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Fresno attorney and judge pens mystery novel

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Jason Farris

Head YES man at FresYes.com
I grew up in Fresno. Relaxed in its calm breezes, listened with my dad to the crack of the bat at little league baseball games when I was a kid and now take my son to do the same at minor league games. I broadened my mind at its schools (I went to high school right here at San Joaquin Memorial, and to college at Fresno State!) I love that if I drive for two hours in one direction, I can be in the mountains. For two hours in another, luxuriating on a California beach. I can enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere of San Francisco or Los Angeles, but still be able to come home to relaxation, calm, and quiet.

I love where I live, and I also love what I do. I'm lucky to be able to work in a profession in which I get to build relationships; one that has me meeting new people each and every day and helping them to build new lives in my beloved city. I'm lucky enough to work in a profession in which I can marry cutting-edge technologies and marketing techniques to good, old-fashioned, nose-to-the-grindstone work. I am lucky enough to work in a profession that allows me to work as an advocate for my clients; to use every tool at my disposal to get a job done well for them, and with as little stress and expense as possible.

I love my city. I love my job. One inspires my excellence for the other.

Fresno? I say FresYES

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Fans of mystery novels, there’s a new book available, and it has a local connection.

Fresno attorney James A. Ardaiz, former presiding justice of the California Fifth District Court of Appeal, has made his debut as a mystery novelist with Fractured Justice, which launches this month with a book signing on Saturday, Dec. 16, at 2 p.m. at A Book Barn in Clovis. 

Copies of the book (paperback, 354 pages, $16.95) will be available for purchase and signing by the author.

Fresno mystery novel

Fractured Justice is fiction, but it draws from Ardaiz’s decades of experience as a prosecutor and judge. In the book, protagonist Matt Jamison, an assistant district attorney, is confronted by a meticulously staged crime scene—a dead woman, carefully scrubbed of all forensic evidence, laid out on a canal bank in Jamison’s rural Central California county. A serial killer is on the loose and adept at hiding his tracks. And before the murderer can be brought to justice, Jamison will lose his illusions about what justice means.

Fractured Justice is the first in a series of novels to feature Matt Jamison; Ardaiz plans to release his next novel in 2018. Buy the book on Amazon, Target.com, or at Quill Driver Books.

Explore Highway 99 history with author Stephen Provost

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JoAnn Hallum

Houseplant killing optimist- freelance writer -kid herder

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At first glance, the highway doesn’t seem all that exciting.

Made of crushed rocks and Caltrans plans, it can seem like a wasteland of black pavement and potholes that we ignore on long car trips, focusing on oleander bushes in the median or the Slug-Bug game instead. 

Why should we care about a highway? Because it carries people to funerals and weddings. It takes us to new jobs and new babies. It’s a part of our stories, whether we realize it or not.

For those of us in the Fresno region, Highway 99—an artery in the middle California—is an unsung element in our individual life experiences. Now, thanks to author Stephen Provost, the highway’s tale is being told. Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street is the highway’s story, complete with photographs and rich history spanning the Dust Bowl to present times.

A self-proclaimed “eclectic” author, Provost is a familiar name to FresYes. He grew up in Fresno and wrote a book about it, appropriately titled Fresno Growing Up: 1945-1985. He spent a lot of time in the Valley as an editor for newspapers like The Fresno Bee and The Tulare Register, and currently resides on the Central Coast, working as an editor at The Cambrian.

Provost will return to Fresno on Saturday, Sept. 23 for a book talk and signing at the Fig Garden Regional Library. He’ll share information about “the 99” from his book, as well as photographs.

So if you have fond memories of highway icons like the Mammoth Orange Stand near Chowchilla, you’ll want to check out this book talk. (And then of course, read the book.)

Highway 99 history

You can learn more about Stephen Provost on his website here. If you want a copy of Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street, you can buy one on Saturday at the library and get it signed by the author, or purchase it on Amazon here. Amazon carries a wide variety of Provost’s books, ranging from non-fiction to paranormal adventures, and you can find them all here.

Event Details

When: Saturday, Sept. 23 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: Fig Garden Regional Library, 3071 West Bullard Ave., Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 600-4071

 

Fresno Professor, Pub Singled Out for Achievements

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Jason Farris

Head YES man at FresYes.com
I grew up in Fresno. Relaxed in its calm breezes, listened with my dad to the crack of the bat at little league baseball games when I was a kid and now take my son to do the same at minor league games. I broadened my mind at its schools (I went to high school right here at San Joaquin Memorial, and to college at Fresno State!) I love that if I drive for two hours in one direction, I can be in the mountains. For two hours in another, luxuriating on a California beach. I can enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere of San Francisco or Los Angeles, but still be able to come home to relaxation, calm, and quiet.

I love where I live, and I also love what I do. I'm lucky to be able to work in a profession in which I get to build relationships; one that has me meeting new people each and every day and helping them to build new lives in my beloved city. I'm lucky enough to work in a profession in which I can marry cutting-edge technologies and marketing techniques to good, old-fashioned, nose-to-the-grindstone work. I am lucky enough to work in a profession that allows me to work as an advocate for my clients; to use every tool at my disposal to get a job done well for them, and with as little stress and expense as possible.

I love my city. I love my job. One inspires my excellence for the other.

Fresno? I say FresYES

Latest posts by Jason Farris (see all)

Today, a couple of local folks have received recognition for two very different achievements. Both are worthwhile, so we thought we’d shine a light on each.

Associate Professor and Author Randa Jarrar

(photo: sarabandebooks.org)

First, congratulations are in order to Randa Jarrar, author and associate professor at Fresno State.

Jarrar, who grew up in Kuwait and Egypt before moving to the U.S., won the 2017 Story Prize Spotlight Award for her short story collection, Him, Me, Muhammad Ali.

From Sarabande Books:

Jarrar’s stories grapple with love, loss, displacement, and survival in a collection that moves seamlessly between realism and fable, history and the present. With humor, irony, and boundless imagination, Jarrar brings to life a memorable cast of characters, many of them ‘accidental transients’—a term for migratory birds who have gone astray—seeking their circuitous routes back home.”

You can order Jarrar’s collection of stories here.

Spokeasy Public House

(photo: spokeasypub.com)

And congrats also to Spokeasy Public House in the Tower District, who has been singled out by Yazda app as one of the highest-rated bicycle-friendly bars in the country.

In their list of “50 of the Most Bike-Friendly Hangouts,” Spokeasy was the pick for California—all of California. Says Yazda:

If you like bike decor (like handlebars supporting a bookshelf), craft beer, and vintage arcade games, you MUST visit Spokeasy Public House while you’re in California. Most reviews rave about the laid back atmosphere, the awesome beer selection, and the friendly bartenders. Oh, and PAC-MAN.”

Visit Spokeasy’s website to find out more about what they serve and where to find them.

FresYes People – Local Novelist Proves Romance Isn’t Dead in Fresno

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Kendra Gilbert

Writer at FresYes.com
Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.
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The funny thing about local author Gabriela Lawson’s entry into the world of writing romance novels, is that it was her ex-husband’s idea. Rather, it was her ex-husband’s challenge, which Lawson didn’t back down from.

Two books later—more than 10,000 copies of which have been sold—and still a certified romantic even after a divorce, Lawson continues to enjoy her life of writing stories about swashbuckling affairs and searing courtships between of-different-worlds lovers.

But, long before she started writing about love and lust set against the backdrop of history, Lawson was reading the genre. She says she was 12 years old when she picked up her first romance novel and hasn’t stopped reading since, finding fulfillment in the happy endings that come after chapters of passionate turmoil and tortured desires.

Lawson will be signing copies of her books tonight at 5 p.m. at All Things Fresno in downtown as part of ArtHop. Here, she dishes on the genre, her writing style and why romance novels are totally different from Fifty Shades of Grey. Although, they do have one thing in common: sex. Which gives this interview its PG-13 rating.