Words and Wine slated Tuesday
Amy M. Reade, Cindy Sample and Hank Wesselman will be featured during Kona Stories Book Shop’s monthly Words and Wine event at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Keauhou Shopping Center.
Amy M. Reade, a recovering lawyer, lives in southern New Jersey and has been visiting the Aloha State every year since 1995 and plans to live on the Island of Hawaii when her kids are grown. She is the USA Today bestselling author of “Secrets of Hallstead House,” “The Ghosts of Peppernell Manor,” and “House of Hanging Jade” (set on the Island of Hawaii). She is currently working on book three of “The Malice Novels,” a series set in the United Kingdom. The first book in the series, “The House on Candlewick Lane,” will be released in February.
Tired of the cold winters in Washington, D.C. and disturbed by her increasingly obsessive boyfriend, Kailani Kanaka savors her move back to her native Big Island in “House of Hanging Jade.” She also finds a new job as personal chef for the Jorgensen family. There, she is lulled into a sense of calm at the House of Hanging Jade — an idyll that quickly fades as it becomes apparent that dark secrets lurk within her new home. Furtive whispers in the night, a terrifying shark attack, and the discovery of a dead body leave Kailani shaken and afraid. But it’s the unexpected appearance of her ex-boyfriend, tracking her every move and demanding she return to him, that has her fearing for her life.
Although Sample’s initial dream was to be a mystery writer, she put aside her literary longings for a weekly paycheck, landing a job as a receptionist. Her career eventually led to the position of CEO of a nationwide mortgage banking company. She is the author of “Dying for a Date,” “Dying for a Dance,” “Dying for a Daiquiri,” and “Dying for a Donut.”
In “Dying for a Donut,” readers find Laurel McKay spending an autumn afternoon munching on caramel apples and cinnamon donuts. It’s a good thing her daughter Jenna has landed a seasonal job at Apple Tree Farm and Bakery. Then Laurel stumbles over the bakery owner coated in powdered sugar. Axel Thorson was a well-respected member of the community. Who wanted to sweeten him up? When the police arrest the heartthrob grandson of the bakery manager, Jenna decides to help him by solving the case herself, a move that lands her in jail. With Laurel’s detective honey in another state, and her octogenarian grandmother threatening to chase down the culprit, what’s a soccer mom with a sweet tooth to do but go undercover. Detecting among donuts should be a piece of cake, but not if Laurel discovers first-hand that sugar can kill you.
Research paleoanthropologist Wesselman is one of those rare cutting-edge scientists who truly walks between the worlds. He did his undergraduate work and earned his master’s degree in zoology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, then went on to receive his doctoral degree in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. A native New Yorker, he has spent much of his life living and working among traditional tribal peoples, primarily in Africa and Polynesia.
Hank is also a shamanic student, practitioner and teacher, now in the 28th year of his apprenticeship. He is the author of “The Re-Enchantment.” Shamanism is a method, not a religion, and when practiced with humility, reverence, and self-discipline, the shaman’s path can become a way of life, one that may enrich our experience beyond measure. In the book, Wesselman offers a compelling road map to help us restore our sense of wonder, reconnect with our true sources of healing and power, and take part in the new transformational movement that is changing our world.
Following a more formal book presentation from each author there will be a Q&A session. The event concludes at 8 p.m.
Info: Brenda or Joy, 324-0350.
Book on Pacific Golden-Plover hits shelves
“Kolea: The Amazing Transpacific Life of the Pacific Golden-Plover” was recently released by the University of Hawaii Press.
Oscar “Wally” Johnson, the undisputed world expert on Pacific Golden-Plovers, and Susan Scott, a popular-science writer, have combined their knowledge and enthusiasm to create a book for everyone who admires the exceptional birds known as kolea in Hawaiian. With easy-to-understand, yet scientifically accurate, text and outstanding color photographs, the book is a handy, reliable source of information for both general readers and ornithology specialists.
Info: uhpress.hawaii.edu.
Research biologist releases book on Hawaii’s dolphins, whales
Robin W. Baird has released “The Lives of Hawaii’s Dolphins and Whales: Natural History and Conservation.”
Ocean currents, winds, and rainfall all work together to create a marine oasis around the Hawaiian Islands, providing a home for many species of dolphins and whales normally found in the deep oceans of the world. The Lives of Hawaii’s Dolphins and Whales provides a window into the world of these mysterious creatures with stories and observations from the author’s work with Hawaiian whales and dolphins over the last 17 years.
The book includes full-color photos of each species, life history descriptions, conservation threats, and maps showing sighting locations and movements of tagged individuals among the islands and offshore.
Although this work covers the well-known resident spinner dolphins and the visiting humpback whales, it particularly highlights the 10 species of lesser-known open-ocean dolphins and whales that are resident to the marine slopes of the islands. These include endangered false killer whales, deep-diving Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales, abundant spotted dolphins, coastal bottlenose dolphins, cryptic dwarf sperm whales, family units of short-finned pilot whales, and social melon-headed whales, among others. The book also describes 13 species of dolphins and whales that are found in offshore waters or visit the Hawaiian waters seasonally or occasionally.
Baird is a research biologist with Cascadia Research Collective, a nonprofit research and education organization based in Olympia, Washington.
Info: uhpress.hawaii.edu.