S EPT . 24, 2016 • F LORENCE F ESTIVAL
OF
B OOKS
17
Best-selling suspense novelist is keynote speaker
Popular crime thriller author
Phillip Margolin kicks off the
2016 Florence Festival of Books as
the Keynote Speaker. You can
hear his talk at the Florence
Events Center at 7 p.m. on Friday,
Sept. 23.
Tickets are $8 in advance or
$10 at the door.
If you’re a reader of mysteries,
then you already know who
Phillip Margolin is.
Margolin was a criminal defense
attorney in the Portland area from
1972 until 1996, when he started
writing full-time. His first book,
“Heartstone,” was nominated for
an Edgar for best original paper-
AUTHOR PHOTO BY ANTHOINY GEORGIS
back by the Mystery Writers of
Phillip
Margolin
will
be
the
keynote
speaker
at
this
year’s Florence Festival
America.
of
Books.
His second novel, “The Last
Innocent Man,” was made into
an HBO movie, and his next
Times bestsellers.
Next came “After Dark,” a
Novel, “Gone, But Not
By now, he’s written 19 books
Book of the Month Club selection
Forgotten,” was sold to more than and then “The Burning Man,”
— all bestsellers. And that
25 foreign publishers and made
includes “Violent Crimes,” which
which became a Reader’s Digest
into a mini-series starring actress
condensed book. Of his first seven came out earlier this year to the
Brooke Shields.
delight of his fans.
novels, five became New York
LEWIS E. BIRDSEYE
Lewis E. Birdseye earned a PhD from Colum-
bia and has been an educator for much of
his life. In addition he has worked as a high-
rise construction worker, a professional
river guide on the Chatooga River, has
run 15 marathons and several ultra mara-
thons, and
has toured
by bicycle
much
of
Europe, from above the Arctic Cir-
cle in Norway, to the islands of the
Aegean Sea. He lives in Eugene,
Oregon with his hospitalist wife,
where together they tend to their
organic garden. He is the author of
fi ve works of fi ction: VASTATION, THE
UNSUBDUED FOREST, IN MY BEGIN-
N ING, THE GATE OF IVORY, and THE
GATE OF HORN. His life-long wish
has been to be a poet or a river otter,
living on a wild and scenic river far
from the madding crowd.
Nearly all of his books are con-
temporary crime thrillers, except
for “Worthy Brown’s Daughter,”
which came out in 2014. It is an
historical drama set in 19th-cen-
tury Oregon that combines a
heartbreaking story of slavery and
murder with classic Margolin plot
twists.
You won’t want to miss hearing
Margolin — Oregon’s John
Grisham — talk about his books
and how he goes about writing
them. And there’ll be time for
questions and answers and an
opportunity to buy his books and
have them signed.
Margolin will also have a table
with books available for sale at
the authors and publishers book
fair on Saturday, Sept. 24, from 10
a.m. to 4 p.m.
For tickets to hear Margolin,
call the FEC at 541-997-1994.
—Judy Fleagle, Co-founder &
Secretary Florence Festival of Books
Joe R. Blakely
Th e Drain Black Sox of Oregon
vs Th e Alpine Cowboys of Texas
by Joe R. Blakely (2016) – 101 pages
In the 1950s small town semi-pro baseball ignited in
popularity and blazed across our country like no other
sport in history. Two teams epitomized this exciting era:
Th e Drain Black Sox of Oregon and Alpine Cowboys of
Texas. When these two teams collided for the national
semi-pro championship in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, it produced one of the most rip-
roaring games ever played in semi-pro history.
Outfi elder, Dan Luby said, “it was magic.”
$14.95
Rebellion, Murder and a Pulitzer Prize
by Joe R. Blakely (2015) – 218 pages
Llewellyn Banks, the so-called dictator, tried to take over
the Medford and Jackson County government in 1933.
Th e chaos he created climaxed when he murdered the
popular Medford Constable, George Prescott. Th is sensa-
tional trial was moved from Medford to Eugene, Oregon.
It pitted the most respected lawyers in the state against
each other. As the trial unfolds, so does the story of the
Jackson County Rebellion.
$17.95