Due to the forecast of winter weather, Big Dogs Huge Paws will not be joining us this Saturday, January 12. They will be back with us on the 2nd Saturday in February. Thanks for understanding.
Sunday, January 20 / 1 p.m. | Zach Vertin will sign A Rope from the Sky: The Making and Unmaking of the World's Newest State (Pegasus, $29.95). Steve Liewer from the Omaha World Herald will be the interlocutor for the event .
The birth of South Sudan was as a triumph for global justice but South Sudan's freedom-fighters soon plunged their new nation back into chaos, shattering the promise of liberation and exposing the hubris of their American backers. Zach Vertin's firsthand accounts from deadly war zones to the halls of Washington bring readers on an extraordinary journey into the rise and fall of the world's newest state.
South Sudan's untold story is an unprecedented experiment in international state-building, and a cautionary tale. South Sudan's guerillas were backed by an unprecedented coalition of Democrats and Republicans, ideologues and activists, evangelical Christians and Hollywood celebrities. This zealous alliance helped deliver an oppressed people from tyranny, only to watch in horror as their chosen heroes then turned their guns on each other. A Rope from the Sky is brilliant and breathtaking, a modern-day Greek tragedy that will challenge our perspectives on global politics.
Friday, January 25 / 6 p.m. | Three great authors:
Tosca Lee will sign The Line Between (Howard, $16.00). When Wynter Roth is turned out of New Earth, a self-contained doomsday cult on the American prairie, she emerges into a world poised on the brink of madness as a mysterious outbreak of rapid early onset dementia spreads across the nation.
As Wynter struggles to start over in a world she's been taught to regard as evil, she finds herself face-to-face with the apocalypse she's feared all her life--until the night her sister shows up at her doorstep with a set of medical samples. That night, Wynter learns there's something far more sinister at play and that these samples are key to understanding the disease.
Now, as the power grid fails and the nation descends into chaos, Wynter must find a way to get the samples to a lab in Colorado. Uncertain who to trust, she takes up with former military man Chase Miller, who has his own reasons for wanting to get close to the samples in her possession, and to Wynter herself.
Nicole Baart will sign You Were Always Mine (Atria, $16.00). Jessica Chamberlain, newly separated and living with her two sons in a small Iowa town, can't believe that a tragedy in another state could have anything to do with her. But when her phone rings one quiet morning, her world is shattered. As she tries to pick up the pieces and make sense of what went wrong, Jess begins to realize that a tragic death is just the beginning. Soon she is caught in a web of lies and half-truths--and she's horrified to learn that everything leads back to her seven-year-old adopted son, Gabriel.
Years ago, Gabe's birth mother requested a closed adoption and Jessica was more than happy to comply. But when her house is broken into and she discovers a clue that suggests her estranged husband was in close contact with Gabe's biological mother, she vows to uncover the truth at any cost.
Kimberly Stuart will sign Heart Land (Howard, $15.99). Grace Klaren has made her dream of living in the Big Apple and working in the fashion industry a reality. But when she's unexpectedly fired and can't afford the next month's rent, Grace moves back home to Silver Creek, Iowa. She's saving her pennies and plotting her return to New York when she almost runs over Tucker, her high school sweetheart whose heart she broke when she left ten years ago. They reconnect, and Grace remembers why she fell for him in the first place.
Her career begins to turn around when she finds a gorgeous but tattered vintage dress at a flea market. She buys it, rips it apart seam by seam, and re-creates it with new fabric, updating the look with some of her own design ideas. She snaps a picture and lists the dress online, and within a day, it sells for nearly $200. Suddenly, Grace has her ticket out, but she can't fight her growing feelings for Tucker. When she finally gains the funding to move her new business back to New York, Grace must decide where home really is--will she chase her long-held New York dream, or find a new dream here in the heartland?
Monday, January 21 / 2 to 4 p.m. | Teela Mickles will sign What If? ($17.00). The last 50 years has seen dramatic changes in our economy, culture, society and even our families. While standards of living may have increased, not all is well on the home front, or with our kids. Teela Mickles uses unique approach and unique perspective to explore causes of breakdown in our families, and how to fix them.
Saturday, February 9 / 1 to 3 p.m. | The Nebraska Writers Guild will present the second edition of their popular Voices from the Plains anthology, featuring a new crop of talented local authors. There are thrilling short stories and novel excerpts; thought-provoking poems and essays; as well as a script excerpt and excerpt from a biography. Nebraska Writers Guild is a state-wide writers non-profit that advocates literacy and literature throughout Nebraska. Authors featured in Voices from the Plains will be present to sign and discuss their works. Expected to read are Rhonda Hall, Carlene Pierce, Cort Fernald, Hans LIlligard, Jeanne Reames, Johnnye Gerhardt, Kristina Slater, Tricia Lynne, Bill Smtko and probably more.
Saturday, February 23 / 1 p.m. | Mary Pipher will sign Women Rowing North: Navigating Life's Currents and Flourishing as We Age (Bloomsbury, $27.00). Women growing older contend with ageism, misogyny, and loss. Yet as Mary Pipher shows, most older women are deeply happy and filled with gratitude for the gifts of life. Their struggles help them grow into the authentic, empathetic, and wise people they have always wanted to be.
In Women Rowing North, Pipher offers a timely examination of the cultural and developmental issues women face as they age. Drawing on her own experience as daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, caregiver, clinical psychologist, and cultural anthropologist, she explores ways women can cultivate resilient responses to the challenges they face. "If we can keep our wits about us, think clearly, and manage our emotions skillfully," Pipher writes, "we will experience a joyous time of our lives. If we have planned carefully and packed properly, if we have good maps and guides, the journey can be transcendent."
