100 Great Things About Texas

By popular demand, a Fort Worth boutique press has brought back 100 Great Things About Texas, a perennial favorite by Texas writer Glenn Dromgoole. Not a travel guide and not exactly a Texas brags book, it is a celebration of 100 subtle, and not so subtle, serious and not so serious, things that make Texas the special place that it is. (104 pages, paperback}

And the book has earned rave reviews:

“. . . a great little gift book.”  –Round-up Magazine
“. . . a small book perfect for those ‘one-more-gift’ gifts. . . . It’s just $6.95, which is  another great thing about Texas.” –Kerrville Daily Times
“. . . just the right size (and price) and . . . a fun addition to the loot for my grown children and grandchildren.” –Brazosport Facts
“. . . sure to spark the interest of native and non-native Texans alike.” –Review of Texas Books
“This is one of those little stocking-stuffer books that’s simply a fun read.” –Bryan-College Station Eagle

A Cajun Family Cookbook

John Gravois comes from Houma, Louisiana, and is proud of it. His new book, A Cajun Family Cookbook, spreads the joy of regional cuisine as practiced by his relatives. It starts with recipes his mother taught him and Gravois ladles in more family favorites from generous southern Louisiana relatives.

He gives you a crash course in Cajun, rendering the region’s specialties accessible to anyone. From party foods like shrimp with remoulade sauce to singular gumbos, jambalayas and étouffées; from favorite sides like maque choux and zucchini pirogues to desserts like pralines and bread pudding; from breads to breakfasts, Gravois’ cookbook celebrates the bounty of his people’s famous cuisine.

Gravois, an award-winning journalist who hails from a rice-growing family, provides a primer on Cajun cooking techniques, including the best way to make perfect roux. Aside from familiar favorites, such distinctive fare as armadillo fricassée, stuffed quail, and venison stew are offered up along with sumptuous desserts like sweet potato pudding and pralines.

If you grew up in Cajun country – the book will recall memories of raucous family reunions and other gatherings with aunts bearing her proudest dish. For non-Cajuns, it’s a chance to eat very, very well. Again and again.

Texas Christmas Tales

A trove of memorable, true Texas stories of the Christmas season – including works by O. Henry and John Henry Faulk – and published with an affordable $8.95 list price to make nifty, and readable, stocking stuffers.
The collection includes both fiction and non-fiction with some short stories dating back more than 100 years while others are set in today’s Lone Star state. They include Faulk’s childhood remembrance that was broadcast annually for years on National Public Radio. O. Henry’s “A Chaparral Christmas Gift” might be to South Texas what his famous “Gift of the Magi” is to New York City, but funnier and written toward the end of his career.
The anthology includes “The Golden Shadows Old West Museum,” an award-winning short story by journalist and Baylor University Professor Mike Blackman, which Larry L. King reworked as a play. Blackman also created “ The Night the Wise Men Sucker-Punched the Elf” – under deadline pressure, but it doesn’t show.  Jerry Flemmons won a state journalism award for his moving East Texas story about a child’s doll. His colleague, Frank Perkins, reaches back into his own childhood about a winter when his father was away at war and his step-grandfather stepped in to give him his best Christmas gift ever. Aside from these stories, the collection includes Larry Chittenden’s nostalgic poem, “Cowboy Christmas Ball,” about an annual gathering of ranchers and cowpokes in Anson, just
north of Abilene, which continues to this day.

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