View from the Volcano: A Rebel’s Crusade in Hawai‘i Tourism

View from the Volcano: A Rebel’s
Crusade in Hawai‘i Tourism by Kathy Clarke

People always ask how I did it.

In the late 1970s, Kathy Clarke was the midwife for what became a burgeoning incentive travel industry in Hawai‘i. “Impossible” was not a word in Clarke’s vocabulary as she raised seven children and helped create a thriving tourism model. Her career began in Maui, where—making fast friends and ruffling the established players’ feathers along the way—Clarke was unafraid to plunge into uncharted waters and innovate a new way to tap into tourism. In 1988, she introduced incentive travel to Hawai‘i Island and replicated her Maui success. 

Having written her first memoir in 2021, Clarke was inspired to document not just her personal history, but that of her beloved industry as well. “No one knows the story of Hawai‘i’s incentive travel beginnings,” she observes. “If the story is not told, it will be lost.” In View from the Volcano, Clarke deftly weaves together the events of her own life and stories of the fitful growth of the state’s most influential industry—a unique perspective lent by her foundational role in shaping the framework of modern tourism in the Aloha State. Her trademark irreverent humor and wry observations will make readers forget they are consuming as much history as entertainment. 

After forty-five years influencing the hospitality and travel industry, and mentoring and training hundreds of suppliers and staff, Clarke lately finds herself asked two questions most frequently: How did you do it? (I have no idea. Truly.) And: When are you retiring? (Are they hoping I’ll go away, quietly? Am I looking old and tired? Am I just annoying?) But the only thing she loves more than making a difference is having a challenge. Still in the game, passionate and adventurous, Hawai‘i’s oldest living DMC, Clarke continues to delight in instigating minor rebellions. 

Born in Utah and raised in Northern California, Kathy Clarke lived on Maui for eleven years before moving to Hawai‘i Island, her main residence for the past thirty-three years.  Since 1980, Clarke has built a successful event and destination management company, operating on all Hawaiian islands. She has been a fixture on the local fundraising scene in her Waimea hometown, coordinating several cultural and community events for years. She also enjoys sustainable gardening and cooking. Her first collection of micro memoirs, My Life is a Road Atlas, was published in December 2021. 

Release Date: January 2023
116 pages

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Las Abuelas

Kitchens are the heart of the home.

In Maria Gutierrez’s family, kitchens are where traditions are created and shared, the conversation and storytelling are lively, and tiny demonstrations of love are served daily. In Las Abuelas, she has penned a love letter to her mother and a tribute to the women on both sides of her family who instilled a deep appreciation for food and story that is passed down from generation to generation. 

Through retellings of family lore and captivating glimpses into the kitchens of her formidable forebears, Gutierrez maps her female ancestors through their recipes. “This is how my family gives love to one another: through bread, empanadas, tamales, fried chicken, and lemon meringue pies,” she observes. Generously, Gutierrez offers not only tantalizing descriptions of these beloved family dishes, but shares the recipes for them as well. 

In detail-rich prose and poetry, Gutierrez offers a feast that nourishes heart, soul and stomach, capturing her family’s legacy of strong women and mouthwatering meals. Readers will come away feeling the fullness of love and hungry for a home-cooked meal.

Maria Gutierrez was raised in Southern California as part of a large Mexican American family. She received her BA from Pomona College and her MPA from The Evans School at University of Washington. Maria currently lives in Seattle with her husband and her dog. She enjoys reading, long neighborhood walks, and cooking one-pot soups.

Photo credit: R.P.N.

Release Date: November 2022
116 pages

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Hooligan Hearts

Hooligan Hearts: A Memoir by John G. Walters

Softcover, 304 pp
Release Date: August 2022

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Author John G. Walters (“Waltah Boy”) grew up on sugar plantations on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, including plantations in Hilo and Pāpa‘ikou. But the place closest to his heart is his last home on the Big Island—the town of Pāhala. In Hooligan Hearts, Walters chronicles these barefoot days, Island nights and his boyhood adventures, coming of age in yesterday’s Hawai‘i

Hooligan Hearts is Walters’s tribute to his brother, Ron, and the way of life they enjoyed as boys: “I wrote these vignettes to preserve and share memories I treasure. It’s my hope that whoever comes into my family or reads these stories after I’m gone will enjoy them, and I will be able to share a little bit about the place, time, and way we lived—especially since that way of life has vanished along with Hawai‘i’s sugar plantations.”

This book is a customized version of the Print on Demand Package.

Hooligan Hearts is available via online booksellers in print and e-book formats.

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Guardians

Love, like water, is our birthright.

Where is home when you’re the daughter of immigrants? When is it safe to say you’re gay? Author and poet Catherine Bachy has been traversing cultures all her life. Bicultural and bilingual from birth, she often finds herself in between worlds, sensitive to the sideways looks aimed at families like hers who aren’t quite like the others, alert for the subtle cues that affirm, “This is where you belong.” In Guardians, Bachy has crafted a compelling collection of lyrical essays that blend the personal, political, and spiritual, piecing together the touchstones that serve as the foundation for her identity. 

Bachy’s father was an inspiration for writing her book. “He was an artist,” she says, “and left us many paintings and drawings, through which we appreciate his vision of the world. He didn’t make it to sixty, the age I am turning as Guardians is being published.” Reaching sixty felt like an opportune time to share her own creative work and worldview. Pondering the habit she picked up after her father’s passing of memorizing and reciting poems, she observes, “These poems that dwell in my mind are my prayers: hope, acceptance, healing, and love. Maybe my father planted them there when he left and now, they have grown into trees.”

With detail-rich prose and poetry, Bachy has cultivated a captivating garden of stories in Guardians, tracing themes of love, longing, and belonging that resonate across cultures and generations.

Bicultural and bilingual from birth, Catherine Bachy often finds herself between worlds. Growing up, she journeyed between France and the US, graduating from Georgetown University with a degree in French. She taught English in Morocco as a Peace Corps volunteer, and taught writing at the University of Massachusetts. An executive coach at the University of Washington, Catherine also holds an MEd from the University of Massachusetts and an MA in Organizational Leadership from Seattle University. Catherine celebrates her deep love of France by flipping crêpes every year on Chandeleur with her family and friends. She shares her life with her wife and daughter and their two chihuahuas in Seattle, Washington.

Release Date: September 2022
108 pages

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Maps and Tapes

Cover of "Maps and Tapes" by Adrienne Robillard

Grab a microphone and turn up the volume.

Moving from Hawai‘i to Fresno in seventh grade changed Adrienne Robillard’s view of the world, herself, and her future. Being a new kid in a new school meant hours of time alone spent listening to cassette tapes and college radio, learning to play the guitar, and writing stories and lyrics. Joining a garage band in high school gave her a sense of belonging she’d never realized possible as she wrote songs with strangers who became treasured friends—one of whom she ended up marrying. Maps and Tapes follows Robillard from San Francisco to the UK, criss-crossing the US and Europe, feeling at home in a van on both sides of the road.

In Fresno, “I went from having friends and blending in to being a loner who kept getting asked, ‘What are you?’ because I was one of a few half-Asian students at Ahwahnee Middle School,” she recalls. “With my headphones on, I could ignore uncomfortable questions.” Later, music became her primary creative outlet and a way for her not to hide, but to connect.

In Maps and Tapes, Robillard interweaves lyrics written for her indie-rock bands between stories of first guitar lessons, young love, adventures in studying abroad, and gigging and touring with her bands. Her poignant prose paints a vivid portrait of the ways in which music soundtracked and shaped her teen and young adult years. Her callouts of favorite bands, albums, and songs will make readers want to cue up their own nostalgic playlists—good and loud, to be felt in the bones, the way the best music and memories should.

Adrienne Robillard is an English lecturer at Windward Community College. She grew up in Kailua, Hawai‘i, and Fresno, California. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. After college she worked in San Francisco as an office temp and marketing professional by day, playing in indie bands Secadora and Citizens Here and Abroad at night. She lives with her husband and their two children in Kailua on O‘ahu. In 2020 her first book, The ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook: Easy and Delicious Hawai‘i-Inspired Recipes from BBQ Chicken to Kalbi Short Ribs, was published by Ulysses Press.

Release Date: June 2022
120 pages

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Navigating Change

Navigating Change by Valdeane Uchima Odachi

I was never truly adrift.

A fragmented childhood filled with heartbreak and disappointment left Valdeane Uchima Odachi feeling lost at sea, at the mercy of unseen currents. In this moving collection of personal reflections and whimsical poetry, Navigating Change follows Odachi as she discovers moments of grace and synchronicity while struggling to reconcile her multiple roles as daughter, sister, wife, mother, teacher and caregiver. Her journey’s unanticipated reward is a renewed self-identity and the realization that she has always had everything she needs to live the life she wants.  

Odachi unexpectedly took on the role of caregiver when her husband was suddenly diagnosed with complicated and frustrating medical problems. “Initially, I thought I would write a book for my children and to document the challenges of having an older spouse with health issues and dementia,” she says. But, upon reading her early drafts, “I found my writing was so focused on the unhappiness I experienced—I didn’t enjoy reading that version of my memoir.” Instead, Odachi chose to shift her mindset and her book’s focus to recognize the moments that changed her. The story of her life transformed as she wrote and wrestled with complex and layered emotions concerning events in her past and her life’s current path. “Writing both versions allowed me to process the ongoing grief and recognize the grace that occurs in my life,” she reflects.

In Odachi’s heartfelt vignettes, readers will recognize the pain of adolescence, the joy of motherhood and the conflict inherent in reconciling the role of caregiver with maintaining a sense of self.

Valdeane Uchima Odachi is a postsecondary academic counselor and educator who hated school as a child but now holds various credentials ranging from a Hawai‘i state license in massage therapy to a master of arts in teaching from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Raised in Wahiawā, O‘ahu, she currently lives in Volcano, Hawai‘i Island, with her family and their two dogs, Bowie and Mika Shrimpface. She enjoys teaching the art of Zentangle®, organizing and removing clutter from her home and spending time with family. Navigating Change is her first book. 

Release Date: May 2022
120 pages

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My Life Is a Road Atlas

My Life Is a Road Atlas by Kathy Clarke

Then life happened.

Passionate and adventurous, Kathy Clarke has always believed in her own abilities and refused to let one day go by without being lived to its fullest. Maybe that’s what happens when you’re accidentally shot point-blank with a .22 rifle at age three and a half and you live to tell about it.

A challenging childhood prepared Clarke to accept life’s capriciousness. “It seemed like a really good idea at the time…” could be her life’s motto. “Good ideas” like dropping everything to strike out across the western plains in search of a meaningful relationship; acquiring a home menagerie consisting of multiple St. Bernards, a pissed-off cat, three turtles, a tortoise, a hamster named after a loser boyfriend and a housebroken baby goat; or building a career while raising seven children.

In lively and humorous prose, Clarke invites readers of My Life Is a Road Atlas along for the ride as she recalls her nomadic childhood, a roster of not-so-forgotten lovers and the controlled chaos of being a mother of seven “decent and imperfect human beings”—oh, yes, and that time that she got shot.

Compelled by the pandemic-induced Hawai‘i visitor industry shutdown to finally sit still, Clarke spent her time writing her memoirs, causing some anxiety to her children. “Memories are how life teaches you when you are not looking,” she muses. “In the next life, I hope I gain wisdom at a much younger age, considering how long it took me to acquire any this time around.” Readers may not wish for a wiser Clarke, who one can only imagine would have fewer “good ideas” to laugh and cry over.

Born in Utah and raised in Northern California, Kathy Clarke lived on Maui for eleven years before moving to Hawai‘i Island, her main residence for the past thirty-three years. Since 1980, Clarke has built a successful event and destination management company, operating on all Hawaiian islands. She has been a fixture on the local fundraising scene in her Waimea hometown, coordinating several cultural and community events for years. In addition to raising her seven children, Clarke has been a foster parent and involved in foster advocacy. She also enjoys sustainable gardening and cooking the literal fruits of her labors. 

Release Date: December 2021
122 pages

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Helene Yoshie…My Wife, Our Life: A Memoir

Helene Yoshie by George Hayakawa

Helene Yoshie…My Wife, Our Life
by George Hayakawa

Softcover, 160 pp
Release Date: September 2019
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What began as a tribute to his late wife, Helene, developed into a chronicle of George Hayakawa’s life with her, and a family history recorded for posterity. Helene Yoshie is a tribute to its namesake, as well as Hayakawa’s way of honoring her patience, strength and compassion. It was through Helene’s help that Hayakawa reconnected with his familial roots in Japan. As the last of his family’s line, this chronicle of the Hayakawa history is also his way of carrying on their legacy.

This type of book can be created with the ‘Ohana Package or Professional Package. Helene Yoshie was published using our Professional Package + Distribution Services add-on.

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Plantation Doctor

Plantation Doctor by T. David Woo

Plantation Doctor: A Memoir of Hawai‘i
by Dr. T. David Woo

Softcover, 132 pp
Release Date: August 2016
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Born on the Big Island just after the turn of the century, T. David Woo enjoyed a unique perspective on Hawai‘i’s booming plantation era. The twelfth of sixteen children, whose father was one of the first Episcopalian ministers in Hawai‘i, he left home at the age of fourteen to attend St. John’s School in Shanghai, China. After earning his medical degree in 1935, he returned to his island of birth to become a “cowboy doctor” at Parker Ranch, physician for the Hakalau, Pepe‘ekeo, Honomū and Onomea Plantations, and co-founder of the Hilo Medical Group—providing medical care for thousands of ranch hands, plantation workers and many other Big Island residents.

This posthumously published memoir shares rich anecdotes in Woo’s own words, as well as archival photos and detailed maps of Hakalau’s ethnic camps collected by Woo’s children—Diane (Woo) Soo Hoo, David Woo Jr. and Alden Woo.

Dr. Woo, say his children, “was an administrator and a leader among his associates, serving tirelessly on boards of numerous organizations. He believed in service, donating many hours to helping and bettering lives. He was a true renaissance man, always trying different things, always learning new things, always entertaining new ideas, failures did not deter him. As we age, we have come to more fully understand his life and appreciate his optimism and positivity in serving his fellow man, community and family. He wrote this autobiography before he died on September 30, 1991, and on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death, we are finally getting it published.”

This type of book can be created with the ‘Ohana Package or Professional Package. The client initially started with a Professional Package + Distribution services, but transitioned to a print-on-demand model in order to keep the title in print but without having to maintain inventory.

Plantation Doctor: A Memoir of Hawai‘i is available via Amazon.

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Today’s Thought


Today’s Thought—Rev. Paul Osumi: The Man & His Message
by Norman H. Osumi

Softcover, 272 pp
Release Date: September 2013
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For more than 35 years, Rev. Paul S. Osumi inspired generations of readers with his daily newspaper column, “Today’s Thought.” Thousands of copies of his simple aphorisms were clipped and saved. After the pastor’s death in 1996, his son Norman Osumi received many inquiries about publishing a new collection of “Today’s Thoughts.” Because three small volumes had already been published by Rev. Osumi himself, Norman felt that any collection “would need something more.” Thus began a decade-long project to research his father’s life, with the goal of including a biography to add context to a new collection of “Thoughts.” In addition to the biography and hundreds of favorite “Thoughts,” Norman included select inspirational speeches delivered by Rev. Osumi throughout his years of ministry as well as photographs and letters from the family’s personal collection in his softcover book Today’s Thought—Rev. Paul Osumi: The Man & His Message.

“My father’s words had a great impact on my life,” Norman says, “and on so many others’ too. People needed guidance in their lives and he tried to provide that. Father’s daily sayings gave people in Hawai‘i a set of values for living happy and meaningful lives. If by reading this book, they can gain some insight to live a better life, I will be happy.”

This book is a customized version of the Professional Package, with increased print run.

Today’s Thought—Rev. Paul Osumi: The Man & His Message is available via our online store and at local bookstores, as well as select churches and hospital gift shops.

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