LEISURE: BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH PUBLISHING 3-BOOKS

The 50-yard-line at Houck Stadium, Lichtenegger's Finer Foods in Jackson, Mo., and Oak Ridge High School are some of the locations revisited by Portland, Ore., writer Dorris June Brannon in her new book "Mostly Reliable Recollections." It's a book about the past whose author thinks she is surfing the publishing wave of the future.

"Mostly Reliable Recollections," a collection that includes many reminiscences from Brannon's years as a local resident, and her book "A Time for White Roses" are available through the Philadelphia electronic publisher Xlibris.

Brannon, who has graduate degrees in literature and counseling, had an agent who tried unsuccessfully to get her books published the old-fashioned way. After reading an article about e-books, she decided this may be the future of publishing.

Electronic publishers reduce their monetary risk by printing books only on demand and allowing customers to download the books themselves for a reduced price. Brannon paid for the books' copyrights. She receives a percentage of sales.

Paperbacks can be ordered from bookstores for $16 or can be downloaded online for $10. The books can be found at the Internet sites Xlibris.com, Amazon.com or Borders.com. Customers simply go the Xlibris site, click on Bookstore and follow the search prompts.

E-books even have a beneficial environmental effect, Brannon said. "It saves paper and ultimately trees."

She was born in Poplar Bluff, Mo., was adopted by a family and grew up in Jackson, living there as an adult from 1963-80. The books are written under her maiden name. While living here she was better known to most people as June Fredman.

She graduated from Jackson High School in 1952, and took undergraduate and graduate degrees at Southeast. She taught composition at Southeast and English at Oak Ridge High School. She also has a graduate degree in literature from Washington University in St. Louis.

She recalls much of her time here with fondness.

In "A Time for White Roses," Brannon tells of her search for her birth mother. The title refers to a custom in her adoptive mother's background to wear a red rose on Mother's Day if your mother is living, white if not.

After a life in which she was married three times and also lived in St. Louis, Tucson, Ariz., Boston, Pittsburgh, Pa., and Salem, Ore., Brannon has been retired now in Portland for four years. Two of her sons and a grandchild live there. She teaches a grammar course in the continuing education department at a local community college.