January 10, 2023

By Ramona du Houx

The Solon Center for Research and Publishing, non-profit, is proud to announce three books for the holidays, published by the Center’s project: Polar Bear & Company. PB&C is an independent literary publisher with a primary focus on community building and place. Further, related categories of interest include histories, things that inspire (what might be called hope), and the imagination. Democracy is a strong theme throughout our books.

Polar Bear & Company was founded in 1998, quite literally in a cabin in the woods next to a little brook that feeds into the Kennebec River in Maine. Polar Bear’s first prototypes came before the internet era, before digital printing. We remember DOS. Some of Polar Bear’s early manuscripts were typed on a typewriter. Even though the company enthusiastically embraced new technologies, they reported that they operate with the same level of attention to detail that it takes to type out a manuscript letter by letter and bind it by hand. Polar Bear & Company sees publishing as a craft.

They announced their new authors: Richard Davies, who worked as senior advisor to Gov. John Baldacci, Sherry Van Winkle Walrath who taught sign language and David Kroner a teacher and mystic.

Thomas Votary, Medieval Oxford Coroner: The King’s Gold Double Leopards

by Richard Davies

 A young Thomas Votary leaves his father’s manorial estate on foot to seek his own fortune. Trained in reason and evidence, he looks for employment in late medieval Oxford, England. Soon he is swept up in the attempt to solve murders that lead to the highest reaches of the realm, even as King Edward III has ignited the Hundred Years War. His romance with a runaway from bondage leads them both into the perils of their rise in society.

ISBN: 978-1-959112-01-3

Retails: $16.95

Mr. Tiggywiggle: A Tale of Tails 

by Sherry Van Winkle Walrath, Illustrations by Mary Beth Morrison

Planning of the Fourth of July takes a turn, when new ideas are introduced. . . Those new suggestions kerfuffle Town Council members so much that they take home the wrong tails – and start acting like each other!

Through heartwarming humor, candor and wit, Mr. Tiggywiggle comes to the rescue by creating an Independence Day celebration to reflect his diverse community. In color inside and out with 10 illustrations of the animal characters.

ISBN: 1-882190-94-7

32 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches

Retails: $9.95

Soto’s Song 

by Dave Kroner

illustrated by Ramona du Houx

 Travel with Soto on his mystical journey through an imagined reality, where he gains perspective and listens to the wisdom in the air, water, fire, and earth. Embraced by nature, he is able to find truth within himself in his song. Color inside and out with 22 pages of photographic art.

Ramona du Houx uses the camera with a painter’s eye. Her technique involves movement to create a sense of wonder through colors, textures, memories, and the seasons. The images are dreamlike, healing, Zen meditative, and thought-provoking. All the photographic art was created on nature walks.

“Sometimes, when people look at my work, they relax and find tranquility, as by taking time to be at peace in Nature. At other times, the images can refresh, excite, or energize. I hope to connect viewers with Nature’s magic by revealing her complex balance.”—Ramona du Houx

978-1882190-33-1

Retails: $18.00