Sonoma County Literary Update

If you are a Sonoma County writer with a book or chapbook newly published, let’s help you celebrate! Just send your announcement to editor@socolitupdate.com. Book announcements are posted in the order received.

Include a book front cover image (jpg), brief book description, and information on how your readers can find out more about you and your work or order a copy. Please send this announcement as plain text, preferably in an email (no flyers, pdfs or docs with special formatting).  The most recent announcements are posted at the top of the page.

Your announcement will appear in its entirety in the emailed version of the Update for the month it is posted. Subsequently, authors’ names will be listed in the emailed Update with links to this page.

Archived pages of books in print may be viewed here for 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Sonoma County writers published in local, national, and international literary journals or anthologies will be recognized here as well. If you have a publication in a literary journal or anthology (within the last 30 days) you’d like to announce, send the following information to editor@socolitupdate.com: Your name, title of the piece, name of the journal and date of publication (issue/volume), link to journal’s or publisher’s website (if available). This list of journal publications will be posted monthly and archived.

Sonoma County Writers Published in Periodicals

During December 2025, the following authors reported their work has recently been published in journals, magazines or anthologies, both print and electronic. Links to periodicals do not always go to the poem or story itself. Unless specified otherwise, the works are poems. For an archive of previous publications in periodicals, click HERE.

Gwynn O’Gara:
“Sailing through Lava” and “Earth Becomes Smaller” in riverSedge, Issue 38 (December 2025)

 

New and Noted Books by Sonoma County Writers in 2025

Tommie W. Whitener—The Showrunner: Hollywood Culture Clash

Against long odds, Stuart Bennett, showrunner, was struggling to write and sell the new television series he was sure would restore him to the pinnacle of Hollywood success that had once been his when he was serendipitously introduced to Lena, the Russian woman he didn’t know was more than his match. When he brought Lena to California on a Fiancé Visa along with her fifteen-year-old daughter, Dasha, the bowl of cherries he had promised quickly rotted into a morass of questions about acceptance, assimilation and love, the ultimate crucible of which was Dasha’s descent into a world she had never known in Russia, one of drugs, easy sex and nihilism. 

The Showrunner may be purchased on Amazon.

Debra Palmer, PhD—Between Wounded and Well

Local nurse practitioner, researcher and educator Dr. Debra Palmer unveils a powerful and deeply personal exploration of emotional recovery in her new book, Between Wounded and Well: Lessons in Healing. Told through the lens of wound-healing stages as a metaphor for emotional healing, the book offers a profound reflection on trauma, resilience, and the strength that emerges when we choose to confront our past with honesty and courage. As a nurse practitioner, researcher, and educator, Palmer’s story demonstrates the intricate connections between physical and emotional healing in her life as a 14-year-old mother. Her storytelling allows readers to see themselves in her journey, offering comfort, clarity, and hope in universal challenges. This book is ideal for healthcare providers, caregivers, and seekers of emotional wholeness. 

Available everywhere, including Amazon and Audible.

Robin Gabbert—Somehow, I Haven’t Drowned

“Don’t overlook the title of this amazing collection of poems by Robin Gabbert. Robin, like Robert Frost, is a trickster poet-with subtler meaning always present in her poems. It is easy to get swept up in her ability to get right to the heart of one tragedy after another, while emerging strong and determined in the next poem. The book is beautifully structured, so take time to follow her clues. She is masterful in building mood and tone in the sections, and awakening in her readers almost a companionship, before returning us to her vivid finales.”
— Fran Claggett-Holland, writer, poet, educational consultant

“The poems in Robin Gabbert’s Somehow, I Haven’t Drowned emerge from the hands of a keen and candid observer who speaks her mind and her heart. These courageous poems “slip into the space between stars and trees… make bones light up…make your every breath rattle.” This poet is fearless and does not shy away from hard truths and harsh realities. Like the title of this remarkable collection the poems within are too buoyant to sink.”
— Les Bernstein, poet

Blue Light Press, $18
Available on Amazon

Dan Coshnear—Professional Poems

Professional Poems is a collection of light verse, 22 poems in all with illustrations by the author.

Anyone interested in purchasing it can contact Dan Coshnear at coshn@sonic.net.

Cost is 10 bucks or donation.

All proceeds go to Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance. 

Frances Rivetti—Floating in the Middle

Frances Rivetti’s Fog Valley Press announces the November 1, 2025 release of Floating in the Middle, the highly anticipated third novel from its award-winning British-American author. This gripping work of domestic noir meets climate suspense as a group of longtime friends reunite for a weekend on California’s crumbling coast to plan their ideal intentional community—only to discover that building utopia may require darker compromises than they imagined.

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the eroding Sonoma Coast, Floating in the Middle follows friends whose weekend retreat becomes a pressure cooker of buried secrets, conflicting visions, and mounting desperation as the changing landscape mirrors the instability of their relationships. When environmental crisis becomes the catalyst for both hope and betrayal, the novel asks: How far would you go to create the community of your dreams? Floating in the Middle joins a growing canon of climate fiction that examines environmental anxiety through the lens of human relationships.

Available wherever you buy your books. $20, paperback ($15 Kindle). More details here: francesrivetti.com/book/floating-in-the-middle

Sherrie Lovler—Distant Voices

9 pairs of paintings and poems, 16 images from contemporary illuminated manuscripts and 6 Enso paintings. Distant Voices is a meditation on art as collaboration—with nature, memory, disruption, and the unseen voices that guide us. Blending Western calligraphy with the freedom of Eastern brushwork, Sherrie Lovler weaves poetry and painting into a single practice, where words become movement and images become language. Circles, moons, and marks echo the rhythms of life, reminding us to listen for what speaks beyond words. Sherrie takes calligraphy into another realm—a world where she mergers her inner musings, poetry, dance and meditation, creating unique abstract paintings. The poems are ekphrastic, the calligraphy is asemic, the tenderness is real. 

“Distant Voices is a magical book. I love it. It is art en face with poetry. They can stand alone or be appreciated as a single piece. The art is fluid and works well with its poem. The poems are gentle and informative. I enjoy living with each one for a while before moving on to the next pair. The poet’s tenderness is special and the artist’s work is equally special. What a gift.”
–CB Follett, Poet Laureate of Marin County, CA 2010–2013

8.5″ × 6″ softcover book, 64 pages, full color, $29.95
Order here: artandpoetry.com/buybook/distant-voices

Brian R. Martens—Merlin’s Wing

“Brian R. Martens’ Merlin’s Wing takes readers on a poetic journey into the sacred interplay between myth, childhood, and self-actualization. With vivid imagery and a profound sense of wonder, Martens reconnects us to the intuitive mind, the sacred gift so often lost in a world of rationality. Through tender moments like those in “California Buckeye” and “The Quiet Home,” Martens captures the magic of youth and the enduring myths that shape us. Whether evoking the Bushmen’s survival in “Bushmen” or the soaring presence of a raven in “Merlin’s Wing,” his poetry invites us to see life with the eyes of a child-curious, trusting, and open to mystery. Merlin’s Wing is more than a collection of poems; it’s an invitation to rediscover the myths in our own lives, to dream deeply, and to embrace the unseen. Martens’ words hum with the timeless joy of exploration, urging us all to grow our wings and embark on boundless journeys.”
—Ed Coletti, author of Apollo Blue’s Harp (2019), When Hearts Outlive Minds (2011), and The Problem With Breathing (2015).

Luchador Press, 116 pp., $15
ISBN: 979-8899750021
Available on Amazon

Robert Waxler and David Beckman—You Say, I Say: Staying Alive with Literature, Language, and Friendship

In September, 1962, two 18-year-old freshmen at Brown University named Bob Waxler and David Beckman first crossed paths. They quickly discovered they had a lot in common, especially an abiding fascination with language, literature, and the life of art. Four years later, as college seniors, they collaborated on a small book of poems, which brought them a flurry of attention, then faded into memory as the two friends began separate life journeys. In 2014, an article in the Brown alumni journal rekindled their connection. It sparked an exchange of emails that gradually blossomed into this book-an extended dialogue between two old friends on poetry, life, the passage of time, and the power of the written word.

David Beckman graduated cum laude with honors from Brown University. He lives in Santa Rosa. Robert Waxler hold a B.A. from Brown, M.A. from Boston College and Ph.d from Stony Brook University. He lives in Dartmouth, MA.

Rivertowns Books
ISBN: 978-1953943613, 230 pp (paper, hardback & kindle)
Available on Rivertowns Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

Pat Nolan—Ode to Sunset: A Year In The Life of American Genius 

Ode To Sunset is a story told in the American pulp fiction vernacular just as Dante’s Divine Comedy was written in the vernacular of its day. Unfortunately, the resemblance ends there. The novel is not autobiographical nor is it a roman á clef. Written as a retro-pulp, the composition reflects the methods of Raymond Queneau’s OULIPO group as well as those of the mysterious Raymond Roussel, with a nod to Flann O’Brien and Laurence Sterne. No actual poets were named in the writing of this fiction with the exception of dead poets who serve as historical or literary markers as is often required of dead poets.

“Pick your picaresque heroes; I’ve always been fond of an elegant slacker named Sebastian Dangerfield, and for wit, there are few rivals to Phillip Marlowe; but Pat Nolan’s Carl Wendt stakes his claim half a century later on the streets and in the clubs, libraries and bedrooms of SF. Ode to Sunset is many things, not least of which a hilarious send-up of Bay Area poetry’s poseurs. Wendt knows the scene well. Let him be your guide; but guard your butts and your booze.”
—Dan Coshnear, author of Occupy, and Jobs, And Other Preoccupations

Ode To Sunset, A Year In The Life Of American Genius by Pat Nolan, October 2025.
$35 paper, 500 pages. ISBN 978-0-9840310-9-2
Available exclusively through Nualláin House, Publishers. $10 off the retail price if ordered before December 2025.
Go to How To Order for details: nuallainhousepublishers.com/how-to-order

Anna Citrino—Stories We Didn’t Tell

Told through a series of interlinked narrative poems in alternating voices of family members, Stories We Didn’t Tell relates the struggles of a family of homesteaders and ranchers who work for cattle barons on the Great Plains. Set in the early to mid 1900s, their difficulties are many, given the social and economic constrictions of the time, the environmental challenges presented by the region in which they live, and the far-reaching impact of two world wars.  In our own era of economic challenges and rising awareness of gender oppression, these poems reveal how determination and resilience during hardship can work to transform possibilities.

ISBN: 978-1-962082-75-4 (softcover), $26.95
Available from Copperfields, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and the publisher Shanti Arts

Susan E. Gunter and Linda L. Reid (editors)—Switching to ON! The 2025 SebArts Writers Anthology

This anthology is more than a collection of poems, stories, and reflections. It is a testament to the creative power that emerges when people come together to write, listen, and grow in community. The SebArts Writers Salon has become a gathering place for writers of all backgrounds and levels of experience. Each month, participants share new work, offer thoughtful feedback, and engage in conversations that build trust, vulnerability, and inspiration. Together, they’ve created something rare and essential: a space where stories are nurtured and voices are honored. Poetry and prose born from this kind of community carry something extra—they carry witness. They remind us that storytelling is not a solitary act, but one deeply rooted in relationship. In a time when many writers face isolation, censorship, or creative burnout, the ability to write together in support and solidarity is more important than ever.

Wordrunner Press. Available on Amazon, $15

Nancy J. Martin—The Long Red Hair and Other Short Stories

Per Nancy Martin: Writers are always reminded to listen and take note of conversations that they might hear in a café or on a bus. I’ve found this to be excellent advice for mining info for future stories. I slightly fictionalized two of this book’s stories gathered in that manner, adapting true stories unwitting storytellers shared with me. Each time I heard those stories, I raced home to write them down. Other stories are flash fiction, which I enjoy writing, others are memoir pieces, and I added a couple of essays for good measure.

Nancy J. Martin, the author of From the Summer of Love to the Valley of the Moon, was born in San Francisco, raised in Marin County and migrated north to the Valley of the Moon, where she has resided since 1976. 

Cuvèe Press. Available on Amazon.

West County Writer’s Circle—A View From My Window

Authored by Beverly Riverwood, Diane Foti, Blythe Klein, Noel Bouck, Julie Middleton, Diane Masura and Andrea Van Dyke.

This book is an innovative form of memoir writing, where seven women writers chronicle their lived experiences beginning in the 1940s and extending into 2024. This multi-layered, multi-viewpoint history describes the ways political and social change affect family and cultural life over this incredibly dynamic period. A spectrum of collected tales such as this is rare indeed. Discovering such a spectrum of stories in one place is also rare.

Available for purchase at August 31, 2025 Occidental Center for the Arts book launch.

Karen Peterson, Editor—Work as We Have Known It

This year’s Sitting Room’s anthology (published June 2025) is themed Reflections on Working.

You can request a print copy, or stop by (2025 Curtis Drive, Penngrove) and pick one up (call first: 707-795-9028). Suggested donation: $5.00. And don’t forget to “find” us on Instagram.com/thesittingroomlibrary/

Karen Pierce Gonzalez—Down River with Li Po

Down River with Li Po, Karen Pierce Gonzalez’s fourth chapbook,  has just been published by Black Cat Poetry Press (UK). The 30-poem collection was inspired by the translated works of 8th Century Tang Dynasty Poet Li Po.

“These poems brim with an ageless atmosphere.  They are beyond a bridge over centuries, continents, and civilisations. They emphathise and connect the worlds of reader, writer and Li Po. The collection imerses you in meditative thought and surprises with stunning imagery. It leaves you feeling nourished and full of intrigue.” — Barry Hollow, author of Viaducts and River Views

Details: blackcatpress.co.uk/product-page/down-river-with-li-po

Eric Johnson—Journeyman’s Dues

Journeyman’s Dues is a memoir of Eric Johnson’s life as a young union carpenter on massive jobs a half-century ago on the West Coast (like the Palace of Fine Arts, the Moscone Center & St. Mary’s Cathedral). It’s a bildungsroman or coming-of-age book in that his transition from apprentice to journeyman as a union member very much shaped his character as a young man. The time span is 1965-1983, and the turbulence of that era on the West Coast permeates this episodic account of his first twenty years working as a union carpenter on large-scale projects in San Francisco, San Jose and Portland.

Per Johnson, the founder of Iota Press (now North Bay Letterpress Arts): “It’s a bit like reading a seafaring novel when you’ve never gone to sea. For those of us who have worked this tower of Babel, I hope it reminds you of twenty yarns of your own…and for those who are new to that world, may it be an eye-opener.”

Available from Iota Press: iotapress.com/books-for-sale

Jean Wong—Bear is Not a Bear

A collection of poetry; spanning from the humorous and the whimsical to a commentary of the social predicament of our times; also a proclamation of love to the people and animals in her life, the musings of the mind of Jean Wong.

Poet Margaret Rooney says that Jean Wong’s collection “explores human frailties with wry and poignant introspection, marks down life’s anomalies with quizzical amazement.”

52 pages
The book may be ordered on Amazon.

Karen Pierce Gonzalez—Moon kissed, Earth wrought, Vision Drunk

This hybrid collection, a conversation with three legendary women of Babylon, reaches back through history to bring forward a mythology that fits our time. Nine poems and five full-color art works offer insights into the terrain of personal spiritual and geographical traverses.

Bottlecap Press. 20 pgs.
Print: USA/Canada; digital: everywhere. https://bottlecap.press/products/wrough

Donna Emerson—Daphne Lifts Up

Daphne Lifts Up is certainly about Daphne, who appears half way through this book of journeys. She is not the Daphne you may have met before. She appears to like trees, especially the bay laurel. She is accustomed to being chased. Her travel through life includes abundant, verdant nature, lifelong exposure to the light and dark of many relationships, giving birth, embracing life, and accompanying many to natural deaths.  Music plays a major role along the way, whether among birds, trees, sheep, water, or within the family. Singing, telling stories, mother’s piano, her own, listening to voices, songs of her children, filling herself with Nin, Cassatt, and Beethoven.

“What delight awaits the reader of Donna L. Emerson’s newest collection, Daphne Lifts Up. In these 57 poems, Emerson delineates moments of exquisite beauty and tenderness as well as glimpses of life’s casual cruelties. The effect is stunning; for example, ‘I Was Raised on Love’ describes the speaker’s father as ‘a loving man . . . rarely there,’ plays this contradiction out poignantly and readies us for a later poem (‘In the Blue Room’) where the poet prepares herself and her father for his death.  The book has a chronological frame within an emotional one. From poem to poem, the emphasis is on the poet’s eye and heart which work together to praise and ultimately accept all that life offers—pastures, forests, homes, water, family. There is fire that destroys, but there is fire that brings growth. The imagery is rich and the settings evocative. This is poetry that welcomes all and provides a tough and durable comfort.”
–Deirdre Neilen, PhD, Editor, The Healing Muse

Finishing Line Press pre-sales period April 15 – June 20, 2025, to reserve the book at a discount, to be released on August 15.  For more information and to purchase, visit finishinglinepress.com/product/daphne-lifts-up-by-donna-emerson 

Lisa Shulman—Fragile Bones, Fierce Heart

The poems in Fragile Bones, Fierce Heart weave together observations on nature and the human experience, exploring such topics as climate change, social justice, grief, and hope. With vivid imagery and lyricism, these poems invite the reader to connect with the natural world, with hope, and with each other. 

Lisa Shulman’s collection of poems. Fragile Bones, Fierce Heart, is exquisite. If there were two words to describe it, they would be fearless beauty. The poems are a testament to the fact that even though we are in times of great political upheaval, climate crises and violence at home and abroad, if we step back and look, really look, we will always find that glimmer of hope behind a curtain of despair that many of us are feeling. And that is the gift that Lisa Shulman leaves us with, the beauty and hope that allow us to remember our resilience and resistance.
—Margo Perin, author of Plexiglass and The Opposite of Hollywood

Finishing Line Press, 2025
ISBN 979-8-88838-900-3
23 pages, $17.99
For more information visit www.lisashulman.com

Phyllis H. Meshulam— (Re)Creations

The poems in (Re)Creations reframe and reclaim women and the Earth in response to texts like E.O. Wilson’s, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, and our heritage of cultural traditions and sacred myths.

“This book offers what is most needed – a deep, personal and challenging journey into Humanity and its visions, lives, questions, and wonders.  An incredible accomplishment, a visionary span, a warm-hearted dedication to all life.”
–Juan Felipe Herrera, United States Poet Laureate emeritus

To order your copy: send an email to jerrym@sonic.net, $28 ($23 + $5 shipping)
Kelsay Books, February 2025, 104 pp.
ISBN #978-1-63980-680-5

John Monroe Johnson—Toss Repeat

SurVision Books is a small press in Dublin, Ireland, that publishes poetry chapbooks and compilations, anthologies and translations. Since 2018, SurVision Books has offered the James Tate International Poetry Prize for “the development, celebration and promotion of contemporary Surrealist poetry.” Toss Repeat, a chapbook of poems by John Monroe Johnson, is among the winners of the James Tate International Poetry Prize for 2024.

A review by Brooks Lampe of Toss Repeat was published in Uut Poetry (May 22, 2025): open.substack.com/pub/uutpoetry/p/toss-repeat-ec3

Published in February 2025
ISBN 978-1-912963-57-7
Trade paperback, 32 pp
5.8″ x 8.3″, perfect binding
Price € 8.00

https://www.survisionmagazine.com/jamestateprizewinners.htm

Dave Seter—Somewhere West of the Mississippi

A chapbook of poems by the Sonoma County Poet Laureate. In clear-sighted language, a scientist interrogates the mythic American West and considers impacts of human migrations. His journey begins near the Mississippi headwaters and culminates in California. A migrant himself, he witnesses Earth’s changes on both coasts and the middle of the U.S. His words clarify, celebrate, grieve, and heal. 

“The vitality, humor, and compassion of these poems is infectious. Grounded in our interconnectedness with plants, animals, rivers, and soil, these poems unfold histories of environmental degradation, particularly to Native land, and the complexities of repair. They share a deep care for the world and nurture us to be better humans.”
— Judy Halebsky, author of Tree Line

For more information and to purchase chapbook:
mammothpublications.net/dave-seter-west-of-the-mississippi
Mammoth Publications, 28 pp
ISBN 978-1-939301-58-1
$15.00

Hiram Larew—This Much Very: Poems

Hiram Larew invites you to stretch beyond the expected. This is poetry where the familiar is wrapped in something strange and the strange becomes a doorway into something unpredictable.

On May 30, 2025, Samantha Terrell featured This Much Very on her SHINE International Poetry Series page.

​”Hiram Larew writes poems as if words were water. Some are fast streams. Some are lazy rivers. Some are vast oceans. Larew fills each poem to the brim with his distinctive, evocative style that blends rural imagery with a deep exploration of human connection. If you’re looking for a contemporary poet whose work blends beauty with purpose, Larew offers much to appreciate.”
—Rick Christiansen, author of Bone Fragments (Spartan Press, 2024)

For more details and ordering links: hiramlarewpoetry.com/this-much-very
Alien Buddha Press, 2025
ISBN: 979-8339683018
44 pages, $11.25

Janet Constantino—Becoming Mariella

This captivating coming-of-age story—perfect for fans of Elena Ferrante and Jean Kwok—follows a young Sicilian woman who escapes to San Francisco in search of freedom from her family’s traditions. With vivid descriptions of wine, food, and Bay Area settings, Becoming Mariella is the perfect “Valentine’s read” for February.

It’s unprecedented, even in the twenty-first century, for a young Sicilian woman to defy the centuries-old mandate, “Family is everything!” —but twenty-two-year-old Mariella Russo is desperate to escape Sicily. She’s being relentlessly coerced into an engagement with her wealthy college sweetheart—a young man from a prominent, powerful family—by her envious and erratic mother, who hopes the match will increase her own ignominious social status. Suddenly, Mariella’s lifelong home has become a claustrophobic island. In a bid for independence and an attempt to escape entrapment, she flees to San Francisco.

She Writes Press (February 4, 2025). 
Distributed by Simon & Schuster and other retailers.
376 pages, $18.99

Christine Walker—Tap Dancing at the Bluebird

A novel of love and friendship, of lives unraveled and rewoven, celebrating dance and personal resilience across a century in America… In 1932, roving youth Kip teaches Mattie to tap, and she leaves home to follow him riding the rails from Kansas City to California. Separated by a perceived betrayal and a crash, they lose each other for a lifetime. In 2020, still vital at 99, Mattie recalls the boy who set her life in motion and confides deep regret to her granddaughter, who discovers past truths for present challenges. With rhythms of tap, modern, and social dancing, the story draws readers through an evocation of time, place, and family with characters that speak across the generations to ask: Is there still time to love and forgive?

Purchase from the publisher https://shop.sibyllinepress.com/products/tap-dancing-at-the-bluebird-a-novel or Amazon https://bit.ly/4ftazFQ and elsewhere.

Roslyn Smith Ball—Nullipara: Selected Memoirs of Love, Loss, and Healing

Life was not turning out the way she thought it would. Raised with a developmentally disabled brother by loving but traditional parents, Roslyn believed she would find a good husband, have children, and live happily ever after. Following her thirteen-year, childless marriage, she embarked on a journey of self-discovery. The patience and tolerance she learned as sister to her disabled brother were not always helpful allies as she navigated her way through divorce, cancer, est, the San Francisco gay scene, and too many unavailable men. Through it all she continued writing. Her journal entries have evolved into the disarmingly humorous, poignant, and vividly honest stories collected in this memoir.

Wordrunner Press
ISBN: 978-1-941066-69-0
180 pages; $9.99
Available on Amazon

Barbara L. Baer—Masha & Alejandro Crossing Borders

Two young immigrants, Masha from Ukraine and Alejandro from El Salvador, move to rural, forested Trinity County, California. Masha works as a nurse in a regional hospital and Alex in an auto body shop. What they don’t expect are visits from a local militia group unfriendly to outsiders. Masha’s unvaccinated Covid patients blame her for their illness, while Alex faces hostility and violence from MAGA supporters. Alex and his son Tomas battle the Trinity wildfires side by side with unlikely allies, making peace with neighbors seem possible. The novel focuses on immigrants trying to find a home, the timeless American story in a time unlike any other.

Spuyten Duvvil
ISBN ​​978-1-963908-30-5
292 pages
$25.00

For more information or to purchase from publisher: spuytenduyvil.net/Masha-and-Alejandro.html
Or on Amazon. 

__________

Redwood Writers Club 2025 Author Launch Books

The following books, featured at the Redwood Writers Club 2025 Author Launch on Saturday, May 17, 2025, were published between January 1, 2024 and May 9, 2025. Videos of the event may be found on YouTube.

Jean Wong’s book Bear is Not a Bear, also featured at the Author Launch, was submitted separately and announced on this page in May 2025. 

Jesse Bilyeu—Apocalyptic Lullaby

Six-year-old Punkin finds herself the last human alive after a meteor storm brings about a zombie apocalypse. Alone in her paranoid uncle’s fully stocked survival shelter, she lives safe and sound until her 15th birthday. With the considerable resources of the shelter depleted, she must brave the topside world for provisions. Along the way, she befriends a wounded puppy and frees a chronicler she will never know. In her otherworldly music, Punkin discovers a secret that could free the world from the scourge of the undead. But she must survive in those horrors, to see it done.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/Apocalyptic-Lullaby-Killshot-Diaries-Bilyeu/dp/1967265011

Abby Lynn Bogolmony—The Lighted Pull of Dreams

In this extraordinary poetry collection influenced by the moon’s silver luminosity, Abby Lynn Bogomolny elevates us with gorgeous images to “fill ourselves and fly.” Yet each boon is balanced by gravity. From her immigrant grandparents’ struggles to those of her own, she writes with heart and wit of vivid Brooklyn streets, the pine flats of Florida, and coastal California. If you thrive on words from a female-centered perspective, one with a strong sense of place in lyrical rhythmic lines, The Lighted Pull of Dreams is a must read.

Available from Finishing Line Press: finishinglinepress.com/product/the-lighted-pull-of-dreams-by-abby-lynn-bogomolny

Susan Church-Downer—All You Care to Eat: A Novice Buys a Restaurant

Five years after their romantic breakup, Susan and her best friend buy a vegetarian buffet restaurant, having little idea how demanding, frustrating, and rewarding the endeavor will be. What could go wrong? In the crucible of financial pressures, challenging employees, customer expectations, and their own unresolved issues, they create an extraordinary venue for delicious, healthy food, art, music and community—and lose buckets of money. This memoir spans their ten-year run and is for anyone who has fantasized about owning a restaurant as well as those already doing it.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/All-You-Care-Eat-Restaurant/dp/B0DTP9WK7L

Diana Morgan Dean, Psy.D.—Compost Happens: Growing a Flourishing Life After Childhood Abuse

One woman’s journey of transforming childhood sexual abuse into compost to grow a flourishing life. Thirteen-year-old and motherless, Diana is determined to care for and protect her younger siblings despite their father’s constant abuse. But when his cruel girlfriend convinces him to send her away, she is spun into a decades—long battle to reconnect with her family and find wholeness within herself. She chases true healing, from coast to coast and beyond, through doomed marriages to two men and one woman, to living on a sailboard, and from careers as a secretary to that of a newspaper photographer, minister and neuropsychologist. It is only through great loss that Diana is finally able to find the family, and the love, that she’s been searching for all along.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/Compost-Happens-Growing-Flourishing-Childhood/dp/B0DZ2Y64KB

Colleen Dolan—The Ghost Ship Fire

Colleen’s daughter Chelsea, a well-respected San Francisco electronic musician known professionally as Cherushii, was one of 36 young people who died in the Oakland Ghost Ship Fire. The book, The Ghost Ship Fire, chronicles the terrifying events of that December night and Colleen’s devastating loss, piecing together the gripping story behind the media headlines. It moves to the high-profile criminal trial two years later that captured the nation with tales of horrifying death at an off-the-grid artists’ collective. Colleen’s struggle with questions about her daughter’s death, accountability, and justice will help others who are grieving understand they are not alone in their search for answers.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/Ghost-Ship-Fire-Colleen-Dolan/dp/1637776365

Laura McHale Holland—Shinbone Lane

San Francisco, 1974. Sixteen-year-old runaway Maddy is escaping the blame for a crime she didn’t commit. Miles from home, she is befriended by two elderly neighbors, Clara and Ted. The teenager soon finds a place among the kaleidoscope of personalities on the oddly named Shinbone Lane. Ted’s Italianate Victorian house overflows with travelers, free spirits and artists. His backyard is a haven for all who can see its magic. But like all who tread on it, Shinbone Lane has secrets. And, like all secrets, they lie uneasily in the dark, until the truth emerges to lay the past to rest.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/Shinbone-Lane-Laura-McHale-Holland/dp/1733668381

Carol Jacobsen—Doing the Right Thing

This third book in the Women of Color and Accomplishment series was inspired by the events of 2020. Drawing from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, “The time is always right to do the right thing,” she painted 100 colorful portraits of Black women who overcame challenges of race and gender to achieve their dreams and also give back to their community. This book contains inspiring stories of 31 of these overlooked women. It’s a fun and colorful way to learn about the histories of women who have made a positive impact on society and furthered the cause of social justice.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/Women-Color-Accomplishment-Doing-Right/dp/1962669009

John M. McCarty—Golf at Northwood

Golf at Northwood is a work of historical fiction. The novel traces the adventures of Alister MacKenzie during his transition from surgeon to camoufleur to golf architect. He soon travels to Sonoma County in California where he carves the Northwood Golf Course out of a redwood forest along the Russian River. The story leaps from 1928 to 1961 as eight-year-old Eddie Bale befriends an eccentric Homer Williams who maintains the layout by his lonesome. Eddie comes of age and together with Dr. Charlie Schaap rescues the course from loan sharks, developers and con artists.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/Golf-at-Northwood-John-McCarty/dp/B0DQHFTXBD

Taylor Metzler—If the Gods Be Willing

The Greek Gods thrice blessed Cassia’s life with her loving wife and their son, who’s just gone off to college. Her happiness is shattered when her wife contracts a magical illness. Now she must challenge Fate and the Gods themselves to save the woman she loves and restore the life they had. Yet, how can she stand before the Gods when that means standing against the one she loves? Will the Gods be willing to save her wife?

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/If-Gods-Willing-Cold-Death/dp/B0D52RG6R6

Lori Pappas—The Magic of Yes: Embrace the Wise Woman Within

An empowering and transformative journey for women seeking to navigate life’s challenges with wisdom, courage, and grace. As modern life becomes increasingly fast-paced and demanding, it reminds us that true wisdom comes not from age or experience but from the ability to reflect, learn, and embrace the present moment. In a world where self-care and mindfulness are crucial to well-being, practical tools and inspirational stories help readers discover the magic within themselves. It includes a Timely Message of Empowerment, Tools for Self-Discovery and Growth, Stories that Inspire and Heal, and a Blueprint for Embracing Change.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/Magic-Yes-Embrace-Woman-Within/dp/B0DKPWW1SD

Sarah Paris—for the birds

“Paris’ haiku are signposts on the highway of poetry, imploring us to slow down to observe all the little things that are actually big and important. She reminds us that these, added up, are what make a meaningful and beautiful life.” —Bryan Rickert, former president, Haiku Society of America
“In for the birds Sarah Paris uses her ‘outside voice’ to celebrate birds and contemplate outdoor spaces. I savored these poems during the dreary aftermath of a New England spring snowstorm and felt uplifted and carried along on a wave of West Coast color and sound, as if spring migration were happening in my head. Paris’s often playful, always resonant haiku open many windows onto the birds and other creatures with whom we share this world. These are haiku to savor and enjoy, preferably on a park bench or along the trail.” — Kristen Lindquist

Available from Red Moon Press: redmoonpress.com/product/for-the-birds-haiku-of-sarah-paris

Elaine Rock—Dusty Roads

Barbara “Dusty” Roads was a trailblazing stewardess and union leader who took on the airline industry’s sexist policies in the 1950s and ’60s. Fighting against marriage bans, age limits, weight restrictions, unequal pay, and humiliating girdle checks, she refused to back down. As one of the first female union lobbyists to Congress, she pushed for workplace equality and later made history by filing the first-ever EEOC sex discrimination complaint. Her efforts helped stop a strike, transform airline policies, and open doors for women and men nationwide. “Dusty Roads started it all.“ — Gloria Steinem

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/Dusty-Roads-Hidden-Ignited-Movement/dp/B0DL4DDX7B

Rebecca Rosenberg—Silver Echoes

1920s Chicago: Rising starlet Silver Dollar Tabor’s life shatters after a traumatic attack, unleashing a hidden self. She plunges into the city’s dangerous underworld, her ambition twisting into destruction, her love affair with screenwriter, Carl, fraying.
1932, Colorado. Her mother, Baby Doe, haunted by Silver’s disappearance, desperately seeks answers. With Carl, she uncovers a shocking truth that rewrites their family’s history. This true story explores the dark side of ambition, the cost of hidden selves, and the enduring power of love.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/Silver-Echoes-Historical-Twenties-Biographical/dp/B0F2GHC2KK

Jenna Scott—White Sheep, Black Wool: Finding Your Flock

In her journey of self-discovery and acceptance, Jenna Scott’s captivating narrative explores the struggles of fitting in, the power of embracing individuality, and the beauty of finding your place in the world.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/White-Sheep-Black-Wool-Finding/dp/B0D93TMJQK

Tommie W. Whitener—The Bar Pilot

Ryan is a bar pilot on San Francisco Bay and the book is heavy on the many fascinating places, people and situations unique to that world famous body of water. As skilled as he in in piloting the huge ships in and out of the Bay, so he fails time after time in his search for the love of his life. Expertly piloting colossal ships under the Golden Gate and through the Bay’s perilous tides, screaming winds and hidden shoals, Ryan knows the San Francisco Bay piloting grounds like the back of his hand. But once ashore his mastery disappears, and he repeatedly dashes himself against the treacherous reefs of love. He scrambles up and down the flimsy ladders on the sides of giant cargo carriers and container ships like a squirrel on a tree, but when it comes to holding out for the woman of his dreams, he’s caught in a continuing undertow of frustration, disappointment, and depression.

Available on Amazon: amazon.com/Bar-Pilot-Search-Love/dp/099868158X

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Books by Sonoma County Authors Published in 2024

For details, see: socolitupdate.com/sonoma-county-in-print/2024-soco-writers-in-print

• Joanne Howard—Sleeping in the Sun
• Janice Rowley, editor—Transitions: Redwood Writers 2024 Prose Anthology
• Les Bernstein, editor—One Day: Redwood Writers 2024 Poetry Anthology
• Iris Jamahl Dunkle—Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb
• Nancy J. Martin—From the Summer of Love to the Valley of the Moon
• Sandra Anfang—Rara Aves: for the birds
• Elizabeth Bennett—The Price of Saffron
• Fran Carbonaro—Out of the Blue
• Andrea Granahan—Spitting on Great Aunt Missouri’s Grave: How Two Abused Kids Learned to Love Their Mother
• Sarah Fleming (with Donovan Riley)—Zooming with Gaga
• Judith Day—Going Where They Belong
• Susan Lieu—The Manicurist’s Daughter
• Anne E. Belden, Paul Gullixson and Lauren A. Spates—Inflamed: Abandonment, Heroism, and Outrage in Wine Country’s Deadliest Firestorm
• Mark Tate—Walking Scarecrow: The Poems of Pineshadow
• Marylu Downing—Pink Paisley Scarf: A Contemporary Novel
  

Redwood Writers Club Author Launch Books, published 2024:

• Richard Boyd—Souls, AI Computers, and the Future of Humankind
• Barbara Cottrell—Darkness Below
• Melissa Geissinger—Nothing Left But Dust
• Lenore Hirsch—Connection: Stories
• Mara Lynn Johnstone—Story Seeds for Fantastical Trees
• Marie Judson—Elf Stone of the Neyna
• Crissi Langwell—Masquerade Mistake
• Bill Lynch—Mekong Belle: Love’s Impossible Choice
• Marty Malin—Transit: A Journey of Transfiguration
• Ana Manwaring—Backlash: Venom and Vengeance from ‘Nam
• John McCarty—Journey to Duncans Mills
• Rod Morgan—Language Through the Prism
• Maetreyii Ma Nolan—Into the Heart of the Infinite
• Laurel Patterson—Land of Light
• Richard Rachlin—Conspiracy of Lies
• Christopher Ruttan—Moving Like Fish in the Sea

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