BRIEFLY NOTED:


_Mark Twain's 88 Days in the Mother Lode & Stories of the Gold Rush_.
Written and compiled by James Fletcher. Softcover. 158 pages. Manzanita
Writers Press, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-9908019-1-7. $20.00.

James Fletcher will be a familiar name to those viewers who have seen the
Brown and Simonis video production _88 Days in the Motherlode_ (2015) where
Fletcher appeared as the "Calaveras County Storyteller." Fletcher is a
former school administrator and classroom teacher who now resides in Angels
Camp, California, where he has served as a docent at the Angels Camp
Museum. His book features five chapters including "Sam Clemens Journeys
West," "The Mother Lode Influence," "Billy Gillis and His Gold Rush
Stories," and "The Jumping Frog Story." Fletcher draws much of his material
from the classic works of Mark Twain published by the University of
California Press, Albert Bigelow Paine's biography of Mark Twain, Charles
Neider's autobiography of Mark Twain, William Gillis's memoirs, works by
historian Edna Bryan Buckbee, and publications by George Williams III.
Fletcher's book features illustrations from Mark Twain's first editions as
well as historical photographs of the area.

The publisher's webpage for this book is:

http://manzapress.com/