Texas Pages

The Black Academy of Arts and Letters plans a discussion of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart at its African Thinkers Roundtable Writers Breakfast 10 a.m. Saturday at the Dallas Convention Center Theatre Complex (at the corner of Canton and Akard Streets), Room T-203. $10 for the breakfast buffet. The box office can be reached at 214-743-2400.

I enjoyed the responses to the post about the secret horrors of working in a bookstore.

Now here's a story from a fellow survivor, spotted by alert staffer Christopher Wynn, about something I never had to deal with: shoplifting crazies, and a list of the most-stolen books.

(R-rated language alert -- it's an alt-weekly story.)

Despite its flaws, I did enjoy Andrei Cherny's history of the Berlin Airlift, "The Candy Bombers," which was reviewed on Sunday.

The airlift itself is in the news again, it turns out, as Berlin debates what to do with Tempelhof Airport, the Nazi-era complex that became a Cold War icon.

If you are planning to see Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas-Mexican Literature in Dallas 7:30 p.m. May 3 at the Latino Cultural Center, you should probably act quickly in one of two ways.

Organizers tell me they are expecting the event to sell out. So if you want to see Tony Díaz, Joel Garza, Dagoberto Gilb, Tammy Gomez, Christine Granados, Macarena Hernández, Diana López and Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, as well as musicians Santiago Jimenez Jr. and David Garza, you should call Ed Gonzales at 214-671-0045. Tickets are $5-$15.

But if you act really quickly, our friends in the Hecho crew are graciously providing two free tickets to readers of Texas Pages. Just be the first to e-mail me at mmerschel@dallasnews.com.

For those wondering what the fuss is, here's a review of the book.

William C. Hardt and retired United Methodist Bishop John Wesley Hardt have written a very comprehensive reference book charting the growth of various Methodist groups in the Lone Star State. It's published by CrossHouse Publishing of Garland - 1-877-212-0933. Click here to order from Amazon.com.

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

According to Academy of American Poets, this is the 3rd most popular poem clicked on by Texas readers.

Today's story in GuideLive shows what an outpost Texas is for science fiction writers. If you'd like to see them at the free book signing at the Nebula Awards in Austin, here's the list of attendees.

If you're interested in the sessions, the Web site indicates $50 memberships are available at the door.

And here are a few links about the authors mentioned in the story:

Joe R. Lansdale (a site so advanced I could not actually get it to reveal anything, but perhaps that is just me.)

Michael Moorcock

Michael Chabon

This page has a collection of links about Bruce Sterliing

Here's a recent column about the legendary Robert E. Howard.

Aaron Allston

MonkeyBrain Books

Elizabeth Moon

Also, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Writers of America have their own site.