Books
May 9, 2023
The Dog Had Ate the Hand
In this original short story, when two down-on-their luck Houston men try to steal copper pipes from a home, nothing goes quite as planned.
Novels & Short Stories
Books
July 14, 2022
Ten Reasons to Believe We’re Living in the Golden Age of Texas Fiction
Disemboweled zombies, gritty female crime investigators, harrowing tales of family dysfunction—today’s crop of Texas novels has something for everyone.
Books
July 14, 2022
Texas Novelists Are Finally Ready to Grapple With Our History—Yes, All of It
The author of ‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ believes a critical mass of writers is pushing beyond the fairy tales of the past.
Books
July 14, 2022
Is Fernando A. Flores the Gabriel García Márquez of the Texas Borderlands? Or the Kurt Vonnegut?
In his new short story collection, the Austin writer offers a fantastical view of the Texas borderlands. Just don’t call it “magical realism.”
Books
July 14, 2022
Sergio Troncoso Is Making Sure That Texas Literature Represents All of Texas
In his latest novel and as president of the Texas Institute of Letters, the Ysleta-raised writer is pushing us to rethink the Lone Star literary canon.
Books
July 14, 2022
Why Are Texas Novelists So Fascinated by Galveston?
Kimberly Garza’s coastal debut, ‘The Last Karankawas,’ draws on her childhood memories of one of the city’s lesser-known ethnic enclaves.
Books
July 13, 2022
Playing the Ghost
A short story.
Books
June 15, 2021
Set After the Civil War, ‘The Sweetness of Water’ Is Eerily Relevant
Austin author Nathan Harris dazzles in his first novel, which explores racial violence, family, and identity.
The National Podcast of Texas
September 16, 2019
Kimberly King Parsons: “Maybe We Call What I Do Queer Psychedelic Texas Fiction?”
On this week’s National Podcast of Texas, a conversation with the Plano-raised writer whose debut story collection, ‘Black Light,’ has garnered rave reviews.
Books
August 23, 2019
Kimberly King Parsons’s Fiction Illuminates Intimate Texas Moments
The Lubbock-born author reflects on her debut short story collection, ‘Black Light.’
Books
April 24, 2019
The Psychedelic State of South Texas
Fernando A. Flores’s debut novel, ‘Tears of the Trufflepig,’ is an exhilarating borderland dystopia.
Books
April 24, 2019
Exclusive Excerpt: Oscar Cásares’s Border Novel ‘Where We Come From’
In Texas Monthly writer-at-large Oscar Cásares’s forthcoming novel, a retired high school teacher in Brownsville is reluctantly pulled into the world of human trafficking.
Books
March 19, 2019
In ‘Lot,’ Bryan Washington Brings the Polyphony of Houston to the Page
In his first fiction collection, Bryan Washington evokes a Houston that’s in Texas but not entirely of Texas.
Books
February 4, 2019
Q&A With Author Elizabeth McCracken: “Austin Is a City of Books As Much As Music”
The award-winning writer and UT professor talks about her new novel, 'Bowlaway,' and how teaching and Texas have affected her work.
Film & TV
January 11, 2019
‘The Passage’: Love at First Bite
Best-selling author and Rice University professor Justin Cronin, who wrote 'The Passage' trilogy, on taking his work from the page to the screen.
Books
January 3, 2019
Amy Gentry’s ‘Last Woman Standing’ Evens the Score
In her second novel, Gentry mines women’s commonplace experiences with abusive men to create a page-turning thriller.
Books
January 20, 2013
Bohemian Rhapsody
An ambitious, sometimes bewildering, debut novel about Czech Texas.
Books
April 1, 1997
Let Them Read Shrake
It would be wrong to say that Bud Shrake has finished writing one third of a new novel; it’s actually an old novel, one he has been writing off and on for the past fifteen years. “It’s about love, violence, sex, and murder,” the 65-year-old Austinite explains, and is set
Guides
April 1, 1997
CD and Book Reviews
Hot CDsSing, Cowboy, Sing: The Gene Autry Collection (Rhino) is a three-CD set featuring 84 favorites by the singing cowboy from Tioga. But these aren’t always the best-known versions; many are previously unreleased transcriptions from his Melody Ranch radio show that measure up well and thus add to the Autry
Books
April 1, 1997
Teen Idol
The career of Austin young-adult writer Rob Thomas is going through a growth spurt.
Guides
November 1, 1996
CD and Book Reviews
Hot CDsTwo years after their wildly successful debut, Elida y Avante bounce back from label troubles with Algo Entero (Tejas). For my money, Mercedes-born Elida Reyna is tejano’s next female superstar. Her husky, throbbing voice is mature well beyond her 24 years—she has the archetypal blend of innocence and experience—and
Books
December 1, 1995
The Good Old Boy
After four decades of writing classic Texas novels, there’s no denying that San Angelo’s Elmer Kelton has earned his Spurs.
Books
September 30, 1995
Walker, Texas Writer
Mary Willis Walker’s mysteries aren’t exactly original, but she crafts real moments of tension. That’s why they sell so well and win so many awards.
Books
September 1, 1995
Texas Twenty: Dagoberto Gilb
Macho fiction.
Books
August 31, 1995
Ghost Story
When you read a Hardy Boys novel, the mystery isn’t who done it, but who wrote it.
Books
August 31, 1995
Basking in It
If the literary novel is dead, then why is Baskerville Publishers in Dallas flourishing?
Books
September 30, 1991
Let’er Rip!
Brown’s formula for success guarantees a happy ending.