Submitted by Village Books
The dog days of summer are here and hot temperatures create the perfect conditions for reading under shady trees or retreating inside to air conditioned spaces. Load up on new titles at Village Books, then stick around for one of the store’s many author talks, featuring local and visiting authors.
Tuesday, August 11, 7:00 p.m.
Phoebe Wahl, “Sonya’s Chickens” — Children’s Book, Local Author
Sonya raises her three chickens from the time they are tiny chicks. She feeds them, shelters them and loves them. Everywhere Sonya goes, her chicks are peeping at her heels. Under her care, the chicks grow into hens and even give Sonya a wonderful gift: an egg! One night, Sonya hears noises coming from the chicken coop and discovers that one of her hens has disappeared. Where did the hen go? What happened to her? When Sonya discovers the answers, she learns some important truths about the interconnectedness of nature and the true joys and sorrows of caring for another creature.
Artist Phoebe Wahl’s work focuses on themes of comfort, nostalgia and intimacy with nature. She grew up unschooled in Washington State, and credits her free spirited childhood in the Northwest for much of her inspiration and work ethic. She works in a variety of mediums, from watercolor and collage to fabric sculpture. Phoebe graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Illustration and currently lives in Bellingham, Washington.
Wednesday, August 13, 7:00 p.m.
Dean R. Blanchard, “Sarah Covington” — Fiction, Local Author
“Sarah Covington” opens with a double tragedy and its consequences as they affect the everyday lives of its small-town citizens. The Covington family history is a passionate account of shady real estate dealings, treachery, and dangerous assumptions. Yet one gets glimpses of the untold and sometimes secret motives that pull both friends and enemies into the intrigues and mysteries that some prefer would remain in the closet. Open the doors in the various Covington closets and pull out the images that are stored there, some lovingly, and some not.
Dean R. Blanchard served for twenty years in the United States Navy before he began healing from his past through writing. He is also the author of the short story collection “Pieces of Broken China.” He currently lives in Washington State.
Monday, August 17, 7:00 p.m.
Toni Weschler, “Taking Charge of Your Fertility: 20th Anniversary Edition”
For two decades, “Taking Charge of Your Fertility” has helped literally hundreds of thousands of women avoid pregnancy naturally, maximize their chances of getting pregnant, or simply gain better control of their gynecological and sexual health. Toni Weschler thoroughly explains the empowering Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), which in only a couple of minutes a day allows you to: Enjoy highly effective and scientifically proven birth control without chemicals or devices Maximize your chances of conception before you see a doctor or resort to invasive high-tech options Expedite your fertility treatment by quickly identifying impediments to pregnancy achievement Gain control and a true understanding of your gynecological and sexual health. This new edition for the twentieth anniversary of the groundbreaking national bestseller provides all the information you need to monitor your menstrual cycle along with updated information on the latest reproductive technologies. This event is presented in partnership with Fairhaven Health.
Toni Weschler, MPH, has a master’s degree in public health and is a nationally respected women’s health educator and speaker. She is also the author of Cycle Savvy, a book for teenage girls about their bodies. A frequent guest on television and radio shows, she lives in Seattle, Washington.
Tuesday, August 18, 7:00 p.m.
Stacy Weber, “Trailer Park Gospel” — Memoir
For Stacy Weber, faith comes in mysterious ways – and sometimes the Good News shows up in not-so-good places. Weber’s debut memoir takes us on a profound, often hilarious quest, from the trailer parks of San Francisco, to the bodywork table of an “unconventional” therapist named Phillip. As Weber confronts her darkness head on, she learns some surprising truths, especially about her faith. Trailer Park Gospel teaches us how to jump into our lives as Jesus meant them to be—full of relationships, love, and forgiveness. And, of course, to look for the Good News wherever we go.
Stacy J. Weber is a scientist, a cartographer, and a writer. She grew up in Southern California and has explored the West from former homes based in Bellingham, Washington and Durango, Colorado. Stacy now lives with her husband in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Trailer Park Gospel” is her first book.
Wednesday, August 19, 7:00 p.m.
Jennifer Steil, “The Ambassador’s Wife” — Fiction
When bohemian artist Miranda falls in love with Finn, the British ambassador to an Arab country, she finds herself thrust into a life for which she has no preparation. The couple and their toddler daughter live in a stately mansion with a staff to meet their every need, but for Miranda even this luxury comes at a price: the loss of freedom. Trailed everywhere by bodyguards to protect her from the dangers of a country wracked by civil war and forced to give up work she loves, she finds her world shattered when she is taken hostage, an act of terror with wide-reaching consequences.
Jennifer Steil is the author of The Woman Who Fell from the Sky, a memoir about her experiences running a newspaper in Yemen. She lives in Bolivia, where her husband is the European Union ambassador.
Thursday, August 20, 7:00 p.m.
Anker Frankoni, “Mexican Eskimo” — Fiction
Spend an evening with author Anker Frankoni as he shares poems, songs, stories, and passages from the first release in his Mexican Eskimo trilogy, to explain the complex turn of events that led him down the writers’ path. An intricate layer-cake of commingled family trees and karmic collisions, Frankoni’s novel tackles the problem—and blessing—of being made human, and managing the people who invited us here. “Mexican Eskimo” is a love story that weaves the silken threads of faith, trust and hope into a lifeline of spiritual guidance that tethers our present-day experience to a world of creation magic that existed so long before now, that time itself had not yet started to measure itself in years.
Anker Frankoni is part Joker, part Thief, part Joyful, part Grief, but he strives above all to be a Defender of the Right and Pursuer of Lofty Undertakings. His first novel, “Mexican Eskimo,” is a tale of two lives, separated by the one he’s currently occupying, which he calls #Fictionwithamission — 10 percent of all his writer’s income goes directly to non-profit groups working to help stop child-abuse.
Friday, August 21, 7:00 p.m.
William Ritter, “Beastly Bones: A Jackaby Novel”
Detective of the Paranormal R. F. Jackaby and his assistant, Abigail Rook, embark on a new case in “Beastly Bones,” the second book in the Jackaby young adult series, when a string of mysterious murders suggests a mythological monster may be on the loose.
William Ritter began writing the Jackaby series in the middle of the night when his son was still an infant. After getting up to care for him, Will would lie awake, his mind creating rich worlds and fantasies—such as the one in New Fiddleham. Ritter lives and teaches in Springfield, Oregon. “Beastly Bones” is his second novel.
Saturday, August 22, 4:00 p.m.
Samuel Fromartz, “In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker’s Odyessy” — Presented in Partnership with BreadLab
Sam Fromartz never set out to be a baker. All he wanted was good bread to eat at home. Commissioned to write an article about learning to make a perfect baguette, he set off on an adventure that took him to bakeries in Paris, California, Oregon, Vermont, Berlin and New York. So began his quest to hone not just his homemade French loaf – which later beat out professional bakers to win “Best Baguette of D.C.” – but his knowledge of bread, from seed to table. After sweating and learning in the baking rooms of the world-famous Pichard, and Delmontel boulangeries, and talking to farmers, millers, and bakers in Berlin, the south of France, and all around the US, Fromartz distilled his experiences into a book. With the curiosity and sharp investigative skills of a journalist, he discovers what makes a great flour, how grains are grown and milled. He reveals the science of sourdough and how anyone who is willing to try and fail at first can replicate magnificent bakery-quality bread at home. “In Search of the Perfect Loaf” is a treat for anyone interested in good food writing. Fromartz teaches us to appreciate real bread and will lead readers who are not already bakers to learn what it means to bake and eat a good loaf.
Samuel Fromartz is a longtime journalist and editor. He began his career at Reuters, where he was a correspondent covering business and economic issues. Fromartz began baking bread at home around 1996 and has been making bread ever since. In 2010, he helped found the non-profit Food & Environment Reporting Network, an independent non-profit journalism organization focusing on food, agriculture and environmental health that is supported by foundations and individual donors. He is now its Editor in Chief. His work has appeared in “The New York Times,” “The Washington Post,” and “The Atlantic,” among other publications. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Thursday, August 27, 7:00 p.m.
John Morgan, “Archives of The Air” — Poetry
As caribou encounter the oil pipeline on Alaska’s North Slope and cranes navigate the towering mountains of the Alaska Range, Archives of the Air brings the reader in contact with the fascinating world of the far north. Explorations of history, art, and family round out this wide-ranging collection by one of Alaska’s most celebrated poets.
In 1976, John Morgan moved with his family to Fairbanks, Alaska, where for many years he directed the Creative Writing program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The American Poetry Review, The New Republic, The Paris Review, and many other magazines. In 2009, he served as the first writer-in-residence at Denali National Park. Annie Dillard writes that Morgan’s poems “are strong and full of carefully controlled feeling. They are tender and precise evocations of the moral and sensory life of man.”
Friday, August 28, 7:00 p.m.
Robert L. Slater, “Straight Into Darkness” — Local Author
What if safety felt like prison? How does a girl who never had a place in the world before it ended, find her place in the new world? Ninety-five percent of the people on the planet are dead. Lizzie is pregnant from an end of world one-night stand, and the situation is complicated. Her family, her friends, the government of Provo – now known as “The City” and one of the last outposts of civilization: all want to keep her safe. And it’s driving her nuts. She should be staying safe inside the walls of The City, but she’s got to get out. A dangerous mission is exactly what she needs right now.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Robert L. Slater wanted to be an astronaut or a rock star. At 42, he gave up those dreams to become a writer of science fiction and fantasy, where he can pretend to be both. Like some of his characters, he has a propensity for speaking in lines from 80s movies, drinking Mountain Dew and eating pizza. He loves music as a listener, a zealous fan, a guitar player, and a singer/songwriter.
Sunday, August 30, 4:00 p.m.
Judith Kirscht, “Hawkins Lane” — Fiction
The son of a murderer, Ned Hawkins has resigned himself to an outsider’s existence until he meets Erica Romano, daughter of the town’s new doctor. Their love of the mountains overcomes their dissonant background, and they fall in love and create a life for themselves as forest rangers in the North Cascades—until the release of Ned’s father from prison disrupts the harmony. Ned’s renewed fatalism sets off a chain of disasters that bring both face-to-face with the destructive power of their pasts and throw their future into doubt.
Originally from Chicago, Judith Kirscht raised her family in Michigan and taught writing at the Universities of Michigan and California, Santa Barbara before moving to Washington State to devote herself to writing fiction. She has previously published “Nowhere Else to Go,” “The Inheritors, and Home Fires.” “Home Fires” was a finalist for the Nancy Pearl Award, given by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association for the best mainstream novel published in 2013 and finalists for the Readers Favorite Review 2014 Awards in the general and realistic fiction categories.
