BookPeople Hosts Third Annual Dalton Gang Reading

July 10, 2009

The Dalton Gang is back again for the Third Annual Dalton Gang Reading hosted by BookPeople (603 N. Lamar). Escape the Austin heatwave and join us for a literary treat showcasing seven talented Austin authors on Wednesday, August 12 at 7 p.m..

The evening includes the poetry of Lyman Grant (The Road Home) and W. Joe Hoppe (Galvanized); the Grimm-inspired tales from Ric Williams (Woman in the Tower); the refreshing and incisive fiction crafted by Robert Stikmanz (Sleeper Awakes), Gary Kent’s unbelievable, yet all true, reminiscences of the indie film revolution (Shadows & Light); a jolt of inspiration and motivation from the SOAPBOX® Queen herself, Kimberlie Dykeman (Pure Soapbox); and the always hilarious and entertaining Les McGehee (Plays Well With Others).

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Social Media Pioneer Delivers Talk and Signs Copies of Her Survival Guide

July 8, 2009

Following the release of her highly praised social media and Web 2.0 handbook, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web, Social Media Power owner, Deltina Hay, presents strategies and tactics for optimizing and marketing your business using social media and Web 2.0 at BookPeople (603 N. Lamar, Austin) on Wednesday, July 22 at 7:00 p.m..

A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization is a no-nonsense guide to the tools of Web 2.0. This book arms readers with the nuts and bolts of the new, open-source Internet through hands-on, real-world examples. From WordPress to Facebook, Squidoo to YouTube, wikis, widgets, blogs, and RSS feeds, Hay demonstrates how businesses and individuals can create and use these tools to maximize their Web presence and profit from doing so.

As a publisher and small business owner, Deltina Hay knows firsthand how to apply the tools of social media to the industry, and as a developer, knows how to build those tools. Hay is a regular contributor to IBPA’s Independent, The SPAN Connection, SiteProNews, SocialMedia.biz, and many online news sites. While she has taught at the university level, her deep working knowledge of social media ideas and how to apply them in the real world make her writings and presentations some of the most exciting and accessible in the industry today.

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Social Media Maven Heads Up BiGAUSTIN’s Conversations Series

July 1, 2009

By Neil Kahn

Following the release of her highly praised social media and Web 2.0 handbook, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Surviving in the Social Web, veteran Web developer and publisher Deltina Hay heads up the Conversations Breakfast series presented by BiGAUSTIN’s Women’s Business Center.

Striving to lead as a self-sustainable small business development organization, BiGAUSTIN provides innovative growth strategies to underserved entrepreneurs in Central Texas and assists the successful growth of small businesses by providing comprehensive education and tailored business counseling, and by meeting the unique financial needs of new and existing entrepreneurs . This month’s Conversations series, held on Thursday, July 16 from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m. at BookPeople (603 N. Lamar, Austin, TX), is intended to give business professionals the knowledge and tools they need to optimize, develop, and market their businesses using social media and Web 2.0.

Accompanying Deltina at the Thursday morning presentation are social media marketing specialists Weston Norton and Talmadge Boyd of Reel Social Media and social media experts Lamar and Laura Valentino Romero. Reel Social Media blends online video with social media marketing and search engine optimization to drive Website traffic, provide richer brand presence, and create a cost effective, engaging marketing strategy. Lamar Romero, Chief Funding Officer of Romero Capital & Funding, LLC, utilizes strategic marketing and channel development, combined with over 15 years of business investing and experimentation, to locate and fund working capital and investment opportunities for growing businesses.

Deltina Hay is a pioneer of social media and Web 2.0, especially as it applies to small business and the publishing industry. She has written countless articles and two books on the subject. An experienced instructor, her working knowledge of social media ideas and how to apply them in the real world make her presentations and writings some of the most accessible in the industry. Her recently released book, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization, arms readers with the nuts and bolts of the Social Web through hands-on, real-world examples, and the companion CD is packed with links to other resources, directories of Social Websites, and fillable forms and worksheets to help users map their strategies. Hay is the principal of Austin-based press Dalton Publishing; the social media consulting and Web 2.0 development firm, Social Media Power; and the innovative Social Website service PlumbSocial.com.

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Hollywood Stuntman Releases Book Documenting Filmic Revolution

June 24, 2009

Gary Kent’s long awaited memoir, Shadows & Light / Journeys With Outlaws in Revolutionary Hollywood is set for official release on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 with a reading, book signing, and party held at BookPeople (603 N. Lamar, Austin, TX). This special evening will include food, drink, music, celebrity guests, and Gary Kent reading from his original work.

Kent’s eclectic and exciting memoir focuses on his forty years as a writer/director, actor, stuntman, and special effects expert in the creative canyons of Hollywood.

This much anticipated event will begin promptly at 7 p.m. with guitarists Pat Hammonds and Chris Kent playing a gut-bucket blues duet, followed by music from south Texas singer-songwriter Bianca DeLeon.

Special guests include entrepreneur/philanthropist/stuntman Rex Cumming (Walker Texas Ranger); actor/stuntman Bob Ivy (Bubba Ho-Tep, Phantasm); writer/director Don Jones (Lethal Pursuit, The Forest); producer/author Michael MacFarland (The Pyramid, The Ultimate Joy); and iconic director/actor/stunt legend Chuck Bail (The Stuntman, Freebie and The Bean, Beastmaster).

What the World of Film in Saying about Shadows & Light

“Tripping from the psychedelic 60s to the filmmaker-centric new century, Gary Kent weaves an expertly written and all-true story of the world of movies, with all of the action, actresses, drink, drugs, sex, and creative genius!”
-Don Coscarelli, Producer Director (Bubba Ho-Tep, Phantasm)

“This book is a magic piece of candy, transporting the reader back to earlier days of celluloid Villians and Heroes, where hindsight is 20/20 and artistic license will get you into any game in town.”
-Chuck Bail, iconic actor/director/stuntman, Stuntman’s Hall of Fame

“Magnificent prose that honors an exciting, turbulent time in the art of movie making magic.”
-Paul Lewis, Producer/Production Manager (Easy Rider, Colors)

“Gary Kent gives us an all access backstage pass to the days when filmmaking was poetry, when guys like Jack Nicholson and Warren Oates were working out of offices the size of closets, and craft service was a bologna sandwich. Kent’s memories are intimate and evocative, sliding through your consciousness like a fine wine, leaving the taste of a touching time when movies were really movies-a time in our culture that is missed now more than ever.”
-Esai Morales, award-winning actor (La Bamba, NYPD Blue), Screen Actor’s Guild Board of Directors, Co-founder of National Hispanic Foundation for The Arts.

“Gary Kent has either an extraordinary memory or an extraordinary imagination. His experiences on my movies in the 1960s explore a parallel universe of which I was unaware, but because of his detailed recreation I accept as accurate and true. It’s a fascinating trip and a riveting read.”
-Monte Hellman, director and producer (Ride The Whirlwind, The Shooting, Two Lane Blacktop, Reservoir Dogs)

“Gary’s odyssey takes him into the world of A-List Hollywood, Poverty Row impresarios, mad geniuses, doomed starlets and, maybe most compellingly, among the stuntmen, bit-players, horse wranglers, and grips who labor behind the scenes but are no less fascinating than the baby faces who get the big closeups. What a canvas! What a life! What a book!”
-Lars Nilsen, Alamo Drafthouse

“Gary Kent chronicles the subtle birth and growth of a dazzling cinematic style, born from the evolving mindset of its audience. It’s a world I know and Gary got it right! He turns the trick without breaking a sweat, easy reading, like breathing fresh air, yet loaded with brilliant metaphors and insights that make this book meaningful. Very stylish work.”
-Richard Rush, director

“Kent had the acting chops to star in films, the backbone to make a living as a stuntman, and the determination to learn every job on a film set. He and his fellow movie mavericks embarrassed the major studio system by blindsiding it with their creativity and originality. Their work can never be marginalized and may never be repeated. Thanks to the revolutionary work they left behind, it will also never be forgotten.”
-Ken Kish, Producer and Owner, Cinema Wasteland Movie Exposition, Cleveland, Ohio

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Award-Winning Poet Delivers Metaphysical Novel

May 6, 2009

On Wednesday, May 20 at 7 p.m., Dalton Publishing and Book People (603 N. Lamar) host the official book release and signing for award-winning poet Richard Lance Williams’ debut novel Woman in the Tower: Stories for the Wounded Child. The musical stylings of Les McGehee will liven the celebration and Organic Iced Tea provided by Cafe Caffeine will be served.

Williams’ novel is a journey of fantasy, self-exploration, and renewal. An unnamed man is overtaken by confusion and uncertainty and finds himself on the brink of self-destruction when a knowing presence enters his life and guides him through the darkness with comfort of a most unexpected nature. Woman in the Tower celebrates the transformative powers of fables, exhibiting the effect these stories can have on all of us in times of crisis.

The arc of the tales not only displays a way into the recesses of the human psyche, but also explores the nature of fables, revealing them to be more than simple lessons for naive children in a dangerous world. They are scripts for how we live our interior and exterior lives and a lens through which we view the lives of others. We each have a tale we tell ourselves. Are you a princess or a scullery maid, the lost little girl or the enchanted queen? Are you willing to tell yourself another story? Are you willing to enter the world of the Woman in the Tower?

Who: Richard Lance Williams
What: Book release for Woman in the Tower
Where: BookPeople (603 N. Lamar)
When: Wednesday, May 20 at 7 p.m.

Advance Praise for Woman in the Tower:
“Richard Lance Williams has written a story sequence which bows to Grimm tales without imitating them. They have the same breadth of the Grimm’s great ‘household’ collection and are crammed with the best kind of Jungian imagery. Mr. Williams’ prose has all the sparkle of a fine fairy-tale and he has a sharp, original imagination.”
-Michael Moorcock, Nebula Award-Winning author of Behold the Man

“All we know comes from the stories we tell and the stories we are wise enough to hear. Ric Williams uses narrative as the most subtle of knives where a wise heart can peel away its own onion layers and moonlight words can stitch them up again. This novel is about Story herself, healing, erotic, sustaining.”
-Don Webb, author of When They Came

“This debut novel from accomplished poet Ric Williams channels his familiar voice-oracular, effusive, and playful as a fresh spring that’s come a long way underground. Ric dives into the darkness fearlessly, a shaman on a busman’s holiday, and it’s both a pleasure and an adventure to go along for the ride.”
-Zara Houshmand, author of A Mirror Garden

“Having the courage to choose a story over certainty becomes easier after reading Woman in the Tower. Stories are gestures to lift the veil of the apparent world so we might see the unadorned reality beneath it. With a prose style both punchy and profound, Williams is a master at lifting the veil.”
-Dennis Patrick Slattery, author of The Wounded Body

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Find Funnyman Owen Egerton at BookPeople

September 16, 2008

There is no questioning it, Austin is chock-full of fabulously talented writers. But, on Thursday, September 18 at 7pm, BookPeople will showcase the Funniest Fiction (and Non-Fiction) in Austin! Dalton’s own humorist, Owen Egerton will host the event, which pretty much guarantees a night of non-stop laughter. Seasoned comedian Les McGehee will join the mix with Spike Gillespie, a staple author in the Austin writing community who will join the Dalton Gang in January 2009 with the release of Stricken: The 5,000 Stages of Grief, an anthology of essays. Other authors on the roster include Mary Jo Pehl and Tony Vigorito. Be prepared for a lot of fun, as anything goes at an event like this.

And, in honor of Banned Books Week, you can find Owen at BookPeople again on Sunday, September 28 at 2:30 pm for the kick-off readings. Banned Books Week is intended to celebrate the wonderful freedom to read that we all enjoy. Leave it to BookPeople to devote an entire day to the celebration of these many unprecedented and historically influential books. Joining Egerton in reading passages from their favorite banned books are Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith, award-winning author Amanda Ward, and many more Austin authors and celebrities.

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