Goin’ To The Lake
by Mike Wagoner

Nonfiction, 110 pages
Softcover, 7″ x 10″

ISBN 979-8-2850-9366-4

In this first-person account of a life in music, author Mike Wagoner relates a half-century of experiences performing, livin’ and lovin’ the people, place, and community of remote Priest Lake, Idaho. As he writes:

“I first heard about Priest Lake from a neighbor kid I used to play with growing up in Walla Walla, Washington. He and his folks would go there every summer. When he would describe it to me it sounded like something out of a story book. A mystical… secret place. Well, as it turned out, I went there when I was 18 and found that his tales were true … I quickly decided that it was and is a special place… it captured me somehow.

“I’ve visited and lived elsewhere at different times in my life but I could never completely leave Priest Lake both physically or emotionally. There’s just something about it … a little hard to describe.

“If you’ve spent time at Priest you’ll probably know what I’m trying to say … if you haven’t … well… it’s just a little spot in Idaho where, if you read this book, you may want to visit … but be careful… you may have trouble leaving.”

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Full color, softbound, 62 pages
Horizontal format 11″ x 8.5″

ISBN: 979-8-9913442-2-7

“And God Says, Yes” is a spiritual journey richly illustrated with full-page photographs of our magnificent and astounding universe, taken from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes

Many people pick up a book and thumb through the pages starting at the back. This is not one of those books.

With “And God Says, Yes” you must start your journey at the beginning so you will understand where it is you are going. And along the way you will contemplate the most important of questions.

– What is the meaning of life?
– Why are we here?
– Why do some people die so young in life?
– Why does life sometimes hurt?
– Is there life after death?

What if the answers to these questions that have plagued mankind for so long, could be answered in five minutes? If these answers can be found in the pages of this book – wouldn’t it be worth the trip?

“And God Says, Yes” is an inspiring contemplation on life’s most important questions – and the answers you may find.

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The search for rare and heritage apples in the Pacific Northwest
By David Benscoter & Linda Hackbarth

Nonfiction, 288 pages
Hardbound 7.5″ x 10.5″, color
Retail $38.00

From the 1600s, when the first colonists brought apples from Europe, up through the early 1900s, an estimated 17,000 named varieties of apples were cultivated in North America. Most of those apples are lost and possibly extinct today.

This is the account of apple historians and enthusiasts who canvass old orchards and forgotten homesteads of the Inland Northwest in search of the rare and heritage apples that still survive. It’s a quest that combines diligent detective work with fascinating historical and horticultural research—and a passion for apples.

So far these apple detectives have tracked down and documented nearly 30 formerly lost apple cultivars, or varieties. Lost Apples dips deep into regional history and tell of the continuing search and the successes so far. It is beautifully illustrated with over 50 classic color apple portraits painted by artists for the United States Department of Agriculture Division of Pomology from the late 1800s to early 1900s. It also includes an appendix of more than 1,600 known cultivars documented in historical records of the region.

The quest continues … discoveries await!

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By Mike Reeb

History, 294 pages; 6″ x 9″
Softcover

ISBN:978-1-879628-82-3

In this sequel to his first book, “Inland Salish Journey: Fur Trade to Settlement,” author Mike Reeb delivers an authoritative account of the French-Canadian fur trade era, tracking the careers of the pioneer “fur men” in the primitive Northwest from 1800-1870.

With illustrations, maps, and rare photographs, Reeb documents the trappers’ quest for furs – an adventurous and risky enterprise that often resulted in accidents, disease, and violent deaths for the trappers, as well as both conflicts and harmony with the indigenous peoples of the frontier.

Included as a special section in the appendix is “The Upper Columbia Pioneer Trappers,” supplement, featuring the biographies of four men who were the first to rove the region for furs.

Author Mike Reeb has devoted more than two decades researching the history of the fur trade – as well as more than a half century as a trapper himself, following the footsteps of the mountain men. A resident of Ponderay, Idaho, the career forester – along with his wife, Joy – has revisited many key Northwest locations of the fur traders and indigenous peoples. For history buffs, Reeb’s passion and vast knowledge of the subject matter are now documented for all to enjoy.

By Mike Reeb

History, 318 pages; 6″ x 9″
Softcover

ISBN: 978-1-879628-47-2

A grand history of the fascinating fur trade era and the Inland Salish Indians.

The years 1800 to 1877 brought the earliest fur traders, then the first white settlers to the Northern Rockies – the land of the Inland Salish Indians who shared a common language and customs. Drawn from source documents as well as journals, manuscripts and early published works, this book is the most comprehensive history yet of the fascinating fur trade era and the interactions between the Inland Salish and new arrivals.

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By Trish Gannon
Non-Fiction, 174 pages, 6″ x 9″
Softcover
Published in association with Keokee Co. Publishing, Inc.

On the night of April 8, 1886 a shot rang out in the darkness, followed by a cry. “It’s Emma! My wife’s been killed!”

It began as a story of a terrible tragedy: a gun misfires and a young wife and mother is dead. It turned into a two-year ordeal featuring three trials, and a community torn asunder as they tried to discover if this was an accidental death, the misdirected revenge of a “troublesome negro,” or a dark tale of a ruthless man and his illicit love for his wife’s younger sister.

This is a true story. Emma Langford McEwen was killed by a gunshot to the head. Her husband, Lafayette Burt McEwen, stood trial three times for the crime and was the subject of newspaper headlines calling him a wife murderer. Her young sister, Nannie Langford, endured the condemnation of her community for the “illicit affection” she and her brother-in-law felt for each other. The Trenton Massacred, where 16 black men were pulled from the county jail and at least five were murdered–lynching that made headlines throughout the country–happened as reported and that tragic event played a role in Emma’s story as well. And then there is Nannie’s suicide (or murder?) 30 years after these events.

What is the truth of the matter? A hundred and fifty years after the fact, only you can decide.

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by Dominic Cvitanich
Fiction, 366 pages, softcover, 5.5″ x 8.5″

Now out in paperback after its initial ebook-only release, this is the story of one man’s dance with the culture of the ’60s.

Rock and roll, hedonism and deception all play an outsized role in Anton’s life. He has been generous with others, but has also taken without worry. A successful father of three girls, but a failed husband, he is a child of the ’60s still trying to grow up. Forced to recognize his generation’s role in changing the nation’s cultural face and own his laid-back acquiescence, he now wonders if he and the ’60s were simply a side trip into smoke-filled self-indulgence; a mixed bag at best.

In search of truth and peace, he embarks on a different kind of trip in his iconic Volkswagen van in a quest for absolution.

Author Dominic “Dick” Cvitanich is a retired educator and the former superintendent of schools for the Lake Pend Oreille School District. He terms himself a “once hippie” who marched in protest on the streets of Seattle, argued politics with friends into the night, partied at rock festivals, and let his “freak flag fly” to the disconcertment of his parents. He lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, where he continues to argue politics, volunteers to support the needs of children and families, and tries to do the right thing.

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A story of how pioneers carved this city out of a wilderness
By Gary L. Pietsch

Nonfiction, 165 pages, 8 1/2 x 11
Softcover
ISBN: 978-1697677539

Aptly titled, “Sandpoint’s Early History” begins at the beginning, with the ice age floods of Glacial Lake Missoula, which had their genesis with the giant ice dam that formed at the mouth of the Clark Fork River at current-day Lake Pend Oreille more than 10,000 years ago.

The story quickly progresses to the history of the native peoples and the first white explorer and surveyor David Thompson in 1809. The bulk of the book is devoted to the varied stories of ensuing waves of settlement sparked by miners and ferryboat operators in the early 1800s, steamboat lines in the 1860s, the completion of the first railroad line through here in 1883, platting the original Sandpoint townsite, “stump farmers” and loggers of the early 1900s, up to the blossoming of community with the construction of the City Beach park in the 1950s.

It’s a wide sweep of Sandpoint’s history and – surprisingly – the first book to tell the town history. Author Gary Pietsch is well qualified to tell the story. Former editor and publisher of the Sandpoint News Bulletin, he subsequently was the proprietor of Selkirk Press and now retired. When he isn’t playing golf, he volunteers his time helping at the Bonner County Historical Museum.

Proceeds from the sale of “Sandpoint’s Early History” benefit the museum and historical society.

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Sandy Compton
Fiction, 181 pages, 5.5″ x 8.5″ softcover
Published by Blue Mobius Books

ISBN 1-886591-06-7

Idaho-and-Montana author Sandy Compton puts his ample storytelling talents to play in his novel Archer MacClehan & The Hungry Now, a page-turning tale populated by a cast of colorful characters who find themselves at odds in the wilderness – and pulling together for their very survival.

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The Life Journey of a Cinematographer
By Erik Daarstad
Nonfiction, 588 pages, 6.25″ x 9.25″ hardcover

ISBN: 978-1-879628-49-6

The author writes: “As I approached retirement after a long career as a cinematographer I thought I would try to put down on paper what my life and work had been like and tell about some of the people I had met during my journey.

From being born and growing up in Norway during World War II, it had spanned 80 years of parts of two centuries. From a young age I loved movies, the process of moviemaking and helping to tell stories. Doing mainly documentaries gave me the wonderful opportunity to travel and meet and work with many different walks of life, from presidents and celebrities to fishermen and farmers. I also wanted to share something about my wife and our children and our life together during the last few decades of the 20th Century.

Because so many things happened during the period that I was part of, I decided to weave many historical events and personalities into the story to give a sense of what the last part of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st Century had been like and the changes that had happened – for better of for worse. All of it had been very much part of my life.”

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Flying the H-34 Helicopter in Vietnam for the United States Marine Corps

By Bill Collier
Nonfiction, 234 pages, 9″ x 6″

ISBN 978-1-500936-13-6

This is a spellbinding, firsthand account of what it was like to pilot a Marine Corps H-34 helicopter in combat during “The Helicopter War” in Vietnam. As a brand-new United States Naval Aviator with a mere 187.5 hours of helicopter flight experience, Second Lieutenant Bill Collier had many exciting adventures. Many were just a bit too exciting, some were horrific and a few were terrifying! Some were humorous. This is the true story of his experiences during his 13 months in the war. Bill watched friends die violently and stood many times 
eye-to-eye and toe-to-toe with Death himself. Each time, Death flinched.

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100 reflections on life and riding
By Nick Appl
Nonfiction, 140 pages paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1518630613

What can snowboarding teach us about life? A lot, actually. Life can be unpredictable, bumpy and harsh. Same goes for snowboarding, but it also has the potential for experiencing the highest of highs. In this small but elegantly stated volume, author and rider Nick Appl explores snowboarding as an analogy for all the discoveries, emotions, values and lessons that everyday life can offer. As anyone who rides a snowboard – or yearns to learn – can attest, the act is perfectly suited to teach us about what happiness means and how to find more of it.

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Marianne Love
Nonfiction, 288 pages, 6″ x 9″ softcover

ISBN 978-1-879628-28-1

For anyone who’s ever gone to school — as student or teacher — Marianne Love’s warm and humorous stories from 33 years teaching at Sandpoint High School in rural northern Idaho, Lessons with Love, will kindle both memories and laughs.

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Flying Helicopters in Laos for Air America
By Captain Bill Collier

Non-fiction, 6″ x 9″

Publication date: June 2017

From his first-person perspective, retired U.S. Marine Corps pilot Bill Collier tells about the CIA’s secret battle in Laos during the Vietnam War.

Collier’s service with Air America, the CIA’s secretly owned airline, was part of the largest paramilitary operation ever undertaken by the agency, and he tells the story of a close-knit group of young men and their adventures in Long Tieng, Thailand, and Hong Kong.

This is the second book from Bill Collier, who previously authored his first-hand account of flying in combat during the Vietnam War in “The Adventures of a Helicopter Pilot,” also available here through Keokee Books.

Go to The Adventures of a Helicopter Pilot»

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