Texas, in all of its big, wonderful, bright, and tragic glory, is at the heart of this allotment of locally produced titles newly available on BARD.

Stephen Harrigan, Dick “Night Train” Lane, and Italian POWs in Umbarger are among the cast of characters who speak to the essence of being Texas.

A dash of courtroom drama, bulldogging school, romantic suspense, and a passel of infamous gunfighters complete this appetizing buffet of Lone Star literature.

BEING TEXAN: ESSAYS, RECIPES, AND ADVICE FOR THE LONE STAR WAY OF LIFE by the editors of Texas Monthly
DBC 26463
From the editors of Texas Monthly, a book of essays and recipes, covering everything you’ve ever wanted to know about being Texan. Commercial audiobook. Some strong language. 2021.

BEYOND CONTROL by Kit Martin
DBC 26722
When Victoria Bradford got engaged, she told herself to give love a chance. Six months later, she’s on the run from her angry, abusive ex-fiancé with her four-year-old daughter and nowhere to go. Seventy miles north of Dallas, the Iron River Ranch is pretty much nowhere. That’s what its new owner, Josh Cain, wanted when he came back from Afghanistan. Big skies, quiet nights, no trouble. One look tells Josh the pretty redhead with the adorable little girl will give him trouble of the most personal kind. But he’s seen trouble before, and he doesn’t scare easy. Not when “accidents” start happening around the ranch. Not when Tory’s best friend back in Phoenix is abducted and brutalized. Not even when it looks like their current problems are only the tip of the iceberg. But if he gets too close to fierce, determined Tory, Josh knows his nights are going to be anything but quiet. And that’s one possibility no amount of training can prepare him for. Commercial audiobook. Unrated. 2018.

BIG WONDERFUL THING: A HISTORY OF TEXAS by Stephen Harrigan
DBC 18807
The story of Texas is the story of struggle and triumph in a land of extremes. It is a story of drought and flood, invasion and war, boom and bust, and the myriad peoples who, over centuries of conflict, gave rise to a place that has helped shape the identity of the United States and the destiny of the world. “I couldn’t believe Texas was real,” the painter Georgia O’Keeffe remembered of her first encounter with the Lone Star State. It was, for her, “the same big, wonderful thing that oceans and the highest mountains are. BIG WONDERFUL THING invites us to walk in the footsteps of ancient as well as modern people along the path of Texas’s evolution. Blending action and atmosphere with impeccable research, New York Times best-selling author Stephen Harrigan brings to life with novelistic immediacy the generations of driven men and women who shaped Texas, including Spanish explorers, American filibusters, Comanche warriors, wildcatters, Tejano activists, and spellbinding artists―all of them taking their part in the creation of a place that became not just a nation, not just a state, but an indelible idea. Written in fast-paced prose, rich with personal observation and a passionate sense of place, Big Wonderful Thing calls to mind the literary spirit of Robert Hughes writing about Australia or Shelby Foote about the Civil War. Like those volumes, it is a big book about a big subject, a book that dares to tell the whole glorious, gruesome, epically sprawling story of Texas. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2019.

BRIGHT TRAGIC THING: A TALE OF CIVIL WAR TEXAS by L.D. Clark
DBC 26847
This novel recreates the lynching of more than 40 Union men by Confederate extremists in a kangaroo court—an incident known to history as the “Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas.” For the narrator, this two-week period was pivotal in his long life. The author is a Professor Emeritus of English and adept at bringing to life the dialects of rural Texas. Explicit descriptions of sex, strong language and violence.

CUADRILLA DE TRUHANES by Keith Luger
DBC 26808
CUADRILLA DE TRUHANES (A Band of Outlaws) is an example of a popular form of the western novel from Mexico called a bolsilibro (pocketbook).

“FACTS AS I REMEMBER THEM”: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF RUFE LEFORS by Rufe LeFors
DBC 26805
The autobiography of a West Texas pioneer whose life spanned the period from the Civil War to the early 20th century. In his time LeFors was a trail driver, pony express rider and rancher. He traveled with Arrington’s Texas Rangers and was sheriff in the wild west town of Old Mobeetie. With a sharp eye for detail and a keen ear for language and timing, he creates a narrative that captures the flavor of his life and those exciting times. Contains some profanity.

FADE THE HEAT by Jay Brandon
DBC 26843
The newly elected district attorney of San Antonio has a problem: his son has been arrested for sexual assault and his new political career is suddenly on the line. Should he prosecute the son he realizes he hardly knows, or should he “fade the heat” from his son and protect his family? This is a courtroom drama about the lengths to which a man will go to protect what matters most. Strong language.

FAREWELL: A MEMOIR OF A TEXAS CHILDHOOD by Horton Foote
DBC 26889
The prize-winning writer of drama and screenplays reminisces about his family experiences in Wharton, a small Texas town. Describes his parents’ circumstances at the time of his birth in 1916 and continues until he leaves home at age seventeen to attend the Pasadena Playhouse in California.

GENERATIONS AND OTHER TRUE STORIES by Bryan Woolley
DBC 26797
This third collection of stories from journalist and novelist Bryan Woolley begins with the deeply moving title story, followed by twenty-six more stories and personality profiles which originally appeared in “The Dallas Morning News.” The author recalls the lost golden age of Mineral Wells, Texas, attends a bulldogging school in Madisonville, Texas, meets the Dallas Harlequins Rugby Football Club, and visits Roswell, New Mexico, site of an alleged UFO crash in 1947. His portraits of places and people are warm, sometimes funny but always genuine.

INDIANS, CATTLE, SHIPS, AND OIL: THE STORY OF W.M.D. LEE by Donald F. Schofield
DBC 26842
William McDole Lee moved from Wisconsin to Kansas to Texas in the early years of the frontier to forge a life for himself. Expertly chronicled in this work, Lee became an Indian trader, rancher, harbor developer and oil impresario and garnered the resources necessary to shape the financial destinies of disparate groups throughout the state.

INTERLUDE IN UMBARGER: ITALIAN POWS AND A TEXAS CHURCH by Donald Mace Williams
DBC 26851
During World War II, in the Texas Panhandle, 3,000 Italian prisoners of war were interned in a camp. In the last year of the war, the prisoners’ food rations were cut back, and only a handful of prisoners found a way to supplement their meager meals. Franco Di Bello, an Italian officer who spoke English, and a small band of fellow artists agreed to decorate St. Mary’s Church in Umbarger. This is their story.

MAXIMILIAN & THE BINGO REMATCH by Xavier Garza
DBC 18861
Edición bilingüe en inglés y español. Para grados 4 a 7 y lectores mayores.
Everybody is fighting in sixth-grader Maximilian’s world as his elderly aunts battle for the Queen Bingo trophy, his masked uncles wrestle for the tag-team title of the world, and his sweetheart and the “new girl” battle for Max’s heart. For grades 4-7 and older readers.
Bilingual: English and Spanish.

NIGHT TRAIN LANE: THE LIFE OF NFL HALL OF FAMER RICHARD “NIGHT TRAIN” LANE by Mike Burns
DBC 26215
Biography of Hall of Famer Richard “Night Train” Lane. He was born in Austin to a prostitute who left him in a dumpster when he was three months old. A nearby neighbor heard him crying, rescued him, and raised him. Lane went on to become a famous football player.

PAREJAS FELICES, CUENTAS EN ORDEN: 5 PASOS PARA TU ARMONIA FINANCIERA by Elaine King
DBC 18588
Un plan estratégica que ayuda a la parejas a fortalecer su relación por medio de una administración financiera inteligente y planificada. Vivir en pareja es un paso muy importante en la vida de todo ser humano, es suficientemente misterioso comprendernos a nosotros mismos, imagínate lo interesante que será́; entender a tu pareja. Cada persona posee una base de datos, depósitos de valores, experiencias, tendencias y actitudes hacia la vida y el dinero. Se dice que el 50% de las parejas que se casan terminan divorciándose, y el 70% de las parejas que se divorcian, lo hacen debido a algo que empezó́; con un malentendido financiero. Es imprescindible romper ese ciclo y prevenir que más parejas se separen por algo que puede mejorarse. Es por eso que las parejas de hoy deben tener un kit de sobrevivencia para enfrentar cualquier situación. Con preparación y capacitación adecuada, las parejas pueden incrementar las probabilidades de permanecer juntos por muchos años con un entendimiento mutuo del propósito del dinero de acuerdo a los valores de ambos.
Living as a couple is a very important step in the life of any human being, it is mysterious enough to understand ourselves, imagine how interesting will be to understand your partner. Each person brings along a database, values, experiences, trends and attitudes toward life and money. About 50% of all marriages end in divorce, and 70% of those couples got divorced due to something that started with a financial misunderstanding. It is essential to break this cycle and prevent that more couples are separated by something that can be improved. That is why couples should have a survival kit for facing any situation, with the right tools, couples may increase their chances of staying together longer with a mutual understanding of the purpose of money according to the values of both. Spanish language. Unrated. 2017.

TRIGGERNOMETRY: A GALLERY OF GUNFIGHTERS: WITH TECHNICAL NOTES ON LEATHER SLAPPING AS A FINE ART, GATHERED FROM MANY A LOOSE HOLSTERED EXPERT OVER THE YEARS by Eugene Cunningham
DBC 26756
The author gives a short biography of 18 gunfighters of the old west, including John Wesley Hardin, Billy the Kid, Sam Bass and Butch Cassidy. Years of research, study, writing and revising resulted in this book, which is factual and authoritative, but also as interesting as a good novel. Good and bad and mixed of nature are shown here. But all played their part in the building of the western country.