Books by Peter Beren
The Writers Legal Companion (Basic Books)
For most writers, negotiating the legal maze of publishing is as challenging as getting their words in print. This comprehensive guide offers writers solid advice on all aspects of publishing law. Candid and readable, it cover everything from copyrights and taxes to libel laws, subsidiary rights, and the obscure clauses in publisher’s contracts. As important resource for editors, agents, or anyone in print or electronic publishing, this updated third edition of The Writer’s Legal Companion features essential, irreplacable information on: publishing contracts, good and bad clauses libel, slander, and invasion of privacy issues electronic rights conditions the business of publishing, including marketing and selling books magazine publishing collaboration and agents’ agreements federal income tax considerations for freelance writers copyright legalities Whether you write an occasional magazine article or publish a new book every year, The Writers Legal Companion will save you time, and reduce your anxiety over the business of publishing.
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More True Than Strange (Pathstone Press) NEW RELEASE
“A time capsule between covers” —Baron Wolman
In these pages, you will meet the artist who coined the term Graphic Novel and wrote and illustrated the world’s first. You will encounter the legendary Woodstock Festival and here you will find the Weather Underground, the White Panthers, Hippies and Yippies. You will experience life in the shadow of the Draft, the death of a classmate, the Resistance to the Vietnam War, mass demonstrations and the radical politics that pervaded everyday life in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Meet Gurus like Karmu, the Black Christ of Cambridge, Timothy Leary and his sometime collaborator, Robert Anton Wilson, musicians like the Incredible String Band and Canned Heat, or some of the famous chefs, like Alice Waters and Bruce Aidells, who started the Foodie Movement. With most of the articles reprinted in their original form from their first appearance in such alternative media as the Boston Phoenix, Boston After Dark, Rags Magazine, the Berkeley Monthly as well as mainstream media like Tufts Magazine and Newsweek, More True Than Strange begins in 1968 and continues to the present day. Although feature writing was a “busman’s holiday” for book publishing professional, Peter Beren, he has nontheless curated a literary smorgasbord with something for every taste.
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The Golden Gate (Insight Editions)
The Golden Gate Bridge is an icon of one of the most storied of American cities, San Francisco. Standing between the Bay and the mighty Pacific like a guardian of the West, the Golden Gate retains its grip on the American imagination long after its twenty-seven-year record of being the longest suspension bridge in the world was superseded.
Featuring a selection of stunning images of the Bridge, many from angles and positions that show it in a whole new light, The Golden Gate: San Francisco’s Celebrated Bridge showcases the acclaimed photography of San Francisco native, Morton Beebe. Complementing Beebe’s photographs is a short history of the bridge and memorable quotes from a variety of San Francisco natives and visitors affected by the its imposing presence, illustrating the firm grip this near-mythic structure has on our collective imagination.
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California the Beautiful (Rizzoli)
As America stands to the rest of the world, so stands California to America – a shining promise of endless possibility. This exquisite celebration of the Golden State has been updated with a new introduction, new cover design, and an enlarged size to suit the grandeur of its subject. California the Beautiful is both a portrait of the state’s diverse natural beauty and, through the incredible voices of its writers, a testament to the ever-renewing spirit that it has come to embody. Aldous Huxley, British author turned Hollywood resident, described the California dream as “this great crystal of light, whose base is as large as Europe and whose height for all practical purposes, is infinite.” Among the other authors offering praise are Maya Angelou, Mary Austin, Ray Bradbury, Joan Didion, Gretel Ehrlich, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, M.F.K Fisher, Robertson Jeffers, Jack Kerouac, Clarence King, Jack London, Henry Miller, John Muir, William Saroyan, April Smith, John Steinbeck, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, Nathanael West, and Walt Whitman.
Land of innovation and opportunity, California is both dream and reality. California the Beautiful is a gift for all who have felt the lure of this dual promise and who have marveled at the unrivaled beauty of this quintessentially American land.
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Vintage San Francisco (Rizzoli)
Here is a unique portrait of America’s favorite city. From the devestation of the Great Quake of 1906 to the spanning of the Golden Gate and the magnificent Panama Pacific Exposition, the classic images of the City by the Bay (visited by more than 14 million people each year) have become part of the American psyche through literature, film, and song. Chronicled in dramatic black and white photographs, taken by three generations of gifted San Francisco photographers from Moulin Studios, this indelible portrait of the cool, gray, city of love, comes alive in history, legend, and lore. Here are the streets where Sam Spade south the Maltese Falcon, where Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman lunched at John’s Grill, and where William Saroyan spent his days at the public library waiting for his big break. San Francisco more than lives up to its reputation as one of America’s finest and most mythic cities, and never is its mark on the American soul more apparent than in this beautifully printed book. Quotations will be included from such San Francisco writers as: Jack London, Frank Norris, Mark Twain, William Saroyan, Rudyard Kipling, and Dashiell Hammett.
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Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra (Rizzoli)
In the tradition of California the Beautiful, Galen Rowell’s best-selling celebration of the natural beauty of the Golden State, comes Yosemite & the Eastern Sierra, featuring stunning color images by outdoor photographer Gary Crabbe.
Here is a fresh look at the wonders of Yosemite National Park (visited by more than three million peopleren.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Vintage-San-Francisco.jpg” alt=”Vintage San Francisco” width=”260″ height=”245″ />Here is a unique portrait of America’s favorite city. From the devestation of the Great Quake of 1906 to the spanning of the Golden Gate and tf the Great Quake of 1906 to the spanning of the Golden Gate and the magnificent Panama Pacific Exposition, the classic images of the City by the Bay (visited by more than 14 million people each year) have become part of the American psyche through literature, film, and song. Chronicled in dramatic black and white photographs, taken by three generations of gifted San Francisco photographers from Moulin Studios, this indelible portrait of the cool, gray, city of love, comes alive in history, legend, and lore. Here are the streets where Sam Spade south the Maltese Falcon, where Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman lunched at John’s Grill, and where William Saroyan spent his days at the public library waiting for his big break. San Francisco more than lives up to its reputation as one of America’s finest and most mythic cities, and never is its mark on the American soul more apparent than in this beautifully printed book. Quotations will be included from such San Francisco writers as: Jack London, Frank Norris, Mark Twain, William Saroyan, Rudyard Kipling, and Dashiell Hammett.
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Hidden Napa Valley (Rizzoli)
Here is a unique portrait of California’s beloved wine country. From its stunning landscape to its culture and gourmet sophistication, these striking images of the valley, captured throughout the seasons, illustrate the unique treasures of California’s prized vineyards. Chronicled in color photographs by gifted local photographer Wes Walker, this portrait of California’s promised land comes alive in history, legend, and lore. Updated with many new locations, this enlarged edition has also been expanded to include an index as well as a resource guide packed with great Napa wineries, shops, hotels, B&Bs, and restaurants. Accompanied by quotations from great writers and personalities including: Robert Mondavi, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ernest Hemingway, Galileo, Ursula K. Le Guin, MFK Fisher, Dawnine Dyer, and Herb Caen.
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Moving into Space (HarperCollins)
A collection of 27 essays moving from the mildly tot he wildly speculation, in five sections entitled “Reaching Outward,” “Space Industries,” “Extraterrestrial Life,” “The UFO Phenomenon” and “Space Age Myths.”
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America’s Cup San Francisco (Insight Editions)
Peter Beren is a contributor.
America’s Cup San Francisco covers it all, from the story of bringing the world’s oldest sporting trophy to the Golden Gate Yacht Club and building the new-look America’s Cup organization, to the launch of the AC72s—the fastest, most demanding catamarans on the planet