Category: Member News

  • MEMBER NEWS: New Release by Gerri Almand

    MEMBER NEWS: New Release by Gerri Almand

    Member Newly Released by author Gerri Almand, Over-55 Conniptions: An Old Biddy Battles Aging.

    “What happens when a free-wheeling seventy-four-year-old woman gives up her carefree RVing lifestyle and moves into an over-55 community?
    Follow Gerri Almand’s real-life efforts to adjust to her new home, complete with poignant insights about growing old. Her angst mushrooms into a nervous panic as she looks around her neighborhood and questions whether she belongs with all these old people.
    This true story of finding gravity in an over-55 community will bring laughs, groans, and aha moments of understanding in anyone over the age of forty. This book is a baby boomer’s delight.

    Find out more at their website.

  • Member News: New Release by Bruce Lewis

    Member News: New Release by Bruce Lewis

    Bruce Lewis is proud to have launched the first book in his new Fool’s Gold series. A survival guide to avoiding AI-Publishing scams that every indie author needs.

    Fool’s Gold—AI’s Assault on Indie Authors is the first practical, real-world guide that exposes how scammers are using artificial intelligence to target writers with fake promotions, phony marketing packages, impersonated influencers, and automated ‘publicists’ that look shockingly real.

    Written by award-winning journalist Bruce Lewis, this book cuts through the noise and gives authors a fast, clear system for spotting fraud before money is lost—or reputations are damaged.

    Find out more

  • MEMBER NEWS: Appearance by Anthea Kreston

    MEMBER NEWS: Appearance by Anthea Kreston

    Willamette Writers member Anthea Kreston is performing her one-woman show based on her upcoming book, Crescendo, a Memoir of an Adventurous Life in Music at Chatter PDX, a spoken word and music series in downtown Portland. January 11@10:30 am. Music and Stories from Crescendo.

    Internationally renowned violinist Anthea Kreston has travelled the world with Yo-Yo Ma, been featured in the New York Times and NPR, and shares the story of her life on stage. “Crescendo: Stories and Performance from an
    Adventurous Life in Music    ” is a show which combines spoken stories and live music from the memoir, Crescendo. Weaving together music and stories, world-renowned violinist, Anthea Kreston, takes us from Tajikistan to Carnegie Hall on a whirlwind adventure.
    Crescendo is a memoir of a classical performer’s struggles, tragedies, and triumph as she navigates her world.
    Told in a lyrical, storybook style, Crescendo is a deeply personal reflection on art, ambition, and the choices that compose a life. This is how Anthea embraced her journey, with open arms, a full heart, and a violin always nearby.

    WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
    “I was amazed with the honesty, humor, and
    humanity, both in music and in storytelling.” -Dan Arbogast
    “…Anthea is a soloist of the Heifetz- Shaham-Vengerov caliber, whose musical instincts could make even a mere bagatelle thrill the soul and stir the senses to a frenzy.” -The San Diego Reader.
    “Kreston — who demystifies the process of classical music — details M the real lives of performers, behind the scenes. This tale sparkles through hilarious exchanges, always taken with a light heart by the author.” -Blair Tindall, Author of Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music.”

    Follow Anthea at Instagram or Facebook or join her book launch group on her website.

  • MEMBER NEWS: Awarded – Katherine Quevedo

    MEMBER NEWS: Awarded – Katherine Quevedo

    Katherine Quevedo is thrilled to announce that her debut chapbook, The Inca Weaver’s Tales, has won the 2025 Elgin Award for best chapbook. The Elgin Awards are presented annually by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) for books published in the preceding two years in two categories, Chapbook and Book. The Inca Weaver’s Tales is available from Sword & Kettle Press and traverses a fabled landscape inspired by Ecuadorian and Peruvian folklore in rich, cyclical verse that mimics the interconnected nature of humanity and divinity as a whole.

    Find out more at Katherine’s website.

  • Member News: New Release by Mollie Hunt

    Member News: New Release by Mollie Hunt

    Mollie Hunt launches her latest Crazy Cat Lady Cozy Mystery, Cold Case Cat on October 29th. Cold Case Cat is the 12th instalment in the award-winning Series.

    An injustice done, a murder unpunished.

    It’s Pride Month in Portland Oregon, but instead of hanging rainbow flags and streamers, Lynley finds herself obsessed with a cold case murder. Starting work at the Cat Park, a sanctuary for senior and hospice cats, is challenging enough for Lynley, but then she learns the founder of the Park was murdered and the murder never solved. Lynley’s cat-like curiosity won’t let her leave the case alone.

    But why is the Park’s new owner so fiercely opposed to Lynley’s sleuthing? What’s making the Director of Philanthropy grumpy all the time? Who is sneaking around listening at doors? The dead woman’s ancient cat has a twinkle in her eye, but she isn’t telling.

    As Lynley’s granddaughter and her beau make plans for their upcoming wedding, Lynley has other things on her mind. Something is going on at the Park. Is there more to her new job than playing with cats?

    Find out more

  • Member News: New Release from Elizabeth Beechwood

    Member News: New Release from Elizabeth Beechwood

    Elizabeth Beechwood is happy to announce the release of her second book, a writing reference guide, How to Write Animal Characters.

    In these pages you’ll:

    • Explore four elements of animal characterization—Point of View/Perception, Behavior, Intelligence, and The Wilding
    • Identify the challenges of writing animal characters, including the limitations of communication, movement, and knowledge
    • Study examples from various genres of literature
    • Apply what you learn to your own stories with writing exercises in each chapter
    • Bring your curiosity and a playful spirit and start creating animal characters that will capture your reader’s imagination!

    Find out more

  • Member News: New Release with Gail Pasternack

    Member News: New Release with Gail Pasternack

    Member News: New Release with Gail Pasternack

    Willamette Writers member Gail Pasternack is celebrating the release of her group’s anthology, “The Rooster Princess and Other Tales: Jewish Stories Repopulated with Spunky Heroines, Wise Women, Brave Crones and Powerful Prophetesses.” This innovative collection puts a modern, feminist spin on Jewish folklore by replacing traditional male protagonists with female characters.

    The official book launch takes place September 6 at Havurah Shir Hadash in Ashland, OR. Portland events include the Eastside Jewish Commons on September 17th, Annie Bloom’s Books on October 6th, the Feldstein Library on October 21, and Bold Coffee & Books on October 25th.

    The Jewish Women’s Storytelling Collective began in 2022, shortly after Gail graduated from a maggid (Jewish storyteller) training program led by Maggidah Debra Gordon Zaslow and Rabbi David Zaslow. She, Debra, and four other female graduates expressed frustration with the lack of female protagonists in Jewish folklore. They decided to create a collection of adapted folktales and original stories in which women took center stage. Over the next two years, five more maggidot (plural for female maggidah) joined by adding their stories. The shared vision of the Jewish Women’s Storytelling Collective is to offer Jewish stories from a uniquely female perspective and to make those stories accessible to modern audiences.

    Find out more

    Gail Pasternack smiling