‘Breaking Blue’ Will Be Fine Reading In Paperback, Too

If you haven’t yet read Tim Egan’s book “Breaking Blue,” you’re a little out of date. It was published in hardback by Knopf in 1992.

But you now have another chance. Sasquatch Books of Seattle has purchased the paperback rights, and the book (267 pages, $14.95) is due out this month.

“Breaking Blue” tells the story of former Pend Oreille County Sheriff Tony Bamonte’s investigation of a half-century-old murder. The victim was the town marshal of Newport, Wash., George Conniff, and Bamonte contended that the murder was committed by Clyde Ralstin, a former detective on the Spokane Police Department.

Egan, a graduate of the University of Washington whose Spokane roots include a high school diploma from Gonzaga Prep, heads the Seattle bureau of the New York Times.

For those people who judge a book by its first paragraph (if not its cover), Egan doesn’t disappoint:

“When it came time for Bill Parsons to die, he crumpled into his wife’s arms and started talking about the things cops seldom share with the women in their lives. She ran her fingers through his hair, this silver thatch, and felt the faintness of life: a tired and congested heart following a directionless beat, torn-up lungs gulping from the plastic tendrils of a metal appendage, a body in full retreat. Here it was, an Indian-summer morning in a valley cut by the Spokane River, and he couldn’t take a breath of cool air. The wind blew down from the Selkirk Mountains, carrying a scent of the year’s final hay-cutting and apples pressed to cider; his oxygen came from the pharmacy, bottled.”

The rest of the book is just as well-written.

The write kind of movies

Don’t forget, if you’re interested in learning how to write for the movies, you might consider signing up for the McManus Screenwriting Seminar.

Sponsored by the creative writing department of Eastern Washington University, the one-day event will be held Saturday, May 4, in EWU’s Spokane Center, First and Wall. The seminar leader is Barbara Wright, an experienced screenwriter and published novelist (“Easy Money”).

Fee is $55. For further information, call Judy Samples at 359-2434.

More on writing right

Nance Van Winckel, an instructor of creative writing at Eastern Washington University as well as editor of Willow Springs, will serve on the faculty of the Washington Writers’ Workshop, which will be held this summer at Central Washington University in Ellensburg.

Workshops will be held in poetry, fiction, nonfiction and in the area of “writing as exploration.” The nine-day credit course will be held July 29 to Aug. 4, and the weekend workshop for non-credit participants will be held Aug. 2-4.

For registration and other fee information, call (800) 752-4379 (weekend workshop only) or the CWU English Department at (509) 963-1546 (credit courses).

On the shelves

If you’re a hiking enthusiast, you might want to check out Corvallis, Mont., author Milt Arkava’s self-published book “Hiking the Bitterroots” (123 pages, $14.50 paperback).

The book outlines several suggested hikes and includes a series of hand-drawn maps.

Arkava, a retired professor from the University of Montana with 30 years of hiking experience in the area, published an earlier guide book that went out of print. “Hiking the Bitterroots” is available in Missoula bookstores, but it can be ordered by sending the purchase price to: Mort Arkava, 536 Harvey Lane, Corvallis, MT 59828.

Seattle author Loree Boyd has told the tale of her family in “Spirit Moves: The Story of Six Generations of Native Women” (New World Library, 436 pages, $16.95 paperback).

“This story follows the matrilineal line of my family,” writes Boyd, a combination Cree/ Blackfoot Metis whose native name is Zachcoo, which means Starlight. “Each grandmother is like a door that, in a sense, I’ve had the courage to open, and accept what I see.” Her book, she adds, “was written with the hope and intention of reaching out and reassuring the reader that she is not alone.”

The ISBN number of “Spirit Moves” is 1-880032-59-7.

The reader board

Frank Yuse, author of “Honey in the Mouth: Meditations From St. Bernard,” will read from the book at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington.

Bill London and Charlie Powell, coauthors of “Natural Wonders of Idaho: A Guide to Parks, Preserves and Wild Places,” will present a slide-show lecture on their book (and more) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

, DataTimes