Short quirky tales from Wendy Wimmer

 

Entry Level
Wendy Wimmer
Short story collection
Autumn House Press, August 24, 2022
190 pp
$12.49 ebook
$17.95 paper

Buy on Amazon 
Barnes and Noble 

About the Book
Tales of characters trying to find their way through the struggles of underemployment.

Wendy Wimmer’s debut short story collection, Entry Level, contains a range of characters who are trying to find, assert, or salvage their identities. These fifteen stories center around the experience of being underemployed—whether by circumstance, class, gender, race, or other prevailing factors—and the toll this takes on an individual. Wimmer pushes the boundaries of reality, creating stories that are funny, fantastic, and at times terrifying. Her characters undergo feats of endurance, heartbreak, and loneliness, all while trying to succeed in a world that so often undervalues them. From a young marine biologist suffering from imposter syndrome and a haunting to a bingo caller facing another brutal snowstorm and a creature that may or not be an angel, Wimmer’s characters are all confronting an oppressive universe that seemingly operates against them or is, at best, indifferent to them. These stories reflect on the difficulties of modern-day survival and remind us that piecing together a life demands both hope and resilience.

Entry Level was selected by Deesha Philyaw as the winner of the 2021 Autumn House Fiction Prize.

My Review

Many of these quirky and poignant tales were published in other venues before being collected into one powerful volume. How do we push ourselves out of a rut, out of our circumstances, out of our dreams and into reality…for that matter, what is reality? Wimmer works magic with language and character, posing thought-provoking what-ifs: what if we could get a do-over by going back in time? What if there was a magic pill that took control of the consequences of our choices? My favorite explores the origination of dreams in “Where She Went.”

The stories are told from different personas with different needs and wishes, different perspectives, but all wanting something elusive, and maybe unattainable. Wimmer easily into different genres, ages, life circumstances, telling ghost stories from a scientist’s point of view, life as a conjoined twin, a little girl, a bereaved widower. Each of the fifteen stories will speak to someone.

About the Author 

Wendy Wimmer is a writer living in Wisconsin. Her work has been published in Barrelhouse, Waxwing, Paper Darts, Believer, ANMLY, Per Contra, Blackbird, and others. She holds a PhD in English Literature with a Creative Dissertation from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and a Master of Arts in English Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

new story of Black culture in history

 

Enslaved, Indentured, Free: Five Black Women on the Upper Mississippi, 1800-1850

Mary Elise Antoine

US History

Wisconsin Historical Society Press

October 5, 2022, 240 pp,

Ebook $11.99; paper $24.95

Buy on Wisconsin Historical Society 

Barnes and Noble 

About the Book

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made slavery illegal in the territory that would later become Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. However, many Black individuals’ rights were denied by white enslavers who continued to hold them captive in the territory well into the nineteenth century. Enslaved, Indentured, Free shines a light on five extraordinary Black women—Marianne, Mariah, Patsey, Rachel, and Courtney—whose lives intersected in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, during these seminal years.

Focusing on these five women, Mary Elise Antoine explores the history of slavery in the Upper Mississippi River Valley, relying on legal documents, military records, court transcripts, and personal correspondence. Whether through perseverance, self-purchase, or freedom suits—including one suit that was used as precedent in Dred and Harriet Scott’s freedom suits years later—each of these women ultimately secured her freedom, thanks in part to the bonds they forged with one another.

My Review

Using public records available, Mary Elise Antoine weaves together a story of early settlement on the upper Mississippi, focused on Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Beginning with Marianne, a freeborn black woman who remained free, the author researched and shares about the lives of four other women whose lives touched.

Marianne was born in the country along the southern Mississippi in the mid eighteenth century, and married three times to French traders. Her second husband relocated to Prairie du Chien. She was a unique figure who owned land, farmed, bore thirteen children and practiced healing ways. The author notes that Prairie du Chien was already diverse with mixed cultures. “In the early nineteenth century, race did not automatically exclude people of color from various institutions on the prairie. However, when white American men brought people of African heritage with them to the prairie, they also brought racial inequality,” she writes.

The second subject, Mariah, was brought to Prairie du Chien in 1816, one of 200 enslaved, indentured, or hired working people brought to the area between 1816 and 1845, almost all by members of the US Army. Because slavery was illegal in Illinois Territory, Mariah’s owner changed the sixteen-year-old’s legal status to indentured. Mariah later married a young soldier, though was “rented” by her owner to others. When her owner left the area before her servitude was concluded, he forced her to pay the rest of her contract in order to claim her freedom. She and her husband divorced in 1839; she subsequently remarried and moved to a home on land owned by Marianne.

A third woman, Patsey, was brought to the area by the Indian agent in 1829. Again, the agent forced Patsey into indentured servitude to get around the law; the indentured work-around was apparently a common ruse, legally recorded wherever the family moved, as well as moving their slaves in an out of territory where slavery was illegal, or calling them variably servant or slave. Patsey had children who were also indentured.

Courtney was brought to Prairie du Chien as a servant for an army captain who was allowed to claim her as an expense to his account, asking a few dollars a month compensation, her clothing and one ration of food per day. He also provided a description: five foot-four, black skin, eyes and hair. This girl was eventually sold several times and moved to different locations in the area, even leaving her son in slavery to one family. She finally was moved to St. Louis.

Rachel had been purchased in St. Louis for a soldier with a young family stationed in Prairie du Chien. When no longer needed, she was returned to St. Louis and sold again, but this time Rachel took advantage of a Missouri law that allowed enslaved persons to sue for their freedom based on prior residence in a free territory. she filed suit in 1834 which was rejected for a word choice, being called a servant by the soldier. With the help of her attorney, she appealed. During the time, the attorney also filed a petition for Courtney, both of which were successful in 1836. Courtney and her son returned to Prairie du Chien where she married and went to live on land owned by Marianne.

The text is somewhat dry and filled with much speculation as well as factual information derived from public records as there are little or no personal records from these women. The diligent research was excellent. Events of the time were overlaid to provide some color. Laid out in seven chapters, five for the women portrayed and two others describing circumstances and life at the time, the book is a lively portrayal of life on the new frontier. Images of noted individuals, places, and records and notes accompanying the text provide a nice variation.

About the Author

Mary Elise Antoine is president of the Prairie du Chien Historical Society and former curator at Villa Louis. She is the author of the War of 1812 in Wisconsin and coeditor, with Lucy Eldersveld Murphy, of Frenchtown Chronicles of Prairie du Chien.

New tween fiction from Tim Fox

 

A Place to Grow, book 2 in the Place series

Tim Fox

Journeys Publications

Oct 5, 2022

Children’s fiction

$2.99 ebook

Buy on Amazon

About the Book 

Big Mama has a family of active cubs to raise, even as a new threat emerges. Twelve-year-old Tracy has places to explore, things to discover, and her first 5K race to run. Aunt Lynette, Mallory, and Jamie provide guidance, love, and support, helping Tracy to thrive. And Tracy's wonderful friend, Kitty, is there watching over them all. A Place to Grow picks up where A Place For You left off and will leave readers cheering for this uniquely blended family of humans and cats! A Place to Grow is joyful, appealing to cat lovers, and empowering for girls.

My Review

The second book in this series can be read as a standalone. This sweet story explores how a young girl is adapting to her new life in her great-aunt’s home. Aunt Lynette has a wonderful neighbor, artist Mallory, whose boyfriend, Jamie, is a game warden who also runs amateur races. Together, these four learn and grow with each other, along with a pet rescue kitten, and a local mountain lion mama raising her cubs. As the author says, this series blends a wonderful group of people and critters into a unique blended family. Set in lovely Wisconsin, Tracy is determined to learn more about her environment with Jamie’s help and encouragement, training and running in race events with the support of everyone, developing observational, gardening, and artistic skills with Mallory, and a love of cooking and sense of kindness and responsibility from Aunt Lynette.

There’s a bear involved, too, but you’ll want to read about that for yourself.

Recommended for the tween set girl, though any reader would enjoy this series.

About the Author

Tim Fox is a Wisconsin writer who loves hiking in Wisconsin's state parks and natural areas. He has been a teacher and coach and now does personal fitness training.

His author website is timfoxauthor.com.

New from Barbara M Britton

 

Christmas at Whispering Creek (Christmas Holiday Extravaganza) 

Barbara M Britton

White Rose Publishing

October, 2022

$5.99 ebook

$15.99 print

264 pp

Buy on Barnes and Noble

Amazon 

Publisher

Bookshop

About the Book

All Samantha Williams wants to do is to use her teaching degree to instruct a classroom of second graders. But, after a breast cancer diagnosis at the age of twenty-three, and failed reconstruction surgery, Sam finds herself without a job and temporarily living with her parents. This isn’t the life Sam expected. When a family friend dies and leaves Sam a house and land in Whispering Creek, Tennessee, Sam must decide if leaving Wisconsin for Southern living is in her lesson plans.

Nashville native, Cole Donoven, left his family’s electrical business to write country music. When Cole’s song-writing partner and girlfriend dumps him for a country music star, Cole abandons Nashville to hole up in Whispering Creek and compose one more song. The last thing Cole expects to find in the sleepy small town is a deceased friend, estate squabbles, and a Northern beauty. Will the chaos in Whispering Creek help create a bestselling song for Cole and possibly help him find a life-long collaborator?

My Review

Echoing an achy country song, Britton’s latest contemporary inspirational holiday romance is a sweet twang of a hurting-and-healing stoked ballad set in rural Tennessee. When a down-and-out too-young cancer survivor is crushed by the loss of her beloved teaching job, and gets two more jolts in one day with the creepingly suspicious loss of her boyfriend and news of the death of Ted, a beloved influential friend, Samantha heads out for an adventure to learn the details of her inheritance. To her surprise, it comes with a house, cranky neighbors, and another handsome, hurting stray friend of Ted’s, the ultra-handsome and helpful songwriter Cole. Cole happens to be recovering from an unceremonious dumping of his glamorous partner, and appears at Ted’s country home to finish a contractual obligation for one last song. It’s chaos when he happens upon a furious contender for Ted’s estate, a beautiful damsel, and a tornado, all of which work to remind him that he’s never been the one in charge of his fate—God is, and he’d better re-learn that trust and faith practice.

Filled with lots of natural angst, a steady measure of faith, and delicious sweet romance, fans of Britton and clean romance will enjoy this loving holiday story. I received an advanced copy. The review is my own.

About the Author

Barbara M. Britton lives in Wisconsin and loves the snow—when it accumulates under three inches. Barb writes romantic adventures from Ancient Israel to Modern Day USA and especially enjoys bringing little-known Bible characters to light. She has a nutrition degree from Baylor University but loves to dip healthy strawberries in chocolate. Barb is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Romance Writers of America and American Christian Fiction Writers. You can visit Barb online at www. barbarambritton.com or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

WHS Presentation on Oct 13

 Image courtesy of the Badger History Group (BHG.2006.007.0001)

The Badger History Group (BHG) invites you to the second lecture of the 2022-2023 season, BAAP Rocket Propellant Production, to be presented by Frank Wolf on Thursday, October 13 at 7pm.

Frank will describe how rocket propellant grains were manufactured at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant, using pictures and descriptions of the many buildings, equipment, control systems, personnel, and safety requirements. And a few stories. As a 56-year veteran of the energetic material industry, including 31 years at the Badger Plant as a chemical engineer and Chief Modernization Engineer, Frank is a font of knowledge on the production processes of the Plant. He also serves on the BHG Board and is a local historian of nearby Mazomanie.

This will be a hybrid event, via Zoom and in-person at the Museum of Badger Army Ammunition. In the Museum, masks are optional. Seating is limited for museum and zoom so registration is recommended. Zoom link information is below. To register, please call the museum at 608-448-0244 and specify for museum or zoom, your name, and number in your group.

To Zoom in

Topic: BAAP Rocket Propellant Production with Frank Wolf

Time: Oct 13, 2022 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84468089544?pwd=d3VGY3l6UzZhbUFYM1dTTmo3YnpaZz09

Meeting ID: 844 6808 9544
Passcode: 585844
One tap mobile
+13092053325,,84468089544#,,,,*585844# US
+13126266799,,84468089544#,,,,*585844# US (Chicago)
Dial by your location
+1 309 205 3325 US
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 931 3860 US
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 386 347 5053 US
+1 564 217 2000 US
+1 669 444 9171 US
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 719 359 4580 US
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 844 6808 9544
Passcode: 585844
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kc7xavHd9Z

​Heather S. Sonntag, PhD, MLIS
(she/her/hers)
Assistant Archivist of Visual Materials
Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Wisconsin Historical Society
Collecting, Preserving and Sharing Stories Since 1846