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T. Jefferson Parker masterfully transports readers to late-‘60s Laguna Beach, California in his gripping new thriller "A Thousand Steps."

Don Oldenburg Special to USA TODAY When journalist Stephen Kurczy began traveling from New York City into the West Virginia backcountry in 2017, he was convinced he had found a modern-day Walden – an oasis unspoiled by the clamor of the digital era. Wary of the tyranny of today’s non-stop connectivity, he hadn’t owned a cell phone for a decade and had high hopes Green Bank, W.Va., would live up to its billing as “The Quietest Town in America.” In this intriguing book “The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence” (Dey Street Books, 336 pp., ★★★�...

Evan Calvert's photograph of a snowy shoreline earned him a prize in Bethany Beach's calendar photography contest of 2021. The Town of Bethany Beach recently announced winners for the 2021 photo contest. Out of 430 entries from amateur and professional photographers, 53 images were selected as semi-finalists, 18 of which will make it into the Town’s 2022 calendar. “We’ve been running this annual contest since 2013,” said Julie Malewski, events director for Bethany Beach. “We wanted to change it up this year, so we asked our social media followers to weigh in on the re...