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About the author

Alan Lindsay lives, writes, breaks rocks, and harvests trees at his home in the woods. His poems and stories have appeared in The Bend, New-Works Review, Wired Hearts and various other publications. He attained an M.A. in fiction writing and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Notre Dame. He teaches literature and writing at New Hampshire Technical Institute.

Ironically, the journey brought the author considerable joy, even as it schooled him in despair and the grimmer facts of life along the way. And, occasionally, it led him into wayward activities that tried the patience of his parents and his teachers.

For eight years, until he approached 12 in 1935, Marshall's Corner, a rural neighborhood on the western outskirts of Brockton, Mass., was young Wyman's beloved universe. And the setting for "Bittersweet Beginnings." From this stage, readers are introduced to the boy, his home and family, his inner thoughts, concerns and interests, his favorite haunts and games. They also meet an arresting array of relatives, friends and neighbors, who enriched his life in varied, often enduring, ways. The story is told in the clear, often lyrical, voice of an author familiar with his subjects and the landscape they inhabit.

In "Hard Times Shared," readers learn how the boy, concerned about mounting family debt and his father's lack of steady work, vowed to share his parents' worries in silence, day by day. Among his concerns and regrets was the fact that he seldom saw his parents smile or laugh aloud.

But he embraced pleasure where he found it. In "The Brockton Fair," Wyman subtitled the chapter: "A Fence Climb Into Paradise." And he and his friends made annual pilgrimages to that "paradise," scaling the fences of their heaven on each occasion.

Wyman worked for The Providence Journal for more than 44 years as a reporter and in a succession of editing and administrative roles. He retired in December of 1995 as vice president and executive editor. In 1989 he received the Yankee Quill Award from the New England Chapter Society of Professional Journalists and the New England Society of Newspaper Editors for contributions to excellence in New England journalism. He is a graduate of Boston University and a veteran of U.S. Army service in New Guinea and the Philippines during World War II. He lives in Wakefield, R.I. with his wife, Viola.

"I had to publish this book," said Plaidswede publisher George Geers. "During my years as the editor of daily newspapers in New England, I served on committees with Jim and always admired his views on the newspaper industry. He served as a role model not only for staff at The Providence Journal but for editors throughout the region. That I was given the opportunity to publish ‘Bittersweet Beginnings' just continues the journey of two editors," said Geers.

It's all Yankee. You don't have to claim any particular ethnic heritage, have seven generations in the ground, or even have been born in New England to be shaped by this rough, rocky landscape.

"Yankee" is an attitude, built on the bone-deep optimism of that old true saying, "Could have been worse."

Rebecca Rule explores this attitude and many others that contribute to that highly philosophical, peculiar, and often humorous, state of being called "living yankee."

This book is of true stores, an embellishment here and there, and, yes, outright lies. As only Becky Rule can tell.

DEAD SAND tells the tale of Lewis Cole, a former Department of Defense research analyst who investigates things mysterious in and around the New Hampshire seacoast.

In DEAD SAND, the discovery of a body buried for more than 40 years and the murder of a teenage waitress are connected to a decades-long grudge of death and betrayal.

The most recent biography of Franklin Pierce was published nearly seventy-five years ago. Yet the nation's least known president is also one of the most charming, charismatic, and interesting men to ever hold the nation's highest office. Described by his best friend Nathaniel Hawthorne as "deep, deep, deep," with "most of the chief elements of a great ruler," Pierce is also the greatest trial lawyer in New Hampshire history. A master politician at the state level, Pierce ruled over the most consistently successful state Democratic Party in the Northeast, before he and his supporters devised and executed the plan to capture the national party's presidential nomination in 1852.

The first of two volumes on the life of Franklin Pierce, Wallner's thoroughly researched, engagingly written account of Pierce's rise to national prominence will surprise readers with accounts of the many triumphs and tragedies of Pierce's life leading up to his presidency.

About the Author
Peter A. Wallner earned a B.A. from Waynesburg College (PA) and MA and PhD in U.S. history from The Pennsylvania State University. For thirty years he taught history and was a school administrator in Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania before moving to Concord, New Hampshire to research the life of Franklin Pierce. He continues to work for the New Hampshire Historical Society and teach as adjunct instructor at the New Hampshire Community Technical College at Nashua, and at Franklin Pierce College, Concord.

The first of two volumes on the life of Franklin Pierce, Wallner's thoroughly researched, engagingly written account of Pierce's rise to national prominence will surprise readers with accounts of the many triumphs and tragedies of Pierce's life leading up to his presidency.

About the Author
Peter A. Wallner earned a B.A. from Waynesburg College (PA) and MA and PhD in U.S. history from The Pennsylvania State University. For thirty years he taught history and was a school administrator in Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania before moving to Concord, New Hampshire to research the life of Franklin Pierce. He continues to work for the New Hampshire Historical Society and teach as adjunct instructor at the New Hampshire Community Technical College at Nashua, and at Franklin Pierce College, Concord.

The first of two volumes on the life of Franklin Pierce, Wallner's thoroughly researched, engagingly written account of Pierce's rise to national prominence will surprise readers with accounts of the many triumphs and tragedies of Pierce's life leading up to his presidency.

About the Author
Peter A. Wallner earned a B.A. from Waynesburg College (PA) and MA and PhD in U.S. history from The Pennsylvania State University. For thirty years he taught history and was a school administrator in Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania before moving to Concord, New Hampshire to research the life of Franklin Pierce. He continues to work for the New Hampshire Historical Society and teach as adjunct instructor at the New Hampshire Community Technical College at Nashua, and at Franklin Pierce College, Concord.

New Hampshire's master storyteller weaves the tales of the Granite State. You see him on WMUR-TV's New Hampshire Chronicle now read his stories about the people, places and events in the state. This is the book that started it all – the First book of this delightful series!

Included stories: The Fitzwilliam Highwayman, Little Commodore Nutt, Suitor Horace Greeley, Controversial Hutchinson Family Singers, Hermit Ben Lear, Rail-fisted Ruel Durkee, New Hampshire's Winston Churchill and, of course, the Wetherbees.

$22.95 ($19.95 plus $3.00 postage and handling). Paperback.

In this collection of tales, Fritz shows us the strength of human values and heroic toil in four chapters: “Stories,” “Towns,” “People,” and “The Wetherbees.”

You will be introduced to:
* The first Englishman to explore the Isles of Shoals
* The courageous pilots of the Flying Circus
* The brave engineer in Barrington’s train wreck
* The Henniker Shakers who were hustled out of town
* New Hampshire folks who rushed for gold

And you will learn about:
* Frightened townspeople fighting a plague
* A gruesome grave robbery in Hopkinton
* The famous White Mountain Freezers
* The REAL first battle of the American Revolution

New Hampshire’s master storyteller Fritz Wetherbee has published his fourth collection of Granite State favorites.
His popular series, which appear on the best-seller lists at New Hampshire book stores throughout the year, heat up town history with Fritz’s take on how people have lived in the Granite State from the first settlers to the present day.

Floggings, flags, runaway daughters, death on Mount Washington, bears, and kinky schoolteachers of old. This third volume from New Hampshire's master storyteller tells all about the state's people, places and towns.
Fritz tells stories of:

• An English earl’s edict and his daughter’s daring escape to a lovely valley in New Hampshire…
• A shoeless Newport boy’s rapid rise to world shoemaking magnate…
• The general on horseback who refused to move as the enemy’s cannonball arched toward him…
• The romantic and treacherous life of the men who worked Manchester’s log run…
• An adopted black woman in Concord whose greatest fear was freedom…

$22.95 ($19.95 plus $3.00 postage and handling). Paperback.

"Hey Bossie, You're a Spokescow!" is the story of a real cow, and her important mission: to educate humans about pet overpopulation, and about the need for spaying and neutering programs.
This is a childrens' book with a message for all ages, and is a great educational tool.
Mickey de Rham founded the White Mountain Animal League in 1989. She has been involved in animal welfare work for 40 years. Author Roger Caras encouraged her saying "spaying and neutering is the only way to addresss the horrific problem of overpopulation of pet animals".

More New Hampshire stories from the master storyteller. Fritz Wetherbee, in his second Plaidswede volume, tells the tales of Daniel Webster's bad table manners, Ocean Born Mary, how several towns got their names, and a mix of Granite State characters -- Count Rumford, Aunt Jenny the Witch, Doctor Whipple, Prince Whipple, Mary Corliss' cheese and Salmon Portland Chase. You seen and heard his stories on WMUR-TV's New Hampshire Chronicle, now let Fritz tell you more of his stories.

$22.95 ($19.95 plus $3.00 postage and handling). Paperback.

How, in this day and time, can a fellow like Kevin Beaujolais live with us, work with us and … not exist?

Broadcaster Steve Delaney brings to life Kevin Beaujolais in his first novel, “Kevin: The Last Invisible Vermonter,” published by Plaidswede Publishing Co., of Concord, N.H. This is Delaney’s second book. The first, “Vermont Seasonings,” a collection of essays on life in Vermont, was published in 2007 by Plaidswede.

Kevin is one of the most vivid characters ever to bubble up from the deep well of Vermont fiction. His struggle between the fears that drive him to hide from bureaucracy and the love that tugs him toward the alluring Maureen drives this tale of romance and mischief … and mayhem. Their story unfolds in the northern Vermont town of Nilesburgh … a town that holds many secrets.

Delaney's distinctive voice has been heard on Vermont Public Radio for the past decade. He has won national honors for two NBC White Paper television documentaries, and for radio documentaries and news programs produced for VPR. Delaney is a fifty-year broadcast journalist who has covered politics and other petty crime in Washington, finance and other felonies in New York and wars on three continents. He is the middle link in a five-generation family love affair with Lake Champlain and the state and now calls Milton his home. "Kevin" is his second book.

The life, lessons and philosophy of coach Rob Szymaszek can be found in this book by the sports editor of the Record-Journal in Meriden, Connecticut.

The book, and mantra of legendary Connecticut high school football and life coach, Rob Szymaszek, is an awe-inspiring account of a hometown boy turned icon who, in the prime of his life, was stricken with a terminal illness. True to form, Coach Smaz refused to go quietly into that premature night with the support of his family, community, and team: the Maloney High School Spartans.

Carpenter, a seasoned sports journalist who became a Szymaszek family friend, writes of a man, “bigger than this page can encompass;” a trusted and hallowed guidance counselor, husband, and father who faced an extraordinary disease as if it were just another bump in the road.

( The title of Ruth Doan MacDougall's new novel, Mutual Aid, refers to the emergency system in which fire departments from neighboring towns assist each other, but it also emphasizes the interconnectedness and interdependence of all people, whether they are family, friends, or, as with Mercy and the young man who has become her pen pal, strangers at the outset. The word 'aid' summons up the word 'AIDS,' and this, too, is part of the story.)

Ruth is the recipient of the New Hampshire Writer's Project Lifetime Achievement Award, and Professor Ann Norton of St. Anselm College said in her nomination, "Critics have accorded her high praise for her spare yet lyrical realism. To my mind, MacDougall is the quintessential New Hampshire writer..."

Ruth Doan MacDougall was born and grew up in New Hampshire, where she lives with her husband, Don. In addition to writing novels, she updates her father's hiking books.

The New Hampshire Lithograph, with scenes and icons of the Granite State by artist Frank Galasso, highlights several New Hampshire sites, sights and attractions: from the state house to the state bird; from Hampton Beach to the Weirs, the pumpkin festival to covered bridges, mountains and lakes.
The New Hampshire Lithograph, which measures 22-by-28 inches, retails for $19.95.
“Plaidswede publishes New Hampshire books, such as the Fritz Wetherbee books, and Frank’s New Hampshire artwork seemed a natural for us to commission,” said publisher George Geers.
“Although he speaks with a Rhode Island accent,” said Geers, “Frank is a summer native. He summered here as a kid and returns now as much as he can.” Frank took his first steps on the shores of Lake Winnepesaukee and spent most of his childhood summers in the state. Although a Rhode Island native and still working at his studio in the Providence area, he is regular visitor to the New Durham area.
Frank Galasso is a syndicated cartoonist, whose work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the country. He has won numerous New England Press Association awards over the years for his cartooning. In recent years, he has been capturing memories of sports teams and personalities, states and cities, amusement parks and rock ‘n’ rollers. Galasso is known as the ‘most featured sports cartoonist in America,’ based on his appearances on the Internet, television, radio and print.
Can you find the spotted newt, New Hampshire's state amphibian?

Ever wanted to know the difference between Cab Sauv and Sangiovese but were too intimidated to ask? This “WINE 101” is for Granite State wine enthusiasts and beginners. This instructional and helpful guise includes an ever important glossary of wine terms, and information on New Hampshire wine tastings, bars, vineyards, specialty shops, even pairing wines for special occasions- including creating your own New Hampshire wine dinner. Grab a cork screw, some cheese and start tasting from the comfort of your own home!

Cheers!

“Ellie comes out of Grove Street School in a hurry on Friday afternoons. She is heading to the grocery store on the corner. Ellie gets paid on Thursday for helping her mother with the dishes each night. She buys a special treat at the store and is walking to her Nana’s house . . . And who does she meet along the way?”

Author Ellie Blaisdell Kraner is pastor of the Brookfield, Massachusetts, Congregational Church and a marriage and family therapist and spiritual director. Her passions include kids, dogs, reading, travel and gardening. She and her husband Dave raised four daughters and are the grandparents of six. This is her first published book.

Artist Lin Bourie helps support a ministry that impacts the lives of disenfranchised women and children. Her latest projects include murals, portraits, house portraits, jewelry, and producing prints and cards of original work. She has illustrated a children’s book about the Stari Most Bridge in Mostar Bosnia. She and her husband George have raised their three daughters in central Massachusetts.

A portion of the proceeds go to helping the Sugar Cane Kids go to school and eat at least one meal a day.

On the eastern savannahs of the Dominican Republic, sugar cane is harvested by men who live in some of the most primitive conditions in the Western Hemisphere. They barely earn enough to feed themselves, let alone their families. Yet their families are happy. Their children play and laugh just like our kids, but they go to bed hungry most nights. If their families can afford the school uniform, shoes, and a few pesos for a meal, these Sugar Cane Kids can attend school. When they are allowed to attend school, many excel at their studies and go on to graduate from the best universities in the Dominican Republic.

On April 9, 1942, an allied force estimated at 68,000 men, including 12,000 Americans, surrendered to the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. That day, these men disappeared from public sight in the West. The surrender began an ordeal of death, torture, disease, deprivation and slavery that, for the American soldiers who survived it, ended only after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in August of 1945. Too Dead to Die is the story of one man's survival.

Steve Raymond, an Army Air Corps clerk, had been converted to a frontline infantry sergeant by the time of the surrender on Bataan. As this book describes with vividness and detail that can be achieved only in an account begun as the events unfolded, he survived the Bataan Death March and nearly 3? years in the archipelago of Japanese slave labor camps.

These "fabulous stories" Raymond first recorded in a diary kept on scraps of paper and in notebooks - anything on which he could write. A determination to bear witness motivated him through the terrors and privations of captivity.

Home at last in 1945, he spent his first months of freedom recreating early diaries lost when a Hell Ship to Japan sank. He began drafting a memoir but soon lost interest. Over the years he sometimes took the memoir out of the drawer and expanded it.
Finally, in 2003, he got his manuscript into the hands of Mike Pride, a New Hampshire newspaper editor and amateur historian. Pride became Raymond's editor and co-author, reshaping the manuscript into a streamlined narrative.

Tor, a Gray Harbor Seal, longs for the day when he can swim in the sea. The day arrives, but Tor swims ahead and becomes separated from his mother. Tor's search along the coast of Massachusetts' north shore has a happy ending.
Edythe Ghen lives in Beverly, Massachusetts. She paints mainly in watercolor and oil and is an exhibiting member of the New England Watercolor Society, Rockport Art Association, North Shore Arts Association, Academic Arts, and Copley Society. Edythe has been given numerous awards and, in 1993, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from her alma mater, The Massachusetts College of Art.

The voice of Vermont is now in print. "Vermont Seasonings: Reflections on the Rhythms of a Vermont Year" is broadcaster Steve Delaney's affectionate salute to Vermont. Delaney, self-described Recovering Flatlander, writes of Vermont in this weekly and seasonal collection of essays. A Recovering Flatlander, he says, is "a person from Away who has moved to Vermont and believes it is possible to pass as a Real Vermonter. It's not."

Delaney's distinctive voice has been heard on Vermont Public Radio for the past decade. He has won national honors for two NBC White Paper television documentaries, and for radio documentaries and news programs produced for VPR. Delaney is a fifty-year broadcast journalist who has covered politics and other petty crime in Washington, finance and other felonies in New York and wars on three continents. He is the middle link in a five-generation family love affair with Lake Champlain and the state and now calls Milton his home. "Vermont Seasonings" is his first book. In "Vermont Seasonings," Delaney writes of sugaring ("The Fragrant Mists of Fairfield"), mud season ("That Joyant Sucking Sound"), families ("Reunion Season"), foliage ("Flo and Bert Alert") and the weekly pace of life in this well-seasoned collection. His glossary also lists three definitions of a "Real Vermonter" -- loose, strict and ultra-orthodox with an emphasis on seven generations.

In his first novel, author Jim Smith tells the story of the Seneca, one of the six nations of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy and allies of the British in the Revolutionary War, and the love story of Wah-say-Lan and Freeman Trentham/Jamwesaw.

James Herbert Smith has been a journalist for 40 years. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Writing Award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors and is a member of the Academy of New England Journalists. He is the author of A Passion for Journalism, A Newspaper Editor Writes to his Readers. Smith is executive editor of The Bristol Press and The New Britain Herald in Connecticut.