Zephyr Books, a wonderful Reno used and rare bookstore, has recently announced that it is closing.  While this will be a sad loss for the northern Nevada literary community, the owners have earned their retirement, and they are offering deals to their valued customers.  See their announcement below:

Zephyr Books at 1501 South Virginia Street will be closing June 1, 2013 due to the retirement of the owners Ivye and Lee Johnson.

We want to thank all of our valued customers for their faithful support of our business through the years.

For those of you holding gift cards and trade credit cards we encourage you to redeem your credits before June 1.

Our local customers will be offered substantial discounts on the bookstore stock until the store closes. Discount offers will be posted in the store and on our website at www.zephyrbooks.com.

We will no longer be purchasing or trading for general stock books, however, we will continue to purchase selected rare and collectible books.

More details will be available on the Zephyr Books Website.

The folks at UNR’s Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center have outdone themselves (and as far as they can tell, everyone else) this year with a twist on the traditional Christmas tree — a 14-foot book tree made entirely of green and gold reference books.

It took staffer Alden Kamaunu and his helpers six hours and more than 600 books to create the display. Last year’s book tree was about half that size, and as far as UNR research librarians can tell, this year’s tree may be the largest of its kind in the world. Check out the time-lapse video of its construction below, and check out the full article.

Looking back at 2012, it’s not a stretch to say that northern Nevada seems in the midst of a literary renaissance. No fewer than five standout novels and short story collections have been published this year from northern Nevada authors, or from Nevada authors with strong literary connections to the northern part of the state. We started the year with Tupelo Hassman’s Girl Child, and Ben Rogers’ The Flamer, then marched steadily through summer with Christopher Coake’s You Came Back, and Claire Vaye Watkins’ Battleborn.

Each of these has received national press and recognition, and, alongside numerous other books sprouting from the region this year, have helped to re-energize the northern Nevada literary community and put it back on the map as a growing epicenter for great literature. Now we wrap up the year with the December 25 launch of Mark Maynard’s debut short story collection, Grind –– an eavesdropping of sorts on the everyday characters that inhabit Reno, both on its streets and in its imagination. Maynard’s collection, like Watkins’, explores what it’s like to be fundamentally Nevadan, which is to say whirling at the crossroads of several different, often conflicting cultures and environments.

Sundance Bookstore in Reno is hosting a book launch celebration for Grind on Thursday, December 6, at 6:30. For more information on both the book and the event, visit Sundance online.

Mike Branch wears many hats: he is a Professor of Literature and Environment at the University of Nevada, Reno, a great author and friend of The Nevada Review, and an all around grand purveyor arts and culture in northern Nevada.  He sent over a recent announcement about a set of documentaries he is hosting this weekend at the Nevada Museum of Art.  See his whole note below, and support this great event:

I’ve been collaborating with my English 102 students to plan, budget, promote, and host a double-feature documentary film screening at the beautiful theater in the Nevada Museum of Art. The screening will take place on Saturday, December 1, starting at 1:00. Each of the films is about the human urge to make art by painting on walls, though the walls in question are separated by 30,000 years.

The 1:00 film is Werner Herzog’s remarkable 2010 work The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, documenting the discovery and study of 30,000-year old cave paintings, which are among the earliest examples of human art we have. Here is the link to purchase tickets directly from the museum:

The 3:00 film is Exit through the Gift Shop, the fascinating 2010 documentary by the world-renowned street artist Banksy. In addition to being a surprising and engaging film, it also documents the rise of urban street artists whose illegal public art eventually turned them from criminals into millionaires.

Or, if you are interested in both films, a discounted, double-feature ticket is available at this link.

The fall issue of The Nevada Review is now available.  We’ve been working on this issue for a while now, and it’s good to get it done.  It’s also good that it is as good as it is.

There are a lot of great pieces in this one, too.  Policy pieces, non-fiction, fiction, interviews, and reviews, just like in every issue.  We’re proud to present the latest to you.

An overview of our main contents is below:

• Public Pensions and Retiree Health Care in Nevada: An Analysis
• “An area previously determine to be best adapted to such purposes”: Nevada, Nuclear Waste, and Assembly Joint Resolution 15 of 1975 by Andrew Newman
• “One for the Record Book” by Jack Harpster
• Excerpts from Rants from the Hill by Michael P. Branch
• Fiction: “The Disassembled Parts” by H. Lee Barnes
• Fiction: “The Frontiersman (Audience of One)” by Scott Neuffer
• Interview: Carolyn Hayes Uber, Stephens Press, Las Vegas
• New and Noteworthy: A selection from Stephens Press, Las Vegas

• Fade, Sag, Crumble: Ten Las Vegas Writers Confront Decay by Scott Dickensheets, ed.
• Vegas Rag Doll: A True Story of Terror and Survival as the Wife of a Mob Hitman by Wendy Mazaros and Joe Schoenmann
• Blue Vegas by P. Moss
• The Flamer by Ben Rogers
• The Perpetual Engine of Hope by Geoff Schumacher, ed.
• A Map Predetermined and Chance by Laura Wetherington
• Helen J. Stewart: First Lady of Las Vegas. Sally Zanjani and Carrie Townley Porter

Purchase the issue online here.

Virginia Avenue Press, the imprint of The Nevada Review, is proud to announce its latest publication.  The Woodsman is a novel by Gary T. Cage, who was interviewed in our first issue. Partially set in northern Nevada, it is a compelling read and an interesting story with a surprising ending.  Take a look at the book description and information below.

The Woodsman, by Gary T. Cage

An old man wakes up soaked and cold on the bank of a river that is only vaguely familiar to him. He cannot remember his name. He cannot remember his past. And he has no idea how he got there. He has a more pressing problem, though. With night falling, he must make it to warmth safety. To his surprise, he finds an austere man in the woods who provides him comfort but little more. As they trek towards the woodsman’s village on the other side of the mountain’s peak, the old man slowly gains comfort with his surroundings. He begins to remember his past. And finally, he begins to figure out how and why he wound up on the bank of the river in the familiar woods to begin with.

About the Author: Gary T. Cage holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee and lives in Reno, Nevada. He has been a minister for more than the last 40 years and a college instructor for more than the last 30. His previous writing has been in the realm of Christian theology. This is his first novel.

Purchase This Book

Citing brushes with historic literary greats like Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, and Saul Bellow, along with modern resident authors like Ellen Hopkins, Christopher Coake, and Emma Sepulveda, a new feature in Ploughshares literary magazine calls out Reno/Tahoe as a lively community where literary arts glitter alongside neon casinos, and where literary education can be had in multiple venues, from universities to long-standing local writer’s groups. Plenty of local hangouts, events, and resources get a mention, including Sundance Bookstore, Bibo Coffee Company, Artown, even the Nevada Review!

Those of us in Nevada know we have a long, fascinating history with literature, a thriving arts community, and a re-emerging literary identity thanks to authors like Claire Vaye Watkins, Ben Rogers, Tupelo Hassman, Susan Palwick and others — but it’s always nice to see our area getting that recognition in national press.

Check out the Ploughshares article in its entirety here.

Nevada Cure, a prisoner support and advocacy group, is holding a book drive to help populate Nevada prison libraries with books. Reading is a positive, stress-free, educational, and sometimes life-changing experience for inmates, and can often play a key role in rehabilitation. For more information on the program or to donate books (paperbacks are preferred, but will accept hardcovers), contact Kim at (702) 378-1217 or by email at nevadacure@gmail.com.

And happy Halloween, too, to those taking part in spooky festivities around the state. In honor of both, enjoy “La Vida en Muerte,” or “The Life in Death” celebration at Winchester Cultural Center in Las Vegas. This short video is presented by the Nevada Arts Council as part of the Nevada Stories program.

Borg, Todd.  Tahoe Trap.  South Lake Tahoe, CA: Thriller Press, 2012.  351 pages, $16.95 (paperback)—Tahoe Trap, the latest novel in the Owen McKenna Mystery Thriller series, continues with what fans have grown to expect from author Todd Borg.  As the tenth novel in this series, the personalities, the themes, and Borg’s rhythms are well known and appreciated by his many followers.  Those followers will not be surprised to learn that Tahoe Trap offers a chilling thriller, a wholesome story, deeply researched topics, and a compilation of friendly and recurring characters who cannot help but unravel the mystery in just the knick of time.  Those same followers of this series won’t be disappointed, either.

Borg’s latest offering in this series revolves around the tragic and uncertain life of a ten-year-old farm worker in northern California named Paco Ipar.  Paco’s life is hard to begin with: as an illegal immigrant to the fields of northern California, he cannot call America home, but because he has no knowledge or recollection of his Mexican heritage or language, he cannot imagine what being caught and sent back would mean either.  His dilemma makes it difficult for him to assimilate into the society he is surrounded by, and difficult to have the self-esteem he sees in so many of his peers.  The only topic that he knows well and has confidence in is helping his foster mother, Cassie, grow her famous tomatoes and peppers for their food delivery service that thrives thanks to wealthy customers living around Lake Tahoe.

When Cassie is murdered, Paco’s world becomes even more uncertain.  He witnesses the murder as it is carried out by two hit men who go by the nicknames Salt and Pepper, and he immediately realizes that he really is on his own moving forward.  Luckily for him, Cassie had programmed her phone to call Lake Tahoe private Detective Owen McKenna if such a series of events ever came to pass.

Because he is lucky enough to contact McKenna, the reader knows immediately that there is a lot more going on in the story than either Paco or Owen can imagine.  The affable and brilliant detective who refuses to carry a gun (because guns lull you into situations where you have to use them to get out alive) sets out to figure out the mystery before the opportunity slips through his fingers.  This time there is a difference though: in order to solve this mystery, he has to take on the orphaned Paco, making for a fish-out-of-water feel for the otherwise sturdy, resourceful, and in-control McKenna. Read the rest of this entry »