Book News
Writers in the mountains.
This year’s Aspen Summer Words Writing Retreat and Literary Festival opens today and runs through Friday, featuring writers from around the world.
Under the title World of Words, the festival will feature writers such as Chimamanda Adichie, Ishmael Beah, David Davidar, Hallie Ephron, Gary Ferguson, Walter Isaacson, Scott Lasser, Luis Alberto Urrea and the 2009 Aspen Prize for Literature recipient, Ron Carlson.
The festival offers a chance for participants to talk with authors and get behind-the-scenes looks at the publishing industry. Panel discussions, author readings, parties and open-mic events also will take place.
Author Colum McCann will give a keynote talk on Tuesday where he will debut his new novel, “Let the Great World Spin.” Four more books will debut: Adichie’s “The Thing Around Your Neck”; Carlson’s “The Signal”; Urrea’s “Into the Beautiful North”; and Scott Lasser’s “The Year That Follows.”
The Colorado Book Awards, presented annually by the Colorado Center for the Book and the Colorado Humanities, will be handed out Monday.
For tickets or more information, go to .
The Denver Post
First Lines
The Tehran Conviction by Tom Gabbay
As far as I could remember, it was the first time I’d held the dead man’s hand. I knew a guy once who was so superstitious that he’d fold the infamous aces and eights whenever he saw them, but not me. I sat back and waited for the action. It had been a long night of busted flushes and gut-shot straights going nowhere and this might be my last chance to pull something back. Of course Wild Bill Hickok was probably thinking along the same lines as he contemplated the hand, unaware that a Colt Peacemaker was about to blow a .45-caliber hole in his luck. Funny. You’d think an old gunslinger like Wild Bill would know to sit with his back to the wall. I certainly did.
I glanced around the table. It was the usual Friday-night collection of postmodern bohemians, New Wave cokeheads, and weekend refugees from Wall Street. I knew the faces and some of the names, but not much else. It was one of the things I liked about Barnabus Rex. Nobody tried to sell you their life story. If they didn’t come for backroom cards, it was for the eight ball, or to feed the Rock-Ola jukebox, which at the moment was blaring out Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” for the umpteenth time.
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