Joshua Wheeler will discuss, sign copies of debut novel 'The High Heaven'

AUTHOR IN ALBUQUERQUE AND SANTA FE

Joshua Wheeler will discuss and sign copies of his debut novel “The High Heaven” at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13, at Bookworks in Albuquerque and at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14, at Collected Works in Santa Fe.

In 1967 on the night of the first Apollo mission, a child named Izzy is orphaned when the doomsday cult she was born into clashes with the sheriff in the New Mexico high desert.

Izzy is taken in by a struggling rancher trying to keep his wits about him as NASA rocket tests encroach on his outer range.

The story is inspired by the true story of a UFO cult in a village near White Sands Missile Range.

The novel follows Izzy’s life from tragedy on the ranch through addiction, with a cast of eccentrics in Texas and New Orleans, where she is haunted by her past.

The story chronicles the larger-than-life adventures of an extraordinary woman who never loses sight of redemption.

Wheeler teaches creative writing at Louisiana State University and grew up in Alamogordo. His essay collection, “Acid West,” was published in 2018.

Bookworks is located at 4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW. Collected Works is located at 202 Galisteo St. in Santa Fe.

AT BOOKS ON THE BOSQUE

New Mexico horror author T.L. Bodine will talk about and sign copies of her novel “These Kids Are Not Alright” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12.

Robyn Hunt and Barbara Rockman will read their poetry and chat with the audience at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18.

Hunt’s most recent collection is “The Fiction of Stillness.” By day, she is a development and communications director for a nonprofit social services agency.

Rockman will read from her collection “to cleave” and other work. She teaches poetry at Santa Fe Community College, in private workshops and at the Esperanza Shelter.

Both poets live in Santa Fe.

Books on the Bosque is located at 6261 Riverside Plaza Lane NW.

AT BARNES & NOBLE

Paul Andrew Hutton will autograph copies of his new monumental history “The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy and the Shaping of the American West” from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, at Barnes & Noble in Coronado Shopping Center, 6600 Menaul Blvd. NE.

Hutton is a distinguished professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico and is the interim curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.

AT COLLECTED WORKS

The Santa Fe bookstore is hosting two book-related events this week.

One event is called “An Afternoon with Sandra Cisneros” and it is being held at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12. It features the award-winning Chicana author in conversation with Patricia Trujillo.

The event will include readings, and reflections on writing, culture and creativity. It will also touch on the recent premiere of the opera “The House on Mango Street.”

The opera is based on Cisneros’ classic coming-of-age book of the same name. The story is presented through a series of vignettes that are set in a Hispanic community in Chicago and seen through the eyes of 12-year-old Esperanza Cordero.

Derek Bermel composed the music for the opera and Bermel and Cisneros wrote the libretto. The opera premiered last July at the Glimmerglass Festival.

Owen Lipstein will be in conversation at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, with actor Ali McGraw about “I Am Santa Fe,” which is described as a collection of the smartest, funniest, most profound local interviews from Santa Fe Magazine’s first four years.

Lipstein is the publisher of the magazine.

Collected Works is located at 202 Galisteo St. in Santa Fe.

AT GERONIMO’S BOOKS

Santa Fe poet Emily Hyland will join poet David Oates of Portland, Oregon, in reading from his collection “Surprise Comes Slowly” at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, at Geronimo’s Books.

The bookstore is located at 3018 Cielo Court, Suite D in Santa Fe.

IN TAOS

Carrie Nassif will host SOMOS Spoken Word/Open Mic at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, at SOMOS Salon, 108 Civic Plaza Drive in Taos. The event is open to poetry, prose, storytelling and a capella.

For more information, contact Nassif at 785-623-4447.

Joshua Wheeler will discuss, sign copies of debut novel 'The High Heaven'