Life Safety Skills for Teens and the Adults Who Care for Them
by Jonathan Cristall, Esq.
Publication Date: May 26, 2020
The 21st century guidebook of life safety skills for teens, their parents, and other caregivers, covering physical safety, sexual consent, social media, your rights with the police, situational awareness, dating violence, smartphones, and more.
Young people coming of age today face new risks, expectations, and laws that didn’t exist when their parents were young. What They Don’t Teach Teens provides teens, tweens, and young adults with up-to-date, realistic strategies to protect themselves against the pitfalls of modern adolescence.
Author Jonathan Cristall, once a troubled teen himself and now a veteran prosecutor for the City of Los Angeles, works extensively with teenagers and their families to teach physical, digital, emotional, and legal safety skills. Drawing on Cristall’s hands-on experience, What They Don’t Teach Teens gives parents and other caregivers techniques for talking to their children about these urgent issues.
What They Don’t Teach Teens gives sound advice on police interactions and personal safety(your constitutional rights, what to do/not do when stopped by the police while driving, situational awareness, street robberies, gun violence); sexual violence and misconduct (sexual consent, sexual harassment prevention, dating violence, sextortion); and staying safer online (digital footprint and citizenship, cyberbullying, underage sexting, online porn).
A must-read for all families, What They Don’t Teach Teens is filled with practical guidance, thoughtful insight, and simple-to-use tips and tactics that will empower teens and others to make good choices now and in the future.
$19.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 320 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-358-8
Item currently available for pre-order. Will ship upon publication.
by Pat Hunter and Janice Stevens
The best loved and most spectacular drive in California is documented in a beautifully illustrated artistic and literary journey. A fantastic drive comes to a stunning conclusion in An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 South. Completing the trilogy started in An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 North and continued in An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 Central, An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 South is an enchanting exploration of California’s State Highway 1 from Point Hueneme Lighthouse to the Mexican border.
Lavishly illustrated with over 130 original full-color Pat Hunter watercolors depicting gorgeous landscapes and architectural treasures, An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 South is a thinking person’s travel guide for people who want to explore the history, culture, and architecture of the Southern California Coast—as well as experiencing the best in dining, lodging, and unusual experiences along the route.
Going far beyond the usual travel guide, An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 South is a literary and artistic collaboration that captures a very personal experience of a journey, illuminated by a deep cultural awareness of the places, people and history of California.
A personal memoir of the Hunter and Stevens’ personal journey along the great highway, An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 South records the authors’ explorations off the beaten path, their serendipitous discoveries, and their personal reactions to the places they encounter.
Along the way, An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 South explores the greatest sights and experiences
along the great highway, giving readers tips on the major points of interest, sights to see, places to stay and the best seafood restaurants on the coast.
A satisfying and contemplative mixture of captivating artistry and personal essay, An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 South is a triumphant conclusion to a unique travel trilogy.
About the Authors: Pat Hunter is a widely recognized regional artist whose work has been shown in museums and galleries throughout California. Janice Stevens is an author and teacher of English literature and creative writing. Hunter and Stevens have collaborated on numerous books on California architecture and history.
$26.95 • Trade Paperback • 11” x 8½” • 128 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-297-0
Travel/California / Art • BISAC TRV025130 /ART016010
Over 130 Original Full Color Illustrations
by Moira Dolan, MD
Publication Date: March 10, 2020
Even the greatest minds in medicine have been terribly, terribly wrong.
The inventor of the lobotomy won a Nobel prize in medicine for destroying his patients’ brains. Another Nobel laureate thought malaria cured syphilis. The discoverer of anaphylactic shock also researched the spirit world and ESP. A pioneer of organ transplants was an ardent eugenicist, while the founder of sports physiology heroically spoke out against Nazism.
Boneheads and Brainiacs profiles the winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine from 1901 to 1950 — a surprisingly diverse group of racists, cranks and opportunists, as well as heroes, geniuses and selfless benefactors of humanity. Forget all the ivory tower stereotypes of white-coated doctors finding miracle cures. Boneheads and Brainiacs reveals the messy human reality behind medical progress, in a highly entertaining book written for the ordinary reader.
Some were bad scientists; others were great scientists and lousy human beings. But the majority of these researchers produced knowledge that now saves millions of lives — priceless discoveries like the role of vitamins in nutrition, the dangers of radiation, treatments for diabetes and deadly infectious diseases, and more. Boneheads and Brainiacs showcases the enthralling, all too human personal lives that made modern medicine possible.
An absorbing and easy-to-read history of medical progress in the 20th century — and a fascinating roundup of unforgettable and eccentric characters — Boneheads and Brainiacs will make you look at medicine and science in a whole new way.
About the Author: Moira Dolan, MD, is a graduate of the University of Illinois School of Medicine and has been a practicing physician for over thirty years. Dr. Dolan is a patient advocate and public speaker who educates patients on their rights and the need for a healthy skepticism of the medical profession. Dr. Dolan maintains a private medical practice in Austin, Texas.
$18.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 250 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-350-2
How the Occult Haunted Music, Movies and Pop Culture, 1966–1980
by George Case
Publication Date: March 18, 2016
In 1966, secular rationality seemed so dominant that Time magazine ran a cover story that asked, “Is God dead?” No one could have anticipated that mysticism, the irrational and the Occult would rule American popular culture for the next 15 years.
Here’s to My Sweet Satan is the first book to fully document the Occult craze of the 1960s and 1970s, when the Devil, demonic possession, and magic became the dominant themes of music, books, movies, and even Saturday morning cartoon shows.
A sweeping and masterful cultural history, Here’s to My Sweet Satan tells how the Occult conquered the American imagination, weaving together topics as diverse as the birth of heavy metal, Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, New Age cults, Bigfoot, Scooby-Doo, Count Chocula cereal, the serial killer Son of Sam, and more.
Here’s to My Sweet Satan is both a fun, nostalgic look at some of the campier aspects of 60s/70s pop culture (remember Dark Shadows, pyramid power, In Search Of … and Chariots of the Gods?) and a serious inquiry into the origins of the dark, disturbing phenomena of the era, from the Manson Family murders to the Jonestown massacre. Cultural critic George Case gives a superb account of the crisscrossing artistic and cultural influences that intersected between the Occult, rock music, paperback fiction and pop culture of the period. (Case’s account of how Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band led to heavy metal is a must-read for all rock fans.)
Here’s to My Sweet Satan ties the many manifestations of the Occult craze into a single cultural movement, a crucial turning point that permanently changed American society, creating the cultural framework for the political power of the religious right, false accusations of Satanic child abuse, and today’s widespread rejection of science and rationality. An insightful blend of pop culture and social history, Here’s to My Sweet Satan lucidly explains how the most technological society on earth became enthralled by the supernatural.
About the Author: George Case is a writer on ideas and popular culture, and an acknowledged authority on the band Led Zeppelin. He is the author of Led Zeppelin FAQ, Calling Dr. Strangelove and several other books. Case has also contributed several articles to the social science journal Skeptic.
$18.95 ($23.95 Canada) • Hardcover • 6″ x 9″ • 196 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-265-9
The Pressured Past and Precarious Future
of California’s Coast
by Kim Steinhardt and Gary Griggs
The Pacific coast is the most iconic region of California and one of the most fascinating and rapidly changing places in the world. Densely populated, urbanized and industrialized — but also home to wilderness with complex, fragile ecosystems — the coast is the place where humanity and nature coexist in a precarious balance that is never perfectly stable.
The Edge: The Pressured Past and Precarious Future of California’s Coast is a dramatic snapshot of the California coast’s past, present and probable future in a time of climate change and expanding human activity.
Written by two marine experts who grew up on the coast, The Edge is both a celebration of the coast’s natural and cultural uniqueness and a warning of the many complex changes that threaten that uniqueness.
As ocean levels rise, coastal communities are starting to erode, and entire neighborhoods have been lost to the sea. Coastal ecosystems and wildlife that were already stressed by human settlement now face new dangers, some threatening their very survival. The combined impacts of climate change, housing and commercial growth, commercial fisheries, oil drilling and production, along with environmental advocacy, all come together to define the future of the region.
The Edge examines the current state of the coast’s natural and social environments, gives the historical causes for the coast’s present endangerment and offers informed projections on possible scenarios of the coast’s future.
A masterful and sweeping synthesis of environmental and social science, The Edge presents a comprehensive portrait of natural and cultural history — the story of the people, communities, industries, ecology and wildlife of the California coast.
Audience: Readers interested in environmental issues, marine wildlife, climate change and California history.
About the Authors: A widely recognized marine wildlife photographer, former administrative law judge, and a long-time conservation advocate, Kim Steinhardt delivers popular lectures and photographic programs on coastal conservation and ocean stewardship issues for aquariums and marine centers, universities, state parks and other audiences. Gary Griggs has written or co-authored nine books about the coast and coastal issues both in California and globally. As a Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz, he is known for his expertise in oceanography and coastal geology. He serves as the director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz.
$18.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 300 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-309-0
Explore the Famous Sites, Neighborhoods, and Vistas in 17 Enchanting Walks
by Kristine Poggioli and Carolyn Eidson
Every visitor to San Francisco has seen the classic roadside signs showing a seagull that beckons motorists to follow the famous 49 Mile Scenic Drive. Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive shows how walking—rather than driving—San Francisco’s famous scenic route gives both tourists and natives an active, funway to enjoy and fall in love with the most beautiful city in the world.
Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive invites readers to explore quirky locales face-to-face, so they can fully savor the City’s beauty and cultural riches — while also enjoying a healthy urban hike.
Written by two long-time San Franciscans who have explored every nook and cranny of the 49 Mile Drive, Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive presents 17 bite-size walks, complete with turn-by-turn instructions, maps, and historical facts and information. Each chapter introduces the sights, landmarks and secret treasures of a specific San Francisco neighborhood, while leading the reader along a route that will pro vide healthy exercise for both brisk and sedate walkers.
Each chapter includes detailed maps, points of interest, info on bus routes and parking, recommendations for visiting hidden gems and must-see museums, plus plenty of tips and stats to help walkers, such as step counts and mile distances, hill steepness rating, weather tips and more.
The perfect guidebook for today’s urban enthusiast who values walkable neighborhoods, hyperlocal culture and the pleasure and health benefits of walking, Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive is the most intimate way to explore one of America’s greatest cities.
Audience: San Francisco Bay Area residents, visitors to San Francisco, urban enthusiasts and hikers.
About the Authors: Kristine Poggioli is a native San Franciscan, copywriter and storyteller. Carolyn Eidson is an award-winning filmmaker and comedian. Together, they are the first people to have walked the entire length of San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive, resulting in a combined 75-pound weight loss.
$16.95 ($21.95 Canada) • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 180 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-279-6
Available for pre-order. Will ship upon publication.
by James A. Ardaiz
From Pace Press.
A young assistant DA takes on an elusive serial killer and a flawed justice system in this gritty debut legal thriller, the first in a new series.
Assistant DA Matt Jamison is called to a meticulously staged crime scene on a canal bank in rural Central California — the latest in a series of murders that have killed three young women in one month. A serial killer is on the loose and adept at hiding his tracks. And before the murderer can be brought to justice, Jamison will lose his illusions about what justice means.
As a fourth victim is abducted and investigators race against time, Jamison must cope with a sophisticated and evasive killer, a politically-minded sheriff eager to claim credit and spread blame, and mounting pressure to resolve a high-profile case.
The stakes get higher when Jamison brings a shaky prosecution to court and must manage an arrogant defense attorney, a smoothly lying defendant and a fragile witness. And while Jamison struggles to convict a murderer, events outside his control will test his trust in the justice system and the fallible human beings who operate it.
Written by a former investigator, prosecutor and judge who intimately knows the world of attorneys, detectives and men who kill, Fractured Justice crackles with authenticity, realistically depicting the lives of the all-too-human people who enforce the law and the messy compromises they make in their work.
Featuring an intricate plot, a chillingly sophisticated villain, a dogged and determined protagonist and a clear-eyed assessment of how the justice system operates, Fractured Justice is a gripping, fast-paced and coldly realistic thriller — and a stunning debut novel by a remarkable new mystery writer.
Audience: Legal thriller and mystery readers.
About the Author: James A. Ardaiz is a former prosecutor, judge and Presiding Justice of the California Fifth District Court of Appeal. Ardaiz’s first book was Hands Through Stone , a nonfiction account of his investigation and prosecution of murderer Clarence Ray Allen, the last man executed by the State of California.
$16.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 350 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-298-7
The History of California’s Main Street
by Stephen H. Provost
Before it was a modern freeway, California’s State Highway 99 was the main street of California, a simple two-lane road that passed through the downtowns of every city between the Mexican border and the Oregon state line.
Highway 99: A History of California’s Main Street turns back the clock to those days when a narrow ribbon of asphalt tied the state’s communities together, with classic roadside attractions and plenty of fun along the way.
Illustrated throughout with historical photographs, Highway 99 documents the birth and development of the great highway, from its beginnings as a dream project by a handful of early motorcar enthusiasts to its 1920s incarnation as a narrow trail over the Grapevine to the modern superhighway of today.
Along the way, Highway 99 chronicles an amazing amount of history: the invention of basic highway equipment such as the center stripe and the road sign; the great Dust Bowl migrations of the Okies; the origins of California landmarks like Griffith Park and Magic Mountain; and the network of beacon towers for airplanes that briefly paralleled the highway in the 1920s; and numerous other stories.
Above all, the story of Highway 99 is the story of classic American roadside culture. Highway 99 witnessed the birth of the motor court motel, the drive-thru window, the theme park, and the truck stop, and Highway 99 unearths detailed histories of the innumerable gas stations, hotel, restaurants, amusements, and whole communities that developed to cater to the motorist.
From the foundations of America’s fast-food culture to the birth of the Bakersfield Sound, the history of California has happened around Highway 99, and Highway 99 brilliantly depicts that history.
About the Author: Stephen H. Provost is a journalist, author, and editor of The Cambrian newspaper. His previous books include Fresno Growing Up: A City Comes of Age 1945—1985, a history of his hometown. Provost lives with his wife on California’s Central Coast, where he blogs at his website, stephenhprovost.com.
$20.95 US • Trade Paperback • 8.5″ x 10″ • 350 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-296-3
HISTORY / California • BISAC HIS036140
Over 300 black and white plus 33 color photographs• Index
Creative Focus in the Age of Distraction
by Gary Rogowski
“Gary Rogowski leads us gently but surely upon the path to a type of success we may not have previously considered. (Hint: it involves blisters.)” —Nick Offerman, author of Paddle Your Own Canoe
A new classic in the tradition of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Shop Class as Soulcraft, Handmade: Creative Focus in the Age of Distraction will help creative people in any field reconnect to the source of their creativity and revitalize their creative energy.
In Handmade, master craftsman Gary Rogowski confronts the greatest obstacles to creative focus in the modern age: distraction; pointless busyness; fear of failure; and the devil of self-doubt that tells you your work doesn’t matter. Handmade shows that the path around these obstacles is the act of creative work itself. The discipline of working with one’s hands, mind and heart to create unnecessarily beautiful things shapes the builder into a more complete human being.
Handmade tells the story of how the young Rogowski, an intellectual college graduate with no formal training in woodworking, became a craftsman through years of persistent labor, which taught him patience, resilience, tolerance for failure, and a love of pursuing beauty and mastery for their own sakes.
Rogowski punctuates the story of his growth as a craftsman with accounts of his hiking and mountaineering expeditions with his friend Wheaton, who taught him a different kind of perseverance and patience in the face of danger, discomfort, and the wild beauty of nature. In telling his stories, Rogowski reflects deeply on the lessons he has learned and presents a series of profound meditations on the eternal value of work, creativity, human fallibility, and the stubborn pursuit of quality.
Part autobiography, part guide to creativity, and part guide to living an authentic life, Handmade is a book for craftspeople, artists and anyone who seeks clarity, purpose and creativity in their work.
Audience: Artists, craftspeople, woodworkers, creative professionals, and anyone developing their creativity.
About the Author: Gary Rogowski is a furniture maker, designer, teacher and author. He is also a playwright, essayist, and novelist. His previous books include the best-selling Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery. Rogowski is the founder and director of The Northwest Woodworking Studio, A School for Woodworkers.
$18.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 180 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-314-4
Self-Help / Creativity • Crafts & Hobbies
A Cultural Topography of a Land of Wonder and Weirdness
by Sam McManis
Sacramento Bee journalist Sam McManis spent five years on the road trying to find the real California. He discovered that there is more than one California, but every different California is equally weird and wonderful. Worlds collide and commingle: the neo-hippies with the rednecked farmers; the urban sophisticates with the quirky desert dwellers; the Hollywood power brokers with the Outsider Artists.
Brought together in a bouillabaisse of voices, Crossing California will make you see the state in an entirely new light.
From the briny scent of Fisherman’s Wharf to the fragrant sage scrub of Imperial County; from the otherworldly starkness of Death Valley to the crashing waves and flexing muscles at Venice Beach, Crossing California gives readers a first-hand experience.
McManis has stalked the tony aisles of the newly minted Broad Museum in gentrified downtown Los Angeles, and quick-footed it through the International Banana Museum along the desiccated shores of the moonscaped Salton Sea. He has inadvertently gotten his car stuck in a tree at a cheesy drive-thru giant Sequoia roadside attraction along the hemp highway between Mendocino and Humboldt, and witnessed, with both fascination and can’t-look-away horror, grown men and women, sans children and sans inhibitions, belt out full-throated versions of “Let It Go” at a Disneyland sing-along. All told, Crossing California is a trip.
Audience: Readers interested in California culture, history, oddities, and humor.
About the Author: Sam McManis is a former columnist and feature writer for the Sacramento Bee. He is a four-time winner of the Society of Features Journalism awards and three-time Best of the West honoree. He also has been a staff writer and editor at the San Francisco Chronicle and a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times. His profiles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. He lives and writes in Washington state.
$14.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 280 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-313-7
by Daniel Stallings
“An Agatha Christie cast of characters seen with a modern eye, and with startling moments of both insight and compassion.” —Anne Perry
The traditional murder mystery collides with an entirely different kind of detective hero in the new mystery novel Sunny Side Up. An engaging mixture of Agatha Christie–style intrigue and Millennial snark, Sunny Side Up takes a fresh approach to the traditional murder mystery with a modern sensibility and a working class amateur sleuth.
For 20-year-old Liam “Li” Johnson, a job as a cruise ship waiter was supposed to be a way to get over his father’s death and earn enough money to go back to college. Instead, Li is struggling to maintain his sanity while coping with the demands of a sadistic maître d’ and a boatload of entitled rich jerk passengers.
Li just wants to keep his head down and survive his job from hell, but when he finds a passenger sunburned to a crisp on the Sunbathing Deck, something about the scene just doesn’t add up. Li starts asking uncomfortable questions … and gets some forceful pushback, including a whispering campaign suggesting that Li himself may have had something to do with the victim’s death.
Before he knows it, Li is on the track of a murder … and if Li doesn’t find the real killer soon, or he might just get framed for the crime — or worse, lose his crappy job.
A brand-new classic in the amateur detective genre, Sunny Side Up is a traditional murder mystery for the 21st century, with a glamorous setting, a gallery of suspects, clues that will keep readers guessing to the last page, and a delightful new hero in Li Johnson, the millennial minimum wage manhunter, who brings sleuthing to the service economy.
Audience: Lovers of traditional murder mysteries.
About the Author: Daniel Stallings’ love of Golden Age detective fiction inspired him to bring the style of the classic murder mystery to modern audiences. In addition to writing mysteries, Stallings works in theater as a producer, director, and actor. He currently serves as President of the Eastern Sierra Branch of the California Writers Club. Stallings lives in the city of Ridgecrest in California’s Mojave Desert.
AVAILABLE NOW!
$12.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ × 9″ • 206 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-311-3
What Cops Know About Crime, Community and Violence
by Adam Plantinga
Publication Date: December 1, 2018
A veteran police officer gives his thoughtful, balanced views on police shootings, racial profiling, community relations, and every other aspect of policing in Police Craft: What Cops Know About Crime, Community and Violence.
Written by Adam Plantinga, the author of the acclaimed 400 Things Cops Know, Police Craft is a thought-provoking and revelatory examination of policing in America, as seen by a working police officer.
Plantinga, a police officer for 17 years and a serving sergeant with the San Francisco Police Department, gives an inside view of the police officer’s job, from handling evidence and conducting interrogations to coping with danger, violence, and death.
Police Craft explores a wide range of topics related to police work, from the techniques of policing to the culture of the profession, the sociology of crime and criminals, and the psychological toll on police officers.
Not hesitating to confront controversial issues, Plantinga presents a police officer’s views on police shootings, racial profiling, and relationships between police and the community — and offers reasoned proposals on what the police and the public can do better.
Hard-boiled, humorous, and compassionate, Plantinga wrestles with the complexities and contradictions of a job he loves in which he witnesses so much suffering. Transcending today’s strident pro-cop/anti-cop rhetoric, Police Craft will give every reader a greater respect for the police and greater understanding of the job they do.
Audience: True crime and mystery readers, readers interested in police work, readers interested in current events and public policy related to policing, and active, retired and aspiring police officers.
About the Author: Adam Plantinga has been a police officer for 17 years and is currently a sergeant with the San Francisco Police Department. Plantinga’s first book, 400 Things Cops Know, received rave reviews from star crime writers such as Lee Child, Edward Conlon, and Joseph Wambaugh and was hailed as “the new bible for crime writers” in the Wall Street Journal. Plantinga lives in the Bay Area with his wife and daughters.
$16.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 280 pages • Index
ISBN 978-1-61035-331-1
Available for pre-sale. Will ship on publication.
by Richard Armstrong
The Mafia comes to Comic-Con and outrageousness ensues, in the new fast-paced suspense caper The Don Con.
A hilarious comic crime thriller in the tradition of Carl Hiaasen and Janet Evanovich, The Don Con. mixes suspense, razor-sharp pop culture satire and author Richard Armstrong’s dry comic style into a delightful cocktail of pure entertainment.
Joey Volpe hit the high watermark of his acting career when he played a small role as a mobster on The Sopranos. If you blinked, you missed it.
But now he’s unemployed, broke and forced to make a living by signing autographs at pop-culture fan conventions, or “Fan-Cons,” for $35 a pop. His lack of income, along with his chronic womanizing, has put his marriage at risk, too.
Joey’s life gets even worse when real mobster Tony Rosetti shows up in the autograph line with a plan to rob the next Fan-Con — an offer Joey can’t refuse. When the heist goes awry, Joey is left with a beef with Rosetti and two long years to plan.
Partnered with a smooth-talking con man, Joey is using all his acting skills on new projects: Revenge. Money. And saving his marriage.
Combining the intrigue of Ocean’s 11 and The Bank Job with pointed comic takes on The Sopranos, The Godfather, Comic-Con, Star Trek, The Sting and nerd culture, The Don Con. is a crime thriller / screwball comedy that will leave readers breathless with excitement and laughter.
Audience: Crime thriller / mystery readers, humor readers and pop culture fans.
About the Author: Richard Armstrong has been a freelance advertising copywriter for more than forty years. His previous books include Leaving the Nest: The Complete Guide to Living on Your Own; The Next Hurrah: The Communications Revolution in American Politics; and the world’s only novel about direct mail, God Doesn’t Shoot Craps. Armstrong’s articles have appeared in National Review, Washingtonian Magazine, Advertising Age and many other publications. He lives with his wife Sharon and his dachshund Stardust in Washington, DC.
$14.95 U.S. • Trade Paperback • 5¼” x 8″ • 270 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-336-6
Beat by Beat to a Better Script
by Jim Mercurio
No one comes out of a movie talking about script structure. What audiences love and remember about a movie are great scenes, the meaningful moments in a film that reveal character and emotion.
While previous screenwriting guides emphasize story structure at the macro level, The Craft of Scene Writing: Beat by Beat to a Better Script is the first book for screenwriters that focuses entirely on the micro level of writing powerful scenes. Story structure alone does not make a successful screenplay; it is the detailed craftwork of scene writing that breathes life into a story.
In The Craft of Scene Writing, accomplished screenwriter and master writing teacher Jim Mercurio explains the nuts and bolts of how to write emotionally resonant scenes that will elevate a script from ho-hum to extraordinary.
The Craft of Scene Writing analyzes and systematizes the individual elements that create dynamic scenes: beats, conflicts, character moments, specific actions and lines of dialogue. Mercurio demonstrates that every single scene in a script needs to be a story in itself that creates a surprise or reversal. And when a scene incorporates both a twist in the plot and a change in the characters’ internal states, it has the greatest potential to profoundly engage an audience.
The Craft of Scene Writing cites specific examples from popular classic scripts, old and new, to show how great scenes reveal character and advance the story. The Craft of Scene Writing also gives readers practical tools to immediately improve their scenes and scripts.
Writing amazing scenes won’t just make a screenplay a better work of art. Great scenes also make a script more attractive to producers, directors and actors — making a script more likely to sell.
An incredibly detailed exploration of screenwriting technique, The Craft of Scene Writing will help beginning writers to write great scripts and experienced writers to gain a more complete mastery of their craft.
Audience: Professional and aspiring screenwriters, playwrights, fiction writers and other creative storytellers.
About the Author: Jim Mercurio is a writer, author, screenwriter and filmmaker. He has directed or produced five feature films and has helped countless writers as a teacher, story analyst and script doctor. Creative Screenwriting magazine ranked him as one of the top screenplay consultants in the country.
$18.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 400 pages • Index
ISBN 978-1-61035-330-4
by Sean Padraic McCarthy
Publication Date: May 1, 2019 (Available now)
A moody, atmospheric and terrifying horror thriller reminiscent of classic Stephen King, In the Midst of the Sea is an impressive debut novel by a gifted new writer.
In the Midst of the Sea is a gripping story of supernatural horror and psychological realism that slowly reveals that the greatest danger is the people closest to you in your own home.
Trapped in an isolated old house on Martha’s Vineyard in winter, Diana Barlow is either seeing ghosts or losing her mind. After an estrangement from her parents, Diana came to Martha’s Vineyard to start a new life with her husband Ford and young daughter Samantha. The beautiful Victorian house that Ford inherited seemed the perfect home for a fresh beginning.
But in the winter, when the tourists go home and the island is deserted, Diana is afraid she’s going crazy. Specters of people long dead flicker in and out of her vision. The antique dolls in her house never stay where they’re put. Samantha suddenly has a whole group of imaginary friends who live in the house and tell her terrible things. And Ford is becoming increasingly moody, unpredictable, and violent.
The mysteries of the old house deepen when Diana finds a strange book in the basement — the journal of Elizabeth Steebe, whose husband built the house in 1871. Diana finds an eerie parallel between her own life and Elizabeth’s, as she reads Elizabeth’s fear-filled chronicle of her religion-crazed husband’s descent into abuse and insanity.
As Diana researches Elizabeth’s fate, she begins to wonder whether the phantoms she encounters on the Vineyard are illusions or a glimpse into the past, and whether Elizabeth’s journal was left to her as a warning.
While Diana investigates the horrifying history of the house, the past, the present, the living and the dead fatally intertwine, and Diana realizes she and her daughter must escape — if Ford and the house will let her.
Audience: Horror and supernatural thriller readers.
About the Author: Sean Padraic McCarthy’s short stories have appeared in Glimmer Train, The Hopkins Review, Supernatural Tales and numerous other journals. He is a ten-time Top 25 Finalist in the Glimmer Train Fiction Open Award, and a 2016 recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Artist Fellowship in Fiction Award. He lives in Massachusetts.
Japanese Technical Terms Used in Karate
by Schlatt
Publication Date: June 1, 2019
Illustrated throughout with color photographs of karate stances and techniques — plus clear English definitions of karate terms — The Shôtôkan Karate Dictionary is a unique reference guide indispensable for every martial arts library.
The Shôtôkan Karate Dictionary is a complete compendium of essential terms of the practice of karate-dô, with special focus on the Shôtôkan style. Clear, easy-to-understand, and accurate English translations of Japanese karate terms, plus color photographs of essential karate stances, movements, and techniques, will give karate students a firm foundation in karate terminology.
A Japanese pronunciation guide and exquisite calligraphy of the Japanese characters (kanji) of each term will deepen students’ understanding of karate’s cultural roots.
This comprehensive reference book covers the Japanese numerical system, different target levels and directions of movement, the basic elements of karate training, basic and advanced katas, as well as the Japanese terms for typical instructions and commands you will hear throughout your karate training.
The Shôtôkan Karate Dictionary also explores the philosophical background of karate through an explanation of selected terms, the origin of the name karate-dô, the Twenty Precepts of Funakoshi, the rules that govern the dôjô, karate philosophies, and annotations by famous Zen masters.
Audience: Karate students and practitioners, karate schools and organizations, and readers interested in Japanese language, culture and philosophy.
About the Author: Schlatt was born in Lauda, Germany, in 1964 and started the practice of karate-dô in 1979. He has studied karate in over 20 countries and has taught in several dôjôs around the world. He earned his masters degree in Japanese and Chinese cultural and language studies from the University of Tübingen in 1994. He has served as a translator for numerous Japanese guest instructors at European karate events.
$29.95 • Hardback • 7″ x 10″ • 296 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-338-0
SPORTS & RECREATION / Martial Arts & Self-Defense • BISAC SPO027000
475 color photos and illustrations
by Daniel Stallings
Publication Date: October 1, 2019
Attention, shoppers! Today’s special is murder!
The Minimum Wage Manhunter returns, bagging groceries — and a killer —in the delightful new mystery novel Cleanup on Aisle Six.
Liam “Li” Johnson is a different kind of amateur sleuth, who brings a fresh, young, working-class sensibility to the traditional murder mystery. Li solves the intricate murders that the cops can’t, but he’s not a refined English gentleman of the interwar period — he’s a modern California twentysomething struggling to get by in the service economy.
After solving a murder at his last low-paying job as a cruise ship waiter (in the first Li Johnson mystery, Sunny Side Up), Li is fresh out of options. Unemployed, flat broke and fighting to stay in community college, Li is desperate to find a job, any job.
Li catches a lucky break when kindly supermarket clerk Reuben Rodriguez gets him work at Esther’s Family Grocery. Li thinks he’s finally getting a chance to live a normal life and never see a corpse again. But then Li’s floor duster bumps into the body of the local newspaper’s famously vindictive restaurant critic, bludgeoned to death in the spice aisle … and the evidence suggests that Li’s new friend and benefactor might be the murderer.
Determined to clear Reuben’s name, Li sets out to find what really happened to the shopper in aisle six. But if Reuben didn’t kill the food critic, who did? The many restaurant owners the critic maligned? The critic’s psychologically abused son? The newspaper editor harassed by his most cantankerous employee? Why does the city’s shadowy political boss, the perky and commanding “Mrs. Mayor,” try to warn Li off his investigation? Li tries to answer these questions while dodging the attention of a homicide detective who hates amateur sleuths.
Can a lowly grocery clerk uncover a secret that powerful people want hidden? Once again, Li Johnson delivers fresh value and everyday high quality to the traditional mystery.
Audience: Lovers of traditional murder mysteries.
About the Author: Daniel Stallings’ love of Golden Age detective fiction inspired him to bring the style of the classic murder mystery to modern audiences. His previous novel was the first Li Johnson mystery, Sunny Side Up. In addition to writing, Stallings works in theater as a producer, director, and actor. He currently serves as President of the Eastern Sierra Branch of the California Writers Club. Stallings lives in Ridgecrest, California.
$12.95 US • Trade Paperback • 5¼” x 8″ • 200 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-343-4
by James A. Ardaiz
Publication Date: November 5, 2019
$18.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 360 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-345-8
Reopening a cold murder case uncovers disturbing secrets and forces a young prosecutor to an agonizing decision in the gritty, fast-paced, and coldly realistic new legal thriller Shades of Truth.
Written by a former prosecutor and judge who intimately knows the world of attorneys, detectives and criminals, Shades of Truth crackles with authenticity and a propulsive hard-boiled story.
When rapidly rising assistant DA Matt Jamison is assigned to convicted murderer Rick Harker’s habeas corpus hearing, it hardly seems worth his trouble. Everyone knows that Harker was guilty. Twenty-six years ago he murdered Lisa Farrow and set her body on fire. Lisa’s three-year-old daughter Christine identified Harker as the murderer, and he’s been in San Quentin ever since. The only mystery about the case is why the original trial judge didn’t give Harker the death sentence he richly deserved.
But now the adult Christine Farrow is recanting her testimony, handing Jamison a case that will test his character and his convictions. While Harker’s idealistic attorney demands a new trial, Jamison retraces the original investigation, trying to find if there is any doubt of Harker’s guilt.
Jamison’s investigation leads him deep into the past lives of people who want to stay hidden: Mike Jensen, the lead detective on the original case, now an ailing alcoholic clinging to past glory and resentful of any insinuation he got it wrong; Christine Farrow, deeply traumatized by childhood tragedy and possibly the victim of an unscrupulous therapist; Clarence Foster, the low-level career criminal who identified Harker as the killer; and Jamison’s own dead father, a famous defense attorney mysteriously involved in the Harker case.
As Jamison gets closer to learning the truth behind Harker’s conviction, his investigators and friends repeatedly warn him to stop before he discovers a secret that might end his high-flying career. When Jamison finds evidence of corruption in the DA’s office he is faced with a stark dilemma: Is exposing the truth worth the damage?
Audience: Legal thriller and mystery readers.
About the Author: James A. Ardaiz is a former prosecutor, judge and Presiding Justice of the California Fifth District Court of Appeal. Ardaiz’s previous books include Fractured Justice, the first Matt Jamison legal thriller, and Hands Through Stone, a nonfiction account of Ardaiz’s investigation and prosecution of murderer Clarence Ray Allen, the last man executed by the State of California.
by Rhenna St. Clair
Publication Date: November 5, 2019
$14.95 US • Trade Paperback • 5¼” x 8″ • 230 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-344-1
Aaron Schuyler is a ne’er-do-well, a cheat, an exploiter, a drunk, and a lifelong New Yorker. New Mexico is about to change everything about Schuyler, in Getting New Mexico, a fresh and witty comedy about second chances and redemption.
At 52, Aaron Schuyler has destroyed his life and doesn’t care. Professionally ruined, flat broke, and estranged from his ex-wife and children, Schuyler’s only concerns are sponging free drinks by crashing funerals and staying on the good side of his primary money supply, his formidable British mother, Clementine.
But Clementine has a plan. Praying for divine aid from her personal god, Winston Churchill, Clementine creates a Winston-inspired scheme to reform her worthless son. Clementine presents Schuyler with an ultimatum—she’ll bail him out one last time, if he moves from New York to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and takes a job at the local Sam’s Club.
In New Mexico, Schuyler meets people unlike any he’s ever known—the enigmatic Indian artist Lone Goose, the blue collar Sam’s Club workers who accept him as one of their own, and the beautiful and no-nonsense Anita Chatterjee, with whom Schuyler is immediately smitten.
For the first time in his life, Schuyler wants to be a better person—and as he rereads his diary of his past life, he realizes the extent of his failures and his misdeeds. Can Schuyler adapt to a life of responsibility? To a mature relationship? To New Mexico? To shaking scorpions out of his boots? Winston help him!
Audience: Literary and humorous fiction readers.
About the Author: Rhenna St. Clair, a Portland, Oregon, native, arrived in New Mexico in 1992. Fascinated by the beauty of the land and its history, the archaeological sites and the mix of cultures, she “can’t imagine living anywhere else.” St. Clair practices Chinese medicine and acupuncture in northern New Mexico. Her poetry has been published in Perspective(s) Magazine, the literary journal of San Juan College. Getting New Mexico is her first novel.
A Pup’s True Adventure and Triumph
by Kim Steinhardt
Publication Date: December 3, 2019
$17.95 US • Hardback • 9″ x 9″ • 32 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-353-3
JUVENILE NONFICTION / Animals / Mammals
BISAC JNF003140
40 full-color photographs
Young readers will thrill to the exciting true wildlife survival story of Sabby the Sea Otter.
This wildlife adventure, illustrated with full-color photographs of real sea otters, gives children a fun introduction to marine life and the importance of wildlife habitats.
Sabby the Sea Otter is just a young pup, but his mom is teaching him everything about how to be a sea otter — how to dive underwater, how to find food in the ocean, and how to stay safe in a world full of danger. Sabby is insatiably curious — he wants to know everything about the bay he and his mom live in.
But one day, despite all his mom’s warnings, Sabby’s curiosity gets him in trouble when a rushing tide traps him in a human-made hazard, a great big pipe filled with water.
Now Sabby needs to learn how to survive on his own, while his mom fights every obstacle to find him and make sure he’s safe.
Based on a true story of how a real-life sea otter pup and his mom were reunited, Sabby the Sea Otter is a heartwarming story of the love between a parent and child and a fun introduction for kids to the ocean and the animals who live there — plus an important lesson about how human activity affects wildlife.
Audience: Young readers, educators, and libraries.
About the Author: Kim Steinhardt is a writer and award-winning marine wildlife photographer whose stories and photos interpret the natural world for all ages and audiences. He has been an adviser and photo contributor to National Geographic Kids Explore My World series, and his work appears in other publications and on TV. In 2017, Steinhardt co-authored The Edge: The Pressured Past and Precarious Future of California’s Coast, and he frequently writes and presents regarding sea otters, coastal advocacy, and the often-troubled relationship between humans and nature. He also serves as president of the board of directors of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
A Wounded Police Officer’s Struggle with the Burden All Cops Share
by Brandon S. Hultink
Publication Date: April 7, 2020
A former police officer tells his personal story of the long climb from depression to faith in the intense new personal memoir The Backpack.
An amazing journey from despair to hope, The Backpack tells the truth about the burdens of stress and trauma on police officers and presents an inspirational story of how one cop overcame physical and emotional wounds suffered in the line of duty.
“I can still remember the taste of metal in my mouth from the barrel of the gun . . .” After the shoot-out that put him in a wheelchair, police officer Brandon S. Hultink was ready to put an end to it all.
In his frank and compelling memoir The Backpack, Hultink tells how he came to the worst moment of his life, and how faith in God and the humility to accept help brought him out of depression, addiction and the wheelchair and back into successful life.
But Hultink’s story isn’t his alone — it is also the story of the thousands of police officers who struggle with depression and post-traumatic stress. Cops don’t do touchy-feely stuff; they stuff every trauma into a metaphorical “backpack” until the burden overwhelms them. Hultink writes unflinchingly of the mental health crisis affecting police officers and offers proposals for improving mental health services for police.
An intensely personal story of anguish and survival, The Backpack offers hope to everyone — police and civilian alike — who struggle with depression and pain.
About the Author: A graduate of Western Michigan University and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Brandon S. Hultink served for fifteen years as an officer with the Battle Creek, Michigan, Police Department and for ten years as an assistant prosecutor with the Calhoun Country Prosecutor’s Office. Hultink currently works as a parole agent for the Michigan Department of Corrections. He lives in Battle Creek with his wife and three sons. The Backpack is his first book.
$16.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 140 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-351-9
Item currently available for pre-order. Will ship on publication.
Boost Your Brand, Increase Your Market Share, and Generate Qualified Leads
by Paul M. Kaplan
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
Essentials of Thought Leadership and Content Marketing is a comprehensive, practical, step-by-step guide to achieving content marketing success.
What’s the connection between thought leadership and increased sales? Consistent strategy. Thought leadership and content marketing can be powerful tools for your business, but to use them to their fullest potential, you need to have a plan. Essentials of Thought Leadership and Content Marketing helps you create a comprehensive and rigorous content marketing strategy in which every piece works together to meet your business goals.
Comprehensive, results-oriented, and practical, Essentials of Thought Leadership and Content Marketing covers every aspect of content marketing: researching customer needs; identifying your company’s areas of expertise; generating thought leadership articles and other content; communicating content through email, social media, web marketing, and traditional media; evaluating response; generating sales leads; and measuring results. More important, Essentials of Thought Leadership and Content Marketing shows how to coordinate these strategic elements to an overall plan. Interviews with business leaders and case studies show how content marketing concepts work in the real world.
The ideal book for marketers, advertising professionals, entrepreneurs, and anyone who works with content marketing — whether in B2B or B2C business, for-profit or nonprofit — Essentials of Thought Leadership and Content Marketing is a practical, step-by-step guide to achieving your content marketing goals.
About the Author: Paul M. Kaplan has worked in marketing for over fifteen years, focusing on content marketing and thought leadership, digital media, and product strategy for industry-leading companies, including Barnes & Noble, Inc., American Express, Broadridge Financial Solutions, and McGraw-Hill. Kaplan earned a BA from Yale College and an MBA from Yale School of Management. He is the author of five previous books and lives in New York.
$18.95 US • Trade Paperback • 6″ x 9″ • 200 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-316-8
The History of El Camino Real
by Stephen H. Provost
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
A fun-filled look at the history and attractions of California’s legendary Highway 101.
Now the road has the utilitarian designation of U.S. Route 101, but originally it had a name of romance and mystery—El Camino Real, or the King’s Highway, built on the trail pioneered by the Spanish friars and marked by mission bells on the roadside. Illustrated throughout with historic photographs, Highway 101: The History of El Camino Real tells the picturesque story of this great highway and the restaurants, motels, gas stations, and roadside attractions that made it memorable to generations of travelers.
From Disneyland to the historic Madonna Inn to the Avenue of the Giants, Highway 101 catalogs the great landmarks along the road, plus the fascinating personalities, from Dorothea Lange to Jelly Roll Morton to Cecil B. DeMille, whose lives intersected with the history of the route.
A colorful history of Americana, commerce, travel, and fun, Highway 101 captures the magic of the open road.
About the Author: Stephen H. Provost is an author and journalist who has worked as an editor, columnist, and reporter at newspapers throughout California. His previous books include Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street; Fresno Growing Up: A City Comes of Age 1945-1985; and the fantasy novels Memortality and Paralucidity.
$20.95 US • Trade Paperback • 8½” x 10″ • 270 pages
ISBN 978-1-61035-352-6
Item currently available for pre-order. Will ship on publication.
subtitle: “How to Write Accurately about Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment and Human Behavior”.
Writers frequently write about mental illness and psychological motivations, but all too often they use terms and concepts that are clichéd, outmoded or just plain wrong.
Written by a clinical psychologist who is also a professional writer and writing coach, The Writer’s Guide to Psychology is an authoritative, accessible, fun, and easy-to-use reference to psychological disorders, diagnosis, treatments, psychotherapists’ work and what really makes psychopathic villains tick.
The only reference book on clinical and counseling psychology designed specifically for the needs of writers, The Writer’s Guide to Psychology presents specific writing dos and don’ts to avoid the psychobabble clichés and misunderstandings frequently seen in popular writing. The book’s extensive sidebars include Q&As from real writers, information on controversial treatments and issues, tips for using realistic psychology to create complex and compelling characters, and Don’t Let This Happen to You! boxes that humorously expose mortifying mistakes in fiction, film and TV … and teach readers how to get it right in their own writing.
Subtitle: “An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses.”
In this revised, expanded and updated second edition, Could It Be B12? An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses uncovers a public health crisis that even many doctors don’t know exists—the chronic misdiagnosis of vitamin B12 deficiency.
Written in a highly accessible style that makes complex medical information clear and comprehensible to ordinary patients and their families, Could It Be B12? gives readers the knowledge and confidence to fight the ignorance and rigidity of the medical establishment and take control of their own health. Could It Be B12? presents vital information and strategies for readers to learn if they or their loved ones are suffering from B12 deficiency and how to work with their doctors and other health care professionals to get the treatment they need.
An Indie Excellence Book Award Winner.
Subtitle: “How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure”
Using examples from actual cases, as well as fiction, movies and television, Books, Crooks, and Counselors answers real writers’ questions on over 160 separate topics, including: criminal and civil law; differences between federal, state, and Native American jurisdiction; legal aspects of police and private investigation; criminal sentencing, including the death penalty; wills and inheritances; legal terminology; and the written and unwritten codes that govern the public and private conduct of lawyers and judges.
Winner of the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year.
2012 Anthony and Macavity Nominee for Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year.
Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman
By Adam Plantinga
400 Things Cops Know shows police work on the inside, from the viewpoint of the regular cop on the beat — a profession that can range from rewarding to bizarre to terrifying, all within the course of a single eight-hour shift. Written by veteran police sergeant Adam Plantinga, 400 Things Cops Know brings the reader into life the way cops experience it — a life of danger, frustration, occasional triumph and plenty of grindingly hard routine work.
In a laconic, no-nonsense, dryly humorous style, Plantinga tells what he’s learned from 13 years as a patrolman, from the everyday to the exotic — how to know at a glance when a suspect is carrying a weapon or is going to attack, how to kick a door down, how to drive in a car chase without recklessly endangering the public, why you should always carry cigarettes, even if you don’t smoke (offering a smoke is the best way to lure a suicide to safety) and what to do if you find a severed limb (don’t put it on ice — you need to keep it dry).
400 Things Cops Know deglamorizes police work, showing the physical, psychological and emotional toll of the job. Plantinga shows what cops experience of death, the legal system, violence, prostitution, drug use, the social causes and consequences of crime, alcoholism and more.
Sometimes heartbreaking and often hilarious, 400 Things Cops Know is an eye-opening revelation of what life on the beat is really all about.
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