Battle Ground native Kameron Hurley’s first book, “God’s War,” will be released Jan. 18 by Night Shade Books. It’s a science fiction tale about an assassin named Nyx.
Hurley, 30, graduated from Battle Ground High School in 1998, and received an associate’s degree at Clark College. She went on to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and graduate school in South Africa.
Now she lives in Dayton, Ohio, where she works as a marketing and sales writer for an advertising agency.
One of Hurley’s first published pieces was in The Columbian in 1996. It was a first-person feature about her experiences in high school theater.
Hurley is excited about this milestone in her career, but she’s ready to tackle the new challenges that lie ahead.
“Getting your first book out is a big step,” Hurley said. “Staying in the game, though, is much harder.”
Her next book, “Infidel,” is due out in December.
Photographer stays busy with local shows
It’s been nearly two years since a gallery showcased photographs by Vancouver artist Dale Strouse. That changed recently — and in a big way.
Strouse is currently:
• The featured artist in an exhibit at Washington State University Vancouver, where he is a student.
• One of two featured artists in the latest exhibit at downtown Vancouver’s Angst Gallery.
• One of several artists with work on display as part of a miniature works exhibit at the North Bank Artists Gallery.
“It’s kind of cool,” he said. “It’s like feast or famine with me.”
Having so many shows on display at once is a first for Strouse. “It feels special,” he said.
Before the current flurry, Strouse, 55, most recently showed his work in early 2009 at the RiverSea Gallery Astoria in Astoria, Ore.
His black-and-white images are of buildings and scenery in the Pacific Northwest. The region’s wilderness is a favorite subject for Strouse.
“I’ve always been an outdoor person. It was natural for me to shoot once I started getting into photography,” he said.
He celebrated one of his most recent exhibits with a contest. He handed out forms at the Angst Gallery’s First Friday reception, asking visitors to guess the locations or landmarks of each photograph. The person who guessed the most correct locations won a free print.
He hoped that viewers would get more out of his works than a free print. “What attracts me most to those subjects is the symbolism,” Strouse said. “That really excites me, that sense of mystery and irony, especially.”
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