‘Ax Men’ pilot puts out novel
Maybe you’ve seen the History Channel’s reality show about loggers, “Ax Men.”
If so, you’ve seen Bart Colantuono, the senior helicopter-logging pilot for R&R Aviation.
Turns out, Colantuono is an author as well as veteran helicopter pilot and reality TV star. He has just released his first novel, “Helilogging in a Sucker Hole” (Rotoronover Publishing, $15.95), a fast-paced adventure yarn about a helicopter pilot who gets tangled in a dangerous web of sabotage and intrigue.
Helicopter logging is already a high-adrenaline profession. Add a conspiracy into the mix and it becomes a true pulse-pounder.
The story takes place in (or above) familiar territory – the Cabinet Mountains, the Bitterroots, Prichard and Avery, just to name a few.
Here’s a sample of Colantuono’s vivid style, describing a pilot’s decision to shoot through a tiny opening in the fog:
“As the opening closed around me, the wisps painted the aircraft’s windshield, a thin light coat, then a little thicker, until the windshield was solid white. I checked the fuel gauge, not good. I pushed the stick forward and dove into the sea of swirling white fog.”
Colantuono will be at Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave., on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. to sign his book.
‘Last Caravan’ to Afghanistan
Spokane author Penelope Rundle has turned a harrowing visit to war-torn Afghanistan into a book, “Last Caravan: Touring Afghanistan During the 1978 April Revolution,” (Gray Dog Press, $14.95).
The book is based largely on the journal she kept at the time. Rundle and her husband were supposed to spend a week touring the country’s scenic and historic sights. In the middle of the trip, Afghanistan was engulfed in a military coup.
The sightseeing trip turned into a frightening ordeal.
Here’s a sample passage, about their forced escape from their tourist bus in Kabul:
“We peeled out row-by-row after the command, ‘Run like hell!’ In a lull between detonations, another command: ‘Leave everything you don’t absolutely need!’ We raced across the pavement and into the gate with large shell casings rattling around our feet.”
The book includes 70 color photos taken during the trip.
Rundle will read from her book on Friday, 7 p.m. at Auntie’s Bookstore.
Get Lit! updates
Here are some new bulletins from Get Lit!, Spokane’s literary festival planned on April 14-21:
• Workshop signup – Get Lit! is presenting 10 workshops for writers during the course of the event. Preregistration is available at www.ewu.edu/getlit. Most workshops cost $30 ($20 for students) although two – “K-12 Classroom Publishing” and “Grant Writing Tips” – are free.
Other workshop subjects include business writing, socially responsible teaching, poetry of witness, college essay writing, dialogue, multiple story lines, rewriting and editing, and screenwriting .
• Bookstore fundraiser – Here’s a way to purchase books and raise some money for Get Lit! at the same time: Auntie’s Bookstore and the Barnes and Noble stores (NorthTown and Valley malls) are participating in a voucher program to benefit the festival.
Download vouchers at www.ewu.edu/getlit and present them to the bookstore of your choice. They will donate up to 20 percent of any purchase to Get Lit!
Use the Auntie’s vouchers on March 20 and 21 and the Barnes and Noble vouchers on March 27 and 28.
Plenty of us will be buying books by festival authors in advance of their appearances, right? So we might as well help out the festival, too.