Author Recounts Tragic Accident, Aftermath In ‘Return To Chewelah’

In 1976, while horseback riding on a stormy day on Vashon Island, Janet May took a fall.

It turned out to be a particularly bad one. Her neck was broken, and May ended up being paralyzed from the chest down.

Similar kinds of accidents, and their aftermath, have received a lot of publicity following the riding accident of actor Christopher Reeve. In Reeve’s case, his ongoing struggles to live a normal life have been especially moving.

The same holds true for May, who went through a period of darkness - the understandable health problems, marital troubles that resulted in divorce, drug use and a suicide attempt - only to emerge, through the help of family and friends, with a new-found willingness to carry on.

“Return to Chewelah: A Story of Innocence and Loss” (Storm Peak Press, 242 pages, $11.95 paperback) is May’s memoir. It’s fitting that the author on Saturday will sign copies of the book in Chewelah (see below), where she spent childhood summers on her “Grammie’s” farm.

Outdoor notes

Two types of readers will enjoy the slide-show literary reading that Susan English will hold at Auntie’s Bookstore Wednesday night (see below): Those who love the outdoors, and those of us who love seeing pictures of the outdoors.

English, Weekend Editor at The Spokesman-Review, will appear in support of the guidebook she co-authored, “Northern Rockies: A Best Places Guide to the Outdoors.” She plans to show slides, centering on a few areas in Canada that she terms “hidden gems.”

Among them, Elk Island National Park (45 minutes east of Edmonton, Alberta), Cavell Meadow and Angel Glacier (in Jasper National Park, Alberta) and Wagner Nature Reserve (a birdwatching area just west of Edmonton that English, an obsessive birdwatcher, only half-jokingly refers to as “Wagner Bog”).

Speaking of the outdoors, Falcon Press Publishing of Helena has put out a book that’s likely to be the perfect gift for the habitual hiker/backpacker.

“Wilderness First Aid: When You Can’t Call 911” (179 pages, $6.95 paperback) by Gilbert Preston, M.D., is designed to be a quick guide to health care for people stuck out in areas “defined as a remote location more than an hour from professional medical care.”

Covering what to do about everything from heart attacks to diarrhea, the book is designed to help the amateur first-aid practitioner “do some good” in situations where a trained medical expert is far from available.

First Fridays

Clarke & Stone Book Company is holding a monthly book-oriented discussion series that it calls First Fridays (the series takes its name from the fact that the meetings occur on the first Friday of each month).

Up for Oct. 3 is Teresa Brum, director of the Spokane City/County Historical Preservation Office. Brum will discuss urban neighborhoods in downtown Spokane.

On Nov. 7, Susan Norwood, a professor of nursing at Gonzaga University, will discuss new roles for nurses as consultants.

And on Dec. 5, Don Collins, author of “Cookbook of the Year,” will present the book book that will organize your life - before the holidays.

Each meeting runs from 5 to 6 p.m. and is open to the public. Clarke & Stone is located at 204 N. Division. For further information, call 838-0607.

Awards/rewards

You may already know that Anita Endrezze, Spokane poet and short-story writer, was one of several Washington artists to win a 1997 Artist Trust GAP Award.

Endrezze’s award (GAP is an acronym for Grants for Artists Projects) of $1,200 is to help fund a research trip to the Yaqui homelands of northwestern Mexico. She is writing a book on her Yaqui heritage.

You may not know, however, that Endrezze’s short story “Constellation of Angels” was included in the recently published anthology “Reinventing the Enemy’s Language,” edited by Gloria Bird and Joy Harjo.

The reader board

Don Miller, author of “Living, Laughing and Living Life!” will read from his book at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Susan English, co-author of “Northern Rockies: A Best Places Guide to the Outdoors,” will give a slide-lecture based on her book at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Brad Reynolds, S.J., author of “A Ritual Death,” will read from his novels - second in the Father Mark Townsend series - at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Janet May, author of “Return to Chewelah,” will sign copies of her book from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Go West Bookstore, 101 W. Lincoln, in Chewelah.

, DataTimes