Sunday, February 21, 2010

AUSTIN CITY LIMITS

We wrapped up the Houston launch of the Print the Legend tour last evening about six p.m. Grateful thanks to Dave and McKenna, all the great folks at Murder by the Book and to the good readers of Texas who attended.

Murder by the Book will be offering signed copies of Print and several other titles, along with limited edition copies of the Hector Lassiter short story, "Colt," while supplies last.

After the first reading was over, it was into the rental Toyota (prayers appreciated!) for a night run across Texas to Austin for today's appearance. Somewhere along 71, near the first Waco exit, a coyote ran across our path. (I know black cats are bad news; can some folklorist pony up the dope on the implications of a near-miss with a path-crossing coyote?)

We blew through the Austin city limts a bit after nine and then hit a hotel that's packed with underwear- and body-paint-clad reveling young ones who've bingely transitioned from Mardi Gras to carnival revelery.

Today at 2 p.m., the Print the Legend tour moves to BookPeople in Austin...Texas' largest independent bookstore. Looking forward to meeting Scott Montgomery and all the great people at this teriffic store. Then it's another road run to the airport and back to The Snows of Ohio.

The Print the Legend tour will resume on Saturday, Feb. 27 in Arizona at Poisoned Pen.

Staying with the country music theme of these Texas posts, the microphone is passed from Glen Cambell to Kris Kristofferson (born in Brownsville, TX) in concert on Austin City Limits, singing "Here Comes That Rainbow Again." This is a rather obscure Kristofferson tune inspired by a scene in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. The lyrics incorporate actual dialogue from Steinbeck's novel.

And just to bring this all around full circle, Steinbeck was one of several major American authors of the 20th Century relentelessly hounded with FBI surveillance under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover's pursuit of American novelists, particulary of Ernest Hemingway, is a major theme of Print the Legend.

And, so, the circle is complete:

3 comments:

  1. "Navajos have an omen that can also be considered as a taboo. They say that if Coyote crosses your path, turn back and do not continue your journey. If you keep traveling, something terrible will happen to you. You will be in an accident, hurt, or killed."--http://www.navajocentral.org/navajotaboos/taboos_nature.html (Sorry, Craig!)

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  2. God, Marshal...thanks for the warning...I'll be EXTRA careful around Austin today.

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  3. Craig, I'm so sorry I won't be among the first to own a signed copy! I feel like I should get in the car and drive all night. Dang. If it wasn't for those durn kids.

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