Here's what we've scheduled for March. Click to see April, May and June.
Check back often because we update all the time with exciting new events.

Click on our Author & Musician Scrapbook link to get a peek at some past events.

  Wildlife Talk with Gary Every
Book Launch!

Friday, March 2, 7 pm: Join local poet, essayist/newspaper columnist and sci fi writer, Gary Every, as he debuts his new book, BATTLING THE HYDRA: ENCOUNTER WITH (MOSTLY) WILD ANIMALS.

BATTLING THE HYDRA invites readers to come along a series of adventures with animals, wrestling with giant snakes, being chased by bears, bighorn sheep and badgers. He also relates adventures with turkeys, tortoises, tarantulas, terror birds, and tigers of the sabertoothed variety, as well as mountain lion sightings and the hilarious but hard to believe tale of the cross eyed sheep of Montana. In photography, prose and poetry award-winning author Gary Every explores the world of beasts.

Gary will reminisce with us about these and other encounters he’s had, including those related to wild mustangs in Nevada, bald eagles over Puget Sound, and the Halloween feast of the javalina.

Gary shares, "I have only seen three mountain lions in my entire life. Every time I have seen one it has been startling and every time it has been at sunrise.”

Gary says this book was inspired by and dedicated to his eleven-year-old niece. Last summer while they were at a park feeding popcorn to the ducks and he was identifying different birds, red winged blackbirds, blue heron, cattle egret, cactus wren, she asked him what were his favorite encounters with wild animals. This book is his answer to that question.
  An Evening with Graham Collier

Friday, March 23, 7 pm: Sedona author, GRAHAM COLLIER, will be on hand to discuss human consciousness and the wire-dangled human race, in the Sedona debut of his new book, WHAT THE HELL ARE THE NEURONS UP TO?

There can be little doubt that we’re a rather strange lot, and where our species is headed is somewhat uncertain. To come to really know oneself—discover one’s distinctive temperament and character—requires frequent self-scrutiny. It is well nigh impossible to know what makes one "tick" without recognizing the nature of one’s attitudes and responses to life in the outside world, while also acknowledging the highly personal inner psychological drives of feeling, thought and imagination.
This book should help. Every chapter can be read as its own "story," describing an especially significant aspect of consciousness. Cumulatively, they are meant to help readers attain a sense of their own body-mind-spirit complexes.

Graham served with Bomber Command, RAF, during WWI. He was Professor of the Philosophy of the Arts at the University of Georgia and is now Professor Emeritus there. He is also an Associate Fellow of Davenport College, Yale University.

His previous books include FORM, SPACE AND VISION, ART AND THE CREATIVE CONSCIOUSNESS, WAR NIGHT BERLIN and ANTARCTIC ODYSSEY, which received praise from Publishers Weekly.

A frequent blogger with “Psychology Today,” Graham Collier is sure to enlighten and entertain.
     
 
 
Writing Workshop: Science Fiction: A Brave New Cross-Genre World

Saturday, March 24, 2 pm: Science fiction has broken free of its traditional genre boundaries. Mystery, urban fantasy, paranormal, steampunk, dystopian future—these are some of the story elements that are now bringing an exciting cross-genre identity to science fiction writing.

Join Val “Ginny” Chanda, author of PSY MIND: BOOK ONE: DEADLY RECKONING, as she explores writing in these new directions in science fiction. Val will look at the techniques involved in these sub-genres individually, and how they come together in today’s exciting new science fiction writing. Not only does genre-bending, which is still the rage in publication today, allow writer to add great new tools to their writing toolboxes and to use them in new ways, it allows them to market their books in multiple genres to a wider range of readers than ever before. It’s not your father’s science fiction!

Val is now Emeritus Faculty at Yavapai College where, as a full time instructor, she taught introductory and advanced classes in creative writing.

PSY MIND: BOOK ONE: DEADLY RECKONING is a futuristic thriller in which telepathy leads to murder.
 
 
  AZ Wildflower Photography Talk

“Wild About Wildflowers: When, Where, and How to Photograph Arizona’s Blooms”

Friday, March 30, 7 pm: Are you wild about wildflowers? Join Colleen Miniuk-Sperry, the co-author/photographer of the recently published guidebook, WILD IN ARIZONA: PHOTOGRAPHING ARIZONA’S WILDFLOWERS: A GUIDE TO WHEN, WHERE AND HOW, for an exciting presentation aimed at taking your flower photography - and passion! - to the next level.

Using the photography featured in the book from renowned outdoor photographers and co-authors Paul Gill and Colleen Miniuk-Sperry as examples, attendees will learn:

• About practical resources to help predict when and where the wildflower, cactus, shrub, and tree blooms will occur throughout Arizona.

• Wildflower-specific techniques for capturing memorable landscape and macro photographs of this ephemeral event no matter the location.

• Notable locations near Sedona and across Arizona that bloom first so you can put your new “poppy-razzi” skills to work this spring!

As an award-winning, internationally published outdoor photographer and writer, Colleen supports a wide range of assignments for editorial clients, fine art, and stock. Her work has been published in National Geographic calendars, Arizona Highways, AAA Highroads, Lighthouse Digest, InsideOutside Southwest, Sonora Es, Smith-Southwestern calendars, and a broad variety of other publications. She also leads photography workshops for the Arizona Highways Photography Workshops, Arizona Wildlife Federation, Through Each Others Eyes, and numerous private sessions. (cms-photo.com)

Since 1975, Paul Gill has turned all of his attention to photographing the grandeur of nature. Paul’s photographs have graced the cover and pages of the world-renowned Arizona Highways, Nature’s Best, Smith-Southwestern calendars and postcards, and many other scenic publications, calendars, books, and fine art galleries. His photographs are also featured within the Smithsonian Museum’s permanent collection of nature photography. Paul is the founding director of the Arizona Nature photographers, Arizona Photo Scouts and Arizona Photo Guides. (paulgillphoto.zenfolio.com)