The Cold Millions (with signed bookplate)

by Jess Walter

(Harper, hardcover, 2020)

Jess Walter's fiction has covered comedy, history, crime, character study, and more, but I don't think he's ever put so much into one book before. His most recent novel centers on two brothers, Rye and Gig Dolan, scrabbling for a living as they ride the rails of the Northwest in 1909. Both are caught by a current of social unrest, swept downstream along with a cast of labor organizers, plutocrats, suffragists, vaudeville stars, mobsters, and many humble others. The judicious blend of reality and imagination brings E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime to mind, but as a portrait of the Inland Empire of the Palouse, there's nothing else like it. The Cold Millions is an extravagant, panoramic story told with rumbustious verve, and it's sure as heck going to be on my year's best list. —James (from the Madison Books newsletter)

"One of the most captivating novels of the year." - Washington Post 

A Library Reads Pick An Indie Next Pick A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Best Book of the Year A Washington Post Best Book of the Year

A Most Anticipated Book by: The New York Times Book Review * Wall Street Journal * Time * Esquire * The Millions * Vogue * People * New York Post * USA Today * Medium * The Philadelphia Inquirer * Newsday

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins comes another "literary miracle" (NPR)--a propulsive, richly entertaining novel about two brothers swept up in the turbulent class warfare of the early twentieth century.

An intimate story of brotherhood, love, sacrifice, and betrayal set against the panoramic backdrop of an early twentieth-century America that eerily echoes our own time, The Cold Millions offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich and poor, between harsh realities and simple dreams. 

The Dolans live by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for day work at crooked job agencies. While sixteen-year-old Rye yearns for a steady job and a home, his older brother, Gig, dreams of a better world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent treatment. Enter Ursula the Great, a vaudeville singer who performs with a live cougar and introduces the brothers to a far more dangerous creature: a mining magnate determined to keep his wealth and his hold on Ursula.

Dubious of Gig's idealism, Rye finds himself drawn to a fearless nineteen-year-old activist and feminist named Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. But a storm is coming, threatening to overwhelm them all, and Rye will be forced to decide where he stands. Is it enough to win the occasional battle, even if you cannot win the war?

Featuring an unforgettable cast of cops and tramps, suffragists and socialists, madams and murderers, The Cold Millions is a tour de force from a "writer who has planted himself firmly in the first rank of American authors" (Boston Globe).

Hollow Kingdom (with signed bookplate)

by Kira Jane Buxton

(Grand Central, paperback, $16.99)

"The Secret Life of Pets meets The Walking Dead" in this big-hearted, boundlessly beautiful romp through the Apocalypse, where a foul-mouthed crow is humanity's only chance to survive Seattle's zombie problem (Karen Joy Fowler, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author).

S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (i.e. "those idiots"), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos (R).

But when Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, S.T. starts to think something's not quite right. His tried-and-true remedies -- from beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of Big Jim's loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis -- fail to cure Big Jim's debilitating malady. S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he suddenly discovers that the neighbors are devouring one other. Local wildlife is abuzz with rumors of Seattle's dangerous new predators.

Humanity's extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a cowardly crow whose only knowledge of the world comes from TV.

What could possibly go wrong?

"Hollow Kingdom is a nature book for our own age, an exuberant, glittering, hard-hitting mashup of Dawn of the Dead and The Incredible Journey. It's an adventure lit by strange myths, brand-names, television and smartphone screens, a fable with teeth and claws about animals making new lives amongst the ruins of humanity. It's transformative, poignant, and funny as hell. S.T. the irrepressible, cursing crow is my new favourite apocalyptic hero." --Helen Macdonald, New York Times bestselling author of H Is for Hawk

Living Color: The Angie Rubio Stories (with signed bookplate)

by Donna Miscolta

(Jaded Ibis, paperback, 2020)

We first meet Angie Rubio at age five, being scolded by her kindergarten teacher for not knowing how to skip properly.

Set in California in the 1960s and '70s, Guided Tours in Living Color takes Angie year by year from kindergarten through high school, offering a portrait of the artist as a shy, awkward Mexican-American girl.

Taking place against the backdrop of the Cold War and civil rights eras--the Cuban missile crisis, the Watts riots, Beatlemania, the Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics--Guided Tours in Living Color also surveys the milestones of American girlhood. We see Brownies, slumber parties, training bras, cheerleader tryouts, and proms through the eyes of a "brown, skinny, and bespectacled" Latina who soon learns that pageant winners as well as high school cheerleaders are always white.

Angie is relegated to the fringes of the popular cliques at school, led by opinionated girls whose self-confidence seems as unattainable to her as their perfect teeth and blonde hair. But Angie resists internalizing societal messages about who is beautiful, important, and valid. When a white classmate is cast as Juliet in the school play, she can't resist taunting Angie with "Don't forget who the heroine of this play is," to which Angie replies: "She dies in the end."

In "the unfun funhouse that was high school," Angie decides to reinvent herself. Reminding herself to "be bold, be heard, be provocative," she writes articles for the student newspaper raising critical questions about venerable institutions like homecoming, prom, and the tradition of naming students "most likely to succeed," "best looking," and so forth.

Guided Tours in Living Color traces Angie's formation as a writer, from the child who loves Scrabble and jots down new words she learns in a notebook to the teenager publishing controversial opinions about success and belonging, a person whose voice is now "loud-enough-to-be-heard."

“Donna Miscolta writes gorgeous, luminous sentences, at turns funny and heartbreaking, searing and wise, and—through the observations of one smart, shy, awesome young girl—she deftly exposes the casual and systemic racism of the 1960s and 70s.”  —Sharma Shields, author of The Cassandra

House Lessons: Renovating a Life (with signed bookplate)

by Erica Bauermeister

(Sasquatch, hardcover, 2020)

FROM NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR ERICA BAUERMEISTER COMES A MEMOIR ABOUT THE POWER OF HOME--AND THE TRANSFORMATIVE ACT OF RESTORING ONE HOUSE IN PARTICULAR.

"I think anyone who saves an old house has to be a caretaker at heart, a believer in underdogs, someone whose imagination is inspired by limitations, not endless options."

In this mesmerizing memoir-in-essays, Erica Bauermeister renovates a trash-filled house in eccentric Port Townsend, Washington, and in the process takes readers on a journey to discover the ways our spaces subliminally affect us. A personal, accessible, and literary exploration of the psychology of architecture, as well as a loving tribute to the connections we forge with the homes we care for and live in, this book is designed for anyone who's ever fallen head over heels for a house. It is also a story of a marriage, of family, and of the kind of roots that settle deep into your heart. Discover what happens when a house has its own lessons to teach in this moving and insightful memoir that ultimately shows us how to make our own homes (and lives) better.

"Almost anyone who's ever let heart rule head will nod, at the very least, at the stories that a 100-year-old house in Port Townsend, Washington, evokes. In her memoir of falling in love with a house, novelist Bauermeister details every cranny, cove, and piece of plaster...This will resonate with any readers who love words and old houses." --Booklist, starred review

The Scent Keeper (with signed bookplate)

by Erica Bauermeister

(St. Martin’s Griffin, paperback, 2020)

Erica Bauermeister, the author of the February Reese's Book Club pick The Scent Keeper, presents a moving and evocative novel about childhood stories, families lost and found, and how a fragrance conjures memories capable of shaping the course of our lives.

Emmeline lives on a remote island with her father, who teaches her about the natural world through her senses. What he won't explain are the mysterious scents stored in glass bottles that line the walls of their cabin, or the origin of the machine that creates them. As Emmeline grows, however, so too does her curiosity, until one day the unforeseen happens, and Emmeline is vaulted out into the real world--a place of love, betrayal, ambition, and revenge. To understand her past, Emmeline must unlock the clues to her identity, a quest that challenges the limits of her heart and imagination.

Captivating and emotional,The Scent Keeper explores the provocative beauty of scent, the way it can reveal hidden truths, lead us to the person we seek, and even help us find our way back home.

Told in a lyrical, haunting prose, the story provides fascinating information about the ways in which different fragrances can impact human behavior and the struggles of finding one's own identity. An artfully crafted coming-of-age story that will take the reader on an exquisite olfactory adventure. - Kirkus

The Water Bears (with signed bookplate)

by Kim Baker

(Wendy Lamb, hardcover, 2020)

A quirky, empowering story about a boy recovering from a bear attack with the help of his friends and maybe, some magic. For fans of Lemons by Melissa Savage, Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones, and The Canning Season by Polly Horvath.

Newt Gomez has a thing with bears. Last year he survived a bear attack. And this year, he finds an unusual bear statue that just might grant wishes. Newt's best friend, Ethan, notices a wishbone on the statue and decides to make a wish. When it comes true, Newt thinks it's a coincidence. Even as more people wish on the bear and their wishes come true, Newt is not convinced.

But Newt has a wish too: while he loves his home on eccentric Murphy Island, he wants to go to middle school on the mainland, where his warm extended family lives. There, he's not the only Latinx kid, he won't have to drive the former taco truck--a gift from his parents--and he won't have to perform in the talent show. Most importantly, on the mainland, he never has bad dreams about the attack. Newt is almost ready to make a secret wish when everything changes.

Tackling themes of survival and self-acceptance, Newt's story illuminates the magic in our world, where reality is often uncertain but always full of salvageable wonders.

“Kim Baker sees the world I live in clearly: the beauty and the hard things, the complications, and the magic. Most of all, she sees our connections. A magical, honest look at life’s messy wonder. Highly recommended.” —Kelly Jones, author of the Unusual Chickens series and Sauerkraut

Nature Obscura: A City's Hidden Natural World (with signed bookplate)

by Kelly Brenner

(Mountaineers, paperback, 2020)

With wonder and a sense of humor, Nature Obscura author Kelly Brenner aims to help us rediscover our connection to the natural world that is just outside our front door--we just need to know where to look.

Through explorations of a rich and varied urban landscape, Brenner reveals the complex micro-habitats and surprising nature found in the middle of a city. In her hometown of Seattle, which has plowed down hills, cut through the land to connect fresh- and saltwater, and paved over much of the rest, she exposes a diverse range of strange and unknown creatures. From shore to wetland, forest to neighborhood park, and graveyard to backyard, Brenner uncovers how our land alterations have impacted nature, for good and bad, through the wildlife and plants that live alongside us, often unseen. These stories meld together, in the same way our ecosystems, species, and human history are interconnected across the urban environment.

"With observant eyes and beautiful prose, Kelly Brenner draws us all into the hidden depths of the urban wilderness. Hummingbirds, dragonflies, ferns, and even slime molds come to vibrant life alongside stories of the humans who keep watch over the nature that surrounds us. Nature Obscura inspires everyday wonder, adventure, and wisdom about our changing earth." (Lyanda Lynn Haupt)

"A warm-hearted meditation on the natural wonders that we city dwellers overlook every day, such as the western pondhawk (a dragonfly), licorice ferns, and the charming Anna's hummingbird, her heart beating 1,250 times a minute--and the perhaps less charming ant-decapitating fly and, yes, Fuligo septima, a.k.a., dog-vomit slime mold . . .Once you read this book you'll step more carefully, to avoid damaging the myriad tiny worlds that add color and texture to our world." (Erik Larson)

Happy Narwhalidays (with signed bookplate)

by Ben Clanton

(Tundra, hardcover, 2020)

Narwhal and Jelly spread some holiday cheer (and warm waffle pudding) in the festive fifth book of this blockbuster graphic novel series!

Dive into three new stories about Narwhal's favorite time of the year! It's the festive season in the world wide waters, and Narwhal is looking forward to cozying up with a good book, singing and partying with pod pals and enjoying some warm waffle pudding. But most of all Narwhal is excited about the arrival of the Merry Mermicorn! According to Narwhal, she's part mermaid, part unicorn and completely mer-aculous! Jelly is of course skeptical about the existence of the Mira-Miny-What-A Corn . . . even when he receives a mysterious present. It must be from Narwhal. Now Jelly has to get the perfect gift, but finding a present for someone as unique as Narwhal is no easy feat, even when you have six tentacles. How will Jelly ever come up with a whaley great gift for a best pal who spreads cheer all through the year?

“This volume doesn’t miss a beat alongside its predecessors . . . A holiday treat for fans.” --Kirkus Reviews

“Clanton’s expressively drawn characters, and an additional splash of holiday red in the blue, yellow, and gray palette, provide extra cheer.” --The Horn Book

Post Romantic: Poems (with signed bookplate)

by Kathleen Flenniken

(University of Washington, hardcover, 2020)

In her wide-ranging third book, poet Kathleen Flenniken undertakes the difficult task of re-seeing what is before us. Post Romantic fuses personal memory with national and ecological upheaval, interweaving narratives of family, nuclear history, love of country, and a dangerous age moving too fast. Flenniken takes these challenging moments--bits and pieces of childhood, marriage, cultural touchstones--and holds them up to the light, seeking comfort in a complicated world that is at once heartbreaking, confounding, and dear.

“Flenniken's ambition is fully realized as she skillfully enlists a variety of innovative forms and voices. The result is stunning. Post Romantic is both a product of and a gift for challenging times. If poetry can sustain us—and I believe it can—this collection is a lifesaver.” -- Holly J. Hughes, author of Hold Fast

“Not only does Flenniken grapple with personal feelings about loss, fear, and growing older, she also examines, with a wider lens, white America's romantic view of the past. The poems are layered so that we move seamlessly between childhood, marriage, histories of war operations, and marginalization and displacement of others.” -- Erin Malone, author of Hover

Turn Around Time: A Walking Poem for the Pacific Northwest (with signed bookplate)

by David Guterson

(Mountaineers, hardcover, 2019)

2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards Most Outstanding Design Winner Most outdoor enthusiasts understand the phrase "turn around time" as that point in an adventure when you must cease heading out in order to have enough time to safely return to camp or home--regardless of whether you have reached your destination. For award-winning novelist David Guterson, it is also a metaphor for where we find ourselves in the middle of our lives, and his new narrative poem explores this idea through a lyrical journey along a trail, much like those in Washington's mountain ranges he hiked while growing up.

Even outdoor-lovers who are not normally readers of poetry will relate to the physicality of hiking represented here, from endless trail switchbacks to foot and ankle pains. There is a fast-moving, propulsive quality to David's writing, with lush language, vivid imagery, and pacing that resonates as a journey on foot. His words are brought further to life by the delicate yet mythical illustrations by award-winning artist Justin Gibbens.

“Turn Around Time is a non-fiction testament to the beauty of being in Northwest wilderness, and it’s written in verse. If you’ve ever been stunned by the varieties of green available in one square foot of the rain forest out on the Olympic Peninsula, this is the book for you.” Seattle Review of Books

”Ultimately, this is a book to be read several times―not just at home, but on the trail as well (it's small enough to take on your next backcountry adventure). The poems will lead you to look more carefully at the nature around you, heightening your sense of the magic inherent in the wild.” -- Sara Boon, Alpinist

Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility, and Democracy (with signed bookplate)

by Eric Liu

(Sasquatch, hardcover, 2020)

Washington State Book Award Winner

What does it mean to be an engaged American in today’s divided political landscape, and how do we restore hope in our country? In a collection of “civic sermons” delivered at gatherings around the nation, popular advocate for active citizenship Eric Liu takes on these thorny questions and provides inspiration and solace in a time of anger, fear, and dismay over the state of the Union.

Here are 19 stirring explorations of current and timeless topics about democracy, liberty, equal justice, and powerful citizenship. This book will energize you to get involved, in ways both large and small, to help rebuild a country that you’re proud to call home. Become America will challenge you to rehumanize our politics and rekindle a spirit of love in civic life.

“[This] collection is like a penetrating time-lapse movie of the American mind...[Liu's] great contribution is to show how to mix conviction on racial matters with humility and gentleness. Moreover, he is always pushing toward an American creed that moves beyond both the white monoculture and the fracturing multiculturalism. He is always pushing toward a national story large enough to contain all the hybrid voices.”
—David Brooks, The New York Times

“Eric Liu has a rare gift for decoding the texts and subtexts of our politics and history. Become America is a wise, deep, and beautifully written look at the American civic soul.” 
—Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard professor and host of Finding Your Roots on PBS

I Heart Soul Food: 100 Southern Comfort Food Favorites (with signed bookplate)

by Rosie Mayes

(Sasquatch, paperback, 2020)

From the beloved creator of I Heart Recipes and home cook Rosie Mayes comes a cookbook chock-full of soul food favorites.

Learn to cook comfort food the way Mom used to! Here Rosie shares all the secrets of southern classics like fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens, and mac & cheese, plus soulful twists like Sweet Potato Biscuits and Fried Ribs. Authentic, approachable, and mouthwatering, these recipes use easy-to-find ingredients. Perfect for Sunday suppers and other celebrations as well as everyday favorites, these recipes are love on a plate!

Organized by meal, the cookbook starts with stick-to-your-ribs breakfast favorites like Blueberry Cornbread Waffles and Shrimp, and Andouille Sausage and Grits, plus plenty of main dishes and sides like Smothered Chicken, Oxtail Stew, Baked Candied Yams, Soul Food Collard Greens, and Sweet Cornbread. Don't forget drinks and desserts like Peach Cobbler, Pralines, and Sweet Iced Tea! Includes 100+ recipes, including 30 fan favorites and 70 never-before-seen recipes, and 90 photographs.

“Rosie is my go-to when it comes to recipes.”
—Angie Thomas, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Hate U Give and On the Come Up

“This book is almost like having her over to cook for you and the entire family.”
—Daymon "Daym Drops" Patterson, food critic and YouTuber

Slay (with signed bookplate)

by Brittney Morris

(Simon Pulse, paperback, 2020)

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019!

Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give in this dynamite debut novel that follows a fierce teen game developer as she battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther-inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for Black gamers.

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the "downfall of the Black man."

But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for "anti-white discrimination."

Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?

“Gripping and timely.” —People
“The YA debut we’re most excited for this year.” —Entertainment Weekly
“A book that knocks you off your feet while dropping the kind of knowledge that’ll keep you down for the count. Prepare to BE slain.” —Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out

The Apocalypse Factory: Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age (with signed bookplate)

by Steve Olson

(Norton, hardcover. 2020)

It began with plutonium, the first element ever manufactured in quantity by humans. Fearing that the Germans would be the first to weaponize the atom, the United States marshaled brilliant minds and seemingly inexhaustible bodies to find a way to create a nuclear chain reaction of inconceivable explosive power. In a matter of months, the Hanford nuclear facility was built to produce and weaponize the enigmatic and deadly new material that would fuel atomic bombs. In the desert of eastern Washington State, far from prying eyes, scientists Glenn Seaborg, Enrico Fermi, and many thousands of others--the physicists, engineers, laborers, and support staff at the facility--manufactured plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and for the bombs in the current American nuclear arsenal, enabling the construction of weapons with the potential to end human civilization.

With his characteristic blend of scientific clarity and storytelling, Steve Olson asks why Hanford has been largely overlooked in histories of the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. Olson, who grew up just twenty miles from Hanford's B Reactor, recounts how a small Washington town played host to some of the most influential scientists and engineers in American history as they sought to create the substance at the core of the most destructive weapons ever created. The Apocalypse Factory offers a new generation this dramatic story of human achievement and, ultimately, of lethal hubris.

“A compulsively readable blend of science and storytelling…The Apocalypse Factory is a carefully researched tale of inventive genius, state-authorized mass murder, and the supertoxic legacy of a federal bomb-making mess that will never be cleaned up.” - Blaine Harden, author of Escape from Camp 14 and A River Lost: The Life and Death of the Columbia

“Olson writes lucidly, making even the most recondite details of the science involved clear to a nonscientist. And he’s eloquent in his chronicling of the lives affected ― and sometimes destroyed ― by the invention and use of the world’s most deadly weapon… [A] deft, informative, sometimes terrifying book.” - Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times

Rough House: A Memoir (with signed bookplate)

by Tina Ontiveros

(Oregon State, paperback, 2020)

Tina Ontiveros was born into timber on both sides of the family. Her mother spent summers driving logging trucks for her family's operation, and her father was the son of an itinerant logger, raised in a variety of lumber towns, as Tina herself would be.

A story of growing up in turmoil, rough house recounts a childhood divided between a charming, mercurial, abusive father in the forests of the Pacific Northwest and a mother struggling with small-town poverty. It is also a story of generational trauma, especially for the women--a story of violent men and societal restrictions, of children not always chosen and frequently raised alone.

Ontiveros's father, Loyd, looms large. Reflecting on his death and long absence from her life, she writes, "I had this ridiculous hope that I would get to enjoy a functional relationship with my father, on my own terms, now that I was an adult." In searingly honest, straightforward prose, rough house is her attempt to carve out this relationship, to understand her father and her family from an adult perspective.

While some elements of Ontiveros's story are universal, others are indelibly grounded in the logging camps of the Pacific Northwest at the end of the twentieth century, as the lumber industry shifted and contracted. Tracing her childhood through the working-class towns and forests of Washington and Oregon, Ontiveros explores themes of love and loss, parents and children, and her own journey to a different kind of adulthood.

"rough house is at once a study of a disappearing culture, and an exotic and achingly familiar meditation on family. Amidst an unforgettable world of sawdust and grime, snarling chainsaws and privation, Ontiveros is as vivid in her in description as she is unflinching in her honesty." —Jonathan Evison, author of Lawn Boy and West of Here

The title of Tina Ontiveros' new memoir, rough house, says it all, describing both the delight of her clever father and his menacing flip-side. Ontiveros pulls no punches in portraying a hardscrabble childhood in Pacific Northwest logging camps and her desperate love for a darkly complicated man.
-Debra Gwartney, author of I Am a Stranger Here Myself

The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives (signed copy)

by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schweger

(HarperOne, hardcover, 2020)

With a Foreword by Susan Orlean, twenty-three of today's living literary legends, including Donna Tartt, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Andrew Sean Greer, Laila Lalami, and Michael Chabon, reveal the books that made them think, brought them joy, and changed their lives in this intimate, moving, and insightful collection from American's Librarian Nancy Pearl and noted playwright Jeff Schwager that celebrates the power of literature and reading to connect us all.

Before Jennifer Egan, Louise Erdrich, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Jonathan Lethem became revered authors, they were readers. In this ebullient book, America's favorite librarian Nancy Pearl and noted-playwright Jeff Schwager interview a diverse range of America's most notable and influential writers about the books that shaped them and inspired them to leave their own literary mark. 

Illustrated with beautiful line drawings, The Writer's Library is a revelatory exploration of the studies, libraries, and bookstores of today's favorite authors--the creative artists whose imagination and sublime talent make America's literary scene the wonderful, dynamic world it is. A love letter to books and a celebration of wordsmiths, The Writer's Library is a treasure for anyone who has been moved by the written word.

"The Writer's Library offers a cornucopia of pleasures with respected writers giving fans an insider's look at their libraries and reading habits. This is a treat that no bibliophile will want to miss." --Shelf Awareness

Seattle Walk Report: An Illustrated Walking Tour Through 23 Seattle Neighborhoods (with signed bookplate)

by Susanna Ryan

(Sasquatch, hardcover, 2019)

Washington State Book Award Finalist

Instagram sensation Seattle Walk Report uses her distinctive comic style and eagle eye to illustrate the charming and quirky people, places, and things that define Seattle's neighborhoods.

Leveraging the growing popularity of Seattle Walk Report on Instagram, this charming book features comic book-style illustrations that celebrate the distinctive and odd people, places, and things that define Seattle's neighborhoods. The book goes deep into the urban jungle, exploring 24 popular Seattle neighborhoods, pulling out history, notable landmarks, and curiosities that make each area so distinctive. Entirely hand-drawn and lettered, Seattle Walk Report will be peppered with fun, slightly interactive elements throughout which make for an engaging armchair read, in addition to a fun way to explore the city's iconic, diverse, hipster, historic, and grand neighborhoods.

"Born from the Instagram-famous comic strip 'Seattle Walk Report,' the book...gives a whimsical tour through Seattle's neighborhoods...With new comics and tips for how to get the most out of your urban hike, the book shows you the quirky side of Seattle and encourages you to explore the city on foot and with an open mind."
—Seattle magazine

"Triggered by the popularity of her formerly anonymous Instagram feed of the same name, Ryan's collection of illustrated field notes maps exploratory walks through her hometown. Dutifully recording paper cup sightings alongside historic building entrances, Ryan emphasizes the pleasures of small discoveries that might go otherwise unnoticed."
—Shelf Awareness

The Electric Hotel (with signed bookplate)

by Dominic Smith

(Picador, paperback, 2020)

A sweeping work of historical fiction from the New York Times–bestselling author Dominic Smith, The Electric Hotel is a spellbinding story of art and love.

For more than thirty years, Claude Ballard has been living at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel. A French pioneer of silent films who started out as a concession agent for the Lumière brothers, the inventors of cinema, Claude now spends his days foraging for mushrooms in the hills of Los Angeles and taking photographs of runaways and the striplings along Sunset Boulevard. But when a film history student comes to interview Claude about The Electric Hotel―the lost masterpiece that bankrupted him and ended the career of his muse, Sabine Montrose―the past comes surging back. In his run-down hotel suite, the ravages of the past are waiting to be excavated: celluloid fragments in desperate need of restoration, as well as Claude’s memories of the woman who inspired and beguiled him.

The Electric Hotel is a portrait of a man entranced by the magic of moviemaking, a luminous romance, and a whirlwind trip through early cinema. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

“Wondrous . . . [Smith] writes with an old-world elegance; you get lost in these pages like you do in a great movie, not wanting the lights to come up.”

―The Seattle Times

“An irresistible and dizzying international tale of early cinema. [Smith] is a writer of elegance, rich imagination and propulsive plotting.”
―The Washington Post

The Cloven: Book One (with signed bookplate)

by Garth Stein and Matthew Southworth

(Fantagraphics, hardcover, 2020)

The Cloven Book One stars James Tucker, the most successful Genetically Modified Human Organism ever created. Conceived in a privately financed, top-secret laboratory on Washington state's Vashon Island, Tucker is a cross between a human and a goat -- a Cloven. Known to his friends as "Tuck," all he wants is to live a normal life as a university student; everything is going fine, until he shows a girl his hooves... Moody and mysterious and atmospheric as a fever dream, The Cloven Book One follows Tuck's breakneck journey across the Pacific Northwest as he searches for his true home out there somewhere. Book One of a raucous, funny, fast-moving, and dynamic series of graphic novels by two bestselling and critically acclaimed storytellers.

“The Cloven makes me believe in comics, in art on the page, in the beauty of an image, in the intimacy of a story that moves from the mind to the hand and then to the imagination of the reader. Mostly it makes me believe ― truly believe ― in a hero that comics champion better than any other medium: the underdog.”
- Chelsea Cain, New York Times bestselling author and Eisner Award nominee

“Wildly, dizzyingly imaginative, and grimly allegorical. It fairly 'bleats' with wry humor, and the art is spectacular. I can’t wait for the next two installments!”
- Erik Larson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Devil in the White City

The Fixed Stars (with signed bookplate)

by Molly Wizenberg

(Abrams, hardcover, 2020)

From a bestselling memoirist, a thoughtful and provocative story of changing identity, complex sexuality, and enduring family relationships

At age 36, while serving on a jury, author Molly Wizenberg found herself drawn to a female attorney she hardly knew. Married to a man for nearly a decade and mother to a toddler, Wizenberg tried to return to her life as she knew it, but something inside her had changed irrevocably. Instead, she would discover that the trajectory of our lives is rarely as smooth or as logical as we'd like to believe.

Like many of us, Wizenberg had long understood sexual orientation as a stable part of ourselves: we're "born this way." Suddenly she realized that her story was more complicated. Who was she, she wondered, if something at her very core could change so radically? The Fixed Stars is a taut, electrifying memoir exploring timely and timeless questions about desire, identity, and the limits and possibilities of family. In honest and searing prose, Wizenberg forges a new path: through the murk of separation and divorce, coming out to family and friends, learning to co-parent a young child, and realizing a new vision of love. The result is a frank and moving story about letting go of rigid definitions and ideals that no longer fit, and learning instead who we really are.

“The Fixed Stars, like its protagonist, is both brave and sexy, both heady and bodily, and I ripped through this memoir like it was the most erudite romance novel in the world. This is a truly compelling look at sexuality, marriage, and parenthood in this century.” 

-- Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here and The Vacationers

“In The Fixed Stars, Molly Wizenberg tackles the ever-shifting issues of marriage, motherhood, and sexual orientation with the same compassion and unflinching honesty that have become the hallmarks of her writing. She makes the everyday extraordinary and brings depth and complexity to the bigger questions in life. A beautiful read.”

-- Erica Bauermeister, author of The Scent Keeper