One thing I stumbled upon while researching today's Restless Native piece about Washington's northern border was Olympia author Jim Lynch's novel, "Border Songs."

Lynch paints a vivid -- and quite accurate -- picture of the culture clash that occurs when a medium-sized, high-tech Army sets up camp in a place where nobody bats an eye when farmers wearing manure-stained boots are waiting in line in the local bank. It's fertile material, well-mined by the writer.

A mention of the book (which I'm still reading) in today's piece got trimmed out. So I wanted to pass along a recommendation here. A winner of the Washington State Book Award for fiction, it's a creative tale, well-told.