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BOOKS 3C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2015 WHAT ARE THEY READING? What if Tom McCall had become president? Beach Books is a nook for authors, inspiration By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian S EASIDE — In case you don’t appre- ciate it yet, Seaside is lucky to have Beach Books, a thriving and pulsing cen- ter of the literary arts. In October, we passed through the waist- high gate (to keep the cat in) and stepped up- stairs to the balcony. There, authors engaged in the timeless art of hawking their books, one which I have done once or twice myself. Nothing could require more nerve than to stand there with your newest “child” in front of you for the world to see. Some authors are grateful if more than a handful of browsers stop by their table in an afternoon — it can feel like the loneliest job in the world. But at Beach Books, business was buzzing, with authors and the readers to match. It was a testament to the literary connections of the store’s proprietress, Karen Emmerling, and to the authors themselves who were able to inspire weekend walkers and bumper car enthusiasts over to the Gilbert District. The place was “lousy with writers” to para- phrase Raymond Chandler, and bringing to PLQG WKRVH ¿OP QRLU GD\V ZHUH WKH GDVKLQJ Nestucca Spit Press authors, Bill Hall and Matt Love. Hall is the author of “McCallandia: A Utopi- an Novel,” and also happens to be the chairman of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners. Kind of makes me want to check out what goes on at those meetings. The book was inspired by a picture of Ron- ald Reagan and Tom McCall. Hall’s friend, author and publisher Matt Love, hypothesized what if it had been McCall who was president, QRW 5HDJDQ" , ORYH WKLV ERRN ZKLFK LV ¿OOHG with history and cultural commentary, and so seamless you sometimes don’t know which is real history and what is Hall’s creative vision. Astoria’s Love showcased his newest work, “The Great Birthright: An Oregon Novel.” Like much of his other work, “Walking in Rain” or “A Nice Piece of Astoria,” Love uses narrative and collage to celebrate those who fought for Oregon’s famed Beach Bill — Ore- gonians’ “birthright.” Love creates a diabolical entrepreneur who seeks to take that birthright away, to “promote private ownership and economic development of America’s undeveloped coastal place?” Love calls this “a work of pseudo-pulp historical environmental detective socialist PHWD¿FWLRQ´ Take that, Batman!!! R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian Authors Bill Hall and Matt Love of Nestucca Spit Press. R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian Some of the recent titles by local authors. 1960s, in which spring break kids erupted — DQGWKHVHFRQGLQWKHVZKHQD¿OPFUHZ incited a crowd into violence. Stiger Linkey is the author of “Great Indian Women” and is working on her seminal work, “A Town Called Seaside,” scheduled for re- lease in February. She describes it as looking Rocket man, coastal poet A solemn presence belies a gentle man, back from Memorial Day 1941 to Memorial Gregory E. Zschomler. The Cannon Beach Day 2015, “a compelling story about surviv- author was at a table stacked with his titles, in- al and rebuilding a small town, the war years, cluding “Rocket Man: From the Trailer Park to recession, riots and a tsunami. The spirit of the Insomnia and Beyond.” He culls wit and wis- WRZQLVUHÀHFWHGE\WKHVSLULWRIWKHFLWL]HQVZKR R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian dom from around the spectrum sprinkled into an would not let the town die. It was the love and Authors Honey Perkel and Gloria Linkey at Beach Books in Seaside. inspirational memoir. The title comes from his unlimited energy of these people who turned the lifelong fascination with outer space: “Some- town into one of the leading resort towns on the thing was out there and I felt it,” he writes. “Was Oregon Coast.” Finally, I have wanted to read the work of that something calling to me? I wanted to know. Maybe not just then, but eventually (certainly Honey Perkel since I arrived in Seaside, and picked up her stunning memoir, “Just Breathe,” by the time I was 6).” Poet Nancy Slavin saw my Cubs cap and her compelling, emotional story about the loss immediately confessed to Chicago origins. Her of her son. I read it in an afternoon. For those of you who think there are any ¿UVWERRN³0RRULQJV´H[SORUHGKHUH[SHULHQFH DVDQ$ODVND¿VKLQJJXLGH1RZOLYLQJRQWKH easy solutions when a loved one is suffering Oregon Coast, her poetry hikes some of the from mental illness, Perkel’s transformational same inspiration guiding Oregon’s literary lau- story leaves you with the sense that the process is the path, and redemption is only found within reates: the sea, the beaches and the forest. In “Ecotone,” she describes the “natural zone our own courage to move forward. I wish this between land and sea, where life holds to rock book could have had a happy ending. Perkel’s newest book is a mystery, “House of while waves work to wash life clean.” Her pen is unawed by painful truths: cold Sand,” and it takes place in Seaside. Scary title! If these types of speeding-signing, au- snaps, cold winds, wintry damp and the dis- placed poor. “When night falls and there is no thor-meets appeals to you, I hope you were heat, will they know the taste of death is bitter- able to get to Seaside Public Library for “Crazy sweet?” Slavin writes in the poem “November Eights Author Tour,” presented by the Seaside Library Foundation. And may I recommend a Flood.” visit to the Community Room of the Seaside Public Library Saturday, when Friends of the Seaside scribes My favorite “new” author at the Beach Seaside Library welcome Hall and you can ask Books signing was Gloria Stiger Linkey, Sea- him all about Tom McCall. R.J. Marx is The Daily Astorian’s South side’s “historian” and resident since 1941. We R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian Submitted Photo had a fascinating talk in which she shared the County reporter and editor of the Seaside Signal Author Gregory Zschomler displays his “McCallandia” by author Bill Hall. 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