Book Beginning: Bridging a Great Divide: The Battle for the Columbia River Gorge by Kathie Durbin

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

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YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

I have just returned from a hike in the Columbia Gorge and it reminded me how much we owe Kathie Durbin for giving us the story of how this magical place was preserved – and how the battle to keep it continues.

-- From the Foreword by Roberta Ulrich to Bridging a Great Divide: The Battle for the Columbia River Gorge by Kathie Durbin, published posthumously by Oregon State University Press.

There have been battles over every man-made change in the Columbia Gorge -- dams, freeways, bridges, hotels, casinos, houses, and now the view-spoiling, bird-killing wind turbines.  As a reporter for The Oregonian, Durbin covered these controversies and became an expert in the history and politics of the Columbia Gorge.  Bridging a Great Divide is Durbin's legacy for all those who love the Columbia Gorge as she did.

Author Interview: Jean Erhardt

Jean Erhardt puts her experience as a private eye and her very funny sense of humor to good use in a new mystery series set in the Great Smokey Mountains area of Tennessee. The heroine is Kim Claypoole, a restaurateur and amateur sleuth.

Erhardt is getting ready to launch the second book of the series and is busy writing the third, but took time to answer questions about the first book and the series.

How did you come to write Small Town Trouble?

I have spent a lot of my lifetime in the Great Smoky Mountains and I knew that I wanted to set the series in and around Gatlinburg, Tennessee. As far as the inspiration for my protagonist, Kim Claypoole, I gave her some of my attributes. For example, we share a similar sense of humor and have a penchant for damsels in distress. For years, I worked as a private investigator and personal protection specialist aka bodyguard. On one memorable occasion, I was holed up for two weeks in a high-end, high security hotel situation with a loaded .38 and a female client from a country which started with I. She was in the process of divorcing her crazed, psychopathic husband who was richer than God. She chain smoked long, rainbow colored cigarettes, drank gallons of Persian tea and carried on lengthy boisterous phone conversations in Farsi at all hours of the day and night. By the end of the two weeks, I was almost hoping that her husband would show up and shoot me. But things turned out well for both of us. I got a big paycheck and she is now living happily ever after under an alias enjoying her multi-million dollar divorce settlement in an exotic, sunny locale.

Who are your three (or four or five) favorite authors?

I adore Kinky Friedman. He writes the funniest mysteries on the planet. I enjoy and greatly admire Robert B. Parker, Joy Williams, Hunter S. Thompson and Charles Portis. Of course, there are many more.

What are you reading now?

Right now, I am reading straight through the last two issues of Tin House which is arguably the best literary journal out there. On deck, I have 99 Stories of God by Joy Williams.

Do you have any events coming up to promote your book?

Thanks for asking. I’m excited to say that book two in the Kim Claypoole series, Deep Trouble, will be released in May 2014 in paperback and eBook. I will be participating in a virtual book tour and doing some local readings and signings.

What is the most valuable advice you’ve been given as an author?

Long ago, I was taught by Joyce Thompson (How to Greet Strangers: A Mystery) that one must learn to write without the muse. A real writer doesn’t wait for inspiration or the right mood to strike. Also, I had the great fortune to study with Joy Williams who taught me that if you have found “a trick” in your writing, you must lose it.

What’s next? Are you working on your next book?

I am currently at work on the next installment in the Kim Claypoole mystery series. I have also just begun to write a new mystery series featuring Portland PI, Haley Hammel. I will be drawing from my years of experience as a criminal defense investigator. The tone of this series will be far more serious than the Claypoole mysteries, although not without some levity.

THANKS JEAN! SMALL TOWN TROUBLE IS AVAILABLE ON THE AUTHOR'S WEBSITE OR AMAZON (PAPERBACK OR KINDLE).

Teaser Tuesday: Small Town Trouble by Jean Erhardt

Who ever had clonked me had done a pretty good job. Luckily, they hadn't done a really great job.

-- Small Town Trouble by Jean Erhardt.

Small Town Trouble introduces Kim Claypoole, a restaurateur and amateur sleuth with her home base in the Smokey Mountains.  Look for my interview with Jean Erhardt here later this week.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday: Turning Down the Sound by Foster Church

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got one books last week and it looks wonderful:



Turning Down the Sound: Travel Escapes in Washington's Small Towns by Foster Church.  Just in time to plan some summer weekend road trips!

Foster Church is a Pulitzer-winning journalist who wrote for the Oregonian for many years.  He now turns his keen eye on the small towns of the Pacific Northwest to write travel pieces for national publications.

Review: A Pillar of Iron

A goal accomplished always makes me happy. Reading A Pillar of Iron, Taylor Caldwell's fictional biography of Marcus Tullius Cicero, was not a goal of mine. But once started, it was a battle between me and the book and I was determined to finish it!

It's actually a great book. Cicero was a contemporary of Julius Caesar, a lawyer, philosopher, and statesman of Rome. The story is fascinating; Caldwell delves heavily into original materials like Cicero's letters, books, and speeches; and her descriptions make ancient Rome lifelike. But it is dense! And long -- 700 pages.

I'd like to amend my law school transcript to get extra credit in Constitutional Law.


OTHER REVIEWS

UNRV History

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will list it here.

NOTES

A Pillar of Iron counts as one of my books for the Chunkster Challenge, as well as knocking another one off my TBR challenges list.