The launch of a shipwreck tale

Author Rod Scher and illustrator Molly Dumas will appear at Lincoln City’s Freed Gallery this Saturday, Nov. 16, showcasing their collaborative work on “Ship of Lost Souls, The Tragic Wreck of the Steamship Valencia.”

The recently released work of nonfiction, gives the account of the steamship Valencia, which sailed from San Francisco bound for Seattle. In January 1906, it lost its bearings in a storm and ran aground on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. All but 37 of its 173 passengers and crew perished.

The book has received great reviews from Nautilus International, Top Mast Sail World and Library Journal.

Scher began his working life teaching English in high schools in California and Oregon. He has worked as an editor for textbooks and magazines, and also as a software developer, writing software for StudyWare, the educational software company he and two partners founded in 1986. He is also the author of “Sailing by Starlight.”

Dumas grew up in Flint, Michigan during the civil rights movements. She studied art at Elmhurst College under renowned Chicago muralist/print maker John Pittman Weber and imagist Sandra Jorgensen. Her linoleum relief blocks are hand-carved, and her limited-edition prints using oil-based printers ink are hand pulled.

Saturday’s event is from 1 to 3 pm at the Freed Gallery, located at S 6119 Hwy. 101 in Lincoln City. For more information, go to freedgallery.com.