An Evening with Author Mike Stark

Inspired by real events, The Derelict Light examines the devastating Astoria fire of 1922 through the eyes of a Finnish immigrant, a lovesick thief, Socialist agitators, cunning Klansmen and the state’s first female fire investigator left to sort out the mess.

Mike Stark is an author and long-time journalist, including time at The Daily Astorian and KMUN, and later at the Associated Press. His previous book, Chasing the Ghost Bear: On the Trail of America’s Lost Super Beast, was published in 2022. The Derelict Light, published by the University of Nebraska Press, is his first novel.