A rollicking first novel from Doug Keister

Perhaps best known for his beautifully photographed books on Bungalows and classic travel trailers, Chico's Doug Keister has pulled up his sleeves and written himself a yarn.

Told by one Clarence (Chick) Corbett out of Gerlach, in the northern Nevada desert, "Desiree" ($15.97 in paperback from lulu.com, http://bit.ly/cD3YNd) introduces larger-than-life characters and an international smuggling operation. Chick, in his early twenties, writes an "apology" at the start of the book. "A lot of it's true, that's for sure. Some of it's a bit of stretch. And some of it's an outright lie."

Like Desiree herself. "My feelings are pretty simple," Chick writes. "I mostly feel either good or bad. Lately though, I've added a feeling. I think I'm going to call that feeling, confused. . . . I started feeling that way after I met a woman named Desiree. That's Des-er-ay." She had broken into his cabin. There was also another guy there, a dead man. "I killed him," says Desiree.

She was dressed as a lady of the night, "a five-foot-six-inch angel with flowing red hair the color of sunset, large liquid green eyes and skin as smooth and soft as an old pair of Levis. . . . She was wearing this thing that looked as though she'd been poured into it. I think my hat had more material in it than that dress. . . ."

But Desiree is not what she seems, and there unfolds a tale that involves the FBI, nefarious operations out of Beijing and Hong Kong, a raft of bad guys, and a mysterious powder. It's a fast-paced hoot.

Gerlach has "just one gas station, five bars and 150 citizens occupying pretty much all the available notches on the evolutionary ladder." Uncle Ray sleeps "suspended by gravity boots." There's also Elwood LeFoote, "a grizzled Basque of indeterminate age" who herds sheep with a dog named Phydeaux and Strawberry Finches that live in his capacious beard. And Chick's best friend, Tom Twotrees, "half Navajo and half Paiute," who eschews pants in favor of "a strategically placed badger pelt."

Maybe this quote from Mark Twain, on the back cover of the book, sums it up: "Douglas Keister is a masterful storyteller. If I was alive, I'm sure I'd recommend this book."

Local Taoist author publishes book on the practice of forgiveness

Zen and Taoist author William Martin of Chico writes that "forgiveness is not something to be figured out." Instead, it's something to be practiced, but from the perspective of what he calls the "Tao Mind," "a direct experience of the spacious unconditional acceptance found in the Tao . . . the Mystery behind all mysteries."

Rather than offer "Ten Tidy Tips to Total Forgiveness" Martin writes that "I am constrained by the nature of the Tao Itself to offer stories, parables, poetry, and meditative exercises." He is a gentle and self-deprecating guide as he ushers the reader into "The Tao of Forgiveness: The Healing Power of Forgiving Others and Yourself" ($15.95 in paperback from Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin).

Martin is scheduled to appear on Nancy's Bookshelf, hosted by Nancy Wiegman, this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on KCHO (Northstate Public Radio) in Chico at 91.7 FM. In addition, he'll be signing and discussing his book at Lyon Books in Chico on Wednesday, May 19 at 7:00 p.m.

For Martin, what stands in the way is "the conditioned mind, or ego in its many forms, that does the resenting, clinging, shaming, blaming, wanting, needing, judging, and suffering that limit our experience of the intrinsic forgiveness of the Tao Nature and of our Tao Mind." The twenty-three short teaching stories in the book are designed to help the reader move, if for just a moment, from the labels and categories applied by the "conditioned mind" to the nonjudgmental acceptance of all that is.

But such acceptance doesn't mean that everything is "okay." In one of the Tao Mind exercises, Martin writes that "I would never suggest that our anger is wrong. It is merely what it is--an emotion stirred by a reaction within us that someone or something is wrong and that wrongness makes us feel unsafe. Our forgiveness practice involves turning our attention, first to the one within us who is feeling that anger and fear, and then letting the natural energy of our Tao Mind, uncontaminated by this fear, direct our course."

Though Martin's worldview is very far from my own, his book offers interested readers a taste of how an ancient tradition might speak to a modern world full of anger and fear.

Chico author helps to bring the Big Band Era to life

It was 1938, and Ella Fitzgerald was bugging arranger Al Feldman to do something with the old nursery rhyme "A-Tisket, A-Tasket." So Feldman went home and fiddled. "I put the piece into a 32-bar frame. I added the release (middle section), the bridge, and wrote all the novelty lyrics, including the dialog between Ella and the band where they sang 'Was it red? No, no, no, no. Was it blue? No, no, no, no." Fitzgerald recorded the song on May 2, 1938. "I had no idea," Feldman says, "what to expect. Recording music is much like the game of roulette, using ten-inch 78RPM platters as the chips."

Al Feldman was born Alexander Van Vliet Feldman in Harlem on May 2, 1915. In 1936 he found himself arranging for the Chick Webb Orchestra, the house band at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Soon he received an offer to become a band leader himself, and he changed his legal name to Van Alexander.

His story is recounted in "From Harlem to Hollywood: My Life In Music" by Van Alexander with Stephen Fratallone ($19.95 in paperback from BearManor Media). Alexander writes me that the book is "a finalist for the 2010 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research."

Fratallone is a Chico writer and jazz aficionado who has ably translated Van's first-person reminiscences to the printed page. The book contains dozens of black-and-white photographs as well as a discography.

About that nursery rhyme. "Lady Luck was on our side. The record broke big. It became the nation's number one hit song that summer, staying at that position on the Lucky Strike Hit Parade radio show for nineteen consecutive weeks."

The book is plain fun to read. After Alexander moved to Hollywood he worked with Les Brown, the musical director of the Dean Martin Show. There are plenty of stories.

"I started off as an arranger," Alexander says, "then composer, and then band leader. If I had made any contribution to the world of music, I hope it was to bring credibility, respect, and importance to the task of helping to make a piece of music sound like it has a life of its own." A fitting goal, admirably realized.

Author of "The Shack" coming to Chico

A speed reader whipped through Tolstoy's "War and Peace" in just a few minutes. Startled, a friend said, "Wow! That's amazing! So what's the book about?" "It's about Russia," replied the speed reader.

I didn't speed-read "The Shack" ($14.99 in paperback from Windblown Media) by Wm. Paul Young. Yet the visceral impact the novel produced left me tongue-tied as I followed Mackenzie Allen Philips ("Mack") into the old shack where his youngest daughter had been gruesomely murdered. What's the book about? Well, it's about God.

Young takes the reader into every parent's worst nightmare but also beyond. In Mack's experience the shack is transformed into a meeting place with the Trinity: Papa (an African-American woman), Jesus the carpenter, and an Asian woman, Sarayu (the Spirit). How can God love Missy, Mack's six-year-old daughter? How can God love the murderer?

The answers given in the book have spurred theological debate, but the encounter in the shack (dream? vision? reality?) has gained the story millions of readers. An author's note says that Young, a Canadian, was "raised among a Stone Age tribe by his missionary parents in the highlands of former New Guinea. He suffered great loss as a child and young adult and now enjoys the 'wastefulness of grace' with his family in the Pacific Northwest."

Young will be speaking at Chico State University's Bell Memorial Union on Saturday, May 8. Two presentations are scheduled, at 11:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. The event is described as nonprofit with general admission tickets priced at $12, premium seating $16, and students $8. Tickets can be purchased through the Chico State box office at (530) 898-6333 or through www.theshackchico.com.

Mack meets Sophia, "the personification of Papa's wisdom," and in an extraordinary sequence he accuses God of mis-judging the world. And so Sophia offers Mack the job. And yet "he didn't feel like a judge at all, but rather the one on trial." Sophia is "unrelenting. 'Isn't this where you are stuck, Mackenzie? Isn't this what fuels The Great Sadness? That God cannot be trusted? Surely, a father like you can judge the Father!'"

Mack confronts the nature of evil, his own soul's chaos, and what God's love cost. What becomes of The Great Sadness is the rest of the story.

Best-selling science writer to speak tonight at Chico State University

Since the 1950s, a line of cancer cells, dubbed "HeLa," has continued to multiply in cell cultures around the world. Normal cells die after a certain number of divisions, but HeLa cells are immortal; literally tons of them have been grown for research. They've been bombarded with radiation, shot into space, subjected to various drugs. They aided in a cure for polio. Millions of lives have been saved thanks to HeLa research.

But where did the cells come from, and what makes them unique? Science writer Rebecca Skloot determined to find the answers. She pieced together the story over the course of a decade and discovered an extraordinary tale of race, poverty, questionable medical ethics, and heartbreaking family tragedy. Her book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" ($26 in hardcover from Crown) is the deeply personal legacy of a poor black Baltimore woman, mother of five, who died of cervical cancer in 1951.

Skloot (RebeccaSkloot.com) will be speaking tonight at 7:30 p.m. in PAC 144 (Harlen Adams Theatre) on the Chico State University campus. Sponsored in part by the Humanities Center, the presentation is free and open to the public. A reception will follow at the Humanities Center Gallery, Trinity 100.
Before Lacks died, Skloot was told, "a surgeon took samples of her tumor and put them in a petri dish." Henrietta's cells "were different: they reproduced an entire generation every twenty-four hours, and they never stopped."

Henrietta's daughter Deborah, suspicious of reporters, eventually befriended Skloot, who writes that "Deborah was the soul of this book."

An entry from Deborah's diary imagines her mother's pain before she died: "Her in that cold looking ward at John Hopkin Hospital, the side for Black’s only, oh yes, I know. When that day came, and my mother died, she was Robbed of her cells and John Hopkins Hospital learned of those cells and kept it to themselfs, and gave them to who they wanted and even changed the name to HeLa cell and kept it from us for 20+ years. They say Donated. No No No Robbed Self."

Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave, and yet she lives. Skloot's book is a mesmerizing account that restores the "self" that might have slipped away forever.

Pirates don't pay taxes: Historical fiction from a local novelist

 

Anne Bonny was born into the new 18th century in Cork, Ireland. Her father, William, was a lawyer; her mother, Peg, was the kitchen maid who had come to offer herself if William would but defend her brother, Sean, a Catholic "cheated of his land and title by a Protestant Parliament and condemned for his poverty by a Protestant judge."

"Will" is the operative word in Anne's life as she grows up in Charles Town, South Carolina with a headstrong father and a mother who is "no one's servant."

Anne would become one of the most famous pirates of the so-called "Golden Age of Piracy (1716-1726)." Based on research conduced in the US and Jamaica, Pamela Johnson has written a compelling historical novel full of lust, love and pirate life, and lots of "begetting." "Heart of a Pirate: A Novel of Anne Bonny" ($15 in paperback from Stone Harbour Press) is a page-turning chronicle of a woman who has "earned my place as an equal."

Johnson is scheduled to be interviewed by Nancy's Bookshelf host Nancy Wiegman this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on Northstate Public Radio, KCHO (91.7 FM) and will be speaking at Lyon Books in Chico on Wednesday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m.

The author, who lives in Oregon House, between Rackerby and Browns Valley, puts Anne's story in the political context of the times in which "poverty and injustice" were partners.

As the tide turns, eventually Anne finds herself as crew aboard the vessel that pirate captain Jack Rackham has rechristened "Lady Anne." She serves under Rackham (in a number of senses) and carries his child, and can best any man in valor. The ship is a democracy, with an elected captain, and contrasts with "enlightened" European capitalism that was growing rich off the enslavement of others. "Must you demean the poor and low born," Anne later tells Philip O'Conner (who has offered to redeem her from prison), "make slaves of the Africans . . . so that you have coin in your purse?"

Anne and her crew companion, another female pirate named Mary Read, became heroes in Jamaica. Though Anne's fate is unknown, Johnson imagines a fitting conclusion to a complex life, raising anew questions of justice and equality.

Memoir of a pioneer journalist and broadcaster from a Chico author

Chicoan Gordon Greb, blessed with good health and self-deprecating wit in his late eighties, is emeritus professor of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at San Jose State University.

As a boy he wanted to be a cartoonist. As a young man he helped fight film censorship. As an older man he trained hundreds of students, practiced investigative journalism, quit smoking, toured China with his wife, Darlene, and indulged in a little Walter Mitty fantasy when a comely PBS reporter came to Chico a few years ago to feature him in an episode of "History's Mysteries."

Greb will be speaking Wednesday, April 14 at Lyon Books in Chico beginning at 7:00 p.m. He'll also be signing copies of his memoir, "Google Brain" ($19.95 in paperback from iUniverse).

Subtitled "Making Your Memories a 'Time Machine' on the Internet," the book's 32 chapters include links to songs (like "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"), films, interviews, columns by Greb, audio "actualities," and more. The "more" includes a YouTube video, "The Cold War Revisited - 1961" in which the author interviews a Russian girl about living in a society where the government spies on you. These links provide context for Greb's remembrances and are themselves collected online at dogatemymemoir.blogspot.com.

"Memoir writing," he writes, "is such a widespread and common affliction these days that it could easily be classified as some kind of disease." He adds: "I, too, am a victim of this Memoir Revolution. . . . Day after day I have had a persistent need to come clean, spill the whole works, and tell the world what normal people would only tell their psychiatrists." Greb divides the book into three sections. Growing up is the Id; his career takes him into Ego; and, as he reflects on his life, the Super Ego (conscience) helps readers connect with the man inside.

Greb is no stranger to strong liberal politics, yet his pointed observations are leavened with ample doses of humor, such as his diary of the life of an octogenerian. One entry reads: "7:30 a.m. Maybe one of us gets up. Then we spend a half-hour taking pills."

Want a fun book with some serious ideas? With "Google Brain," your search is over.

Jesus Center banquet speaker to consider faith's response to mental illness

The Thursday before Easter is traditionally the commemoration of Jesus' "new commandment" to love one another "just as I have loved you." That love is to extend to those with mental disabilities, though more conservative churches have had an uneasy relationship with the approaches of modern psychology and psychiatry. A timely book provides context and practical advice in answering the question, "If God has placed a mentally ill person in your life and you in his or hers, how will you respond?"

"Grace For the Afflicted: A Clinical and Biblical Perspective on Mental Illness" ($19.99 in paperback from Paternoster Publishing) by Matthew S. Stanford notes that "Christians develop mental illness at the same rates seen in the general population, and admonitions such as 'You need to pray more' or 'This is just the result of a lack of faith' are ineffective in dealing with this problem."

Stanford is the featured presenter at the forthcoming Jesus Center banquet on Saturday, April 17 at 5:45 p.m. The fundraiser will be held at City Plaza under a large tent; the author will be speaking on “Viewing Mental Illness and Homelessness through the Eyes of Faith.” Tickets are available at the Jesus Center, 1297 Park Avenue in Chico or by calling (530) 345-2640. Tickets are $30 each or $200 for a table for 8.

Stanford (http://mindfulofgrace.blogspot.com) is a committed believer, Chair of the Psychology Doctoral Program at Baylor University and ministers to the poor who have mental illness in Waco, Texas. Though the Bible is clear that we live in a broken world, "an educated understanding of brain function and psychological dynamics is not contrary to Scripture. From this perspective it would seem obvious that clinical psychology is useful in helping the Christian struggling with mental illness to eliminate negative or destructive patterns of thinking and behaving."

The heart of the book considers mood and anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders, ADHD, substance abuse, and more. Each chapter explains the disorder in simple terms and looks at risk factors, suggests what life is like for those who are suffering, then examines treatment options and what the Bible says. In dealing with those afflicted, Stanford's call is clear: "Will you love this person the way Christ loves you?"

Longtime Butte College math instructor becomes novelist

Though there are a few math brain teasers scattered throughout, the theme of the first novel by longtime Butte College math instructor Gary Oakes is not how things add up but how, inevitably, they don't. "The World Is At Your Feet" ($14.95 in paperback from Long Shot Books) by G. Donovan Oakes (http://www.gdonovanoakes.com) takes place during the summer of 1959, a time of growing racial tensions.

The New York City Chamber of Commerce has set up a remediation program for black high school kids in Harlem. Four young grad students have volunteered to teach them English and math. Two of the first-time teachers are caucasian, Jim Sage of New York and Sam Maguire from Chicago. Hikoji ("Hi") Okamoto, from Sacramento, has parents who spent time in relocation and internment camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II. Then there's Harlem-based G, suspicious of the newcomers, convinced they know nothing of the rage and despair of their surroundings.

There's prejudice on every hand. Jim realizes that in his class discussion of "Lord of the Flies," "the pig's head represents something evil. The author doesn't explicitly say this. He said how black the teeth are, how black the flies are. . . . He equates black and evil. . . . I'm staring at twenty-five black faces staring back at me. . . . They always told us in school," Jim tells Sam and Hi, "that words have power, but this is the first time that my language has . . . deceived me, misdirected that power."

Jim's blue collar parents don't understand what Jim is doing, and Jim is angered by his father's racist language. "Your mother and I experienced a lot of change," Robert tells his son, "but we had very few choices. Life overpowered us. It just carried us along. We did the best we could."

Jim has "the world at his feet," but his choices do not come in a vacuum. As the author comments at the end, "ideals by themselves don't render a realistic, coherent guide to action in the world. They must be woven through the fabric of our lives, . . . clashing until a viable reconciliation is achieved. Then each day we must live with the consequences." You do the math.

Chico's "Professor of Pun-ology" goes MAD

As millions of movie-goers have donned funny glasses to see what some have said is a Depplorable remake of Alice in Wonderland, interest in the original has also been rekindled. Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass," though full of linguistic antics and absurd characters, also hold up a mirror to human folly in our own world.

In a bit of pre-planned serendipity, a new collection of essays uses the Alice books as a springboard to take up such issues as feminism, procrastination, logic, appearance and reality, memory and identity. There's nothing stodgy here, though. The writing is breezy and full of references to the likes of Abbott and Costello and Plato; Keith Richards and Richard Rorty; Kant and Kafka.

"Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser" ($17.95 in paperback from Wiley), edited by Richard Brian Davis, is part of the extensive "Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series." The book is not connected to Carroll or to the film, but it's a fitting companion to both.

Chief among the essays is "Nuclear Strategists in Wonderland" by Ron Hirschbein, semi-retired from Chico State University's philosophy department, dubbed by one writer (me) as the "Professor of Pun-ology." This is vintage Hirschbein at his most playful as he deconstructs the Cold War policy of "Mutual Assured Destruction" (MAD) that has governed the nuclear age. (One gets the impression that some of the participants were a bit into the vintage themselves, if you know what I mean.)

Hirschbein takes the reader into the world of nuclear strategists. "They call their make-believe stories 'scenarios'--it gives them gravitas. Lewis Carroll wrote a similar genre of literary nonsense--but he realized what he was doing." Here is a world of "Nuclear Jabberwocky" in which "the United States didn't drop atomic bombs on Japan; it used two devices--Fat Man and Little Boy--to end the war. (These names sound like hamburger combos at Big Boy; not weapons of mass destruction.)" It is a world in which civilian deaths are "collateral damage" and missiles are called "Peacekeepers."

Though Hirschbein is far from neutral, his railing against obfuscation can be appreciated by most readers. When the railing gives way, it's then we're most likely to fall down the rabbit hole.

Author of “The Soloist” Coming to Chico March 23, 2010

The 2009-2010 Community Book-In-Common project is featuring an appearance by the author of “The Soloist” ($15 paperback from Berkley Books), Steve Lopez.

The presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Chico State University’s Laxson Auditorium. Premium tickets are $20; adults/seniors are $15; students and children are $10. Tickets are available online at www.ChicoPerformances.com or by calling (530) 898-6333.

Books will be available for purchase the night of the lecture, and the author will be signing them as well.

Lopez is a columnist with the L.A. Times. “The Soloist” recounts his growing friendship over a two year period with a paranoid schizophrenic street musician, Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, who had played classical bass at Julliard thirty years before. (A film of the same name stars Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.)

Much has been made of the themes of homelessness and mental illness that pervade the book, but readers should know that it is also about self discovery. As Lopez says, "one reason I write a column is for the privilege of vicariously sampling other worlds, dropping in with my passport, my notebook and my curiosity." Fair enough, but the musician gets under his skin: "Nathaniel turns my gaze inward. He has me examining what I do for a living and how I relate to the world as a journalist and as a citizen."

There is more: "I experienced the simple joy of investing in someone’s life, and the many frustrations have made the experience all the more rewarding and meaningful. I might not have always made the right choices in trying to help, but I came by each one honestly. I worked through the arguments for and against commitment. I wrestled with definitions of freedom and happiness, and wondered at times who was crazier—the man in the tunnel who paid no bills and played the music of the gods, or the wrung-out columnist who raced past him on the way home from sweaty deadlines to melt away the stress with a bottle of wine."

A haunting question, and not just for columnists.

Magalia resident co-authors science-fiction thriller

Author Kathy Terstegen writes that a decade ago she met her co-author online and they decided to write a science-fiction/horror novel "that lays out reasons for sightings of gray aliens and the purpose for alien abductions." The result is a chilling yarn called "Gene Pool" ($2.99 in e-book format from the Kindle Store at amazon.com) by Steve Maass (of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin) and Katherine Terstegen.

Designed for reading on Amazon's Kindle e-book reader, "Gene Pool" can also be read on the iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, and PC's using the free Kindle apps from Amazon. (A Mac version is billed as "coming soon.") Since March 7-13 is "Read An E-Book Week" (ebookweek.com), it seems appropriate to feature a digital-only book from a local author.

The novel begins with a scenario reminiscent of the X-Files. Matt Greerson, 35 years old, is "chief investigative scientist of the Air Force's Extraterrestrial Task Force." He combines forces with Janice Whitfield, in her early thirties, who teaches astronomy in a California university. They investigate the growing number of abduction stories from solid citizens who swear to have seen gray aliens in flying saucers. But that's not the half of it.

Earth has become a battleground for two alien species, the gray aliens with the almond eyes and another race, stranger yet. The gray aliens have some kind of green gel that reduces human flesh to a brown stain; the other aliens do their killing the old fashioned way, by ripping throats.

The main action with Matt and Janice (including their growing interest in each other) is intercut with stories of secondary characters who encounter the extraordinary. "Standing over the dead man was a monster the likes of which Gordon had never seen even in his worst hallucinations. A hulking nightmare with a shark-like head and widely-spaced black eyes, the creature dripped blood from its clawed hand."

To add to the menace, the shark-faces can seemingly take the shape of humans, or animals, or just about anything. Their ships "resembled a giant spider with legs cradling a glowing egg." (Readers should know that descriptions of violence are restrained and there's not a swear word to be found.)

Why are humans being abducted and killed? The mystery slowly unravels to an unsettling and cautionary conclusion.

Digital photography: Expert advice from a local high school grad

For Tom Dempsey, who graduated from Pleasant Valley High School in 1975, the lightweight digital camera, like the 19-ounce Canon PowerShot G5, his first, revolutionized the profession. "In the years that I used 35mm film (1978-2002)," he writes, "my passion for photography demanded bulky gear." The camera itself was big, and the delay between taking a shot and developing it was excruciating.

For digital camera buffs, there's no comparison. "After 2004," Dempsey says, "I never used film again." But getting "pixel perfect" results takes knowledge and skill, and Dempsey's new book aims to help novice and intermediate photographers make the most of their equipment. "Light Travel: Photography On the Go" ($40 in paperback from Photoseek Publishing, www.photoseek.com) is a coffee-table book full of sound guidance and jaw-droppingly gorgeous full-color photographs.

The Seattle-based Dempsey has traveled the world with his wife, Carol, and his work has appeared in travel publications from National Geographic, Moon Travel Guides, Rough Guides, and more. He loves panoramas, and the images of mountain landscapes included in the book are spectacular. Yet he will often focus on small things, like water droplets on a skunk cabbage leaf in Washington or a closeup of an iridescent hummingbird, the White-Necked Jacobin, photographed near Quito, Ecuador.

The first part of the book, "How to Enliven Images," presents chapters on composition, focus, and picking the best camera. (The best camera, he says, is the one you have with you.) There are practice exercises and a detailed, illustrated glossary that explains all the technical terms. (Under "megapixel" the author notes that "in compact cameras, increasing the number of megapixels beyond about 8 mp is a marketing device that consumes more memory card space but doesn't help image quality.")

For Dempsey, a successful photograph should evoke an emotion. "You don't need a big or expensive camera to capture a touching or striking picture. . . . When composing images, enter a state of emotional sensitivity, even vulnerability, while simultaneously applying technical and critical judgment. Trust your eyes, not the camera."

The second part, "Where To Seek the Light," offers a gallery of Dempsey's work, weaving technical details with short travelogs. He inspires the amateur photographer to see, not just look. And he takes your breath away.

Prize-winning short stories from a Chico State University professor

Paul Eggers, Professor of Creative Writing at Chico State University, explores the dislocations of human relationships in "The Departure Lounge" ($24.95 in paperback from Ohio State University Press). Available locally at Lyon Books in Chico, this collection of five long literary short stories won the Ohio State University Prize in Short Fiction.

The main characters each experience what Eggers calls "that horrible ignorance about what was really going on." In "This Way, Uncle, Into the Palace," the old narrator, a Vietnamese teacher now living in Fresno, recalls the horrible death of his autistic daughter in Saigon back in 1975. Had Lai been driven to destruction by her father?

Chess unites two of the pieces, "Monsieur le Genius" (about an American chess hustler in Burundi) and "Hey" (the story of a young chess prodigy in Tacoma, Washington whose brother is killed in Vietnam in 1969). In the first, the narrator, who had assumed a phony name, finds his phony life upended; in the second, a chess whiz's mentor reveals a scarred reality. "We live implausibly," the narrator thinks, "but admit to only the plainest of sins."

The reader returns to Burundi in "Won't You Stay, Please?" Neil, twice married and now single, had come to study a local language in the midst of a genocide-tinged country. "Hutu boys high on contact cement murdered busloads of Tutsis, then Tutsi soldiers razed entire Hutu villages. . . ." Neil is a muzungu, a foreigner. In Burundi he would find no "fresh start."

The longest story, "What's Yours, What's Mine," takes Rueben and his wife Maureen ("a woman on the cusp of fifty") back to Bidong, a tiny island in Malaysia where they had been aid workers decades earlier with the Vietnamese boat people. The couple is reuniting with Tony and Stella, who with Rueben had worked with the refugees before Maureen had arrived. There are hints of a different kind of life "pre-her," but Maureen reasons that "when you had a life together, that life could survive small acts of cowardice and sabotage. That life could absorb small betrayals." But what if a betrayal is not so small?

These stories are incisive studies of the inhabitants of the departure lounge, where everyone is carrying plenty of baggage.

Local health educator's children's book confronts bullying

Vic Sbarbaro is a Certified Health Education Specialist who teaches at both Chico State University and Butte College. He and his two sisters, Marcia Pezzella and Sandy DeRoss, have teamed up with illustrator Ashe Lewis to produce an inventive tale in "rhyme and rap" about the effects of bullying and the importance of honesty.

"Crowlyle Finds His Caw" ($10.95 in paperback from North State Children's Books) is available at local bookstores and online at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. The story is dedicated to Gary Sbarbaro, a retired doctor of pharmacology now battling serious illness who was nicknamed "Crowbait" when he was growing up in Siskiyou County. So why not a story about a crow family, the Crowsetts?

Puns pile high as the crow flies. The family is preparing for the Crow Idol Cawtest and Crowbait, Crowlyle's twin brother, looks to be the sure winner. But is he getting hoarse with all that practice?

Crowlyle, meantime, doesn't even have a caw and he's also worried about a bully. "That mean old bully Crownin / He steals my lunch each day / I wish I were tough and buff / to keep his crownies away." Then Crowlyle meets Wilbur wiggly worm and together they hatch a plan to scare the bully with a gummy worm ("that will make his old caw CROWk"). Wilbur takes Crowlyle to the Feathered Weathered Spa to see the silent scarecrow "who will help you find your caw" by scaring it out of him. And it happens. "Ah Haw! I found my Caw!"

Then onward to root for Crowbait "in the Crow Idol rap show." But something's wrong. "Crowbait begins to caw his rap / Into the miCROWphone / He then becomes cawless / And feels so all alone." Swiftly, "Crowlyle flies to a hidden branch / And there in staged disguise / Begins to caw Crowbait's rap / Which is a HUGE surprise." Crowlyle belts it out: "So quit teasing others / Don't be cruel / Stand up for a friend / Is the golden rule."

Crowbait gets a standing crowvation. But who really deserves the award? Crowbait, too, has something to learn.

Lewis' full-page illustrations are delightful, colorful and beautifully detailed. And, if I may say so, it's all for a good caws.

The heart's journey of bereavement from a Willows author

"On December 17, 2002," writes Shari Edwards, "my husband Ted passed way, leaving me behind in a world I had not faced alone in twenty-five years. I went into the desert--into a cave." Her story is told with clarity and deep emotion in "Sometimes, Memories Are All We Have" ($15.95 in paperback from Memoir Books/Heidelberg Graphics). The book is available at Lyon Books in Chico or from the author at shashanee@aol.com.

Edwards is scheduled to appear on Nancy's Bookshelf, hosted by Nancy Wiegman, this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on Northstate Public Radio, KCHO 91.7 FM in Chico.

The book is divided into sections that chronicle a journey of bereavement. It begins in the desert, fighting "grief monsters" (her father died a year later), living "a bat-like existence" in an emotional cave. "Sometimes there are too many memories, their fingers around my throat. . . . Sometimes there would be a knock on the cave door. I would lie still, not responding. But eventually, friends and family just walked in, uninvited, holding a candle against the dark, looking for me."

Gradually Edwards emerged and started to write again. But the passage to the light led through an emotional swamp that she and her daughter had to travel together.

Though the author was raised a Catholic, Edwards writes that Ted believed in a "metaphysical" world in which "loved ones who had passed over" could be reached. The author visited a medium in Chico and became convinced that Ted was telling her to "move on." "I planted ninety tiny zinnias. . . . By summer's end I will have a ribbon of bright colors."

But then came a "wrong turn," an intense affair with someone she had known since kindergarten. She trusted, fell in love, planned for marriage, then he suddenly dropped it all. Her heart was "stomped on . . . without a conscience." Yet she survived. "With a new understanding that our time on earth is short I rush to right wrongs, to love better. . . . Now, I am more comfortable with my mortality. I do not fear it, but in this autumn of my life I do not celebrate it." She asks God for more time. "I am not finished yet."

Have a minute for some Chico history?

"Chico History Minutes" ($10 in paperback at the Made in Chico store) is Verda Mackay's self-published compilation of scripts from her radio program of the same name. First aired on Northstate Public Radio KCHO, 91.7 FM, in September 2005, the feature generated requests for a print version. The thick booklet contains 114 "minutes"; though most center around the Bidwells, other entries consider places, names and culture in succinct summaries.

Mackay, who is also a Buzz contributor, writes that "as a history enthusiast and a Docent at Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park, I welcomed the opportunity to volunteer for the program. . . . Chico history research has involved many publications, Butte County Library in Chico, personal interviews and other sources. . . ." What emerges are quick takes on the life and influence of John and Annie Bidwell, the original DNA of Chico.

In 1848, she writes, John Bidwell "used choice wine grape cuttings from mission vineyards to start his own 8-acre vineyard. By 1856, he had 15,000 vines and began making his own wine. But Bidwell's enthusiasm for viticulture changed when he met his future bride, Annie Kennedy, who was a staunch prohibitionist. Before their marriage in 1868, he tore out his wine grapes and planted raisin vines, a new crop for California." The result? "In October, 1868, Bidwell marketed his first commercial raisin crop and began an era of California raisin growers."

"Adventures of Robin Hood" came along in 1937, but the first movie made in Chico? Mackay writes that "'Folly of a Life of Crime' was made in 1914. . . . Annie Bidwell gave special permission for use of Bidwell Park locations. From 1937 to 1997 several movies were shot in Chico. In 1939, scenes from 'Gone With the Wind' were made in Bidwell Park, and scenes for 'The Thin Man' took place inside Bidwell Mansion."

Mackay notes that in 1875, Chico's population "of about 1800 people was served by three physicians when Dr. Oscar Stansbury arrived in Chico. . . . Office visits were $5.00 and there was a frequency of home visits. As a country doctor, he was on call 24 hours a day."

For the price of two office visits, "Chico History Minutes" will help keep the past alive.

Berry Creek novelist explores the world of werewolves and vampires

First-time novelist Shannon A. Hiner was convinced that "not all vampire fictions had to be exactly the same." The Butte College student and Berry Creek resident set out to create stories of what she calls "The Immortal World," in which ordinary humans become aware of another kind of existence interpenetrating their own. The first novel in the series is "Submerged in Darkness" ($12.99 in paperback from AuthorHouse, www.authorhouse.com).

Alexandra Rees works at a little store called the Lakeside Pull-In. Nothing out of the ordinary except that Alex is different somehow from other women. "Her hair was deep chestnut brown and grew just past her shoulders, neither flowing straight or curling. When people saw her eyes for the first time they did a double take. On first blush they were light blue, but the longer you looked the more you saw lavender in them."

Then, after a scary incident in her apartment--was she being watched?--Alex is asked by her friend Corri if she believes in immortals. "Like many of her friends, Alex had read the cutesy stories of impossibly handsome vampires sucking the blood out of helpless humans. She believed in supernatural forces, but vampires and werewolves?" What Corri is talking about is something very different indeed, and before long Alex is swept up in a centuries-long battle centering on the faeries, the Fae folk whose princess had died.

But she had not been killed by werewolves despite the rumors. Some of them were allied with the vampires in the service of the Great One and the awful battle against the dark lord and his servant vampire, Melchior. The dark lord coveted the power of the Fae princess, Elizabeth, who longed for the freedom of the woods. Her protectors were Liam the angelic and Damon Reine, "the last living member of the Black Ten," powerful vampires shrouded in mystery.

Alex plays a key role in Damon's quest to put an end to Melchior as she begins to unravel the dangerous truth about the voice inside her head. People aren't what they seem. It's hard to know whom to trust.

And what happens when love blooms? As the reader might guess, things get even more complicated--especially in the world of the Immortals.

Kids and money: A Chico author provides guidance

Is it Wall Street bonus season again? If so, I can hardly wait to see the examples of restraint and responsibility coming from the big money houses. Perhaps a little book can help set things straight, at least for the next generation. It's called "Love and Logic Money-isms: Wise Words About Raising Money-Smart Kids" ($6.95 in paperback from The Love and Logic Press) by Jim Fay and Kristan Leatherman, with a cover illustration by Steve Ferchaud of Paradise.

Fay is a founder of Love and Logic, described in the book as "a menu of practical techniques designed to develop responsibility and increase the parent-child bond while preparing kids to make the decisions they will encounter in their adults lives." Leatherman, based in Chico, conducts Love and Logic workshops using a volume she co-authored with Fay, "Millionaire Babies or Bankrupt Brats? Love and Logic Solutions to Teaching Kids About Money" (available from www.RaisingMillionaireBabies.com or from kristanleatherman@sbcglobal.net). "Money-isms" adapts some pithy sayings from the bigger book and provides selected page references for further reading.

Here's a money-ism: "Love and Logic parents know that rescuing kids by loaning them money is rarely a good idea. Rescue teaches entitlement. Repayment teaches character." Or this: "No pay, no play. No fund, no fun. Until the child repays the loan in full, wise parents keep their kids' toys unopened in the box as collateral."

The Love and Logic process includes "the four C's": Control ("gain control by giving away the control you don't need"); Choices (give kids a chance to make decisions); Consequences (be empathetic but allow kids to "learn from their mistakes"); and self-concept (help kids build a good self-concept which pays dividends in motivation). These C's are reflected in many of the money-isms:

"When allowance gets lost or squandered, wise parents remember to say with empathy, 'This is so sad. I give allowance once a week. You'll get more on Saturday.'" "Wise parents don't pay their kids for completing chores." "Wise parents never pay their kids to do a job when the neighbor kids are willing to do it better . . . and for less."

And then there's this: "Never expect that giving concessions will bring gratitude." Maybe a money-ism for Main Street--and Wall Street--to ponder.

Chico therapist on achieving freedom from shyness

Steven H. Flowers directs the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at Enloe Medical Center in Chico. He is no stranger to "social anxiety" but now considers it a gift: "Without shyness I may never have found compassion and loving-kindness. My feelings of shyness led me to meditation. . . . Shyness has become the source of empathy and compassion in my heart for others who feel frightened and alone, because I can see that their suffering is no different from my own."

Flowers is convinced that one can move beyond shyness; his practical prescription is given in "The Mindful Path Through Shyness: How Mindfulness & Compassion Can Help Free You From Social Anxiety, Fear & Avoidance" ($17.95 in paperback from New Harbinger Publications). Drawing on a Buddhist form of meditation called "insight" or "vipassana," Flowers writes that "mindfulness meditation can be described as creating a space in your mind in which you can witness thoughts and emotions enter and leave."

None of them is permanent. By observing this, he writes, "you may find that even emotions as difficult as fear and anxiety are more manageable. . . . You acknowledge or note 'anxiety,' give it some space, and feel into it with gentle curiosity. You stay. You breathe. You let the feeling of anxiety just be there. You acknowledge your anxiety with acceptance: 'Ah, my old companion anxiety.'"

Rather than give way to "reactionary emotions" and thoughts of "future calamity," the shy person can attend to his or her bodily state at the moment, shifting "from self-blame to compassionate presence, from avoidance to acceptance," challenging "the thoughts that are creating such an emotional uproar and inquire to see if they're absolutely true and whether it's necessary to heed them or even believe them." With continued practice, Flowers writes, habitual patterns can be broken. The shy person may then be able to use the freedom of the moment to interact socially rather than seek to escape.

The book contains a series of guided meditations, exercises and case studies that illustrate the author's approach, which is called "Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy" (www.mbct.com). Flowers, who recently held a book signing at the Chico Barnes and Noble store, concludes that freedom from debilitating shyness promotes loving-kindness toward others--who may well reciprocate.

An end-of-the-world suspense novel from a local archeologist

Move over Dan Brown.

Lisa Westwood, who teaches in the anthropology departments at both Chico State University and Butte College, has produced her own symbol-filled page-turner in "The Last Baktun" ($19.95 in paperback from lulu.com). Westwood is also a working archeologist and uses her knowledge of the profession in crafting an answer to her students' question: "But what if it's true?"

The "it" is the supposed end of the world predicted by ancient Mayan inscriptions. The thirteenth baktun (a period of 394 solar years) may end on December 23, 2012, though links Westwood presents on her Web site (http://www.lisawestwood.com) show that scholars find calendar calculations and interpretation far from simple. Some of that is shown in the words of the novel's Alastair Haddleton, a retired expert on the Maya, as he speaks to the CIA:

"Some people have interpreted the end of this baktun as Armageddon. . . . Some say the end of this baktun and the start of a new creation--a new baktun--will be marked by a change of consciousness among humans. . . . Others say that the changing of the baktun will pass without incident."

Further, what will happen depends on whether a Mayan "day keeper" (the Ah K'in) can perform the appropriate ritual. Legend has it that the Ah K'in will receive great power from the gods to decide the fate of humanity. Thus the interest of the CIA--and terrorists.

But that's mere background. Westwood's novel is really about a group of nine college students who are working in Mexico as part of an archeological study program through "Sierra State" in Chico. It is 2012. Guided by Professor Alexandra (Alex) Förstemann, the group is digging at Chichén Itzá and finds not only glyphs and artifacts but much more than they bargained for. The suspense builds as it becomes clear that Alex is hiding something, and the team of Dylan, Jenna and Jake discover that weather catastrophes worldwide are not the result of global warming but the gods themselves waiting for the Ah K'in to restart the calendar. The clock is running out; the trio must unlock the mysteries and save the world.

Suitable for young adults and above, "The Last Baktun" is a gripping "what if" tale.

The year in northstate writing

Memoirs were abundant in 2009. This column reviewed "We Suffered in Silence: How a Pastor's Family Lived in Shame while Hiding Dark Spots on the Clerical Collar" (Virginia and Bob Coombs); "Parking Meter Blues" (Debra Moon); "Bound For Africa: Cold War Fight Along the Zambezi" (Douglass H. Hubbard Jr.); "Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Quest To Find Zen On the Sea" (Jaimal Yogis); "Dreaming Of Wolves" (Anthony David Nicosia); "Hunters and the Dogs of Hunters I Have Known" (Dennis Lindberg).

Also: "Dancing Boots and Pigs' Feet: Memoir of a Refugee from the Hungarian Revolution of 1956" (Miklos Sajben); "Single Abroad: Tales of the Boyish Man" (Brian Ward); "I Played Too! Six-Man Football: A Collection of Memories From Those Who Played the Game and Lived In Rural America" (Dick Cory and friends); "Lift" (Rebecca K. O'Connor); and "The Pursuit of Happiness In Retirement: Outrunning the Reaper" (Harry and Norma Jean Pendery).

Novels included "DeLancey's Stapler: Love, Lust, Duty, Doom, Rage, Revelation and Pizza" (Dave Veith); "From Hell to Breakfast" (John Henry Lyons); "Newsman" (Bruce Lang); "The Mysterious Furies of the God In a Tent" (David Anton); "Table Manners" (Mia King); "What If You Hadn't?" (Sherry Long); "Smoking Jimi" (Chad Peery); "War Star Rising! The Legend of Toucan Moon" (ZooDoc); "Walking the Way: A Medieval Quest" (Neal Wiegman); "Heart of the Sky" (Miranda Pope); and "The Crystal Angel" (Olivia Claire High); the graphic novel "Spirit Armageddon" (Zacheas Hertz) and two collections of short stories: "Down In The Valley" (Clark Brown) and "Private Roads In Autumn" (Charles Rough).

Books to educate and inspire: "Say Yes To No: Using the Power of NO to Create the Best in Life, Work, and Love" (Greg Cootsona); "Millionaire Babies or Bankrupt Brats?" (Kristan Leatherman, co-author); "I Want To Learn" (Nancy Marie Barnes); "Diagnosis Mercury: Money, Politics & Poison" (Jane M. Hightower); and "Heal Your Mind, Rewire Your Brain" (Patt Lind-Kyle).

On the history front: "Black Bart: The Poet Bandit" (Gail L. Jenner and Lou Legerton); "The Look of the Elephant: The Westering Experience In the Words of Those Who Lived It 1841-1861" (Andrew and Joanne Hammond); and two books from Rian Farley, "Durham Honor Roll (Volume II): Military Service From 1946 - 2009" and "Nonpareils of Durham."

Children's books? "Billy the Pig: The Stinkiest Cowboy in Town" (Natividad Osa) and "Saving Li'l Smokey" (Adam and Celeste Deem).

Poetry? Try "After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events" (Tom Lombardo) with local entries by Joy Harold Helsing, Patricia Wellingham-Jones, Gail Rudd Entrekin; "Paper Dolls" (Bob Garner); "Days Between Dancing" (Lara Gularte); and "Saying Goodbye to Babylon" (Sanford Dorbin).

Onward to 2010!

Durham's gift

The Rev. James Patterson, who pastored the Durham Community United Methodist Church from 1972 until 2003, was instrumental in starting the first Durham community Christmas party. The 1973 celebration featured a live tree and a nativity donated by businesses, clubs and residents. As Karen S. Read notes in her article for the Friends of the Library Forum in 2007, "the baby Jesus was stolen two or three times and each time returned, but then several years ago the baby was set on fire and destroyed by vandals. A doll was used for several years, but a replacement lighted baby Jesus was procured in 2006." And so, in the midst of a world of woe, the Christmas story is told again.

The celebration is a gift of the Durham community, but those like James Patterson are gifts to Durham. He and 170 others are recognized for their exemplary contributions to the town in "Nonpareils of Durham," compiled by longtime Durham resident Adriana "Rian" Langerwerf Farley. (The spiral-bound paperback is available for $25 from Tozier's Hardware Store in Durham or directly from Farley at atfarley@att.net.)

Farley writes that her friend Norma Willadsen Munson came up with the title "for this book of biographies, as she said: 'Some 38% of almonds grown in California are the nonpareil variety.' At first I groaned, and then the name caught a life of its own. I muttered to all and sundry: 'Oh, Lord, they're going to think I wrote a book about nuts!'" ("Nonpareil" means "peerless.") Though Farley writes that the accounts cover only a sample of the town's role models, she notes that "many were named Parade Marshall, Woman of the Year, or were recognized by the Durham Friends of the Library Honors."

The alphabetical entries include Samuel Neal, the first settler in the area. He was involved in the Donner Party rescue in 1847; "Neal Road," contributor Larry Nagel writes, "was blazed as a route to summer pasture for his cattle." Farley herself is here, with her deep love of local history, as is her father, Mel Langerwerf, who, his eulogy says, gave Rian her "perfectionism." There's musician Sam Lasell and Durham High teacher Linda Sundquist Nassie. And many more.

The book is a tapestry of small-town America, a reminder that grace is still alive.

From a Chico area writer: A tale of love and politics in Guatemala

"There's something about Guatemala," Miranda Pope writes, "absolute beauty, and human warmth and dignity, along with poverty and trash, and the arduous, still-remaining vestiges of Guatemala's past." This is the setting of "Heart Of The Sky" ($15.99 in paperback from lulu.com), a land of contradictions against which a love story of contradictions plays itself out.

The author (aka Mira Talbott-Pope) writes me a quick note that she's been a "Chico/Cohasset resident for 30+ years and worked in social work and psychotherapy. Have been living in Guatemala for 3 years, currently at Lago Atitlan, volunteering in education. I have several projects (traditional murals, a preschool classroom) that I support there, and have given several benefits for same in Chico over the past number of years." The novel's central figure is really the country itself.

But there's a human story, too. Marilyn has come to Guatemala to volunteer in the schools; the trip was "a gift for her 50th birthday" from her son, something to pull "her out of the grieving period following her husband's sudden death." (She had divorced her first husband.) Marilyn falls in love with the place and, as a former therapist from California, finds her heart deeply moved by the needs of the poor and the continuing effects of the Guatemalan civil war; she laments the part played by U.S. intervention.

Then Marilyn meets Juan Carlos, muscular, perhaps in his mid-thirties, "a traditional Mayan farmer, yet knowledgeable about the outside world--a sensitive, thoughtful person. She senses the physical attraction she has felt all along expanding to something deeper. Embarrassed by the length of their gaze, her eyes drop."

The spark is kindled, and soon Marilyn is living with Juan Carlos and his family (his wife has left him) on his farm. Though the story weaves together the little joys of daily life and the affections of Juan Carlos, both Marilyn's feminism and Juan Carlos' traditionalism are constantly tested. "Certainly women have a right to enjoy sex and to have some say when it occurs," she tells her friend Natalie. "But I think there needs to be some balance between individuality and common goals."

Juan Carlos must open to a hidden past. And Marilyn? "Guatemala opened her heart."

Magalia couple fulfills their "bucket list"

At first glance the book looks like some kind of financial planning guide. But "The Pursuit of Happiness In Retirement: Outrunning the Reaper" ($12.95 in paperback from Cold Tree Press) by Harry and Norma Jean Pendery is something else entirely. "This book," writes Harry, "is about our choices to spend our free retirement time with as many memories as we can amass until the bell tolls." (The volume is available at Lyon Books in Chico and directly from the authors at hnpendery@yahoo.com.)

Retirement came somewhat abruptly. "Norma Jean and I had a comfortable family medical practice," Harry says, where he was the attending physician. Then Harry found he had "cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure. The arteries were normal, but much of the muscle was irreparably damaged. . . . Yes, there is treatment, but the prognosis (natural history) was grim--50 percent mortality in five years."

So Harry began to formulate his "bucket list." He wanted to see old friends and say goodbye. He is also a history aficionado, so "my second goal was to visit the landmarks and feel the pain of the War between the States to try to grasp for myself how such tragedy could occur." Finally, with fishing in his blood, "my goal was to fish for, and catch, every species of fish in the North American continent and in the adjacent seas."

Eight years later the couple has returned home, "our missions completed!" The book is a chronicle of those years, told mostly by Harry (with some insightful asides by Norma Jean) in an easy, conversational style.

On a lark, they bought at auction a "twenty-eight-foot, twin-engine Bayliner, with galley and sleeping for six" for $700. Little did they know why the craft went so cheaply. A friend noted, "a boat is a hole in the water, into which you pour money." The couple formed plenty of new friendships along the way in travels from coast to coast and into Mexico and Canada. They learned to eat soft-shell crabs whole ("body, legs, all") and survived a three-hour lightning and hail storm in Texas.

Throughout the years the couple's motto is to "care about and cherish others." "We are still outrunning the grim reaper," Harry writes, and their journeys are not yet finished.

A tale "romantic suspense" from an Oroville author

The heroine of Olivia Claire High's "The Crystal Angel" ($13.95 in paperback from Fireside Publications, www.FiresidePubs.com) is petite and stunningly beautiful. An interior designer based in Miami, Kemble Morgan might be called a "house whisperer": "I like to spend time in a house," she tells Archer Griffith, "to get the feel of each of the rooms before I know what they need."

Griffith is a 37-year-old millionaire who has hired Morgan to redecorate his modest vacation home in Barbados. But there's nothing modest in what happens; from their first unexpected encounter, their relationship is suffused with erotic tension. It isn't only a house that gets redecorated. High keeps the pages turning as the two strong-willed (read: "pigheaded") principals alternately find themselves in each other's face and then in each other's arms.

The Oroville author will be signing copies of her book during a gathering of local writers at Lyon Books in Chico this Saturday from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

A few years before meeting Archer, Kemble had surprised a thief in her apartment. And now "an anxiety . . . crippled her emotions whenever a man tried to touch her"; but did she even want to respond to his advances? Well, yes: "He was a study in pure animal magnetism; all lean hard muscle. . . . She stood staring at him like a hungry piranha ready for a feast." But, no: Wasn't Griffith a "narcissistic womanizer," a high-flying businessman used to throwing away things and people when he became bored with them?

Throughout the novel misunderstanding begets misunderstanding until Kemble and Archer have no idea who is friend or foe. Kemble's widowed mother, Ginger, and Archer's business associates play key roles in the story that involves an expensive crystal angel, mysterious goings-on at the house, a kidnaping, a romantic rival, desperate escapes, and even murder.

But what about love? "Their hearts beat against each other with a madness born of desperation amid a mounting excitement that carried them to passion's zenith and back again. . . ." Careful: "I'll admit you made me want you," Kemble tells Archer moments later, "but it was strictly physical and had nothing to do with my mind."

But the reader's instincts know the story is not yet over.

Chico author's thanksgiving for six-man football

You don't have to be from Nebraska to appreciate Dick Cory's latest, "I Played Too! Six-Man Football: A Collection of Memories From Those Who Played the Game and Lived In Rural America" ($20 in paperback from the author at ubangarang@sbcglobal.net).

Anyone with small-town sensibilities will resonate with "those Friday nights when six did the work of eleven. . . . // farm boys and town boys finding common ground / in August heat and two hundred pounders plowing into / tender flesh and bone . . . seniors teaching freshmen not to whine. . . . " These are the words of Larsen Bowker, one of thirty-six contributors who, writes Cory, "played, cheerled, refereed and were fans of six-man football."

Cory will be signing "I Played Too!" this Saturday from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. at Chico's ABC Books, 868 East Avenue (Walgreens Center).

In an email, the author writes me that "six-man football was the brainchild of Stephen Epler, who designed football for schools too small, too poor, or too distant to be consolidated to provide eleven-man. While teaching at Chester, Nebraska high school, he staged the first high school game on September 26, 1934."

Cory remembers his own high school days. "Community spirit and pride were wrapped up in the game," he tells me. "This spirit has all but vanished in these mid-America communities, which now resemble ghost towns. . . . Al Darby, who starred at Durham, represents California and Duane Falk played at Stanton, Iowa. All the rest came from Nebraska at a time where participation peaked at 189 teams in 1953, my senior year."

Cory includes a chapter on the rules of the game, one of which says that "When one team is 45 or more points ahead at the end of the first half . . . the game is ended immediately." These were the days before plastic helmets and faceguards.

As Falk notes in his chapter, "My wife tells me that our sports exploits have gotten better with the years. We seem to win more games by wider margins as the years pass by and of course we are instrumental in our team's success." Replete with old black-and-white photographs, "I Played Too!" lets the reader in on some of those stories.

Northstate author on how the mind can heal the mind

The premise of Patt Lind-Kyle's new book, "Heal Your Mind, Rewire Your Brain" ($26.95 in hardcover from Energy Psychology Press) is simple: "The brain's inherent transformational process can serve as a model or guide for how we can train our mind to be less intense and busy, and free from chaos, fear, pain, and inner wounds."

For the Nevada County therapist, effective training blends Buddhist meditation; the results of research on brain waves and neurotransmitters; and the use of the "enneagram" (a chart showing nine areas of personality structure popularized in the West by the Russian mystic G.I. Gurdjieff).

Lind-Kyle will be discussing her techniques this Saturday at the Chico Barnes & Noble from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

"Heal Your Mind" is subtitled "Applying the Exciting New Science of Brain Synchrony for Creativity, Peace and Presence." "Synchrony," Lind-Kyle writes, "is what integrates the neural pathways. When you are in stress, your emotional responses stop the Flow."

She identifies "four brain-wave frequencies--beta, alpha, theta, and delta," each associated with a neurotransmitter, such as serotonin with delta waves or dopamine with beta. The first half of the book investigates these relationships; the second part is a practical guide to deep meditation aimed specifically at each of the four frequencies. (A series of guided meditations, voiced by the author, is available on CD or in mp3 format from www.brainchangebook.com.)

The author writes that human brains evolved, adding "new brain centers" to the original "reptilian or old brain." These centers ought to work in harmony, directed by the prefrontal neocortex, the newest part of the brain, but there is "a fundamental flaw: The brain has not been redesigned after the addition of new brain centers at each stage of its evolutionary development, leaving us with a somewhat inelegant design. The result is that there are communication flaws that affect the natural energy flow circulating within the brain." That makes it hard to switch off the old fight reflex in stressful situations even though it's counterproductive.

Lind-Kyle believes that intentional mind training can help the brain rewire neuronal pathways, thus making it possible for all the brain centers to act in harmony and for various personality types to find "peace, kindness and happiness." It's food for thought.

Sacramento author on falconry and life: Who is the predator? Who is the prey?

When Rebecca K. O'Connor was eight, her grandfather pointed out a peregrine falcon on a rooftop in Riverside. "She's a falconry bird," he said. "Hear the bells? Look at the leather straps on her legs. They're called 'jesses.'"

Decades later, having endured an absentee mother and abusive stepfather, O'Connor (www.rebeccakoconnor.com) has a peregrine of her own. Though she has flown other birds, "falconry is different. Hunting with a bird is harder, more dangerous," and many fly away or are killed.

Her story is told in "Lift" ($18.95 in paperback from Red Hen Press). Like the talons of a raptor, the deeply felt words of the memoir dig into the reader and won't let go.

The author's multi-media presentation, "Winging It: Living a Life Shaped by Birds and Words," will be featured Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at Lyon Books in Chico.

She calls her bird "Anakin." As in Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader. He "is so light on my glove. We weigh them in grams, because ounces aren't precise enough to judge the incremental changes in their airy bodies. He is slightly smaller than a crow. . . . I've bought him to hunt desert doves."

O'Connor deftly weaves flashbacks with her sometimes fumbling attempts to train Anakin. "Predator worship is an odd thing, " she writes, "but perhaps not so odd for a woman. I am aware that I am more prey than predator. . . . I am no stranger to being stalked."

It is early on in training (and who, precisely, is being trained?) "The falcon and I look at each other, both startled. Then he bows his head slightly over the bird in his feet, snaps the neck and looks back up. He allows me to meet his gaze, seeing deep into his falcon's eyes and I understand that I could keep this predator on a line forever, but he will never be my pet. Over that shared look our relationship changes just a bit, because suddenly, we both grasp an obvious truth. I am looking into the eyes of a wild peregrine. It's so soon, only ten days, but it's time to let him fly free."

There's a lesson here, and it's not just about falcons.

Chicoan's graphic novel asks tough questions

Graphic novels are comic books for grown-ups. Full length, immersive, complex, they meld a particular (or peculiar) illustrative style with words that take on the big issues of life. Thus it is with "Spirit Armageddon" ($20.95 in paperback from www.iuniverse.com) by Zacheas Hertz, the pen name of twenty-year-old Chico writer Travis Henderson. Coupled with the manga-influenced design and black-and-white illustration of Serpentwitch, the story is the first in a planned series exploring a terrible human paradox: Is it the case that one must become violent to stop violence?

Henderson writes in a news release that he is a civilian pilot, recently enlisted in the Air Force, whose "true calling is with flight, but I find my pen has the strange ability to fly over paper" as well. "In both endeavors I lose myself to the awe and wonder of the grand scheme." The author will be signing copies of "Spirit Armageddon" at Lyon Books in Chico on Thursday, November 19 from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. as part of the bookstore's gathering of local writers, dozens of whom will be honored at the store through early December.

Zacheas imagines an earth in which falling asteroids are having a strange effect. As one character explains, "Random people from all over the world have been gaining powers. . . . The power we receive has an unfortunate side effect in many people, insanity fed by their own hate, fear, greed or what is most commonly called evil."

These "medians" ("it is what the media called the first ones and the name kinda stuck") wreak violence everywhere, and the government's Armageddon Project must stop it. Some medians can be rehabilitated, relocated, but others must be killed. "No therapist can fix them, no jail can hold them, all we have left is to consider the well being of the people around them." And so young Mino, herself imbued with the asteroid's powers, despised by others from her childhood, must now consider saving the very people who hate her.

There are lighter moments in the story, but many panels depict stylized violence, and the sounds--zziing, dharr, sett, sett, sett, srakh--rattle in the reader's head as power confronts power. The final question continues to resonate: "What have we all gotten ourselves into?"

Something in the fish: Chico State University alumna writes on the dangers of mercury

"When I began investigating my patients' elevated blood mercury," writes Jane Hightower, "I sought to gain a clear understanding of how mercury affects one's health. When information was not at my fingertips, I wondered why. What began as an investigation to help me diagnose mercury-related symptoms in my patients grew into another diagnosis--that of a broken, misused, and abused regulatory system."

Hightower, a Chico State University graduate, is a board certified San Francisco-based physician specializing in internal medicine. Her quest began with a patient in 2000 who exhibited fainting spells, "intermittent stomach upset, headache, fatigue, trouble concentrating, and hair loss." Other patients had similar complaints, and one other similarity: They all seemed to be fish lovers. Hightower, "who had a penchant for sorting out unusual or difficult cases," found herself embroiled in controversy beyond what she might have imagined.

The story is told in "Diagnosis Mercury: Money, Politics & Poison" ($24.95 in hardcover from Island Press) by Jane M. Hightower, MD. The author, recently in Chico for a book signing at Barnes and Noble and a talk at the university, became suspicious when she found that the various agencies charged with protecting public health disagreed among themselves about the dangers of mercury.

"Why did the EPA say that less than 5 mcg/l (micrograms per liter) of mercury in blood was our protective level, while the authorities in the California Public Health Department told me that you could have a level of up to 200 mcg/l will no ill effects? As for the FDA," there apparently was no "standard for human blood levels on its Web site. That was particularly disturbing because . . . the FDA had jurisdiction over all of commercial fishing." Some of the numbers were based on mercury poisoning incidents in Iraq decades ago, some on judicial fiat, and all on very little science.

Elevated levels of methylmercury (the organic form of the element) were finding their way into the human population. "Bodybuilders and dieters who consumed large quantities of canned albacore tuna and other large fish were also on top of the mercury gauge among patients in my practice."

The book is measured, data-driven, careful in its recommendations, and scarier than any Halloween goblin.

Paradise Town Manager find his muse in poetry and story

Chuck Rough, Paradise Town Manager for more than a dozen years now, is also a creative artist. His first published book, a collection of poems, short stories and the first ten chapters of a new novel, will be christened tonight at a book launch party in Paradise, and then sent out into the world. (For more information, contact the author at clroughjr@sbcglobal.net.)

"Private Roads in Autumn" by Charles Rough ($19.99 in paperback from Xlibris Corporation, www. xlibris.com), available at Lyon Books in Chico, is about perspectives. The story that ends the collection, "Sitting At the Bus Stop (In the Sun)," offers a coda of sorts for the rest. Somewhere, "on the corner of Fifth and Broadway," a man from "the old country," recently homeless but now a dishwasher living in a shared flat, waits for the crowded bus.

Others gather at the corner; "most kept to themselves and waited, staring blankly into the day ahead. . . . Each person had their own story to tell, to hide, or to change as the mood, situation, or years dictated--a story that was unfolding with the ending still in doubt, or more certain than any other truth in their lives."

In "Journey's End," the poet picks up the theme, making it more personal, at a "weather-beaten pier" somewhere near the Pacific Coast: "Looking upward, / the first glimpse of a new day's sky / struggles to break through the darkness; / its fate in this part of the world / presiding over an ocean, / whose calm surface betrays / a relentless undercurrent. // And all the while, / the restless heart of a poet / finds itself struggling, / to navigate a course / that holds itself in check."

The stories feature restless hearts suffused with loss. In Honorable Intentions, set in 1962, Sergeant Jefferson must deliver devastating news to a soldier's family. There is another soldier in "Journeys," though he is not what he seems to be. In "Second Chance," a man knows where the bodies are buried. Literally. In "Conversation with a Troubadour," the narrator gets his groove back. By turns meditative and suspenseful, Rough's work takes the reader down twisty autumn roads, multiplying delight as the leaves--and pages--turn.

Upcoming radio interview to discuss "Book in Common"

This year's Book in Common project, which officially began last month with a presentation at Chico City Plaza, continues through the spring with book club discussions and a variety of other community activities.

The featured book, "The Soloist" ($15 paperback from Berkley Books) is by Steve Lopez, a columnist with the L.A. Times. It recounts Lopez' growing friendship over a two year period with a paranoid schizophrenic street musician, Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, who had played classical bass at Julliard thirty years before. (A film of the same name stars Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.)

This coming Wednesday, Oct. 21, your humble columnist is scheduled to co-host a discussion of the book with Nancy Wiegman in a special edition of her "Nancy's Bookshelf" program on KCHO (Northstate Public Radio, 91.7 FM) from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. Guests include Book in Common representatives from Butte College and Chico State University, though many other organizations are participating this year. (Updates are available at http://www.norcalblogs.com/soloist/.)

Much has been made of the themes of homelessness and mental illness that pervade the book, but readers should know that it is also about self discovery. As Lopez says, "one reason I write a column is for the privilege of vicariously sampling other worlds, dropping in with my passport, my notebook and my curiosity." Fair enough, but the musician gets under his skin: "Nathaniel turns my gaze inward. He has me examining what I do for a living and how I relate to the world as a journalist and as a citizen."

There is more: "I experienced the simple joy of investing in someone’s life, and the many frustrations have made the experience all the more rewarding and meaningful. I might not have always made the right choices in trying to help, but I came by each one honestly. I worked through the arguments for and against commitment. I wrestled with definitions of freedom and happiness, and wondered at times who was crazier—the man in the tunnel who paid no bills and played the music of the gods, or the wrung-out columnist who raced past him on the way home from sweaty deadlines to melt away the stress with a bottle of wine."

A haunting question, and not just for columnists.

Orland novelist's tale of Mayan intrigue has a contemporary moral

In 1990 Orland resident Ronald Petty explored the Mayan temple Xunantunich, "in Belize, near Guatemala," he writes, pronounced "SHOO-nahn-TOO-neech." Later, as an encouragement to his daughter, facing an illness that would take her life, Petty wrote a story about a Mayan princess, also afflicted, who must find the meaning of her days.

That story has become "War Star Rising! The Legend of Toucan Moon" ($15.95 in paperback from Star Publish LLC), a young adult novel set in the year 850, in the Yucatan Peninsula, with a decidedly contemporary sensibility. Petty, writing under the name ZooDoc (www.zoodoc-stories.com), tells of a peasant girl named Honeybee chosen, with her widowed mother, as the new family of the great emperor Kamenkamen. Honeybee is renamed Toucan Moon after the moon goddess provides another sacrifice in place of the child. The young princess, approaching her teenage years, is about to change Mayan civilization.

The author will be signing books this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at the Chico Barnes and Noble store; the public is invited.

"War Star Rising!" (the reference is to the ascendency of Venus and an impending attack from a nearby Mayan kingdom) is billed as a "historical fantasy adventure." In ZooDoc's imagined world the great beasts, the jaguar and the condor, watch over the affairs of humans. It is a world in which Toucan Moon, who has gained the love of her adoptive father, can convince him that the will of the gods is for a "new law."

"I think human sacrificing is barbaric!" she tells her nursemaid. "That is why we constantly have wars, do you not know? To enrich the plundering victors and to gather slaves for hard word and sacrifices. . . . I remember how awful it was to find out that the father of my best friend was killed in some stupid war, or the mother of someone was sacrificed to appease the sun god, and everyone said it was . . . so stinking honorable."

Honeybee herself is subject to terrible seizures, and must journey to the Cave of the Wise One to find the meaning of her remaining days. The legend ever after tells of a brave princess who found "lasting peace for the chosen ones who show love."