With more than 80 years of publishing books about outdoor sports, nature, crafts, and military history, Stackpole Books could feature any number of its authors at BEA, so as publisher Judith Schnell says, they easily chose three of their bestselling authors—Ralph Peters, Lefty Kreh, and Pete Dunne—to spotlight. To celebrate them, Stackpole will be raffling off signed copies of their forthcoming books daily in booth 3452.
Aside from being a longtime Stackpole author, Ralph Peters recently hit the New York Times bestseller list with his Cain at Gettysburg (Tor/Forge, Feb. 2012), and the publisher based in the suburbs of Harrisburg (near Gettysburg) is bringing back his Civil War novels, originally published under the name Owen Parry. This August—in time for the 150th anniversary of the second battle of Bull Run—Stackpole will release six novels that feature the adventures of Union officer Abel Jones, Faded Coat of Blue, Shadows of Glory, Call Each River Jordan, Honor’s Kingdom, Bold Sins of Erin, and Rebels of Babylon, in trade paperback and e-book editions.
“We don’t do fiction,” observes Schnell, “but because it’s Ralph Peters, we know that these books are a real treasure. They had gotten really good reviews and really should be back in print.”
Stackpole also features fly-fishing expert Lefty Kreh. He’s the author of more than 30 books on fly-fishing techniques—and the expert who helped Schnell become a better caster herself—but his new book is a bit of a departure. Full of natural history facts and illustrations by Bill Bishop, 101 Fish: A Fly Fisher’s Life List is Kreh’s memoir of catching 101 species of fish on the fly. Unlike birders, who are known for keeping life lists of their bird sightings, fly-fishers don’t usually catch that many species, observes Schnell, let alone record their experiences as Kreh does.
Speaking of birders, Stackpole follows up the release last year of Pete Dunne’s The Art of Bird Finding with The Art of Bird Identification, coming in September. In the new book, Dunne gives a straightforward approach to identifying the whole bird: habitat, behavior, calls, and more.
With its outdoor and military history emphasis, Stackpole’s list appeals to specialty markets as well as the trade, but Schnell says traditional bookstores remain a focus. “We want to sell books wherever we can,” says Schnell.
