SoCal Lit Scene: Author Pam Ripling on Lighthouses

SoCal Lit Scene focuses on all things literary in Southern California. Today I bring you a guest post from Southern California writer Pam Ripling

Living, Loving and Lighthouses

by Pam Ripling

Serendipity…a happy coincidence! That’s what I thought when I sat down to write this blog and realized that today, August, 7th, is National Lighthouse Day! Can you imagine my delight? The topic had been decided some weeks back, and happened to land on this calendar spot. Wow.

What is it about lighthouses that inspire me so? A single page cannot possibly describe it all, but here goes.

Protection. Guardianship. Strength. Getting right down to the heart of their purpose, lighthouses warn mariners of danger. They are a welcome sight day or night as they stand guard on the coastline.

Mystery. Loneliness. Whether perched on a cliff, planted in the sand or surrounded by surf, these lonely beacons stand for isolation. It takes a special personality to live apart and separated from the masses. Mysterious because isolation brings out the weird in people.

Romance. Intrigue. There’s just something about climbing those stairs, anticipatory, anxious, finally reaching the lantern room and looking out upon the entire world. Walking around the gallery and feeling the brisk, salt air against your face. What better place to share with a paramour?


History. The past. Owing to all of the above, lighthouses are the ancients among today’s architecture, filled with a rich history of triumph and tragedy. Lighthouse lore swirls with tantalizing tales of murder, suicide, devastating accidents and even infidelity. Who’s not heard frequent references to haunted lighthouses?

Readers and writers alike will see the huge potential for a good story. I did, and so began my work on POINT SURRENDER. A mythical, abandoned lighthouse on the northern California coast, Point Surrender has seen love, hate, jealousy and entirely too much death. You see, its last keeper has been dead for over 25 years. Will the journal he left reveal why he died in the mysterious old lighthouse, and what became of his missing family? (Cue eerie music here.)

I knew my story. Knew how it would begin, progress and end, and yet I faltered about 3/4ths of the way through. Another serendipitous thing happened—I was invited to spend a few days inside of a lighthouse, and you can bet I had laptop in tow. Dimick Lighthouse in Port Townsend, Washington, became my home and just the place to coax out my reluctant muse. The next thing I knew, I was headed back to California with a completed manuscript, reddened eyes and sore fingertips!

For the cover, my ingenious publisher and creative cover artist collaborated over a beautiful photograph of Heceta Head Lighthouse in Oregon. I couldn’t have been more delighted as this was the very lighthouse was the original inspiration for Point Surrender!

Maybe it’s just me (and a few thousand other lighthouse enthusiasts), but I feel the romance, the history, the sometimes palpable presence of the past when I enter a lighthouse. My mind conjures images of keepers, families, Coast Guardsmen, rogues and pirates. I see what they saw when I peer out at the vast expanse of water. One thing I have not done that I would like to do is visit one of these active beacons during the night. Likely scare myself to death, I would!

Next up for me is CAPE SEDUCTION, which takes place in an off-shore lighthouse, both in present day and in the late 1940’s. Water-locked light stations are a whole ‘nuther breed, and I needed to delve deeply into new research for this book. Like POINT SURRENDER, this novel spans the genres of mystery, romance and the paranormal. Look for it from Echelon Press this winter.

It doesn’t have to be National Lighthouse Day in order for you to visit one of the 665+ U.S. lighthouses. But a word of warning: you could get hooked on living and loving lighthouses!

Pam Ripling, who also writes as Anne Carter, is the author of paranormal romantic mystery, POINT SURRENDER, from Echelon Press, Amazon, and for your Kindle, iPhone or other e-formats, Fictionwise. Visit Anne at BeaconStreetBooks.com.

Pam is currently on a blog tour! You can visit her tomorrow at Nick Valentino's blog where she writes about eBooks.

SoCal Lit Scene: The One Dollar Bookstore in Orange, California

A new feature I'll be adding to this blog is reviews of bookstores and literary events in Southern California. This is going to be a little project of mine, and I'm excited to visit as many bookstores within driving distance as I can. If you are a Southern California bookstore owner or planning an event and are interested in having it reviewed on my blog, please use the contact form to let me know!

I blame it all on indiebound. Shortly after I visited Vromans, I wanted to double check that it was the closest independent bookstore and lo and behold there were all of these used bookstores that had just been added, including the One Dollar Bookstore. There was absolutely no way a bookstore with books for just One Dollar was going to go unvisited by me, and I made plans to go there the very next weekend!

Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. I could have easily walked out with 20 books, but I kept myself to just 8. One was a completely goofy choice, and if you look at the picture below I think you can guess which one. :)

The store used to be a supermarket and since the books are sold for just $1 the fixings and decor are minimal. In fact, for the most part, the books aren't even really sorted. They are slightly organized, there is a section for children's books and one for teens. The shelves when you first walk in announce new arrivals, and the books lining the wall are alphabetized fiction. But that doesn't mean you won't also find what you're looking for in the many many shelves of "mixed books."

There wasn't much in the way of good YA, and in fact, I didn't spend much time looking at the alphabetized fiction, I found most of my buys in the mixed books or new arrival sections. I hadn't heard of all of the authors or books, but let me tell you that when the books are just $1 it's a great time to take a risk. Also, there were several fairly recent releases, you might think you'd only find books you don't really want at a place like this, but I was pleasantly surprised by how many interesting options there were. Of course, there were also a couple of shelves of the Left Behind books!

There are several locations of the One Dollar Bookstore in Southern California and if you have some time to kill and some room on your bookshelf, than I suggest checking it out for sure. The picture below is the stack of books I got, and to make things even better there was a special! (does a One Dollar bookstore need a special?) For every five books you bought you got one free! So my total was a mere $7.54.

Have you read any of these books? Do you know which one is the goofy one?

The One Dollar Bookstore has locations in Orange, Burbank, and Lakewood.

So Cal Lit Scene

Southern California is home to many wonderful authors, bookstores, and literary events. Because I live here, I want to explore all there is to offer. Therefore, I am introducing a new feature...So Cal Lit Scene.

If you are a bookstore in the Southern California area and would like to be featured on my blog (including a visit by me!) please feel free to contact me! If you are a Southern California area author and would like to be interviewed and featured, please contact me! If you coordinate a literary event in Southern California, and want to spread the word, please contact me!

So Cal Lit Scene will cover anything and everything literary in Southern California.