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NEWS & EVENTS

 

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The New Hampshire Lithograph, above, by Frank Galasso. $24.95. Order on Books by Cover page.

NH Book updates:

 

Okrant murder mysteries

focus on New Hampshire grand hotels

 

Murder is afoot at three grand hotels in New Hampshire – The Balsams, Mount Washington Resort and the Mountain Grand View Resort – and Mark Okrant’s sleuth is on the chase.

 

Plaidswede Publishing Co. of Concord has released two books of Mark Okrant murder mysteries – “A Last Resort” and “Murder at the Grands,” which offers two hotel mysteries.

 

Solving the crimes is Kary Turnell, professor at a small New Hampshire University who has a knack for finding trouble and solving murders at historic resort hotels.

 

In “A Last Resort,” Kary prowls the halls and secret hideaways of The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in Dixville Notch. When one guest, a love-starved housewife, is missing, the general manager calls in his old friend to find the wayward guest, and to be discreet about it.

 

“Murder at the Grands” features two mysteries – “I Knew You When,” set in the Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, and “Murder with a View,” a short story that takes place at the Mountain Grand View Resort in Whitefield.

 

In “Murder with a View,” a bridegroom disappears at the Mountain Grand View, but no one seems concerned that he’s missing. It falls upon Kary to conduct another discreet search that leads to the golf course, where narrow fairways and sand traps aren’t the only hazards. “I Knew You When” places Kary at the Mount Washington, where the body of a friend is found. To find his answers, Kary must navigate ill will and skepticism. Then people begin to vanish.

 

“A Last Resort” and “Murder at the Grands” are available at New Hampshire bookstores and through the publisher at www.plaidswede.com.

 

Last year, Plaidswede Published a third Mark Okrant book, “No Vacancy: The Rise, Demise, and Reprise of America’s Motels," a non-fiction work originally published as an e-book, which looks at the motel era through the eyes of one of New England's senior tourism investigators.

Author Mark Okrant is a professor of tourism management at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. He has been an active tourism researcher since the 1970s, and is past president of the Travel and Tourism Research Association. He is author of six books, including the Kary Turnell mysteries.


Plaidswede's Pulp Fiction series continues in 2014

Next up: Love Free or Die, 
edited by Elaine Isaak.

 

And the theme of the fifth in our Pulp Fiction series? The Concord Coach.

 

Publication dates to be announced.

 

Previously on NH Booksellers:

 

Library Foundation honors 
Hoey with Yates award

 

The Concord Public Library Foundation invites the public to attend a reception for the recipient of the 2013 Elizabeth Yates Award at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, in the Children’s Room.

 

The annual award is given to a resident of the greater Concord area who is actively engaged in inspiring young people to read.

 

Ann Hoey, Youth Services Librarian at the New Hampshire State Library,  is this year's honree.

She has worked with public and school librarians to give them the support and tools needed to assist the children they serve. She has helped to bring kids and books together not only in Concord, but across the state.

 

For more information, call (603) 225-8670. 

 

 

JFK movie is based
on UNH historian's book

 

From Foster's Daily Democrat
Sunday, November 10, 2013

 

DURHAM — The movie about President John F. Kennedy based on the book “Letters to Jackie: Condolences From a Grieving Nation” by Ellen Fitzpatrick, professor of history at the University of New Hampshire, will premiere nationwide on TLC at 9 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17.

The film includes many A-list actors such as Kirsten Dunst, Anne Hathaway, Laura Linney, and Betty White.

The two-hour film “Letters to Jackie: Remembering President Kennedy” is executive produced by Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Bill Couturié's The Couturie Company in partnership with Amblin Television. The film revisits the months following the assassination of President Kennedy, when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy became the heart of the nation, leading its citizens — and her own children — through a dark and difficult time.

“It has been a privilege to see letters written by Americans in the days after President Kennedy's assassination brought to life in Bill Couturie's remarkable documentary. And I am delighted that TLC will be broadcasting this work and making it accessible to its viewers. The film explores an important period in the history of our country in ways that capture the tensions and the ideals of the early 1960s very well,” Fitzpatrick said.

 

The film debuts as an exclusive television event on TLC to mark the 50th anniversary of the president's assassination. The documentary is based on Fitzpatrick's book, which examines the extraordinary collection of letters sent to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy following the president's assassination and creates a moving portrait of the nation's grief from such a cross-section of American life.

Within seven weeks of the president's death, Jacqueline Kennedy received more than 800,000 condolence letters. Two years later, the volume of correspondence would exceed 1.5 million letters. And for the next 46 years, the letters would remain essentially untouched until Fitzpatrick began conducting her research.

Her book culls about 200 of these extraordinary letters into three parts: Americans' vivid recollections of Nov. 22, 1963; their views on politics, society and the office of the presidency; and personal experiences of grief and loss.

Twenty A-list celebrities have lent their recognizable voices to give life to these letters from everyday Americans, including a polio-stricken 13-year-old who offers words of strength for the first lady, a Peace Corps volunteer who mourns the loss while stationed in Ethiopia and an African American woman who expressed her pride and gratitude for President Kennedy's work in the civil rights movement.

 

The participating talent includes Bérénice Bejo, Demián Bichir, Jessica Chastain, Chris Cooper, Viola Davis, Zooey Deschanel, Kirsten Dunst, Anne Hathaway, Allison Janney, John Krasinski, Melissa Leo, Laura Linney, Frances McDormand, Chloë Grace Moretz, Mark Ruffalo, Octavia Spencer, Hailee Steinfeld, Channing Tatum, Betty White, and Michelle Williams.

“I'll never forget where I was when JFK was killed. No one will. It cast a dark shadow over America. The world, really. Afterward, the American people poured out their hearts to Jackie. The strength and wisdom of the nation, coming out of profound tragedy, rings clear in these letters. As soon as I read them, I knew I had to make a movie around them and the time they so eloquently evoke. Luckily, Amblin TV and TLC agreed,” said filmmaker Bill Couturié.

Ellen Fitzpatrick, a professor and scholar specializing in modern American political and intellectual history, is the author and editor of six books and has appeared regularly on PBS's The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. She has been interviewed as an expert on modern American political history by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Boston Globe, The Washington Post, CBS's Face the Nation, and National Public Radio. At the University of New Hampshire, she has been recognized for Excellence in Public Service.
 

 

The Frost Place

NH literary sites to visit

 

The Frost Place in Franconia is a “house museum”  for lovers of poetry and books on a quiet north country lane with a spectacular view of the White Mountains.

 

The Frost Place offers a glimpse and a sense of the kind of place where a young poet could concentrate, and where his four children could range through the woods and orchards and discover the world. The view from the porch which inspired Frost is stunning and open to the public year round.

 

In addition to a collection of signed first editions of Frost’s works and other memorabilia from his stay, The Frost Place has a half-mile nature trail with plaques displaying poems written during the poet’s Franconia years.


The Frost Place continues to host gatherings for contemporary poets, including summer conferences and school programs, and each summer an emerging poet is awarded a fellowship with a cash stipend and an invitation to live and write in Frost’s former home for the months of July and August.

 

Hours

The museum opens for the season on Memorial Day weekend (the last weekend in May).

June: Open Thursday through Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00 pm.

July, August: Open daily (except Tuesday) 1:00 to 5:00 pm.

September, October: Open daily (except Tuesday) 10:00 am to 5:00 pm–extended hours for fall foliage.

Closed: Columbus Day (the second Monday in October)

During the winter months, the house is closed but the grounds and poetry trail are open.
 The staff  is available year round and may be contacted by email: frost@frostplace.org or phone: (603) 823-5510.

More news ...
Pulp Fiction news

Plaidswede has opened the submission process for two books in its Pulp Fiction series: "Murder in a New England Newsroom" and "Live Free or Dragons." Press release and submission guidelines follow:

 

Murder in the Newsroom

 

“Murder in a New England Newsroom” is the tentative title of a collection of short-stories that take place in or are based in a newsroom in the six-state region.

 

The book will be published for the winter conference of the New England Newspaper and Press Association in the winter of 2016.

 

New England journalists are encouraged to submit their deadly fiction to this debut book of the New England Pulp Fiction series. The book will be published by Plaidswede Publishing Co. of Concord, N.H., which has published four books in its New Hampshire Pulp Fiction series – “Live Free or Undead” (horror), “Live Free or Die! Die! Die!” (mystery/detective), “Live Free or Sci-Fi” (science fiction),  and “Love Free or Die,” (romance). The titles play off the state’s motto, “Live Free or Die.”

 

“We pleased with the success of the series. We’re proud to have presented the works of established and recognized authors as well as giving first-time authors an opportunity for publication,” said George Geers, Plaidswede publisher. “Many journalists dream about writing the great American novel, and we hope to offer our New England journalists a foot in the door with a crime short story.”

 

“I suspect we may do in an editor or publisher, town official or sports coach by the time we get done,” Geers said. “All we ask is that the book be centered on a New England newsroom. The deed does not have to be done in the newsroom but should involve a crime-solving reporter, a guilty editor, or a publisher with a great big secret.”

 

Editing the murder collection will be Dan Szczesny, associate publisher of The Hippo, New Hampshire's largest weekly newspaper. He's written extensively about travel and the outdoors, including the books, The Adventures of Buffalo and Tough Cookie and The Nepal Chronicles. A new collection of short fiction, Sing, will be published this spring.

 

The publisher will introduce two more books in the New Hampshire Pulp Fiction series this year and in 2016: “Live Free and Ride,” themed around the famed Concord stagecoach, later this summer, and “Live Free or Dragons,” a fantasy collection, to be issued in 2016. The books have been edited by founding editor Rick Broussard of New Hampshire Magazine and fantasy/romance author Elaine Isaak.

 

Geers is a former daily newspaper editor in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut who remains active in the New England newspaper industry. He established his book publishing company in 2000 and to date has published more than 60 books.

 

Here are the submissions guidelines for “Murder in a New England Newsroom”:

 

1.  Submissions should be 1,000 to 8,000 words long. 

 

2.  The story can be contemporary or historical -- as long as it features a strong New England newsroom connection. 

 

3.  Submissions MUST include your name, address, phone number and email on the first page.

 

5.  Follow standard manuscript format:  double-spaced, include page numbers, Times New Roman 12-point preferred.

 

6. Payment will be $50 on publication and two copies of the book.  Anticipated publication date is Feb. 1, 2016, with NENPA hosting a book reading and signing at its Saturday luncheon at the winter conference in 2016.

 

7.  Submission deadline is June 1, 2015.  All rejections/acceptances will be sent by Aug. 1.

 

8.  E-mail submissions to gnews@empire.net

 

9. Upon acceptance, a short bio and photo will be required for the book.

 

Dragons

 

Come all ye tale-tellers, yarn-spinners and bards!  The sixth volume of New Hampshire Pulp Fiction is submissions—and your submission needs to be fantastic:  literally! 

 

Volume VI, “Live Free or Dragons,” is seeking New Hampshire-based fantasy fiction. 

 

Elves at the town meeting, unicorns in the White Mountains, or supernatural lumberjacks in the North Country.  If you've known the magic of a bright autumn day, hoped to meet a fairy on the streets of Portsmouth, or felt that something wondrous might lurk in the chill of a boulder cave, this anthology is for you.  Your story can be contemporary, historical or other-worldly—as long as it features a strong New Hampshire connection. 

 

Edited by Elaine Isaak, author and editor of Volume IV:  “Love Free or Die,” and Volume V:  “Live Free or Ride,” this sixth volume will be released in autumn 2016 by Plaidswede Publishing.

 

1.  Submissions should be 1,000 to 8,000 words long.  These are not hard limits, if you've got a great work.

 

2.  New Hampshire must be integral to the story in some fashion—but how you use it is up to you! 

 

3.  Stories can be any subgenre of fantasy literature:  contemporary, traditional, sword-and-sorcery, but there must be a fantastical element to the work.  If you are uncertain that your work qualifies as fantasy, please send it anyhow and let the editor be the judge. 

 

4.  Submissions MUST include your name, address, phone number and email on the first page.

 

5.  Follow standard manuscript format:  double-spaced, include page numbers, Times New Roman 12-point preferred.

 

6. Payment will be $50 on publication, and two copies of the book.  Anticipated publication date of September 1, 2016.

 

7.  Submission Deadline: May 1, 2015  All rejections/acceptances will be sent by June 15.

 

8.  E-mail submissions to:  livefreeordragons@gmail.

 

9. Upon acceptance, a short bio and photo will be required for the book.

 

 

 

Mystery writer Mark Okrant

Plaidswede author Mark Okrant, author of New Hampshire murder mysteries, is available for book signings and events.

 

His next Plaidswede mystery, "Whacked!,"

takes place at Wentworth-by-the Sea."

 

Contact Plaidswede: george@plaidswede.com

 

Radio guy Mike Morin

Plaidswede author Mike Morin ("50 Shades of Radio: True Stories of a Morning Guy Being Wired, Tired and Fired") is available for book signings and events.

 

Contact Plaidswede: george@plaidswede.com

 

Editor, author
James Wyman dies

James V. Wyman, 90, of South Kingstown, R.I., died May 9, 2014, at home.

 

He was a retired vice president and executive editor of the Providence Journal, who directed coverage of corruption in the Rhode Island court system that won the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism in 1994, among his many accomplishments during a 44-year career with the newspaper.

 

His book was published in 2008 by Plaidswede Publishing.

 

He graduated from Taunton High School and served with the Army Signal Corps in the Philippines and New Guinea during World War II. He worked at the Taunton Daily Gazette while attending college and joined the Journal as a bureau reporter within days of graduating from Boston University in 1951. He was named city editor of the Journal's former sister paper, the Evening Bulletin, in 1963, rising through the ranks until being named to the Journal's top editorial post in 1989.

 

He was a past president of both the New England Associated Press News Executives Association and the New England chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which awarded him the Yankee Quill prize for lifetime contribution to excellence in Journalism in 1989. Wyman also received a distinguished alumni award from Boston University's College of Communication in 1996 and was inducted into the Rhode Island Journalism Hall of Fame in 1999.

 

He was the author of the 2008 memoir, "Bittersweet Beginnings: A Sketchbook of a Great Depression Boyhood,” about growing up in a Brockton, Mass., neighborhood.

 
Fogel named N.H. poet laureate
 

Alice B. Fogel was named the state poet laureate of New Hampshire in November 2013.

 

An October interview with Fogel appeared in "Amoskeag: The Literary Journal of Southern New Hampshire University."

Here's the link:http://amoskeagjournal.com/2013/10/28authorspotlight-alice-b-fogel/

 

Previously:

 

Nominations are open for the New Hampshire Poet Laureate, an honorary position and appointment for a five year term.

 

The Poetry Society of New Hampshire will accept nominations by the deadline of Friday, Sept. 13, 2013.

 

Click here for more information, including the guidelines & nomination form.

 

The N.H. Poet Laureate is an honorary five-year position held by an individual who has made outstanding contributions in the field of poetry.

 

Although there are no specified duties, the poet laureate is an ambassador for all poets in N.H. and works to heighten the visibility and value of poetry in our state. This individual will join a rich tradition of NH Poets Laureate working hard to celebrate and foster poetry in NH.

The

N.H. poets laureate

  • March 2009 - March 2013: Walter Butts

  • January 2006 - March 2009: Patricia Fargnoli

  • March 2004 - December 2005: Cynthia Huntington

  • October, 1999 - March 2004: Marie Harris, Barrington

  • December 1995 - March 1999: Donald Hall, Wilmot

  • January 1995 - March 1999: Jane Kenyon, Wilmot

  • March 1989 - March 1994: Maxine Kumin, Warner

  • June, 1984 - January 1989: Donald Hall, Danbury

  • January 1979 - January 1984: Richard G. Eberhart, Hanover

  • August 1972 - December 1978: Eleanor Vinton, Concord

  • September 1968 - July 1972: Paul Scott Mowrer

U.S. poets laureate from N.H.

n 1967.

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Finulla is the action-packed climax to the Nilesburgh Chronicles, a trilogy set in the imaginary Vermont town of Nilesburgh. You can’t find it on a map, but you can get there from any bookstore.

The series introduces Cooney Jacobs, a fatherless boy trying to become a country cop. He’s good at his job, not so good at managing his relationships. Can he ever find a woman who will stay in his life?

Cooney’s best friend is Kevin Beaujolais, a socially inept handyman trying to get by in a world where non-readers don’t thrive.  So what is he to make of Maureen, an alluring widow from a very different world?

Their interlocking stories form the first two books of the trilogy, books featuring murder, mayhem, mystery and a little magic.

Finulla supplies the magic. She’s a misplaced Irish water sprite who shouldn’t even exist. But don’t tell that to the lovers and crooks whose lives she touches.

In Nilesburgh, where vivid Vermont characters flavor vibrant tales, Finulla provides romance, justice and a glimpse into the next generation of sprite-inspired Nilesburghers.

        

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