Journalist Michael Lester has traveled the globe and self-published guidebooks from such destinations as Israel, Jordan, Panama, Scandinavia, New England; and Mallorca, Spain. For his newest travelogue, Lester set his sights on his own backyard: Benicia.

“Dispatch from Benicia” goes beyond listing sites for tourists. It captures the character, history and geography of the town in just 44 pages, including through interviews with several top local officials.

Lester has lived in Benicia for a year and a half, but previously spent several decades living in the East Bay working for various magazines. He was the first editor of what became Diablo Magazine when it was established in the ‘80s. He also contributed to Saturday Review, California Lawyer, Multimedia World and several other magazines, mostly as a staff editor and writer. In recent years, Lester has spent time freelancing and traveling. During his visits to locales in places like Scandinavia and the Middle East, he would send emails to 100 of his closest friends about his experiences. One of Lester’s friends suggested he publish the “dispatches” as a book through Amazon’s digital publishing process.

“I took all these emails I had written, lumped them together by categories or continents and published them,” he said.

After a few years, Lester’s friends were telling him they had not received a dispatch in a while. Lester, who had recently moved, said he had not been going anywhere and had just been staying home in Benicia. This gave him an idea.

“It just seemed the natural step,” he said. “Here I am in this strange new world. Here’s my take on it.”

Thus, “Dispatch from Benicia” was born. Lester’s book details the history, geography, tourist attractions and even crime— although this section is only one page long. Beyond that, Lester also explores the clash between the downtown historic district and the more modern suburban Southampton region, the perceived “niceness” of the residents and more. To further dive into Benicia’s character, Lester spoke with such figures as Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Police Chief Erik Upson, City Manager Lorie Tinfow, Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani, Chamber of Commerce President Stephanie Christiansen, Benicia Main Street Director Nancy Martinez, Benicia Old Town Theatre Group President Dan Clark, longtime resident and former Benicia Historical Society President Bonnie Silveria, and even people like Lester’s mail carrier and bocce ball team co-captain. In the final chapter, Lester asks most of these people what kind of pie they think Benicia would be, and they all give varying answers.

“It was a good way for me to meet people,” he said.

One of the biggest revelations for Lester was that Benicia is not an easy town to simplify.

“It’s not a simple town, which is why I ended up writing several chapters,” he said. “The living is pretty simple, but the structure and the people have their idiosyncrasies.”

Lester enjoyed the process of self-publishing, particularly the ability to continue to make changes, something he is still doing. His previous dispatches were written for friends in addition to being guidebooks for newcomers. He hopes to accomplish something similar with his Benicia book, providing information to visitors as well as residents “trying to get more insight into their neighbors.”

“I hope it’s entertaining and educational,” he said. “I hope they walk away with more information about this town.”

“Dispatch from Benicia” is available on Amazon, both as a paperback and as an e-book.

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