“Too BUSY For Bed!”

The author’s dedication is “To children everywhere: We say that when you are grown, you can be anything you want. / But with every song and rhyme and game to play, you already do it, every day!”

These days, author Lester Wong, a Chico pathologist and the father of three grown children, navigates the world of an empty nester alongside the children’s mom. But he remembers an earlier time when getting the little ones ready for bed filled the transition time with joyful songs and silly rhymes. That, he writes, “morphed into a bedtime book, and as every parent knows, a good bedtime book is worth its weight in gold.”

“Too BUSY For Bed!” (independently published, $27.99 in hardcover, $16.99 in softcover from Made in Chico or from store.bookbaby.com/book/too-busy-for-bed1), by L.K. Wong, features full-color, beautifully exuberant illustrations by Taiwanese-Australian artist (and medical doctor) Amy Lee (kookychooky.com).

“Did you say ‘Bed’?” the child says. “That clock is wrong! It should say, Time for FUN!” Why? “I’m not done; I need more time! Because Sometimes I am … Just … Too … Busy…. My evening’s just begun!”

Oh, the energy. “Sometimes, I am a Teapot, / I’m dancing all about, / This arm a waving handle, / That hand, a whistling spout!” Then it rains (or is the bath water running?). “Sometimes, I’m Itsy-Bitsy / and I’m climbing / up a spout, / It rains, it pours, / an old man snores, / I’m wet! / I whoosh right out!”

Jammies on, it’s time to jump on the bed and do a little exploring. “Away I run, you can’t catch me! / My little legs are quick! / But grown-up legs are faster still, / And long arms do the trick!”

Then, “my wiggle slows…. I’m safe and snug, / A Bug inside a rug.” And now a parent’s gentle rocking: “We’re all back home, down by the bay, / No jumping anymore, / While Mama keeps her quiet watch, / Some watermelons snore!” Of course they do. Dreams come, each “will be like new,” with a parental send off of “I Love You!”

A dreamily wonderful little book that will delight the little ones.

“Letters From The Shire: On Tolkien, His World, And A Better Understanding Of Ours”

“September 22 has, for years, held a special place in my heart,” writes Chicoan Matthew Distefano. “Not only is it the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins—two of the most famous Hobbits in the history of Middle-earth—but it marks the beginning of one of the greatest adventures ever told. Fittingly, then, I chose to complete this collection of letters around that date. But rather than releasing it on the 22nd itself, I’ve opted for September 23—the day Frodo leaves the Shire.”

The collection is “Letters From The Shire: On Tolkien, His World, And A Better Understanding Of Ours” (in Amazon Kindle format, published by Quoir in Chico, quoir.com). In pastoral language Distefano responds to 22 questions sent to him in response to two previous books, “The Wisdom of Hobbits” and “Mimetic Theory & Middle-earth.” 

Included are letters from his mom and his best friend, Michael Machuga; he and Matthew and their wives have created Happy Woods Farm on property next to Michael’s house in Paradise. Flowers and fruit abound. Hobbits would be pleased. 

As Distefano notes in one of the letters, “I take in many moments throughout the week, soaking in the naked now as often as I’m able. It’s always after smoking from my pipe, which is why I continually assert that I am a Hobbit in all but size.”

Some of the letters Distefano writes are theological. “Tolkien’s world is a monotheistic one,” he writes, but his mythology is not a Christian allegory (as are C.S. Lewis’ Narnia tales). The Hobbits are secular and yet what transpires in Middle-earth is guided by something beyond the halflings, and even the elves. Everyone has a different perspective on what that something is, Distefano says. 

For him, “When we turn inward, however, to our own communal and interdividualistic selves, we start to realize that God is everything and everything is God. That includes you. That includes me.” There are endless debates, but Hobbits get it right; for them, “Life is all about getting their hands dirty and cultivating crops and community.”

This cultivation, he writes, is nothing less than “slow magic.”

“The Goolwind Tales: Book One”

“Avaleigh, a young girl of twelve, could not keep her tears from shedding. Her younger brother, Hayden, a boy no more than nine, followed her lead in sensing the fear that now overwhelmed them.” The Head Caster (a “master of sacred magical arts” and the siblings’ uncle) had just informed the two that their father, who had embarked on a secret mission a year before, was “lost.” 

No one had heard from him for nine months. Their mother had vanished four years ago, likely on the same mission—the retrieval of an ancient book of extraordinary spells.

Readers 9-18 are invited to join Avaleigh and Hayden in an enchanting sword and sorcery quest to find their parents that unfolds in “The Goolwind Tales: Book One” ($13.99 in paperback from Publisher’s Brew, publishersbrew.com; also for Amazon Kindle). 

Written by Ricky Hayes, born and raised in Chico and a consummate world-builder, the story takes place in a world called Goolwind, with “four major islands, each one divided by the treacherous tides of the seas.” Avaleigh and Hayden, descended from a bloodline that makes them no ordinary casters, must journey far from the caster monastery in the kingdom of Essend.

Along the way they are befriended by a group of Goblins as they encounter a series of monsters (pictured in the glossary). The Behemoth Toads, for example, are immense amphibians that devour Goblins; Ash Hounds are fire-breathing beasts; the Gnolls are “a war-minded race of vicious but simple-minded hyena-like humanoids.”

Battles abound (though very little blood is shown) as Avaleigh and Hayden grow in their caster abilities, controlling water and wind with Thunder Strikes and Sinister Cyclones, to fight ever-present enemies. But Hayden is a little too sure of himself, and faces his own demise, saved by a Bonecrackle Caster called Jasper, a specter “improperly laid to rest … who either died violently, foolishly by their own hand, or a curse of some kind.”

Each time Hayden overextends his powers, using up his life energy, Jasper pumps his heart back to life. But Hayden needs the curse lifted, so the journey continues with new urgency, paving the way for the next book in the series.

“Our Marriage: Sixty-Four Years And Counting: A Testament To Enduring Love”

Retired Butte County educators Jim and Nancy Barnes now live near Paradise Lake, the same home as Jim’s “Little Mouse” creation (www.LittleMouseTheMouse.com). Jim “is eighty-six years old,” Nancy writes. “I am eighty-three…. We have been married for over sixty-four years, and we love each other more now than when we courted, when we were newlyweds, and when we celebrated our twenty-fifth and fiftieth anniversaries where we renewed our vows.”

“Our Marriage: Sixty-Four Years And Counting: A Testament To Enduring Love” ($10.99 in paperback, independently published; also for Amazon Kindle), by Nancy Marie Barnes, is not a guidebook for others but rather a celebration of God’s goodness. 

In over seventy prayerful reflections, Nancy writes “as a God-fearing woman, believing in holding good morals and values and desiring to be the very best person possible—who loves the Lord with all her heart, mind, and soul—and who is incredibly in love” with Jim. (The two were married at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Paradise.)

Marriage is a sacred vow. “We knew we were both humans with faults,” Nancy writes, “and when things were going bad, we’d hang in there and work through any issues. In any disagreements we addressed the problem, not with the attitude of who was right and who was wrong but the best way to solve or address it.”

“The moment I recognize that Jim is upset, it does not matter why. I ask, ‘Do you want to be helped, heard, or hugged?’ I may not word it just that way, but I know the gist.”

Not all their dreams came true. “Although we didn’t have children (not by our choice), we scored well in … serving children and parents in the elementary school setting. Actually, both of our careers and our marriage made good our commitment to ‘spiritual good.’”

There are special moments, “sitting close, kissing, hugging, listening to soft instrumental music, or quietly listening to the crackling fire in the fireplace, just the two of us, thanking the Lord for all His gifts, this day and this lifetime, seen and unseen. We are blessed,” Nancy writes, “with ‘Taste of Heaven’ moments.”

“California Against The Sea: Visions For Our Vanishing Coastline”

“The California Coast, studied closely” writes LA Times environmental reporter Rosanna Xia, “is fractal, each part distinct, and impossible to appraise as one sweeping entity. Forcing a single big solution for the entire state would also overlook the communities that have long been neglected, and the many neighborhoods and homes that have been quietly sacrificed.”

Xia’s deep reporting brings a nuanced understanding to the battle against the rising Pacific. “California Against the Sea: Visions For Our Vanishing Coastline” ($22 in paperback from Heyday) focuses on at-risk communities, mostly in the lower half of the state. “Imperial Beach,” she writes, “stands to lose one-third of the town to sea level rise, but few residents have processed this slow-moving disaster that is already sweeping over their shore.”

The work is the Book In Common for both Butte College and Chico State (www.csuchico.edu/bic) for the 2025-2026 academic year. (Xia is scheduled to speak at Chico State on April 2, 2026.)

“Much of California’s coastal development coincided with the calmest period of an ocean-atmosphere cycle known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation…. This ‘sea level rise suppression,’ as scientists call it, kept huge storms in check and the rate of sea rise below the global average…. In the last 100 years, the sea rose less than 9 inches in California; by the end of this century, the surge could be greater than 6, possibly 7 feet.”

Part of Xia’s story involves the effect of the California Coastal Act of 1976 which established the California Coastal Commission, “one of the most powerful land use agencies in America.” There is constant political tension between preserving the beaches and expansion of development.

Communities have tried to hold back sea rise with seawalls, which are now crumbling in many places; dredging for sand; and “managed retreat”—“move back, relocate, essentially cede the land to nature.” But “many declared retreat un-American.”

Yet, Xia writes, “when we don’t understand and don’t allow for the ocean’s ways, we end up with homes perched on the crumbling cliffs of Pacifica and the seawalls still making a stand in Laguna.” It’s compelling reading showing that things are--not so pacific after all.

"Just Be"

Chicoans Josh Shelton, house builder by trade and children’s book author, and artist Sam Pullenza, continue their “I Am Adventure Books” series with “Just Be” ($19.99 in paperback from Conscious Dreams Publishing; also in e-book version).

The purpose of the whimsically illustrated series is to guide “children both big and small upon a journey through many of life's timeless questions. We intend for these books to send out ripples of joy, unity, and love, while providing subtle support to the ascension and enlightenment of our human family.”

“Just Be” features bulldogs, hamsters, and a young boy, who asks: “Have you ever seen a hamster run on its wheel? / Well, that’s how the thoughts in my mind often feel!” And more: “I’ve found myself wondering from time to time, / if my thoughts are like visitors, visiting my mind? // My thoughts create / whether or not they are said! // I must become mindful / of what hangs out in my head.”

The story is a journey toward that mindfulness, told in a way that children might understand. When the boy thinks about being “still and quiet” during restful sleep, he reasons that “perhaps in between all the learning and play, / I can ‘do’ like I sleep, / but in an awake sort of way.”

In fact, he says, “It’s totally obvious! / It’ll be easy, you’ll see. / I will take time in my day / to simply Just Be!”

In the midst of busyness one can breathe fresh air; when intruding thoughts come, “greet them / and thank them / then bid them good bye.” Be in nature, look at the clouds, sit by a tree, spend time with a friend. “I can sit by the fire / for an hour or five, / and ponder the miracle / of being alive.”

Mindfulness is a kind of “dance through my day” and though future dreams beckon and we “reflect on our past, / the moment of Now / is the moment to grasp.”

Chico’s Barnes & Noble bookstore will feature an author signing with Josh Shelton and illustrator Sam Pullenza on Saturday, August 30 at 11:00 a.m.; the public is invited.

“Dear Dotty: A Novel”

Who was Dotty Polk? For Rosie Benson, about to turn 25, her great-aunt “Dotty was the only one who could make me feel calm in the midst of my family’s chaos. She made being a misfit look easy. Fun, even. But now she was gone. Right when I needed her the most. The shoddy patchwork that was my life had ripped at the seams and I had no clue how to stitch it all back together. I needed Dotty to tell me where I’d gone wrong. She was never shy about that sort of thing.”

And so begins “Dear Dotty: A Novel” ($11 in paperback from Avon; also available in ebook format) by Chico State grad Jaclyn (Raggio) Westlake. Chosen as a summer must-read by the Gloss Book Club and First for Women magazine, “Dear Dotty” is Rosie’s personal narration, a story of loss and rediscovery. 

Rosie’s job at a tech startup is ill-fated; she’s fired by her boss, Raj, who “stood over my shoulder, watching as I boxed up the personal items in my desk—a strand of lights; a framed picture of Marcia and me from last Halloween…; a mug that read SMASH THE PATRIARCHY in big, bold letters (a gift from Dotty, of course).”

Marcia, her best friend and roommate, is little help on the consolation front (and much later when Rosie finds out Marcia has been sleeping with Raj, things turn frosty). Rosie finds out from Dotty that her parents are divorcing. And then Dotty dies.

Though Rosie had dreamed of working with animals, she lands a recruiting-agency job, and things seem to be looking up. She goes to a party with Marcia, a publicist at a big San Francisco PR firm, honoring “a young, rich, and terribly handsome entrepreneur named Donovan Ng.” Rosie falls hard. But is Donovan the Right One?

Rosie yearns for Dotty’s guidance, and as she helps prepare Dotty’s old home for sale she finds pictures and email addresses of Dotty’s friends she knows nothing about. Dotty loved martinis, other women, and nudism, and through these friends Rosie comes to know her great-aunt more deeply than before—and learns a lesson that changes her life. 

“The Outlaw From Newville: A Game Warden Henry Glance Novel”

It began quietly enough, on June 25, 1912, with the marriage of Preston Radcliff and Molly Bryer in Sacramento. Soon they drove to Orland and “headed west for twenty-two miles on a narrow dirt road. Crossing over Stony Creek, they wound through the foothills of Glenn County, and as the sun dipped below the mountains to the west, arrived in the tiny, picturesque hamlet of Newville.”

They are good people, but their son Willie, born four years later, is a bad seed. Cruel, self-centered, he loves to shoot just about any animal, especially deer out of season and big game in any season, and ignores the rules on fish catches. Years later, in the 1970s, he will cross paths with warden Henry Glance, who with wife Anne (whom he met at Chico State), lives in an old farmhouse west of Gridley.

Willie’s criminal enterprises, fueled by a big inheritance, will in the end involve destruction of a magnificent animal, one of about 150 existing on earth; an international incident involving the then-Soviet Union; and murder most foul. It’s all told in “The Outlaw From Newville: A Game Warden Henry Glance Novel” ($18.95 in paperback from Coffeetown Press; also available in ebook format) by Steven T. Callan (steventcallan.com).

Callan, a Palo Cedro resident, spent his high school days in Orland, graduated from Chico State, then in Shasta County concluded a thirty-year career as a game warden. 

Part One of the book features alternating chapters detailing Willie’s growing greed and Glance’s successful strategies as a game warden. The histories of both converge in Part Two, and the intricacies involved stretch all the way from the Butte County Jail to Far Eastern Russia. Callan presents mesmerizing procedural details of Glance’s investigations for the Department of Fish and Game (as it was named then). Glance can think like a poacher.

The wardens’ physical danger makes comeuppance all the sweeter.

Callan is Nancy Wiegman’s guest on Nancy’s Bookshelf on Northstate Public Radio, mynspr.org, Wednesday, August 13 at 10:00 a.m., repeated Sunday, August 17 at 8:00 p.m. He’ll be signing books at Chico’s Barnes & Noble on Saturday, August 23 at 11:00 a.m.

“Across Yosemite’s Wilderness: A Trailblazing Woman’s Career Protecting The Park’s Backcountry”

Laurel Munson Boyers was born in Yosemite Valley. In 1903 her great grandfather, who ran a way station for park visitors, welcomed Teddy Rosevelt and John Muir. Her parents lived near Ansel Adams, and after she joined the park service in 1976 Boyers guided former First Lady Laura Bush and companions through the backcountry (the two becoming longtime friends).

Having served the park for more than thirty years, “the first female full-time mounted wilderness ranger” and a decade as “Yosemite’s first female wilderness manager,” Boyers recounts her life in a two-part memoir, “Across Yosemite’s Wilderness: A Trailblazing Woman’s Career Protecting The Park’s Backcountry” ($22.95 in paperback from Falcon Guides; also for Amazon Kindle).

Dozens of photographs celebrate the park’s grandeur and its dedicated workers, with artwork by brother Lex Munson, who lives outside Nevada City. Boyers herself still lives in the park with husband Darell but writes me that “my nephew, his wife, son and daughter (named Laurel Ann after me) live in Cottonwood.”

The book’s first part is “a telling of my last wilderness patrol, an expedition across the entire length of Yosemite National Park in 2007, when a group of us took a 10-day backcountry journey all the way across the park.” Part two “holds essays about the years that led up to that remarkable patrol … caring for that part of the park that is beyond Yosemite Valley.”

Though she recounts scary experiences leading horses and mules in slippery environments and hearing strange sounds when she is all alone in a backcountry cabin, Boyers focuses on what she calls the timeless benefits of the wilderness: “witnessing the wonder of nature, of intact ecosystems, of living and breathing and enjoying open space and wildness with one another, or even while alone.”

Just as Chicoans do with Bidwell Park, she wrestles with just how human-accessible to make Yosemite’s backcountry. “We need to maintain humility and understand that we don’t have all the answers,” yet “we need to eliminate the impact of humanity’s presence on the nonhuman world as much as possible to allow these systems … to evolve naturally. Our future may depend on it.”

“Slugs Don’t Eat Arugula: Tales Of Whimsey, Woe, And Wisdom From The Kitchen And Garden”

“I enjoy gardening,” writes Chicoan Jeremy Miller. “I enjoy the feeling of being linked to my backyard and the plants and animals that live there, … noting the traffic of insects that zip around the sunflowers, and having the ability to pluck a cherry tomato off the vine and pop it directly into my mouth … not only do I know where my food came from, but I also know that I was a part of that process.”

But for Miller, not every foray into gardening goes as planned (there is, after all, the “Nightmare on Avocado Street” and the “Peach Pit Conspiracy”), and not every culinary attempt is a triumph (“Even butter can’t make bitter beets taste better”). That makes his collection of short essays, drawn and edited from Edible Shasta-Butte magazine over the years, deliciously relatable.

“Slugs Don’t Eat Arugula: Tales Of Whimsey, Woe, And Wisdom From The Kitchen And Garden” ($14.95 in paperback from Memoir Books) is available in Chico at Northern Star Mills and C Bar D Feed. 

Chapters move thematically, from the kitchen to the garden, to a dubious look at natural remedies (“The Witch Doctor’s Pantry”) to Miller’s diet regimen (“Kettle Chips Are My Kryptonite”) and, finally, to recipes that include carrot cake muffins (gluten free) and sauerkraut (makes three quarts and takes three weeks).

Though he has books on organic gardening and “compost care,” Miller admits all the good advice mostly ends up on the compost heap. Instead, he wants “to embrace the simplicity of a ‘Tarzan the Farmer’ mentality: ‘Dig! Plant seed! Water! Grow! Eat!’ Somewhere in between diligence and naivety, my garden turns into a jungle, and Tarzan is happy. And the gophers are happy. And the snails. And the weeds. And the zucchini.”

Some pocket gophers jump over barriers. So “I had yet another gardening excuse … ‘My real challenge is the overland migratory … gophers (“OMG!”), which are actually endemic to west Chico, California.’ I don’t even care if it is true; I intend to use it over and over.”

Get the book. The stakes, as gardeners say, couldn’t be higher.

“The Redemption Of Elijah Kidd Kane”

“As long as Paul Early Kane had been married,” we are told, “he desired his boys to have the best life opportunities. He had attended Harvard-Westwood Academy for the Gifted in the southern hills of Ojai Valley, California, before going to Harvard University….” 

But when Paul’s favored son, Joseph, fails to get into the Academy and his younger brother, Elijah Kidd Kane, 13, is accepted instead, and taken under the wings of the Academy president, Grant Humphreys Harvard, it becomes clear to readers that Elijah is being groomed for a secret, and sinister, project.

“The Redemption Of Elijah Kidd Kane” ($12.95 in paperback, independently published; also for Amazon Kindle) is the first in a new immersive fantasy series by former longtime Chicoan David Dirks, now living in Brentwood with Karen, his wife of 54 years.

Seen as “ordinary,” Elijah is neglected by his socialite mother; a child of privilege, “he lived life by allowing it to happen to him.” The boy is warned by his grandfather, Emmanuel, that he has visions regarding Dean-Headmaster Samuel C. EngleHoffer. “He is of German Aryan descent and still holds to some of their most ancient principles… He will use his power to trip you.”

The tension between Harvard and EngleHoffer notwithstanding, they both worship at the giant Sphere at the Academy, a broken sphere in which a smaller, perfect sphere emerges. There is talk of appealing to the Keeper, and a plan to use Elijah as Harvard’s agent to create a science and technology academy in Botswana. 

Somehow the “Spirit of Mars,” the spirit of the late scientist Nikola Tesla, has made it possible to establish free power for that African country, getting the populace used to all the electrified amenities, before lucrative charges are suddenly imposed. 

It’s clear a spiritual battle is taking place. A young Botswanan girl, Esi Ada Ogolla, must not only challenge the Interior Minister, a warlock, who craves spiritual power for himself, but bring Elijah to see the true Light and aid Esi and the other New Freedom Warriors in stopping sex trafficking of children.

There will be more to come in the series. Victory will not be easily won.

"New Leaf"

Chicoan Nancy Anderson’s children’s book is a parable about brokenness leading to new life. Beautifully illustrated by Madeline Einfalt, with design layout by Nica Petrova, “New Leaf” ($25 in hardcover, independently published, available at Made in Chico or from the author at NewLeafTeamChico@gmail.com) is also a tribute to New Leaf Home in the lowland region of southern Nepal. (Proceeds from the book will be donated to the home.)

After the end of the story there are several pages devoted to New Leaf Home. “Since 2010,” Anderson writes, “thirty girls have experienced hope out of brokenness. A miracle has happened leading to a new leaf, new life. Blossoming young women are bearing fruit in their redeemed lives.” And the founding directors “thank God that He changes the lives of our New Leaf girls!”

A little girl tells the story: “In a small rural village in Southern Nepal stands my mango tree. … My mango tree stands firmly planted near the well. It gives us delicious green mangos in the summer. Leaves of every shade of green delight my eyes. Tall grasses bend gently in the breeze.”

But then, one night, “A frightful storm comes to my village. Thunder booms. My eyes are big. My heart is pounding. … Frequent lightning flashes across the blackened sky. Rain falls fast and hard. I am afraid.”

In the morning, “I run out to see my mango tree. It is broken. The branches are ripped off, and the remaining leaves are shredded.” Some in the village think the tree is dead and needs to be cut down. Others, though, even as the seasons progress and nothing seems to change, say “Let’s wait and see what happens.”

“The broken tree needs to be nurtured. A few people, whom I do not recognize, come forward to gently protect and lovingly care for my mango tree.” And then: “I see some new yellowish pink leaves coming from one of the torn branches. My mango tree is alive!”

That nurturing will, in the end, bear much fruit.

Nancy Anderson is Nancy Wiegman’s guest on Nancy’s Bookshelf on Northstate Public Radio, mynspr.org, Wednesday, July 16 at 10:00 a.m., repeated Sunday, July 20 at 8:00 p.m.

“Wildfire Days: A Woman, A Hotshot Crew, And The Burning American West”

Redding-based Kelly Ramsey has written an intense “you are there” memoir of 2020 and 2021 when she fought fires on the Rowdy River Hotshots. These were “Wildfire Days: A Woman, A Hotshot Crew, And The Burning American West” ($29.99 in hardcover from Scribner; also for Amazon Kindle and in audiobook format read by the author).

Back then “I lived in a town called Happy Camp. Yes, that’s a place. This was the real Northern California, not the Bay Area, thank you very much. If the Golden State is a bent appendage, its swollen forearm bearing LA like a red boil, my California lay above the elbow.”

Divided into the two seasons, the first focuses on Ramsey as a rookie hotshot. “Hotshot crews,” she writes, “are physically and operationally intense. … These crews tackle the most difficult and remote parts of wildfires, doing the hardest manual labor and hiking deep into the wilderness to places other crews can’t or won’t go.” 

And “scariest of all, while I had hoped the crew would pick up another lady or two, I learned that I’d be the sole woman and the first in nearly a decade. To many of the guys, I’d be the only girl they’d ever worked with. Just me and nineteen men who were probably faster, stronger, and more knowledgeable than I was. No big deal.”

That season they worked the Slater Fire, North Complex, and August Complex, among others. The second season would take them to the Monument and Dixie fires, and more. In this season personal entanglements rise to the fore. Engaged to a non-hotshot firefighter, Ramsey finds a deep-seated acceptance among the Rowdy River crew—just one of the dudes—and a soul-deep freedom she doesn't have with her boyfriend.

The child of a dysfunctional and broken family, the influence of her alcoholic father looms large in Ramsey’s yearning to find herself and be herself. Beautifully written, often raw, it’s an unforgettable journey, callouses and all.

Kelly Ramsey is Nancy Wiegman’s guest on Nancy’s Bookshelf on Northstate Public Radio, mynspr.org, Wednesday, July 9 at 10:00 a.m., repeated Sunday, July 13 at 8:00 p.m.

“Rogue Allies: The Strategic Partnership Between Iran And North Korea”

Former Marine Bruce Bechtol Jr., who grew up in Chico, teaches in the Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice at Angelo State University in Texas, and is a former intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Together with Anthony Celso, professor of security studies at Angelo State University, who specializes in the politics of the Middle East, the two have produced a ground-breaking study of “Rogue Allies: The Strategic Partnership Between Iran And North Korea” ($29.95 in paperback from The University Press of Kentucky; also for Amazon Kindle).

Published at the end of April 2025, “this book,” the authors note, “is the first comprehensive study of the North Korea-Iran relationship and the damage that partnership has done to Middle Eastern and Asian security.” The book documents in scholarly detail all that is known about that partnership (fully half the volume is taken up by notes and a comprehensive bibliography).

“We argue,” they write, “that analysts should view Iran and North Korea’s partnership as an integrated global threat network—North Korea’s supplies of advanced weapon technologies, platforms, and missile systems are provided to Tehran’s armed forces in return for Iranian cash and oil.”

Furthermore, “Financial transactions between these two heavily sanctioned nations are maintained by an elaborate system of clandestine criminal finance spearheaded by a global network of front and shell companies.” Cryptocurrency is used to launder money involving Russia and China. Though Iran and North Korea are not ideologically aligned, the marriage of convenience is clear if one follows the money.

As for policy implications, Bechtol and Celso write that “within months, Iran could fabricate enough weapons-grade fissile material to produce a handful of nuclear weapons.” Presciently, they note that “American provision of bunker-busting bombs for the Israeli Air Force will be vital to the success of a future military strike against Iran’s diverse nuclear infrastructure”—though “such a development will not guarantee that the regime will fail to restart its program.” The future, it seems, is now.

Bruce Bechtol Jr. is Nancy Wiegman’s guest on Nancy’s Bookshelf on Northstate Public Radio, mynspr.org, Wednesday, July 2 at 10:00 a.m., repeated Sunday, July 6 at 8:00 p.m.

“Sanctuary Not Certain: American, British, Australian, And Canadian Hospital Ships In The European—African—Middle Eastern Theatre In World War II”

“During World War II,” Chicoan David Bruhn writes, “German/Italian aircraft purposely bombed and sank thirteen Allied hospital ships in the European Theatre. A fourteenth hospital ship was sunk by a German mine in the English Channel off Juno beach, during the Normandy invasion.” That meant that wounded “servicemembers could not be assured of safety aboard hospital ships….”

The unheralded story is told in “Sanctuary Not Certain: American, British, Australian, And Canadian Hospital Ships In The European—African—Middle Eastern Theatre In World War II” ($33 in paperback from heritagebooks.com). Replete with photographs, charts, tables and maps, the book chronicles Allied hospital ships including the 24 operated by “civilian Merchant Marine employees of the Transportation Corps” for the U.S. Army.

Hospital ships were “converted passenger liners or troop ships” with clear markings. Many of the U.S. Army ships were named for flowers, like Shamrock and Marigold; others for “deceased Army doctors and Army nurses who had served with distinction”; still others retained their original names. “Each vessel had to be registered officially as to name and characteristics to be readily recognizable by the enemy.”

Details of life aboard hospital ships are hard to come by (no official diaries were required), but Bruhn has compiled a comprehensive account using available evidence. The chapter on the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944 notes on that day alone there were some ten thousand Allied casualties, “killed, wounded, and missing in action,” including 6603 Americans. The role of British hospital carriers was crucial.

Bruhn writes me that this, his thirty-sixth book (with subjects including “naval history, competitive running, building land yachts, or creating” a Stand Easy “hideaway pub”), will be his last; he and his wife Nancy plan to travel. He’s created a “legacy website,” davidbruhn.com, where viewers can request help “in learning more about a relative’s naval service.”

After Bruhn’s deep dive into naval history, a little shore leave is not uncalled for.

David Bruhn is Nancy Wiegman’s guest on Nancy’s Bookshelf on Northstate Public Radio, mynspr.org, Wednesday, June 25 at 10:00 a.m., repeated Sunday, June 29 at 8:00 p.m.

“The Nimbus: A Novel”

Former Chico High student body president Bobby Baird, who grew up in Chico and now resides with his family in Brooklyn, earned a doctorate from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is now a mind-bending first-time novelist. 

We begin with the odd “to the reader” note, that “since you’ll have every reason to distrust what follows—I still hardly believe half of it myself—let me confess, here at the outset, that I have taken certain liberties with the truth.” Names have been changed “to protect the innocent, yes, but also to protect myself, who am far from innocent.”

It's early in the twenty-first century, and Adrian Bennett, 50, divinity school associate professor at a “not particularly well-known university on Chicago’s South Side,” has two sons, Luca, 2, and Max, 5, and one day graduate student Paul Harkin, whom Adrian is mentoring, sees Luca, well, glow, “like flame you see on the underside of a broiler, something low and close.” 

“The Nimbus: A Novel” ($29.99 in hardcover from Henry Holt and Co.; also for Amazon Kindle) gives it a name.

In the days to follow it will come and go. It can’t be photographed, and Adrian’s wife, Renata, 38, can’t see it. Not everyone can. This drives a further wedge into Adrian’s and Renata’s uneasy relationship (she’s given up her career for Adrian) and allows Baird to satirize academia’s obsession with the arcane--and Adrian’s ambition.

Enter 40-something Warren Kayita, librarian and ex-Div School student, from Uganda. He’s seen Luca’s nimbus and others who have begin to believe it fosters good luck. Indebted to a mobster-type who will forgive everything for another look at Luca, Warren plays a key role in a tragic encounter. 

Baird raises, but does not answer, questions about the reality of the nimbus. “Every story starts with a lie,” he tells us. Does it end that way as well?

Bobby Baird is Nancy Wiegman’s guest on Nancy’s Bookshelf on Northstate Public Radio, mynspr.org, Wednesday, June 18 at 10:00 a.m., repeated Sunday, June 22 at 8:00 p.m. He’ll be speaking and signing books at Chico’s Barnes & Noble on Saturday, June 21 starting at noon. The public is invited.

“Evergreen Lodge: A Memoir”

The cover shows two best buds in the summer of 1982, in front of Half Dome, Tom on the left and taller Brad on the right. Tom Bross would go on to graduate from Chico State in 1986, then to careers in marketing, advertising, and (now) memoir writing.

“Evergreen Lodge: A Memoir” ($16.99 in paperback, independently published; also for Amazon Kindle and audiobook format read by the author) takes the reader to the summers of 1977 and 1978 and “an often dysfunctional family business located near the west gate of Yosemite National Park.” 

Brossie, raised by a hippie mother who calls him Jupiter, is 15. Lots of extended family members and friends round out the cast for a joyous romp of a teen sex comedy reminiscent of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” 

Bross superbly captures the ethos (and raunchiness) of the times, and there are (sweet) pictures. He writes that the events in the book “are mostly, but not exactly, true. Duh. How could they be? … I was fifteen and sixteen years old and twenty-two percent hormones by body weight…. This is an homage to the era when we were no longer children and not yet adults, and a new song was enough to blow our minds.”

For Bross and Brad and chums, the sex jokes come hot and heavy, especially when new babes move into the nearby lodges. Flights of fancy stoke their imagination, like when a drunken woman twice Brossie’s age makes eyes at him. “She’s a mammal. She’s female. She’s alive. She meets my minimum requirements. But this woman is also attractive and sexually mature. And she’s wasted. Now all my boxes are checked. I’m thinking, I’m getting de-virginized tonight.” But, uh, “consent requires consciousness.” Duh. 

Though he never does get de-virginized, he does (reluctantly?) peer through the peephole made to the women’s shower, check out the female guests (a “smorgasbord of hotties”), and play with--words. If there’s Boise, Idaho, “shouldn’t there be a Girlsy, Wyoming, too?” 

Pringles, beer and pot round out the food groups, and a Half Dome hike with buds makes a forever memory. Bottom line: “We’re fifteen, we’re idiots, and you only live once.”

“Sunset Gratitude: 365 Hopeful Meditations For Peaceful And Reflective Evenings All Year Long”

For Chico State grad Emily Silva Hockstra, the natural world is replete with wisdom in how to weather loss. Sunsets, for example, “symbolize an ending. When things end, it can feel hard to accept and surrender to what is. Letting go is rarely easy….” So, in a book of short daily thoughts, about “finding hope after a period of grief,” “I wanted these passages to be gentle reminders that it’s okay to take your time.” 

Thus comes “Sunset Gratitude: 365 Hopeful Meditations For Peaceful And Reflective Evenings All Year Long” ($19.99 in hardcover from Rock Point; also for Amazon Kindle). As a life coach (soulsadventures.com) living in San Diego with her husband, she found in 2020 “that my dream of having a child would never come true…. Although this book was born through the grief of infertility, it addresses many of life struggles” through patient inner explorations.

Suffused with Zen Buddhist and Daoist sensibilities, the author’s short meditations will strike a chord with many readers. Take the entry for June 3: “Not all plans will work out, but trying something new will create change within. Bravery blooms in the trying. Resilience takes root when things don’t work out. Confidence shows up the more we try to get back up. Your dreams are yours for a reason.”

The first day of each month offers an affirmation, such as for October: “As I notice hope sprouting once again in my heart, I recognize the growth that is taking place in what was once an empty space with deep gratitude.”

The inward journey should not be lonely: “Allow the tears to fall, call out for support, communicate as loudly as you need to. Grief needs a witness as it honors the ending of something significant.” 

She tips the hat to friends expressing the qualities of all twelve signs of the Zodiac. “Each moment of marvel reminds us that we are part of an infinite universe and connected to the flow of life. The next time you look up at the sky, remember that you contribute to the interconnectedness of the universe. Then pause and breathe in gratitude.”

“Love Your Brain: The 7 Habits Of Brain Health To Recharge & Surge”

Chico ophthalmologist David Woods faced many losses. His Paradise ophthalmology practice was destroyed in the Camp Fire. Rebuilt, the new office “sat nearly empty for months” due to Covid-19. Then, in 2021, “my world shifted in a way I had never really had preparation. My beloved and wonderful mother, Sharron, passed away. I felt as if the ground beneath me crumbled.” 

Though the practice began to thrive, and his family offered support, Woods struggled through “the fog of grief.” He started to research the brain and its response to loss. “I began to see, especially after the age of 40, how our lifestyle choices … have a monumental impact on the health and vitality of our brain cells.”

Teaming with Chico State grad Rory Ferguson, who will be pursuing her PhD in cognitive neuroscience at Lehigh University, Woods provides an encouraging guide for how to “Love Your Brain: The 7 Habits Of Brain Health To Recharge & Surge” ($12.15 in paperback, independently published; also for Amazon Kindle).

The book begins with charts for a 15-week “transformation plan” and a weekly “brain health check-in” on the seven habits: good diet; optimal sleep; cardio and exercise; “connecting and caring”; “the power of supplements for brain nutrition”; “meditation, faith, spirituality”; and “the power of learning” (“You want a brain that’s always growing? Then learn something every day. Creation and imagination are the seeds of success, and they begin with a curious mind.”)

Woods markets supplements under the names Nutrua and the trademark Brain Health 360, but he is careful to note that it’s important not to “overlook interactions between supplements and medications, which can lead to unintended side effects.” An appendix provides research on each ingredient; there’s also a section on how seasonal allergies affect brain health.

We need to be honest with ourselves, he writes, and develop healthy rituals that move the brain away from constant “survival mode” (doomscrolling, anyone?). One key is journaling. “Whatever challenge you face in your life of stress, you will unlock ideas and personal change when you write, clarify, and put words on the issues in your mind. You will zoom!” 

“Right Place, Write Time: A Lifetime Of Memories With Sports Legends”

Tiger Woods “won nine times in 2000,” Chico State grad Mark Soltau writes, “a year many consider the best stretch in golf history. He won three majors and returned to Pebble Beach in June to capture the U.S. Open by a record 15 strokes.” 

A longtime sportswriter for the San Francisco Examiner, who worked for Tigerwoods.com from 1997 through 2018, Soltau says that “at most tournaments, I would spend time with Tiger … and wish him well. The first time I said, ‘Good luck,’ he glared at me. ‘It’s not luck,’ he said. From then on, I have always said, ‘Play well.’” 

Tiger “did a surprise video when I was inducted into the Chico State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007.”

Soltau covers his five decades in sports writing with an exuberant memoir, “Right Place, Write Time: A Lifetime Of Memories With Sports Legends” ($19.95 in paperback, independently published; also for Amazon Kindle). No stranger to football (“I covered the NFL for almost 25 years”), Soltau “spent much of my childhood attending games with my mother at Kezar Stadium…. My father, Gordy, was an all-pro end and place kicker for the San Francisco 49ers (1950-58) and led the NFL in scoring in 1952 and 1953.”

Soltau’s book, loaded with photographs, includes chapters on Bill Walsh, Steve Young, John McEnroe, Barry Bonds, Walter Payton (at Laguna Seca Raceway), and Joe Montana (who used the sideline phone, meant to connect with coaches, to call his wife: “I’m just sitting here on the sideline and thought I’d call and tell you I Love You”).

In 1977, as a Chico State senior, Soltau’s father gifted him two tickets to Super Bowl XI, pitting the Oakland Raiders against the Minnesota Vikings at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. He and a buddy managed to get there and found their seats “were on the 50-yard line on the press box side in the middle of American Football Conference owner’s section.” The Raiders won, 32-14. The two made it back to Chico the next day, “tired and euphoric.”

The book is not a tell-all, but a “let me tell you about my friends.” Well played, Mark.