Something Familiar

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ACCOLADES

"Kat Ricker is a writer of real talent, genuine heart, and the kind of delight in life that lifts the reader. You will feel fresher, lighter, happier, and more alive after reading what she has given us in this book. I can't imagine a better use of $10 than getting this book. You will get more delight and pleasure from these pages than you will expect, even after my enthusiastic build-up. Really."
– Craig Matteson, Top 100 Amazon reviewer

"Rooted in diverse, down-to-earth experiences, Kat's poetry and stories lift readers to the sky on the wings of her imagination."
– William Marr, past president Illinois State Poetry Society (Autumn Window, Arbor Hill Press)

"Completely engaging. This is poetry for people of all backgrounds."
–Blogcritics

"If you are a writer, this is one of the top 10 books you should read in your lifetime. The writing style teaches you more than a book on writing ever could. Something Familiar awakens a new beauty in the everyday existence and contains the essence writers seek and few ever find. Kat Ricker has captured a magical connection between souls within a world of words."
– Rebecca Johnson, The Rebecca Review, Top 5 Amazon reviewer

"Kat Ricker has both eye and heart combined with the gift of hearing the unspoken story. At one moment, she magnifies what has been unnoticed, and the next she moves us to the far-reaching implications of the human heart. She reopens our eyes and hearts so we can "be whole once more."
–Dr. William Boggs, professor, Slippery Rock University, poet (Greatest Hits, Pudding House Press)

"Take something familiar and be able to reveal its freshness, take something simple and be able to reveal its subtleties: this is what Kat Ricker does with words that evoke poignant and delicious images and emotions of the everyday and the unfamiliar."
–Dr. Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, Senior Lecturer and Writer, Deakin University, Australia

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Book critic Donna Marchetti wrote this mention in her column What's New in Paperback, Dec. 6, 2006.

"Northeast Ohio native Kat Ricker -- now living in Portland, Ore. -- illuminates the unusual concealed beneath everyday occurences and objects. She considers the shadow of a baseball cap and a lock of red hair in a barn at an estate sale in this collection of poetry and short stories written over a 14-year span."

NPR: Talk of the Nation

Host Neal Conan read the first line of Something Familiar during the Sept. 14, 2006 TOTN edition themed "Could you be the great American novelist?" He told viewers the book is available on Amazon.com.

The line:
As soon as we pulled that mermaid up, I knew I was in for it."

Paper Diet Books: Bon Appetit for your Brain

I recently ate dinner at a tiny Italian restaurant in San Francisco. Highly recommended by local residents, the place had a simple charm that was at the same time both inviting and slightly foreign. I ordered the roasted chicken with potatoes, and marveled at how delicious the food was. There was no fancy sauce over the chicken or even an extravagant garnish to dress the plate. Just roasted chicken with a hint of rosemary, and soft, delectable potatoes on the side. I could taste the purity of the food, and was left utterly satisfied, without the feeling of gluttony or eater’s remorse.

I make the analogy of food with this website, and so I extend the analogy of this wonderful meal to my review of Kat Ricker’s book of poems and short stories, Something Familiar. There is certainly something in this book for everyone – a bit of fantasy, a sample of memory, quiet humor, and even a story “based on actual hearsay.” It is a small, simple, appealing, rich, wonderfully executed collection of writing.

The title is entirely appropriate, for what I see as two distinct reasons. On one hand, I believe readers will find something in the stories and poems that is familiar to themselves. In “Ray’s Foul Ball,” I saw myself as a parent in the juxtaposition of Ray’s own individual dreams versus his selfless love for his daughter. In “Remembering Mrs. Little,” I saw myself on Mrs. Little’s bed, pouring out her tin of buttons (only, in my memory, they are my grandmother’s buttons, passed down through generations). And even in the fantastical “The Secret of Lara Lee,” I know what it’s like to have “something click” and to understand Lara Lee’s declaration “Isn’t it good just to be!”

The other incarnation of the title is the way in which many of Ricker’s characters, when faced with the circumstances of a changing life, retreat to something familiar in their own lives, or in their past. Oftentimes, you can even see it in their eyes. In “Change of Venue,” the artisan, faced with harsh financial realities, must turn to different pursuits, and yet you know the “truth – eyes sparkled” of where he would rather be. Old Michael’s bent form is transformed in “Walnut Harvest in Newberg,” as he remembers his fine accomplishments and “his eyes dawned” through the recollection. And despite Mattie’s confused behavior in “Mattie’s Orchids,” something of her former self slips through when “from the blankets, she turns and winks at you, twinkle of mischief in her eye.”

The flowing theme throughout this book of “something familiar” is rounded out by some wonderful phrasing in the poems and stories. In fact, in some cases as I was reading, the title could have just as easily have been something *unexpected,* as Ricker puts images together in beautiful new forms. There are also moments of humor that gratefully caught me off guard. I really enjoyed this smooth book, served up with little flair, relying instead on its own, unpolished beauty to deliver an exceptional reading experience.

J. Robinson

The possibility of magic in everyday life
Amazon.com | FIVE STARS

Kat Ricker's book, with its perfectly sublime title, Something Familiar, reminds us of the possibility of magic on the journey of our familiar, everyday lives. These days, such a book is a welcome departure from the daily dose of death and violence from newspapers and television. It's easy to forget that the intimacy, passion, and power of one person's small actions can touch and change another person in profound ways that aren't easily put into words. These time-stopping experiences always seem to happen when we least expect it. The people in these stories are at first anonymous, and their behaviors routine--riding a bus, or tending hogs on a blistering hot day, or walking through a shop, or simply delivering the mail. The people in her stories are just going about their ordinary business when suddenly a small action, a glance, an object, or a few words from one person to another seem to freeze time and change the course of things in profound ways to the individual, but in such a subtle way that the impact might go completely unnoticed by everyone else. Ricker captures this stealth-level magic in such a way that not only does the reader know that the author has been touched; the reader will be touched as well. This book is a pure gift, sharing the power of even the smallest personal actions in the midst of otherwise familiar lives.

Craig Matteson, Top 100 Amazon Reviewer

Poetic vingettes for your delight and pleasure
Amazon.com | FIVE STARS

We live in an age with too many sad things. Well, that isn't quite right, isn't it. Every age is full of sad things. But it seems that many generations also have compensating things that bring happiness and joy. We have substituted not hurting and material abundance for happiness and then wonder why we are not happy. One of the things that all men and women have known as a part of happiness since there have been men and women is poetry and we seem to have given up on it. Why, I don't know.

Poetry requires three things that are almost mystically woven into the being of every human. It requires language that is concise, full of meaning (multiple meanings), and is fresh and evocative. While we often read poetry, its roots are in being spoken (and when music, sung). So, the second aspect of poetry is this being rooted in speech that is, for lack of a better word, musical. It has its strong and weak beats, but doesn't have to by strictly rhythmical, it can rhyme, but doesn't have to. It is more about using and organizing the properties of speech so that it contributes to the overall effect of the meaning and imagery. The third property of poetry is that it has to actually be something that is alive in the poet.

Just cranking out dead verse is not poetry, it is verbal sausage making. While different poets will resonate differently with different people, it is the best poets that resonate with the most lives. Too much of what purports to be poetry today is far too self-indulgent and private to resonate with anyone. And that is why so much of poetry is dead, dead, dead.

This book is quite alive. It is full of wonderful poetic vignettes. Some are delightful fantasies that seem a part of our real world, others are stories with surprising event and some have quite surprising endings. There is some verse, but artistically used.

Kat Ricker is a writer of real talent, genuine heart, and the kind of delight in life that lifts the reader. You will feel fresher, lighter, happier, and more alive after reading what she has given us in this book. I can't imagine a better use $10 than getting this book. You will get more delight and pleasure from these pages than you will expect, even after my enthusiastic build-up. Really.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have your own mermaid? Or what happened to all those shoe elves now that so much shoe making is automated. What about being finally free from a husband you don't like anymore and being free at last? Or harvesting walnuts with old Michael? Or the life advice of Sister Rita? After taking her vow of poverty all she had in the world was a pin. Even her clothes belonged to the Church. But the pin was hers. She noted, "And when all you have is a pin that pin becomes real important." What about one girls experience at a modeling audition? And I am only describing what is in the first third of the book. There is so much more.

I loved this book and it was a pleasure to read. And re-read.

Craig Matteson, Top 100 Amazon Reviewer

Poetic vignettes for your delight and pleasure
Amazon.com | FIVE STARS

We live in an age with too many sad things. Well, that isn't quite right, is it. Every age is full of sad things. But it seems that many generations also have compensating things that bring happiness and joy. We have substituted not hurting and material abundance for happiness and then wonder why we are not happy. One of the things that all men and women have known as a part of happiness since there have been men and women is poetry and we seem to have given up on it. Why, I don't know.

Poetry requires three things that are almost mystically woven into the being of every human. It requires language that is concise, full of meaning (multiple meanings), and is fresh and evocative. While we often read poetry, its roots are in being spoken (and when music, sung). So, the second aspect of poetry is this being rooted in speech that is, for lack of a better word, musical. It has its strong and weak beats, but doesn't have to by strictly rhythmical, it can rhyme, but doesn't have to. It is more about using and organizing the properties of speech so that it contributes to the overall effect of the meaning and imagery. The third property of poetry is that it has to actually be something that is alive in the poet.

Just cranking out dead verse is not poetry, it is verbal sausage making. While different poets will resonate differently with different people, it is the best poets that resonate with the most lives. Too much of what purports to be poetry today is far too self-indulgent and private to resonate with anyone. And that is why so much of poetry is dead, dead, dead.

This book is quite alive. It is full of wonderful poetic vignettes. Some are delightful fantasies that seem a part of our real world, others are stories with seemingly mundane but quite special events and some have a most surprising ending. There is some verse, but not ubiquitous and most artistically used.

Kat Ricker is a writer of real talent, genuine heart, and the kind of delight in life that lifts the reader. You will feel fresher, lighter, happier, and more alive after reading what she has given us in this book. I can't imagine a better use of $10 than getting this book. You will get more delight and pleasure from these pages than you will expect, even after my enthusiastic build-up. Really.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have your own mermaid? Or what happened to all those shoe elves now that so much shoe making is automated. What about being finally free from a husband you don't like anymore and being free at last? Or harvesting walnuts with old Michael? Or the life advice of Sister Rita? After taking her vow of poverty all she had in the world was a pin. Even her clothes belonged to the Church. But the pin was hers. She noted, "And when all you have is a pin that pin becomes real important." What about one girls experience at a modeling audition? And I am only describing what is in the first third of the book. There is so much more.

I loved this book and it was a pleasure to read. And re-read.

Rebecca Johnson, Top 5 Amazon Reviewer

Vivid Imagery
The Rebecca Review
Amazon.com | FIVE STARS

“I knew that when I left, I would be the only one to rip off my heels and nylons and stick one foot on the seat of my pick-up…”

Kat Ricker’s vivid imagery and snapshot descriptions paint insightful pictures that glow with a luminous clarity. Your soul falls into her writing as she explores mysterious connections and magical realities.

Lost in an October rain, she keeps finding her way onto the wrong bus and meets a man who tells her a secret. In “Mattie’s Orchids” vivid imagery paints emotion. You feel as if you are viewing a painting in an art museum and Kat is telling you the story. “Mrs. Strandedisle” is a story of a woman who suddenly finds herself in a moment open to possibility.

Rarely do I find descriptions that so vividly paint images on the canvas of my mind. The personalities of the characters Kat Ricker describes makes you long to meet them. The profound ending of “Last Dance” left me in a state of nostalgia.

The humorous tale of a mermaid and magical memories of orbs takes the stories to supernatural dimensions. “Box Closed” explores the viewpoint of a postman over the years of delivering mail to one home. The creaking floorboards in “Estate Sale” embody a subtle comfort. You want to wander in the house, lost within yourself. Each selection is an inspired moment in time, layered with carefully chosen conversations. The changing voices add intrigue, while the deep sense of human connection in her work is inspirational.

“I like to slip out when the house is all quiet,” she whispers.The moon never looked so bright. Don’t tell Mother,but I made a secret wish,and tomorrow there’ll be orchids on the lawn.”

I read “Something Familiar” on my deck as the sun was rising on a cool summer morning. As I sipped my tea, I couldn’t help thinking about how Kat’s writing has the comfort of cinnamon, the surprise of ginger and the mystique of star anise. Her writing is not only a journey into her magical mind; her writing will inspire a new clarity in your existence. After reading her work, I started to see the world in a more poetic way, as if the world was more complete when intricately described.

If you are a writer, this is one of the top 10 books you should read in your lifetime. The writing style teaches you more than a book on writing ever could. Something Familiar awakens a new beauty in the everyday existence and contains the essence writers seek and few ever find. Kat Ricker has captured a magical connection between souls within a world of words.

Grady Harp, Top 10 Amazon Reviewer

A quiet but powerful voice
Amazon.com | FIVE STARS

Kat Ricker seems like one of those people you'd like to see every morning on a walk through the woods, or sitting quietly on a rock beside a pond, or even in the local coffee shop - somewhere where time pauses for good conversation with someone who has insight and the ability to listen and observe and share life in a way that makes the day richer.

This collection of poems and short prose, Something Familiar, rings true. Ricker has that gift to notice, and in noticing remember impressions to share with friends. Fortunately for us she invites us as friends into her charmed circle with this wondrously simple gathering of observations in the form of poems and short stories. The open honesty she shares in `Walnut Harvesting in Newberg', the nonchalant listening of `Brother on the bus', little stories that become brief poignant poems like `The Pin', and the irresistible atmosphere she conjures in her descriptions of `Summer' and `Outsider' and `Box Closed' - all of these seem to flow so easily from her pen that the result is more like shared conversation than the work of a master craftsman (which Kat Ricker obviously is.

Not that everything in the book is equally good: the short stories that incorporate pencil drawings as illustrations feel a bit precious and pushed, or perhaps they are just out of place in the context of this book of familiar things. But that is a minor flaw in a first publication, an introduction to an author that makes us beg for more. Kat Ricker is as fresh as that pot of brewing jam on the stove - just before grandma scoops off the foam for our freshly homemade bread. She is delicious!

Amanda Richards, Top 100 Amazon Reviewer

Larger than Life
Amazon.com | FIVE STARS

This may not be a very big book, but it's one of those deals where peeking inside reveals a whole new dimension. Kat Ricker skillfully regales the reader with those little details of life that most people take for granted, and whether in poetry or prose, she gets straight to the heart of the matter. This is no book of flowery verse, or pages overflowing with verbiage, yet in its simple language it manages to say volumes.

There's a section on "real life magic", where the author deals with unusual things in normal settings. In Ricker's world, a hank of hair becomes an object of wonder, and a mythical creature a pain in the tail. In another piece, the dream of catching that elusive foul ball is put into stark perspective when your daughter is asleep in your lap, and the final and most powerful poem in this chapter hits it home that you can't recapture the feelings of youth.

The aptly titled section "Cameo Drawer" holds the treasures of the book, with a series of little stories of ordinary people in different situations. There's the cobbler who gave up his craft to work in a lumberyard, the tale of the walnut harvester, the stranger on a bus. One of the best pieces in the book is "Mattie's Orchids", or maybe that honor should go to "Box Closed", or perhaps "Last Dance", but I'll let you be the judge of that.

Showing her funny side, the author channels her inner biker-babe in "The Burial of Wild Bill", which she claims is "based on actual hearsay", and then launches into the saga of "Mrs. Strandedisle" and her independence day. Finally, there's a section titled "Fancy This", which is made up of a tiny little poem and a pair of fanciful fantasy tidbits.

This one's a keeper.

Dr. Sanford Marovitz

Kent State University emeritus

I read Something Familiar yesterday with the greatest pleasure. It is literally a wonder-full book. Apart from its many individual titles, what I especially liked is its surprising variety, not only poetry and prose, but also the remarkable difference in language from one piece to the next. Beginning with "The Mermaid" and ending with "The Sad, Sad Tale of Jonny Boy," I found the book almost impossible to put down for long. "The Burial of Wild Bill" is marvelous, and when I came to the end of "Last Dance," I had to go right back and begin it again. Congratulations on bringing out such a beautiful little collection of gems, Kat.

Press Release

For immediate release

NOSTALGIA AND MAGIC FOR THE COMMON READER: MIDWEST AND NORTHWEST STORIES AND PORTRAITS IN SOMETHING FAMILIAR

72-page paperback
ISBN 1590281527
Distributed by Ingram
Available on Amazon
List price $10.00
http://something--familiar.blogspot.com

October 1, 2006 -- Kat Ricker is releasing her first book, Something Familiar, published by Trillium Press. Top Amazon reviewer Rebecca Johnson says “this is one of the top 10 books you should read in your lifetime.”

The book contains the best of this award-winning freelance writer’s short stories and poems from the last 14 years. Many have previously appeared in publications in America and abroad (Yankee, Paris-Atlantic in France, Poet’s Voice in Austria, Kaleidoscope, Cambrensis in Wales). Ricker’s appeal is delivering clear storytelling about characters readers recognize, from life in smalltown America, the farm, to the strange conversations of otherworldly matters heard on the metro bus.

“Some of my best reading experiences came from books for reading class in elementary school. Some of those stories have just as much power in my mind now as they did then. Stories for life. That's the experience I hope I can provide to others through this book,” says Ricker.

Ricker (mightykat.net) holds a master’s degree in professional writing from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. She has worked as a newspaper reporter and correspondent for several award-winning newspapers (articles in Capital Press, Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon; Pittsburgh Post Gazette). Her magazine articles (UFO, Lapidary Journal, Farm Progress magazines) have covered diverse subjects from coffee to crop circles, with a concentration on fitness-related topics (Muscle and Fitness, Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness, Oxygen, International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship).

The book includes illustrations by Kate Ramunno-Finney, recipient of the Margaret Evans Award from the Butler Institute of American Art.

MARKETING COPY

What would happen if a stranger revealed his deepest secrets to you? Would you see wolves in the Yukon, black walnuts in October, orbs from another world? Would you look into the eyes of a mermaid? Would you turn from the eyes of the law? Whatever happened, could you ever forget it? Slip into something magical, something comfortable, something familiar. (Watch the web trailer at mightykat.net)

ACCOLADES

"Rooted in diverse, down-to-earth experiences, Kat's poetry and stories lift readers to the sky on the wings of her imagination."
– William Marr, past president Illinois State Poetry Society (Autumn Window, Arbor Hill Press)

"Completely engaging. This is poetry for people of all backgrounds."
–Blogcritics

"If you are a writer, this is one of the top 10 books you should read in your lifetime. The writing style teaches you more than a book on writing ever could. Something Familiar awakens a new beauty in the everyday existence and contains the essence writers seek and few ever find. Kat Ricker has captured a magical connection between souls within a world of words."
– top Amazon reviewer Rebecca Johnson, The Rebecca Review

"Kat Ricker has both eye and heart combined with the gift of hearing the unspoken story. At one moment, she magnifies what has been unnoticed, and the next she moves us to the far-reaching implications of the human heart. She reopens our eyes and hearts so we can "be whole once more."
–Dr. William Boggs, professor, Slippery Rock University, poet (Greatest Hits, Pudding House Press)

"Take something familiar and be able to reveal its freshness, take something simple and be able to reveal its subtleties: this is what Kat Ricker does with words that evoke poignant and delicious images and emotions of the everyday and the unfamiliar."
–Dr. Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, Senior Lecturer and Writer, Deakin University, Australia

Author & Illustrator

Kat Ricker (mightykat.net) holds a master’s degree in professional writing from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. Her publication credits include poetry (Paris-Atlantic in France, Yankee, Poet’s Voice in Austria); short stories (Kaleidoscope, Cambrensis in Wales); journalism (Capital Press and Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon; Pittsburgh Post Gazette); academics (International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship) and more. Her magazine articles (UFO, Lapidary Journal, Farm Progress magazines) have covered diverse subjects from coffee to crop circles, with a concentration on fitness-related topics (Muscle and Fitness, Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness, Oxygen). This is her first book.

About the illustrator

Kate Ramunno-Finney (http://artstreak.blogspot.com) holds a BFA from Youngstown State University, where she served as president of the Student Art Association. She is a recipient of the Margaret Evans Award, from the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio, where she serves as a docent.

Judy Meiksin Review

Pittsburgh poet and playwright

"The poetry in Kat Ricker's book Something Familiar is about risk-taking. The speaker in the poems typically takes a risk talking to someone she/he doesn't know, whether a stranger on the bus or a stranger working in the same field during harvest time. Sometimes the "stranger" is a neighbor or a relative who keeps very private. But when someone takes the chance to talk, secrets are revealed. And the most wonderful discovery-made over and over again-is how much people can do for one another once they take that chance."

Star Beacon

Kat Ricker rolls out her first book this month
By Carl E. Feather, Lifestyle Editor

Photo by Jim Leisy

ASHTABULA, OH--For Ashtabula native Kat Ricker, the publication of her first book, "Something Familiar," is sufficient reward in itself. She has no illusions of it making her rich or famous. Indeed, chances are Ricker won't be around to discover if her ultimate wish for the book comes true.

"My ultimate dream is that in 100 years someone would come across it at a garage sale, pick it up for 50 cents and just love it," said Ricker in a phone interview to her home in Oregon last week.

"Something Familiar" is a collection of poetry and short stories Ricker wrote during the past 14 years. Published by her own publishing house, Trillium Press, the book is available online at amazon.com for $10.

A resident of Newburg, Ore., a town of about 20,000 population halfway between the coast and Portland, Ricker retains strong roots to the county. She is an Ashtabula High School graduate and was active in the theater department of the Ashtabula Arts Center for many years. Her three brothers and parents, John and Emily, still live in the area.

Ricker dedicated the book to her parents, and a childhood photograph of her father graces the cover.

"He really made me the writer that I am," says Ricker of her father, a retired English teacher. "All through school, everything I wrote, I would run by him. It's just a big deal for me to produce it with him in mind.

"She also gives a lot of credit to the late Bob Keenan, her high school English teacher.

"He was really special," she says.Ricker went to Youngstown State on a theater scholarship, but decided to major in English, as a backup to her chosen career. Life did a flip-flop on Ricker; the writing waxed while the theater waned as she matured.

"I'm glad I had (writing) in my back pocket," she says.

Ricker's next move was to get out of Ashtabula County and experience life.

"I really just decided I didn't want to be stuck in Ashtabula without seeing what else was out there," she says.

Ricker chose Oregon, where she worked for a series of newspapers. Covering crime and city government didn't get in the way of her creative writing, however.

"The creative stuff comes whether you want it to or not. It just comes," she says. "The other stuff is just work."

Writing news stories taught Ricker to write tight, brief prose and poetry, as evidenced by the works in "Something Familiar." Most of the poems occupy only one page.

Her work as a journalist also gave Ricker fodder for creative grazing. Her poems are about real people, incidents other people told her about and "poetic moments" she recorded.

"A lot of it is just that, that's really where my work is going lately," she says.

Three years ago, Ricker and her husband, Reed Burch, returned to this area so she could earn her master's degree in professional writing from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. While the degree hasn't paid the teaching-job dividend, Ricker does work with words: She handles publicity and production for a book publisher.

Her writing career has gone in many directions. On the nonfiction side, Ricker has written about body building and fitness (she's a body builder herself), agriculture, domestic abuse and natural resources. Her poetry and short stories have been published in Yankee magazine, Talus and Scree anthologies, PanGaia, Coffeehouse, Voices from the Edge and others. She's also been published in Paris-Atlantic (France), Poet's Voice (Austria), One Earth (Scotland), Cambrensis (Wales), Nova and The Third Alternative (United Kingdom).

In selecting material for her book, Ricker first selected works that had been well received in magazines/ journals or that had won awards. She asked those in her close circle of literary friends to review her selections and respond to their inclusion. Finally, she made sure the material remained cohesive and consistent with the book's overall flavor.

Ricker's employer is serving as distributor of the book. She drew upon her experience there to create anticipation for its roll-out later this month. Readers who received advance copies posted glowing reviews at the amazon.com site and Ricker created a Web site and Blog for the book launch. She even had a Flash teaser trailer made.

In short, she's creating a lot of buzz.

Ricker's debut tome is small, only 72 pages, but it is tightly packed with strong, thought-provoking writing. Although many authors would like their first book to be three or four times larger, Ricker sees a benefit to brevity.

"... this seems to be a consumable size," she says. "It can be read in one sitting, and I think that's a really good sign. The object is to get it read."

Star Beacon Print Edition: 10/18/2006

Newberg Graphic

Putting words to experience
By David Sale, Newberg Graphic reporter

NEWBERG, OR--It takes time to write a book. For Newberg's Kat Ricker, it took 14 years.

Trillium Press is publishing a collection of poetry and prose Ricker wrote over the previous decade and a half. Titled "Something Familiar", the book will be available for pre-order in mid-July.

But Ricker has been quite busy in the meantime. Many of the poems in "Something Familiar" have already appeared in small press magazines and journals, and she has published short stories, magazine articles and journalism pieces since 1992.

"I always have several projects going at once -- I hate to limit myself to one particular thing," Ricker said. "But periodicals don't last long, unless a reader holds on to that particular copy. Books have a much longer life, and I wanted that for my work."

Originally from Ohio, Ricker attended Youngstown State University and earned a master's degree in professional writing from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania.

"I think I was born a writer," Ricker said, "but I owe a lot of inspiration to my father, who taught high school English for 30 years and is now working on a book of his own about the English language. All through my life, he's given me some of the best guidance -- I wouldn't be where I am without that."

Ricker's career has spanned numerous publications, and her specialty is health and fitness writing. A licensed personal trainer, her articles and editorials have appeared in such national magazines as Muscle & Fitness, Oxygen, and Natural Bodybuilding.

According to Ricker, poetry remained a focus, due in part to the influence of her graduate school professor William Boggs, himself a published poet.

"We send each other our work to this day," Ricker said.

"Someone once said: `Poetry is what evaporates from all translation,' and that really sums up what it means to me."

In turning to poetry, Ricker feels she is swimming against the tide of the publishing industry.

"My poems are little stories, peepholes into people's lives of moments I've encountered in the Midwest and Oregon," she said. "There's nothing cryptic about them -- it's not really the current style.

"That's what's so amazing about the Internet, because you can find an audience, publish immediately and connect with other writers. It's one of the best things that's ever come along."

Like many modern authors, Ricker has been quick to establish a presence online. She maintains a Web site devoted to her various interests at mightykat.net, and is also the editor of lonesouls.org, a Web site which collects the writings and artwork connected to the troubled-teen industry.

Details about the book

72-page paperback
ISBN 1590281527
Distributed by Ingram
Available on Amazon

Some of my best reading experiences came from books for reading class in elementary school. Some of those stories have just as much power in my mind now as they did then. Stories for life. That's the experience I hope I can provide to others.

The cover photo is of my father, John Ricker, taken by his sister Shirley Shefchuk. He's about 16 here, in Middlefield, Ohio. I have held this photo dear for many years. A brilliant linguist, he taught high school English for 36 years. He's not going to understand why I put his picture on a book.

The cover design is by Tom Sumner, accomplished designer (book and album covers, probably a hundred other things), book editor, and author of Untidy: The Blogs on Rumsfeld.

The illustrations are by Kate Ramunno-Finney, recipient of the Margaret Evans Award from the Butler Institute of American Art, where she serves as a docent. She also illustrated my short story Our Mermaid.

The title Something Familiar is inspired by the song "I'm Going To Go Back There Someday," sung by Gonzo in the Muppet Movie, written by Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams. Lyrics:

This looks familiar, vaguely familiar,
Almost unreal, yet, it's too soon to feel yet.
Close to my soul, and yet so far away.
I'm going to go back there someday.

Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls.
Is that a song there, and do I belong there?
I've never been there, but I know the way.
I'm going to go back there someday.

Come and go with me, it's more fun to share,
We'll both be completely at home in midair.
We're flyin', not walkin', on featherless wings.
We can hold onto love like invisible strings.

There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met.
Part heaven, part space, or have I found my place?
You can just visit, but I plan to stay.
I'm going to go back there someday.
I'm going to go back there someday.

Back cover

What would happen if a stranger revealed his deepest secrets to you? Would you see wolves in the Yukon, black walnuts in October, orbs from another world? Would you look into the eyes of a mermaid? Would you turn from the eyes of the law? Whatever happened, could you ever forget it? Slip into something magical, something comfortable, something familiar.

"Rooted in diverse, down-to-earth experiences, Kat's poetry and stories lift readers to the sky on the wings of her imagination."
– William Marr, past president Illinois State Poetry Society (Autumn Window, Arbor Hill Press)

"If you are a writer, this is one of the top 10 books you should read in your lifetime. The writing style teaches you more than a book on writing ever could. Something Familiar awakens a new beauty in the everyday existence and contains the essence writers seek and few ever find. Kat Ricker has captured a magical connection between souls within a world of words."
– top Amazon reviewer Rebecca Johnson, The Rebecca Review

"Kat Ricker has both eye and heart combined with the gift of hearing the unspoken story. At one moment, she magnifies what has been unnoticed, and the next she moves us to the far-reaching implications of the human heart. She reopens our eyes and hearts so we can "be whole once more."
–Dr. William Boggs, professor, Slippery Rock University, poet (Greatest Hits, Pudding House Press)

"Take something familiar and be able to reveal its freshness, take something simple and be able to reveal its subtleties: this is what Kat Ricker does with words that evoke poignant and delicious images and emotions of the everyday and the unfamiliar."
–Dr. Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, Senior Lecturer and Writer, Deakin University, Australia

"Completely engaging. This is poetry for people of all backgrounds."
–Blogcritics