FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 BESS PRESS PUBLISHES STORIES ABOUT MADAME PELE

No Hawaiian deity is better known than Pele, whose presence is felt in the volcanic eruptions on the Big Island and who is celebrated in legend and art. In Madame Pele: True Encounters with Hawai‘i's Fire Goddess, Rick Carroll presents stories collected from 23 people who had personal encounters with Pele. For some, she was a lady in a red dress; for others, she took the form of a hitchhiker—a young or an old woman—who mysteriously disappeared. For yet others, she was more amorphous—they didn't see her, but felt her effects, perhaps after taking rocks or sand from her island. She announces a birth, commemorates a death, issues warnings, and delivers blessings and curses. Is she a spirit, a legend, or a reality? The reader is left to decide.

Rick Carroll 's six-book Hawai‘i's Best Spooky Tales series is a local bestseller. He is also the host of the Hawai‘i 's Best Spooky Tales Festival, held each year at the Outrigger Waikiki.

Bess Press , celebrating 25 years of independent publishing is located in Honolulu , Hawai'i and publishes trade titles about Pacific-related topics in the following categories: children's literature, cookbooks, humor, sports, languages, reference books, and guidebooks.

Review copies and digital images are available from Bess Press: info@besspress.com , (808) 734-7159, ext. 21.

ISBN 1-57306-145-X, 144 pages, $11.95