I kill people for fun. In books.
“False friends,” are words that sound similar, but differ in meaning. For example, the Spanish word lentillas means lenses, not lentils; the German Enkel isn’t an ankle, but a grandchild.
Below are some common Pidgin (or Hawai‘i Creole English) terms that may sound deceptively familiar:
No one’s throwing their rubbish into the mahalo.
In The Invasive Species, readers learned about Mary Pfaff [1] and her Alice Mongoose and Alistair Rat series.
When Alice Mongoose sails from India to a sugar plantation on the Big Island of Hawaii, she is shocked to learn what her new job entails. She decides instead to strike out on her own. When she meets the gentle and dapper Alistair Rat, she knows that she has found a friend in her new Hawaiian home.
Download Alice Mongoose and Alistair Rat in Hawaii and 20 more free books and book samples through July 18!
[1] Parts of Mary Pfaff’s biography are verifiable. The Hawaiian Gazette was a semi-weekly publication of the Honolulu Advertiser. The Pacific Cable was completed in 1903, enabling news to travel across the ocean almost instantaneously. Editor Roderick O. Matheson did move to Japan around 1918, where he took the position of news editor of the Japan Times & Mail and served as the Chicago Tribune‘s foreign correspondent in Tokyo. However, Mary Pfaff, her family, and her books were crafted as part of the Professor Molly literary universe.
Dr. Rowena Halley is a Professor of Russian Language and an accidental sleuth. She is also a realistic modern academic. No spacious wood-paneled offices for her…try underpaid term contracts with no health insurance, depressing low-budget apartments, and copier codes (good for 100 copies per month) that don’t start working until the semester is well underway. Author Sid Stark skewers academia as only an insider can.
In post-Soviet Russia, crime fights you.
Dr. Rowena Halley has, against all odds, gotten a job. For one semester. At poverty wages. In New Jersey.
Loves hurts. Sometimes it kills.
Sometimes summer flings turn deadly serious.
When does freedom go too far?
Audio enthusiasts: You can listen to select Rowena Halley stories for free right now. Stark has a YouTube playlist, which you can find here. You can catch the podcast on SoundCloud, Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn. I’m currently listening to Foreign Exchange, the series prequel, and loving it.
Is this a cozy series? Decide for yourself: There is a female amateur sleuth, a close campus community, a feline companion, and wry humor. But the series does contain some swearing, much of it from Rowena’s older brother John, a Marine whose world view is often at odds with his little sister’s.
Happy Aloha Friday…download and enjoy!
In The Invasive Species, readers learned about Mary Pfaff [1] and her charming Alice Mongoose and Alistair Rat series.
When Alice Mongoose sails from India to a sugar plantation on the Big Island of Hawaii, she is shocked to learn what her new job entails. She decides instead to strike out on her own. When she meets the gentle and dapper Alistair Rat, she knows that she has found a friend in her new Hawaiian home.
The Alice Mongoose and Alistair Rat stories are classic tales of adventure, resilience, and friendship, beloved to this day by children of all ages. Now they have brand-new covers and formatting!
The new covers showcase and center the unique and charming artwork. A Goudy Kennerly font lends an early 20th-century flavor to the design. The size is changed from 8 x 10 to 6 x 9 to accommodate little hands. See the Alice and Alistair books HERE!
[1] Parts of Mary Pfaff’s biography are verifiable. The Hawaiian Gazette was a semi-weekly publication of the Honolulu Advertiser. The Pacific Cable was completed in 1903, enabling news to travel across the ocean almost instantaneously. Editor Roderick O. Matheson did move to Japan around 1918, where he took the position of news editor of the Japan Times & Mail and served as the Chicago Tribune‘s foreign correspondent in Tokyo. However, Mary Pfaff, her family, and her books were crafted as part of the Professor Molly literary universe.
Cassandra Sato is running.
A major earthquake in Japan triggers a tsunami warning on Oahu, Hawai’i. Dean of Students Cassandra Sato must ensure the safety of 1,000 residence hall students and evacuate them to inland shelters.
Before the first wave hits.
Download your complimentary copy of Dead End before August 31.
Kelly Brakenhoff is an American Sign Language Interpreter whose motivation for learning ASL began in high school when she wanted to converse with her deaf friends. As an American Sign Language Interpreter with more than twenty years of experience, Kelly’s worked in college classrooms for fifteen different majors. From traipsing across muddy farm fields to stomach-churning medical procedures, and stage interpreting for famous figures, Kelly’s community interpreting interactions number in the thousands.
Unfortunately, once she’s stepped away from the job, she usually forgets 90% of what happened. Which helps her keep confidential information safe, but also makes it really hard to grocery shop for more than 5 items without a written list.
Kelly wants to live in a world filled with peace, love, and joy, where people who can hear learn enough sign language to include deaf people in everyday conversations and work. Where every deaf child has early access to language and books with characters like them, and dark chocolate is cheap and plentiful.
When she’s not interpreting or writing, you can find Kelly cheering for her favorite Husker teams or training for half-marathons because she really likes dessert.
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1) The story begins with the newly-single protagonist returning to her backwater hometown to start over. Instead of opening a bookstore, a bakery, or a wedding-planning business, she dusts off her master’s degree in entomology and sets up shop as an exterminator. But on the day of her grand opening…Murder Hornets.
Read the rest at Chicks on the Case
Want to hang out with hundreds of cats in paradise? Head to the Lanai Cat Sanctuary on one of Hawaii’s smallest islands.
The mission of the Lanai Cat Sanctuary is “Saving Cats, Protecting Birds.”
You can sponsor a Lanai cat here.
Read more on Mental Floss
Hilo, Hawaii has more bookstores than New York City, Paris, Melbourne, Amsterdam, and London.
Relatively speaking, of course.
It’s true: Hilo, Hawaii has 43,263 people and five bookstores: Big Island BookBuyers, Still Life Books, Hilo Bay Books, Basically Books, and the University Bookstore. Throw in Enjoy Comics, and you have six. That’s over 13 bookstores per 100,000 people.
Quartz has a list of cities with the most bookstores per 100,000 people. Looks like Hilo’s about even with Toronto–and ahead of New York and Paris.
Next time you find yourself in Hilo, take a bookstore tour and get acquainted with “The Toronto of the Pacific.”*
* Nobody calls it that.
Featured image: ‘Hilo Bay’ by Helen Thomas Dranga, c. 1920.
One of a kind handmade pillow cases made with Aloha.
Janet Montrose creates one of a kind pillowcases in her workshop in Puna, on the southeast coast of Hawaii Island. Inspired by her love of color, fabrics and dreams, she started Dreaming in Color in to help rebuild her home after the volcanic eruption in Leilani Estates. Janet’s favorite thing about the business is making one of a kind custom orders. Her biggest challenge has been finding work space for her growing new business.
You can find Dreaming in Color on Facebook.
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