Marques Vickers

Avoid The Tourist Herds. What could be more uninspiring than seeing the identical attractions that everyone else has for decades? This Twisted Tour Guide escorts you to the places locals don't want to talk about anymore...the same places people once couldn't stop talking about. Long after the screaming headlines and sensationalism has subsided, these bizarre, infamous and obscure historical sites remain hidden awaiting rediscovery. Each visitation site in this guide is accompanied by a story. Many of the narratives defy believability, yet they are true. The profiled cast of characters feature saints and sinners (with emphasis towards the latter). Notorious crimes, murders, accidental deaths, suicides, kidnappings, vice and scandal are captivating human interest tales. Paranormal activity in the aftermath is common. The photography from each profile showcases the precise location where each event occurred. The scenes can seem ordinary, weird and/or sometimes very revealing towards clarifying the background behind events. If you're seeking an alternative to conventional tourism, this Twisted Tourist Guide is ideal. Each directory accommodates the restless traveler and even resident looking for something unique and different. You will never imagine or scrutinize Seattle or the Puget Sound area through rose tinted glasses again. The contents include: SEATTLE: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, Kurt Cobain's suicide, Nixon's John Ehrlichman's Seattle legal years Seattle's ethically-flawed founders and historic brothels, Crime boss Frank Colacurcio, Strippergate, Felker House, Chief Seattle, Mercer Girl Brides, Northwest Airline Hijacks, World Trade Center Protests, Seattle Hanging Grounds, Mardi Gras Riots, Madame Lou Graham, Seattle's homeless Jungle killings, Seattle Fire of 1889, People's Theatre, Self-defense killing of Seattle's Police Chief, Triangle Hotel, Starvation Hill, Mahoney murder scandal, Sylvia Gaines incest murder, American teamster President Dave Beck Jr's embezzlements, Recording artist Little Willie Johns, manslaughter, Lifeline Club infamous bingo raid, West Seattle Bridge ship collision and resulting skipper's dismemberment, Bruce Lee Memorial, Donut House exploitation operation, Wah Mee Gambling Club massacre, The Monastery disco, Goldmark family murder, Judge Gary Little's suicide, Pang Frozen Food fire, Assassination of Judge Tom Wales, Wasting away death of Alice in Chains's Layne Staley, Mia Zapata's killing, The Gits Mia Zapata's killing, Capital Hill massacre, Mike Webb's disappearance, Beating death of Tuba Man, Caf Racer shooting, Dinh Bowman's murder experiment, Seattle Pacific University shooting and Gay hate crime murders...Plus more BELLEVUEProstitution employing contemporary technology applications, Mars Hills Congregational Church collapse, Bellevue's creepy first mayor and the Rafay and Wilson family murders...Plus TACOMASerial Killer Ted Bundy, The Enterprise crime syndicate, Little girl's ghost in the upper restaurant windows, Unsolved kidnappings of Ann Marie Burr and Charlie Mattson, Serial killer Jake Bird's fatal curse, DNA profiles track down two child killers forty years later, The missing prostitutes along Puyallup Avenue, Coffee shop killing of four police officers, Asian gangland slaying, DC Sniper's associate killing...Plus OUTLYING AREASGreen River Serial Killer, Jimi Hendrix Memorial, Elementary School teacher pregnancy scandal, A survivalist murders his family, Police shooting death motivated by impatience, Everett dockside massacre...and even more scandal and vice await...

Avoid The Tourist Herds. What could be more uninspiring than seeing the identical attractions that everyone else has for decades? This Twisted Tour Guide escorts you to the places locals don't want to talk about anymore...the same places people once couldn't stop talking about. Long after the screaming headlines and sensationalism has subsided, these bizarre, infamous and obscure historical sites remain hidden awaiting rediscovery. Each visitation site in this guide is accompanied by a story. Many of the narratives defy believability, yet they are true. The profiled cast of characters feature saints and sinners (with emphasis towards the latter). Notorious crimes, murders, accidental deaths, suicides, kidnappings, vice and scandal are captivating human interest tales. Paranormal activity in the aftermath is common. The photography from each profile showcases the precise location where each event occurred. The scenes can seem ordinary, weird and/or sometimes very revealing towards clarifying the background behind events. If you're seeking an alternative to conventional tourism, this Twisted Tourist Guide is ideal. Each directory accommodates the restless traveler and even resident looking for something unique and different. You will never imagine or scrutinize the San Francisco Bay area through rose tinted glasses again. The contents include: SAN FRANCISCO: CIA's Sex Drug Playhouse, Diamond Jessie Hayman's, Jerome Bassity's Tenderloin Fiefdom, Sublime's Bradley Nowell's Heroin Overdose, Coit Tower, Chambers Mansion, 1885 Chinatown Vice, Cliff House and Sutro Baths, Condor Club, Curran Theater's Haunting, Dan White's, Diane Whipple Dog Mauling, Millennium Tower, 101 California Building Massacre, Bob Lee's Stabbing, Jeff Adachi's Abrupt Death, Joe The Animal Barboza, Kevin Collins Kidnapping, Maiden Lane, Mary Ellen Pleasant, Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Dragon Massacre, Warren Harding's Death, People's Temple, Queen Anne Hotel, Fatty Arbuckle, Dark Stranler, Abe Ruef's Penthouse, Spreckel's Mansion, St. Elizabeth's Center for Unwed Mothers, Terrific Street, Whittier Mansion Nazi Connection, Westerfield House and the Zebra KillingsEAST BAY AREAAshkenaz Murder, Port Chicago Explosion and Mutiny, Chancey Bailey's Shooting, Children of Thunder Murders, Peet's Coffee, Ghost Ship Warehouse, Henry's Bar Standoff, Port Costa's Hotel Burlington, Huey Newton's Demise, Laci Peterson's Saga, Lovelle Mixon's Police Killings, Oaks Card Room, Oikos University Massacre, Oscar Grant III's Homicide, Patty Hearst Kidnapping, Pleasanton Hotel Phantom, Jockey Ron Hansen's Plunge, Unabomber's Berkeley Experience, USS Hornet, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Sister Aimee Semple McPherson Desperation.MARIN COUNTYMitchell Brothers Curse, Blue Rock Inn's Seedy Past, Litchfield's, Marin County Courthouse Shootings, Tamalpais Trailhead Killer, Marin Barbeque Murders, Robin Williams' Suicide and Sausalito Madame Sally Stanford and Tupac Shakur.PENINSULABrook Hart's Kidnapping, Cameron's Pub, Kohl Mansion, Moss Beach Distillery's Blue Lady, Ocean Beach Hotel, PG& E's San Bruno Pipeline Explosion, Sam's Eclectic Castle and Historic Sanchez Adobe, SOLANO COUNTYBill Graham's Fatal Helicopter Crash, Benicia's Capital and Brothel Heritage, Zodiac Killer Murders, DC Madame and Suisun Bay Mothball Fleet.SONOMA & NAPA COUNTIESBlue Wing Inn, California Industrial Farm for Women, Fishhead Beach Murder, Petaluma's Crooked History, Polly Klaas Abduction, Ramon Salcido's Family Slayings, Napa's Infamous Spanish Town, Washoe House Stagecoach Stop, Charles Schulz, General Joseph Hooker's House and Greenwood Mansion

This edition follows a diverse global survey of windows and portal elements featuring architectural, contextual and symbolic openings and exits. The images showcase random, diverse and unique perspectives. They are positioned in context from detailed buildings and accompanying exterior ornamentation. The selection represents a visual diary of international metaphors through the camera lens. Shadow, light and distortion may alter familiar structures into artistic and abstract compositions. Over 475 images elude simplistic explanation offering alternative views punctuated by aesthetic continuity. The concept of a window or portal is examined without commentary. This book is a visual palette of the apparently evident and the interpreted. One views a window that may penetrate clarity or by contrast a mirrored reflection offering reflective insight. One views a portal as an implied inviting entrance or a barrier emphatically preventive assimilation. The dualities in potential meaning are left to the viewer's interpretation.

Murder in California: Abductions, Assassinations and Police Related Murders profiles some of California's most infamous murder cases. The edition photographically transports you to actual murder sites along with images related to the case and perpetrator(s). The images and accompanying profiles offer a descriptive account and follow-up aftermath providing an important understanding into the far-reaching effects of each crime. Convicted killers and their confirmed victims are identified. For criminals still living, their current incarceration location is provided. A directory of precise crime site locations is included. The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location's unique significance. California has been the site for many notorious homicides. The following are portrayed in this edition: San Jose kidnapping of heir Brooke Hart and resulting mob justiceEureka's Karen Mitchell: vanishing into speculationAn Epitaph That Embodied The Wasted Life of a Killer (Robert Alton Harris)Kristin Smart: The tangled web involving Fifth Amendment silenceNicholas Markowitz: The Stolen Boy and unforeseen executionThe Onion Field Killings: Execution amidst rural darknessAn Abduction-Murder of Two Innocents (Charles Keever and Jonathan Sellers)The Patty Hearst Kidnapping and SLA shoot outPolly Klaas: The shocking death of innocenceRex Allen Krebs: Predestined towards violenceThe Mob permanently severs relations with Bugsy SiegelFung Little Pete Jing Toy: 19th Century San Francisco's Chinatown gangland slayingChauncey Bailey: The price of constitutional protectionJoseph The Animal Barboza: East Coast mob contract hitDr. Marcus Foster: The marginalized assassinationDestroying What One Cannot Fully Possess (Betty Broderick)The Marin County Courthouse Shootout: Thirty minutes that forever altered courtroom security proceduresThe Mickey and Trudy Thompson morning driveway executionThe political killings of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey MilkThe East/West Coast vendetta and shooting of Christopher Wallace a.k.a. Biggie SmallsSenator Robert F. Kennedy: The assassination of hopeThe Contract killing of Vic Weiss: Payback for stealing from the wrong peopleCharles Crawford: The fixer loses his Los Angeles influenceThe Wonderland Gang drug executionsA Panic and Impulsive Police Shooting At Grape Street Park (Joselito Cinco)The slaying of LAPD Captain Walter Auble and impressive public responseLovelle Mixon: A desperate final and fatal gamble towards escapeAn Absence of Warning Proves Fatal To A Back-Up Officer (Officer Christopher Wilson)The Newhall Shootout: Deadliest firefight in California Highway Patrol historyThe North Hollywood Bank of America doomed heist and shootoutA Senseless Police Shooting By A Gunman Wagering on Reincarnation (Officer Jeremy Henwood)Burbank Policeman Matthew Pavelka: Officer down following up a fateful back upOscar Grant III: When the facts behind a killing become secondaryA Routine Gang Questioning That Deteriorated Into TragedySanta Barbara Officer Thomas Guerry: A legacy award for an abruptly ended lifeThe Vanishing Northridge Salomon Family

Murder in California: Rage and Revenge Murders profiles some of California's most infamous murder cases. The edition photographically transports you to actual murder sites along with images related to the case and perpetrator(s). The images and accompanying profiles offer a descriptive account and follow-up aftermath providing an important understanding into the far-reaching effects of each crime. The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location's unique significance. California has been the site for many notorious homicides. The following are portrayed in this edition: McDonald's San Ysidro Restaurant Massacre SiteLos Feliz Murder MansionArtie and Jim Mitchell: Contemporary Cain and AbelPlayboy playmate Dorothy Stratten's murderEwell Family KillingsLaci Peterson's MurderLyle and Erik MenendezThe Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman MurdersMarin County Barbeque murdersA convincing performance behind the killing of Bonnie Lee BakleyVincent Brothers: The convicting insects on the radiatorA Bondage Murder With An Unconsensual VictimA Gunfight That Ultimately Becomes A Supreme Court PrecedentDiane Whipple: Defining accountability with vicious pet ownersSlaying of Ennis Cosby on an isolated freeway off rampFather Eric Freed's Brutal Slaying: A Lost Coast of fractured soulsThe Silent and Senseless Murder of Lindsay Cutshall and Jason AllenHaing Ngor: From The Killing Fields to Downtown Los AngelesHuey P. Newton: A tarnished messenger with feet of clayJohnny Stompanato: Lana Turner's fatal attractionBarbara Graham: An unsympathetic film portrayalMarvin Gaye: A visionary dishonored within his householdNed Doheny and Hugh Plunkett: The Greystone Mansion murder-suicidePhil Hartman: The shocking murder-suicide by his wifePhil Spector: The Crumbling legacy of a musical geniusRamon Novarro: The gruesome torture of a closeted screen idolRonni Chasen Shooting: When two divergent worlds collidedSal Mineo: A career comeback curtailedThe Abrupt departure of Soul Music legend Sam Cooke in his primeRyan Jenkins: Jealousy Consumes A Reality Television ContestantA Convicted Killer Finds Conjugal Affection But Never ReleaseThe Covina Christmas Eve massacre by a Santa impersonatorMel and Elizabeth Grimes: The consequences behind a one-ton stoneThe Helzer Brothers: Children of Thunder slayingsThe disintegrating mind and schoolyard entrance massacre by Brenda SpencerDr. Victor Ohta: The execution and incendiary of the house on the hillThe vindictive rampage of Elliot RodgerThe Golden Dragon massacre: The gang who didn't shoot straightLynwood Jim Drake: A loose wire springs a rampageMarcus Wesson: Family Abuse cult and tragic murdersScott Dekraai: Revenge for a punitive divorce settlementHolzer Family stabbing spree: Spiraling out of control mental illnessThe Oikos University Massacre: Piecing together a disjointed puzzleSan Diego State Engineering graduate student's rageSantana High School: Adolescence angst with a gunfire solutionA Synagogue Shooting By A Self-Deluded SoliderBob Lee's Early Morning Fatal StabbingAli Abulaban Jealous Rage Against His WifeTupac Shakur: A Music Festival Killing Initiating The Beginning of the EndAnd more...

Murder in California: Serial Killers and Unsolved Murders profiles some of California's most infamous murder cases. The edition photographically transports you to actual murder sites along with images related to the case and perpetrator(s). The images and accompanying profiles offer a descriptive account and follow-up aftermath providing an important understanding into the far-reaching effects of each crime. Convicted killers and their confirmed victims are identified. For criminals still living, their current incarceration location is provided. A directory of precise crime site locations is included. The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location's unique significance. California has been the site for many notorious serial killers. The following are portrayed in this edition: Zodiac Serial Killer: Public and media tauntingCharles Manson's serial killing clanDorothea Puente: The elderly and frail targeted and eliminated for profitEfren Saldivar: Caregiving medical homicideThe Unabomber: His UC Berkeley experienceZebra Killings: San Francisco's racially targeted genocideHeaven's Gate Cult mass suicideEdmund Kemper III: Monstrous hitchhiking murdersBittaker and Norris: Torture van murdersJuan Corona: Migrant workers serial killerRichard Trenton Chase: The vampire killerThe Speed Freak Killers and their burial bone yardsHerbert Mullin: Killing for earthquake preventivenessDavid Carpenter: The devil behind bifocals and a stutterJim Jones and the Peoples Temple Massacre: Lost in a jungle mass suicideThe Hillside Strangler Duo: Killing CousinsRodney Alcala: A beastly killing machine slaying beautyRichard Ramirez: Satan's ambassadorGolden State Killer: The triumph of forensic trackingA Black Hand of Death and Inhumanity (Jose Manuel Martinez)A Killing Rampage Preying On Society's Most Vulnerable Population (Jon David Guerrero)A Dark Strangler Terrorizes the Pacific Coast (George Nelson)The Santa Rosa Hitchhiking Murders: preying on the innocentDavid Nadel: The death of a man and rebirth of a performance iconTorrey Pines Beach: Sands, Secrets and A Butterfly DancerThe continued fascination with the Black Dahlia MurderFatty Arbuckle's sex and homicide scandalA Classic Mob Contract Killing Of An Unwanted DistractionWas a 1963 beachfront slaying a prelude to future Zodiac terror?Geneva Ellroy: The transference of tragedy into literary expressionA Double Tragedy Complicated By Mysterious Scenarios (Spreckels Mansion Death)Kym Morgan: Death by classified advertisementKevin Collins: A solitary bus bench memorial to every parent's nightmareUnauthorized Celebrity Biography Comics and A Founder's Murder (Todd Lawrence)Ted Healy: The suspected homicide of the fourth StoogeThe Resolute Will to keep William Desmond Taylor's murder unsolvedA Contract Killer Terminated By His Own Profession (Frank Bompensiero)Ramona Irene Price strolls innocently into a vanished pastRaymond Washington: A cycle of senseless violence devours the Crips gang founderThe Senseless Murder of a Catholic Priest on Holiday (Monsignor Louis Gutierrez)

On the periphery of Scottsdale, Arizona is a troubling reminder of the consequences resulting from suburban expansion and desert encroachment. The silent victims are powerless to protest or alter the unblinking destiny of development. Gashed, wounded, and disfigured cacti litter the remaining vacant terrain, rapidly disappearing into subdivisions of residential housing tracts, strip malls, and commercial constructions. Author and photographer Marques Vickers book "Cactus Cadavers: Vanishing Phantoms of Suburban Sprawl" illustrates this gradual erosion of Arizona's heritage treasure. Their declining presence become emblematic of society's continuing disharmony with our surrounding environment. Earliest human settlement of the Salt River Valley, the terrain of contemporary Phoenix, commenced with nomadic paleo-Indians. These earliest civilizations inhabited the Americas during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period, approximately 6,000 BC. Tribes hunted mammoths, mastodons, giant bisons, camels, and giant sloths that eventually migrated eastward. The initial nomadic tribes followed vacating the region. Tribes originating from Mexico to the south and California to the west would replace them. Around 1,000 BC, a subsequent core of settlements would inhabit the territory. Corn farmers, builders, and permanent villagers would evolve into the Hohokam civilization. Within 500 years, the Hohokam culture had established an elaborate canal system enabling agriculture to flourish. Around 1450, the Hohokam suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. By the 16th century arrival of Europeans, the O'odham and Sobaipuri tribes primarily inhabited the region.American settlers first settled Central Arizona during the early 19th century. A military outpost to the east of current day Phoenix provided an administrative base for the community's agrarian base. Irrigation projects tamed the inhospitable desert and the local economy was based on cotton, citrus, cattle, and copper. The availability of air conditioning to counter the oppressive summer dry heat stimulated a post-World War II population surge. The Phoenix metro area has increased in population an estimated average of 4% for the past forty years. Phoenix is the fifth largest city in American with projections that it may become the fourth within the next five years. This growth proliferates to accommodate a swelling and aging population migration seeking the warmer climate the Arizona desert can accommodate. One day, the cacti's diminishing and lost presence may be mourned once the transitional madness subsides. In the meanwhile, this edition illustrates the decline of these desert patriarchs. It seems unimaginable that amidst the expansive desert landscape these icons could ever entirely vanish. Yet like the mammoths and Hohokam civilization from centuries past, adaptation for them becomes difficult if not impossible. Domestically cultivated cacti may only emulate the nobility of their freely born brethren that tower majestically amidst the desert landscape.

Since establishing a free-floating scooter rental program in late 2018, the city of Tacoma has been plagued by missing equipment. Author and photographer Marques Vickers has meticulously tracked down and photographed missing inventory in some of the most remote and incredulous locations imaginable. This edition documents the Odyssey of missing scooters with tongue-in-check evidence offering neither explanation nor commentary to explain the seemingly implausible.Dockless scooters have proven ideal for short distance trips and have become even more popular than bicycle sharing programs. The city of Seattle currently operates approximately 20% of the national electrical bicycle inventory, but has yet to permit a scooter-sharing program. This formality will likely be overcome shortly. San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland have instituted programs in place.The scooters are intended to be operated on sidewalks, roads, alleys, and shoulders, but not in bike lanes, trails, or pedestrian-only paths. The rules regarding safety standards, permit requirements, service levels, and parking of the scooters have been modeled after Seattle's bike sharing program. Within Tacoma, two mainstream scooter companies, Lime and Bird, currently participate in the mobility scooter program. Inventory maintenance is conducted by a unique band of independent contractors called Lime Juicers and Bird Nesters.As evening descends and scooter power meters lower, these individuals roam the streets and scavenger depleted scooters. The equipment is then recharged at their residence and relocated back to prominent sidewalk locations the next morning.Unpleasant realities have darkened the program's long-term outlook in several other metropolitan markets.Exposed collisions at 15 miles-per-hour are extremely hazardous. In a 2019 study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open examining scooter ridership injuries, the results were predictable. In tracking emergency room visitations, contusions, sprains, and lacerations were the most common injuries. More severe multiple bone fractures, broken ribs, joint injuries, and head trauma were common. Two disturbing factors emerged from these statistics. The majority of injured riders were not wearing protective helmets and a disproportionate percentage were minors.There are numerous financial and ecological challenges accompanying this technology. The lithium batteries require processing centers to be recycled. Some of the fleet operators claim these programs are handled in-house. The layered equipment piling up in scrap years makes some of these claims questionable. In China, where bicycle and scooter sharing programs initiated, published reports indicate abandoned equipment is filling vast fields outside major cities.There has become a significant counter reaction to the proliferation of these lightweight transportation vehicles. Extreme reactions have varied from throwing scooters into bodies of water, trashcans, and even toilets.One of the intentioned objectives of the scooter-sharing program is to encourage worker commuting. Statistics have confirmed this has occurred. However, a commuter usually orders their own equipment (often priced under $500) effectively ending an important stream of recurring revenue to the scooter companies.Missing scooter equipment, snowy sidewalks, vandalism, charger fraud and increasing government regulation scrutiny have dampened investors' interest in scooter-sharing companies. Venture Capitalists crave innovation...but only if it is financially profitable and sustainable. Illegal but readily available conversion kits (retailing for under $35) have enabled unscrupulous users to transform public accessible equipment into personal scooters. This edition photographs some of their illicit and improbable parked locations.

Marques Vickers' "Does Death Do Us Part: The Effects of Death Upon The Living" is a collection of eleven short stories. Each narrative stresses profound impressions the loss of a close friend, acquaintance, or relation alters the life perspective of survivor. Written from first-person and third-party viewpoints, each narrative explores the impact loss has impacted on future financial security, intimacy, equilibrium, dreams, and the essential navigation of life. The Dreams of Yi: A middle-aged woman raised in Mainland China survives three loveless marriages and the enforcement of China's one-child only policy to discover herself isolated and financially vulnerable in the Pacific Northwest. Her sole obsession becomes to remarry. Her turbulent past coupled by the burden of sorrow-filled dreams inhibits her progression forward. Will she find resolution through love or a fresh union? Silence Then Surprise: The eventual love of one's life develops terminal lung cancer ending a promising marriage. Nearing his demise, Candace is unexpectantly surprised by content in his will and a subsequent apparition six months after his death. Genuine Relationships: A weekend book purchase at an Estate Sale reveals two passionate letters written by an estranged wife to her husband. The mystery behind the source and the inevitable outcome of the writer steers the book's buyer towards an unforeseeable revelation. Shortchanged: A young woman loses a lover prematurely who had righted her errant past relationship choices. His shadow plagues her present needs for recovery and sexual intimacy. During an evening date, she faces the dilemma of relinquishing his influence or moving forward with her life. Unspoken Exchanges: The listener of a wife's emotional confidence about her husband's prolonged death attempts to sort out the confessor's ambiguous feelings regarding religion, the afterlife, and impressions regarding her husband's possible re-visitation. The conversations a couple never shared distorts her present confession also clouded by encroaching influences. The Disappearance of Love: A passionate attachment in high school is terminated by the abrupt departure of the young woman to parts unknown. Roaming postcards are followed by subsequent silence. Decades later, her middle-aged friend is haunted by past stories of her whereabouts, disturbing dreams, and a premonition that her prolonged silence may not have been her choice. Premonition of Death: What if you suddenly developed the ability to foresee an individual's moment of death? This unexpected phenomenon becomes unnerving to the author who must determine its significance and interpretation towards his own existence. Reconsidering Simplistic Impressions: An unpleasant encounter with an elderly man spouting bigoted declarations is reexamined forty years later when his wartime diaries are discovered. What influences alter a small town man's horizon when he enlists into the military and shipped overseas into the vortex of global warfare? The Summons: An admired and beautiful classmate dies suddenly without explanation nearing her college graduation. Decades later, a series of dream visitations by this classmate disturbs yet consoles the author. Why has he become the source for her summons? Forgotten: A distant and brief lover is revisited four years after the consummation of their encounter. Her appearance has altered radically and the visitor recognizes the insignificance on his impact on her life. An Exile in a Foreign Skin: Strong attraction evolving into a fledging relationship is thwarted by an unspoken history and precedent circumstances. A haunted evening further complicates the union. Can these obstacles, cultural differences and language barriers be ultimately overcome to create a healthy and supportive connection?

"So You Think You Know Texas Wines" is designed to simplify your understanding by identifying growing trends, grape descriptions, and future direction of the Texas wine industry. This book concisely profiles each of the state's leading growing regions and prominent grapes based on the most recent available harvest data from 2017. The edition also includes comparison with the California, Washington and Oregon wine regions. The 2019 edition is ideal for wine collectors, winemakers and anyone who appreciates a Texan grown vintage. The following facts are from hundreds of little known essentials included in the book:1. Texas harvested 11.7 thousand tons during the 2017 harvest. California harvested over 4 million tons and Washington 227 thousand tons during the 2017 harvest. Oregon harvested 79.8 thousand tons during the 2016 harvest.2. Texas' wine grape harvest is 14.7% of Oregon's, 5.2% of Washington's and .03% of California's annual harvest. Washington's harvest is only 5.6% and Oregon's 2% of California's overall production. Oregon's production is 35.1% of Washington's.3. California has 3,670+, Washington 940+, Oregon 725+, and Texas approximately 200+ wineries. California has seventeen, Washington fourteen, while Oregon and Texas have designated five growing regions.4. Texas has eight designated AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) including Bell Mountain, Escondido Valley, Fredericksburg, Mesilla, Texas Davis Mountains, Texas High Plains, Texas Hill Country and Texoma.5. Cabernet Sauvignon is Texas' most popular but only fourteenth highest priced wine grape. It is California's second most popular and second highest priced red wine grape. It is Washington's most popular and sixth highest priced and Oregon's sixth most popular and highest priced wine grape.6. Tempranillo is Texas' second most popular and seventh highest priced wine grape averaging $1730 per ton. It is California's thirteenth and Oregon's fourth most popular red wine grape.7. The High Plains and Panhandle growing region is the largest Texas production center harvesting 67% of the state's grapes.8. During 2017, Texas' state total production ratio was 67% red wine grapes and 33% white wine grapes. Total Bearable acreage is 70% red wine and 30% white wine grapes.9. Between 2015 and 2017, production of the Muscat Canelli grape dropped 52.2% and 62% in the High Plains and Panhandle growing region. The grape in 2015 was Texas' largest produced varietal.10. Based on 2017 non-bearing acreage figures, the six most likely statewide grapes to increase in production are Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Blanc du Bois, Black Spanish (Lenoir), Merlot and Mourv dre. Non-bearing acreage represents planted vineyards whose young grapes have not been included into production statistics. They may also reflect damaged and destroyed vineyards that did not add to the production totals.11. Production of Mourv dre jumped 445% in the High Plains and Panhandle growing region between 2015 and 2017 making it the second largest grape tied with Merlot. The grape is now the fourth largest produced in the state.12. Viognier dropped from the second largest production grape in the High Plains and Panhandle growing region during 2015 to fourth in the region based on a production decrease of 40.3%.13. Merlot's reduced production of 45.5% between 2015 and 2017 in the Hill County region dropped it from the largest produced grape to third place.14. The Hill Country growing region, the state's second largest, suffered a 37.1% decline in production between 2015 and 2017. The decline was attributed to a severe rainy season culminating in extensive vine destroying rot and mildew.15. Blanc du Bois and Black Spanish grapes are the dominant grapes produced in the Southeast Texas and Gulf Coast growing region comprising 74.7% of production. Combined in 2017, they represent 54.8% of statewide production in those grapes.

"Gold to Rust: Monuments, Icons and Whitewashed History" is author Marques Vickers' offbeat commentary and unconventional photographic journal. The edition includes travel impressions accumulated from over thirty years of travel spanning four continents. His photography documents and isolates unusual signage, monuments, and unorthodox sights frequently overlooked by traditional travel guides and journals.Over seventy cultural monuments are highlighted including: Alexandria Hotel Los AngelesArchitectural BonesArtist Cemetery StatuaryBach's Leipzig Church GigBerlin Burial DilemmaBerlin: Memorializing Dividing DemonsBob Arneson's BricksBridge Love LocksBubblegum AlleysCalifornia Admission Day MonumentCalifornia State Capitol BuildingCalifornia's Wine IndustryCascade Mountain Abandoned Railroad TunnelsCelebrity Burial PilgrimagesChambers Bay Monolithic RuinsCharles CrosClaude Nicolas LedouxConfederate Soldier Monuments in Western United StatesCultural GluttonyDijon's Ancient Jewish CemeteryDrive-In TheatresDumas BrothelEast German Border Guard TowersEmpty Open Air CathedralsEspresso ArtFather Junipero SerraFabrezan's Village WindmillFlooding Level MarkingsFrauenlob: Medieval Rock StarGargoyles Atop Paris' Notre Dame CathedralGerman City Holocaust Sidewalk MemorialsGrand Park and Spring Street JunctionHalley's CometHearst Landmark BuildingJack London: Short Story VirtuosoJames Dean MemorialKennebunkport: Too Much Information SignKiwi Bacon SculptureLiberty Belle Slot Machine: Birthplace of The One-Armed BanditLil' Sambo's HeritageLos Angeles' ChinatownLosing EverythingLotta Crabtree's FountainLou Graham of SeattleLowest Rent AccommodationsMainz's Severed Extremity SculpturesMechanics MonumentMilitary Hardware MemorialsModesto's Keyboard CrosswalksMontana State PrisonMurder MemorialsNew Palace HotelPanama Canal MemoriesPaul Revere's RidePersonalized Soldier MemorialsPony Express Delivery ServiceRacetrack ChurchRaymond, Washington Iron Cut-OutsRobert Frost: The Road Not TakenSantiago de Compostela PilgrimageSingle Building School HousesSquatter's RightsStock Market Casualties of 1929Story in the StonesTiny HousesTwilight TourismVladimir Lenin's Seattle SculptureVoyeurism SculptureWilver Willie StargellWrinkles of the City Wall Murals

"So You Think You Know Pacific Coast Wines" is designed to simplify your understanding by identifying growing trends, grape descriptions, the histories and future direction of the California, Washington and Oregon wine industry. This book concisely profiles each state's leading growing regions, rainfall statistics and prominent grapes based on the most recent available harvest data. The 2018-19 edition is ideal for wine collectors, winemakers and anyone who appreciates a world class Pacific Coast grown vintage. The following facts are just ten from hundreds of little known essentials included in the book: 1. California is the top producing state, Washington second and Oregon fourth (behind New York) in American wine grape production. California harvested just over 4 million tons and Washington 227 thousand tons during the 2017 harvest. Oregon harvested 79.8 thousand tons during the 2016 harvest. Washington's harvest is only 5.6% and Oregon's 2% of California's overall production. 2. Cabernet Sauvignon is California's second most popular and second highest priced red wine grape. It is Washington's most popular and sixth highest priced. The average Napa Valley grown grape is priced between two and seventeen times more than competing states and regions within California. Napa grown Cabernet Sauvignon traditionally sells out before picking even commences. 3. California decreased wine grape production by less than 1% and Washington by 16% during 2017. The decline followed new state records from the year previous. 4. California has 3,670+, Washington 940+, and Oregon 725+ wineries. California has seventeen designated growing regions. Washington has fourteen and Oregon five. 5. With Washington's red grape varietals at 130.5 thousand tons, the closest California equivalent is the Monterey and San Benito Counties growing region (140.9 thousand tons). 6. Pinot Noir is Oregon's largest harvested grape accounting for 57.5% of the state's wine grape production and is the second highest priced. It is California's fifth most popular and Washington's fourteenth most popular red wine grape. 7. Oregon's wine grape production (79,782 tons in 2016) most closely compares with the Mendocino County growing region of California (70,488 tons in 2017). 8. Chardonnay is California's largest harvested grape accounting for 34% of the white wine grapes and 15.3% of the state's overall yield. It is the twenty-fifth highest priced white wine grape. It is Washington's second largest wine grape, most popular white wine grape, and the fifteenth highest priced overall. It is Oregon's third largest produced, second highest white wine grape and sixth highest priced. 9. California's wines were considered the equal to European's elite vintages in 1890. Following the phylloxera pest and Prohibition, the state would not regain their global reputation until the mid-1970s. Washington's international reputation began during the 1990s and Oregon's during the 1980s. 10. Real Estate valuation remains the most important financial consideration influencing the value of varietal grapes. Top-tiered Washington vineyards have commanded pricing between $75,000-$80,000 per acre. Large established vineyards have been documented to sell for $25,000-$30,000 and bare unplanted terrain often averages $10,000-$15,000 per acre. In Napa County, secondary vineyard lands begin at $90,000-$165,000 an acre. Prime vineyards range between $225,000-$300,000 and upwards per acre.

Marques Vickers' photographic edition "In Loving Memory (Of The Absurd)" is a satirical parody of homemade generated memorials constructed to commemorate loss. The edition portrays 105 remembrance images ranging from early childhood pleasures to more pointed commentaries regarding society. Many may be viewed on rear car windows or bumper stickers globally.Vickers' focused lens and barbed interpretation stretches the perimeters of credibility and questionable taste, absent of malice. The images are captured from nature, architecture and over forty years of international travel.The collective works constitute the photographer's unique observations regarding the priorities and standards of contemporary American society and civil behavior. In his preface, Vickers laments the sacrilegious nature of possessing a unique sense of humor that contradicts and frequently mocks the established social acceptance syndrome. The author notes the existence of an ample inventory of aspiring and staid individuals seeking to bend the world to their own vision of epiphany...or more likely, their own biased point of view. These individuals often worship at the elevated alter of self. Their voices creak as a hybrid between delusion and schizophrenia."In Loving Memory (Of The Absurd)" is a spoof of an irreverent era, when the standards and criteria of social behavior are becoming as comical as the practitioners in all levels of authority.

"The Architecture of Seattle's Historic Prostitution Trade" is a photographic examination of 48 documented and probable buildings employed in Seattle's historical sex commerce. The edition illuminates the historical background, building detailing and known anecdotes behind each structure. The principal Seattle red-light neighborhoods include the Pioneer Square and the Ballard districts. The infamous LaSalle Hotel in Pike Place Market and the former Lester Apartment complex located on Beacon Hill round out the compilation. The 500-unit Lester building was once considered the largest operating brothel in the world. Seattle's wide-open frontier environment in the late 19th century stimulated a proliferation of vice related services including gambling houses, saloons and houses of prostitution. Statutes were loosely enforced, law enforcement corruption rampant and the tax revenues levied against brothels and sex workers essential to maintaining a financially destitute municipality. Many historians have noted that the prostitution industry saved the expanding settlement and literally paved the sidewalks of the commercial district. The timber industry, Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) and the city's seaport location swelled the region's influx of males seeking entertainment, social diversions and female companionship. The book profiles some of the most colorful and influential personalities including theatre impresario John Considine and notable Madams Mary Ann Boyer (nicknamed Madame Damnable), Lou Graham and Nellie Curtis. The author elaborates on the documented history, owners, architects, tenants and historical uses of each building. His text cites distinctive architectural details on the composition, fa ade components and alterations over the decades following the initial construction. Each building is photographed from multiple angles offering a multi-faceted glimpse of a historic era.