Sunday, July 31, 2016

Exciting Announcement-- New Book!

Good morning!

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Arcadia Publishing. Due to the success of my book "Shipwrecks of Coos County," we began discussing the possibly of my writing a second local history book for their "Images of America" series. I chose to wait to make an announcement until we reached an agreement.

I'm excited to announce that I'm currently under contract to write a follow up book titled "Shipwrecks of Curry County." The new book will basically pick up where the other one left off. It'll continue discussing shipwrecks along the Oregon coastline beginning just south of Bandon and continuing to the Oregon-California state line.

Although Curry County is smaller than Coos County, many of its settlements are older. There are several geographical similarities between the coastlines in both counties that make them particularly treacherous for ships (especially early in their history). But, there are also several features that make Curry County unique. I will be discussing both in the new book. There are also some amazing Curry County shipwreck stories. For instance, it was the location of one of the last American ships to be torpedoed off of the Oregon coast by a Japanese submarine during World War II. Fortunately, most of the crew survived. There are some amazing photographs related to the incident.


Tentatively, we're looking at a July 2017 release date for "Shipwrecks of Curry County." The retail price will be $21.99.

Please e-mail me or leave a comment on this post if you'd like to pre-order a copy of the new book. I'd be happy to e-mail you when the book is released and mail you a signed copy.

I'll also be lining up several shipwreck talks/book signing events within both Coos and Curry counties for next summer and fall. I'll post more information as the publication date gets closer.

Thank you all for your continued support of my writing career. I couldn't do it without you!


Woo-hoo! Time to roll up my sleeves and do some local history research!


~~ H. S. Contino