William J. Cobb author of "The Bird Saviors"

The time is finally here. William J. Cobb will be joining us at Paragraphs next Saturday, October 20, 2012, beginning at 1:00pm. We have been looking forward to this event for several months and are pleased with the interest we have received. If you love books and engaging with those talented enough to write them I am sure you will enjoy this event.

Cobb's newest novel, THE BIRD SAVIORS will be featured but we will also have copies of his previous work, GOODNIGHT, TEXAS.

About THE BIRD SAVIORS

When a dust storm engulfs her Colorado town and pink snow blankets the streets, a heartbreaking decision faces Ruby Cole, a girl who counts birds. She must either abandon her baby or give in to her father, whom she nicknames Lord God, and marry a man more than twice her age who already has two wives. She chooses to run, which sets in motion an interlocking series of actions and reactions, upending the lives of an equestrian police officer, pawnshop riffraff, a disabled war vet, Nuisance Animal destroyers, and a grieving ornithologist who is studying the decline of bird populations.

All the while, a growing criminal enterprise moves from cattle rustling to kidnapping to hijacking fuel tankers and murder as events spin out of control in a world in which the social fabric and economic structures seem on the verge of falling apart.

Set in a time of economic turmoil, virus fears, climate change, fundamentalist cults and illegal immigrant hardship, THE BIRD SAVIORS is a visionary story of defiance, anger, compassion and unexpected love, in which a young woman ultimately struggles to free herself from her domineering father, to raise her daughter in the chaos of the New West, and to seize an opportunity to become something greater herself. In this brilliant new novel, William Cobb offers an elemental and timely vision of resilience and personal survival, but—most of all—of honest hope.

Praise for THE BIRD SAVIORS

“A stark modern-day Old Testament story in which the evil that men do is barely balanced by the good that a few manage to achieve. It's a gritty harrowing story set in a dust-blown Colorado town that seems filled with vivid characters. Cobb's expert story-telling compels us forward scene by scene to a final satisfying redemption.”—Kent Haruf

"A novel told with an unexpected and appealing warmth; the characters in The Bird Saviors become increasingly memorable, page by page, and the story pulled me in without hullabaloo or fuss-- this is good, confident storytelling."—Aimee Bender

 About the Author

William J. Cobb is the author of a book of stories and two previous novels, including the critically acclaimed GOODNIGHT, TEXAS. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and many other magazines. He has received numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, and the Sandstone Prize. He was raised in Texas and currently lives in Pennsylvania, where he teaches in the writing program at Penn State, and in Colorado.

A limited number of autographed copies of THE BIRD SAVIORS or GOODNIGHT, TEXAS will be available for purchase after the event. If you cannot attend the event, but would like a personalized copy of either book, please call us before the event at (956) 433-5057.