Join authors Lanette (Bernice) Taylor, Betty Wilsey, Jerry Smith, and Karen Fisher-Alaniz and illustrator Herb Leonhard. Discover: heart-warming romance; true tales from small-town Stehekin in the 1950's; Washington's ghost towns and historic mines; a father's secret and the question that changed everything; and humorous picture books for young word-lovers.

Glacier Valley, by Lanette (Bernice) Taylor - $37.95

Leavenworth author Lanette (Bernice) Taylor presents Glacier Valley, a heartwarming and inspirational romance. Seated across the aisle, Keely tried ignoring the handsome stranger but fought a sense of warmth. Was it possible he was not a stranger? All those years ago, the wounded soldier and the pretty young nurse never saw each others’ faces—but he still remembered her voice.

Nurse Keely Baker cares deeply about her work with the ER trauma team work, and about each soldier who comes through the door to Madigan Army Medical Center. But there is something special about her patient Capt. Bard Ellingen. Then, an untimely transfer sends Keely away to California. Years later, now-widowed Keely is on the plane to a reunion when the impossibly wonderful happens.

Bernice (Lanette) Taylor is a Leavenworth author of inspirational romance. Her previous work appears in Modern Secretary, True Romance, True Story and Leavenworth Echo. Bernice has years of experience as a secretary and office manager in banking, insurance and hospital settings. Today you can find Bernice volunteering at the front desk of Leavenworth’s Chamber of Commerce.

Buy a SIGNED copy of Glacier Valley - $27.95

Boom Towns & Relic Hunters of Washington State: Exploring Washington's Historic Ghost Towns & Mining Camps, by Jerry Smith - $38.95

Northeastern Washington, rich in the history of the Old West mining era, echoes with the powerful punch of a miner's pick and the roaring boom of dynamite blast. Follow the paths of miners and prospectors; walk in the footsteps of adventurers who sought their fortunes in the dark and explosive atmosphere of black powder and candlelight. Visit northeastern Washington, step into history, and dig into the past.

In Boom Towns & Relic Hunters of Washington State: Exploring Washington's Historic Ghost Towns & Mining Camps, Jerry Smith shows you the way to some of Washington's most picturesque, abandoned sites whose yesteryears were as colorful as they were lively.

Perfect for either the on-the-ground or the armchair adventurer, Boom Towns & Relic Hunters of Washington State is the ideal self-guided ghost town reference book to carry on your travels through northeastern Washington State.

"For anyone who loves the history and romance of the Wild West, this is an outstanding book that will help you understand more about the where and when of boom towns in the old and the new west... Get lost with this book on a road trip through the dusty corners of Washington State. You will love it!" — Nostalgia Magazine

Author, explorer, and tour guide Jerry Smith is a longtime native of Washington State. He spends much of his time researching, exploring, and seeking out long-lost and forgotten ghost towns, mining camps and historic sites of Northeastern Washington State. His articles and photography have appeared in Lost Treasure Magazine, Washington Prospectors Magazine, Nostalgia Magazine and others. An experienced adventure guide, Smith leads "Guided Ghost Town Tours" through the ghost towns, mining camps, and historic sites of Okanogan County. To learn more visit www.GhostTownsUSA.com.

Buy a SIGNED copy of Boom Towns & Relic Hunters of Washington State: Exploring Washington's Historic Ghost Towns & Mining Camps - $38.95

A Handshake & a Thousand Dollars by Betty Wilsey - $22.95

A Handshake & a Thousand Dollars, Betty Wilsey's memoir of growing up in Stehekin, is a who's who of Stehekin, packed with photos and stories. You'll find recipes here too: everything from squirrel stew (I hope you have bear grease on hand) to sour cream pie to one of Beryl's famous fruit pies.

Bruno the porcupine, Herman the Goose, and Buford the Bear, as well as Betty's many human neighbors, get up to some crazy shenanigans. Look for hints from the kitchen; what happens when a teenage girl meets a skunk up close and personal; and memories of big freezes. Sleepy Stehekin even took on, and took care of, an armed bank robber on the run. The whole town conspired to slow down the desperado until the sheriff could arrive from down-lake.

Betty Wilsey moved to Stehekin in 1955 when she and her twin brother Billy were 11 years old. In 1962, she married her high school sweetheart, and together they raised a family in Stehekin. This is the story of four generations in Stehekin Valley, seen through Betty's eyes.

Buy a SIGNED copy of A Handshake & a Thousand Dollars - $22.95

Breaking the Code: A Father's Secret, a Daughter's Journey, and the Question That Changed Everything by Karen Fisher-Alaniz — $14.99

In Breaking the Code, Karen Fisher-Alaniz offers a sensitive account of how she helped her war-veteran father confront a traumatic memory he had carried with him for more than 50 years. On his 81st birthday, without explanation, Karen Alaniz's father placed two weathered notebooks on her lap. The more Alaniz read, the more she discovered about the man she never knew and the secret role he played in WWII.

Alaniz knew her father had served in the Navy and believed he had spent his days working in an office. She did not know that he had been trained to copy Katakana, the top-secret Japanese military code. Her father could never speak of his work because "anyone could be a spy." In 1945, Karen's father was unable to rescue a fellow code breaker behind enemy lines, and his grief and guilt were so intense that he suffered a temporary breakdown.

This story of an adult child learning to understand a parent she thought she knew is simple, unpretentious, and commendable, breaking the silence surrounding PTSD. "Whether the veteran returned from war sixty years ago or six days ago," she writes, "one thing remains constant: it's time for us to talk and to listen."

"a genuine tale told from the heart," says Kirkus Reviews

Learn more at www.storymatters2.com.

Buy a SIGNED copy of Breaking the Code: A Father's Secret, a Daughter's Journey, and the Question That Changed Everything - $14.99

A is for Alliguitar and I Know A Librarian Who Chewed On A Word illustrated by Herb Leonhard — $16.99

In Herb Leonhard's A is for Alliguitar, twenty-six wacky alphabeasts join a musical safari. You’ll meet mandolions and rhinoboes, gorillutes and newtubas. Through humorous rhymes, this book presents a cross between an animal and a musical instrument for each letter of the alphabet. A llama and maracas come together to create llamaracas, a lynx and a violin form the violynx... and then of course there's the saxofox. Young readers will laugh at the zany illustrations.

In I Know A Librarian Who Chewed On A Word, a special librarian takes her love of books to the extreme. Miss Devine, a bona fide bibliophile, has a passion for literacy that reaches new heights. She has actually chewed on a word, claims one small witness to this outrageous event. As the children gossip in a suspenseful build up, dying to know which word set off this smorgasbord, we discover that Miss Devine has munched her way through the whole library. In the manner of "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," Miss Devine downs a book shelf, table, chair, cart, and a copy of Peter Pan trying to chase this savory assemblage of letters. But just which word did she chew?

Award-winning illustrator Herb Leonhard's previous work also includes Way Out West on My Little Pony, St. Patrick and the Three Brave Mice, A Southern Child's Garden of Verses, and Leonardo's Monster. He holds a bachelor of fine arts in illustration from the Pacific Northwest College of Art.