Submitted by Village Books

Spring has (just about) sprung. For many, the coming of the season means a thorough cleaning and reorganization of the home. After dusting off your bookshelves, give new life to your home library with some fresh, new titles. Not sure what to read? Village Books hosts several author talks from local and visiting authors each month. Learn about new titles and worthy reads firsthand from the authors themselves at these upcoming author talks.

Sunday, March 1, 4:00 p.m.
Jeanne Matthews, Where the Bones Are Buried – Mystery

American Indians fascinate Germans, as Dinah Pelerin learns when her Seminole mother Swan arrives in Berlin with a cockamamie scheme to blackmail a member of der Indianer Club. When a man is killed and scalped, Swan becomes the prime suspect and long-buried secrets, including Dinah’s, come crashing to the surface. Jeanne Matthews is the author of the Dinah Pelerin mysteries published by Poisoned Pen Press, including Bones of Contention, Bet Your Bones, Bonereapers, and Her Boyfriend’s Bones. Like her anthropologist sleuth, Jeanne was born with a serious wanderlust and sets each book in a different part of the world. Originally from Georgia, Jeanne currently lives with her husband in Renton, Washington.

Tuesday, March 3, 7:00 p.m.
Barry Gough, The Elusive Mr. Pond

While most North Americans won’t recognize his name, Peter Pond was a precursor to Lewis and Clark whose legendary exploits in the fur trade, including opening up the far distant Arctic watershed, elevated him to become a founding partner of the North West Company. These experiences, combined with his implication in two murders and reputed violent temper, make him a compelling historical figure—whose life has been shrouded in mystery. In The Elusive Mr. Pond, Gough re-examines Pond’s surviving memoirs, explorers’ journals and many other sources to create the most complete biography of the man ever published. Leading historian Dr. Barry Gough is well recognized for the authenticity of his research and the engaging nature of his narratives. He is the author of many critically acclaimed books, including the award-winning Fortune’s a River: The Collision of Empires in Northwest America (Harbour, 2007). Gough has been writing for almost four decades. He lives in Victoria, BC.

Wednesday, March 4, 7:00 p.m.
Liz Carlisle, Lentil Underground

Liz Carlisle is a fellow at UC Berkeley’s Center for Diversified Farming Systems. She holds a B.A. from Harvard University and will receive her Ph. D. from the Department of Geography at UC Berkeley in May 2014. Before graduate school, Carlisle served as Legislative Correspondent for agriculture and natural resources in the office of United States Senator Jon Tester, an organic farmer from her home state of Montana. A former country singer who once opened shows for Travis Tritt, LeAnn Rimes and Sugarland, Carlisle brings a populist flair to her writing, which has appeared in the Smithsonian Magazine and Harvard Independent. Lentil Underground, which tells the story of the renegade band of farmers she met during her stint with Tester, is Carlisle’s first book.

Thursday, March 5, 7:00 p.m.
Randy Henderson, Finn Fancy Necromancy – Fiction

Finn Gramaraye was framed for the crime of dark necromancy at the age of fifteen, and exiled to the Other Realm for twenty-five years. But now that he’s free, someone—probably the same someone—is trying to get him sent back. Finn has only a few days to discover who is so desperate to keep him out of the mortal world, and find evidence to prove it to the Arcane Enforcers. They are going to be very hard to convince, since he’s already been convicted of trying to kill someone with dark magic. But Finn has his family: his brother Mort who is running the family necrotorium business now, his brother Pete who believes he’s a werewolf, though he is not, and his sister Samantha who is, unfortunately, allergic to magic. And he’s got Zeke, a fellow exile and former enforcer, who doesn’t really believe in Finn’s innocence but is willing to follow along in hopes of getting his old job back. Randy Henderson is the grand prize winner of Writers of the Future Award for 2014, a Clarion West graduate, and member of SFWA and Codex. His fiction has appeared in Penumbra, Escape Pod, and Realms of Fantasy, and has been included in anthologies.

Friday, March 6, 7:00 p.m.
Marie-Laure Valandro, Nutrition for Enlightened Parenting – Slide Show!

In Nutrition for Enlightened Parenting, Marie-Laure Valandro draws on her deep study of Rudolf Steiner and Spiritual Science, as well as on the works of Rudolf Hauschka and Karl König, attempting to bring greater consciousness to one of life’s most common and vital activities—eating. Food can be the object of instinct, desire, obsession, and even fear. We all want to be healthy in body and soul, and gaining increased awareness of what we prepare and put into our body can become a powerful path toward heightened consciousness. It is one key to taking charge of our life and determining our destiny. Through such an initiation, we can gain the power to read the great Book of Nature through the foods we eat, discovering what stands behind those substances—the spiritual within the material.

Marie-Laure Valandro uses personal stories, words of wisdom from modern spiritual teachers, and observations while traveling the world. She presents an organic picture of how we can take charge of our day-to-day nutrition and become more aware of ourselves and the world around us.

Saturday, March 7, 4:00 p.m.
Dave Atcheson, Dead Reckoning

This is the true story of a journey to a seaside town and the always unpredictable torrent of dark escapades that accompany a life at sea. It’s a story of a world peopled by those who often live on the frayed edges of society, who shun the world in which most people thrive. It’s a story in which college students and “fish hippies” work in canneries alongside survivalists, rednecks, religious freaks, and deckhands with damning secrets in dangerous waters, driven by the need to feed an insatiable appetite for adventure. This is the heart of the world Dave Atcheson found himself in at the age of eighteen. Having never even seen the ocean, he took his first job on the “Lancer” with Darwin Wood, a man so confounding, so complex and so frightening, that it’s hard to believe Atcheson walked away from that job unscathed. Forced to buddy up with a murderer in order to cope, Atcheson began to question his deeply ingrained ideas of success and status. The resulting conflict would finally resolve itself fifteen years later, in the least likely of places: on the Bering Sea, aboard a boat in peril, during a night of terror that would reshape the lives of everyone involved. Reminiscent of The Perfect Storm and Into the Wild, Dead Reckoning is not only an intimate look at life at sea, but also an insider’s view into one of Alaska’s small communities, and the myriad of upstarts, dropouts, and rogues that color its landscape.

Dave Atcheson is the author of Hidden Alaska: Bristol Bay and Beyond and the guidebook Fishing Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. He has written for a variety of periodicals, from “Outdoor Life” to “Boys’ Life,” and is a frequent contributor to “Alaska Magazine” and past contributing editor for “Fish Alaska Magazine.” He lives in Sterling, Alaska.

Saturday, March 7, 7:00 p.m.
Ryan Pemberton, Called

Called is the humorous, heart-breaking, and refreshingly honest account of one twenty-something’s journey of learning what it means to be called—an adventure that took him to England, C. S. Lewis’s house, and back again—and why it was only in the reality of his worst nightmare that he learned what it means to be called by the living God.

Ryan J. Pemberton left a career in marketing and public relations in Bellingham, Washington to write about life, faith, and God. He has degrees in theology from Duke Divinity School and Oxford University, where he lived in C. S. Lewis’s former home, served as President of the Oxford University C. S. Lewis Society, and co-founded the Oxford Open Forum, an interreligious dialogue group. He has written for Duke University Chapel, Image Journal (blog), Bible Study Magazine, and Relevant magazine. He serves on the Board of Directors for Jesus’ Economy, an international non-profit organization that creates jobs and churches in the developing world. Ryan currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and daughter.

Sunday, March 8, 4:00 p.m.
Tracy Weber, Killer Retreat – Mystery

When Kate Davidson gets an offer to teach yoga classes to wedding guests at the Elysian Springs resort, she jumps at the opportunity, even though it means being forced to endure the wedding ceremony of the center’s two caretakers. Avoiding the M-word turns out to be the least of Kate’s problems when a wedding guest is found floating face-down in the resort’s hot tub, shortly after a loud, public (and somewhat embarrassing) fight with Kate. The police pick Kate as their number-one suspect, so she’s forced to team up with boyfriend Michael, best friend Rene, and German shepherd sidekick Bella to find the real killer. But they’ll have to solve the murder before the police arrest Kate, or her next gig may last a lifetime – behind bars.

Tracy Weber is the author of Murder Strikes a Pose and the owner of Seattle’s Whole Life Yoga. Tracy and her husband Marc live in Seattle with their challenging yet amazing German shepherd Tasha. When she’s not writing, Tracy spends her time teaching yoga, walking Tasha, and sipping Blackthorn cider at her favorite ale house.

Monday, March 9, 7:00 p.m.
Trevis Gleason, Chef Interrupted

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Seattle chef Trevis Gleason lost everything, including his job and marriage. Surveying the ruins of his life, he decided to follow his dreams to Ireland for the winter. There he rented a cottage, got a puppy, and discovered there is life after the fall.

Chef Trevis L. Gleason has been an award–winning culinarian, consultant, and instructor as well as a decorated member of the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Goodwill Ambassador to Ukraine. Retired from a distinguished culinary career, Gleason has taken on the challenges of living with secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis since his diagnosis in 2001. He is an ambassador for the National MS Society, an active volunteer for Multiple Sclerosis Ireland and the MS Society of the UK, and speaks to groups, both large and small, about living life fully with or without a chronic illness. Gleason divides his time between Seattle, Washington and County Kerry, Ireland with his wife, Caryn, and their two Irish Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers, Sadie and Maggie.

Sunday, March 15, 4:00 p.m.
Clover, A Literary Rag Vol. 8 – Multi-Author Reading!

Passion and words make for literary rags. Clover, A Literary Rag is a semiannual magazine featuring stories, poems, memoir, and an occasional review. Based in Bellingham, Washington; the rag hosts writers from the region and the world. New writers mix with seasoned writers–and writers from the Independent Writers’ Studio are featured. Clover celebrates words, and in this light there are no photographs or visual art in its pages. Come join James Bertolino, Shannon Laws, Elizabeth Vignali, Laurel Leigh and the many other writers featured in this issue as they read from their works.

Monday, March 16, 7:00 p.m.
David Vann, Aquarium – Fiction

Twelve-year-old Caitlin lives alone with her mother—a docker at the local container port—in subsidized housing next to an airport in Seattle. Each day, while she waits to be picked up after school, Caitlin visits the local aquarium to study the fish. Gazing at the creatures within the watery depths, Caitlin accesses a shimmering universe beyond her own. When she befriends an old man at the tanks one day, who seems as enamored of the fish as she, Caitlin cracks open a dark family secret and propels her once-blissful relationship with her mother toward a precipice of terrifying consequence.

Published in twenty languages, David Vann’s previous books—A Mile Down; Legend of a Suicide; Caribou Island; Last Day on Earth; Dirt; and Goat Mountain—have won enormous critical acclaim. A former Guggenheim fellow, Wallace Stegner fellow, John L’Heureux fellow, and NEA fellow, he has taught at Stanford, Cornell, FSU, USF, holds degrees from Stanford and Cornell, and is currently a Professor at the University of Warwick in England and Honorary Professor at the University of Franche-Comté in France.

Thursday, March 19, 7:00 p.m.
Julie O’Brien, Fresh & Fermented

Eating naturally fermented foods is one of the healthiest ways to balance your digestive system and boost immunity. The 85 healthful, simple and delicious recipes in this book make it easy to make your own krauts or incorporate Firefly Kitchens’ fermented kimchi, krauts, and carrots into every meal.

Julie O’Brien is a founder of Firefly Kitchens, whose healthy kimchi, krauts, and carrots are created through traditional fermentation methods. As a trained nutritionist, she works to improve the livelihood and wellness of others through food and nutritional education.

Friday, March 20, 7:00 p.m.
Royce Scott Buckingham, Impasse – Fiction, Book Launch at Book Fare Café!

Stu Stark has lost his mojo. He had a prestigious job as a prosecuting attorney, a classy, ambitious wife, and an inside track to the top spot in the DA’s office. But that was before he was fired for losing the biggest case of his career, a mob-related homicide. Now he’s turning forty, struggling at a tiny law firm, and has nearly given up. So when Stu’s more motivated law partner gifts him a one-week trip to the Alaskan wilderness to rediscover his manhood, Stu admits it just might do him some good. Unfortunately, Stu is no outdoorsman. By week’s end, he’s sick, starving, and on the brink of death. Worse, he realizes that the float plane that dropped him off is not coming back. His only hope is a passing trapper who informs Stu that winter is coming, and he’s not leaving the Alaska interior anytime soon. So begins Stu’s journey to become the man he never was…and to discover who’s been sabotaging his life in this gritty tale of self-examination and revenge.

Royce Buckingham is a fantasy writer and screenwriter with an English degree from Whitman College and a Law degree from the University of Oregon. He’s the author of Demonkeeper, The Goblin Problem and The Dead Boys, which was a Junior Library Guild selection and Sasquatch Award winner for Best Middle Grade Book. He’s also the author of the YA novel The Terminals. Royce lives in Bellingham, WA with his wife and two boys, where he has also worked as a Prosecuting Attorney for nearly two decades.

Sunday, March 22, 4:00 p.m.
Carol McMillan, White Water, Red Walls – Poetry

In June 2014, Carol McMillan joined a group of adventurers who rafted 224 miles down the Colorado River. Dr. McMillan documented her trip with poetry, paintings and photographs, which she uses in this book to tell the story of her two week journey. Her book will take you between mile-high cliffs on a fifteen foot raft in a tale told with humor, sincerity, and emotion.

Carol McMillan, Ph.D., is an anthropologist who has ventured across Africa with an entomology expedition, lived with free-ranging rhesus monkeys, and worked with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation’s language preservation program. She is currently a member of several poetry and writing groups in Bellingham, Washington, and is a 2013 recipient of the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Award. As an artist, Carol is a member of the Winthrop Gallery, Whatcom Art Guild, and Valley Arts Group. She lives with her cat, Mr. T.

Saturday, March 28, 4:00 p.m.
Julie Titone, Boocoo Dinky Dow: My Short, Crazy Vietnam War – Memoir!

Grady Myers was an artistic but aimless teenager in 1968, when, desperate for troops, the U.S. Army overlooked his extreme nearsightedness and transformed him into Hoss, an M-60 machine gunner. His illustrated memoir “Boocoo Dinky Dow: My short, crazy Vietnam War” is by turns funny and sobering. Grady recounts his military initiation at Fort Lewis, where there could be a fuzzy line between training and torture. He describes the intensity of Vietnam, where an old man carrying a bundle of sticks posed a moral dilemma and a young man would weigh the burden of his virginity against the dubious pleasures of riverbank prostitutes. Grady’s explosives-happy comrades in Charlie Company sometimes posed the greatest danger. But, in a dramatic ambush, that same bunch of crazy soldiers risked their lives to save his.

Co-author Julie Titone is a Washington writer and photographer whose work has appeared in regional, national and international publications. She has made a personal journey of sharing “Boocoo Dinky Dow” with audiences and honoring veterans since Grady Myers, her ex-husband, died in 2011.

Sunday, March 29, 4:00 p.m.
JA Jance, Cold Betrayal

Bestselling author J.A. Jance’s fan-favorite heroine Ali Reynolds goes head to head with a shadowy polygamous cult called “The Family” when a young pregnant woman escapes its clutches and turns up in the outside world. When a lone pregnant woman is hit by a car on a remote road near Flagstaff, Arizona, Sister Anselm, a formidable Taser-toting nun and patient advocate, rushes to the hospital bedside of the unconscious victim and newborn baby. While her scant belongings offer few clues to the young mother’s identity, a volatile confrontation soon reveals that she was a runaway from The Family, which offers no mercy to those who try to leave its ranks. Sister Anselm is shaken by the girl’s predicament, which reminds her of a case she worked years before—when another young girl was much less lucky. Ali and Sister Anselm must race against the clock to uncover the secrets that The Family has kept hidden for so long—before more young girls face another “Disappearing Night.”

J.A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J.P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, and four interrelated Southwestern thrillers featuring the Walker family. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband and their dog, Bella, in Seattle, Washington and Tucson, Arizona. She was the American Guest of Honor at Bouchercon 2014.