Listed below are the books I have written. Those that are available for purchase as ebooks are grouped together, and a link is provided. They are also available as both print and ebooks at The Book Patch Bookstore. All other queries should be sent to: knotbuchwerks@gmail.com
AVAILABLE AS EBOOKS
THE RUCKUS OF BIRDS takes place in but a moment of time. Six minutes, to be precise; but whether minutes or hours or days or years, time is not relevant. The place as well is vague. The main character remains nameless. 'He' stands under an eave of his house watching rain fall. He watches the rain and the birds as they flitter and feed. His thoughts, like the birds, come and go, one feeding on another, going and coming. He is a science teacher at a rural university. It is spring break, the middle of the term. Birds are his specialty and his delight. 2024
2022
EBOOK available at various retailers.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER follows Lewis and Clark and the Corps down the Columbia River from Wallula Gap to the mouth at Astoria. Lewis and Clark joined the Columbia at its confluence with the Snake River near present day Walla Walla. The river then is not the river now,;and this brief look compares and contrasts the old raucous river with its sedate counterpart now.
2022
EBOOK available at various retailers.
PLUG NICKELS contains a selection of my early poetry. I prefer to consider this work as word games rather than poetry. While most of the poems are written in free verse, there is some structure to each of the pieces. A few of the poems appeared in PLUMP BLACK CROWS, my collection of stories and poems.
EXCERPT available in Excerpts / Poems.
2015
EBOOK available at various retailers.
CONVERSATIONS WITH A HYPOXIC DOG is a collection of essays, stories and poems from my later work. The book explores the nuances of both the physical and the metaphysical aspects of one's existence. Prose, poetry and prose poems offer up insight into life's little indigestions.
EBOOK available at various retailers.
THE ILLUSION OF PLURALS
The cluster of buildings that was MacKensie sat in its cleared patch of forest in its valley all hemmed about by ridges, the sky immense overhead, the stars galling with their glow and twinkle. The new highway had gone north through Santiam Pass. The old highway became, then, simply Main Street, the town truncated, kept small by circumstance, cut off within its loops of river and ridge. With the welcome cold settling down from the ridges, displacing the hot day, with fog rising from the pond, with the midnight darkness complete save for a small pool of light shining through the shaded windows of the Crosscut Cafe and from the bare bulb above the post office door, MacKensie slumbered. Across the street from the cafe, flickering loops of red neon proclaimed Bights Saloon; and just below that, a yellowed white sign that read LOSED. West down Main Street, three ravens strutted toward the old W.P.A. bridge. Trash from an overturned barrel decorated a small park. Tattered flagging hung limp from the eaves of Wagnall's service station. The 4th of July loomed. And so did the outcome of a bet between two of MacKensie's rather iconoclastic citizens. Joe Murchison and Willard Crenshaw had been feuding for weeks. Now Murchison has to climb Grants Mountain by the 4th or leave town. If the mountain is climbed, Crenshaw is out lock, stock, and barrel. The outcome turns on a surprising change in the weather and an equally surprising change of heart.
EBOOK available at various retailers.
AMIGOS, a farce
A bawdy, farcical, often satirical, novel that pokes and pulls at American culture in particular and world culture in general. Both detective story and saga, sometimes slapstick then again droll, the tale acknowledges the persistence of the conquistadores and inquisitors of the planet. If the meek are to inherit the earth, they'd best get a move on.
EXCERPT available in Excerpts / Stories
EBOOK available at various retailers.
NOVELS
ACTS OF COMPLICITY
Five journalists sit at a round table cobbling their newspaper together. Portland Now & Then is an eclectic weekly that publishes anything of interest to these iconoclastic individuals from flash fiction to formal essays. Consensus is hard to come by. Each of the five sections of the book features one of the essential journalistic questions: who, what, where, when, why. The questions evoke a theme for each section; and a style is used to reflect the theme. Jack Korzeniowski , nicknamed Owl for obvious reasons, is the odd man out. His story becomes a focal point of dissension. His life, already tenuous since the separation with his wife, follows the fate of his story as it heads for the rejection like a red headed step child.
2025
THE BLIND GEISHA
The book tells the story of Elizabeth, her childhood friend Micki, and a blind geisha from the 15th century. In literature, or other arts, synchronicity is defined as a representation in the same frame of two or more events which occurred at different times. Such are the lives of the three women in The Blind Geisha.
2019
CONSULTING HUANG PO is a long narrative combining poetry with prose. Central to the story are the poems of 17th century Japanese wordsmith Bashō. Protagonist James Lee Cunningham teaches a course on the poet's Narrow Road To The Deep North. His university students, his friends, and his wife Mia Sakai interact to weave their own way along the cobbled paths and muddy tracks from the Sea of Japan to Corvallis, Oregon.
EXCERPT available in Excerpts / Stories
2017
AFTER THE DEATH OF ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY is a short novel that follows the intellectual and emotional development of Thomas Malleus. The story is structured like a classic five paragraph essay; but its style is more that of free verse. Malleus, something of an outcast, is faced with the common challenges of all young men in the 60s and 70s. Set in San Francisco in the fall of 1968, he seeks to cast off the personal. religious, and social shibboleths that mark the American way of life.
EBOOK available at various retailers.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER follows Lewis and Clark and the Corps down the Columbia River from Wallula Gap to the mouth at Astoria. Lewis and Clark joined the Columbia at its confluence with the Snake River near present day Walla Walla. The river then is not the river now,;and this brief look compares and contrasts the old raucous river with its sedate counterpart now.
2022
EBOOK available at various retailers.
PLUG NICKELS contains a selection of my early poetry. I prefer to consider this work as word games rather than poetry. While most of the poems are written in free verse, there is some structure to each of the pieces. A few of the poems appeared in PLUMP BLACK CROWS, my collection of stories and poems.
EXCERPT available in Excerpts / Poems.
2015
EBOOK available at various retailers.
CONVERSATIONS WITH A HYPOXIC DOG is a collection of essays, stories and poems from my later work. The book explores the nuances of both the physical and the metaphysical aspects of one's existence. Prose, poetry and prose poems offer up insight into life's little indigestions.
2002
EBOOK available at various retailers.
THE ILLUSION OF PLURALS
The cluster of buildings that was MacKensie sat in its cleared patch of forest in its valley all hemmed about by ridges, the sky immense overhead, the stars galling with their glow and twinkle. The new highway had gone north through Santiam Pass. The old highway became, then, simply Main Street, the town truncated, kept small by circumstance, cut off within its loops of river and ridge. With the welcome cold settling down from the ridges, displacing the hot day, with fog rising from the pond, with the midnight darkness complete save for a small pool of light shining through the shaded windows of the Crosscut Cafe and from the bare bulb above the post office door, MacKensie slumbered. Across the street from the cafe, flickering loops of red neon proclaimed Bights Saloon; and just below that, a yellowed white sign that read LOSED. West down Main Street, three ravens strutted toward the old W.P.A. bridge. Trash from an overturned barrel decorated a small park. Tattered flagging hung limp from the eaves of Wagnall's service station. The 4th of July loomed. And so did the outcome of a bet between two of MacKensie's rather iconoclastic citizens. Joe Murchison and Willard Crenshaw had been feuding for weeks. Now Murchison has to climb Grants Mountain by the 4th or leave town. If the mountain is climbed, Crenshaw is out lock, stock, and barrel. The outcome turns on a surprising change in the weather and an equally surprising change of heart.
2002
EBOOK available at various retailers.
AMIGOS, a farce
A bawdy, farcical, often satirical, novel that pokes and pulls at American culture in particular and world culture in general. Both detective story and saga, sometimes slapstick then again droll, the tale acknowledges the persistence of the conquistadores and inquisitors of the planet. If the meek are to inherit the earth, they'd best get a move on.
EXCERPT available in Excerpts / Stories
1977
EBOOK available at various retailers.
NOVELS
ACTS OF COMPLICITY
Five journalists sit at a round table cobbling their newspaper together. Portland Now & Then is an eclectic weekly that publishes anything of interest to these iconoclastic individuals from flash fiction to formal essays. Consensus is hard to come by. Each of the five sections of the book features one of the essential journalistic questions: who, what, where, when, why. The questions evoke a theme for each section; and a style is used to reflect the theme. Jack Korzeniowski , nicknamed Owl for obvious reasons, is the odd man out. His story becomes a focal point of dissension. His life, already tenuous since the separation with his wife, follows the fate of his story as it heads for the rejection like a red headed step child.
2025
THE BLIND GEISHA
The book tells the story of Elizabeth, her childhood friend Micki, and a blind geisha from the 15th century. In literature, or other arts, synchronicity is defined as a representation in the same frame of two or more events which occurred at different times. Such are the lives of the three women in The Blind Geisha.
2019
CONSULTING HUANG PO is a long narrative combining poetry with prose. Central to the story are the poems of 17th century Japanese wordsmith Bashō. Protagonist James Lee Cunningham teaches a course on the poet's Narrow Road To The Deep North. His university students, his friends, and his wife Mia Sakai interact to weave their own way along the cobbled paths and muddy tracks from the Sea of Japan to Corvallis, Oregon.
EXCERPT available in Excerpts / Stories
2017
AFTER THE DEATH OF ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY is a short novel that follows the intellectual and emotional development of Thomas Malleus. The story is structured like a classic five paragraph essay; but its style is more that of free verse. Malleus, something of an outcast, is faced with the common challenges of all young men in the 60s and 70s. Set in San Francisco in the fall of 1968, he seeks to cast off the personal. religious, and social shibboleths that mark the American way of life.
2008
POEMS
POEMS
SALTARELLO Volume III collected poems
This book contains my poetry from the early 1970s to 2025. The work spans the years 1985 through 2025, and covers a wide range of subjects and styles from free verse to prose poetry. The prose poetry is from two of my novels Amigos and Consulting Huang Po.
2026
PLUM BLOSSOMS
The book is a long narrative prosepoem which follows the peregrinations of one Master Ko. He may be a Zen priest or simply a Daoist; or, more likely, neither of the two; but rather one possessing the philosophical underpinnings of both. The format of the narrative has nested within it an anecdotal reference to the Tao Te Ching. Thus it is 81 stanzas (or chapters or verses, call them what you will) long; and each stanza has a distinctive structure. The notes at the end of the book define the more abstruse vocabulary, details the names of people, places, and things, and provides a basic translation of the kanji used in the book in both Japanese and Chinese.
2021
WITHERED GRASS is a translation of selected prose excerpts ad various poems written by the 17th century Japanese wordsmith Bashō. Two versions of Japanese, character and romanization, and an English translation are presented. The ideograms or characters of Japanese (like their Chinese counterparts) are representational. Our alphabet is symbolic. Including both versions of the poem provides some depth of understanding.
2017
COLLECTIONS
SALTARELLO Volume II essays spans the years 1985 through 2025, and the work is eclectic, covering a wide range of subjects in both formal and informal styles.
2026
THE RAGPICKER'S BUNDLE contains thirteen essays, stories, and poems. Like a ragman's pickings, the collection is a grab bag of this and that from essays on metaphysics to Waka poems. Both a print book and an Ebook will be available.
2025
SALTARELLO Volume I Stories
The book is a compilation of my eclectic short stories. The title is a name of a lively dance form in which hops and jumps are featured. The word 'satire' derives from the same Latin root. The stories, like the dance, do not lack for liveliness; and humor, exaggeration, and irony will be found throughout.
2020
PLUMP BLACK CROWS is a collection of stories and poems all from my early work. The book explores the sometimes subtle, often brutal interplay between the creations of nature and the constructs of man. River and mountain, church and state, character strengths and weaknesses all have their moments. Resolution of the conflicts are, as with beauty, bought with the eye of the beholder.
2015
DOUBLENICKEL DETECTIVE STORIES
LOOSE FISH
Trouble in River City. Cold cases and corruption, mayhem and metaphysics, this DoubleNickel Detective Story serves up the usual mix of characters, clues and conundrums. Called 'DoubleNickel' as a boy for his thick glasses, 'Nick' as a college man, he otherwise remains without a name. This nondescript fellow is, in appearance, a brown paper sack, a mutt of mixed ancestry. His father was Japanese. His mother was Irish. He is sardonic. He drinks. He is not your gentleman sleuth. He is a private eye who lines up with the hard boiled boys. An Afterward provides both an explication of the format as well as a comment on detective stories generally. Might be more here than meets the eye.
2022
NANSEN'S CAT
Killings and koans, mayhem and metaphysics, the DoubleNickel Detective Stories serve up the usual mix of characters, clues, and conundrums. Called DoubleNickel as a boy for his thick glasses, and 'Nick' as a college man, he remains without a name in the stories. He is a brown paper sack, a rumpled suit, a mutt of mixed ancestry. His father is Japanese; his mother is Irish. He is sardonic with a penchant for wit and whiskey. He is a private cop who lines up with the hard-boiled boys. Might be more here than meets the eye.
EXCERPT available in Excerpts / Stories.
2015
WORK IN PROGRESS
NASCENCE & QUIETUS
PLUM BLOSSOMS
The book is a long narrative prosepoem which follows the peregrinations of one Master Ko. He may be a Zen priest or simply a Daoist; or, more likely, neither of the two; but rather one possessing the philosophical underpinnings of both. The format of the narrative has nested within it an anecdotal reference to the Tao Te Ching. Thus it is 81 stanzas (or chapters or verses, call them what you will) long; and each stanza has a distinctive structure. The notes at the end of the book define the more abstruse vocabulary, details the names of people, places, and things, and provides a basic translation of the kanji used in the book in both Japanese and Chinese.
2021
WITHERED GRASS is a translation of selected prose excerpts ad various poems written by the 17th century Japanese wordsmith Bashō. Two versions of Japanese, character and romanization, and an English translation are presented. The ideograms or characters of Japanese (like their Chinese counterparts) are representational. Our alphabet is symbolic. Including both versions of the poem provides some depth of understanding.
2017
COLLECTIONS
SALTARELLO Volume II essays spans the years 1985 through 2025, and the work is eclectic, covering a wide range of subjects in both formal and informal styles.
THE RAGPICKER'S BUNDLE contains thirteen essays, stories, and poems. Like a ragman's pickings, the collection is a grab bag of this and that from essays on metaphysics to Waka poems. Both a print book and an Ebook will be available.
2025
SALTARELLO Volume I Stories
The book is a compilation of my eclectic short stories. The title is a name of a lively dance form in which hops and jumps are featured. The word 'satire' derives from the same Latin root. The stories, like the dance, do not lack for liveliness; and humor, exaggeration, and irony will be found throughout.
2020
PLUMP BLACK CROWS is a collection of stories and poems all from my early work. The book explores the sometimes subtle, often brutal interplay between the creations of nature and the constructs of man. River and mountain, church and state, character strengths and weaknesses all have their moments. Resolution of the conflicts are, as with beauty, bought with the eye of the beholder.
2015
DOUBLENICKEL DETECTIVE STORIES
LOOSE FISH
Trouble in River City. Cold cases and corruption, mayhem and metaphysics, this DoubleNickel Detective Story serves up the usual mix of characters, clues and conundrums. Called 'DoubleNickel' as a boy for his thick glasses, 'Nick' as a college man, he otherwise remains without a name. This nondescript fellow is, in appearance, a brown paper sack, a mutt of mixed ancestry. His father was Japanese. His mother was Irish. He is sardonic. He drinks. He is not your gentleman sleuth. He is a private eye who lines up with the hard boiled boys. An Afterward provides both an explication of the format as well as a comment on detective stories generally. Might be more here than meets the eye.
2022
NANSEN'S CAT
Killings and koans, mayhem and metaphysics, the DoubleNickel Detective Stories serve up the usual mix of characters, clues, and conundrums. Called DoubleNickel as a boy for his thick glasses, and 'Nick' as a college man, he remains without a name in the stories. He is a brown paper sack, a rumpled suit, a mutt of mixed ancestry. His father is Japanese; his mother is Irish. He is sardonic with a penchant for wit and whiskey. He is a private cop who lines up with the hard-boiled boys. Might be more here than meets the eye.
EXCERPT available in Excerpts / Stories.
2015
WORK IN PROGRESS
NASCENCE & QUIETUS
CONVERSATIONS With Long Dead Men
COMFORT & DESPAIR, 81 Poems
DEAD FLIES, A DoubleNickel Detective Story
SALTARELLO, Volume III, Collected Poems
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COMFORT & DESPAIR, 81 Poems
DEAD FLIES, A DoubleNickel Detective Story
SALTARELLO, Volume III, Collected Poems
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