Books in print:

Fritz: More Stories from New Hampshire Chronicle
by Fritz Wetherbee

Floggings, flags, runaway daughters, death on Mount Washington, bears, and kinky schoolteachers of old. This third volume from New Hampshire's master storyteller tells all about the state's people, places and towns. 264 pages. $22.70 ($19.95 plus s/h: $2.75).

See order for volume 1, Fritz Wetherbee's New Hampshire, and volume 2, I'll Tell You the Story.

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Vermont Seasonings: Reflections on the Rhythms of a Vermont Year
by Steve Delaney. Cover and illustrations by Amelia Fountain.

The voice of Vermont is now in print. "Vermont Seasonings: Reflections on the Rhythms of a Vermont Year" is broadcaster Steve Delaney's affectionate salute to Vermont. Delaney, self-described Recovering Flatlander, writes of Vermont in this weekly and seasonal collection of essays. A Recovering Flatlander, he says, is "a person from Away who has moved to Vermont and believes it is possible to pass as a Real Vermonter. It's not."

Delaney's distinctive voice has been heard on Vermont Public Radio for the past decade. He has won national honors for two NBC White Paper television documentaries, and for radio documentaries and news programs produced for VPR. Delaney is a fifty-year broadcast journalist who has covered politics and other petty crime in Washington, finance and other felonies in New York and wars on three continents. He is the middle link in a five-generation family love affair with Lake Champlain and the state and now calls Milton his home. "Vermont Seasonings" is his first book. In "Vermont Seasonings," Delaney writes of sugaring ("The Fragrant Mists of Fairfield"), mud season ("That Joyant Sucking Sound"), families ("Reunion Season"), foliage ("Flo and Bert Alert") and the weekly pace of life in this well-seasoned collection. His glossary also lists three definitions of a "Real Vermonter" -- loose, strict and ultra-orthodox with an emphasis on seven generations. $21.70 ($18.95 plus s/h $2.75)

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Life is Still Good. Rob Szymaszek: One Man’s Coaching Philosophy Applied to the Toughest Challenge of His Life, by Bryant Carpenter The life, lessons and philosophy of coach Rob Szymaszek can be found in this book by the sports editor of the Record-Journal in Meriden, Conn. ($19.95 plus $2.75 postage and handling)

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Too Dead To Die, A Memoir of Bataan and Beyond
by Steve Raymond and Mike Pride. $24.95 (24.95 plus $2.75 postage/ handling, Hardback).
Steve Raymond was one of 12,000 American soldiers captured by the Japanese in the spring of 1942. He survived the Bataan Death March and 3 1/2 years in slave labor camps. Raymond kept a diary in captivity and started a memoir in 1945. Nearly six decades later, Mike Pride, editor of the Concord Monitor, worked with Raymond to tell his story.

Filmmaker Ken Burns says of Too Dead to Die: "The 'good war' of our popular imagination disappears when we confront the harsh realities men like Steve Raymond experienced in World War II. And we are all the better for it. This is a riveting narrative, one man's desperate struggle for survival in the midst of the greatest crisis in human history."

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Franklin Pierce, Martyr for the Union
by Peter A. Wallner

This 500-page second volume of the presidential biography examines his life during and after the White House. The most recent biography of Franklin Pierce was published nearly seventy-five years ago. Yet the nation's least known president is also one of the most charming, charismatic, and interesting men to ever hold the nation's highest office. Described by his best friend Nathaniel Hawthorne as "deep, deep, deep," with "most of the chief elements of a great ruler," Pierce is also the greatest trial lawyer in New Hampshire history. A master politician at the state level, Pierce ruled over the most consistently successful state Democratic Party in the Northeast, before he and his supporters devised and executed the plan to capture the national party's presidential nomination in 1852. Hardback $35.45 ($31.95 plus $3.50 postage and handling).

Franklin Pierce, New Hampshire's Favorite Son
by Peter A. Wallner.

The most recent biography of Franklin Pierce was published nearly seventy-five years ago. Yet the nation's least known president is also one of the most charming, charismatic, and interesting men to ever hold the nation's highest office. The first of two volumes on the life of Franklin Pierce, Wallner's thoroughly researched, engagingly written account of Pierce's rise to national prominence will surprise readers with accounts of the many triumphs and tragedies of Pierce's life leading up to his presidency

Buy both HARDBACK volumes for $65 -- including shipping.

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Could Have Been Worse: True Stories, Embellishments, and Outright Lies
By Rebecca Rule

Live Free, Drive Fast: Behind the Scenes at the New Hampshire
International Speedway
By Allen Lessels.
With foreward by NASCAR veteran and New Hampshire favorite Ricky Craven.

Award-winning New Hampshire sportswriter Allen Lessels gives the reader an unprecedented look at what goes on at the Loudon track -- from the owners, the fans and the press to the drivers and crews. It's all about a season of racing in New Hampshire

'I love everthing about it. I love when cars go by me. I can't get close enough to them. I love, you know, when they start, when they rumble in your chest. I just love it. I love the spectacle.' -- Best-selling author Janet Evanovich at tne New Hampshire International Speedway.

'Did you hear them when I got out? As soon as my feet hit the ground they went crazy because they knew what was coming.' -- NASCAR champion Tony Stewart on fans and his winning celebration.

$18.95 plus $2.55 (shipping/handling) -- a total of $21.50.

Dork, another look at my junk
by Leon Thompson.

The award-winning humorist from the St. Albans, Vermont Messenger is back with his second volume of spirited newspaper columns. Leon's first collection, Good Junk, remains a Plaidswede favorite and this collection meets the Junk standard.

Dork, another look at my junk, by Leon Thompson. $17.70 ($14.95, shipping $2.75) Good Junk: The Humor Columns of Leon Thompson. $11.75 ($9.95 plus $1.80 p/h).

Spend the holidays with a “dork”
Swanton native and Vermont humorist Leon Thompson will read Yuletide material from his books “Good Junk” (2003) and “dork. – another look at my junk” at the STAART Gallery in St. Albans on Friday, Dec. 7.

The 7-9 p.m. event will also feature a book signing and reception with free wine and refreshments.

“This is gonna be more fun than the time they let me cut the roast beast in Whoville,” said Leon, 33, of St. Albans, staff writer/columnist for the St. Albans Messenger. “And I heard the eight maids-a-milking are coming! Good times. Good times.”

“Good Junk” and “dork.” are collections of Leon’s (mostly) humor columns from the Messenger and Chronicle-Independent, of Camden, S.C.

In his award-winning work, Thompson shows a mastery of wry humor and witty sarcasm. In each self-deprecating book, he offers twisted insights into parenting, his family, friends, and himself.

Attendees of the Dec. 7 reading will hear Thompson’s irreverent version of the Christmas Story, as well as some – ahem – observations on Christmas carols.

STAART, owned by Stina Plant, of Fairfield, has enlivened St. Albans’ Main Street with works by 20 artists, free wi-fi, and a relaxing atmosphere.

Plaidswede Publishing, of Concord, N.H., published “dork.” and “Good Junk” as part of its New England Columnist Series, which seeks to preserve the voices -- past and present -- of those who write opinion pieces for newspapers throughout the region.

About the author:

Leon Thompson writes a weekly column for the St. Albans Messenger, a six-day daily newspaper tucked in northwestern Vermont. Almost in Canada. But not quite.

In 2006, Leon celebrated 10 years as a columnist. Mostly, he writes humor. At least he thinks so. From 1998 to 2000, he also penned a column for the Chronicle-Independent in Camden, S.C.

Leon's columns have earned him numerous awards from the New England Press Association, South Carolina Press Association, and National Newspaper Association. Leon is a 1996 graduate of Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, Vt., where he started all this brouhaha by writing a column called "Pronounced Le-in" for the college newspaper, The Critic.

He and his 4-year-old daughter, known to his readers as "Bebo,” live and play in St. Albans, Vt.