Desolation Ghosts: September 2021

Desolation Ghosts is a 65,000-word adult literary fiction novel in the vein of The Human Stain. It is set in North Cascades National Park and is about a missing traumatized female veteran with alcohol and relationship addictions who changes her mind about killing herself, but then falls off a mountain and must survive in the wilderness while park rangers battle over how much effort should be spent to locate her. The story takes place during the Covid-19 pandemic and the beginning of law enforcement reforms following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. This book will appeal to readers who are interested in national parks, outdoor recreation, the Pacific Northwest, and the controversial issue of how emergency services treat people with mental health challenges. It includes exciting stories, based on real-life events, about using rock climbing and short-haul helicopter techniques to rescue a pack string mule who fell off a trail and a mountain climber who fell off a crag, a shoot-out and its impact on park rangers, a couple drownings, an aquatic body recovery and other sad outdoor tragedies, and funny and scary encounters with bears and other wildlife. If you like Jack Kerouac, Nevada Barr, Bree Loewen, Jon Krakauer, Michael Connelly, James Dickey's Deliverance, Matthew Quick's The Silver Linings Playbook or Scott Heim's Mysterious Skin, you may enjoy Desolation Ghosts.

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Books Off Jameson

We bought the contents of a bookstore a couple years ago, which has mostly been in storage. If we find the right place, maybe we'll open a live bookstore someday, or maybe we'll sell everything online. We are now official (on Amazon only) and just sold our first book! ... unfortunately, I listed it for $4 without seeing that the nearest competing offer was $15. Little bit of a learning curve to overcome! And still a lot of organizing and inventory to complete a little at a time. Here is our "bookstore" in its current condition. Most of the books are in boxes. Yes, that IS a Lego Millenium Falcon on the display case.

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Police reform

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Changes in police response

Monday 9/27, 5 p.m., East County Community Resource Center (45770A Main St, Concrete), Skagit County Sheriff's Deputy Wolfe will be making a presentation on the changes in police response to incidents involving mental health. Open to the public.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Picked up this little gem at Easton's today 

Topics

Alcoholism, animal and human rescues and fatalities in national parks, Armenian genocide, bears, Beat writers, Black Lives Matter, breast cancer, childhood sexual abuse, climbing, Covid-19, gold mining, grief, Land Back, LGBTQ+, losing a loved one to suicide, mental health barriers to services, mobbing, mules and pack strings, outdoor safety, park ranger trauma and suicide, psych meds, PTSD, rape, rattlesnake wrangling, recovery, religious disillusionment, search and rescue, self-soothing and therapeutic techniques, sex and love addiction, shoot-out, sisterhood, spirituality, veterans, women in the military, and World War II.

Desolation Ghosts