Local Authors Fair

So do you want to publish a book, but don’t know how to go get started? Are you writing a book and have hit a wall? Or, are you like me and have so many ideas that you don’t even know what to do with yourself? Well… Did you know that Samuels Public Library is having a local authors fair on Saturday January 25, from 1-4 p.m.? Come and meet people who have struggled and succeeded in the endeavor of writing a book!

Here is just a small sample of the author’s books that will be at the fair, more will be added shortly.

Smoke Eaters by Christine Andreae – Three years after qualifying for high command in the Forest Service, Mattie McCulloch is finally assigned to her first big fire. She is the first woman to hold tbe job. Under her are seventeen hundred troops and an operation that costs one million dollars a day to run. Mattie is put in charge of the fire after the camp is plagued with racial troubles, but that is only the beginning of her problems. Her son Jim is stationed at Justice, and she is torn between motherly concern and her duties as commander. Mattie also has to deal with subordinates who do not want her in charge and a group af nudists who do not want any firefighters on their land. As the tension of the firefight heightens, readers also learn that there is a psychopath on the loose. In his diary he writes about the games he likes to play with fire, and the amount of rage he displays toward women is frightening. Soon he begins to focus on Mattie with obscene and threatening messages.

1,000 to 1! : claiming, breeding and racing thoroughbreds on a shoestring-and beating the odds by Malcolm Barr – 1,000 to 1" is an anecdotal story about the varied people--from a cabinet officer to a bell captain--who have owned inexpensive horses with the Hampshire partnerships, the people who have trained and cared for the horses, and the horses themselves. This is not a "how to" book since, during our 17 years in the business, despite business plans and racing plans and breeding plans, and, you name it, any other plans, the dynamics constantly changed, and we changed with them. Racing and breeding thoroughbreds always seem to us to be a seat of the pants enterprise, with change being a constant. It is a story about how to spin a $2,500 share into a two-year ownership involving three, four, and sometimes five cheap race horses who, somehow or other, managed to reach the winner's circle a phenomenal 20% of the time over a 17-year period, some years twice that often. It is a story of how a group of novices stumbled into breeding thoroughbreds successfully, accomplishing the near impossible--that is, seeing all the foals they sent to the races wind up in the winner's circle! It is also a story of blind faith, faith in our trainers, in our animals, and in our jockeys who give their best for our entertainment in what can be, and often is, the world's most dangerous sport.

The courageous follower : standing up to & for our leaders by Ira Chaleff – For every leader it is necessary to have followers who work closely with them to achieve their goals. The Courageous Follower gives followers the insights and tools needed to effectively partner with their leaders. The results it offers are nothing less than highly satisfying and productive working relationships, organizations that are saved from the consequences of serious missteps by leaders, and leaders whose careers are saved by honest and effective feedback from those who know them best. The third edition has a new chapter on what people can do when they don't have direct access to a leader, when orders that come down to them through a hierarchy seem ill-advised -- a skill whose need has been thrown into high relief by the recent failures of economic leaders.

Rapunzel let down : a fairy tale retold by Regina Doman – Hermes McCaffrey is sick and tired of sharing his life with his father’s political career and his overbearing older brothers. So during his family’s vacation in New England, when he meets Raphaela, a lovely and brilliant girl dreaming in a hidden tower, is it surprising that he wants her all to himself? But visiting Raphaela is dangerous, and not just because of her mother’s paranoia about strangers or her estate’s sinister caretaker. When Hermes decides to go too far, the results are devastating for Raphaela ... and for Hermes as well.

What happens when falling in love means falling into deep sin?

Demystifying Mysticism Gratitude As Gift by Robert Colacurio – Jesus gave the key to the Kingdom and to life more abundant when he gave us the example of children. This book explores the idea that people are most themselves when they achieve the seriousness of children at play. When folks are most themselves, they naturally experience the beginnings of mystic perception. The demystifi cation of mysticism starts as simply as the focused attention of children at play, and takes small steps that, slowly but surely, lead to a life changing relationship with the Divine and the entire universe. Although this book is not intended to be a how-to manual, it nevertheless brings the demystifi cation of mysticism down to daily experiences that can be practiced by anyone. Mystic perception just penetrates beyond their surface appearances. Once even the fundamentals of mystic perception become clarifi ed in practice, sacred space opens up as one s natural environment. Within the environment of sacred space, gratitude as a gift giving exchange becomes the natural relationship one comes to enjoy with the entire universe.

The Lost Tribe of Us by Heather Davis –In The Lost Tribe of Us, Heather Davis offers her readers vivid, occasionally comic, more often gut-wrenching poems that, in the first part of the book, engage with the lives of members of a large family-all the vulnerabilities and pathos of poverty: repossessed cars, joblessness, leaky roofs, too small houses, second-hand clothing and teen-age pregnancy. Later, the scope of the poems widens to include aspects of the world at large: war, terrorism, rape, imprisonment, incest, mental illness, much of what troubled flesh is heir to. But to say simply that the poems are about big subjects that really matter is not to do them justice. They are invariably characterized by exquisite formal control, the always lovely deployment of language that is a delight to the eye and ear. The Lost Tribe of Us, is a wonderful first book by an exceptionally gifted poet.

Stonewall Jackson and Winchester, Virginia by Jerry Holsworth – The relationship between Stonewall Jackson and the town of Winchester, Virginia, began in June 1861 and lasted until his untimely death on May 10, 1863. Jackson's values and beliefs reflected sentiments of the vast majority of the people of the Shenandoah Valley. This, coupled with his spectacular successes on the battlefield, endeared Jackson to the people of Winchester, helping to form a remarkable bond between the general and the townspeople that is still remembered today. Local historian Jerry Holsworth chronicles the relationship between Jackson and the soldiers and townspeople of Winchester with information gathered from diaries, letters, journals and newspaper articles. Holsworth also recounts stories of the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, the battles that forever cemented Jackson's place in Winchester history

Washington, DC : a photographic portrait by Jake McGuire – This photographic portrait is a celebration of Washington, DC, the capital city of the world's greatest democracy. Jake McGuire has not only captured the famous "post card" vies of this great city, he has captured its many moods and seasons. Enjoy our nation's capital, a city with no equal in the world.