but I recently read Love and Terror and it was quite good.

The public library is where I get most of my books.

The Sun. If you'd like to, you can read some selections (excerpts) from his works there:

http://thesunmagazine.org/author/733

I've been invited, along with a few others of Poe's Chadron friends and fellow sleuths, to a private screening of the soon-to-be-released Love & Terror documentary at Poe's house. Waiting for the weather to clear up a little so we all can make it.

You actually know him? I take it you live in that part of Nebraska.

I was vaguely aware of the documentary, but thought it had already been released. How will the rest of us get to see it?

My house is about a 5 minute drive from his.

I'll email Poe and ask him if he and Dave Jannetta, the producer, know yet where the doc will be shown. Poe said last week that it'll be shown here at the Chadron movie theater, but he didn't say where else. Showing it in Chadron might be risky, since he's been threatened by some of the locals because of the book.

I've read the book, don't know the people personally, but I'll go out on a limb here and say they're idiots. If I were just a smidge closer (I'm in Santa Fe, NM), I might try to invite myself to the showing.

couple of times that I know of - once in a face-to-face confrontation in front of his house.

Here's what he said about the documentary showings: (In emails we call each other IE (Inspector El) and Sarge.)

Nothing definite yet, IE. Dave needs to get into a festival first, which he will. Then he and I will do as many festivals and independent theater showings as possible. We intend to rent the Chadron movie theater for a week's run, and we should be able to fill the seats a few times. Dave plans to release the film on DVD in the spring.

SeeyeeandTocktyeesoon

Sarge

I rather hope that he has told those who threaten him to go fuck themselves, or whatever equivalent he may prefer to say.

I only know Nebraska slightly, mainly Lincoln a little bit. Never been anywhere near Chadron, but even without our exchange, I'd sort of thought about making it there after reading the book. Someday.

and tried to calm him down, but the guy left, still fuming. Poe mentioned it to the sheriff, who made note of it but seemed to pretty much shrug it off. I told Poe (I’m sure others of his friends did too) that at least the incident was now documented. Chadron is a college town, so the atmosphere is liberal for the most part, and we even have some Democrats, but in every town, including Chadron, there are some people who insist on being a-holes. Poe continues to watch his back, and his friends watch it too.

The first two photos are aerial shots of Chadron. The tall building is on the college campus. At the top of the photos you can see the rugged area south of town where Steven Haataja’s body was found, although the ranch and the particular ravine aren’t visible.





The two photos below are of Chadron State Park, which is about six miles south of Chadron. The photos were taken before the devastating wildfires of 2006, but some areas are still beautiful.





The photo below shows how close to Chadron, and to the college, one of the 2006 wildfires came:

I am planning on retiring, more or less, in a couple of months. That means I'm going to quit the job I currently have but continue to do temp or seasonal work and not be tied to a permanent schedule. Among the things I want to do is a lot more travelling, and going through Chadron is going to go on the list.

It sounds like a fun and exciting life in store for you! Glad you're going to visit Chadron too.

The L&T documentary will premiere soon in Toronto, Canada, at HOT DOCS, the largest documentary film festival in North America.

Dork Shelf review:

http://dorkshelf.com/2014/04/21/hot-docs-2014-love-and-terror-on-the-howling-plains-of-nowhere-review/

absorbing. Loved it. His writing is in a style I really enjoy. I look forward to reading more of his work.

I too enjoy his style.

There's nothing pretentious about the man. He's fun and very easy to be around.

and telling you fascinating stories. It's the first time I learned to use the highlight feature on my Kindle (after having it for over two years) because of some of the things he wrote that I wanted to remember.

does come across in the book, and I know what you mean about wanting to remember some of the things he wrote. He certainly has a way with words!

When I was in high school and living about an hour's drive from Chadron, in Alliance, I attended a year at Chadron Prep, which was the high school associated with the college. Our teachers were CSC professors. I hung out with Prep kids, Chadron High kids, and also kids from Chadron Assumption Academy, the Catholic school.

One of my Assumption friends was Steve Lecher - "Hazel Devine," the armless car salesman in the book. Sometimes a bunch of us would ride around and drink beer, and it was usually in Steve's car, with Steve driving. He was always barefoot, and he accelerated with one foot and steered with the other. When he talked, he gestured with his feet, the way most people do with their hands. Besides being amazing, he was a lot of fun, and also quite a character. I loved reading about him the book. Poe portrayed him perfectly, just as he did everyone else.

was completely true or someone he kind of made up for the sake of the book. Cool to know he's a real fellow.

and Poe depicted them accurately. At their request, about half were given fake names. El Cocodrilo wasn't. His name really is Loren Zimmerman. He's now married to "Telenova," Poe's wife Cristina's one-time friend, and they run Feik's 120 Bar & Restaurant in Chadron. I read Mr. Z's teabagger rants on his Facebook page sometimes, which is always fun.

For anyone interested, here’s a page with a link to a podcast of his excellent Big Ideas interview in which he talks about the book and also about the Steven Haataja case:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/life2c-death-and-love-in-the-mid-west-of-the-usa/5640778

Dave Jannetta’s film documentary based on Poe’s book Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere, and by the same title, has been showing at various film festivals the past several months. In the spring it was a big hit at Hot Docs in Toronto, Canada, and this past weekend it was a sellout at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival.

Dave Jannetta with Michael Moore:



The doc will be shown here in Chadron sometime in the fall. Looking forward to it!

EDITED to add that films shown at Michael Moore's festival are there through invitation only.

Dave wrote on his L&T Facebook page:

"Incredibly excited to announce that Love and Terror was selected for the 2014 Traverse City Film Festival! This festival, started by Michael Moore 10 years ago is committed to showing 'Just Great Movies' and it's an honor to be selected!"