Range War at the Dobie Ranch

A bulldozer's intrusion onto 'enchanted' property uncovers the struggles of UT's historic retreat for writers

"...under 40" author list – as well as award-winning novelists Stefan Block and Sarah Bird. Last year, applications started..."

June 21, 2013 News Feature by Amy Gentry

From Tulsa to New Delhi to BookPeople

Benjamin Lytal, Karan Mahajan, and two stories of place

"...In the opening section of Benjamin Lytal's debut novel, A Map of Tulsa (Penguin, 272 pp., $15..."

March 27, 2013 Books Post by Monica Riese

Bedside Manner

So I'm trying this new thing …

"...end I'm enjoying the hell out of Elizabeth Crane's debut novel We Only Know So Much (Harper Perennial). Crane's..."

June 12, 2012 Books Post by Kimberley Jones

Bedside Manner: A Phone Is Not a Book

Turning a page on a bad habit

"...the title now and I get it. The historical novel centers on William E. Dodd’s experiences as America’s first..."

May 29, 2012 Books Post by Amy Smith

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Novel

This ingenious debut novel is set in a time-skipping future

"...to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Novelby Charles Yu Pantheon, 256 pp., $24..."

Oct. 29, 2010 Books Review by Audra Schroeder

Armadillocon To The Future!

Sci-fi gathering readies for 2011

"...positive sign for a supposedly dead medium like the novel, co-chair Elizabeth Burton noted that this may have been..."

Sept. 1, 2010 Books Post by Richard Whittaker

An April First Shot of Egerton

A Texas Book Festival happy hour puts Owen Egerton and free tequila on the menu

"...– still have another month to wait for his debut novel The Book of Harold, the Illegitimate Son of..."

March 29, 2010 Books Post by Kimberley Jones

God Says No

With dust-dry wit, James Hannaham charts a Homeric course for his protagonist through a sham marriage, an identity change, Atlanta's gay underground, an extended pray-away-the-gay program, and more

"...his life. It is the impressive discipline of first-time novelist (and Michner graduate) James Hannaham's flat prose – which..."

July 10, 2009 Books Review by Cindy Widner

How to Market a Book All Stealth-Like

Michener grad benefits from bizarro product placement

"...graduate Philipp Meyer netted some advance press for his debut novel American Rust... right smack in the middle of..."

Jan. 28, 2009 Books Post by Kimberley Jones

Where the Line Bleeds: A Novel

A different voice tackles the Mississippi blues, with varying effect

"...Where the Line Bleeds: A Novelby Jesmyn Ward Agate Bolden, 230 pp., $15..."

Dec. 19, 2008 Books Review by Elizabeth Jackson

The Gone-Away World

A flat-out ferociously good novel

"...sheep to get his own across in this, his debut novel. (Surprisingly, or not, his paterfamilias is John Le..."

Oct. 10, 2008 Books Review by Marc Savlov

The Story of Forgetting: A Novel

Though this debut novel is about Alzheimer's, it's too funny, too inventive, too tender and finely written to be reduced to its tragic engine

"...The Story of Forgetting: A Novelby Stefan Merrill Block Random House, 320 pp., $25..."

April 11, 2008 Books Review by Kimberley Jones

Beautiful Children: A Novel

In this remarkable debut novel, the decline of the great American experiment is written in the neon lights and decaying storefronts of Las Vegas

"...Beautiful Children: A Novelby Charles Bock Random House, 432 pp., $25..."

Feb. 1, 2008 Books Review by Josh Rosenblatt

The Electric Church

In his debut novel, Jeff Somers attempts to create a 21st century cyberpunk novel

"...In his debut novel, The Electric Church, Jeff Somers attempts to create..."

Oct. 5, 2007 Books Review by Rick Klaw

Summer Reading

"...primary concern of El Paso writer Lee Merrill Byrd's debut novel, which tells the story of a young boy..."

June 9, 2006 Books Feature by Melanie Haupt

A Kinder, Gentler Filmmaker

Jeffrey Travis' surprising success

"...is an adaptation of Marshall Hollenzer Is Driving, a debut novel published in 2000 and written by another local..."

May 26, 2006 Screens Feature by Toddy Burton

The Ecstatic or, Homunculus

We've seen the holy fool before, of course; perhaps we're well acquainted. In The Ecstatic -- the debut novel by Victor LaValle, who cannonballed into the young / urban / big-lit milieu with the award-winning short story collection Slapboxing With Jesus, made the PEN / Faulkner finalist list with this book, and, somewhere in there, got really fat and then thin again -- there are at least four, but first and foremost is Anthony James, 315-pound protagonist -- hero, maybe.

"...perhaps we're well acquainted. In The Ecstatic -- the debut novel by Victor LaValle, who cannonballed into the young/urban/big-lit..."

Oct. 10, 2003 Books Review by Cindy Widner

News/Print

There is no Dana. Only Zoul.

"...who has parlayed her success into an instantly important debut novel; a self-made "new fiction" star who has parlayed..."

July 11, 2003 Books Column by Shawn Badgley

The Latest in Paper

"The Minotaur, half-man, half-bull, offspring of King Minos' wife Pasiphaë and an ivory bull gifted by Poseidon, doomed to wander the Labyrinth until felled by Theseus' sword, has one of the more interesting lineages in a myth cycle full of obscurantist wild cards," writes Marc Savlov in reviewing Steven Sherrill's debut novel. "The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break anthropomorphizes the bastard bullman way past what the Greeks found satisfactory -- here, he's a line cook in a backwater chowbarn, single and at loose ends."

"..."Grub's Ribs" -- where Steven Sherrill has set his debut novel, and by the final page you're sorely pressed..."

May 23, 2003 Books Feature by Marc Savlov

Book Reviews

Greg Garrett's surprisingly funny debut, Free Bird, "doesn't hide its convention and occasional sentimentality: It capitalizes on it."

"...Baylor creative writing professor and Faulkner Prize-winner Greg Garrett's debut novel is the author's sense of humor. Not only..."

Nov. 15, 2002 Books Review by Shawn Badgley

Winter Range

"...Winter RangeA Novel..."

Dec. 22, 2000 Books Review by Amanda Eyre Ward

In Person

Helen Ellis' serious satire Eating the Cheshire Cat resonated in some unique ways with the audience at her reading at BookPeople last week.

"...3, Helen Ellis read the first chapter of her debut novel Eating the Cheshire Cat; it's no secret why...."

Feb. 11, 2000 Books Feature by Clay Smith

Got Their Mojo Workin'

Mojo Press Gets Weird

"...bells-and-whistles 30th anniversary reissue of Michael Moorcock's seminal short novel Behold the Man...."

Dec. 27, 1996 Books Feature by Marc Savlov

Recommended:Michael Connelly

"...the crime beat for the Los Angeles Times. His debut novel, The Black Echo, won the Edgar book award..."

Jan. 26, 1996 Books Column

South by Southwest Falls for Ryan Gosling With The Fall Guy World Premiere

3 Body Problem, more announced for 2024 festival

"...like the Austin-shot Song to Song and his directorial debut, Lost River. But now he's bringing his Hollywood action..."

Jan. 10, 2024 SXSW Post by Richard Whittaker

Review: Black Pumas, Chronicles of a Diamond

Side B rises to a bar set mile-high by the band’s golden child debut

"...The secret to Chronicles of a Diamond proves a novel but not unheard one: Start at side B. Four..."

Nov. 17, 2023 Music Feature by Raoul Hernandez

Qmmunity: Quntry & Western

DJ Boi Orbison lassos queer country nostalgia with Neon Rainbows

"...drag, featuring host Lavender Thug, DJ Salem Ofax, and debut Cuchi Cuchi performer Sofia La Muneca. Sat., April 29,..."

April 28, 2023 Column by James Scott

Mortal Engines

Dystopian YA adaptation relies on spectacle over character

"...director Peter Jackson. Now, Rivers is making his feature debut with Mortal Engines, the long-awaited adaptation of Philip Reeve’s..."

Dec. 14, 2018 Movie Review by Matthew Monagle

Owen Egerton’s Bloody Good Time

Writer/director’s distinctly Austin horror-comedy returns for RTX Austin

"...Austin stages for two decades. But he's also a novelist, from tart comedic romps like Everyone Says That at..."

Aug. 3, 2018 Screens Feature by Richard Whittaker

Annihilation

Alex Garland's SF mystery is weird for weirdness' sake.

"...I gather the taxonomy of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach novels goes something like, family: speculative fiction; genus: Weird fiction;..."

March 2, 2018 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

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