Alaska Spark by Lois Simenson, writing as LoLo Paige ‘77

Eagle River, Alaska

Published by Avoca Press, 2020

Can a chance encounter on a wildfire lead to true love under the midnight sun? Tara Waters loves being a wildland firefighter and the adrenaline rush of fighting wildfires is her calling. She must be on her game to join an elite hotshot crew in Montana. But when Tara is sent to fight fires in Alaska, her dream falls out of reach. Sexy Alaskan smokejumper Ryan O’Connor takes Tara under his wing and counsels her when she fails to save someone on a wildfire. But when a mysterious adversary sabotages Tara on the fire line, she discovers a threat more dangerous than fire—a threat that can destroy everything she’s worked for and second chance for love that could be extinguished before it ignites.

ISBN-10: 0578676850

ISBN-13: 978-0578676852

Billy Above the Roofs by Bob Ross ‘83

San Antonio, Texas

Published by Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2021

Ross writes with an authenticity as poetic and unforgiving as the Nebraska Sandhills themselves. The nine connected stories in “Billy Above the Roofs” paint an indelible portrait of the life and times of one Billy Dixon in an era on the Great Plains not entirely bygone. From the first line of the prologue, “After Billy Dixon’s hilltop suicide,” which takes place as “the sun’s flat chin still rested on the horizon,” to the end of this remarkable book, we follow the protagonist to his death in the company of lovers and the inhabitants of Turtle Lodge, Nebraska, on a bluff overlooking the endless lands of the past.

ISBN-10 1622889142

ISBN-13 978-1622889143

Humanity’s Grace by Dede Montgomery ‘83

West Linn, Oregon

Published by Bedazzled Ink Publishing Co., 2022

Salty air, low-lying clouds and crooning of seagulls near the towering Astoria Column and the flowing Columbia River set the scene for “Humanity's Grace,” a collection of linked short stories. Frank, Anne, Monica and Sarah all reappear from the pages of Montgomery's novel, “Beyond the Ripples.” New characters – an elderly mother and her son, a police office and spouse, a childhood friend, a counselor and a bystander – appear and all are uniquely connected to a murder in downtown Astoria, Oregon.

ISBN-10: 1949290727

ISBN-13: 978-1949290721

Legend Keepers: The Chosen One by Bruce Smith ‘76

Bozeman, Montana

Published by Hidden Shelf Publishing House, 2021

After a wizardly raven rescues an orphaned mountain goat from death’s doorstep, the goat’s search for her mother becomes a much bigger journey. Guided by her raven mentor, she discovers that she has been chosen as protector of an ancient legend. The legend foretells the coming Great Warming and only she and the journey she undertakes can save her band of goats from its perils. This story of hope, perseverance, friendships and finding one’s purpose has a subtext of climate change's effects on alpine life.

ISBN-10 1955893020

ISBN-13 978-1955893022

Manifest by Adam Phillips ‘05                    

Boise, Idaho

Published by Montag Press, 2021 

From a death row prison on a storm-swept coast to the dark old-growth forests of Oregon, and on to the hardscrabble semipro diamonds of the unsettled West, a dark figure and a baseball prodigy pursue their intertwined destiny. Will one have to destroy the other to find his path? With their combined power, will they be able to rise above the forces of history or will the world take them back, interring both beneath the water and the dirt?

ISBN-10: 1940233852

ISBN-13: 978-1940233857

Masaru by Michael Cibenko ‘96

Branchville, New Jersey

Published by Arx Publishing, 2021

“Masaru” is the tale of a young Catholic samurai in mid-17^th century Japan. It’s the story of Shiro Nakagawa, a 17-year-old convert to Catholicism fighting a desperate battle to maintain the faith during the aggressively anti-Catholic Tokugawa Shogunate.

ISBN-10: 1935228234

ISBN-13: 978-1935228233

Shine by Miko Standish ‘19

Olympia, Washington

Published by Powder River Publishing, 2021

This is a story about a powerful witch who faces the challenge of realizing that life is not always about her, and her magic is only going to get her so far. Rizza will have to navigate the realm, even the parts she is not accustomed to in order to solve a mysterious murder that places her in an uncomfortable position, and maybe even into marriage.  - Powder River Publishing

ISBN-10 1736665960

ISBN-13 978-1736665961