10 Books Published by Portland Authors in 2014

Monday, December 22, 2014

Emily Goldman, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Literopolis will not be updating for the last two weeks of December due to the busy holiday season and bookstores and sellers focusing right now on what’s truly important – making sure you’ve bought just the right books to give as presents to your loved ones. Literopolis will resume its normal schedule beginning on January 5, 2015.

As 2014 draws to a close, Portland’s literary community has a good deal to be proud of. Here at GoLocalPDX, we’ve chosen to highlight 10 books written by Portland authors published in this calendar year. Some of them we’ve written about before and others are entirely brand new to the news site. This is by no means an exhaustive list – for additional recommendations, check out our earlier slideshow featuring over 80 books written by local authors sold by the Oregon Historical Society as part of their annual holiday sale.

We hope there’s at least one book on this list that will appeal to everyone. It’s not too late to find a favorite new book (or author) before the year officially ends.

1. Loitering by Charles D’Ambrosio
This essay collection published by Tin House is a compilation of 11 earlier and entirely new pieces and highlights Charles D’Ambrosio as one of the top essayists writing today. Containing a far-ranging selection of topics such as a Russian orphanage, Native American whaling, and the trial of Mary Kay Letourneau, this collection is as vast in scope as it is personal in its prose.

2. Pretty Deadly Volume 1 written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and illustrated by Emma Rios
What would a “best of” list of books written by Portland authors be without a couple of comics on it? Drawing on the tradition of pulp Westerns and told with beautifully colorful and surreal artwork, the first volume of the series Pretty Deadly is the gruesome, heartfelt origin story of Ginny, also known as Death’s daughter, as she travels through the American West dispensing justice and seeking vengeance.

3. The Wilds by Julia Elliott
This is a debut short story collection brimming with imagination and stories that defy the expectations of multiple genres. Julia Elliot’s writing has been compared to that of Angela Carter, Kelly Link, and Karen Russell, and has been listed as one of the Best Books of 2014 by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Book Riot, and Buzzfeed.

4. Sex Criminals Volume 1 written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky
If you haven’t been following this series from the beginning, you’ve been missing out all year. Meet Suzie – a girl who’s able to stop time whenever she orgasms. Meet Jon – he has the same strange ability Suzie does. Together they use their powers to rob banks. In addition to being one of the most unique stories out there whose premise revolves around sex, it’s a truly touching story of a budding relationship in the midst of quirky hilarity.

5. Falling From Horses by Molly Gloss
Molly Gloss has been writing stories and novels for over 30 years in multiple genres. In her latest novel, she spins a story set in the late-thirties Hollywood film industry during a resurging boom in the Westerns craze. 19-year-old Bud Frazer, a Hollywood hopeful intent on becoming a stunt rider, strikes up a friendship with Lily Shaw, a fellow hopeful with her own dream of becoming a screenwriter. First kindling on the long bus ride down, their friendship carries them through their Hollywood trials and achievements and beyond for the rest of their lives.

6. The Diamond Lane by Karen Karbo
First published over 20 years ago in 1991, award-winning author Karen Karbo’s novel on the glitz, glam, and sordid underbelly of L.A. and Hollywood has been brought back into the public eye courtesy of Hawthorne Books, one of Portland’s foremost independent presses. This is a family drama between two sisters Mimi and Mouse FitzHenry and the latter’s fiancée involving a surprise wedding, an un-optioned screenplay, and three people’s attempts to make it an industry built on schemes, lies, and delusions.

7. Juliet’s Nurse by Lois Leveen
The TL;DR synopsis of this book would be that it’s a retelling of Romeo and Juliet from the perspective of Juliet’s nurse.” The longer version is that this is the story of the nurse’s admittance to the Cappelletti family as a devoted service who is made privy to some of the family’s darkest secrets for fifteen years – secrets that will be made known amidst Juliet’s tragic affair with her beloved Romeo. This is lushly written, captivating historical fiction, and a unique literary spin on one of the most enduring romances in Western history.

8. Jackaby by William Ritter
Described by the publisher as “Doctor Who meets Sherlock,” this YA debut is a mystery and a procedural with a supernatural bent. In an alternate late 19th century New England town, a young woman by the name of Abigail Brooks takes a job as the assistant of the superb and uncanny investigator R.F. Jackaby. The two of them are charged with identifying and tracking a serial killer whom Jackaby is convinced is a supernatural creature.

9. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Schafer
Time Magazine’s Lev Grossman called David Schafer’s debut novel a “genius techno-thriller a la Neal Stephenson powered by social-media info-conspiracy a la Dave Eggers,” which pretty much tells you all you need to know about this book and if you’re its target audience. The tale of an epic battle between the Committee, intent on privatizing all information and Dear Diary, an online radical group standing in the Committee’s way, has been named one of the Best Books of 2014 by Time Magazine, NPR, Slate, and Kirkus.

10. I Loved You More by Tom Spanbauer
Tom Spanbauer is known for writing complex novels exploring place, identity, and sexuality, and his first novel in seven years is no exception. I Love You More is the story of Ben’s struggles in life, love, and longing, taking place in an early-80s New York in the gay male community first starting to be ravished by AIDS and the American West in Portland and Idaho.

Banner Photo Credit: Flickr