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lbpl.org
(562) 570-7500

Belmont Launderpet, 3429 E. Broadway, (562) 433-3605
Bixby Animal Clinic, 3938 Atlantic Ave., (562) 426-4066
Bixby Knolls Launderpet, 4102 Orange Ave., (562) 427-2551
Blue Cross Veterinary Hospital, 2665 E. PCH, (562) 494-0975
Chuck & Toby, 191 Park Ave., (562) 434-8085
Go Dogs Go, 3440 N. Los Coyotes Diagonal, (562) 421-9797
Seal Beach Launderpet, 318 Main St., Seal Beach, (562) 430-7196
Parkview Vet, 4103 N. Viking Way, (562) 425-8140

All funds from the cookbook will benefit humane education and SNIP, FOLBA’s spay/neuter voucher program, within Signal Hill and Long Beach. FOLBA is dedicated in its promotion of the humane treatment and care of cats, dogs and all other animals through the education of the public as to pet owner responsibilities within the cities of Long Beach and Signal Hill.

Edible Gardening for California is Beaver’s second book– she published Container Gardening for California in 2009.

Local writer and gardener Jennifer E. Beaver will discuss her latest book, Edible Gardening for California, at Gatsby Books on Saturday, May 14 at 2pm. Edible gardening– the practice of growing vegetables, fruit, and herbs in a dedicated area or mixed in with traditional flower beds– has grown in popularity as a money-saving way to enjoy delicious fresh food.
Long Beach-area gardeners can grow food year-round thanks to the region’s Mediterranean climate. People are hungry for advice on getting the most out of their efforts, says Beaver. “We all love gardening but want to know the best tomatoes, the right kinds of fruit trees, and how to plant them so we can get more food for our families,” she said. “There are only a handful of books specifically for California edible gardeners. This is the one you can easily take to the nursery to get what you want.”
For both new and experienced gardeners, the presentation will cover some of the challenges of urban gardening, such as limited space, ways to start an edible garden without a lot of sweat and bother, suggestions for mixing attractive edibles in with an existing garden, and much more.
Edible Gardening for California is Beaver’s second book, joining Container Gardening for California. She is currently at work on Vegetable Gardening for California, to be published in 2012. All three titles are from Lone Pine Publishing International.
Owned and operated by California Heights resident Sean Moor, Gatsby Books is located at 5535 East Spring St., at the corner of Bellflower Boulevard.

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(562) 208-5862
gatsbybooks.com

“Launch to Literacy” was the theme of last Friday evening’s open house at the Signal Hill Library, 1770 E. Hill St. In coordination with National Library Week, the City hosted a family-fun and game night at the library featuring a new kid’s area sponsored by the Signal Hill Community Foundation. Pictured, new librarian Gail Ashbrooke reads Humpty Dumpty by Daniel Kirk to young listeners during story time at the open house event. The children wearing crowns had just completed making them at the craft table.

Mayor Larry Forester wearing the crown he created.

Tammy Kaehler is a local resident who will soon publish the first in what she hopes will be a series about racecar-driving hopeful Kate Reilly.

By Brett Ashley Hawkins
Editorial Intern

With the sudden closure announcements for two Borders bookstores in Long Beach, the future of printed media is in question, with its outlets slowly dwindling in numbers. One Bixby Terrace resident and documentation manager, Tammy Kaehler, doesn’t fear the changing times as she prepares to release her first murder-mystery novel, Dead Man’s Switch, this August. The book is the first of the Kate Reilly series, a collection of mystery novels all related to the world of racecar driving, to be released through Poisoned Pen Press.
“My literary agent, Lucienne Diver, submitted the manuscript of Dead Man’s Switch to them,” Kaehler said. “The fabulous Barbara Peters, editor at Poisoned Pen Press, suggested I make some changes to it. When I did so last July, they offered me a contract to publish it.”
In Dead Man’s Switch, racecar-driving hopeful, Kate Reilly, attempts to land a spot in the American Le Mans Series, but discovers a driver’s corpse in the process. Receiving that driver’s seat in the competition, Reilly gets a chance to live her dream but is instantly made a top suspect in the murder investigation.
With little time to prepare to race a Corvette at Lime Rock Park, Reilly takes a detour into the role of investigator and quickly makes acquaintance with the rest of the team, other possible suspects. She comes across several clues along the way, including a list of blackmail victims, questionable car performance, a jealous husband, an adulterous wife, and other drivers and crew lacking any sympathy for the dead driver.
As the race quickly approaches, Reilly must choose which drivers and crews she can trust to gather alibis, dispel the rumors of breakups and backstabbing, and find the killer through it all. If Reilly fails to discover the murderer, she stands to lose her career, her reputation, and her credibility within the racing industry.
Kaehler’s book has received early praise from both the literary and racing worlds alike. Joan Hansen, the founder of the Men of Mystery Festival, wrote in her review, “[the book is] a wild ride with treacherous twists and threatening turns. I was captured by her exquisite writing, her ability to depict that world so vividly, and her skill in weaving a complicated but believable plot.”
Andrew Davis, a racecar driver for Stevenson Motorsports, commented on the accuracy and the authenticity of the racing scenes described in the book. “It captures the true essence of what goes on at the racetrack,” he said.
“I wrote Dead Man’s Switch in about a year and a half, starting about six years ago,” Kaehler said. “Four years later I spent three solid months overhauling it, making substantial additions, revisions, and edits that were suggested by my publisher.”
When forming the concept of her book, Kaehler thought that having it be a mystery would intensify an already high-pressure world. “My love of mysteries came first, even before writing fiction and before an interest in racing,” Kaehler said. “I’ve always devoured mysteries, read them as fast as I possibly could. It was eight years ago that I first wrote fiction, and a year later that I was plunged into the racing world. I wanted to tell a story that gave others a look inside that world, and a mystery is what came the most naturally to me.”
“Alternatively, you could say that I looked around at the high-glamour spectacle that is racing– where athletes are treated like rock stars and sponsors spend big dollars for access to the stars and cars– and thought, ‘What a great setting for murder!’ That’s the kind of twisted thinking you get from mystery writers,” Kaehler said.
With her concept developed, Kaehler threw herself headfirst into the racing industry to research and to find inspiration. “My research wasn’t a focused, isolated activity, rather an ongoing one, from the moment I had the idea to write the book to the present day,” Kaehler said. “Basically, I read about and watched as much racing as I could get my hands on. Along the way, I attended a three-day racing school to learn what it really felt like behind the wheel of a racecar, and I talked to as many drivers, team staff, and racing series folks as possible. I lurked around the paddock at every opportunity, soaking it all in. I still do.”
The three-day racing school Kaehler attended pushed her beyond what she thought she could achieve, as she doesn’t find herself that physically adventurous. “Besides this book, I’m proud of facing down my fears about what could go wrong in racing school,” Kaehler said. “By the end of the third day, I didn’t just get past the abject terror I felt, I actually enjoyed squealing tires through a turn and hitting 117 miles per hour on the backstretch.”
With bookstores disappearing all around Long Beach, Kaehler doesn’t fear any lack of accessibility for residents to get her book. “More bookstores are always better, and I’ve been sorry to see Borders stores closing,” Kaehler said. “However, in terms of people being able to find my book, independent bookstores, such as Apostrophe Books in Belmont Shore and A Castle of Books in Bixby Knolls, are still going strong, and [independent bookstores] have always been the champions of new authors, especially those of us from smaller presses. In addition, I know more and more people these days are shopping for their reading material online– whether print or e-book versions.” Kaehler’s book will also be available for preorder online at Amazon’s, Barnes & Noble’s, and IndieBound’s websites.
Kaehler’s book hits the shelves in August, but she is still hard at work in continuing the series. “What’s next is finishing the second of Kate’s adventures, which sees her in the same car and team, but a year later at two different racetracks,” Kaehler said. “Dead Man’s Switch is the first of a series. I aim to have Kate drive as many of the fantastic races and racetracks around the world as possible, including the 24 Hours of Daytona, a NASCAR race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Monaco Grand Prix. I’m also sure I’ll sneak a book about the Long Beach Grand Prix in there at some point.”

More Information
tammykaehler.com

Bookstore owner Sean Moor donated 1,500 books to Dana Branch Library’s recent book sale.

By Rachael Rifkin
Staff Writer

Sean Moor’s 7-year-old daughter, Audrey, loves checking out books from the Dana Branch Library and fondly remembers attending its free programs like pre-school storytime. In an effort to support the library and its projects, Moor helped start the annual Dana Branch Library book sale three years ago. This year the California Heights resident, avid book collector and owner of the recently opened bookstore Gatsby Books donated 1,500 books to Friends of the Long Beach Public Library for the September 18 sale at the Dana Branch.
“The Dana Branch book sale is a great event to support because it directly benefits our branch library,” said Moor. “The leftover books from the sale are sent downtown to the main library, where they’ll end up for sale in the Friends of the Library shop. This nonprofit, volunteer organization benefits the entire Long Beach public library system.”
According to Dana Branch head librarian Jennifer Songster, the sale was a success. “The book donations go to the Friends of Long Beach Public Library, but all the proceeds benefit the Dana Branch Library specifically,” said Songster. “We earned several hundred dollars from the sale. We’re very grateful. We really appreciate the help.”
Moor is also involved with the Long Beach Reads One Book program. Last year he hosted a live reading of Steve Lopez’s The Soloist at the Sunday farmers market in California Heights and plans to include his store in the upcoming 2011 Reads One Book program. He just opened his bookstore on August 1, but the idea had been percolating in his head for a while. He started collecting books when he was a teenager. There are about 10,000 books in his personal collection and another 10,000 books at the store.
“When I was a teenager, I inherited a large collection of books from my uncle, who I didn’t really know. I think my uncle chose to give them to me because I was the only one interested in them,” said Moor. “When I started going through them, I realized he was a really cool uncle. There were lots of Beat writers, lots of Hemingway. Very guy’s guy type of writing. I started from there.”
Moor built up his collection by going to library book and estate sales all throughout college. “I had a secondary reading list. I had what I needed to read for class, and then I had what I was finding out there in the open,” he said.
After college, he had a whole host of jobs, including receiver for Super Crown Bookstores and fourth-grade teacher, but his ultimate dream was to have a fine used bookstore that sold clean, well-cared-for books that were both interesting and affordable. He finally made the leap this year, beginning with a booth at the California Heights Farmers Market and then transitioning to a permanent store at 5535 E. Spring St.
Moor sells “gently used” (i.e., no highlighting, underlining, marks or dog-ears), carefully chosen books. “I’m trying to make a real edited collection so when you go into Gatsby Books, you know that you’ll find what you’re looking for and hopefully a few things you didn’t expect to find anywhere,” Moor said.
He also buys books or issues store credit. In addition, he is working on putting together a series of literary events. For kids, there will be storytime hours and, for adults, Gatsby Books book club meetings, which will focus on American authors. Naturally, the first book will be The Great Gatsby. There will be a discussion on the book moderated by Cal State University Long Beach literature professor Peter Markman on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 3pm.
With plenty of room in the bookstore, he also welcomes speakers and book groups to use the space. There is no minimum purchase, and he can arrange for private meetings after hours.
“I want to keep the store fresh and interesting and make it a catalyst for anything literary in Long Beach,” Moor said. “That’s my goal, to create a literary heart in Long Beach.”

More Information
(562) 208-9783
gatsbybooks.com

Author, former Raiderette and former Miss Toyota Grand Prix Alise Cayen will be signing copies of her book Patty Pom-Poms at Borders Books, 2110 N. Bellflower Blvd. on Sunday, Aug. 22 from 2pm to 4pm. Girls and boys who attend the signing in their sports or cheer uniform will receive a special gift.
Patty Pom-Poms is about a young girl who works hard to realize a dream. Patty Kaplinsky would give anything to be a sports star like her brothers, to belong to something, but she can’t seem to find her niche. Encouraged by her brother, Patty goes to one of his football games and is mesmerized by the cheerleaders. The very next day, Patty gets to work, making her own pom-poms and practicing every day in order to be the best she can be. The big day for cheerleader tryouts finally arrives, and Patty knows that she has what it takes to be a great cheerleader. Does Patty make the team? What lessons does she learn along the way?
A Southern California native, Cayen graduated with honors from California State University, Northridge, with a bachelor’s degree in English and a secondary teaching credential. Patty Pom-Poms is the first of a three-book series, and Cayen is currently working on a children’s book about police officers.