The Colorado Book (New and Improved)
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Volume XXVII, Issue One | March 2026
Some 30 years ago, two Colorado historians, an art historian, and I put together an anthology of Colorado literature titled The Colorado Book. Published by Fulcrum, an independent publisher based in Denver, the book has been out of print for some time. The two historians, Eleanor Gehres and Maxine Benson have passed away, and the art expert has moved on to other projects. That left me.
A couple of years ago, Fulcrum chairman Bob Baron invited me to lunch, saying he wanted to talk about revising The Colorado Book. Don’t do it, I told myself. You’ve did it once. Besides, you’ve got more than you can handle. But Bob is very persuasive. By the time the lunch was over, I knew I had to be involved. I agreed to revise the book for Colorado’s 150th birthday—with one condition. I wanted Tom Noel to act as co-editor. Tom, who is Colorado’s most popular historian, knows more about the state than anyone. To my relief, Tom agreed. Then Bob brought on Pam Smith to help find entries for subjects not covered in the first book.
Working with Tom was a joy. He is a professional and knew exactly what historical writings should be eliminated from the old book and which added to the new one. Meeting in Tom’s basement office, where every wall in every room is lined with bookshelves, we went over each excerpt. We didn’t want just an updated version of the old book but an entirely new book, with historical excerpts of writing that are relevant to today’s readers and new ones from contemporary writers, many of them up-and-coming authors who weren’t even around 30 years ago.
We were open to any subject matter, although the excerpt had to be about Colorado. That excluded some authors who live here but whose books have nothing to do with the state. And we would not pay for the excerpts. It was tempting to make a few exceptions, but if we paid one, we should pay all, and that cost would have been prohibitive. In a few cases, excerpts we wanted to include were dropped, because we could not get publishers to respond.
The Colorado Book is not all-inclusive. The limited space meant we had to pick and choose, and some of our favorite excerpts ended on the cutting-room floor. But we think the new and improved The Colorado Book is a sample of the best writing about the state and a book we hope will encourage you to pursue the authors whose work you encounter there.
The Hired Man Publication date is March 30
It’s exciting to have two books come out at the same time. I’m thrilled at the response to The Hired Man, if the PW review below is any example. The novel is my 20th adult novel, and you’d think I’d take publication in stride, but I never do. I hold my breath and have the same jitters every time. When my first book, Buster Midnight’s Café, was published, I proudly introduced myself at some event by saying I was a novelist. Then I chided myself. You can’t say that until you’ve published five novels.
When the fifth one came out, however, I still felt edgy about giving myself that title. Now that number 20 is being published, with an additional five midgrade novels out there, I suppose I could finally describe myself as a novelist. Still, what if I never write another novel again? I think I just better keep on saying I’m a writer.
Appearances
For personal reasons, I’ve had to cut back on appearances. I’ve loved speaking and signing books in the past, because they’re a wonderful way to interact with readers. I’m grateful for the bookstores that have hosted me and the readers who have attended the events. But circumstances change, and I’m limited in what I can do. I won’t be sending out postcards this time around, and I will be making only the three following Colorado appearances forThe Hired Man and The Colorado Book:
Saturday, April 4: 12pmTalk and signing Covered Treasures 105 Second St., Monument
Friday, April 17: 6:30pm Conversation with author Mark Stevens Douglas County Libraries 9292 S. Ridgeline Blvd, Littleton Tickets: https://go.dcl.org/event/15248926.
Saturday, April 25: 9:30am-2:30pm P.E.O. Books and Brunch Sheridan West 360 Union Blvd., Lakewood $65. To order tickets, mail check made out to “Chapter FP” to Chapter FP, P.O. Box 620476, Littleton, CO 80162 OR Electronic payment: Zelle to: Chapter FP-PEO Sisterhood
Sandra‘s Picks
One Hundred and One Famous Poems
Compiled by Roy J. Cook
The Cable Company
I’m not much for poetry. Still, some of my favorite books, the ones I go back to time after time, are poetry books. My favorite is One Hundred and One Famous Poems. It was my father’s book, published in 1928, so that makes it nearly 100 years old. The book is a little bit of everything.
It includes James Whitcomb Riley’s “Out to Old Aunt Mary’s,” which makes me cry every time I read it. Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “The Deacon’s Masterpiece,” is a poem I often refer to when things go wrong. I know it as “The Wonderful One-Horse Shay,” about a shay built last 100 years and a day, when it totally fell apart.
I began memorizing poems from the book when I was in grade school. The first was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Children’s Hour,” which I didn’t understand, but it was short. A poem I did understand was Eugene field’s “the Duel,” about the gingham dog and the Calico Cat. I also liked Field’s “Jes ‘Fore Christmas,” which I rememorized and recited at a Christmas gathering several years ago. Although I didn’t know it at the time, Field was a Denver newspaperman when he wrote much of his poetry. I also memorized Alfred Noyes’s epic “The Highwayman,” although God knows why.
The book is a hodge-podge, with Civil War poems, excerpts from the Magna Charta and the U. S. Constitution and works by world-famous poets such as Lord Byron. There are also works by what were then contemporary poets. “In Flanders Field” was written about World War I but is still relevant today. Carl Sandburg is here, and so is Edna St. Vincent Millay. I never memorized her poetry, but I love the line she wrote: “There isn’t a train going anywhere I wouldn’t ride.”
Mom gave me the book after Dad died, and I had it rebound. I was surprised some years ago when I visited the Longfellow house in Cambridge, Mass., that One Hundred and One Famous Poems was available in the gift shop. It was reissued, although I don’t know if it remains in print. Still, there are loads of poetry anthologies out there. I hope you have one that means as much to you as this one does to me.