Joy Lanzendorfer
Joy Lanzendorfer’s first novel, Right Back Where We Started From, was published in 2021. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Raritan, the Atlantic, and Ploughshares as well as on NPR and for the Poetry Foundation, among others.
‘A Diamond and Safire Bracelet Lasts Forever’
The hardscrabble origin story of Anita Loos’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the bestselling 1925 novel that spawned a smash Broadway musical and the iconic Marilyn Monroe film.
Vigilantes at the Door
How months of harassment and racism at Carmel-by-the-Sea led Langston Hughes to write his landmark story collection The Ways of White Folks.
Condors: Lords of the Fly
An ode to the endangered birds that delight those lucky enough to witness their flight.
Better Diversity Through Cloning
San Diego’s Frozen Zoo banks the DNA of endangered species to ensure their futures.
Falling in and out of Love with Sierra On-Line
Roberta Williams’s pioneering PC video games ignited the author’s dreams of designing her own. But like many other girls, she was discouraged from entering a field involving math and technology.
Steinbeck and the Sea of Cortez
John Steinbeck’s Log from the Sea of Cortez captured his voyage to Baja, Mexico, and presaged many of today’s environmental concerns. The journey also provided temporary respite from his growing fame and failing marriage.
Anaïs Nin’s Decade-Long Adventure in Bicoastal Bigamy
The chronicler of desire and sexual adventures was surprisingly domestic—if you ignore her bigamy.
‘Look Out or You’ll Be Poisoned’
A tale of love, tainted marshmallows, and murder at the Carmel artist colony.
Golden Drams
Tap the barrels of the state’s finest whiskey purveyors.
Bumper Crops
Watch your fall garden grow with a little help from these seed purveyors.
More North Coast Bookstores
Booklegger, Northtown Books, Four-Eyed Frog Books, and 3 more North Coast independent bookstores we love.
North Coast: Tin Can Mailman
A former bank in Arcata now serves as a quiet reprieve from today’s complicated world.
Make It Rain
Cloud seeding sounds like science fiction, but it may become a useful tool to combat drought and lessen the risk of wildfires.
When Mark Twain Canceled Bret Harte
Despite their shared history of condemning bigotry, anti-Chinese racism fueled the falling-out between two of California’s biggest writers.
Excerpt: ‘Right Back Where We Started From’
Lightning and a mysterious fire spark a departure from Maine for the California gold rush.
Flight of the Condors
In 1987, North America’s largest bird became extinct in the wild. Today, more than 300 free-flying condors have been reintroduced into areas of California, Arizona, and Utah. Sighting one remains a rare and awe-inspiring event.
Searching for Mary Austin
Life for the author of The Land of Little Rain was as hard as the inhospitable region she wrote about.
Humboldt High
A native daughter returns to California’s onetime cannabis capital and discovers unsettling changes.
Lost Beneath Lake Berryessa
Napa County’s largest lake covers 1.6 million acre-feet—and submerged an entire town. Dorothea Lange photographed the flooding of the valley in the 1950s.
The First and Last Lives of Jack London
Wolf House represented the author’s ambition and success, but the Sonoma County mansion burned to the ground before he could move in. It was an emotional loss he never recovered from.