Emigrant Online Posts Review of Lizzy Shannon's A Celtic Yearbook

Orgeon author pens a year’s worth of Irish traditions

Lizzy Shannon.

Oregon resident Lizzy Shannon is celebrating her Irish heritage in style by releasing A Celtic Yearbook, a guide for everything Irish divided into thirteen chapters corresponding to the thirteen Druidic months.

Shannon’s varied works span live stage plays, science fiction novels, short stories and a children's Japanese picture book to name but a few genres. Within the pages of A Celtic Yearbook, readers can enjoy her unique take on Irish festivals, folklore, recipes, superstitions, traditional remedies and much more.

Born in Belfast but now celebrating her ninth year as a US citizen, in Northern Ireland she learned mostly British history in her early studies and did not initially realize the rich Irish heritage from which she had come.

“It wasn’t until I emigrated to the United States that I found out people loved Ireland,” she told the Sherwood Gazette recently. “I said, ‘why can’t you be Irish and British’? And I am.”

Her own family research has revealed many things; one eureka moment being the discovery that her father’s uncle was a man named Ernest Blythe, a member of the Irish Republican Army who worked closely with Eamon de Valera.

Other parts of her heritage which have made it into the book are diary entries from her late mother, Maureen, including a passage detailing how to properly clean a house, Irish style. There are also home-made how-to-dos, covering pomanders to potato bread to soap-making. On top of all that, the new title contains plenty of folklore tales which have enthralled Shannon down the years, including stories about fairies, leprechauns and the dreaded banshees.

A Celtic Yearbook is released on November 10 and can be purchased on Amazon.com for under $10. For more information visit LizzyShannon.com.

Ladder Memory, by Mark Ellis, Published

Ladder Memory: Stories from the Painting Trade

by Mark Ellis

(Mark was a student of mine, and it was my pleasure to read the stories collected here).

In Ladder Memory, Stories from the Painting Trade, freelance journalist and writer Mark Ellis recalls his 30 year journey from apprentice painter to successful painting contractor. A memoir that will resonate for painters, those in the paint retail marketplace, trade contractors and for anyone who has ever hired a painter or picked up a brush.


In “Mrs. Peltzer’s Husband” a floor epoxy job becomes a look into the life of a woman suffering from emotional abuse. “The Stairwell” takes readers through the hellish painting of a seven-story industrial stairwell with a certifiably motley crew. “Plants I Have Known” humorously catalogues the obstacles to a good paint job created by bushes and trees. “Sam Drucker and the Frogs” recounts the story of a celebrity client and a controversial neighborhood frog abatement project. A useful appendix offers proven painting tips.


These stories scrape the knuckles and get under the fingernails. Ellis brings authenticity and discovery to his exploration of the experiences of a housepainter, and the entrapments, frailties, and indomitable spirits of those living and working in the structures he paints.


This title is also available through Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/159299668X?tag=inkwaterpre07-20.