WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING TOUR OF
by Shirley Miller Kamada
Book Summary
Zachary Whitlock knows sheep. He knows farming and knows what it’s like to have his best friend forced into an internment camp for Japanese Americans. What he does not know much about is goats and traveling by sea on cargo ships, yet he makes a decision to go with a group of volunteers to Japan to help deliver a herd of more than two hundred goats, many of which are pregnant, to survivors of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ISBN-10: 1685136400
ISBN-13: 978-1685136406
ASIN: B0FGVFJGVG
Print length: 135 pages
Book Links:
Black Rose Writing: https://www.blackrosewriting.com/historicaladventure/p/zachary
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Zachary-Seagoing-Shirley-Miller-Kamada/dp/1685136400/
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/zachary-a-seagoing-cowboy/7abbf249813d25c0
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/237980236-zachary
Guest Post: Living the Bookstore Dream
by Shirley Miller Kamada
To own a bookstore or an espresso café—better yet, an espresso cafe inside a bookstore—for many people sounds like a dream life. I once had that life.
For five years I owned and managed Pages and Beans Books & Espresso, a curated selection of books and the location of the first espresso bar in Centralia, Washington. My initial inquiries into buying an espresso machine were met with disbelief. Seattle purveyors refused to sell me an espresso machine because, they said, they would be obligated to repair it if necessary. They asked, “Where in the world is Centralia, anyway?”
Finally, I found a business willing to take the risk, someone who picked up a map and found Centralia, a small but vibrant town midway between Seattle and Portland, right off I-5.
Centralia, incorporated in 1892, had recently gained status by creating an official Downtown Historic District. We were located a block from the railroad station, which was built in 1912 and still in use, an impressive and endearing landmark. My bookshelves, the backbar, and glass-fronted coffee bean bins were built by my brother and his daughters. The store’s offerings and its ambience, quiet music, carpeted floors, deep green interior walls, fit perfectly with the town’s aesthetic.
One memorable Saturday, our regulars had filled most of the tables and the bar when a tour bus parked in front of the store. The “locals” turned to see the mass entry, eyes widening. They immediately began moving to shared tables or, having paid their checks when ordering, cleared their own tables, thanked servers and departed. A young woman who had brought her baby along transferred the child to a backpack and began welcoming newcomers and taking orders. Service was quick. Customers were delighted. Fellow Centralians had come to see the place as theirs, in other words.
Books were the real reason for Pages & Beans, but the book business was in the throes of tremendous change. Not long after opening, I realized customers could purchase books at Costco for the same or lower price than I paid wholesale. It goes without saying that I could not match the breadth of a selection such as that of Barnes & Noble and other corporate booksellers. We highlighted books with a local flavor, and I had a fondness for lesser-known children’s books, things the corporate stores didn’t offer, not to mention the community’s devotion to our space, but none of those things paid the bills. The writing on the wall began to appear when a major west coast distributor when out of business in 1997.
The realities have not improved. The margin on book sales is perilously thin. Volume keeps a business afloat. Additional products might pay the rent. There’s a reason booksellers stock those cute woolly socks, book-themed mugs, and in some cases, not coffee beans but tea and snacks.
Our independent bookstores, our espresso bars, are what we now call “third spaces.” Cozy, peaceful, yet pleasantly convivial. Not work. Not home. And definitely not a corporate machine, but a place to indulge yourself and greet your neighbors.
About the Author
Shirley Miller Kamada grew up on a farm in northeastern Colorado. She has been an educator in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, a bookstore-espresso café owner in Centralia, Washington, and director of a learning center in Olympia, Washington. Her much-loved first novel, NO QUIET WATER, was a Kirkus recommended title and a finalist for several awards. When not writing, she enjoys casting a fly rod, particularly from the dock at her home on Moses Lake in Central Washington, which she shares with her husband and two spoiled pups.
You can follow the author at:
https://shirleymillerkamada.com/
https://www.instagram.com/shirleymkamadaauthor/
https://www.facebook.com/ShirleyMillerKamada
https://www.facebook.com/shirley.miller.1042032
https://bsky.app/profile/shirleymkamada.bsky.social
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