Stephanie’s Stepside, Episode 2:

About the Book

In this first sequel to Stephanie’s Stepside, Mair’s graduate student protagonist, Stephanie Carson, of the western San Joaquin Valley, is back in the massive fields lying poisoned by toxic waste. In an effort to restore to productivity the huge once fertile semi-arid lake bed of the ancient Tulare Lake region of California, she has brought a whole team of young experts. Due to Stephanie’s excellent master’s project preparation, episode 2 begins only months after Stephanie’s UC Davis research team has been selected and has just begun its work of verifying Stephanie’s research. Because of the supercharged economic engine that the California western Central Valley had been, powerful political and economic forces are soon preparing to clash in the hot, dusty, and now lifeless fields of the western Central Valley. It is not long before the silence of undulating heat waves slow dancing over a test field is broken by the sharp report of a high-powered rifle. The slump of a figure beside an old, but well-kept, red pickup and the metal on metal “spang” of a heavy bullet ricocheting away follow moments later.

About the Author

Lonnie Mair is a retired teacher of high school-aged students who moved with his wife to the Central Valley of California, due to his service in the U.S. Navy. After his military service was completed, he returned to the college classroom to complete his education and teaching credential. Over the course of over thirty years in the high school classroom, he taught many subjects, but perhaps the one in which he spent the most time was in teaching English and composition. It was during the course of one of those classes that he initiated a writing exercise, designed to recognize and develop the skills of writing. It would be an intentional effort to develop characterization, setting, and plot through writing, and while students wrote, he would write as well. Although they shared their efforts together, it was not long until other pressing assignments led the writing effort to a back shelf, and there, not forgotten but out of sight, the initial draft fragment of Stephanie’s Stepside lay. The time and creative energy that might have been utilized to finish the story while still teaching was instead expended in the effort to create meaningful learning experiences for students, write curriculum, develop new school organizational and curriculum delivery models, and teach teachers how to integrate technology into their instructional delivery patterns, as well as all of the other book and grade keeping responsibilities that are time consuming realities of a public high school teacher. After his retirement, other responsibilities consumed his years. It was during a periodic effort at “recovering” his den that the fragment once again saw the light of day and inspired the further development and eventual completion of the first book. The characters brought to life in Stephanie’s Stepside took on a life of their own, and the developing scenario led to the sequel, which became Stephanie’s Stepside Episode 2: Blood on Toxic Ground!