Ever since Stephenie Meyer captured the mainstream vampire, the fanged seducer — once-celebrated for his strength and ability to terrorize — has never been the same. The great creature of the night became the rebel without a tan. Meyer’s flowery vampire fantasy land has left today’s teen readers wanting the dark side dressed…
Maybe it’s his knack for drawing lofty conclusions from minute observations, his enviable friendship with the loyal Dr. Watson, or simply his iconic fashion: a deerstalker hat, a cape, and a pipe. Whatever combination of qualities and characteristics — Sherlock Holmes is one of the most recognizable literary figures in the…
Everyone’s a nerd for something: string theory, fantasy football, high-end cheese. Turns out, Bob Beard’s a nerd for everything. From strange geographies to weird science – spaghetti westerns to snack cakes — he’ll show you the world through his corrective, fanboy lenses. I say this with the greatest amount of…
The topic of history makes a bad first impression on many of us, I think, because it’s taught from highly selective and seriously boring textbooks. News, often referred to as the rough draft of history, is skewed, reactive, and wearisome. Both formats focus too much on political intrigue and violent…
In the graphic novel Hark! A Vagrant, which was released last month, artist Kate Beaton explains, “Some time ago I packed my history degree into a suitcase and said goodbye to the world of working in museums for low pay and limited opportunity, and said hello to the world of being…
Author Tania Katan and artist Angela Ellsworth will take a group to the Castello di Spannocchia in the Province of Siena, Italy for a one-week writing and drawing workshop they say will “explore personal and cultural histories by navigating the possibilities of line.”The two call the course Topography of Memory, which they promise requires…
October is here, the weather is cooling down (for the time being), and it’s time to get started on a few new projects. And don’t think the opportunities are few — here are five: 1. Do Your Part: A Community Painting Day with Jenny IgnaszewskiThis Sunday, October 16, from 10 a.m…
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To the thrill of ghost whisperers, cocktail slingers, and e-cigarrette puffers everywhere, Allison DuBois is coming to Changing Hands. The medium/author/reality TV star who claims to be a drug is coming back to her hometown on September 23 to answer questions and share her new book, Talk to Me: What the Dead…
Courtesy of Laurie Notaro Bestselling author and former Phoenix-area journalist Laurie Notaro is back in the Valley of the Sun. No, she didn’t pack up the U-Haul and move here for good (though the idea isn’t completely off the table.) Notaro will make appearances this week at Changing Hands Bookstore and the Desert Ridge…
Today, Borders Books sent out the inevitable announcement: “We’re-closing-up-shop.” After filing for bankruptcy in February, those in the book-publishing world followed news of the company through its rough patch, and ultimately to its death.”I wasn’t a bit surprised,” says Barbara Peters, owner of Poisoned Pen, located at 4014 Goldwater Blvd…
When a Michigan-bred, self-described misfit with a knack for mathematics and ska music left her job as a psychotherapist and moved to Phoenix, she found a magical farmer named McGlitter and ventured into the lucrative world of unicorn farming. Meet Jessica S. Marquis. Marquis is the author of Raising Unicorns:…
Join + Cast: A Field Guide to Contemporary Art in Phoenix has been a labor of love for the past year-and-a-half for co-creators (and local artists) Jennifer Campbell and Catherine Akins. The book features maps and information for many urban galleries in the Greater Phoenix area, interviews and profiles of local artists, a Do-It-Yourself section, and…
We watched those damn owls collect for days and patiently waited for Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling to make a big announcement. Early this morning, she made her YouTube appearance to talk about the highly anticipated Pottermore. Frankly we were more excited to see the paper-cut animation than to hear…
If your inner-Shakespeare’s dying to get out, clad in a leather corset, dust-stained goggles, and rustic thigh-high boots, you might want to mark down Gotham City Comics & Coffee’s Steampunk Sonnet Slam. This Saturday, June 11, from 6 to 8 p.m., local poet Aaron Johnson will be hosting the fiction-driven…
Governor Jan Brewer has agreed to pen her memoirs to be published by Harper Collins this fall. The book has the working title: “Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America’s Border.”That title seems a little self-serving, and Brewer’s a busy lady…
Candace Bushnell, the author of countless dating and relationship columns and seven novels, is perhaps best known for her book-turned-HBO series that made Sarah Jessica Parker famous for something other than marrying Ferris Bueller (aka Matthew Broderick). And good news for all chick-lit fans and Bushnell’s Sex and the City…
Somewhere in Kabul, Afghanistan, there’s house with a few laptops, journals, and dictionaries. The house’s exact location is kept secret; it’s the meeting place and home of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project, and its location has to be kept secret to stay safe.The project started as an idea of novelist…
Most of us have heard the old saying, “Art imitates life.” But what’s an artist to do when life throws them a curve ball of crap? If you were to ask celebrated author and performer Tania Katan, she might say an artist can take that ball of crap and make…
The Arizona State University Origins Festival will play host to many events regarding science and art but among them will be bestselling fiction writer Jean Auel. Auel doesn’t mix science with fiction in the way that typically gives birth to ray gun battles, zombie apocalypses, alien invasions and all that…
There aren’t too many non-fiction books about buildings that can be described as “awesome” and “haunting,” but Allan Wright Green’s Building the Pauson House: The Letters of Frank Lloyd Wright and Rose Pauson is both.The Rose Pauson House was located at 5859 N. 31st Street in Phoenix. It was designed…
One of our own, local worlds of books is 37 years old today. Happy Birthday, Changing Hands…
