20 W E S T W O R D W e s t w o r d U n w r a p p e d 2 0 2 5 - 2 6 westword.com Next Chapter HERE’S HOW TO TURN THE PAGE ON PRESENTS THIS YEAR. BY T EAGU E BOHLEN This past summer, as Colorado’s 150th an- niversary approached, we sent out a literary plea: Support Colorado books. And there’s no better time to do that than over the holidays. Here are ten volumes by Colorado authors that anyone would like to fi nd under the tree. The Martians, David Baron Let’s kick off this list with one of our fa- vorite books of the past year. David Baron’s The Martians dives into one of America’s earliest science obsessions: the turn-of- the-century (that’s the turn of the twen- tieth, kids) fever surrounding the planet Mars, and all the noise that surrounded it. Baron is an award-winning journalist with a long list of credits on NPR and top-shelf outlets nationwide, and he puts all those skills — plus a sincere passion for science that he cultivated as a kid — to work in this rollicking yarn about what might be up there in outer space, and how some used and abused the nation’s curiosity while the fad lasted. Tough Luck, Sandra Dallas Longtime Colorado novelist Sandra Dallas is more than prolifi c; her books have become a mainstay of lists exactly like these over the years — not just be- cause they’re consistent, but also because they’re consistently good. Her 2025 release Tough Luck is no exception. Many reviews of Dallas’s new novel mention it being a tribute to True Grit, since it focuses on a perilous journey west undertaken by a fourteen-year-old girl in 1863 in search of her gold-mining father. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones Stephen Graham Jones isn’t just a horror writer and professor of fi ction at the Uni- versity of Colorado Boulder; he’s also one of Colorado’s best writers of any genre. But make no mistake: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is indeed of the horror genre. The period piece is set in the genesis of Montana, as experienced by a Blackfeet Indian named Good Stab, and what unfolds is equal parts beautiful and brutal, as the best horror tends to be. A fresh take on vampire lore, on leg- ends born and retold, on an American West that’s totally unprepared for the violence that its own violence has wrought. It’s a book sure to haunt in more ways than one. Archon/After, Ruth Ellen Kocher Ruth Ellen Kocher is also a professor up at the University of Colorado Boulder, only in poetry — and she’s got an impressive back catalogue of collections to prove her poetic bona fi des. Archon/After is her ninth book, a feminist challenge to the male gaze that follows women everywhere and at all times. Her approach to poetic storytelling is deceptively friendly at times, almost sci-fi in setup. But Kocher has a talent for keeping a reader comfortable until exactly when she wants them not to be, and the transition between the two states of being is stark, precipitous...and sublime. Ghost in the Archive, Jennifer Loyd Two books of poetry in a row? Totally earned by newcomer Jennifer Loyd, an alumnus of the CU Denver Creative Writing program, who comes to the spotlight with Ghost in the Archive, a beautiful synergy of poetic prowess and deep and abiding research into the work of famed naturalist Rachel Carson (Silent Spring). Loyd parallels her own journey — her dreams, her doubts and her choices — with those of Carson, using both inventive form and evocative language to bring about a third presence that speaks to universal questions. The result is an intellectually satisfying state of grace. A Complete Fiction, R.L. Maizes This crafty and clever satire is unfettered by authorial doubt in a dual-perspective story about the conjoined-twin worlds of writing and publishing — how they share a mutual goal and reliance while also risk- ing that one might utterly spoil the other. Maizes doesn’t mind spreading the satire around, either; social media gets its share of needling, too. In an increasingly AI world, the novel asks some important questions as to artistic ownership, and at what point hype becomes a damaging commodity to true expression. Sweet Nothings: Confessions of a Candy Lover, Sarah Perry Equal parts ’90s nostalgia and academic intellect, with a generous spoonful of sugar to help it all go down smoothly: That’s the core charm of Colorado State University writ- ing professor Sarah Perry’s new collection of essays. No matter what candy club you might claim, there’s something for you and your favorite confectionary questions here. Twizzlers or Red Vines? Do Mentos really cause brief bouts of uncommon bravery and/ or snarktastic public behavior? And what was up with that weird purple-jelly bonbon in a Whitman’s Sampler? Perry doesn’t necessarily provide answers — those are subjective, after all — but the narrative enjoyment of the history and the examination of America’s obsession with the sweet side of snacks is irresistible. The Pot Job, Bart Schaneman After covering the pot beat in Colorado during those turbulent early years of decrim- inalization and legalization, it only makes sense that Schaneman would turn all that experience into a novel that deals with the highs and lows of the marijuana milieu. Like a lot of the best fi ction, it’s not only a good story, but also an encapsulation of a moment in time that might otherwise be lost. This Is Your Mother: A Memoir, Erika J. Simpson In her stunning debut memoir, writer and recent Colorado transplant Erika J. Simpson examines the turbulent, tenuous and eternal relationship between mothers and daugh- ters. Combining pop-culture references with emotional examinations of sudden and sur- prising depth, Simpson tells the story of her own relationship, from her youth — during which she often idolized her troubled mother — through to adulthood and its inevitable and heartbreaking end. It’s a maelstrom of a life lived in the chaos of a parent and maybe, a recipe for survival after all. Redneck Revenant, David R. Slayton David Slayton’s latest is the fourth entry in his Adam Binder series, a continuation of what some fans thought might be a three- and-out trilogy. But we’re happily back in the urban fantasy world with the characteristic wry Slayton side-eye, replete with the queer characters that have become that realm’s hallmark. Slayton told us on the release of his 2023 novel Dark Moon Shallow Sea that his goal was always to write about queer charac- ters in stories that are not about their queer- ness. It’s a perspective that has worked not only for his novels, but for their many fans, who appreciate seeing themselves without a whiff of victimhood in the fantasy stories they so love. It might just be the best gift a reader could receive: the acknowledgement of their own agency. ■
