PHOTO BY MEAGAN THOMPSON
The Other Bunch is made up of Dixie Thomas Reale, Patricia Santos Marcantonio and Bonnie Dodge.
Where to find “Voices From the Snake River Plain.”
In Twin Falls:
Herrett Center
Hastings Books
Moosehill Gifts
In Boise:
Rediscovered Books
December 6, 2010
IDAHO AUTHORS’ HOLIDAY BOOK FAIR
The Other Bunch will be joining Jennifer DeNaughel, Betty Hare, Cliff Johnson, Niels S. Nokkentved, Jack Goodman, and Merri Halma at a holiday book fair December 11, 2010, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Zulu Bagels & Java Jungle, 1986 Addison Avenue East, Twin Falls, Idaho. Stop by, say hello, and support these local authors. Their books will make great stocking stuffers.
January 30, 2010
VOICE’S WRITERS FEATURED AT RANDOM READINGS
The publishing world is changing daily, it seems, and there’s a lot of interest in the area of non-traditional forms of publishing. As “Writers Working for Writers,” the Idaho Writer’s Guild is proudly launching a new series called “Random Readings” on Saturday, January 30th from 1-3 pm at The Cabin, in Boise. Featured writers will share their experiences, from writing to publishing.
Here’s what you can look forward to: authors will read from their books, with commentary. Afterwards, there will be time for asking questions and sharing thoughts about the nuts and bolts of a variety of publishing processes. Not-to-be-missed refreshments will be served.
Southern Idaho residents Bonnie Dodge, Dixie Thomas Reale and Patricia Santos Marcantonio wrote and published “Voices from the Snake River Plain.” A collection of short stories, poems and essays, the book has been described as “a small treasure….we learn there is beauty in the landscape around us and people with stories to tell.” Some of the tales by these award-winning writers include a jackalope, an old Mexican ghost story, haunting landscapes and a road trip with Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey.
Val Robertson was the former president of The Couer du Bois Chapter of Romance Writers of America, and the founding and current president of the Popular Fiction Association of Idaho, which produces the Murder in the Grove mystery conference. She is also the organizer of the Boise Speculative Fiction writer’s support group. Her debut novel is entitled “Blade’s Edge.”
Also from Boise, Ken McConnell is both traditionally published and self-published. A Software Test Technician, Ken wrote and published “Starstrikers” in 2008. His first novel is “a military space novel that takes place between two galactic civilizations.” He also wrote “Null Pointer,” a mystery novel about a programmer sleuth.
“Random Readings” will take place in the Jean Wilson Reading Room, on the basement level at The Cabin, 801 S. Capitol Blvd, Boise. Admission is free. For further information contact Diane Graham at diane@idahowritersguild.org.
October 23, 2009
THREE WRITERS WITH STORIES TO TELL
by Judi Baxter.
Article reprinted courtesy of the Times-News, www.magicvalley.com
BOOKCHAT: Three ‘writers with stories to tell’
It is always thrilling to hold a treasured book in my hands – rediscovering a childhood favorite, inhaling the scent of an old, leather-bound tome, perusing glorious pictures from a beloved illustrator or gently opening a much-anticipated title for the first time.
The thrill was certainly there when I received a copy of “Voices From The Snake River Plain,” the collection of essays, short stories and poetry from three talented local writers, Bonnie Dodge, Dixie Thomas Reale and Patricia Santos Marcantonio.
The lawn mowing, leaf raking and sidewalk sweeping went by the wayside as I sat on my deck and immersed myself in their worlds. I laughed, sighed, held my breath for a few moments and even cried while reading of families and friends, journeys and jealousies.
Marcantonio’s “The Hitch,” an engaging short story about a camping trip gone bad, left me giggling and nodding my head in agreement: Been there, done that! Forget the spectacular Stanley Basin scenery, mountain air and sparkling Salmon River; a lost trailer hitch leads to pointed fingers, heated words and thoughts of divorce. But her wise old character, Earl, quickly snaps everything back into focus: “Earl pulled up his welding mask. ‘You folks should have a good time once this is fixed. You can hike the trails, cook over a campfire, fish a bit. See the stars together. That’s the only way to see the stars, with someone you love so you know you aren’t dreaming.’” Beautiful!
In the chapter “Remembrances,” Reale captured my heart with “Mush.” Anyone who grew up having to eat oatmeal-the-texture-of-wallpaper-paste for breakfast every morning will immediately identify with the feisty, stubborn little girl. Her mother said she would eat it. Period. She was determined not to. Period. It became a royal battle of wills and more than a little ingenuity on young Dixie’s part: feeding it to the dog, tossing it out the window, dribbling large spoonfuls around her bowl. Since she didn’t have to eat the slopped part, that maneuver became her answer:
“I decorated the room. The entire bowl was drizzled and splattered one spoonful at a time across the mahogany tabletop, the wall, the bench and onto the floor. There was so much of it that gray puddles ran into one another making small lakes. Once Mama saw the mess she scraped it back into the dish and slung it in front of me. Now it was cold and slimy, had a faint flavor of English wood oil, and smelled a bit like floor polish. ‘You will eat this,’ she said.”
At this point, I was chuckling, but it was nothing compared with the laugher that erupted when I came to her final solution. What a creative little girl!
After reading Dodge’s “Surviving the Storm,” set a few days after the attack on the World Trade Center, I barely moved for many long minutes, reflecting on her words, recalling the overwhelming feelings of those haunting days as our nation sat in stultified silence and pain.
The women debate their plans to attend a bookfest in Boise and a trip to Idaho City for their annual mini-retreat, struggling with their own fears and doubts about leaving home and families so soon. “It’s what they want,” writes Dodge. “They want to terrorize us into inaction. I think we should go.” And so they do.
They spend hours exploring the former mining town, picking wildflowers, spontaneously attending a Catholic Mass, sharing homemade peach cobbler at Trudy’s Diner.
Dodge writes: “Heading for the car, we stop when we see an area of the cemetery marked with weathered boards, each etched with only one word: Unknown. Like rubber bands, we’re snapped back into reality as we think of the many new graves in New York City, some of which will soon be marked: Unknown. We exchange glances and, unembarrassed by our tears, embrace, holding onto each other longer than usual.
“We pass tissues like candy. Our hearts hurt. We have no words, no stories to define our nation’s massive devastation. As we travel the road that will take us back to our families, smiles chase away sadness and the desperate need to be home … Even in this troubled time, when our nation is stunned and nothing much is moving, we are. Because we’re still writers with stories to tell.”
And our lives are richer because these three writers have gathered and shared those stories with us.
Judi Baxter owned and operated Judi’s Bookstore in downtown Twin Falls from 1978 to 1992. From 2000 to 2004 she wrote a twice-weekly column for Publisher’s Weekly’s online edition called “Reviews in the News.”
Sept. 23, 2009
THREE AWARD-WINNING WRITERS PUBLISH COLLECTION
A jackalope, an old Mexican ghost story, haunting landscapes, and a road trip with Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey.
These are some of the tales you will read in Voices from the Snake River Plain, a new collection of short stories, poems and essays from three award-winning writers, Bonnie Dodge, Dixie Thomas Reale and Patricia Santos Marcantonio.
“We tell stories about people who haven’t yet found their own voice, or of those who have lost their voices along their travels. Sometimes our stories rise out of the landscape and from dreams. Sometimes they reach into the past, or into the future, but mostly, our stories echo the human heart,” wrote the authors.
Many of the selections have been printed in other publications or have won writing awards.
The foreword was written Diane Josephy Peavey, author of Bitterbrush Country: Living on the Edge of the Land, and an essayist on Boise Public Radio.
“This book is a small treasure. In Voices from the Snake River Plain we learn there is beauty in the landscape around us and people with stories to tell. And much to learn from both,” Peavey wrote.
Dodge of Jerome wrote Miracles in the Desert, a book of essays, and “Life in this Magic Valley,” a column for Ag Weekly. Her work has appeared in Sun Valley Magazine, Rawhide & Lace, Calico Trails and Clean Shot. She has won several state, regional and national writing awards.
Marcantonio of Twin Falls has won honors for her short stories and screenplays. Her children’s book, Red Ridin’ in the Hood and Other Cuentos, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, earned several honors including the 2007 Anne Izard Storyteller’s Choice Award; was a America’s Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature commended title and an American Library Association starred
review; as well as recommendations from the Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly.
Reale of Jerome published Squirrel Pie and Other Morsels, a collection of short stories, and has had short stories and nonfiction published in several magazines, including Dan River Anthology, Redneck Review, Slackwater Review, Nostalgia Magazine, Eclectic Lapidary, Meet Points, Broomstick, Rock and Gem and Petrified Watermelon Pickings. She also wrote food columns for The Times-News and Ag Weekly.
Voices from the Snake River Plain was edited Jennifer Sandmann of Burley, a freelance writer and editor who worked as a reporter for newspapers in Idaho, California and the Seattle area. Books edited by Sandmann include A History of the Twin Falls Canal Company by J. Howard Moon and Russell M. Treymane, and A Forest of Wormwood: Sagebrush, Water and Idaho’s Twin Falls Canal
Company by Niels Sparre Nokkentved.
Voices from the Snake River Plain was made possible in part by the Embodiment Grant of Boise.
