Authors On Tour – Live!

Philip Connors, the prize-winning author of Fire Season, reads from and discusses his new memoir All the Wrong Places: A Life Lost and Found, the heartrending story of his troubled years before finding solace in the wilderness. In his debut Fire Season, Philip Connors recounted with lyricism, wisdom, and grace his decade as a fire lookout high above remote New Mexico. Now he tells the story of what made solitude on the mountain so attractive: the years he spent reeling in the wake of a family tragedy. ($25.95) W.W. Norton ISBN # 9780393088762. You can visit Philip Connors‘s official web site as well.

Kyle Boelte reads from and discusses his unique memoir The Beautiful Unseen: Variations on Fog and Forgetting. At age thirty, Boelte finds himself living in San Francisco, amidst an ever-changing sea of fog, and struggling to remember his brother Kris, who committed suicide in the family’s Denver home when Boelte was just thirteen. In this impressive debut, Boelte sets up a dual narrative: one investigates San Francisco’s climate to explain the science behind the omnipresent fog; another explores Boelte’s memory as well as letters, notes, newspaper articles, and other artifacts that tell the story of his brother’s short life and eventual suicide. ($15.95) Soft Skull Press ISBN # 9781619024588. You can visit Kyle Boelte‘s official web site as well.

Alexandra Fuller, author of the critically-acclaimed bestseller Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, discusses her new book Leaving Before the Rains Come. A child of the Rhodesian wars and daughter of two deeply complicated parents, Alexandra Fuller is no stranger to pain. But the disintegration of Fuller’s own marriage leaves her shattered. Looking to pick up the pieces of her life, she finally confronts the tough questions about her past, about the American man she married, and about the family she left behind in Africa. A breathtaking achievement, Leaving Before the Rains Come is a memoir of such grace and intelligence, filled with such wit and courage, that it could only have been written by Alexandra Fuller. ($29.95) Penguin ISBN # 9781594205866. You can visit Alexandra Fuller‘s official web site as well.

Dr. Norman Doidge, the New York Times bestselling author of The Brain That Changes Itself, discusses his new book The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity. For centuries it was believed that the brain’s complexity prevented recovery from damage or disease. The Brain’s Way of Healing shows that this very sophistication is the source of a unique kind of healing. As he did so lucidly in The Brain That Changes Itself, Doidge uses stories to present cutting-edge science with practical real-world applications, and principles that everyone can apply to improve their brain’s performance and health. ($29.95) Viking ISBN # 9780670025503. You can visit Norman Doidge‘s official web site as well.

While on assignment in Greece, journalist James Nestor witnessed something that confounded him: a man diving 300 feet below the ocean’s surface on a single breath of air and returning four minutes later, unharmed and smiling. Nestor discusses his new book Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves, his illuminating look at the pioneers who are expanding our definition of what is possible in the natural world, and in ourselves. ($27.00) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ISBN # 9780547985527. You can visit James Nestor‘s official web site as well.

Michael Shermer is the author of Why People Believe Weird Things, The Believing Brain, and eight other books on the evolution of human beliefs and behavior. He is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, the editor of Skeptic.com, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University. Shermer discusses his new book The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom, which explains how scientific ways of thinking — abstract reasoning, rationality, empiricism, skepticism — have profoundly changed the way we perceive morality and, indeed, move us ever closer to a more just world. ($32.00) Henry Holt ISBN # 9780805096910. You can visit Michael Shermer‘s official web site as well.

After working as director of three companies and the Colorado Symphony, Anne Randolph now leads Kitchen Table Writing and Write Your Life Story Workshops in Denver, and around the country. She was the first Fulcrum Publishing Company Fellow and has an MA and MFA in Literature and Theatre. Randolph and several contributors discuss and read from the new book Stories Gathered at the Kitchen Table: A Collection of Women’s Memoirs. ($14.99) ISBN # 9780988894204. You can visit Anne Randolph‘s official web site as well.

Colorado author Kent Nelson was named the 2014 winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for a book of short fiction. Nelson’s collection, The Spirit Bird: Stories was selected by esteemed author David Guterson from a field of 350 entries. Nelson reads from and discusses his award-winning collection. ($24.95) University of Pittsburgh Press ISBN # 9780822944362. You can visit Kent Nelson‘s official web site as well.

Colorado author and teacher Melanie Crowder reads from and discusses her new novel for young readers Audacity, the inspiring story of Russian immigrant Clara Lemlich, whose fight for equal rights in New York at the turn of the twentieth century led to the largest strike by women in American history. Powerful, breathtaking, and inspiring, Audacity is the story of a remarkable young woman, whose passion and selfless devotion to her cause changed the world. ($17.99) Philomel Books ISBN # 9780399168994. You can visit Melanie Crowder‘s official web site as well.

Actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in the beloved movie The Princess Bride, discusses his memoir As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride. This long-awaited first-person account offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cult classic film, and is filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner. ($26.00) Touchstone ISBN # 9781476764023. You can visit Cary Elwes‘s official web site as well.

Philosopher and author Eric Kaplan is a co-executive producer of, and writer for, the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Kaplan reads from and discusses his new book Does Santa Exist?: A Philosophical Investigation. “Eric Kaplan is more than a talented comedy writer. He is a deep soul, an intellectual master, and a brilliant communicator of the subtleties of the intersections between faith and logic. He will have you laughing, thinking harder than you’ve ever thought, and falling in love with the process of intellectual exploration all over again. A masterpiece.” — Mayim Bialik, PhD (neuroscience, UCLA), actress known for her roles as Blossom Russo in Blossom and Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler in The Big Bang Theory ($20.00) Dutton ISBN # 9780525954392. You can visit Eric Kaplan‘s official web site as well.

Award-winning songwriter and pioneering guitarist Bruce Cockburn has been shaped by politics, protest, romance, and spiritual discovery. Cockburn reads from and discusses Rumours of Glory: A Memoir, in which he invites readers into his private world and takes them on a lively cultural and musical tour through the late twentieth century, sharing his Christian convictions, his personal relationships, and the social and political activism that has defined him and has both invigorated and incited his fans. ($28.99) HarperOne ISBN # 9780061969126. You can visit Bruce Cockburn‘s official web site as well.

Aaron the Wayshower is the author’s spokesman who appears in each of a series of novels to combat some form of subhuman behavior. In Preacher Sean, Antiterrorist, he visits Northern Ireland (1989-1990) to combat the sad twenty-year reality of Christians killing other Christians in the name of Christ. Most readers should easily become interested in what Aaron says and does. He’s not just another great teacher (Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad). He is the procreator of a Life-Stream which includes Earthlings as a tiny fraction of his total Progeny. Even more important, the totality of his responsibilities is similar in scope to that which each of us must one day assume! Xlibris, $29.99, ISBN#: 978-1-44150-979-6

Journalist Marilyn Johnson, the author of two acclaimed books about quirky subcultures — The Dead Beat (about obituary writers) and This Book Is Overdue (about librarians) — discusses her new book Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble. Bringing her irrepressible wit and curiosity to bear on yet another strange world, that of archaeologists, Johnson’s book is by turns amusing and profound, and its wild cast of characters find new ways to consider what is worth salvaging from our past. ($25.99) HarperCollins ISBN # 9780062127181. You can visit Marilyn Johnson‘s official web site as well.

W. Bruce Cameron, the New York Times bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Journey, and 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, reads from and discusses his new novel The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man. “The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man introduces my favorite kind of flawed cynical protagonist in Ruddy McCann, former football star, now Repo Man in a small town full of memorable weirdos. It’s suspenseful, action-packed, romantic, and above all, truly funny. I loved it.” – Nelson DeMille ($24.99) Forge ISBN # 9780765377487. You can visit W. Bruce Cameron‘s official web site as well.