East Texas author visits Nacogdoches Hastings Saturday

Here is the text of a news release I wrote in preparation of my visit to Nacogdoches this coming Saturday:

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Give the gift of imagination this Christmas.
East Texas author Lou Antonelli visits Hastings Entertainment in Nacogdoches this coming Saturday, Dec. 18.
Antonelli will be selling and signing copies of his science fiction and fantasy short story reprint collection, “Texas & Other Planets”, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“Texas & Other Planets” contains 20 short stories previously published in the United States, England and Australia, and – as the title indicates – many are set in the Lone Star State, Antonelli’s adopted home.
A Massachusetts native, Antonelli is currently managing editor of The Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune. He broke into the top ranks of American science fiction and fantasy writers with the publication of “A Rocket for the Republic” in Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine in 2005.
“A Rocket for the Republic” is the lead-in story for the collection. Gardner Dozois, editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction at the time, says of his latest collection, "Lou Antonelli is an ambitious young writer with lots of imagination and verve, who never forgets about the mysteries of the human heart."
Ten of the stories in “Texas & Other Planets” have been included in the annual Honorable Mention compilation list for the “The Year’s Best Science Fiction” published annually by St. Martin’s Press and edited by Dozois.
Antonelli’s first collection, “Fantastic Texas” – published in 2009 – included only stories set in the Lone Star State. “Texas & Other Planets” includes the best of the previous collection as well as other award-winning stories.
Publisher Merry Blacksmith Press states: “Following Lou Antonelli’s critically praised first collection, ‘Fantastic Texas’, comes another collection of some of his very best. Lou is easily one of the hardest working and most recognized short story writers in science fiction today.”
Hastings Entertainment is located at 4501 North Street in Nacogdoches.

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