Bona Fide Books’ first publication, Permanent Vacation: Twenty Writers on Work and Life in Our National Parks – Volume 1: The West, is a definite must read. It includes 19 thought-provoking essays about life in our national parks, and one about streaking.

A few of the essays include Tahoe City’s Joseph Flannery who wrote of his encounters with grizzly bears while working in Yellowstone, while South Lake Tahoe’s Janet Smith details leaving home after high school for life in Yosemite Valley. Millions of people visit our national parks each year, and some never leave. Meet the biologist who came to know and understand Six, Yellowstone’s charismatic and temperamental elk. See iconic landscapes through the eyes of bed makers, bridge builders, rangers, and wranglers. Rip through rapids, disappear inside canyons, and witness personal transformations from petrified forests to permafrost. Learn what it’s like to ditch the mainstream and make a life in our nation’s best idea.

“The stories in this collection are incredible,” says Kim Wyatt, owner and publisher of Bona Fide Books, who started the small press in 2009. “We received over 200 submissions, and it was tough to keep it to twenty. Something about living in nature makes great storytellers, and these writers should be widely read.”

“Permanent Vacation” is available at Bona Fide Books, Amazon, and at www.pvstories.net, a website set up to allow park workers to share their stories.  Readers can also go there to find out more about their favorite “Permanent Vacation” contributors, who will be updating the site over the summer with video and photos of hikes, climbs, and river trips.

PV is also available in South Lake Tahoe at Angora Lakes Resort, Gaialicious, Lake of the Sky Outfitters, Lake Tahoe Community College Bookstore, Lakeside Inn and Tahoe Sports Ltd., and Bookshelf in Tahoe City.

Although “Permanent Vacation” is Bona Fide’s inaugural effort, the Meyers-based press has two other books. “Mud Cakes,” the winner of the 2011 Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Prize, and “Tahoe Blues,” a collection of flash fiction and micro essays about life at the lake will be released in June 2012.

For general information about Bona Fide Books or to order the books, please contact publisher Kim Wyatt, 530-573-1513, or editor@bonafidebooks.com.