News and notes from the San Antonio literary scene
Checked out for christmas
All San Antonio Public Library locations will be closed December 24-26 and January 1-2 for the holidays. Which means you won't be able to use the free internet access to confirm the re-opening date for the Brook Hollow branch, scheduled to begin lending books and collecting fines late this month. But if you do get your hands on a computer, you can check the website, sanantonio.gov/library/ for updates. A grand re-opening celebration is planned for early January.
Snow Job
Still looking for that perfect last-minute holiday gift? From H-E-B, the company that brought you the turkey cake (Actually they brought it to us and other Alamo City media outlets; it really was a vanilla cake, sculpted and frosted to look like a turkey; creepy.) comes Snow: The South Texas Christmas Miracle 2004, a compilation of customer-submitted photographs from the Great Blizzard of 2004, which left a dusting of snow from Abilene to Galveston. We're holding out for Hurricane: The South Texas Fall Miracle 2005.
Booking for Texas
Seriously, if you are looking for last-minute gifts and you're not that sappy (but a little bit sentimental), let us direct you to Maverick Publishing, on the web at maverickpub.com. The handful of books published by Lewis F. Fisher since he founded Maverick in 1996 are beautifully printed and bound and unmistakably South Texan. Newest titles include The Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick, A Journal of Early Texas - not for the reader on your list who didn't enjoy Early American Lit class, but Texaphiles will enjoy it - The Biker's Guide to Texas, which is about (yep, you guessed it) great motorcycle roadtrips, and Delayed Legacy: A Son's Amazing Search for the Full Story of his Father's Death After D-Day. Two reasons you should break your "I don't buy titles with the word 'amazing' in them" rule: 1. It's written by a San Antonio man, Conrad Netting IV. 2. It involves France, and buying it is one more way to let the Bush Administration know you don't approve of spying on fellow Americans. What kind of leader divides a people against itself? The same kind of leader that thinks boycotting french fries in response to criticism is a good idea. We also recommend The Wine Roads of Texas: The Essential Guide to Texas Wine and Wineries, by Austin Chronicle wine critic Wes Marshall (but be careful if you're combining it with The Biker's Guide to Texas) and West of the Creek: Murder, Mayhem and Vice in Old San Antonio.
Happy Holidays.
