Portage

About the Book

Do certain places on the map have special energy? Are we somehow attracted to them? Akron, Ohio's Portage Path is Northeast Ohio's geographic watershed. Rain that drops north, slopes north to Lake Erie and into the Atlantic. Rain that drops south reaches the rivers flowing into the Ohio, the Mississippi and on into the Gulf. Throughout pre-history, Indian tribes portaged their canoes along this eight mile strip of land. Back and forth, north or south -- Fate, the seasons, the fauna and warring tribes of the moment dictated which edge of the path to follow. Simple "accidents" of time and season held consequences of monumental proportions. For readers of Lawren Farber’s Portage, there’s an eerie feeling about this place, the Portage Path. Portage presents these violent "watershed" confrontations -- among tribes, between Indians and settlers and among citizen factions against other factions along the Portage Path in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Did pre-historic rituals caste some spell over these eight miles? Dr. Reingold, history sleuth, serialized stories of the tribes living along Lake Erie’s southern shores. All Akron reads them. Suzannah Frizelle meets Mayer along the Portage Path and is pulled from her readings into his drug deal -- one that actually took place there in 1972. The drug deal goes bad. A shoot-out takes place between the dealers and police all along the Portage Path. Portage mixes reckless love, guns and history into a fast-paced, exciting read. Do places have some special energy that leads to violence? This time, in 1972, new fates become swept up in Portage Path’s spell and are sealed again.

About the Author

LAWREN FARBER lives with his wife, Rhonda, in San Jose, California. They have three grown children. Lawren is an avid reader and a swimming enthusiast. He grew up in Akron, Ohio, and received his BA degree from Case Western Reserve University and his MA from Kent State University, both in English. Lawren moved to Seattle and then to San Francisco, where he worked in advertising and public relations. An opportunity to work in the famous Silicon Valley pulled him farther south to San Jose, where he has lived for thirty years. He soon opened his own marketing communications firm, 2nd Story Media, providing top-quality technology PR and corporate video production for leading Silicon Valley industries. Lawren is an Emmy-winning video producer. He has also served as an adjunct professor at several Bay Area community colleges for over twenty-five years. Lawren has published two essays in professional journals on the sources and theoretical structure of two leading twentieth-century influences on world literature: Gertrude Stein and D. H. Lawrence. His major in undergraduate and graduate school was in seventeenth-century English metaphysical poetry. In addition to Available in Stereo and Monaural, Lawren has completed several novels, including Portage, which is now also available through Xlibris.