Book Briefs for Oct. 9-15

Newt Gingrich is scheduled to sign copies of his book "A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters" alongside his wife, Callista, who is to sign copies of her children's book "Land of the Pilgrim's Pride: Ellis Discovers the 13 Colonies" at 7 p.m. today at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble. For more information, call 631-1775.

Desert's influence on George R. Stewart to be discussed in lecture

Donald M. Scott plans a free lecture titled "Sci-Fi in the Desert: The Life and Works of George R. Stewart" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium of the Marjorie Barrick Museum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. Nevada serves as a backdrop for many of Stewart's novels, including "Sheep Rock." For more information, visit unlv.edu or call 895-3401.

'Dinosaur vs...' author roars into town

Bob Shea, author/illustrator of "Dinosaur vs. The Potty," "Dinosaur vs. Bedtime," "I'm a Shark" and more, is scheduled to celebrate the release of his new book "Dinosaur vs. Santa" with an appearance scheduled at 10 a.m. Friday at the Gibson Library, 100 W. Lake Mead Parkway in Henderson. For more information, visit mypubliclibrary.org or call 564-9287.

Writers of Southern Nevada plan freelance writing conference

Making Cent$ of a Writing Career, a Writers of Southern Nevada freelance writing conference, is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Gold Coast, 4000 W. Flamingo Road.

Slated speakers include Steve Friess, Andrew Kiraly, Heidi Kyser, Steve Blust, Geoff Schumacher, Rick Lax and Jackie Brett. Topic discussions are to include marketing, avoiding common editing mistakes, reaching out to national markets and handling rejection.

Admission is $149. Continental breakfast is included, as is lunch with industry experts leading table discussions. For more information, visit nevadawriters.org.

Female policing pioneer to sign books

Debra Gauthier, author of "Bright Lights, Dark Places: Pioneering as a Female Police Officer in Las Vegas," and Cathy Scott, author of "The Millionaire's Wife: The True Story of a Real Estate Tycoon, His Beautiful Young Mistress, and a Marriage that Ended in Murder," are scheduled to sign books at 1 p.m. Saturday at the 8915 W. Charleston Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

Signing set for 'The Support Group'

Shirley Oldridge is scheduled to sign the novel "The Support Group" at 1 p.m. Saturday at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble.

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. Oct. 17 in room K101 at the College of Southern Nevada's Charleston campus, 6375 W. Charleston Blvd., and at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 18 in room B101 on the campus.

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. Oct. 17 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 vegasvalleybook festival.org or call 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. Oct. 16 at the Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway. Visit mypubliclibrary.org to register.

Mob museum hosting Inside Stories series

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. Oct. 17. 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. Oct. 18 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 Oct. 20 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. Oct. 20 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.

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 492-6580.

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.

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.

Teen Writing Club plans meetings

A Teen Writing Club for writers ages 12 to 17 meets from 4 to 5 p.m. the third Tuesday of most months at the Green Valley Library, 2797 N. Green Valley Parkway. Twice a year the club hosts a Coffee House open mic event. For more information, call 207-4260.

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 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.

Events set for 'Sun, Sin & Suburbia'

Geoff Schumacher, a 23-year Las Vegas journalist who now serves as the publisher of the Ames Tribune and its sister publications in central Iowa, is headed back to Southern Nevada to promote a new revised and expanded edition of "Sun, Sin & Suburbia: The History of Modern Las Vegas."

From 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, Schumacher is scheduled to join a group of editors in a panel discussion designed to help freelance writers avoid big mistakes during the Making Cent$ of a Writing Career conference scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Gold Coast, 4000 W. Flamingo Road. Visit nevadawriters.org for details.

A book launch featuring a discussion of Las Vegas' past, present and future is scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Nevada State Museum, 309 S. Valley View Blvd., at the Springs Preserve. Admission to the program is free. Those who would like to attend are encouraged to RSVP by calling 822-8735. Schumacher also plans a book signing from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at the 2191 N. Rainbow Blvd. Barnes & Noble. For more information, visit sunsinsuburbia.com.