Amy Dixon, the protagonist of Carlene Meredith Cogliati’s To Durchhalten, loves words — their shape on a page and their sound, which she can almost taste on her tongue. She collects words not only for their intrinsic value and usefulness in expressing her feelings, but also to bolster her Spelling Bee prowess. So on the […]
JoAnn Bauer
Posted inArts + Scene
Shift Happens
Overwhelmed by a failed marriage and a traumatic broken engagement, Margot Genger found temporary relief in alcohol and casual relationships. When she careened into a manic episode that led to a complete and very public psychotic breakdown, she recognized she needed to change her life trajectory. She came up with a rather unusual plan while […]
Posted inArts + Scene
A Tale of Young Grief
Fortuna author J. Lynn Bailey’s emotional second YA novel begins with the death of Jasper Stone. His twin sister Livia is plunged into a grief so profound that she finds herself clutching at anything that will dull her pain, even for a moment. Having lived a rather sheltered life, 17-year-old Liv can’t find the inner […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Wicked Bugs: The Meanest, Deadliest, Grossest Bugs on Earth
Many benign and useful insects, spiders and arthropods do exist in the world, but you will not find them in this adaptation of Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon’s Army & Other Diabolical Insects for young readers. Local author Amy Stewart is intrigued by the dark side of the bug universe; the dangerous, destructive […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Black Five
Avid readers of teen fantasy fiction will find much that’s familiar in Black Five: vampires, werewolves, witches and the odd fairy and dragon. However, local author J. Lynn Bailey has recast these creatures as denizens of a richly imagined realm called Nighmerianotte. This world lies in another dimension that roughly overlaps the U.S., Europe and […]
Posted inArts + Scene
The Extraordinary Voyage of Kamome: A Tsunami Boat Comes Home
The Extraordinary Voyage of Kamome tells the story of a Japanese panga boat washed out to sea in the 2011 tsunami. A little more than two years later, the small boat washed ashore near Crescent City, encrusted with barnacles, but otherwise intact. Characters on the side of the boat identified it as the property of […]