Lichenwald

How can you protect an elderly parent from a predator?

Lichenwald won the 2020 IPPY Gold Medal for best regional fiction. This is a story of lichens, dementia, manipulations, and the joys of unexpected friendships. Duncan Sheffels returns with accurate illustrations of Northwest lichens.

At the edge of exhaustion, lichenologist Zinnie Fazail struggles to maintain a professional life as her mother’s mental acuity decays. Her mother insists on wandering the neighborhood, looking for a vaguely remembered blue mushroom while lapsing into German, the language of her childhood.

Zinnie is desperate for a health aide who can keep up with her mother’s excursions. When May Belle Pope moves in with promises to “Take care of things,” Zinnie learns that Evil can be a roommate with small barking dogs.

As a college professor in botany, Zinnie knows lichens. She knows a tough fungus can make a protective layer for the algae, busily producing sugars to share, but vulnerable to weather. Zinnie also knows a new teen has arrived in the neighborhood, and she looks like trouble.

Having made one horrible error in judgement, who can Zinnie trust now?

This is an adventure with a bit of botany thrown in. Accurate, but light, it will change how the reader sees the woods. Buy Lichenwald today!

A ‘Wishing Shelf’ Book Review: It’s not often you find an author who can so cleverly balance her knowledge of a subject such as lichen and also offer the reader a tantalizing story. . . Rice presents them with an absorbing setting that, simply, jumps off the page.

Other works by Ellen King Rice and Duncan Sheffels:

The Slime Mold Murder: Kirkus Reviews says, “Characterization is Rice’s strength; she’s packed this volume with memorable characters, including a sexy sculptress, an elusive nature photographer, and a prickly visiting professor.

As with her earlier works set in the Pacific Northwest, she effectively shines a spotlight on nature, in this case, slime molds. Helping to bring these little-known organisms to life are the striking illustrations by Sheffels. . . A whimsical whodunit both educational and entertaining.”

Undergrowth: "Nothing says Pacific Northwest better than mushrooms, lush forests and gray, rainy days . . . Rice's multi-generational story combines a murder, mushroom research and disturbing backwoods encounters.” Winner of a 2019 Silver IPPY award for Best Regional Fiction.

The EvoAngel: '"Compelling characters and a plot with a little fungi thrown in. A Finalist, and highly recommended." The Wishing Shelf Book Awards.

The Forest of Mayhem: “The story unfolds with just the right pacing, like that of a beautiful walk on a trail in the PNW. The region is depicted perfectly -- complete with mossy trees and fungi in densely wooded areas and speaks to the author's vast knowledge of the western Washington biological features, woods, and trails.”

Don’t miss Ellen’s Menippean satire about the gig economy in challenging times. Larry’s Post-Rapture Pet-Sitting Service is a howling good time!

At the edge of exhaustion, lichenologist Zinnie Fazail struggles to maintain a professional life as her mother descends into dementia.