Two popular and delightful mystery writers will join WordFest next Tuesday, March 14, 6:00-8:00 pm, at Cassava Coffee shop in Longview.

Kate Dyer-Seeley is a Vancouver author who writes the Pacific Northwest Mystery Series. Her intrepid young journalist Meg Reed discovers murder wherever she goes–on Mt. Hood (Slayed on the Slopes,) while windsurfing in the Columbia Gorge (Silenced in the Surf), or climbing Angel’s Rest (Scene of the Climb.)

 

 

Kate also writes the Bakeshop Mystery Series under the pen name Ellie Alexander. The series is set in Ashland, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and features the amateur sleuth/professional baker Juliet Capshaw in books that whet the reader’s appetite as well as chill the reader’s backbone, including Meet Your Baker, A Batter of Life and Death, Fudge and Jury, and Caught Bread Handed.

(At the time of this media release, we’re not sure whether Kate or Ellie will be attending.)

 

 

 

Cindy Brown is a Portland author who writes the Ivy Meadows Mystery Series. Cindy’s background in theater is apparent in her mysteries, which include MacDeath, The Sound of Murder and Oliver Twisted, and display her wit and knowledge of comedy and drama onstage and off.

 

 

 

Kate and Cindy (and we assume, Ellie, too) are friends as well as fellow writers and they recently participated in a Book Chat episode at KLTV that is delightful, fun and funny to watch as they discuss a number of topics: where they get their ideas, on writing a series, first drafts, rejections, agents and publishers, and tips for other mystery writers (“You must have a body by page 30.”) You can watch the episode here: Book Chat

 

 

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations at 7:30 pm., where people are welcome to read their writing for ten minutes each.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava, 1333 Broadway in Longview. 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.

 

 

 

WordFest offers a variety of storytelling next Tuesday, February 14, 6:00-8:00 pm, at Cassava Coffee shop in Longview.

Kate Ristau is a Portland folklorist and author of young adult and middle grade fiction. She read from her first novel, Shadowgirl, (published in 2015) at last September’s WordFest.

On Tuesday, she will be reading from her new novel, Clockbreakers:

On her eleventh birthday, Charlie receives a key to go back in time. But time travel isn’t easy. Before she blows out her candles, Charlie lands in Greece with her best friend Maria and her former best friend Trent. She’s a Clockbreaker, stuck in a Greek myth, on an action-packed adventure with a mission: to save her father, and perhaps even save the world.

Kate taught at the University of Oregon and Western Oregon University, and with colleague Maren Bradley Anderson edited an anthology of poems, essays, and short stories called Coarse Grounds: A Coffee Anthology. Currently, Kate is the Portland Chapter Chair of Willamette Writers.

 

She was recently interviewed for KLTV’s ”Book Chat” program with local fantasy writer Alkaid Tsuki. You can watch their interview here:
Book Chat

 

 

Lilly Robbins Brock will be reading from her book, Wooden Boats & Iron Men, which was featured in The Daily News last year. The project began when she found letters from her now deceased father written while he was on the battlefront in World War II. The letters inspired her to find a living WWII veteran to tell his story. The result was this true life war tale of an 18-year old Oklahoman and his love of the PT motor boat he served on.

 

Lilly’s preferred genre is historical fiction. She has written a novel about a family in the 1850s travelling by paddle wheel steamship from New York to the Pacific Northwest via the South American route. She has also written and published the book, Food Gifts Recipes From Nature’s Bounty, based on organic gardening. She is currently working with a 99 year-old veteran on a book to be titled Ever a Soldier.

 

 

 

E. Bryan Calhoun will be reading from A Taste of Honey, in his Max Harper, Detective series. It’s a modern-day dime novel set in the fictional Three Rivers, Washington. Max Harper is a bottle-scarred private eye with a painful past and an uncertain future. Then Honey Meadows walks into his life, a mysterious woman with a fake name and real problems of her own. Max and Honey take on murder, mayhem and each other as they go after the treasure that is hidden somewhere on a mountain in the Great Northwest.

Native to this community, Bryan grew up watching TV detectives  and has always had an interest in storytelling. He works as an employment specialist at Another Option, Inc., helping individuals with disabilities get jobs in the local community, and writes in his spare time. He is currently seeking an editor for his Max Harper, Detective series.

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations at 7:30 pm. People are welcome to read their writing for ten minutes each.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava, 1333 Broadway in Longview. 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.

 

 

 

 

 

Portland author Jamie Duclos-Jourdon will be reading from his debut novel at the first WordFest gathering of the year, next Tuesday, January 10, 6:00-8:00 pm. at Cassava.

Froelich’s Ladder, published by Forest Avenue Press, is a tall tale about a tall ladder and the two German immigrant brothers who built it. Set in the Pacific Northwest of the 1870s, it combines the historical with the fantastical.

 

Local folklorist Leslie Slape talked with Jamie about his book recently on KLTV’s Book Chat. You can watch the interview here: Book Chat.

 

 

 

 

David Martin will be reading from The Secret of the Lake, first in his six-book Middle Grade fiction series, titled The Adventures of Sugar Dog, about “one very special dog and four boys who are at that magical age of twelve.”

There are rumors of old treasure buried out near the lake just west of Capeview.  When a book on the town’s history is stolen from the public library, several strange events and the boys’ curiosity lead to a frightening encounter with the hermit who lives on the spit between the bay and the ocean.

David is a singer, songwriter, musician, poet, disc jockey and news reporter, based in Astoria.

 

There will be an open mic period following the presentations at 7:30 pm. People are welcome to read their writing for ten minutes each.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava, 1333 Broadway in Longview. 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In recent years Forest Avenue Press, a small, independent publisher in Portland has brought out a number of noteworthy books by talented authors, like Dan Berne’s Gods of Second Chances, and Ellen Urbani’s Landfall. In October, it published an anthology of thirty “otherworldly tales” based in Portland.

On Tuesday, December 13, the editor of City of Weird anthology and several of the writers who contributed stories will read at WordFest.

 

 

Gigi Little, marketing coordinator for Powell’s Books and graphic designer for Forest Avenue Press, edited the anthology and will introduce the stories and readers. Her own essays and short stories have appeared in anthologies and literary magazines, including Portland Noir, Spent, and Nailed Magazine.

 

 

 

Brian Reid  was weaned on the acerbic dry humor and innate story-telling of the Scottish highlands. His childhood in Australia colors his writing with a love of the ridiculous and a dedication to irreverence. Brian worked with the Federal Reserve Bank for almost twenty years before moving to Oregon to pursue his dream of writing fiction.

 

 

 

Kirsten Larson is a contributing editor at Nailed Magazine and an instructor at Portland State University. Her essays and stories appear in The Huffington Post, Nailed Magazine, Manifest-Station, and several literary journals.

 

 

 

 

B. Frayn Masters is the author of a short story collection, Pants All Night.  Her work has appeared in Airplane Reading, Hobart, MonkeyBicycle 6, and other publications. She is also Executive Producer and Host of the Back Fence PDX storytelling series.

 

 

 

Jason Squamata is a Portland-based writer of dream diaries, graphic novels, and confessional essays. His work has appeared in Stealing Time magazine, Propeller, and Hypno Komix.

The monthly gathering of readers and writers meets the second Tuesday of each month, 6:00-8:00 PM, at Cassava, 1333 Broadway in Longview. 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.

 

 

 

 

 

Read my review of the book that appeared in the November-December issue The Columbia River Reader here.

 

 

On Tuesday, November 8, WordFest will offer plays and poetry at Cassava Coffee shop, 1333 Broadway Avenue in Longview.

In 1891, Washington state was two years old. That year homesteaders were staking claims and loggers were cutting trees along the north fork of the Lewis River, and four people were lynched, including two in nearby Pacific County.

This is the background for “The Harder Courage,” a historical drama written by Leslie Slape, that tells the true story of Sheriff Ben Holmes of Kalama and his prisoner, Robert Day, a homesteader on the Lewis River accused of the first-degree murder of a logger. Holmes protected Day from three lynch mobs, but ultimately was responsible for his execution by hanging following eight months’ imprisonment.

Two local actors, Scott Clark as Ben Holmes and Michael Cheney as Robert Day, will read a scene from the play at WordFest. A former crime reporter with The Daily News, Leslie has been researching, writing, revising and workshopping the play since 2012.

Leslie left The Daily News in 2013 to study playwriting at Portland State University. With Don Correll, she co-wrote the play “This Island Earth,” which was produced in 2009 at Lower Columbia College Center Stage.

 

 

Patrick Kubin is joined by the members of his writing group to perform a one act play he wrote, titled “A Short Story.” In the play, a writer’s group convenes at a member’s home for their monthly meeting to critique each other’s work. Each writer is convinced his or her suggestions and feedback are correct. Conflict mounts as the feedback is not graciously received.

Members of the writing group are pictured (left to right): Mary Ellen Stone, Pat Kubin, Charolette Conklin, Dan Roberts, and (seated) Peg Miller.

 

 

 

Karen Bonaudi will be reading a selection from her poetry. Karen has led poetry workshops in schools, taught adult creative writing classes, conducted workshops and critique panels, and has been a member of a performance troupe.  A long-time board member and former president of the Washington Poets Association, her poetry has appeared in The Bellingham Review, South Dakota Review, Pontoon 2, The Far Field, Snow Monkey, and WPA’s Cascade Journal. Her chapbook Editing a Vapor Trail was published by Pudding House Press.  She lives and works as a private contractor in Renton.

 

 

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, 1333 Broadway in Longview. 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.