Alberto Ríos will appear at the UA Poetry Center, 1508 E. Helen St., at 6:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1.

More info from a press release:

The celebratory event will include welcome remarks from University of Arizona Provost Andrew Comrie and from the office of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. Ríos will read from his work, and briefly speak about some of his ambitions for the office during his term as Poet Laureate. Ríos is the author of ten books of poetry, three collections of stories, and a memoir of his life growing up along the border in Nogales. He is a Regents Professor at Arizona State University, where he has taught for over 30 years, and holds the Katharine C. Turner Endowed Chair in English. A commemorative broadside marking the occasion will be available for all those in attendance at the launch event. Copies of Ríos’ books will also be available for purchase.

So what happens to the world when the human population begins to outgrow the planet? What will happen to the rest of the species on earth? How long before the resources run out? These questions and more are addressed in the new book, "Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?"

Bestselling author Alan Weisman visited the University of Arizona to talk about his long-awaited follow up to the popular "The World Without Us."

Listen to Robert Alcaraz's interview with Alan Weisman below and some additional material from Weisman's experiences when he traveled to 21 countries while researching for Countdown.

Alan Weisman recounts a story about a man from Thailand in his new book, “Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope For A Future On Earth?” Weisman talks about how the Thai man was able to inform his country about contraception.

We’re right in the middle of Banned Books Week in America, so be sure to break out a copy of The Kite Runner, Beloved or (if you’re not all that motivated) Captain Underpants, all of which were on the Top 10 list of books that were challenged in 2012 by the micro-brains who fear the power of the written word.

Or you could pick up a copy of Christina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban, which was recently the target of such Tea Party ire in Sierra Vista that Buena High School administrators are celebrating Banned Book Week by banning a book. Way to get into the spirit things, Buena!

The National Book Award finalist, published in 1992, has a minor sex scene that outraged at least one Buena parent, who raised enough of a stink to get the book pulled from the high school’s curriculum.

Ready for the offensive passage? We'll do it after the jump so as to not corrupt our younger readers.

It was about a month ago that my latest J.J. Abrams-fueled madness journey began.

That was when the interwebs exploded with buzz about a mysterious new "trailer" for some project from Bad Robot, the production company run by J.J. Abrams that is responsible for so much of the last 10 years' greatest, most mind-numbing fanboy material.

If you don't know who J.J. Abrams is — shame on you — he is the person who created, among other things, cult TV shows like Alias, Lost, Fringe, Alcatraz, Person of Interest, Revolution and, amazingly, Felicity, and directed movies such as Mission: Impossible III, the Star Trek reboot and it's sequel, and soon the new Stars Wars installment.

The trailer, titled "Stranger," was as cryptic as all get out, and instantly got untapped parts of people's brains (mine included) wondering WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS FOR AND PLEASE LET IT COME OUT SOON!!!! See for yourself:

The speculation covered the spectrum of all things possible that Abrams could be working on, including yet another hope this could be associated with the long-hoped-for theatrical adaption of the Voltron cartoon/action figure story. The same OH MY GOD PLEASE reaction came up when similar teasers popped up in 2007 for a mysterious film that turned out to be underrated monster flick Cloverfield.

But, in typical Abrams out-of-the-abandoned-warehouse-far-beyond-left-field fashion, "Stranger" was actually the first glimpse into the world of ... a book.

Yes, a teaser video for a book. Only J.J.

Simply titled S., the book is co-written by Abrams and Doug Dorst, a heretofore unknown author who prior to hooking up with Abrams (way back in April 2011!) to start this project was best known for being a big winner on Jeopardy.

The book comes out Oct. 29, and the Web site at the end of the second trailer can helpfully link you to all the various places you can pre-order the tome online.

Yes, I already did. Couldn't help it. J.J. made me do it.

Elmore Leonard, one of literature's best-known and frequently adapted crime authors and father of Tucsonan Chris Leonard, died today at his home in Bloomfield Village, Mich. Leonard, who was working on his 46th novel before suffering a stroke earlier this month, was a mainstay on the bestseller list, but also known for providing the source material for TV's Justified and films including Out of Sight, Get Shorty and (one of my favorite films of all time) Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown:

From The Detroit News:

The writer was born in New Orleans, but his family moved around in the South before ending up in Detroit in 1934, when he was 9 years old. He attended the Blessed Sacrament School on Belmont in Detroit and was teased about his Southern accent. “The kids used to say, ‘Say, “sugar chile,” for me.’ I'd say, ‘Why are they asking me that?’ ”

He majored in English at the University of Detroit, graduating in 1950, then plunged into an advertising career in Detroit in the 1950s.

Famously, Leonard started writing Western-themed novels from 5-7 a.m. at home before going to work at the Campbell-Ewald agency, where Chevrolet trucks was one of his accounts. He developed a ferocious work ethic, writing every day in a cinder block basement office that son Peter described as looking like a prison cell.

After he quit advertising, he kept up the discipline in his monk-like office, writing from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. without a lunch break.

If you have any interest in writing at all, you have to read Leonard's ten rules for writing, published in the New York Times in 2001:

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative. It's my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing. (Joseph Conrad said something about words getting in the way of what you want to say.)

If I write in scenes and always from the point of view of a particular character — the one whose view best brings the scene to life — I'm able to concentrate on the voices of the characters telling you who they are and how they feel about what they see and what's going on, and I'm nowhere in sight.

Elmore Leonard was 87.

As spectacular as it is that the Internet gives potentially everyone on the planet a voice, the unfortunate part is that it actually gives potentially everyone on the planet a voice — especially the people who tend to do little more than bitch about every little thing that they happen to read, hear or see out there in the wide, wide world (for proof, see anything Yelp-related, ever).

In this case, The Morning News has focused on that "read" bit, and in particular, on one-star Amazon reviews given to books that are widely considered to be classics — and for terrible, horrible, no good, very stupid reasons.

Say, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, for instance:

“I bought these books to have something nice to read to my grandkids. I had to stop, however, because the books are nothing more than advertisements for “Turkish Delight,” a candy popular in the U.K. The whole point of buying books for my grandkids was to give them a break from advertising, and here (throughout) are ads for this “Turkish Delight”! How much money is this Mr. Lewis getting from the Cadbury’s chocolate company anyway? This man must be laughing to the bank.”

Or George Orwell's 1984:

“Don’t listen to anyone who tries to distinguish between “serious” works of literature like this one and allegedly “lesser” novels. The distinction is entirely illusory, because no novels are “better” than any others, and the concept of a “great novel” is an intellectual hoax. This book isn’t as good as Harry Potter in MY opinion, and no one can refute me. Tastes are relative!”

Or Kurt Vonnegut's classic science-fiction novel Slaughterhouse-Five:

“In the novel, they often speak of a planet called Tralfamadore, where he was displayed in a zoo with a former movie star by the name of Montana Wildhack. I thought that the very concept of a man who was kidnapped by aliens was truly unbelievable and a tad ludicrous. I did not find the idea of aliens kidnapping a human and putting them in a zoo very plausible. While some of the Tralfamadorians’ concept of death and living in a moment would be comforting for a war veteran, I found it relatively odd. I do not believe that an alien can kidnap someone and house them in a zoo for years at a time, while it is only a microsecond on earth. I also do not believe that a person has seven parents.”

While I could go on and on about how "suspension of disbelief" works in regards to works of fiction (trust me, I watch pro wrestling — I get suspension of disbelief), this is just too good to not enjoy.

Read more of it over at The Morning News — and if one of you happens to start (or find) a Tumblr with this idea, feel free to link to it in the comments, because there's nothing funnier than stupid criticism.

Grab Mr. Darcy and hold on tight — it looks like Barnes & Noble is slipping away from us.

Last night, B&N CEO William Lynch resigned. Their stocks have been going down and the company recently announced they will stop making the fancier versions of their Nook e-reader—not a huge loss for consumers, but it's far from a sign of a flourishing business.

In Tucson, we're lucky. We have Antigone and Bookmans, both of which are incredibly helpful and fun to spend time in. But, they both have limitations. Perusing Bookmans' shelves is always rewarded with an unexpected and delightful find. However, their stock is limited to books people are willing to part with (e.g., you won't be able to find a copy of Battle Royale. Believe me, I have tried. A lot), and they don't keep an inventory of the books they do they have in stock. Antigone has a great selection, but they don't stock up. If someone else was looking for a copy of Cunt that week, you're outta luck. Of course, Antigone is always happy to order a book in, but...

... sometimes you need a specific book. You need it in your hands, immediately, at 10:55 on a Friday night. B&N fills that hole.

To be honest, I think my concern stems more from worry about the book industry as a whole. It's easy to forget about reading in a world of Netflix and Gawker. At the very least, B&N's recommendation emails remind me to close my laptop and wander into a bookstore, even if it's not one of their own (which, yes, I realize is part of B&N's problem). Books are important and so are the companies that distribute them.

We already lost Borders; I'm not ready to say goodbye again.

While we're pumped about the Ender's Game movie because some of us loved the hell out of that book in their formative years, it's still difficult to marry the idea that a great book was written by someone who has a very low tolerance for the gay community.

But now, following the Supreme Court's decision on DOMA and in advance of the film adaptation of Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card just wants everyone to treat him respectfully (and see his movie!), dang it. From Entertainment Weekly:

Ender’s Game is set more than a century in the future and has nothing to do with political issues that did not exist when the book was written in 1984.

With the recent Supreme Court ruling, the gay marriage issue becomes moot. The Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution will, sooner or later, give legal force in every state to any marriage contract recognized by any other state.

Now it will be interesting to see whether the victorious proponents of gay marriage will show tolerance toward those who disagreed with them when the issue was still in dispute.

Considering that he's the guy who called homosexuality a "tragic genetic mixup" and has vowed to bring down governments that support gay marriage, I'm not sure he's the guy who should be crying for tolerance.

Of course, Card's statement appears to be in response to a planned boycott of Ender's Game by a group of gay geeks, Geeks OUT, who are encouraging their supporters to skip the film and geek out elsewhere.