Books
Book Review: Scapegoating the Media Ignores Other Major Problems in American Politics
Without Transmission Lines, Renewable Energy Still has a Long Way to Go — Literally
In Superpower, author Russell Gold tells the story of a Houston businessman’s ambitious plan to transform the electric grid.
If you want to understand the future of renewable energy, look to Texas. That’s the argument Russell Gold makes in his new book Superpower: One Man’s Quest ...Read More
Company Men
Houston author Mike Freedman’s second satirical novel portrays the battlefield and the boardroom with delicious contempt.
It’s every American’s God-given right to self-mythologize, even to the point of absurdity. Take the current president (please): Donald Trump has somehow man...Read More
Announcing the Ninth Annual Texas Observer Short Story Contest
We want your stories!
Fernando A. Flores used to hate the Texas Observer Short Story Contest. Year after year, he diligently entered his writing in the contest, and year after year, ...Read More
‘Human Matter’ Dredges up the Dark History of the Guatemalan Civil War
Rodrigo Rey Rosa’s novel has plenty of intrigue, but bumps up against the limits of the autofiction genre.
An explosion in an army depot storing weapons leftover from a brutal civil war unearths a vast archive of secret police documents, whose discovery threatens to ...Read More
With Sprawl and Serial Killers, Houston Noir Packs a Mean Punch
As characters flit from one unzoned neighborhood to another, this new short story collection explores the city’s identity through crime.
Houston has long been in search of an identity, as opposed to a nickname (Space/Bayou/Magnolia City). The separate elements of the South, the West, the oil indu...Read More
When Crossing Over Becomes a Deadly Game
Oscar Casares has written a powerful novel about the emotional traumas of migration, implicating all social classes.
Each time Oscar Casares comes out with a book, it seems he must have written 10 others in the meantime. The progress in rhythmic flow, plot concision and charac...Read More
Beasts of the Border
Fernando A. Flores’ debut novel paints a vivid, if cynical, portrait of life on the U.S.-Mexico border.
It’s the near future in South Texas, and things haven’t gotten any better. A global food shortage has killed 20 percent of the world’s population and spaw...Read More
Invasive Species Have Reshaped Texas. Now What?
From parakeets to fire ants, nilgai to tamarisk trees, invasives have integrated into the state's ecosystems — and managing them means asking hard questions.
In March, I drove down to the Sabal Palm Sanctuary on the southernmost border of Texas, where Brazilian bougainvillea shimmers over the seasonal marshes. I was ...Read More
A New Crime Novel Asks Tough Questions About Revenge and Redemption
Texas Innocence Network founder David Dow’s first foray into fiction explores the trauma of a wrongful conviction.
Prison may be society’s most blatant example of a backfire mission — achieving the opposite of its rehabilitative intent. Very few who are incarcerated come...Read More