Book Briefs for Oct. 16-22

CSN to host Tod Goldberg events

Tod Goldberg, author of nine novels and two short story collections, most recently "Other Resort Cities," is scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. Wednesday in room K101 at the College of Southern Nevada's Charleston campus, 6375 W. Charleston Blvd., and at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in room D101 on the campus.

The Tell to hit The Mob Museum

If you don't have your tickets yet, you may have missed out on the third anniversary of The Tell, a storytelling adventure led by Dayvid Figler scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the National Museum of Organized Crime & Law Enforcement, The Mob Museum, 300 Stewart Ave.
The evening of stories focused on fighting the law is a pre-festival event tied to the Vegas Valley Book Festival. Tickets are $10. For more information or to see if tickets are still available, visit
vegasvalleybookfestival.org. If you've missed it this time, don't worry, Figler heads up a new event every few months.

Memoir author plans signing

Sharon Mae King, author of "This is My Introduction from Me to You. Remember Me? A Memoir," is scheduled to sign books at 1 p.m. Saturday at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

Mob museum hosting Inside Stories

The National Museum of Organized Crime & Law Enforcement, The Mob Museum, 300 Stewart Ave., is scheduled to continue its Inside Stories fall speaker series with a talk by security expert Mark Galeotti, from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday . Tickets are $35.

The series is also set to feature crime-fighting lawyer G. Robert Blakey at 6 p.m. Nov. 13. Presentations include a cocktail reception and hors d'oeuvres. Visit themobmuseum.org for details.

BMI fall season schedule to include poetry reading and more

The Black Mountain Institute plans several free presentations including James Longenbach reading poetry at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Flamingo, 3555 Las Vegas Blvd. South; Jennifer Egan, in cooperation with the Vegas Valley Book Festival, at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 3 at the Historic Fifth Street School, 401 S. Fourth St.; Wole Soyinka at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 in the student union, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway; A Nevada Emerging Writers Series featuring Leslie Jamison at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 in the Greenspun Hall auditorium, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway; Mustapha Marrouchi at 7 p.m. March 6 in the student union; and a conversation with BMI Fellows Criselda Yabes and Oksana Marafioti, moderated by Richard Wiley, at 7 p.m. April 10 in the student union.

For more information, visit black mountaininstitute.org.

Workshop to discuss novel publishing

A free workshop titled "How to Get Your Novel Published" directed by Erin Lale, an acquisitions editor from Damnation Books, is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway. Participants are asked to bring the first page of their novel. Visit mypubliclibrary.org to register.

Las Vegas Romance writers to welcome Amber Scott

Amber Scott, author of "Soul Search" and "Love Soul Deep," plans to direct a discussion titled "Your Brain on Writing" at 10:30 a.m. Saturday during a Las Vegas Romance Writers meeting set to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Wengert Conference Room at the NV Energy Building, 6226 W. Sahara Ave. Visit lasvegasrwa.org for details. For more on the author, visit amberscottbooks.com.

Pre-teen writer to sign 'Benotripia: The Rescue'

"Magic Meadow and the Golden Locket" author McKenzie Wagner, 11, writes about Roseabelle, an 11-year-old thrown into an adventure when her mother disappears from a tropical island, in her second novel "Benotripia: The Rescue." Wagner plans to sign books at 5 p.m. Friday at the 567 N. Stephanie St. Barnes & Noble in Henderson.

Fablehaven series author plans visit

Brandon Mull, best known for the Fablehaven and the Beyonders books, is scheduled to speak during a free event from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Galleria Library inside the Gallery at Sunset mall, 1300 W. Sunset Road in Henderson. A reception and book signing is scheduled to follow. For more information, visit vegasvalleybookfestival.org or call 702-207-4275.

Young writers invited to coffee house

Young writers 12 to 17 are invited to share poetry at a Coffee House event sponsored by the Teen Writing Club from 4 to 5 p.m. today at the Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway. Visit mypubliclibrary.org to register.

Patricia Falanga to be featured

The READ Local Author Series is scheduled to feature Patricia Falanga, author of the novel "American Music," from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Paseo Verde Library, 280 S. Green Valley Parkway. The fourth Monday of each month the series features local authors meeting with readers in the library's lobby. For more information, visit mypubliclibrary.org or call 702-492-6580.

Iconic Sin City postcards inspire Las Vegas Writes anthology

Join writers of the postcard inspired Vegas Valley Book Festival short story anthology "Las Vegas Writes: Wish You Were Here" - Quentin Bufogle, Maile Chapman, Maxwell Drake, Lindsey Leavitt, Corey Levitan, Greg Blake Miller, Kristen Peterson, Lissa Townsend Rodgers and editor Scott Dickensheets - for a presentation and reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road. Visit lvccld.org or vegasvalleybookfestival.org.

Inspirational poetry event slated

Shellykay Saunders is scheduled to read and sign copies of her inspirational poetry from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway. The reading is to be accompanied by acoustic guitar performed by Keith Saunders. For more information, visit mypubliclibrary.org.

Mesquite Fine Art Gallery to host book event

Kevin M. Smith and Ronald J. Lofaro are scheduled to discuss and sign copies of their book "Hostile to Reason: Socialism's Final Countdown" at 4 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Mesquite Fine Art Gallery, 15 W. Mesquite Blvd. in Mesquite.

Henderson Writers Group meets Mondays

The Henderson Writers Group meets from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. Mondays at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at 4550 S. Maryland Parkway on the second and fourth Mondays and at Saxbys Coffee Lounge, 72 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson, on the first, third and occasional fifth Mondays. Meetings are typically canceled on holidays.

Visit hendersonwritersgroup.com for more information. Meetings are open to the public.

Barnes & Noble to host writing group

The 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble hosts a writing critique group the fourth Monday of each month. The group is limited to the first 20 participants per meeting. Sign up at www.meetup.com/las-vegas-creative-writing-class.

FREE STORYCORPS TOOLKIT HELPS COLLECT MEMORIES

The national StoryCorps' Memory Loss Initiative encourages people with memory loss to share their stories with loved ones and future generations. To make that task easier, a free step-by-step toolkit is available to download at storycorps.org/mli.

The Commemorate toolkit offers an individual reminiscence program that family members can initiate or memory loss care facilities can add to activities.

The initiative has collected more than 1,800 interviews with 180 partner organizations.

For more information, visit storycorps.org or call 646-723-7027.

ACCESS RECORDED BOOK PROGRAMS ONLINE

Too busy to get out to book programs? The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District has started posting videocasts and podcasts of many of its programs online. Selections available so far include: "An Afternoon with Tony Curtis," John L. Smith's presentation "Amelia's Long Journey: The Challenge of Writing What You Know," "Batman" movie producer Michael Uslan's presentation at the 2009 Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival, Jami Carpenter's "ABCs of Editing" workshop and Brian Rouff's "Getting Published: A Long Strange Trip." To access the programs, visit lvccld.org, select "Books, Movies & More" and then "Video and Podcasts."

The Black Mountain Institute has offered recordings of its programming since 2006. To access recordings of a gamut of writers from E.L. Doctorow to Alissa Nutting, visit blackmountain institute.org and select "multimedia."

S.P. Grogan's 'bin Laden's Revenge' is now available in its entirety

Local author S.P. Grogan's "bin Laden's Revenge," first released as a serial e-book, is now available in its completed form. The book tracks a bounty hunter reality show on its quest to capture Osama bin Laden. When the U.S. Navy beats them to it, the TV stars uncover an al-Qaeda plot against the United States. For more on the book, visit spgrogan.com.

FREE READ TO ME PROGRAM OFFERS STORIES ONLINE AND BY PHONE

Celebrity storytellers Oscar Goodman, Rita Rudner, Clint Holmes, Terry Fator, Carrot Top, The Scintas and others have donated their talents to the Clark County Education Association Community Foundation's Read To Me program. Children can view more than 15 videos of celebrities reading books on the website at readtomelv.com. Stories also can be accessed by calling 702-240-2665.

Both databases are frequently updated with fresh stories. Parents and teachers can download lesson plans for each book on the website.

SHARE POEMS AT HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Polish up a poem or two and try them out at Human Experience, a free spoken word event, from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays in The Beat Coffeehouse inside Emergency Arts, 520 Fremont St. For details, visit lasvegaspoets.org.

DOWNLOAD BOOKS and MORE FROM YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY

Virtual Branch websites make it easy to browse, check out and download digital books and more to a home computer for free. All patrons need is a valid library card and an Internet-connected PC.

Virtual Branch download websites feature a digital catalog of downloadable audio books, e-books, music and video titles.

Each site is meant to look and feel like the library's main site, and it has many easy-to-use features similar to an online store.

Digital book downloads are borrowed just like print materials. Once patrons select the title or author they want, they follow the steps to check out and then download the title to their home computer.

Patrons can transfer most titles to portable media players, such as MP3 players, PDAs, Kindles or smart phones.

Each title that is downloaded has a designated lending period. When the title expires, it is automatically returned to the Virtual Branch, so there are no late fees.

For more information, visit search.overdrive.com.

ZINE LIBRARY OPEN IN EMERGENCY ARTS

Grab a cup of coffee and check out the independently crafted magazines at the Las Vegas Zine Library inside The Beat Coffeehouse in Emergency Arts, 520 Fremont St.

The library is more of a collection on display for reference and on-site reading than a checkout repository. Contributions of zines are appreciated. For more information, visit lvzinelibrary.blogspot.com.