David Owen is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of fourteen books. He lives in northwest Connecticut with his wife, the writer Ann Hodgman. His book was a finalist in general nonfiction for the 2018 Colorado Book Awards. What inspired you to write this book? I’d written about environmental issues in […]
SunLit
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A dying boy triggers competing instincts of honor and morality amid conflict in a fantasy world
2018 Colorado Book Award finalist for Science Fiction Draius is no trained spy. Despite that, her king sends her on a mission to secretly retrieve a stolen Kaskea shard. There she attracts the attention of a power-hungry Lord, who plans an invasion of Tyrra. Trapped in enemy territory and on the run, she faces imprisonment […]
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Evolution of a matriarchal “horse-tribe” provided inspiration for author’s fantasy world
Laura E. Reeve began writing science fiction and fantasy in the fifth grade, leading to a lifelong obsession for building worlds. Along the way, she spent nine years as a U.S. Air Force Officer, holding operational command positions and having the opportunity to escort Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty inspectors. Her civilian jobs have ranged from […]
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Excerpt: How museum collectors exploited Zuni poverty and damaged a civilization
At the end of the dirt road, at the edge of a desolate mesa, we approach the sacred shrine. It looks like a beautiful one- room prison. A windowless building made of heavy burnt-orange sandstone blocks. Sharp steel spikes shoot vertically from the roof, threaded with jagged barbed wire. We park the car and step […]
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Sacred objects, human remains and culture clash sparked a Colorado author’s desire to tell a tragic story
Chip Colwell is senior curator of Anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. He has held fellowships with the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, National Endowment for the Humanities, and U.S. Fulbright Program. He has published 11 books and many articles in such publications as The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The Denver […]
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SunLit 2018: Colorado authors took us on wide-ranging tours of the human condition
When we launched SunLit in September, our aim was to provide enticing weekly excerpts of work from some of Colorado’s best authors to add a literary flavor to the journalism we do every day. It’s about building community and exploring a variety of perspectives on Colorado life. The offerings represented diverse genres of both fiction […]
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Trials of war, horror of crime collide in metro Denver murder mystery
2018 Colorado Book Award winner for Mystery When a train engineer reports striking a woman on the railroad tracks, Special Agent Sydney Parnell investigates. She finds an abandoned Lexus and then the body of the woman who was struck by the train. It looks like foul play. Things get worse when Sydney learns that the […]
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“What will drive someone to murder?” The bottom-line question that powers Barbara Nickless narratives
An English degree and a sense of adventure led Barbara Nickless to work as a technical writer, raptor rehabilitator, astronomy instructor, sword fighter, piano teacher, and journalist. Now an award-winning author, she spends her free time snowshoeing, caving and hiking the Colorado Rockies. What inspired you to write this book? I always start with a […]
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Can a Colorado mountain blizzard bring a man to re-examine his life?
The following is an excerpt from “White Plains,” a novel by David Hicks based in Southwest Colorado 2018 Colorado Book Awards finalist for Literary Fiction Lake City was an early Christmas card. Over a foot of fresh snow had fallen, and it was sure to be worse up Slumgullion. Flynn slowed through town, following the […]
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As author David Hicks wrote “White Plains,” the narrative got uncomfortably personal
David Hicks is a professor at Regis University in Denver, where he also co-directs the Mile-High MFA program. Excerpts from his book “White Plains” have been published as short stories in “Glimmer Train,” “Colorado Review,” “Specs,” “Saranac Review,” and “South Dakota Review,” along with other journals. White Plains was a finalist for the 2018 Colorado […]