The titular child of S. Craig Zahler’s Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child is a boldly conceived, cinematic protagonist. The boy, whose mother died giving birth to him and whose father is unknown, has pink skin with white patches. The inside of his mouth is purple and fanged. White…
As Doug Curtis, CEO of AT&T Performing Arts Center, took the stage Friday night, he joked about the pressure of introducing an artist with such a devoted following. The Neil Gaiman fans were out in force at the sold-out Winspear Opera House, and for the two-hour performance, one of four…
Chuck Klosterman speaks at the Dallas Museum of Art 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 20 Nostalgia is a controversial topic in artistic circles. Critics hate it (it’s uncritical and lazy), but audiences love it (it’s fun and escapist). Culture critic Chuck Klosterman traffics heavily in nostalgia, with essays and novels written…
The former mayor of Colleyville is now a sexpert. Well, kind of. In 2007, after several years of marriage, Donna Arp Weitzman and her husband divorced. No longer the mayor of Colleyville and looking to start over, Weitzman moved to a high-rise in Dallas and began dating. She was 55…
Much has been made of the blossoming literary scene in Dallas; and yet, the daily struggle of being a writer, in Dallas and in general, is less openly discussed. To “make it” in most other professions is to climb to the top of a predetermined ladder, while a writer’s path…
In spring 2016, the co-owners of the Wild Detectives bookstore approached Dallas-based literary wunderkind Lauren Smart with a question: How can we address gender disparity in the publishing industry? Smart loved what the bookstore – which is also a bar, music venue and sometimes a theater – represented and saw…
The Devil’s Country, out April 11, is the latest crime thriller from local author Harry Hunsicker, whose novels and short stories tend to take place in and around his hometown of Dallas. The new book, however, is largely set in the fictional Piedra Springs in remote West Texas and centers…
Dallas is a city of contradictions: money and poverty, glitz and grime, corruption and piety all coexisting in a growing metroplex. Now imagine the arrival here of a six-foot-tall, Polish, rough-around-the-edges, flame-headed lesbian narcotics investigator. Who’s from Brooklyn. That’s the protagonist Dallas novelist Kathleen Kent created for The Dime, her…
For more than a year, Jeremy Ellis says he’s been turning over what a Dallas bookstore could and should be. While working as a general manager at Houston-based Brazos Bookstore he made attempts to return to Dallas with a new branch of that iconic bookstore, but was never able to…
What’s the cure for a good girl with a bad heart? A transplant. From a criminal. And a whole lot of Stevie Nicks. That’s the premise of Heartthrob, a philosophical joyride of a comic that’s illustrated by Dallas’ own Robert Wilson IV. Its first five issues have just been released…
A surge of online booksellers has left some brick and mortar bookstore owners wondering whether old school words on paper are down for the count, but a counter surge of independent thinkers and bookstores around Dallas are hellbent on preserving open thought and culture. Wild Detectives 314 W. Eighth St…
When former Dallas Observer Editor Joe Tone left the paper in 2015, he told us it was to work on a book about how a young FBI agent helped take down the Zetas drug cartel. Turns out, he wasn’t kidding. He not only wrote a book, due to be published…
A person looking to make gobs of money is not likely to first think of opening a bookstore, but several new indie stores in Dallas, such as The Wild Detectives and Deep Vellum Books, have been able to attract a healthy customer base. Meanwhile, Lucky Dog Books, a local used…
Jessica Luther was born to be a football fan. Her dad raised on her the sport, and when the time came for her to choose a college, she only sent in one application: to Florida State, where she would attend every single home football game. But now when the author…
If you’ve visited The Wild Detectives’ Twitter this week, you may have noticed something different: shameless click bait. Instead of the usual tweets promoting events at the Oak Cliff bookstore or sharing articles on literacy, their Twitter feed is populated with “shocking facts about garlic” and a story about a…
In the back room of Flying Saucer in Addison, six women sit together drinking and playing Pokemon Go on their phones as they await the arrival of the other members of their fantasy romance novel book club. It’s called Vaginal Fantasy, and it’s a local chapter of a national club…
It is perhaps a defining characteristic of Texas Chicken Ranch: When it comes to Texas’ most famous whorehouse, people apparently enjoy being in the dark. In its bedrooms. In the telling of its history. On stage and on the silver screen. But a Texas writer is turning on the lights…
Deep Vellum Books, which had a soft open on Commerce Street last fall but has not yet turned into the full-fledged bookstore originally announced, looks to be on the road to fulfilling that vision after all, now that publisher Will Evans has found a partner in Anne Hollander, who will…
Author Justin Cronin has lived in Texas for almost 14 years, and living here had a major impact on his best-selling trilogy, The Passage. The final book, The City of Mirrors, came out late last month. “I never would have written the books unless I had moved here,” Cronin says…
Some things in life are certain. Death and taxes and every former contestant on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette will go on to write a book and do everything in their power to promote it. Desiree Hartsock is no different. But to be fair, she didn’t write a tell-all memoir…
Whether it’s your terrible job or nightmare ex to blame, most of us are stressed out and could stand to chill out. Dallas-based author Jenny Block has something in mind that she thinks will help, and it’s not yoga or meditation or self-help seminars. No, she just wants you to…
For some people, creative writing is a luxury, Andrea Amosson says, but for her it was always a need. The Chilean-born journalist and author had few resources available to help her develop her writing when she was growing up, so now she’s made it her mission to provide those resources…
