August at the Narrow Gauge
- Jean Alger
- Jul 25
- 12 min read
Not quite four a.m., when the rapture of being alive
strikes me from sleep, and I rise
from the comfortable bed and go
to another room, where my books are lined up
in their neat and colorful rows. How
magical they are! I choose one
and open it. Soon
I have wandered in over the waves of the words
to the temple of thought.
And then I hear
outside, over the actual waves, the small,
perfect voice of the loon. He is also awake,
and with his heavy head uplifted he calls out
to the fading moon, to the pink flush
swelling in the east that, soon,
will become the long, reasonable day.
Inside the house
it is still dark, except for the pool of lamplight
in which I am sitting.
I do not close the book.
Neither, for a long while, do I read on.
— Mary Oliver, “The Loon.”
My days can’t seem to pass without some kind of remark on time: the summer is almost over. School is starting again. It’s been too long since I’ve talked to one friend or another, but it feels like it was March just yesterday. Time is strange, the way it moves slowly and quickly at the same time, the way its speed shifts depending on how we look at it, how we feel about it.
I’ve lived in the Valley for 8 years now; I drove here from Oklahoma on August 4th of 2017, a moving truck loaded down with books, a friend driving the truck while I drove my car. While I settled in, one of my rituals became browsing at the Narrow Gauge Newsstand and then getting a coffee at Milagros Coffee House.
When the closing of the Newsstand came about in 2018, I, like many others, was devastated to think about living in a community without a bookstore.
And then, I was amazed and inspired by the efforts that brought the bookstore back as the Narrow Gauge Book Cooperative later that same year.
Seven years later, and the NGBC is going strong, the magic of books working everyday to delight our customers, visitors to the Valley, and our staff.
For me, summer has always been about books. Yes, there are outside activities, too, but memories of disappearing into the world of a book in the shade of a tree or curled up inside on a rainy summer afternoon fill my heart with nostalgia and I dive into the pages of Ursula K. Le Guin or N.K. Jemisin, Terry Pratchett or Becky Chambers. Perhaps it’s the experiences of Melissa Febos in her memoirs, or Craig Childs as he writes of the night sky in The Wild Dark.
Books are portals to the unknown, ways to experience the lives of others, ways to see ourselves reflected back to us, and ways to imagine what is possible outside of what we already know, or think we know.
Books are my constant friends, and I’m honored, pleased, that I am part of the Narrow Gauge Book Cooperative, honored and humbled that I get to share books with you, every day.
— Jean A.
Women in Translation Month
WITMonth - aka Women in Translation Month - is an annual celebration of women writers from around the world, writing in languages other than English. Started by Meytal Radzinski in 2014, WITMonth has grown to become a staple of the online literary community, as well as a prominent presence in independent bookstores around the world. Every August, readers from all continents around the world (except Antarctica, but we’ll get those penguins yet!) gather in spirit (and sometimes in person) to read, review, and discuss works by women writers in translation. The idea is to spread the word about the Women in Translation project at large, and promote individual women writers in translation specifically. Follow #WITMonth on X, Instagram, Booktube, and across the world! Learn more at their website, and check out our display table of books by women, translated from other languages.
Non-Profit of the Month: SLV Pride
Each month, we feature a local nonprofit that serves the San Luis Valley. For August, you can support SLV Pride!
This year, Pride Fest takes place August 22nd, 23rd, and 24th this year, and we’re honored to support and participate.
Purpose Statement: SLV Pride fosters belonging and collective power for Queer People in the San Luis Valley. We Create more equitable communities for all people through education, celebration, and advocacy.
Vision Statement: San Luis Valley Pride envisions a community where all bodies are celebrated, where gender is understood as a spectrum, and where queer people are recognized as the Magical Gifts we are. Together, we work towards a more secure future, where the Queer Community is not only accepted but embraced, where fear of showing authenticity is replaced with support and love. Our collective liberation is intertwined in a diverse, dynamic community where Queer People are embraced, every person is invited to belong and express their most authentic selves.
You can support SLV Pride with every purchase you make in August, by rounding up when you shop at the NGBC!
Check out their book recommends!
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
Love in a F*cked Up World by Dean Spade
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Voung
Ruby Fruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
Find out more about SLV Pride at their website, and you can also find them on Facebook at SLV Pride and on Instagram @slvpride
August Artist: Joni Franks
Joni Franks is an international award-winning author, artist and poet. She has been named the 2024 Will Rogers Medallion Award Illustrator of the Year. Her books have earned bestseller status and have won over fifty art and literary honors, including the prestigious Moms Choice Award, the International Readers Favorite Award, the American Fiction Award, and the CIPA EVVY Award. Most recently, her poem “Beyond,” from her illustrated poetry book, Heart Songs, was published in the 2025 Willow Creek Journal, an annual anthology produced by the Creede Arts Council. Heart Songs is the winner of the American Fiction Award for Poetry Chapbook and is a Finalist in the category of Poetry Nature. The Crooked Forest, Beyond, is the winner of the American Fiction Award for New Age Fiction and is a Finalist in the category of Novelette Fiction.
Known for her compelling narratives that challenge societal norms, Joni pens books about resilience, inspiration, overcoming adversity, equality, and conservation. Spending time on her San Luis Valley ranch with her Welsh corgis Sagebrush, Gyzmo and Willow, offers her the inspiration to create impactful books and artwork.
Joni is active in the artistic community. In May, she participated in the Grand Masquerade Art Gala, sponsored by the Alamosa Chamber of Commerce. Her piece, The Green Man, sold at auction.
On August 16th, you’ll be able to find Joni as part of the Silver Thread Studio Tour in Creede, where she’ll be selling her books and artwork from 9-5 at The Studios at Bristol, 39542 W Highway 149, Creede.
Join us at the Narrow Gauge for her Artist Reception on August 9th from 4pm - 6pm.
August Events at the Narrow Gauge
Your friendly neighborhood book cooperative is capable of many things - even MURDER! Okay, not really, but we are participating in a First Friday Takeover with Visit Alamosa on August 1st, and it’s a Midsummer Murder Mystery on Main Street!
Picture it: Arthur Conan Doyle, Emily Bronte, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley, HP Lovecraft, and Agatha Christie are sitting around a table for a séance… and then they discover that the powerful book publisher, Simon B. Schuster, is amongst the dead waiting to speak to them! But who would commit such a crime? With a room full of writers, any one of them could’ve been out to get their publisher. It’s up to you to solve the mystery of the Midsummer Murder!
On August 1st, the Narrow Gauge Book Coop takes you on a First Friday Murder Mystery adventure, in the style of a popular murder mystery board game! Collect clues from special characters around town and help connect the dots to solve the mystery! Be sure to explore the market for extra clues to figure out the murderer’s motive, and enjoy all of the normal First Friday specials and dining deals as you try to solve the mystery during this exciting takeover event!
Be sure to start at the Narrow Gauge to pick up your maps and your first clues! If you arrive at 5pm, you’ll get to witness the séance, but you can pick up your maps and clues until 7pm. Be back at the Narrow Gauge by 7:45 to make your best attempt at deducing the murder’s identity, and enter a drawing for prizes!
The Narrow Gauge is so excited to host the takeover as a great way to kick off our 7th Anniversary month, and we’re looking forward to connecting with you, our community that makes us possible!
The Summer Reading Express continues - if you missed it in the last newsletters, head on over to our website at this link and learn all about it! You still have time to check off some categories, and you may have even read something this summer that fits! So far, I (Jean) have checked off six categories:
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang for a book by an immigrant author
Cat + Gamer Vol 1 by Wataru Nadatani for a genre she doesn’t usually read (manga is not a go-to for her, but she loves this series so far!)
The Dry Season by Melissa Febos, for a memoir.
Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen for a romance.
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okofara for a book by a person of color.
The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy for a book by an LGTQ author.
I'm currently reading The Age of Goodbyes by Li Zi Shu for a book that has been translated from one language to another, and I'm going to see how many categories I can get!
Spadefoot Story Slam: August 16th, 6pm
Each month, we host the Spadefoot Story Slam community, sharing stories based on a theme, selected at the previous month’s Slam. While inspired by the Moth Story Hour, our monthly meetings are not a contest, but instead are a way to come together and practice sharing, and deep listening.
Join us this month for stories on the theme, "A Swing and a Miss." Have you ever gone for something, and watched it slip right through your fingers? Have you made the effort, and not made it anyway? Was it a whiff that lost the baseball game, a grand gesture to win someone's heart that went all wrong? Maybe you almost made it to the store before they closed, or were the next in line for those concert tickets when the sign was flipped to "sold out." When have you tried, and just not quite made it? These can be stories of disappointment or stories of serendipity - perhaps a mix of both! As always we encourage you to interpret the theme with creativity.
Stories should be true as remembered by you, and spoken from the heart, instead of read from the page. We don’t have an official time limit, but encourage stories that take 10 minutes or less, especially if we have a large group. We look forward to seeing you on August 16th at 6pm!
On August 22nd, we'll be at Cole Park (the south pavilion) for a pre kick-off party! Bring your book, a blanket, chair, or whatever you need to be comfy, and settle in for snacks and reading in company with friends. Then, on the 23rd, we will be vending at Pride Fest! Come shop for books and other items, and you'll even be able to snag a custom typewriter poem! Find us at Cole Park from 11am until 4pm! (the bookstore will also be open that day).
Indie Press Book Club Feature
Throughout the year, the Narrow Gauge Book Cooperative features different independent presses as part of our Indie Press Book Club. Our featured press for July and August is Milkweed Editions, and our book is The Science of Last Things by Ellen Wayland-Smith. We'll discuss this book at 6pm on Wednesday, September 3rd!
Indie Press Book Club meets on the first Wednesday of the month, every other month. Check our website for dates! We announce the upcoming book at each book club meeting, and explore fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, all from independent presses.
About the Book: The Science of Last Things by Ellen Wayland-Smith. In this luminous collection of essays, Ellen Wayland-Smith probes the raw edges of human existence, those periods of life in which our bodies remind us of our transience and the boundaries of the self dissolve.
From the Old Testament to Maggie Nelson, these explorations are grounded in a rich network of associations. In an essay on the postpartum body, Wayland-Smith interweaves her experience as a mother with accounts of phantom limbs and Greek mythology to meditate on moments when pieces of our being exist outside our bodies. In order to comprehend diagnoses of depression and breast cancer, she delves into LA hippie culture’s love affair with crystals and Emily Dickinson’s geological poetry. Her experience with chemotherapy leads to reflection on Western medicine and its intolerance of death and the healing capacity of nature. And throughout, she challenges the false separation between the human and the “primeval, animal mode of being.”
At once intimate and expansive, The Science of Last Things peels back layers of human thought and behavior, breaking down our modern conceptions of individuality and reframing us as participants in a world of astounding elegance and mystery.
About the Press: Milkweed Editions is an independent publisher of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They believe that literature has the potential to change the way we see the world, and that bringing new voices to essential conversations is the clearest path to ensuring a vibrant, diverse, and empowered future. Their mission is to identify, nurture, and publish transformative literature, and build an engaged community around it.
On their website, they state, “We publish literature that transcends boundaries and fosters transformation. We identify and nurture outstanding literary voices, connect readers with our publications through innovative engagement, and cultivate a vibrant supportive community around their organization.
Milkweed is a site of nurture and metamorphosis for monarch butterflies, and Milkweed Editions seeks to honor their namesake by serving that same purpose in the literary ecosystem. They seek out debut and experimental writers and invest significant time in the editorial process. As a nonprofit, they are not focused on making money, though they do focus on helping their authors succeed.
Since their founding in 1980, they’ve published over 350 books of literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry and now have over four million copies in circulation.
Call for Artists for 2026
We are all full up for artists for 2025, and are now seeking to fill our 2026 calendar!
Our most common features are painting and photography, though we have also had fiber arts, glass art, and ceramics.
Featured artists have a show for one month. We'll promote your art on our social media accounts, feature you in our monthly newsletter, send a press-release to the newspaper, and schedule an artist reception if you want to have one.
We try to feature new artists each year; if you were featured in 2025, please wait to apply again until we put out a call for 2027.
If you would like to be a featured, please fill out the application by clicking here. You'll be asked to upload photo samples of your work, to provide a bio and artist statement, and to provide months when you are not available. If you have questions about any part of the application, please email us at narrowgauge.coop@gmail.com.
Many Ways to Shop the NGBC
Shop In Store
You can shop with us in store and browse the shelves. Find the book you're looking for, or find a book you didn't know you were looking for! Our booksellers are happy to help you find the title, make recommendations, or order a book if we don't have it in stock.
Shop Online
We have an indie commerce website, through IndieLite, that allows customers to place orders online. Just go to narrowgaugebooks.com and click on the "Shop Online" button. Then, click "order a book" and you'll be redirected to our indie commerce site. You can search for the book you want, and then place your order from wherever you are! There are options to have your book shipped to you, or to pick up your book in store! You can even have your book shipped to someone else, if you're looking to skip the hassle of shipping the book yourself.
Call Us!
You can call us at 719-589-3464 to see if we have a book on the shelf. We'll be happy to put it aside for you! We can hold books for up to one week, so you can be sure that title is ready and waiting next time to stop in!
Preorders
You can preorder your next greatly anticipated book! Preorders help us know what our customers are excited about, and help us more effectively judge how many copies we should order. Often, we get new releases ahead of their publishing date, so when publishing Tuesday rolls around, we'll have your shiny new book ready and waiting for you to dive into the pages!
Be sure to check out this week's Shelf Awareness newsletter. Don't miss releases by your favorite authors, what's going on with your preferred genre, or find an obscure gem. NGBC can order any title referenced, and we can ship it direct to your house.
Happy Book Hunting!
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