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Steve's Page 
Janet's Page  
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B.S., Literature & Languages and Fine & Performing Arts Interdiscipline, Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho
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speaker at conferences on women’s issues, family challenges, and devotional themes (list available upon request)
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teacher at writers conferences/web communities; former panelist, The Writers View e-group; mentor, Christian Writers Guild; Writer of Year Award, Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference; Judge, International Self-Published Book Awards, Writer’s Digest Magazine
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member, Winchester Community Church, Winchester, Idaho
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music director, teacher of challenged adults
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mother of three sons: Russell, Michael, and Aaron
(all married), grandmother of Zachary, Miranda and Keaton
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wife of Stephen Bly—pastor, mayor, author, speaker
BOOKS AUTHORED: 11
Including . . .
WORDS TO LIVE BY FOR WOMEN, 2004, Bethany House
HOPE LIVES HERE, 2001, Discovery House
GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME, 1999, Discovery House
AWAKENING YOUR SENSE OF WONDER, 1997, Discovery House
THE HEART OF A RUNAWAY, 1995, Discovery House
BOOKS CO-AUTHORED: 18
Including . . .
THE CARSON CITY CHRONICLES (3), 2000, Servant Publications
THE HIDDEN WEST SERIES (3), 1998, Servant Publications
THE POWER OF A GODLY GRANDPARENT, 2003, Beacon Hill Press
BOOKS CONTRIBUTED TO: 6
Including . . .
Women’s Devotional Bible, NIV, 2006, Zondervan
WHAT THE WIND PICKED UP, 2005, short stories by ChiLibris novelists, iUniverse
THE STORYTELLER’S COLLECTION, 2001, Multnomah
THE BIBLE FOR TODAY’S CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 1998, Thomas Nelson
PARENTING: QUESTIONS WOMEN ASK, 1992, Multnomah
FAMILIES: ADVICE FROM EXPERTS, edited by Jerry Jenkins, Moody Press
A MOMENT A DAY, 1988, Regal Books
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grad of Fresno State University, CA, Philosophy,
summa cum laude
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M. Div., Fuller Theological Seminary, CA, 1974
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first book released, 1981
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Christy Award winner, Westerns, 2002
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Christy Award finalist, Westerns, 2003
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author of 100 fiction and nonfiction books, inc.
historical and contemporary westerns
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mayor of Winchester, Idaho, pop. 308 (1999-2007)
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pastor of Winchester Community Church
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speaker for men’s and writers’ groups,
USA and Canada
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member, Western Writers of America
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mentor, Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild
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represented by agent, Chip MacGregor of MacGregor
Literary Agency, Portland, OR
Married to writer, Janet Chester Bly, they’ve co-authored 18 books.
Resides in north-central Idaho at 4,200 ft. elev. in the ponderosa pines across from Winchester Lake State Park, on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation.
Raised 3 sons: Russell, Michael, & Aaron. The
family now includes 3 wonderful daughters-in-law and three grandkids.
Third generation westerner, Steve spent his first 30 years working family ranches and farms in central California.
Hobbies: Collects and restores antique Winchesters; studies histories of Old West; and does construction on Broken Arrow Crossing, a false front western village next to his home.
Seldom seen without cowboy boots, hat, and jeans, even in the pulpit.
Recent books: Throw The Devil Off The Train, Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon, Creede of Old Montana, and The Land Tamers
ONE STEP OVER THE BORDER EXCERPT
“Hap, you’re
thirty-one years old and you refuse to date anyone without the name
Juanita. It’s a full blown obsession.”
The cool westward wind drifted over
them, pregnant with heat to be birthed later in the morning. A distant
rooster sounded startled to crow so late. Bacon grease congealed
in a black skillet, parked in the dirt between them.
“Laramie, I’m tryin’
harder this summer to understand than I ever have. I know one thing,
this is my last season of searchin’. I got to give it my best
shot. That’s the only way I’ll be able to walk away
from it.”
“If last night’s any indication,
we won’t live another week. Sometimes it’s like walking
the floor with an addict. I try to keep you upright and moving until
this ‘drug’ works out of your system.”
“I sorta figure that last night
was progress.”
“Progress?” Laramie waved
his boot like a pointer stick. “You don’t have a clue
whether she lives in the U.S. or Mexico, or whether it’s in
Texas, New Mexico, or Colorado. She could have moved to Cody, Wyoming,
by now. Think of that for irony.”
“We checked out Cody ten years
ago.”
“You’ve got to narrow
it down some, Hap. It’s like looking for some particular penguin
in Antarctica. We’re going to find Juanitas all over, but
how can we tell the right one? So far the only site we’ve
crossed off the list was that run down cantina in Matamoros.”
Hap studied the tanned creases around Laramie’s eyes. He kept
thinking of the old rodeo phrase, “it ain’t the years,
boys . . . it’s the miles.” His voice lowered, “I
eliminated some others last night. I was layin’ there in my
aches and pains tryin’ to think it all through and it dawned
on me. My Juanita is the kind of gal to make somethin’ of
herself. We were lookin’ in the wrong place last night.”
Laramie shook his boot out. Something
dropped to the sand, dug a quick hole, and buried itself. “What
was that?”
“A beetle, I guess. Now, listen
up. This is huge. I decided there will be no more searchin’
out cantinas, saloons or casinos. I’m just sure my Juanita’s
teachin’ at a school, nursin’ at a hospital, or runnin’
the soup kitchen at the gospel mission. We need to be lookin’
on the good side of town. That’s the kind of woman she is.”
Treeless brown prairie grass stretched
north of them. Laramie gazed at the horizon as if expecting a fox
to jump up. “The Rio Grande’s eighteen-hundred miles
long. That’s not what I’d call narrow.”
Hap stood up slow, unlocking his back
as if it were a pair of vise grips. “We ought to go search
a hospital. Maybe they’d rent us a cheap room for the night.
That would do us the most good.”
Laramie wiggled his toes, then shoved
his foot in his boot. “Hap, I promised you I’d ride
the river with you. And you know I keep every promise. But that
doesn’t mean I comprehend all of this.”
Hap scratched his unshaven chin. “Look,
if it’s any consolation, I don’t understand me either.
Sometimes this drive feels like a disease. But I aim to get cured.
And the antidote is somewhere between here and the headwaters of
the Rio Grande near Creede, Colorado. I guarantee, partner, this
is the last summer you and me have to put up with this.”
STEPHEN BLY BOOK REVIEWS
About Paperback Writer . . . "In this fresh contribution to the CBA market, Bly, the prolific Christy Award winning author of series westerns, pens an amusing parody of the proverbial dime-store paperback novel . . . this book is a funny, enjoyable romp for CBA fiction readers." Publishers Weekly
"Once in awhile, you come across a novel that is truly different. Christy Award-winning author Bly (The Long Trail Home, 2002 Western category) has written a psychological thriller that is like nothing else in the Christian fiction genre . . . This engrossing roller-coaster read will appeal to male readers as well as anyone who has ever dares to dream larger than life." Library Journal
From The Bookwatch . . . "The Long Trail Home is a superbly crafted, deeply inspiring, thoroughly entertaining, highly recommended novel played out against the backdrop of the American frontier."
About Fool's Gold: "Bly provides a rip-roaring Western in the tradition of Louis L'Amour, filled with humorous characters and an abiding appreciation for the Lord's mysterious ways." Library Journal
"Bly does a lot of things right for lovers of the traditional western . . . (he) clearly knows the country he writes about: the difference between pinion pines and chaparral, what the weather will do, how horses tire. He knows about guns and seems to have thoroughly researched the behavior of Indian war parties. . . Luke Short and Frank Gruber come to mind. There ought to be some takers among both Christian and western readers." Booklist
About Miss Fontenot . . . "Bly's hallmark rollicking charm is very much in evidence in this adventurous tale of the Old West. Of special interest is the unusual portrayal of a highly independent yet deeply religious woman who knows her own mind and isn't afraid to express her thoughts and feelings." Library Journal
"Bly offers a kinder, gentler Western that should appeal to fans of Louis L'Amour." Library Journal
About his cowboy poetry . . . "Topics range from the sacred and local heroes to dancing in Deadwood and 'Suckersville, New Mexico.' Obviously, Bly doesn't take himself too seriously--a fine trait for any cowboy poet." Bunkhouse Reviews, The Western Horseman
READER COMMENTS . . .
THE HORSE DREAMS SERIES
Well written contemporary western fiction . . . Great life-lessons learned without being preachy.” G. Dueker, OR
“Pure entertainment for fans of 'Westerns'. . . started out with so much action it was hard to stop reading. The fun continued throughout the story at a steady pace. . . No sagging middle or useless scenes. I feel like I know the characters in the story as personal friends . . . The guy humor was a hoot as it SO fit the story. Casey Cree-Ryder is probably the most zany character I've had the pleasure of knowing. She was just too much fun.” Michelle Therese, AZ
“. . . fast-paced, engaging dialogue that often transforms the reader into another world. . . breathtakingly refreshing . . . One thing I can say is that you'll walk away with a few personal revelations of your own. Alyice Edrich, TheDabblingMum.com
“Stephen Bly is able to bring me to tears either with laughter or pathos. How he can write so believably about females amazes me . . . Made me want to revist the land of blue skys, wide open spaces and typical Western people, culture and terrain.” J. M. Ashby, TX
“I swear Stephen reached down into my heart to speak her thoughts and desires. A scene described by Stephen can crack even the stuffiest brow.........told so well that you wished you were the heroine riding off into that sunset with that cowboy!” CJ Hardin, OR
“The rich characterizations of Bly puts the reader firmly in the head of schoolmarm Dev Worrell as she tries to find out if you really can go home again . . . another good read from a talented writer.” Terry W. Burns, author, Mysterious Ways Series, River Oak
“I almost became uninterested in it because of stress in my life. My husband is in the hospsital for the 3rd time since Good Friday and we can’t do anything special except recall some beautiful memories. However, suddenly the humor in your book made it so funny that I had to share it with another librarian friend. You have such a unique way of including so many events, situations and conversations that I forget the impossible reality to finding they warm my heart. Are you as funny in life as with written words?” Margaret S.
“The
only bad thing about this book, it seemed to run as fast as a Mustang.
One minute I was in Chapter 1, the next I’m done. Ya gotta
love Stephen Bly’s books.” Catherine N. WA
CREEDE
OF OLD MONTANA
Stephen Bly
Copyright©2009
CHAPTER ONE
No
one knew how Avery John Creede got the scar on his face.
No one except Avery and the one who
did it. He never talked about it. Most who knew him figured the
other person dead. Not the type of scar that makes you wince and
turn your head, and never covered by a beard, it hung high on his
cheek bone like a badge of honor.
But a person had to stand up to Creede
and look him in the eye to see the scar. For the past six weeks
on the trail north from Shiprock, no one had been that close.
July hot and August dry, the September
heat that reflected off the brick wall left Avery with a stale feel,
like a sweat drenched cotton shirt, long dried. He studied the wide
river from the tiny, two-step balcony of his second-story room at
the Grand Hotel. Although he could not see it now, he knew he was
positioned under the arched 1881 stone façade high at the
building’s peak. Like a pontiff overlooking an empty plaza,
he surveyed the near deserted street below.
A lady with a famine-thin waist and
a bleached yellow dress spun a parasol over her shoulder as she
sauntered past the cottonwoods toward the riverbank. Like bait skimming
across a still mountain lake, Avery figured she trolled for some
man to set the hook.
His heavy boot heels nailed the polished
oak flooring as he re-entered the cramped room past the brass bed
posts to a white porcelain basin on a stand and a worn wooden side
chair. He splashed tepid water on his shaved face, then glanced
up at the mirror. The leather-tough forced smile and near empty
brown eyes looked more like a Venetian mask than a retired cavalry
veteran way past forty.
His black, beaver-felt cowboy hat,
still damp with sweat from the long ride, wafted the aroma of a
wet goat. He shoved it down to his ears. With oft repeated precision,
he strapped on his holster. He yanked out the Colt revolver, reset
the cylinder on the empty chamber and shoved it back down.
As if giving a lecture on gentlemanly
attire, he rolled the sleeves on his dusty white shirt down, one
direful fold at a time, then buttoned them. He never took his gaze
off the dark brown eyes that stared back at him from the mirror.
Shirt now fastened at the neck, he tugged the black silk tie around
his collar. Rough calloused fingers completed the four-in-hand knot
that he memorized as a child.
Oppressive Montana air crowded the
room, like a mountain cabin after six weeks of snow in January.
Avery closed the door behind him as he entered the hall, but didn’t
bother locking it. He wasn’t sure if that was out of foolishness
or apathy. Yet, years of conflict led him down the empty stairs
at a cautious pace, one hand on the slick oak rail, the other on
the hard walnut grip of his .44 revolver.
Wednesday died about 1 p.m. in Fort
Benton, Montana Territory. Rsurrection wasn’t expected for
another two hours. The clock above the lifeless stove in the lobby
ticked out of habit, but the pendulum winced as if the effort wasn’t
worth it’s full effort.
Propped open with river rocks the
size of cannonballs, the double front doors of the hotel invited
a breeze that hadn’t arrived yet. A wide nosed man with an
uneven black beard studied the solitaire spread on the clerk’s
counter. He waved a seven of clubs at Avery.
“You sure you ain’t never
been to Purgatory?”
“I think I’d remember
if I had.” Avery didn’t look at the man as he ambled
toward the door.
“That’s in Colorado, you
know.”
“Yeah, so I’ve heard.”
Avery parked in the doorway and surveyed the wide street.
“Maybe it was Butte . . . you
ever been to Butte?”
“Many times.”
“I bet it was Butte. You shot
that crooked Faro dealer at the Copper Slipper, right?”
“Nope.”
“He deserved killin’,
if you ask me.”
The late afternoon sun beaconed off
the big window of the Chouteau County Bank as he stepped out into
the empty street. The sound of the bank’s heavy door slam
precipitated a chorus of barking dogs.
Avery hesitated as if waiting for
phantom traffic. He thought he saw shadows flicker in the narrow
alley next to the bank.
“Where you goin’?”
the man shouted from the hotel.
“Sailing,” Avery grumbled.
Like a bit player in a melodrama,
the man appeared in the doorway. “Sailin’? There ain’t
enough water in the old Missouri this time of the year for a big
canoe, much less a . . .”
Avery’s glare chopped the tail
off the man’s sentence.
“Eh . . . I was jist askin’
cause you said three men would show up lookin’ for you and
I wanted to know where to tell them to look.”
“Tell ‘em to wait here.”
“But if you don’t come
back, where shall I tell them you went?”
“Purgatory.”
PRESS
RELEASE . . .
WINCHESTER WESTERN
AUTHOR NEVER PINES FOR OLD WEST
“We
moved to Idaho to live closer to what America used to be, but I’d
never want to go back to the Old West,” says Stephen Bly,
award-winning western author who releases his 101st book, Creede
of Old Montana, on October 1st.
Bly loves black, boiled coffee like
the best of the trail cowboys, doing research for his novels and
collecting antique Winchesters from that time, but he enjoys living
in the 21st Century.
“In the Old West both winters
and summers could be miserable. For those first trappers, miners
and cowboys, many a winter day was spent just trying to survive.”
Having an ample supply of firewood
was a crucial concern of every pioneer, especially those out on
the treeless prairies, Bly explains. The cold Arctic winds blew
down through Alberta and blasted into the western U.S., freezing
everything it touched.
Summers could be as miserable.
“There was often no wind movement.
Bugs swarmed. Skin cracked. Crops blistered. Living down in the
canyons was especially a challenge.”
The weather…the rustic living
conditions…the health concerns, Bly’s characters face
all of this and more. The worst problems have nothing to do with
nature. His newest hero, Avery John Creede (Creede of Old Montana),
hankers for peace and quiet and a relaxing, cool breeze as he rides
into Fort Benton, Montana, for a reunion with army pals. He discovers
a running gunfight with a notorious outlaw and two women determined
to distract him instead. One gal wants him dead.
Stephen Bly lives in the tiny town
of Winchester, Idaho (pop. 308), at 4,000 foot elevation, next to
Winchester Lake State Park, on the Nez Perce Reservation.
“Folks often ask me if I always
wanted to grow up and write books about cowboys,” Bly says.
“Nope. Not me. I never wanted
to be a writer. But I did grow up on a farm and wanting to be a
cowboy. I had Roy Rogers PJs and curtains and a plastic statue of
trigger on my dresser.”
Bly’s home includes an Old West
false-front town in the yard that he built himself that includes
a schoolhouse, jail, newspaper office, blacksmith shop, café,
gift shop, mercantile and two-story hotel.
“Makes a great photo op for
fans who come by to visit or a barbecue setting for friends and
family,” says Bly.
The Bly house also resides in a forest
of second cut, 100-year-old Ponderosa pines. These trees have been
the inspiration for the play on words phrase “Ponder Rosa”
for his novel One Step Over The Border
and a cowboy poem or two. “There are hundreds in view from
my window. Dozens in our yard. So, stare out the window long enough
and all sorts of writing ideas come to mind.”
Parts of the Old West remain, but
with all the modern amenities. That suits Bly just fine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now Available: The Land Tamers
Released October 1, 2009
Creede of Old Montana
By Stephen Bly
Centerpoint Publishing/Thorndike Press
300 pages, hardback, $29.95
Can be ordered through any quality local bookstore, online bookstores,
public libraries, or www.BlyBooks.com
To Be Released June 2010:
Cowboy For A Rainy Afternoon
PRESS
RELEASE . . .
PENCHANT FOR OLD WEST LEADS AUTHOR TO FORT
BENTON
Award
winning western author of 101 books, Stephen Bly doesn’t like
writing about a place he’s never been. That means loading
his truck to cruise up and down most every road in the eleven western
states. He’s spent much more time on unpaved roads than highways.
In fact, asphalt and blacktop bore him. Interstates drone like a
prison line because he sees nothing but the rig in front of him.
A few years back Bly spent a couple
weeks in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, west of Great Falls.
He sat around a campfire one night with an old-time cowboy called
Blue Moon. He told how the cowboys still change the life of a town
when they arrive.
“We ride to Augusta on the July
4th weekend,” Blue Moon said, “for the rodeo and celebrations.
The stores board up the glass windows and doors. The sheriff tries
to hire more deputies. For that long weekend, cowboys rule.”
Not much different than Old West days.
“Some say much has changed in
a hundred plus years,” Bly notes. “But out West there
are still unaltered lands, especially the rivers, mountains, sage
and prairies. You can feel what the nineteenth century early settlers
felt in your own bones. There is this bond with history.”
That’s what he felt the first
time he sauntered from the hotel in Fort Benton down to the Missouri
River and stared into the slow moving water.
“The Missouri River Breaks region
of eastern Montana was a wild and remote part of the Old West. An
easy place to get lost, either by accident or on purpose. It still
is. The frontier’s still here. It just has a fresh coat of
paint . . . in some places.”
His newest release (October 2009),
Creede of Old Montana, is set in Fort Benton, Montana, in the 1880s.
The theme is about a lady or two who lingered too long and the hero’s
longing for the right woman. Avery John Creede rides into Fort Benton
for a reunion with old army pals. He discovers a running gunfight
with a notorious outlaw and two women determined to distract him,
each for her own reasons. Somebody asked him why his story takes
place there instead of a larger city like Great Falls.
Bly explains: “In the early
1880s there was nothing at Great Falls…except for the Falls
themselves. And Lewis & Clark described them as a most beautiful
sight. Surely my man Creede will ride down and take a look, with
a lady, providing he can find one who isn’t trying to kill
him.”
Bly learned that Fort Benton was named
after Senator Thomas Benton, father-in-law of John C. Fremont. The
town, now country seat of Chouteau County, was originally a trading
post and one of the oldest communities in Montana (est. 1850).
Steamboats used to chug up the Missouri
River with supplies for gold camps. Rapids prevented going any further.
Now Fort Benton’s a quiet cattle and farm area . . .except
when the cowboys come to town.
With any luck, you can stay in the
same hotel as Avery John Creede, with the high ceilings, plush furniture
and glittering chandeliers. One of the balconies there plays a pivotal
point in Creede’s relationship with one of the ladies. Three
feet wide and two feet deep, it’s more for looks than practical
use. While it’s on the second story, the lobby below has a
20 foot ceiling. Leaping off the balcony is not a good option.
Bly debated the title. He wanted to
call it “The Missouri Breaks Reunion Series.” “But
only a few readers would know that the Missouri Breaks region is
in eastern Montana along the Missouri River. Some might think this
a Missouri story.” So he changed it to Creede of Old Montana.
Creede of Old Montana (hardback)
By Stephen Bly
Released October 2009, Center Point Publishing/Thorndike
Order through any local quality bookstore, online bookstore, public
library, or www.BlyBooks.com
HOW
I GOT INTO WESTERNS
Or How One Writer Picked His Genre
By Stephen Bly
Copyright©2008
Folks
often ask me if I always wanted to grow up and write books about
cowboys. Nope. Not me. I never wanted to be a writer. But I did
grow up on a farm and wanting to be a cowboy. I had Roy Rogers PJs
and curtains and a plastic statue of trigger on my dresser.
However, as a lad, I only read a few
western novels. My aunt and uncle had a box of dusty dime novels
in a room next to their garage. I’d go to sleep reading them
when I got a chance.
Not much different than kids in the
Old West. They had dime novels then too. Most were written by men
who had never gone west. They invented many of the clichés
and stereotypes that linger today. Think of them as old time supermarket
tabloids and you get the picture.
But what really caught my fancy was
history. I liked the nonfiction accounts of life in the Old West.
I learned to grab all the University of Oklahoma and University
of Nebraska titles that I could find.
After I married and started raising
kids of my own, I read lots of western fiction. One birthday my
mother gave me some Zane Grey stories. Then, I picked up novels
by B. M. Bower, Owen Wister, Will James, Luke Short, Ernest Haycock,
Elmer Kelton, Vardis Fisher and, of course, Louis L’Amour.
Somewhere in the middle of the 63rd L’Amour book, the idea
struck me . . . I can write one of these.
By then, I had a dozen nonfiction
books to my published credit, so I knew I could fill the pages.
But I didn’t know if I could spin a tale people would want
to read.
One summer wife Janet and I and our
youngest son camped in the Beartooth mountains, south of Red Lodge,
Montana. I took along an old typewriter and wrote my first western
novel, called The Land Tamers. Since I had no idea if I’d
ever have the chance to write another, I tied to pack every scene
I ever wanted to write in that one book. An editor commented that
it moved about as fast as the movie, Raiders Of The Lost Ark. She
meant it as a critique. I took it as a compliment.
As it turned out, that was just one
of many tales I was allowed to write. I haven’t run out of
ideas yet.
Christy Award winning Stephen Bly’s newest release is Creede
of Old Montana, available after October 1, 2009. Order through your
local bookstore, favorite online book outlet, public library, or
www.BlyBooks.com
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