Listed below, latest to oldest, are the books I have written. Some are available (as of March 21, 2026) for purchase as ebooks at various retailers, and at The Book Patch Bookstore. All other queries should be sent to:
THE RUCKUS OF BIRDS takes place in but a moment of time. Six minutes, to be precise; but whether minutes or hours or days or years, time is not relevant. The place as well is vague. The main character remains nameless. 'He' stands under an eave of his house watching rain fall. He watches the rain and the birds as they flitter and feed. His thoughts, like the birds, come and go, one feeding on another, going and coming. He is a science teacher at a rural university. It is spring break, the middle of the term. Birds are his specialty and his delight.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER follows Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery down the Columbia River from Wallula Gap to the mouth at Astoria. Lewis and Clark joined the Columbia at its confluence with the Snake River; and this account follows their journey from Sacagawea Point near present day Walla Walla to its contentious meeting with the Pacific Ocean. The intention is to compare and contrast the Columbia of Lewis and Clark with the river as it is now. The journals of the two leaders are quoted in each chapter to give a glimpse of what they saw and thought. Old black and white photographs taken before the dams add some visual reference.
The book is a long narrative prosepoem which follows the peregrinations of one Master Ko. He may be a Zen priest or simply a Daoist; or, more likely, neither of the two; but rather one possessing the philosophical underpinnings of both. The format of the narrative has nested within it an anecdotal reference to the Tao Te Ching. Thus it is 81 stanzas (or chapters or verses, call them what you will) long; and each stanza has a distinctive structure. The notes at the end of the book define the more abstruse vocabulary, details the names of people, places, and things, and provides a basic translation of the kanji used in the book in both Japanese and Chinese.
LOOSE FISH
Trouble in River City. Cold cases and corruption, mayhem and metaphysics, this DoubleNickel Detective Story serves up the usual mix of characters, clues and conundrums. Called 'DoubleNickel' as a boy for his thick glasses, 'Nick' as a college man, he otherwise remains without a name. This nondescript fellow is, in appearance, a brown paper sack, a mutt of mixed ancestry. His father was Japanese. His mother was Irish. He is sardonic. He drinks. He is not your gentleman sleuth. He is a private eye who lines up with the hard boiled boys. An Afterward provides both an explication of the format as well as a comment on detective stories generally. Might be more here than meets the eye.
SALTARELLO Volume I collected stories is a compilation of my eclectic short stories. The title is a name of a lively dance form in which hops and jumps are featured. The word 'satire' derives from the same Latin root. The stories, like the dance, do not lack for liveliness; and humor, exaggeration, and irony will be found throughout.
THE BLIND GEISHA
The book tells the story of Elizabeth, her childhood friend Micki, and a blind geisha from the 15th century. In literature, or other arts, synchronicity is defined as a representation in the same frame of two or more events which occurred at different times. Such are the lives of the three women in The Blind Geisha.
WITHERED GRASS is a translation of selected prose excerpts ad various poems written by the 17th century Japanese wordsmith Bashō. Two versions of Japanese, character and romanization, and an English translation are presented. The ideograms or characters of Japanese (like their Chinese counterparts) are representational. Our alphabet is symbolic. Including both versions of the poem provides some depth of understanding.
CONSULTING HUANG PO is a long narrative combining poetry with prose. Central to the story are the poems of 17th century Japanese wordsmith Bashō. Protagonist James Lee Cunningham teaches a course on the poet's Narrow Road To The Deep North. His university students, his friends, and his wife Mia Sakai interact to weave their own way along the cobbled paths and muddy tracks from the Sea of Japan to Corvallis, Oregon.
EXCERPT available in Excerpts / Stories
CONVERSATIONS WITH A HYPOXIC DOG is a collection of essays, stories and poems from my later work. The book explores the nuances of both the physical and the metaphysical aspects of one's existence. Prose, poetry and prose poems offer up insight into life's little indigestions.
THE ILLUSION OF PLURALS
The 4th of July looms. And so did the outcome of a bet between two of MacKensie's rather iconoclastic citizens. Joe Murchison and Willard Crenshaw had been feuding for weeks. Now Murchison has to climb Grants Mountain by the 4th or leave town. If the mountain is climbed, Crenshaw is out lock, stock, and barrel. The outcome turns on a surprising change in the weather and an equally surprising change of heart.
AMIGOS, a farce
A bawdy, farcical, often satirical, novel that pokes and pulls at American culture in particular and world culture in general. Both detective story and saga, sometimes slapstick then again droll, the tale acknowledges the persistence of the conquistadores and inquisitors of the planet. If the meek are to inherit the earth, they'd best get a move on.
EXCERPT available in Excerpts / Stories
