New & Novel: New Mexico Authors

There is a lot of writing talent here in the Land of Enchantment.  We all know about George R.R. Martin and Rudolfo Anaya; there are libraries named for Ernie Pyle, Erna Fergusson, and Tony Hillerman.  But did you know romance author Jude Devereaux has ties to New Mexico? How about mystery writer Martha Grimes?

If you are looking for books by New Mexicans, we can help! We have a LibGuide (which includes links to New Mexico author groups) and you can also search in the library catalog for the tag "New Mexico authors". If you search by author in the LibGuide, you will find the author's New Mexico connection - Armistead Maupin is now a Santa Fe resident and Michael McGarrity has degrees from UNM and served as Santa Fe County Deputy Sheriff, for instance - and a link to their books in the catalog, as well as to the author's website.

We hope you will check out some of New Mexico's literary offerings!  You might be surprised to find your favorite author listed in the LibGuide - or you might discover your next great read.

Here's a quick roundup of some of the latest New Mexico literature, in a variety of genres, which can be found in the library catalog:

Fiction

The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob

Night at the Fiestas: Stories by Kirstin Valdez Quade

Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones

The King and Queen of Comezón by Denise Chávez

The Cane Creek Regulators: A Frontier Story by Johnny D. Boggs

Written In My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon

Exo by Steven Gould

Kansas Bleeds: Colton Brothers Saga by Melody Groves

Artemis Awakening by Jane Lindskold

Backlands: A Novel of the American West by Michael McGarrity

The Golden Princess: A Novel of the Change by S. M. Stirling 
  

Non-fiction

Singing at the Gates: Selected Poems by Jimmy Santiago Baca

Hoe, Heaven, and Hell: My Boyhood in Rural New Mexico by Nasario García 

Goin' Crazy with Sam Peckinpah and All Our Friends by Max Evans with Robert Nott

The New Mexico Farm Table Cookbook: 150 Homegrown Recipes from the Land of Enchantment by Sharon Niederman

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette by Hampton Sides


If you are looking for New Mexico history,  library staff recommend the Images of America series.


Links

ABC Library's New Mexico Authors Guide

G. E. Nordell's New Mexico Authors Guide

NM Children's and YA Authors, Poets, and Illustrators [New Mexico State Library]

Books Set in New Mexico [Goodreads]

Wordharvest

"Founded by Anne Hillerman and Jean Schaumberg in 2002, WORDHARVEST is devoted to the art and craft of writing. From our headquarters in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we celebrate the legacy of iconic mystery author Tony Hillerman with the Tony Hillerman Prize for first mystery novel, and the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference, a  three-day workshop offering how-to advice on writing techniques and the business of writing."

 

Get to Know Your City...Website!

So you think you know Albuquerque? We bet many of you can tell us the best breakfast burrito or your favorite park, or even some our most famous authors.  But have you ever looked at the city's website?  It's a handy compendium of things to do, employment options, transportation info, community and business services, and more! We've cherry-picked a few links you may or may not have seen before, and encourage you to explore the site yourself.

• Current Municipal Development Projects: Active DMD projects from the Admin, CIP, Construction, Facilities, Parks, Storm, Street Maintenance, and Traffic Engineering divisions, mapped.

• Free Things To Do: Gallery talks, folclórico music, art fests, and more.

• Albuquerque Clean Team: The Albuquerque Clean Team (ACT) is a group of individuals keeping their communities clean and safe. Under the direction and support of the City of Albuquerque's Solid Waste Management Department, ACT brings together community groups and individual homeowners who want to take responsibility for creating and maintaining a clean community, and in the process create a better living, working, and playing environment.

• Quick Facts: Quick facts, demographics, and statistics for Albuquerque and the surrounding metro areas.

• Online Town Hall: A snapshot of what's going on in the City along with ways you can give input and get involved.  Have something to say? Want to learn more? Join the discussion that’s happening right now around the city.

• Air Quality in Albuquerque: Air quality (includes indexes for carbon monoxide, fine particulates, and sulfur dioxide), pollen count, OK to burn?  You can sign up for alerts.

• Rock Climbing Wall: Information about a climbing wall that can be transported to any location in Albuquerque! The use of the climbing wall is for people who want to participate in an introduction to climbing. Users must have at least 25 climbers participating. Users can not charge or profit financially from the use of the climbing wall. The climbing wall is best utilized by schools, youth groups or other learning organizations. All participants must be taller than 43” and under 300 lbs.

• Bicycling: View an interactive bike map, the Paseo del Bosque bike map, learn about trail etiquette, Tingley Bike Rentals, the Esperanza Community Bike Shop.

• Volunteer Opportunities: Foster grandparents, senior companions, education and literacy, outdoors, for youth.

• Tree Information: suggested tree species for planting in Albuquerque; reporting dead trees; contact the City Forester.

• ABQ Apps: Check out these mobile apps developed for the City of Albuquerque! Includes ABQ Ride, ABQ Parks, ABQ 311, Albuquerque Museum Sculpture Garden Guide, and more. 

Visit the city's website for even more links! You can also check out the Albuquerque A-Z page.  And check out the city on Twitter!

The Saga of Peaches the Mountain Lion

Special Collections is ABC Library’s local history library. A favorite research tool is a collection of City Clerk and City Manager Scrapbooks, a treasure trove of information about Albuquerque politics and projects. I also work daily with NewspaperARCHIVE, a searchable full-text database of New Mexico newspapers that includes the Albuquerque Journal from 1882 to 1977 and the Albuquerque Tribune from 1951 to 1977. Thoroughly researching a question can mean going back and forth between the scrapbooks and the database. For instance, I met Peaches the Mountain Lion in volume twelve of the 1937 City Clerk Scrapbooks, but I needed NewspaperARCHIVE to round out his story.

The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings that the City Clerk or Manager identified as pertaining to city business. Arrest records, articles about visiting dignitaries, and updates on public works projects fill eighty seven volumes. Locating specific information requires an approximate date, and the scrapbooks have to be used in the library.  

Customers can use their library card and pin number to connect to NewspaperARCHIVE from any computer with an Internet connection. NewspaperARCHIVE uses optical character recognition to match search terms to items in the newspapers. It’s helpful to use more than one search term and to limit searches by date and location. NewspaperARCHIVE doesn’t put search terms in context: a search on “peaches” brings up grocery store ads, recipes, articles about fruit, and a few articles about the misadventures of an Albuquerque mountain lion.  

It’s impossible to use the scrapbooks without stopping to scan articles unrelated to the question I’m supposed to be researching. Parking meters were not as interesting as Peaches. His narrative arc is Escape; Recapture; Rejection; Re-escape; Re-recapture; Exploitation by Stunt Pilot. Here’s what I found under the headlines:

“Albuquerque Man to Hunt Mountain Lion Under His House Sometime Today”: in which Mr. Valentine will endeavor to get his pet mountain lion cub, Peaches, out from under the porch at the Valentine family home. [Albuquerque Journal, February 28, 1937]

“’Peaches’ Falls Victim to Mrs. Valentine’s Safari”: in which Mrs. Valentine uses liver to lure Peaches into a crate and then blocks him in with an ironing board. [Albuquerque Tribune, March 1, 1937]

“Horses Scarce and Meat is High So Pet Mountain Lion Gets Go By”: in which City Manager Charles E. Wells refuses to accept Peaches for the city zoo because feeding the four mountain lions the zoo already owns is too expensive. [Albuquerque Tribune, March 2, 1937]

“Cub Lion Makes a Break; Now at Large in the City” and “Peaches Dangerous at Large, Expert Declares”: in which Peaches escapes a second time. Parents are warned to keep their children indoors while the police department hunts for him. [Albuquerque Journal and Albuquerque Tribune, respectively, March 3, 1937]

The article that tells of Peaches’s re-recapture (Mrs. Valentine wins again) isn’t included in the scrapbooks, but I found it in NewspaperARCHIVE: “Runaway Lion is Recaptured: Puma Submits Second Time to Woman’s Wiles.” [Albuquerque Journal, March 5, 1937]

Knowing Peaches had been recaptured filled a gap in the scrapbook narrative, which continues with: “City Will Protect Peaches the Lion”, “Flyer to Dive with ‘Peaches’ Despite Ban” and  “To Crash or Not to Crash is ‘Peaches’ New Problem.” These articles reveal that Peaches has been sold to a stunt pilot, “Reckless Rex” Murphy. Murphy proposes to have Peaches accompany him on a stunt flight that entails crashing the plane, the pilot, and the mountain lion into a frame house for the edification of members of the Carlisle post of the American Legion. Consternation and protests ensue. [Albuquerque Tribune, March 9, 1937; Albuquerque Journal, March 11 and 12, 1937]

At this point, Peaches fades from the scrapbook pages. Another search of NewspaperARCHIVE turns up “Peaches Going to Court: Seeks Right to Fly”: in which the stunt pilot promises to seek an injunction allowing him to crash his lion in his plane without interference from the Sheriff. [Albuquerque Journal, March 21, 1937]

I infer that the flight never happened, because I know that it would have made headlines. If it had made headlines, I would have found them. I have the tools.

Balloon Fiesta 2012: Blaze a Trail

This year's Balloon Fiesta started on October 6th and runs through October 14th - so if somehow you forgot about it this year (though that's hard to do with a skyline full of balloons, I25 backed up at the exit for Balloon Fiesta Park, & chase crews darting about the place), there's still time to check out some of the action! & for those of you who are struggling to make it to a Mass Ascension at 7 am, there's always...the library!  Here's a little bit of Balloon Fiesta that you can take home with you to enjoy, at least for a 3 week check-out!

The World Comes to Albuquerque: Celebrating 40 years of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta by Kim Vesely

Albuquerque: Where the World Celebrates Ballooning by Q13-KRQE TV ; in association with Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

Special Shape Rodeo: Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta by Jean-Michel Bertrand

Looks like Special Collections has Flying Franks, Floating Fish: The Odd October Skies of Albuquerque - A Loving Tribute to Photographing Twenty Years of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Special Shaped Balloons by Kim Alaburda on display, so you'll have to go there to see a copy!

For kids:

The Elephants in the Land of Enchantment by Beverly Eschberger

Pop Flop's Great Balloon Ride by Nancy Abruzzo


For general items about hot air balloons (not just about the Balloon Fiesta!), try a subject search of "Ballooning" or "Hot Air Balloons".


Links:

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta homepage

Daily Event Schedule

Albuquerque Balloon Museum

Film & Filmmaking

We live in a filmmaking culture - isn't Albuquerque's new nickname Tamalewood? & the Albuquerque Film Festival was August 16th-18th - & we here at ABC Libraries like to think our catalog reflects that.  Whether it's film criticism, books about independent filmmaking, screenwriting guides & the like, we try to have your needs covered, whether you are a film buff or an aspiring filmmaker!  Here are some interesting items about film & filmmaking from the library catalog - & there are many more we haven't mentioned.

Books

Save the Cat Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter's Guide to Every Story Ever Told by Blake Snyder
You can also access a PDF overview of the lists from the guide on the author's website.

Conversations at the American Film Institute with the Great Moviemakers: The Next Generation edited by George Stevens, Jr.

Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking by Devyani Saltzman

All I Really Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from The Toxic Avenger by Lloyd Kaufman and James Gunn

Rebel Without a Crew, or, How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player by Robert Rodriguez

Hollywood: A Third Memoir by Larry McMurtry

Conversations with Wilder by Cameron Crowe

Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman

The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael edited by Sanford Schwartz

Unsafe on Any Screen: Cinematic Sleaze and Cheese by Scott Phillips (local author!)


Movies

Film School (DVD)
This is a local production about independent filmmaking.

Il mio viaggio in Italia (My Voyage to Italy) [DVD]
Martin Scorsese directs and narrates this personal documentary about Italian film and select Italian filmmakers and the influence they had on him.

The Brothers Warner (DVD)
Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack, the Warner Brothers, turned a storefront into a dream factory. Filmmaker Cass Warner Sperling tells a story of sibling rivalry, social conscience, and the silver screen.

This Film is Not Yet Rated (DVD)
Kirby Dick's provocative film investigates the secretive and inconsistent process by which the Motion Picture Association of America rates films.

The Stars' Caravan (DVD)
Aging projectionist Zarylbeck has devoted years of his life to Kyrgyzstan's nomadic cinema, leading caravans of mules and horses carrying projectors, screens and film canisters to the wandering tribes. This impressionistic, creative documentary creates a vivid and lyrical picture of a land and a people coping with massive political, social and economic upheaval.


Local items

100 Years of Filmmaking in New Mexico, 1898-1998,  a joint project of New Mexico Magazine, a division of the N.M. Department of Tourism and the New Mexico Film Office

Movies Made in New Mexico, 1898-1999 (library use only)

New Mexico Film Directory: The Official Directory of Support Personnel, Businesses, and Resources in the State of New Mexico (library use only)


Looking for even more items?  Try searching under subject "motion picture" - "motion picture authorship" if you are looking for screenwriting guides, "motion pictures reviews" for criticism, "motion pictures production & direction" for - well. you get the idea.  Don't see something in our catalog that you'd like to recommend? Remember, you can  also Suggest a Purchase - check with library staff if you don't know how!


Local links

Santa Fe University of Art and Design’s Moving Image Arts Program

City of Albuquerque Film Office

Albuquerque Studios

New Mexico Film Office - includes links to crew & casting calls!

Crew New Mexico

Experiments in Cinema Film Festival

Currents New Media Film Festival

Santa Fe Film Festival