Willamette Writers at Wordstocks 2016: Books and Authors

ww-wordstock-2016-instagramWillamette Writers will be at Wordstock: Portland’s Book Festival on Saturday, November 5th. We will be in booth #17 and this year we invited some Willamette Writers members to join us. Here’s an almost complete list!

Author: Sherry Smith

The Wolf and the Shield

Ever since Kieran’s father’s death, he’s tried to take care of his mother and little brother. When Kieran meets Saint Patrick and rescues a wolf pup, his choices become more difficult. Should he leave home to join Carrick’s warriors? Will someone discover the wolf he’s been hiding and kill it? Join Kieran as he cares for the orphaned pup and searches for a shield strong enough to protect everything–and everyone– he loves.

sherry-smithSherry Weaver Smith became Catholic after working alongside Salesian Sisters who were dedicated to helping homeless and working children in Manila, the Philippines. Married to Michael, Sherry wrote her first poems and children’s fiction for her daughter, Laura. Her haiku collection, Land Shapes, has been published by Richer Resources Publications. Sherry has also worked in various product management and grant-writing positions for healthcare companies and nonprofit organizations. She received her bachelor’s degree from Duke University in math and East Asian studies, and a master’s in politics from the University of Oxford, England.

For more about Sherry Smith visit her website here & check her out on twitter @sherrybay

Photo credit: Dominique Mintz

Author: Carol Palo

My Life as a Metal Sculpture: Navigating Through Medical Adversity and  more books 

This true story is a guide to living life fully, developing skills to make best decisions and communicate effectively. The book is divided into three sections. First the authors story from early shock through recovery. Second is the story of others and the effect of each journey on family and friends. The final section focuses on resources and solutions.

Carol Palo has always enjoyed a good challenge, whether raising two children, as a Facilities Manager of commercial office buildings, or traveling the world. Attempting to treat a frightening and serious medical adversity in the same way allowed her to document the process and pass along a successful path for others to follow. She is currently assisting at the multicultural department of a community college, traveling the world and working on a new book.

For more about Carol Palo visit her Facebook here.

Author: Courtney Pierce

The Executrix (Book 1 of Trilogy). Indigo Lake (Book 2)

Colorful characters come alive in Courtney’s trilogy about the Dushane sisters. Beginning with THE EXECUTRIX, three middle-age sisters find a manuscript for a murder mystery in their mother’s safe after her death. Mom’s book gives them a whole new view of their mother and their future. Is it fiction . . . or truth? Get out the popcorn as the Dushane Sisters Trilogy continues with INDIGO LAKE and comes to a scrumptious conclusion with INDIGO LEGACY, due out in early 2017.

courtney-pierceCourtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her bossy cat. She writes for baby boomers. By day, Courtney is an executive in the entertainment industry and uses her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor and mystery. She has studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for publishing. Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Assoc. and is on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. And she loves Willamette Writers.

For more about Courtney Pierce visit her website here & follow her on Twitter @CourtneyPDX

Author: Scot Siegel

The Constellation of Extinct Stars: And Other Poems

“With grace, skill, and compassion, Scot Siegel’s poems create a specificity of time and place that rises above the specific. Whether he writes of a young school teacher back in 1928 Summer Lake or a wolf traveling unseen across all of present-day Oregon, the poet guides us to those sad and beautiful places deep in the human heart.” —Penelope Scambly Schott

“Siegel’s poetry is precise, elliptical, vernacular, dramatic, anchored in narrative and—most important of all—understandable.” —Kevin Starr, California State Librarian Emeritus, and Professor, University of Southern California.

scot-siegelScot Siegel is the author of five books of poetry, most recently “The Constellation of Extinct Stars and Other Poems” (2016) and “Thousands Flee California Wildflowers” (2012), both published by Salmon Poetry of Ireland. The late US Poet Laureate, Philip Levine, recognized Siegel’s long poem, “Pages Torn From a Schoolmarm’s Diary,” as a Finalist with Honorable Mention in Nimrod International’s 2012 Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize Competition. Siegel’s poems appear in Terrain.org, The Oregonian, High Desert Journal, Open Spaces, and Verse Daily, among others, and his writing is part of the permanent art installation along the Portland-to-Milwaukie Light Rail ‘Orange Line’.

For more about Scot Siegel click here to visit his website. You can also find him on Facebook here.

Photo credit: Deborah Springstead Ford

Author: Gary Corbin

“The Steel Queen (Book 1 of The Silk & Steel Saga)” and three more books

A man serves on the jury trying a man for murder – the murder that he committed!

Gary Corbin is a writer, editor, playwright, and actor in Camas, WA. Lying in Judgment, his Amazon.com best-selling legal thriller, was released in early 2016. Lying in Judgment was selected for the “Indie Spotlight” on UK-based Literary Lightbox for Autumn/Winter 2016 , and, and was selected as Bookworks.com “Book of the Week” for July 11-18, 2016.

gary-corbinGary’s second novel, The Mountain Man’s Dog, came out in June 2016. Both novels are available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook forms.
His writer’s reference, Write Better Right Now: A Dozen Mistakes Good Writers Make-And How to Fix Them, is available on Kindle.

For more about Gary Corbin visit his website here or twitter @garycorbin and you can find him on Facebook here

Photo credit: Elaine Lowry

Author: Suzy Vitelo

The Moment Before   

Brady and Sabine Wilson are sisters born eleven months apart, but they couldn’t be more different. Popular Sabine craves attention, while “Brady Brooder” is a loner who prefers the sidelines to the limelight. After Sabine dies in a horrific cheerleading accident 17-year-old Brady finds herself questioning everything she once held dear. Her best friend betrays her. Her parents’ marriage is crumbling. And the boy everyone blames for the accident is her only ally in the search for answers in the wake of Sabine’s death. As an unlikely friendship emerges, Brady learns more about Sabine than she bargained for.

suzy-viteloSuzy Vitello’s award-winning short fiction has appeared in various anthologies and literary journals. She has been a prize winner in The Atlantic Monthly Student Fiction Contest, and has been a recipient of an Oregon Literary Arts grant. She holds an MFA from Antioch, Los Angeles, and is a long-time coordinator and participant of an infamous writer’s workshop in Portland, whose members include Chuck Palahniuk, Lidia Yuknavitch, Chelsea Cain, Monica Drake and others. Her young adult novels include The Moment Before; The Empress Chronicles; and The Keepsake, and she has a story in Forest Avenue Press’s anthology, City of Weird.

For more about Suzy Vitelo click here to visit her website or twitter @suzy_vitello or her Facebook here.

 

Author: Dantarris McDaniel 

The Ultimate Guide to Success: How to Achieve Your Goals in 10 Steps or Less

Inspired by an exclusive VIP meeting with Oprah Winfrey, The Ultimate Guide to Success is the most comprehensive book ever written on the subject of success. Drawing on over 5,000 hours of research, this book shows you how to achieve your biggest goals in 10 steps or less! Including a bonus interactive workbook + a free 20-minute audiobook, this book will help you develop a bulletproof action plan for creating the life you ultimately want. Author featured on MTV, CNBC, and U.S. News & World Report (30+ five-star reviews on Amazon!).

dantarris-mcdanielAt age 19, Dan McDaniel walked away from over $100,000 in scholarships and grants from Louisiana State University’s E.J. Ourso College of Business to become a professional writer. He has used the principles in his books to lose 90 pounds, meet Oprah Winfrey, and fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a bestselling author. As an emerging television personality, he has appeared on CNBC’s The Suze Orman Show and starred in MTV’s Emmy Award-winning documentary series True Life. His major definite purpose is to help you achieve your goals and create the life you truly want.

For more about Dan McDaniel visit his website here or twitter @ExtremeHonesty

Author: David D. Levine

Arabella of Mars

Arabella Ashby is a Patrick O’Brian girl in a Jane Austen world — born and raised on Mars, she was hauled back home by her mother, where she’s stifled by England’s gravity, climate, and attitudes toward women. When she learns that her evil cousin plans to kill her brother and inherit the family fortune, she joins the crew of an interplanetary clipper ship in order to beat him to Mars. But privateers, mutiny, and insurrection stand in her way. Will she arrive in time?

david-levineDavid D. Levine is the author of novel Arabella of Mars (Tor 2016) and over fifty SF and fantasy stories. His story “Tk’Tk’Tk” won the Hugo, and he has been shortlisted for awards including the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, and Sturgeon. Stories have appeared in Asimov’s, Analog, F&SF, Tor.com, numerous Year’s Best anthologies, and his award-winning collection Space Magic.

For more on David D. Levine visit his website here or twitter @daviddlevine or visit his Facebook page here.

Photo credit: Janna Silverstein

Author: Batya Podos

Rebecca and the Talisman of Time

Rebecca is 13 years old and is not enjoying it much. Her parents split up, she lives in a new town, and now she is supposed to have a bat mitzvah for which she feels totally unprepared. No one seems to understand her. She’s not even sure she wants to be Jewish. When she receives a gift of her grandfather’s prayer shawl, strange things begin to happen and her whole world is turned upside down. The past is suddenly a part of the present and what seemed so important before no longer matters.

A retired middle school drama teacher, Batya is now an ordained maggid–a storyteller and teacher in the Jewish tradition. She has worked as an artist in residence, an educational consultant, and now she is Education Director of Beit Haverim Synagogue plus the Youth Ministry Coordinator for 1st Congregational Church UCC. With over 30 years’ experience as an educator, storyteller, writer and performer, her first novel was published in 2013, and she is currently working on two more.

For more about Batya Podos visit her website here or visit her book’s Facebook page here.

Author: Lori Tobias

Wander

Set in the 1980s in the rural community of Bidarkee Bay, Alaska, a fictional area the size of a small state with a population of barely 20,000, Wander is the story of Patrice “Pete” Nash, a young broadcast reporter who finds herself facing the winter alone after her husband, Nate, accepts a job on “the slope.” It is a tale about love, loss and betrayal, and one in which Pete discovers too late that the biggest threat lies not in the harsh landscape around her, but in her own fickle heart.

lori-tobiasLori Tobias is journalist and writer of more than 25 years, including time at the Rocky Mountain News as a columnist and features writer, and most recently as a staff writer for The Oregonian, for which she covered the Oregon Coast for more than a decade. She lives on the Oregon Coast with her husband Chan and rescue pup Mugsy.

For more about Lori Tobias visit her website here or twitter @loritobias or visit her Facebook here for her latest book.

Author: Margaret Pinard

The Keening  

In 1822, the MacLean family is about to be hit with a tidal wave of economic, social, and political hardship. From their croft in western Scotland, they struggle to stay rooted and stay together, but Fate may have other ideas. The Keening is the story of their journey from home to the New World, and the drama that each of the MacLeans undergoes in adjusting to the new reality.

Margaret Pinard has spent her first few decamargaret-pinarddes traveling the globe in search of adventures to incorporate into her writing, including living in the lands of the Celts, the cities of European fashion, and several dolce far niente Mediterranean cultures. Her novels include The Keening, a historical drama; Memory’s Hostage, a historical mystery; and Dulci’s Legacy, a YA mystery/fantasy hybrid. She resides in Portland, OR.

For more about Margaret Pinard visit her website here or twitter @tastelifetwice or pay a visit to her Facebook page here.

Author: Lynn B. Connor

The Cranberry Bog: Recipes & Miscellaneous

Explore the world of cooking with fresh cranberries year round. Begin a cranberry adventure from appetizers to desserts. The recipes are easy to prepare making them enjoyable for everyday cooking, yet good enough for relaxed entertaining. Sprinkled among the recipes are cranberry facts and history.

Lynn B. Connor lives in Oregon where she and her husband watch the sun rise over the mountains and set over the ocean. Her stories and poems have appeared in POET LORE, RAIN, and SQUID. THE STONES AND THE POET was published by the Lan Su Chinese Garden.

Author: Anne Hendren

 Project Runaway

High fashion and high aspirations combust in Project Runaway. The novel details fashion designer Karin Ohlsson’s growing disillusionment with the cold realities of New York’s garment district. Her work is appropriated by a less-talented designer who takes credit for Karin’s creative output. She devises a plan to leave New York while remembering her Idaho-based Aunt Hannah’s love of sewing and quilts. Karin’s getaway gets messy, but she emerges with a renewed appreciation of family and an unexpected windfall.

Portland novelist Anne Hendren examines high fashion, low morals and personal redemption in her newest novel, Project Runaway. This page-turner from Ring of Fire Publishing is available in Summer, 2013 from Amazon.com in Kindle and print format.  She is currently working on a mystery about African elephants, safaris, blood and the ivory trade.
This work follows the 2012 publication of Ms. Hendren’s compelling tale of betrayal, murder and sustainable architecture, A Dream of Good and Evil.
Anne Hendren holds a doctorate in Comparative Literature from Cornell University.  She also earned degrees in International Affairs and French from Columbia and Wellesley.

For more about Anne Hendren visit her website here or twitter @annehendren or visit her Facebook page here 

Author: R. Gregory Nokes

Breaking Chains: Slavery on Trial in the Oregon Territory

In 1844, a Missouri slaveholder brought his slaves Robin and Polly Holmes and their children to Oregon and kept them in bondage on his Polk County farm. In an unprecedented act of personal courage, Robin Holmes filed suit in 1852 seeking freedom for his children in the only slavery case ever decided in an Oregon courtroom. This book examines the previously unknown history of black slaves in Oregon and the exclusion laws that slammed the door against free black settlers. A 2014 Oregon Book Award finalist for non-fiction. Published by Oregon State University Press.

r-gregory-nokesGregory Nokes, an Oregon native, had a 40-year career as a journalist. He traveled the world as a foreign correspondent for The Associated Press before returning to Oregon to work as a reporter and editor for The Oregonian. Since retiring in 2003, he embarked on a second career as an author and lecturer. He has written two books, “Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon,” and “Breaking Chains: Slavery on Trial in the Oregon Territory,” both published by Oregon State University Press. A third book is near completion. He is a graduate of Willamette University and attended Harvard as a Nieman Fellow. He and wife, Candise, live in West Linn.

For more about R. Gregory Nokes visit his website here or twitter @GregNokes or visit his Facebook here.

Author: Gary Covey

Coming to Ash Hollow  

Danny Lawson is not thrilled about moving to a new school. It may seem like the end of the world for a ten-year-old boy who has trouble with expressing himself whenever he’s nervous or in a tough spot. Danny’s love for playing hoops helps him overcome his struggles, even as he comes face-to-face with Buck Bishop, a school bully. What is the mystery behind the antique black box Danny finds? Who is that strange caped figure seen losing the box? Join the Blazers on an Oregon Trail school project. Meet Kaley Ash, the girl who is always there for Danny.


Gary Covey
was an elementary teacher, special education teacher, and school administrator for thirty-three years. He also coached boys’ basketball for several years. He is retired and now lives in Salem, Oregon, with his wife, Cameron, and their two Siamese kitties.

For more about Gary Covey visit his website here. 

Author: Bob Ferguson

 Some Days Chicken, Some Days Feathers

A memoir of my earliest recollections until I come home from Vietnam. The in-between years remember rock and roll, hot-rods, first jobs, college football, true romance, and poignant recollections of being severely burned in Vietnam. Each story is self-contained and can be the sugar in your morning coffee or a memory that lulls you to sleep. The author invites you to reach the conclusion that you can write your own book!

“At age 61, (12 years ago) I was earning a Master’s in teaching. As part of my student teaching I taught a section on memoir writing to 8th graders. I thought “Hey this is fun, and so I began Some Days Chicken, Some Days Feathers. My passion at book talks/workshops is to get attendees started on their own story. It’s simple, fun, I guarantee some laughs, and every heart has a story.”

Author: Lawrence William Erickson

A Bullet For your Thoughts 

A Vietnamese hit-man comes to the City of Roses. His kill is easy, but there’s a problem. The victim was a client of Portland Private Investigator Nate Harver. The police find the client floating in the Willamette River. What they call suicide, Harver believes is murder. Staying one step ahead of bullets, car bombs, and a killer who likes to use a hatchet is turning into a full-time job. Harver’s chances of survival are going from slim to none. American greed and international criminals mix together to turn the quiet neighborhoods of Portland into war zones.

Lawrence Erickson is a native of Kansas City, Missouri. He is a graduate of Central Missouri State College and served in the US Army. After spending over 40 years in the construction and nuclear power industries he retired to the Pacific Northwest. He has lived and worked in Germany, Scotland, England, Australia, Sweden, France, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Chicago and Boston. A Bullet For Your Thoughts is his first novel and the first in the Nate Harver, Private Investigator, series. Lawrence and his wife Kate currently live in (and love) Portland, Oregon.

For more information about Lawrence William Erickson visit his website here.

Author: Deborah Lincoln

Agnes Canon’s War

The specter of war comes knocking and everything changes. . . . Bloody Kansas is nothing compared to the turmoil in Missouri in the years before and during the Civil War, and Agnes Canon, spinster immigrant from Pennsylvania, is in the thick of it. When she marries Dr. Jabez Robinson, a Yankee with secessionist leanings, she finds the war in her own back yard and her family in deadly danger. This eloquent work of historical fiction chronicles one woman’s struggle for self-determination against the background of a community growing – and dying – in the Civil War era.

deborah-lincolnAward-winning author Deborah Lincoln grew up in the small town of Celina, among the cornfields of western Ohio. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Michigan. She and her husband have three grown sons and live on the Oregon coast. AGNES CANON’S WAR is based on the story of her great-great grandparents.

For more about Deborah Lincoln visit her website here or twitter @dslincoln51

Author: Steve Theme

Asphalt Asylum, The Dark Roads to Light

Experience the charity, horrors, and wonders of hitchhiking seven thousand miles alone. In this memoir, Steve Theme leaves Seattle in 1978 as a know-it-all whose hobby is shoplifting malt liquor; he has no destination and no self-respect. The trek becomes a journey of desperation, hope and danger. Theme is a captive witness to dozens of people’s stories until, finally, he’s able to tell his own. Asphalt Asylum carries the reader on an unexpected journey where an alienated young man eventually understands that he’s always been part of the fabric that connects us all—love. Hop in; let’s go for a ride

For more about Steve Theme visit: stevetheme.com

Author: Sue Fagalde Lick

Childless by Marriage

First you marry a man who does not want children. He cheats and you divorce him. Then you marry the love of your life and find out he does not want to have c
hildren with you either. The three he has are more than enough. Although you always wanted to be a mother, you decide he is worth the sacrifice, expecting to have a long happy life together. But that’s not what happens. This is the story of how a woman becomes childless by marriage and how it affects every aspect of her life.

Sue Fagalde Lick is a recovering journalist who earned a late-life MFA and started a new life as a writer/musician/dog mom. Her books include Stories Grandma Never Told, Azorean Dreams, Shoes Full of Sand and Childless by Marriage. Sue and her dog Annie live on the Oregon Coast.

For information about Sue Fagalde Lick visit her website here or twitter @suelick or visit her Facebook page here

Author: Maren Bradley Anderson

Closing the Store

Liz didn’t mean to start a sex strike…but she’ll use it to end a war and win an election. Liz A. Stratton is running for President of the United States to end the unpopular war in
Mesopotamianstan. Everything goes as planned until the first debate when Liz’s competitors patronize her. She loses her temper and declares that if Pictureevery woman in America withheld sex, the war would be over in weeks. So women all over the country actually “close the store.” Then the fun really starts.

Maren Bradley Anderson is a writer, teacher, blogger, and alpaca rancher who lives in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. She teaches literature and writing at Western Oregon University and blogs about alpacas and writing. Her alpacas win ribbons, and she thinks they are darned cute.

For more information about Maren Bradley Anderson visit her website or twitter @marenster and her Facebook page here

Author:Bridget Bayer

Street Fairs for Community and Profit: How to Plan, Organize and Stage a Sensational Street Fair While a Sensational Street Fair While Building Community

The Street Fairs for Community and Profit guidebook focuses on how to strengthen a community and profit by it by throwing sensational street fairs. Main Street businesses looking to raise their profile are deciding that event marketing is a great place to start. This nuts-and-bolts book will especially help new groups in planning—and actually executing—a street fair. For experienced organizers, it will help them PROFIT from their event.

Over the past two decades, Bridget Bayer has lived and breathed community development—from building and running several small businesses, to working with more than 20 business associations in the Portland metro area, managing and training over 1,500 volunteers. Her company, BAM, (Business Association Management) is a consulting firm that helps build community through events, raise funds and enhance the visibility of main streets and local businesses.

For more about Bridget Bayer visit her website here or her twitter @BAMBridges or visit her Facebook

Jalyn Gilmore

I am a novice writer with horrible sleeping habits. I am currently pursing my BA in English with the hopes that all these sleepless nights chipping away at my youth will one day "pay off". I hail from the land of southern California, a land of little water and delicious food and even better theme parks. I am partial to purples and blues but a good pink also hits the spot. I look to the moon for celestial guidance and respect her as history's oldest feminist. I believe there is a book for everyone, not just any any book, but a book that fuels the soul, revs the heart's engine and ignites the fire of the future.