LOS ANGELES BOOK FESTIVAL TOP HONORS TO “GETAWAY”

LOS ANGELES _ The 2011-2012 Los Angeles Book Festival named the forthcoming novel “Getaway” by Lisa Brackmann (Soho Press) as the top book of its annual competition honoring the best of world publishing. Brackmann’s second novel, set in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, is a classic vacation mystery, as tourist Michelle Mason is caught up in a covert operation filled with drug runners, assorted goons and venture capitalists.

The solid, detailed writing and constantly unraveling mystery of the novel won over the judges. The author and others in the competition will be honored at a reception on Saturday, March 3 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, CA.

Other winners in the competition:

GENERAL FICTION

WINNER: Getaway – Lisa Brackmann

RUNNER-UP: Roam – Alan Lazar

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• The Last Road Trip – Todd Robert Anderson
• The Years of Magic – J. Lyndon Hickman
• The Sausage Maker’s Daughters – AGS Johnson
• Communion – Jean Blasiar/Jonathan Marcantoni
• Dark Lake – Louise Gaylord
• Genghis Khan The World Conqueror Vol. I – Sam Djang
• Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel – Gregory A. Fournier ( read interview )
• Me and Bobby McGee – Chad Coenson/illustrations by E. Cobb Holzer
• Afriation Phobia – Richard Bird Baker
• The Beautiful Evil – Robbi Sommers Bryant
• Hope: A Novel – Victoria Ferrante
• The Seven Turns of the Snail’s Shell – MJ Roe
• Separation of Faith – Cheri Laser
• The Last Paradise – Michael Kasenow
• Through the Eyes of my Mulatto Daughter – Michele L. Waters
• After the Bomb – CL Kostow
• The Way to the Shining City – Elaine Stienon
• The Death of Carthage – Robin E. Levin
• Shadow on the Wall – Pavarti K. Tyler
• The Jesuit Papers – A.B. Fowler
• When Stars Align – Carole Eglash-Kosoff
• Talons – WG Griffiths

GENERAL NON-FICTION

WINNER: Stagecoaches Across the American West 1850 to 1920 – John A Sells

RUNNER-UP: Explorers of the Nile – Tim Jeal

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Maria’s Duck Tales – Maria Daddino
• Murder and Mayhem – Michael Thomas Barry
• Erotic Marriage – Dr. Frederick D. Mondin
• Don’t Bring it to Work – Sylvia LaFair
• Walkout – Henry C. Woodrum
• Comprehending the Climate Crisis – Bradley J. Dibble, MD
• By His Own Blood – John Montandon
• How to Ditch the Corporate World and Rock Your Own – Sibyl White
• Understanding Other People: The Five Secrets of Human Behavior – Beverly D. Flaxington
• Blood & Money – P. Mark Accettura
• Qualified – Jamin Soderstrom
• Harold Jones: The Singer’s Drummer – Gil Jacobs/Joe Agro
• In the Face of Evil – Tema N. Merback
• You’ve Got a Deal! – Jeffrey Weber/illustrated by Bob Wynne

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY

WINNER: North of Hollywood – Rick Lenz

RUNNER-UP: Iphigenia in Forest Hills – Janet Malcolm

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Savonarola: The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Prophet – Donald Weinstein
• Emma Goldman: Revolution as a Way of Life – Vivian Gornick
• Prague: My Long Journey Home – Charles Ota Heller
• J. Edgar Hoover & Clyde Tolson – Darwin Porter
• How I Lost My Uterus and Found My Voice – Michelle L. Whitlock
• That’s War – William Arthur Sirmon
• Flower of God – Herbert Ausubel
• Many Blessings: Sonnee Weedn, Ph.D

PHOTOGRAPHY/ART

WINNER: Snapshot – Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Buillard – edited by Elizabeth W. Easton

RUNNER-UP: The Radical Camera – Mason Klein and Catherine Evans

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• The Color of Hay – Kathleen L. McLaughlin
• To Do: A Book of Alphabets and Birthdays – Gertrude Stein

HOW-TO

WINNER: Attitude Reconstruction – Jude Bijou

RUNNER-UP: The Frugal Book Promoter – Carolyn Howard-Johnson

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• To Survive Caregiving – Cheryl E. Woodon, MD
• The 4-1-1 on Life Skills – Michele Sfakianos, RN, BSN
• Helping Children to Become Successful Readers – Jennifer Parker

SPIRITUAL

WINNER: Practical Conscious Creation – Jackie Lapin

RUNNER-UP: Emotional Medicine – Penelope Young Andrade, LCSW

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Spirit Stones – Dianne Ebertt Beeaff
• Be the Second Coming – Hope Ives Mauran
• Messages From Your Soul – Mary and Gary O’Brien
• Devil’s Avatar – Denise Snow
• Tragedy & Trust – Thom Vines with John Michael Vestal
• Wishing You – Dr. Lauren Nappen
• The Genesis Code: God Has Spoken – Abraham Lopian/Julie A. Snyder
• Why Wait? – Rob Quillen

BUSINESS

WINNER: Life is a Choice – Dr. David Washington

RUNNER-UP: Advice – John Boggs

HONORABLE MENTION:

• Big Wave Surfing – Kenneth Thurber
• Upsizing in a Downsizing World – Jeannette Chau

MYSTERY:

WINNER: Dark Town Redemption – Gary Hardwick

RUNNER-UP: Murder in Silence – Gary Kassay

HONORABLE MENTION:

• A Passion for Prying – Nancy Mangano
• The Trojan Killer – Bill Riveron

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

WINNER: Won Ton : A Cat Tale Told in Haiku – Lee Wardlaw/illustrated by Eugene Yelchin

RUNNER-UP: Emmy Budd and the Scarlet Scarf – Jean Blasiar

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Quickly’s Magical Pancake Adventure – Jeryl Abelmann/Miriam Kronish/illustrated by Chason Matthams
• The King Who Wanted a Whale – Hal Holbrook
• Time Together, Time Well Spent! – Casey Rislov/illustration by Stephen Adams
• The Blue Lobster – Robin Taylor-Chiarello/illustrated by Lisa Bohart
• The Umbrella Race – Gerry Thomas
• The Firehouse Light – Janet Nolan/illustrated by Marie Lafrance
• Melinda: A Mostly Magnificent moose – Daniel Burch Fiddler
• The Magic Spoon – Richard DeFabio
• Beatrice Pigeon goes to Mexico – Lisa Young/Illustrations by Joan Neath
• The Adventures of Best, the Water Buffalo – Voleak Srey Gibb/illustrations by Samreach Chey Touch
• A Friend Like John – Suzanne B. Bartlett, MD
• My Horse Samson – Ashley Ball

YOUNG ADULT

WINNER: reMIND – Jason Brubaker

RUNNER-UP: Save The Pearls, Park One: Revealing Eden – Victoria Foyt

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Farsighted – Emlyn Chand
• The Never Weres – Fiona Smyth
• Pleiades Rising – Christine Candland
• Curio: a Shetland Sheepdog Meets the Cat – Jeanette A Griver/Phyllis L. Milway
• So What Do You Think? - Clair Swinburne
• Crow’s Row – Julie Hockley
• The Last Guardian – Michelle Wachbrit
• Held – Edeet Ravel
• Intensity: 10th Anniversary Anthology from WriteGirl – edited by Keren Taylor
• Lore: A Pirate’s Charm – Chad Douglas
• Midnight at Moonglow’s – K.C. Sherwood
• The Grief Recovery Kit – Tanya Kilgore/photography by Amanda Marie Harrison
• A Legacy of the Pacific – D.H. Brooks
• It’s Okay to Wait – Alonda Thomas/illustrations by A. Emmanuel

SCIENCE FICTION

WINNER: The Last Road Trip – Todd Anderson

RUNNER-UP: The Sylvan Horn – Robert Redinger

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Breathing Space: Book One of the Exodus Trilogy – Ian Fydell
• The Augustine Agenda – William L. Lavell

POETRY

WINNER: Death & Morning – Richard Atwood

RUNNER-UP: Interval – Gedda Ilves

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Cracklers at Night – Rita Banerjee
• Deeper into the Pond – Magdalena Ball & Carolyn Howard-Johnson
• I Met Them Briefly – Susan Nalicat
• Romance with a Touch of Love – Kevin Hollingsworth

ROMANCE:

WINNER: The Promise of Deer Run – Elaine Marie Cooper

RUNNER-UP: Remembering Becca – Alexander Rosenfeld

HONORABLE MENTION:

• Catch and Release – J.T. Twerell
• The Haunting of Wolfe Haven – Debbie Heaton

COOKBOOKS

WINNER: Living Gluten and Dairy-Free with French Gourmet Food – Chef Alain Braux

RUNNER-UP: Cooking on the Light Side – Thienna Ho, Ph.D

WILD CARD

WINNER: Lay Me Down – L. Marie Cook

RUNNER-UP: Attitude Reconstruction – Jude Bijou

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Friedrich Nietzsche: My Sister and I: Investigation, Analysis, Interpretation – Walter Stewart
• My Bad Tequila – Rico Austin
• From the Other side of the Moon – Leighton J. Reynolds

E-BOOKS

WINNER: Pushing Upward – Andrea Adler

RUNNER-UP: Methuselah’s Pillar – WG Griffiths