BAKERSFIELD BESTSELLER at Russo's Books (2006, 2008) A collection that brings together 30 years worth of samples of the fictions, essays, and other writing by one of California's treasured writers and chronicler of the Great Central Valley.

Selected by a San Francisco Chronicle reader's poll as one of the 20th Century's Top 100 non-fiction books from the West. Now in its second edition (with 6 new essays), the book features intensely personal essays, dealing from everything from dogs to cancer. Follow one of California's most well-regarded writers from his blue-collar boyhood in Bakersfield to his white-collar manhood.

BAKERSFIELD BESTSELLER at Russo's Books (2000) This award-winning novel is Gerry Haslam's first in 25 years (non-fiction & short stories having occupied much of his writing time). The story revolves around Leroy Upton, a Bakersfield native now living in the Bay Area. Leroy struggles with his aging parents, a friend's failing marriage, and his own teenaged kids, all while trying to be a dutiful husband and college professor. Haslam's gripping narrative includes strategically placed "reminence" chapters which artfully explore Leroy's past, thus helping us understand his present. "This superb novel confirms Gerald Haslam's standing as the most important writer to emerge from California's Central Valley since Steinbeck." Gerald Locklin Winner-2000 Western States Book Award for Fiction Second Place-2000 Foreward Magazine's Book of the Year Award.

Half-Chicano, half-Anglo Manuel Ryan moves into his grandmother's Bakersfield house when his parents seperate. There he befriends not only fellow students at his new junior high, but his grandmother's aging neighbor ("The Madman") as well. As Manuel struggles through the challenges of adolesence, he, with The Madman's help, learns the value of his mixed heritage. A novel for young adults.