Aspiring novelists who took the writing challenge in November will read from their works at the next WordFest on Tuesday, December 4, 6:00 pm, at the Cassava Coffeehouse, 1333 Broadway in Longview. (Note: WordFest occurs on the first Tuesday in December.)

During National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), people across the country commit to writing a novel of approximately 30,000 words in 30 days. Even if they don’t achieve their goal, many writers have used this as a way to start the novel that has been gestating in their mind.

Vikki J. Carter will host the event where local NaNoWriMo participants will introduce and read from their projects. Vikki is the producer of Authors of the Pacific Northwest, a weekly podcast for writers who are interested in learning how to be successful in the publishing industry.  Her company, SquishPen Productions, focuses on helping writers learn tips of the trade from published authors so they too can succeed in a competitive field.

Vikki has two books in the works, the first is part of a series set in Elizabethan era England and the clashing world of a woman’s choice for love.  The second novel follows  a young couple’s chaotic relationship as they struggle with the not-so-glamorous pursuit of fame in the world of rock-n-roll. You can learn more about SquishPen Productions at www.squishpen.com

 

 

Lorraine Merrin will be highlighting the poetry of David Lee, Utah’s first poet laureate. Lee captures small town America with affection and humor and an ear for truth within the vernacular. He has been called “the pig poet,” and may be best known for his collection of poems, The Porcine Canticles.   He has won numerous awards and holds a PhD with a concentration on the poetry of John Milton.

Lorraine’s poetry has been published in Rattle, Thema, Time of Singing, and other literary magazines, two anthologies, and in her own collection, Holding Tight To Gravity’s Tail.

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

 

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava. The events are free and open to the public.

 

Cassava offers a dinner menu for those who wish to enjoy a meal with the readings, as well as local wines and brews.

 

For more information, contact Alan Rose at www. Alan-rose.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ever popular Bob Pyle returns to WordFest to discuss and read from his first novel, Magdalena Mountain, on Tuesday, November 13, 6:00 pm, at the Cassava Coffeehouse, 1333 Broadway in Longview.

Bob​ is the author of nineteen  books, including Wintergreen, Rambles in a Ravaged Land, Chasing Monarchs, Where Bigfoot Walks, Sky Time in Grays River, and a poetry collection Evolution of the Genus Iris. A Yale-trained ecologist and Guggenheim fellow, he is a full-time writer living in Wahkiakum County.

 

With Magdalena Mountain, he shows he’s at home in an imagined landscape as much as in the natural one. At the center of this story of majesty and high mountain magic are three Magdalenas— Mary, a woman whose uncertain journey opens the book; Magdalena Mountain, shrouded in mystery and menace; and the all-black Magdalena alpine butterfly, the most elusive of several rare and beautiful species found on the mountain. In the Colorado Rocky Mountain wilderness lives the enigmatic Oberon, a reluctant de facto leader of the Grove, a diverse community of monks who share a devotion to nature. Converging in the same wilderness are October Carson, a beachcomber-wanderer in pursuit of the alpine butterflies he collects for museums; James Mead, a young graduate student intent upon learning the ecology of this seductive creature; and Mary Glanville, who also seeks the butterfly but can’t remember why. While the mystery surrounding Mary takes a menacing turn, their shared quest pulls them deeper into the high mountain wilderness, culminating in a harrowing encounter on the stony slopes of Magdalena Mountain

 

Copies of the novel as well as Bob’s other books will be available for sale and signing at WordFest.

 

Longview poet and memoirist Mary Lyons will read from her developing anthology titled Body Parts. One of our most popular presenters, Mary has shared funny and bizarre experiences in “An Affair of The Heart,” shedding light on how modern technology intersects with the human heart, and “Clowning around,” a hilarious account of her experience performing as a clown for children. On Tuesday, Mary will be reading her essays, “Foot By Foot” and “Old Blue Eyes.”

 

 

 

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

 

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava. The events are free and open to the public.

 

Cassava offers a dinner menu for those who wish to enjoy a meal with the readings, as well as local wines and brews.

 

For more information, contact Alan Rose at www.Alan-Rose.com.

 

 

 

 

Humorist Jan Bono returns to WordFest with the third book in her Sylvia Avery Mystery Series on Tuesday, October 9, 6:00 pm, at the Cassava Coffeehouse, 1333 Broadway in Longview.

Crab Bait, like the two earlier novels, Bottom Feeders and Starfish, is set on the Long Beach Peninsula.  In the new mystery, the Merry Widows of the North Beach Peninsula may be just a tad too merry. They’ve formed a geriatric belly dancing troupe, The Veiled Rainbow, and are having the time of their lives spending the insurance money they received when their respective husbands died, deaths that all happened under mysterious circumstances. Meredith Avery, Sylvia’s mother, a three-time widow herself, has been instrumental in helping these women take out hefty life insurance policies on their spouses shortly before their deaths. What else might Meredith have led them to do?

“My mystery books are cozies,” says Jan, “and cozy mysteries are a very specific genre. They have no graphic violence, no obscene language, and no explicit sex scenes. What they do have is an amateur sleuth who works with the local police department in a small town to solve crimes. There’s a quirky cast of characters, and lots of humor.”

Jan has lived in Long Beach, Washington, since 1977. She began writing a humorous, personal experience newspaper column that continued for 10 years, garnering 11 state awards from the WNPA. Her column’s popularity led her to become one of the top five contributing authors to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series, publishing 36 stories during the past 8 years.

In 2012, Jan became the Grand Prize winner of the Coast Weekend serial mystery chapter contest. This inspired her to begin writing her lighthearted and fun cozy mystery series, which she describes as “like Murder She Wrote, but with a lot more humor.”

Jan has also written five collections of humorous short stories, two poetry chapbooks, one collection of short romances, a book about her 252-pound weight-loss journey, and nine one-act plays. She has been published in numerous magazines, including Guidepost, Star, and Woman’s World.

Copies of the three mysteries will be available for sale and signing at WordFest.

 

 

Mason Loika will be reading a selection of his poetry, including the song “The Spin We’re In,” recorded in 2004.  In addition, he will read from a story he wrote for the Bucks County Herald, and a short story entitled “Phantom of the Night.”

Mason has written as a reporter for the Miami News, the Miami Herald, and the Bucks County Herald, covering entertainment in radio, television, movies and music. He also wrote the nonfiction Gulag to Rhapsody: A Survivor’s Journey (2012) about a former prisoner-of-war who survived 2½ years in the same Soviet gulag that later imprisoned Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitzen.

Mason recently moved to Longview from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he wrote reviews of live concerts for such artists as the Marshall Tucker Band, Heart, and Norah Jones, as well as local bands.

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

 

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava. The events are free and open to the public.

Cassava offers a dinner menu for those who wish to enjoy a meal with the readings, as well as local wines and brews.

 

For more information, contact Alan Rose at www. Alan-rose.com.

 

 

 

 

 

Following its summer break, WordFest’s monthly series of readings resumes on Tuesday, September 11, 6:00 pm, at the Cassava Coffeehouse, 1333 Broadway in Longview.

 

R.A. Long High School graduate Jon Gosch will read from his newest novel, Deep Fire Rise, a murder mystery set in southwest Washington at the time of the Mount St. Helens eruption.  Patrolling the backwoods country around the rumbling volcano, Deputy Sheriff Tom Wilson discovers a brutal murder. His hunt to find the murderer will take him into the red zone on the morning of May 18, 1980.The book was edited by Jon’s former teacher Jim LeMonds and friend Spike Walker. Naturalist, poet and now-novelist Robert Michael Pyle has praised the book, saying, “The greatest geological event of our times finally has the novel it deserves.”

Jon graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle where he studied Creative Writing and Journalism. A lifelong hunter and conservationist, he began investigating elk hoof disease in 2014.  His articles and photographs on the subject have appeared in regional and national publications, and he recently received an award from the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Jon now lives in Spokane where he is a freelance book editor and working on a novel about the Wobblies.

 

You can read The Columbia River Reader’s review of Deep Fire Rise here.

 

 

 

 

Adeline Alda will read from her memoir, The Rapist’s Girlfriend. She and her partner, Cole, were living on a boat at a marina in Portland, Oregon, when a woman from a neighboring boat accused Cole of rape. Cole had Dissociative Identity Disorder and experienced multiple selves ranging in age from an infant to an elderly adult. Adeline, who lived with all of these selves, knew none to be a rapist, and helped Cole defend himself (or him-selves), embarking with him on an emotional, spiritual, and psychological journey.

 

 

 

A past board member of the Washington Poets Association, Adeline’s poetry has appeared in print and online under various versions of her name. Her poetry has been performed by actors at the Milagro Theater in Portland, featured on Northwest Public Radio, and set to music by two songwriters. She currently resides in Olympia. The Rapist’s Girlfriend is her first work of prose.

 

 

 

 

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

 

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava. The events are free and open to the public.

 

Cassava offers a dinner menu for those who wish to enjoy a meal with the readings, as well as local wines and brews.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A variety of literary forms will be presented at the next WordFest on Tuesday, July 10, 6:00 pm, at the Cassava Coffeehouse, 1333 Broadway in Longview.

 

William L. Alton earned a BA and MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. He has published a novel, Flesh and Bone (2015), two collections of poetry, Heroes of Silence and Heat Washes Through, a memoir titled My Name is Bill and Girls, a collection of flash fiction. His work has appeared in a number of publications, and in 2010, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Bill’s newest novel was launched in June 2018. In Comfortable Madness, Butter is a teenaged lesbian who lives with schizophrenia. She hallucinates and does the best she can with the help of a few close friends and her girlfriend. But then Gid begins to visit. No one can see him except Butter. In his visits, his face is obscured. No one believes he is real, not even after Butter becomes pregnant. Gid tells Butter that she will be the mother of a savior. Finally, Butter forces Gid to show his face. When he does, he also disappears, and Butter comes back to the world she lived in before Gid, a world of voices and visions, but also a world of hope with a new baby to raise.

 

 

 

 

 

Lorna Moon will be reading from the her historical fiction novel, Jacob’s Pillow  (2006 Thumb Print Press, Edinburgh), where folklore and gothic adventure bring the legend of Thomas the Rhymer to life as the otherworldly sage mentors young Alpin, a reluctant hero, on his quest to save Scotland. Donald Smith, PhD, of the Scottish Storytelling Centre called it, “A beautiful piece of storytelling, finely wrought and structured and full of life, passion, and mystery.”

Lorna spent eight years living and writing in Scotland. She now lives in Centralia, Washington.

 

 

 

Fredrick Hudgin will be reading his newest short story, about a man who is dying of cancer and about to enter hospice. His cat, his companion for twelve years, is unable to go with him, so the man tries to find a way for his cat to live with people who will care for him.

“It’s Up to the Cat” is included in Fred’s collection of short stories, A Rainy Night and Other Short Stories.

 

Fred has been writing poetry and short stories since he took a Creative Writing class at Purdue University in 1967. “Unfortunately, that was the only class I passed, and I spent the next three years in the army, including a tour in Vietnam.” He earned a BS in Computer Science from Rutgers University, leading to a career as a computer programmer. His short stories and poems have been published in Biker Magazine, on Poetry.Com, The Salal Review, The Scribbler, and in the WordFest anthology, That Holiday Feeling.

 

Signed copies of the presenters’ books will be available for sale that evening.

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava. The events are free and open to the public.

Cassava offers a dinner menu for those who wish to enjoy a meal with the readings, as well as local wines and brews.

 

For more information, contact Alan Rose at www. Alan-rose.com.