work and winner of Premio Quinto Sol award; the Sonny Baca mysteries; children's books; non-fiction. Holdings at Mountainair Library.
Nevada Barr, Blind Descent is set in Carlsbad Caverns and Ill wind at Mesa Verde. Holdings at Mountainair Library.
James Doss works at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Born and raised in Kentucky, Doss now lives in Taos, New Mexico. Characters - Ute detective Charlie Moon and his Aunt Daisy Perika, a shaman - a real hoot, very demanding and never wrong. Holdings at Mountainair Library.
Kathleen & Michael Gear. Archaeologists and joint authors of the Anasazi series. Holdings, including complete series, at Mountainair Library.
Steve F. Havill writes the entertaining Posadas County Series featuring retired Sheriff Bill Gastner (a detective who does not take himself too seriously and enjoys a good meal) and Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman. Holdings at Mountainair Library.
Tony Hillerman, best known of the NM mystery writers, sets his works in the 4 Corners region, with frequent Albuquerque forays. (still in general fiction last time I checked)
Michael McGarrity, who has a keen sense of place, sets his procedural mysteries in different parts of the state. Serpent Gate is set in Mountainair and based on an actual unsolved local murder. (still in general fiction last time I checked)
Pari Noskin Taichert writes the Sasha Soloman series (Belen Hitch, Clovis Incident) - more in the "cozy" tradition, both novels deal with timely and relevant development issues and the conflicts they engender, not unlike ones faced here. Belen Hitch, in particular (not to mention close to home), treats developing tourism, use of historical sites, the arts vs traditional heritage. (Shelved with SW fiction / NM authors)Aimée and David Thurlo: writing series with Navajo Special Investigator Ella Clah; Sister Agatha of the Our Lady of Hope Monastery in semi-rural New Mexico; Lee Nez, New Mexico State Policeman and half-vampire, what Navajos call a `night walker'. Raised on the Navajo Indian Reservationm David Thurlo completed his education at UNM. Aimée has lived in New Mexico for thirty-seven years. Holdings at Mountainair Library.
For more names of NM mystery writers, check the Santa Fe public library maintains a page of New Mexico mystery writers and mysteries - a list of series set in or near NM and another of single titles set in New Mexico by mystery and thriller authors.
John Nichols' New Mexico Trilogy still leads the NM fiction pack and remains the most satisfying of Nichols' works. The movie, The Milagro Beanfield War, is based on the trilogy's first volume. Volume II is my personal favorite. Chicano studies sources have been known to lament that the best Chicano fiction is by non-Chicano John Nichols. Recently, UNM Press released his latest book, Dancing on the Stones, a collection of essays, speeches and articles from the last 35 years. Holdings at Mountainair Library.
Max Evans, cowboy, smuggler, miner, movie producer, Taos artist and noted writer of Westerns, including The Rounders (yes, the classic movie of the same name is based it) and mainstream works such as Hi Lo Country under the One-eyed Sky, Bluefeather Fellini. Holdings at Mountainair Library. Biography, Ol' Max Evans: The First Thousand Years.
from the Albuquerque Tribune Nov 9,2007, Biblio-file
FICTION
False Witness by Aime and David Thurlo (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95, 261 pages). In this novel, the fourth in the Thurlos' Sister Agatha mystery series, the heroine, an amateur detective who is also a nun at a rural New Mexico monastery, finds herself mired in murder when she goes looking for a missing woman. The authors, a husband-and-wife team, have written several dozen novels. They live on the southern edge of Corrales.
Stories From Desert Bob's Reptile Ranch by Robert Vardeman (Popcorn Press, $18.95, 264 pages). A collection of more than 20 stories - fantasy, science fiction, horror and humor - about fire-breathing dragons, giant spiders, a king suddenly freed from a 100-year-old curse, a matador and a Minotaur, an alien running a tourist trap in Arizona and more. Vardeman is an Albuquerque author who has written scores of books in the Western, mystery, science-fiction and fantasy genres. Vardeman signs copies of the book at 7 p.m. Saturday at Page One, 11018 Montgomery Blvd. N.E.
POETRY
Breaking the Drought: Visions of Grace by Stephen Levine (Larson Publications, $15 paperback, 142 pages). Levine is best known these days for books about dying, grieving, healing and living life to the fullest. But in 1959, his first book of poetry was well received by the Village Voice, and he returns to the form with this book, 81 poems about a life spent looking for wisdom, openness, spirituality and humanity. Levine lives in Chamisal.
CHILDRENS BOOKS
The Key to Grandpa's House by Cristina Ortega, illustrated by Luis Armando Ortega (University of New Mexico Press, $14.95, 24 pages, 10 drawings). Set on the plaza in a northern New Mexico village, this story is about respect, trust, friendship, commitment and love. Cristina has taught elementary school in New Mexico for 27 years. Luis Armando is her brother.
The Ortegas read from and sign their book, 1 p.m. Saturday, Borders 5901 Wyoming Blvd. N.E.
Cristina reads and signs books, 1 p.m. Sunday, Borders, 224 Q Street N.E.; 2-4 p.m. Nov. 17, Chimayo Museum in Chimayo; 11 a.m. Nov. 18, Borders, 500 Montezuma, Santa Fe.
The Voyage of the Beetle by Anne H. Weaver, illustrated by George Lawrence (University of New Mexico Press, $16.95, 80 pages, 13 color illustrations, 8 halftones, one map). A world-traveling beetle named Rosie helps Charles Darwin untangle the mysteries of natural selection. Weaver has a doctorate in anthropology from UNM and has taught evolutionary anthropology at Santa Fe Community College. She lives in Santa Fe. Lawrence also lives in Santa Fe. He designs and illustrates interpretive exhibits for parks and nature centers throughout the country. Weaver and Lawrence sign copies of their book, 2 p.m. Nov. 17, during a children's fair at Collected Works, 208-B W. San Francisco St. in Santa Fe.
NONFICTION
A Barnyard Education by Larry Walden (Publish America, $16.95, 108 pages). Stories about a city boy forced to learn life anew when, at age 7, he and his family move to a farm without modern conveniences but with plenty of strange animals that need tending. Walden, a former minister, is retired from the New Mexico Human Services Department. He lives in Rio Rancho.
Eye of the West by Nancy Wood (University of New Mexico Press, $39.95, 144 pages, 70 duotones). Writer and photographer Nancy Wood set out in her battered Subaru more than 30 years ago to capture segments of a vanishing West, including the Ute and Taos Indians and the residents of Pie Town, N.M. This book is the result. Wood lives in Santa Fe. She talks about and signs copies of her book, 7 p.m. Nov. 26, Page One, 11018 Montgomery Blvd. N.E.
Josephine Foard and the Glazed Pottery of Laguna Pueblo by Dwight P. Lanmon, Lorraine Welling Lanmon and Dominique Coulet du Gard. (University of New Mexico Press, $39.95, 280 pages, 17 color photos, 25 halftones). In 1889, when she was 56, Foard moved from the East Coast to Laguna Pueblo to show Pueblo potters better firing techniques and to teach them about glazing the interior of pots to make them waterproof. This book is not only a look at Foard's life but also the lives of the people at Laguna and other pueblos. Dwight Lanmon is a research associate at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe. Lorraine Lanmon is a retired art professor whose specialty is American art and architectural history. Du Gard is a member of the social science faculty at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.
Man vs. Fish: The Fly Fisherman's Eternal Struggle by Taylor Streit (University of New Mexico Press, $29.95, 177 pages, 60 color photos). Despite its title, the 30 stories in Streit's book go beyond flyfishing to ponderings on wildlife protection, elk hunting, a 50th birthday spent alone in nature, and observations about the people and places of Argentina, where the author works during the winter as a fishing guide. Streit is a fishing guide in Taos and Chama and a member of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.
Matilda Coxe Stevenson: Pioneering Anthropologist by Darlis A. Miller (University of Oklahoma Press, $29.95, 304 pages). Coxe (1849-1915) was the first woman anthropologist to work in the Southwest, earning recognition for her ethnographic work with the Zia and Zuni Indians even though she had to struggle with the gender bias and social constraints of her time. Miller is professor emerita of history at New Mexico State University.
Mountain Wildflowers of the Southern Rockies by Carolyn Dodson and William W. Dunmire (University of New Mexico Press, $17.95 paperback, 192 pages, 201 color photos, 58 line drawings). This is a field guide with physical descriptions of wildflowers - columbine, larkspur, lupine, primrose, flax, bluebells and about 70 more - in a region that stretches from Taos north to Casper, Wyo., and from Colorado Springs west to Grand Junction in Colorado. But it also includes the Jemez and Sandia mountains of New Mexico. Dodson is retired from the faculty of UNM's general library but teaches wildflower identification at UNM's Continuing Education Division. Dunmire, an associate in biology at UNM, served 28 years as a naturalist with the National Park Service and was a field biologist for the Nature Conservancy.
Dodson talks about "Desert Flora" at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and about the "First Field Ornithologists of New Mexico" at 1:30 and 3 p.m., Nov. 17, Galena Room of Macey Center on the New Mexico Tech campus in Socorro. Talks are part of the annual Festival of the Cranes.
Dunmire signs books 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 17 and 18 during the Placitas Holiday Sale in Placitas.
Dodson and Dunmire present a slideshow and talk and sign books, 5 p.m. Nov. 20, Garcia Street Books, 376 Garcia St. in Santa Fe.
Remembering a Massacre in El Salvador: The Insurrection of 1932, Roque Dalton and the Politics of Historical Memory by Hector Lindo-Fuentes, Erik Ching and Rafael A. Lara-Mart¡nez (University of New Mexico press, $29.95 paperback, 416 pages, 11 halftones, one map). An examination of an armed uprising by Salvadoran peasants in 1932 and of the brutal retaliation by military and paramilitary forces. The book also analyzes Miguel Marmol, Roque Dalton's influential narrative account of the tragedy. Lindo-Fuentes, is a history professor at Fordham University in New York. Ching is an associate professor of history at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. Lara-Mart¡nez is a professor of foreign languages at the New Mexico Tech in Socorro.
Soulmate Warrior by Bette Regennia Rinker (RoseDog Books, $10 paperback, 57 pages). The author writes about people who are born with a strong sense of right and wrong, and the courage to follow through with their convictions. Rinker was born in a Kentucky hollow and now makes her home in Truth or Consequences.
Stones Witness by Margaret Randall (University of Arizona Press, $25 paperback, 176 pages, 30 color photographs). In this book of poetry, prose and photographs, Randall - a writer, activist, oral historian and photographer - gives the reader a glimpse into a life of originality and radical commitment. Randall lives in Albuquerque.
The Water Library by Basia Irland (University of New Mexico Press, $39.95, 216 pages, 139 color photos, one map). Irland's book focuses on art projects she created to illustrate the dependence of people, plants and animals on water and to explore ways to conserve the precious liquid. Irland is a professor of art and art history at UNM. An exhibit of Irland's art is on display at the Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain Road N.W.
AFTERWORD: Events related to New Mexico books and authors.
- The UNM Bookstore is having its annual Children's Book Fair, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, at the store on campus at Central Avenue and Cornell Drive Northeast. This year's theme is dogs and cats. In addition to children's books, there will be readings, drawing demonstrations by illustrators, face painting, crafts and other kid stuff.
- Albuquerque author Jonathan Miller signs copies of his mystery "Volcano Verdict" (Cool Titles, $16.95, 300 pages) 2-4 p.m. Nov. 17, Borders, 3513 Zafarano Drive, Santa Fe; 2-4 p.m. Nov. 18, Borders Uptown, 2240 Q St., Albuquerque; and 2-4 p.m. Nov. 24, Borders Northtowne, 5901 Wyoming Blvd. N.E., Albuquerque.
