December 2009: Cold has set in here in Montana, and we send the warmest of holiday wishes to our friends and colleagues around the country. As always, many thanks to all of you for reading the Bookmark.
In this issue:
Win a Free Book
Free Recipe
Chrysti the Wordsmith
Featured Author
60 Minutes
Backlist Pick of the Month
Robert’s Sketchbook
Spotlight: Good News for Bookstores
The Buzz
Event Calendar
Win a Free Book
Congratulations to Brian K. of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, winner of last month’s drawing. Brian’s prize of choice is Nebraska Simply Beautiful.
You could be the next winner! Enter our December drawing to win a free book from www.farcountrypress.com (drawing excludes books by other publishers that Farcountry distributes).
Just send us an email at [email protected] by December 21. Be sure to type “December drawing” in the subject line. Good luck!
Free Recipe
Got leftover turkey? Jazz it up with this recipe for a Parmesan Crusted Turkey Sandwich from Yellowstone’s executive sous chef Mike Dean, featured in A Taste of Wyoming by Pamela Sinclair.
Download recipe
Chrysti the Wordsmith
We’ve all heard of the swine flu...but star flu? Radio host and author Chrysti the Wordsmith explains:
Influenza
The word influenza came directly to English from Italian, where it simply means “influence.” The term was originally associated with astrology; influenza was believed to be an ethereal fluid flowing from the stars to the earth, where it literally influenced the destinies of human beings.
Throughout the 1600s, the sudden emergence of diseases whose terrestrial causes were not apparent was blamed on the influenza of the stars. In 1743, Italy was struck with what has since been identified as the flu but at the time was called influenza di cattaro, or the “influence of the catarrh.” By the time the illness and its name had reached England, it was known simply as influenza. The clipped form, flu, began to appear in print in the 1830s.
From Verbivore’s Feast: A Banquet of Word and Phrase Origins by Chrysti the Wordsmith. Also available is Verbivore’s Feast, Second Course: More Word and Phrase Origins.
Author’s Website
Chrysti the Wordsmith is produced at KGLT-FM on the campus of Montana State University and is heard on Yellowstone Public Radio, Montana Public Radio, and Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
Featured Author
Janice K. Mineer, author of Gingerbread from the Heart, published by Blue Meadow Books and distributed by Farcountry Press.
Favorite place to buy books:
The Learning Tree in Missoula, Montana
Favorite quote:
“Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.” —Stephen R. Covey
What children’s book do you most cherish?
The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans
Dog person or cat person?
Dog! I have a beloved, ginger-colored Shiba Inu named Kita.
Janice’s website
Janice’s blog
60 Minutes
Did you catch 60 Minutes on November 14? Lesley Stahl interviewed paleontologist Jack Horner, who discussed his dino theories, including his team’s discovery of a T. rex skeleton that has flexible blood vessels inside its bones—and his prediction that we’ll be able to create a “dino chicken” (a chicken with teeth, a long tail, and arms instead of wings) in just 5 years.
He was promoting his new book How to Build a Dinosaur... but the first book he wrote about this discovery was actually our Farcountry Explorer book Digging Up Dinosaurs! (Where were you then, Lesley? It’s ok, we forgive you.)
View Interview
Backlist Pick of the Month Several chapters from our book Upstairs Girls, by historian and author Michael Rutter, are featured in a newly released anthology Deadwood: The Best Writings on the Most Notorious Town in the West.
Congratulations, Michael!
Robert’s Sketchbook
Robert Rath is an author and illustrator living in Bozeman, Montana.
Illustrator’s Website
Robert Rath’s latest books:
Bug Feats of Montana
Montana Chillers
The Big Bucky Badger Mystery
The Wild Wolf Pack Mystery
Yellowstone’s Hot Legends and Cool Myths
Booksellers: Our authors, photographers, and illustrators are available for book signings and other events.
Promotional materials are available. Just give us a call at 1-800-821-3874.
Our two classic calendars—Montana and Montana Wildlife—are again available. Don’t start 2010 without one.
Good News for Bookstores
The Census Bureau has released its updated figures on book sales. In September, bookstore sales rose 7% compared to September 2008, according to preliminary estimates. By contrast, total retail sales in September fell 6.3%, compared to the same period a year ago. According to Shelf Awareness, bookstores continue to do better than most retailers. (source: Shelf Awarness)
Coming in January
An Uncommon Journey
by H. Norman Hyatt
November Bestsellers
1. Montana scenic calendar
2. Montana Women
Homesteaders: A Field
of One’s Own
3. California’s Best: Two
Centuries of Great Writing
from the Golden State
4. Who Pooped in the Park?
Grand Canyon National Park
5. Who Pooped in the Park?
Great Smoky Mountains
National Park
In the News
Midwest Book Review calls Montana Women Homesteaders: A Field of One’s Own “An absorbing, often deeply personal account...highly recommended.”
Liberty County Times calls Montana Chillers “a ghostly good time,” and author Ellen Baumler’s work “masterful.”
Get Your Catalog
Click here for a copy of our 2009 catalog.
Photo by Donald M. Jones, www.donaldmjones.com.
Book Signings
MONTANA
December 5, 1-3 p.m.
The Bookstore
26 N. Idaho
Dillon, MT
Ellen Baumler signs Montana Chillers: 13 True Tales of Ghosts and Hauntings.
December 5, 6-9 p.m.
Red Lodge Books
16 N. Broadway
Red Lodge, MT
Dru Robidou signs Yes I Remember Well: A Montana Christmas When I was a Little Girl.
December 6, 6-9 p.m.
Dillards, VIP Night
Helena, MT
Martin J. Kidston signs Cromwell Dixon: A Boy and His Plane, and DruAnn Robidou signs Yes, I Remember Well: A Montana Christmas When I Was a Little Girl.
December 12, 1:30-3 p.m.
Montana Historical Society
Helena, MT
Annual Holiday Book Signing, featuring Rich Aarstad, Stephenie Ambrose-Tubbs, Jon Axline, Governor Tim Babcock and First Lady Betty Babcock, Ellen Baumler, J. M. Cooper, Stan Cooper, Annie Hanshew, Martin Kidston, John Lambing, Bob Morgan, Tom Mulvaney, Rick Newby, John Reddy, Robert Rath, DruAnn Robidou, and Jessica Solberg.
December 13, 1-4 p.m.
Borders Books Music & Cafe
2833 King Ave.
Billings, MT
Dru Robidou signs Yes I Remember Well: A Montana Christmas When I was a Little Girl.
Give Us a Holler!
We love hearing from you! If you have anything to share related to Farcountry Press books, please send us an email at [email protected].
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