Mark Abramson, a Minnesota farm boy, moved to San Francisco from Minneapolis in 1975 and dived right into the debauchery of gay life in that pre-AIDS world, including many day trips and overnight stays at the Russian River, ninety miles north of the city. In 1981 he decided to join a group of friends in fixing up an old house south of Guerneville, California. He soon found a job at the legendary Hexagon House/Woods Resort, where he got to meet a plethora of boyfriends, tricks, and celebrities including Divine, Charles Pierce, Sylvester, and Etta James. This is his story of those magical years before the plague.
"Eighteen-year-old Jimmy Miller, called Singer by his platoon mates, wants to prove his bravery in the trials of war, but he never considered how hard it would be to kill a man or what might happen if he did. He doesn't think about death and dying; he only imagines the glory. But when a vicious North Vietnamese Army ambush engulfs Singer and his friends, everything changes. In the heat of battle, Singer confronts the terrible truth of war and discovers a frightening darkness within himself. His struggle to survive takes on a deeper meaning that tests his courage in ways he never expected"--Back cover.
"FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS is a contemporary thriller set in the Mississippi River Delta. Thirty-nine days of torrential rain have swollen the river to the brink. Clementine Price-a young US Army Corps of Engineers officer born on a farm in the flood-plain of the Arkansas Delta-is battling to protect the people and homeland she loves from a catastrophic flood when she discovers that a richly funded domestic terrorist- hiding in plain sight in a beloved megachurch-has weaponized the natural disaster to inundate America's heartland. His plan to cleave the United States in half and found his own all-white nation is already in motion. Clementine has only hours to mobilize a make-shift army, engineer a strategy to turn nature's overwhelming force back onto the enemy, stop civil war, and save millions from drowning"--
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER "A fiery tour de force... I could not put this book down. It truly was terrifying and unutterably beautiful." -Alison Borden, The Denver Post From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars, the story of two college students on a wilderness canoe trip--a gripping tale of a friendship tested by fire, white water, and violence Wynn and Jack have been best friends since freshman orientation, bonded by their shared love of mountains, books, and fishing. Wynn is a gentle giant, a Vermont kid never happier than when his feet are in the water. Jack is more rugged, raised on a ranch in Colorado where sleeping under the stars and cooking on a fire came as naturally to him as breathing. When they decide to canoe the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate long days of leisurely paddling and picking blueberries, and nights of stargazing and reading paperback Westerns. But a wildfire making its way across the forest adds unexpected urgency to the journey. When they hear a man and woman arguing on the fog-shrouded riverbank and decide to warn them about the fire, their search for the pair turns up nothing and no one. But: The next day a man appears on the river, paddling alone. Is this the man they heard? And, if he is, where is the woman? From this charged beginning, master storyteller Peter Heller unspools a headlong, heart-pounding story of desperate wilderness survival.
Stifled by a soul-crushing job, devastated by the death of her beloved brother, and lonely after the end of a fifteen-year marriage, Wini is feeling vulnerable. So when her three best friends insist on a high-octane getaway for their annual girls' trip, she signs on, despite her misgivings. A freak accident leaves the women stranded, separating them from their raft and everything they need to survive. When night descends, a fire on the mountainside lures them to a ramshackle camp that appears to be their lifeline. But as Wini and her friends grasp the true intent of their supposed saviors, long buried secrets emerge and lifelong allegiances are put to the test.
In this sequel to "Sex, Drugs & Disco," Mark Abramson's diaries begin on January 1, 1980 with optimism for the new decade. San Francisco was a beacon of freedom for gay men from around the world, and he was there to write down the details of most of his tricks, love affairs, and all the fleeting encounters in between. Like the denizens of pre-war Berlin, we were scarcely aware of how special were the times we lived in, nor that our hedonistic joy in the celebration of gay liberation would soon be cut short by the terrible scourge of AIDS.
In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable’s girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County—to Boston, to southern Vermont, to Toronto—pursued by the implacable constable. Their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them. In a story spanning five decades, Last Night in Twisted River depicts the recent half-century in the United States as “a living replica of Coos County, where lethal hatreds were generally permitted to run their course.” What further distinguishes Last Night in Twisted River is the author’s unmistakable voice—the inimitable voice of an accomplished storyteller.
In 1969, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville initiated a remarkable performing arts series called the Mississippi River Festival. Over 12 summer seasons, between 1969 and 1980, the festival presented 353 events showcasing performers in a variety of musical genres, including classical, chamber, vocal, ragtime, blues, folk, bluegrass, barbershop, country, and rock, as well as dance and theater. During those years, more than one million visitors flocked to the spacious Gyo Obata-designed campus in the countryside near St. Louis. The Mississippi River Festival began as a partnership promoting regional cooperation in the realm of the performing arts. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville invited the St. Louis Symphony to establish residence on campus and to offer a summer season. To host the symphony, the university created an outdoor concert venue within a natural amphitheater by installing a large circus tent, a stage and acoustic shell, and a sophisticated sound system. To appeal to the widest possible audience, the university included contemporary popular musicians in the series. The audacity of the undertaking, the charm of the venue, the popularity of the artists, the excellence of the performances, and the nostalgic memory of warm summer evenings have combined to endow the festival with legendary status among those who attended.
From bestselling author Grace Lin comes the companion to the Newbery Honor winner Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and the National Book Award finalist When the Sea Turned to Silver. The moon is missing from the remote Village of Clear Sky, but only a young boy named Rendi seems to notice! Rendi has run away from home and is now working as a chore boy at the village inn. He can't help but notice the village's peculiar inhabitants and their problems. But one day, a mysterious lady arrives at the Inn with the gift of storytelling, and slowly transforms the villagers and Rendi himself. As she tells more stories and the days pass in the Village of Clear Sky, Rendi begins to realize that perhaps it is his own story that holds the answers to all those questions. Newbery Honor author Grace Lin brings readers another enthralling fantasy featuring her marvelous full-color illustrations. Starry River of the Sky is filled with Chinese folklore, fascinating characters, and exciting new adventures.
