A total of 46 local authors will be signing their books at the Authors & Artists Fair in Eugene on Saturday, Dec. 14. Most have freshly published works this year. Of the authors debuting new books this year, here’s a closer look at half a dozen.
Joanie Lindenmeyer of Brookings is a former Catholic nun who fell in love with a nun in Idaho. Her memoir, Nun Better, recounts their daring 40-year romance and eventual marriage. New this year is Healing Religious Hurts, an anthology Lindenmeyer compiled of essays by LGBTQ+ writers about finding spiritual peace.
Daphne Singingtree’s heritage is Lakota Sioux, Spanish and Scottish. She worked as a midwife for 30 years and studied herbal medicine, writing books about both of those topics. Her first fiction, released this year in Eugene, is Circle for the Earth. It’s a time travel novel in which a modern Lakota casino is transported back to the year 1791. The bewildered group in the casino has to figure out how to deal with French fur trappers, suspicious natives and a distant American government in the hopes of making the world better this time.
Joe Blakely has written more than a dozen books about Oregon history. His latest book, however, is a memoir, The Saturday Market Challenge: Confessions of an 84-Year-Old Author. Blakely confesses that his childhood with a drunk mother in 1950s Eugene was difficult, that he had to fight to win a normal life for his disabled son, and that he found a home among the artisans of Eugene’s Saturday Market. The book is partly a history of that outdoor craft fair, but it’s tied together with a challenge: Can he sell 2,023 books in the year 2023?
David G. Lewis lives in Chemeketa (now known as Salem) but commutes to Corvallis to teach anthropology and Indigenous studies at Oregon State University. A member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, he has written Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley, a book that reveals much that had been neglected about local Kalapuyans.
C. Steven Blue retired to Eugene after a 37-year career in theater and television production. In his new memoir, The Last Hippy Poet of the Woodstock Generation, he’s a troubled kid in Hollywood in the 1960s. At the age of 15, when his family disintegrates, he finds work as a dancer on “American Bandstand” — and then as a doorman at a nightclub hosting Sonny & Cher.
Lee Boutell drove from Kansas to Eugene in the early 1970s to open Eggsnatchur, Eugene’s first organic vegetarian restaurant, run as a profit-sharing collective. Boutell’s history of the venture, We Can Change the World, recounts how Eggsnatchur became a center for political activism. In 1974, for example, after Cesar Chavez spoke at the University of Oregon, he lunched at Eggsnatchur to talk social change.
Admission is free from 10 am to 5 pm at the Lane Events Center, 796 West 13th Avenue, next door to Holiday Market. A portion of the book sales benefits the Lane Library League, a nonprofit group that supports rural volunteer libraries. The event will also feature the works of eight local artists.
Here’s a complete list of the authors who will be autographing at the Authors & Artists Fair at the Lane Events Center on Saturday, Dec.14, along with the titles of their most recent works.
Dan Armstrong: Stella: The Mushroom Girl from Outer Space (2024, fiction set in Eugene in the 1980s), and many other novels.
Lynn Ash: The Heat of the Fireman (2024, stories) and adventure memoirs.
Joe Blakely: The Saturday Market Challenge (2024, memoir) and more than a dozen books about Oregon history.
C. Steven Blue: The Last Hippy Poet of the Woodstock Generation (memoir) and books of poetry.
Lee Boutell: We Can Change the World (2024, a history of Eugene’s Eggsnatchur vegetarian restaurant in the 1970s).
David Buzan: In the Lair of Legends, a thriller about a Native American Civil War veteran on a secret mission in Southern Oregon.
Jennifer Chambers: Murder and Mayhem in the Willamette Valley, a history of Oregon crimes.
Alan Contreras: Far Afield: 30 Years of Birding Adventure (2024, memoir) and other works about birding and history.
Theo Czuk (only 2 pm to 5 pm): Hastings Street: Boulevard of Blues (2024, novel).
John Daniel: Lighted Distances: Four Seasons on Goodlow Rim, a sequence of poetry and prose from the dry side of Oregon.
Carola Dunn (only 10 am to 1:30 pm): The Corpse at Crystal Palace and other cozy murder mysteries set in England.
Veronica Esagui (only 10 am to 2 pm): Three poetry anthologies in 2024 – Love Poems, Magic Poems, and Mortality Poems.
Mark Fearing: Brandon and the Totally Troublesome Time Machine (2024, illustrated by Fearing), Giant Pants and many other children’s picture books.
Anna Grace: Mistletoe at Jameson Rach is the latest release in her Harlequin Heartwarming series, The Teacher Project.
Susan Haig: California Condors in the Pacific Northwest (a history of the birds published by OSU Press).
Reid Hart (only 1:30 pm to 5 pm): Tarot Spirit Healing, a guide to personal growth combining aspects of shamanism, tarot, and astrology.
Ann Herrick: Stuck in a Boys Camp! and other novels for middle-grade readers.
Amanda Herron: Hearing Wind (2024), the second book in her Elemental Wolf series of urban fantasy romances set in Oregon.
Amalie Rush Hill (only 10 am to 2 pm): along the lane (2024, poems).
Nina Kiriki Hoffman (only 1:30 pm to 5 pm): The Short Story Cookbook, a how-to guide for creating stories using dice and lists of ingredients.
Kimberly Jensen: Oregon’s Others (2024), a history of important women and minority people overlooked by traditional histories.
Michael Kemp: Why Stuff Falls Down: The story of science and gravity from Aristotle to Einstein, told in plain English.
Jason Kilgore: Footman of the Ether and other fantasy/sci fi books.
David G. Lewis: Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley.
Howard Libes: What You Will (2024), the third and final book of the Seeder series of sci-fi novels.
Joanie Lindenmeyer: Nun Better, a memoir of the 40-year romance and eventual marriage of two Catholic nuns.
Mary E. Lowd: Unicorn Whispers, Paw Prints Beyond the Moon, Brunch at the All Alien Café (all 2024) and many other furry fantasy/sci fi novels.
Kristine Lynn: One Lucky Cowboy and a dozen other clean romance novels.
Donna McFarland: I Lost My Penguin (2024) and other children’s and how-to books.
Marli Miller: Death Valley Rocks! (2024) and Oregon Rocks! A Guide to 60 Amazing Geologic Sites.
Mose Tuzik Mosley: A Journey With Orvis (2024), humorous fictional travel memoir of a journey with an invisible talking dog.
Sharleen Nelson: The End of Time (2024), the third and final book in the Time Tourists series of time travel novels.
Paul Neville: The Garbage Brothers, a coming-of-age novel about a young man with a summer job as a Chicago garbage collector.
Tim Ream (only 10 am to 1:30 pm): Fallen Water (2024), a novel about a fugitive who escapes to a Zen Buddhist monastery in California.
Grace Richards (only 2 pm to 5 pm): Break-Up Hair & Other Poems.
Daniel Roby: As the Condor Soars: Conserving and Restoring Oregon’s Birds.
Frank Scalise: Under a Raging Moon and 50 other novels, many of them gritty crime fiction set in a fictionalized Spokane, where Scalise retired from the police force.
L.J. Sellers: AfterStrike and more than a dozen other thrillers set in Oregon.
Daphne Singingtree: Circle for the Earth (2024), a time travel novel in which a modern Lakota casino is transported back to the year 1791.
Dorcas Smucker: Coming Home to Roost: A Mennonite Mom Reflects on Life Choices, Adult Children and Country Living.
William Sullivan: The Ship in the Ice (2024), the final book in a series of Viking historical novels, and an updated version of 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades.
Muabilai Tshionyi: Children’s picture books about African folk tales, published under the name Dr. T.
Tsunami Books: Booksellers & Significant Others: An Anthology, Cronies, and a variety of local new and used books.
David Wagner: Oregon Nature Calendar 2025 and A Lane County Almanac.
Bob Welch: Seven Summers (And a Few Bummers): My Adventures Hiking the 2,650-Mile PCT.
Ross West: The Fragile Blue Dot: Stories from Our Imperiled Biosphere (2024).
Eight artists will also be displaying their work at the Dec. 14 fair from 10 am to 5 pm at the Lane Events Center:
Kay Beckham: ornaments, cards and prints.
Sue Bradley: fused glass night lights, ornaments and functional artwork.
Michael Fromme: whimsical ceramic birds and animals.
Dave Imus: maps and cartographic art.
Rogene Manas: mixed media artwork, cards and prints.
Lynn Peterson: ceramic tree ornaments, tiled mosaics, art books and tiny ceramic houses.
Janell Sorensen: paintings, prints, watercolors and cards.
Valley Calligraphy Guild: calligraphy, note cards, gift tags and quotations.
William L. Sullivan is the author of 24 books, including The Ship in the Ice and the updated 100 Hikes series for Oregon. Learn more at www.OregonHiking.com .