Fantasy romcom in Wisconsin with TK Sheffield

 

The Valentine Lines

(The Cupid Chronicles Book 1)
TK Sheffield
Fantasy rom-com, 373 pages
December 9, 2025, Making Hay Press
Print: $19.95
Ebook: $.99
Buy on Amazon

About the Book

Cupid swaps arrow for scones in a magical screwball comedy perfect for Valentine's Day!

The Valentine Lines reimagines Cupid—aka Bart McGee—as an underdog ditching the corporate grind of Mt. Olympus, Inc., for small-town life in quaint Mineral Point, Wisconsin. When Bart launches a matchmaking business and falls in love with a local baker, chaos ensues as his meddling Olympus relatives crash the scene. It’s packed with snappy banter, slapstick escapades, mythological mishaps, and thoughtful explorations of love, trust, and self-discovery. It’s a light, literary escape for readers craving whimsy with emotional resonance.

My Review

TK Sheffield’s new series brings the Greek gods to Wisconsin again, but in a much more cozy and sweet manner than other authors have tried. Olympus has evolved into a big business, and Cupid, as a minor god, is tired of it. He chanced to fall in love on a visit to a small town, a goddess of a baker, who might return his attempt to woo her if only his pesky clients and Olympic family would stop interfering. Cupid, taking one of his middle names of Bartholomew, or Bart, opens Romance Realm, and is soon up to his quiver in shenanigans as the lonely folks of Mineral Point alternately hire and fire him, or beg him for oddball jobs that don’t always match his business. When Uncle Apollo and his trusty steed Pegasus, complete with chariot, turn up shortly after Bart settles in, little do they know the fun is only about to begin.

Mortals and gods, quips and quotes from classics of antiquity and modern times flow freely in tis zany comedy, where even gods feel deep loss, real tragedy, love, and compassion. From the Men’s Group, organized by Apollo, everything Wisconsin fun from ice fishing to horse stables, not to mention cheese, baked goods and any excuse to party, readers will get a kick out of Sheffield’s tale.

It’s a long book with lots going on, first in a planned series which I hope to read, so reserve plenty of time for zinging…I mean, reading.

About the Author, TK Sheffield

As a Wisconsin-based author, I write funny cozy mysteries, screwball romantic comedies, and children's horse stories. My books are for readers seeking humor, heart, and wholesome escapes without graphic violence, foul language, or explicit content.

Review of poetry What the Current Cannot Swallow

 

Review of What the Current Cannot Swallow by Debra Hall
 
December 15, 2025, 43 pp
Poetry (Chapbook)
Paperback, $10; Ebook $3.99
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
Bookshop

About the Book:

What the Current Cannot Swallow is a soulful collection of poetry that traverses the vast and intimate geography of love, illness, caregiving, and mourning. Set primarily between Rome and the American Midwest, Debra Hall's poems move through embassy lines, a hospital on the Tiber, catacombs, hospice rooms, mountain trails, and a family kitchen. Hall attends to small, exact particulars-a deli counter, bear bells, a peppermint, a rosary, hail at the window, a grandson's birth-and lets them carry the weight of what cannot be said. The work stays close to the body and to the world. The pieces in it mark a crossing, and the daily work of living in the aftermath of survival.

My Review:  

When the dedication is a twist of joy, you know you’re in for a fulfilling experience.

Readers join the author in a fugue of exhaustion as a couple experiences medical crisis in the opening poems: “she (the case worker) warns me not to be so dark,” the author shares in “Flight Risk”; and “the hospital staff is anxious / for us to go home,” she writes in “A Welcome Overstayed.” The twenty-three prose poems set mostly in couplets and short stanzas tumble love and worry across the page. Many of the poems follow the experiences of filling last dreams of travel; revelation; desperation for healing as in the poem “Sacrament,” which holds the title line; and prayers for “a little more time” in “La Pieta.” A muse about how life might have been different made me smile when the author hints living in my hometown of Racine in “Danish Kringle,” with its “chewy almond paste” that persuaded “us to stay.”

Both the dignity of death and indignity of well-meaning advice when “the social worker had  / confused the order of magnitude / prepared me for the aftershock / not the blast” poignantly remind us that death is a unique experience. A dribble of peace comes through in “Legacy” where the author promises to keep Grandpa’s memory: “we will find your spirit there / and he will know your name Grandpa.”

The poem that spoke to me most was “Bear Bells,” in which the author grabs an experience to hold: “I try to remember why I / agreed to a trip more rugged / than romantic, yet saw a chance / to map your wilderness, find / a branch that holds the things you / guard under tooth and claw.”

What the Current Cannot Swallow is a beautiful tribute to a precious partner whose “spirit dances in ripples” and is truly immortalized.

The well-done prose poems will resonate with those who keep memory alive.

A Thousand Miles of Poetry review

 

A Thousand Miles of Poetry: Poemwalking Wisconsin’s Ice Age National Scenic Trail
Katrina Serwe
 
Poetry
Publication April 1, 2026 from Wisconsin Writers Association Press
5.5 by 8.5 inches, 200 pages
$29.99 – paper   $7.99 ebook   $39.99  Hardcover
 
ISBN paper: 979-8-3493-2254-9  ISBN hardcover: 979-8-3493-4121-2
ISBN ebook: 979-8-3493-2255-6
Subjects: Poetry/ Animals & Nature; Place; Motivational & Inspirational

About the Book: In this evocative poetry collection, poet, hiker, and outdoor enthusiast Katrina Serwe traces a thousand-mile odyssey along the Ice Age Trail, each segment etched into verse. Poemwalking, as Serwe describes it, captures the trail’s pulse across every season woven into recollections, layered metaphors, and the whispers of ancient moraines. These poems, like the glacial till that inspired them walk the reader over the rugged and gentle landscapes of Wisconsin shaped by the energy and ice of long ago.

About the author, Katrina Serwe

Katrina Serwe, PhD, worked as a therapist, professor, and researcher in the field of occupational
therapy for over two decades. She started writing poetry after a transcendent midlife crisis brought her back to her love of literature, art, and nature. Her first collection of poetry, First Steps (Brain Mill Press), was published in 2025. Her poems have been featured in a variety of publications such as The Solitary Plover, Blue Heron Review, Bramble, Portage Magazine, and Scrawl Place. Serwe’s awards include the Jade Ring in poetry (Wisconsin Writers Association, 2024) and the Muse Prize (Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, second place, 2025). Her favorite pastime is a made-up hobby she calls poemwalking. You can follow her journey at www.katrinaserwe.com.or scan the QR code.

Jim Landwehr's Review

A Thousand Miles of Poetry is a multi-faceted collection of both beauty and experience. As I read it, it seemed to shapeshift between a travelogue journal, a chronicling of personal achievement, and a documenting of the diverse and wild Wisconsin landscapes. Inside its pages, readers are invited to walk alongside Serwe as she winds her way over the hills and flatlands, past farms, lakes, forests and bogs, in all sorts of weather.

As a person who spent 37 years in mapping and Geographic Information Systems, I appreciate the way the book is structured around seven different sections of the trail. Each section begins with an image taken from the trail that gives the reader a sense of geographic place. Perhaps more importantly, each section also includes a trail segment map labeled with key natural and cultural features. These segments are also displayed in statewide overview maps that help the reader visualize where these poems were written in relation to surrounding counties and the state borders.

But all of this is secondary to the stunning imagery Serwe conjures as she steps her way through mud, across rocks and roots, and over eskers, moraines, and drumlins. As she pushes herself to complete each segment, she writes as part of her daily ritual to record the sights, sounds, and feelings of Wisconsin’s wild landscape.

For example, in “What Comes Next” she highlights the birds and their songs that accompany her and perk her ears.

I close my eyes to the smog and listen—
flicker, robin, rose-breasted grosbeak.
Follow the soundscape through maple shade—
hairy woodpecker, gray catbird, field sparrow.

These vignettes are observations that strike and penetrate the soul of the hiker, sometimes catching her by surprise. But enmeshed with her description of the wildlife, Serwe pays homage to the landscape as well. She eloquently describes how she sees and hears it using poetic prose. In “Inspiring Voice” she writes:

…And I listen to water
as it plays on the rocks downstream where it winds
behind willow and carves its deep ribbons on sand.

Serwe’s sensory-rich narrative pulls us into her journey and makes us a partner with her as she encounters Wisconsin’s abundant natural resources, its diverse wildlife, and the restorative qualities she finds in the quiet of the countryside. She is an evangelist for the environment and reminds us we are mere visitors in a larger ecosystem. This symbiotic relationship is exemplified in “Love is like Mycelia,” where she takes us deeper into understanding the natural cycle of life.

Down underground they are there,
in a network that’s always connecting—
words between roots of the trees,
and the taste of the sun’s sugars shared.

As an avid outdoorsman, I have always been intrigued about the challenges and resulting sense of accomplishment of those who have hiked the entire Ice Age Trail. This 1000+ mile “Poemwalk,” as Serwe so appropriately titles it, gives inquiring minds a sense for both the cost and rewards when undertaking such a formidable quest. I commend Serwe’s perseverance, her keen insights, and her aptitude for wrapping it all up in the beauty of her poetry; poetry she carried with her every step of the way. A Thousand Miles of Poetry is a fantastic collection for any lover of poetry, the outdoors, or both.

About the Reviewer:

Jim Landwehr, author of Tea in the Pacific Northwest, Thoughts from a Line at the DMV, Genetically Speaking, and more. For more on his writing, visit www.jimlandwehr.com

Jim loves outdoor sports including, biking, kayaking, canoeing, camping, and fishing. It was his love of camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota that led him to write Dirty Shirt: A Boundary Waters Memoir. The book features humorous accounts of trips he took to the area with his brothers, friends, and children over the past twenty-five years.

Writing Dirty Shirt sparked his lifelong interest in writing and he has since published three other memoirs and six books of poetry. He has a forthcoming short story collection, All That It Seems, (Cornerstone Press). Jim is retired and spends much of his time writing and fishing in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Wisconsin Writers Association and the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. He was the 2018/2019 poet laureate for the Village of Wales, Wisconsin.

Restoring Prairie by Margaret Rozga

 

Restoring Prairie

Margaret Rozga
Poetry, 94 pp
May 6, 2024, Cornerstone Press
$21.95 paper
Buy on
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Amazon 

About the Book

"Restoring Prairie, a beautifully unified collection of new poems by Margaret Rozga,  addresses ecological and cultural history based on personal engagement with farmland being restored with prairie species. The poet’s emotional, philosophical and spiritual engagement with the place lend tremendous depth. Contemplating the pendulum of destruction and renewal, she juxtaposes poems of hope with laments for the extent of centuries of development, leaving a mere shadow of historic natural bounty. Other forms of grief are intertwined including the loss of loved ones as well as relentless warfare and the ongoing pandemic. Each adds moral complexity while heightening the impact of the collection. This book can be read as a hymn and prayer for healing, an act of conscience and a journey of the heart, calling above all for the courage to hope."

~ Dr. Christian Knoeller, Professor Emeritus of English, Purdue University Author of Reimagining Environmental History: Ecological Memory in the Wake of Landscape Change

 My Review

Former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Margaret Rozga invites us to join her in a poignant, sensual, visceral year writing at a prairie restoration project. In celebrating the past and present, emotion, acceptance and forgiveness, she teaches us be at home in our own company. These eighty-plus poems in five sections are a plein-air experience using nature for prompts in the appearance of a yellow jacket stopping on a page, a maple wildly flinging seeds, the perfect rendition of a sandhill crane call and onomatopoetry of others, as the author walks and sits and journals on the prairie.

Mining every sense from the touch of ancient tree bark to the taste of yesterday’s coffee, with a nod to punctuation in “where on the prairie,” Rozga’s luscious comingling of words such as “then and then-ner…ephemeral then-ness” add a piquant melody to her lyricism in “English Sparrow.” Clever spacing and staccato rhythm controls the reader’s breath in poems like “Power.”

Mostly prose poetry, stories shaped through imagery, some very short form observances in the delight of the moment, Restoring Prairie is also a call to action. Rozga says in her introduction, “Restoring what was lost may start small, but start all the same. On the unfarmed old railroad bed, look carefully. Find enduring prairie grass and wildflower seeds. Gather them. Plant them. Each fall more seeds. The prairie the settlers broke begins slowly to take root again.”

Rozga’s activism shows in the second grouping of poems about protecting land, protecting memories, an ode to Robert Parris Moses, and reluctant protest not-poems; the ebb and flow of “Remembering Beauty”: a time before settlement when visitors were rare and awed by the land of prairie and river.

Hope is one the major themes woven throughout the book; hope in renewal of the blooming prairie when the rest of life was caught up in the pandemic; hope for the future, for moving on and forgiving, and listening. Hope is in the realization that one can find a comfortable place when life changes: “I am the…person speaking…as well, the one spoken to” in “You Are Not Here,” and growth in “Field Staton in April.”

Spend a year with the beauty of the prairie, reflecting on the seasons of emergence, growth, sleep, rebirth. Restoring Prairie is a magical journey through time and memory outside of ourselves using mindfulness (underrated), nostalgia, hope, and the music of the created.

About the Author

University of Wisconsin - Waukesha Professor of English Emerita Dr. Margaret Rozga creates poetry from her ongoing concern for social justice issues. She was a participant in Milwaukee’s marches for fair housing and later married civil rights leader, Father James Groppi. As part of the 50th anniversary projects honoring Milwaukee’s fair housing marches, Dr. Rozga served as editor of a poetry chapbook anthology, Where I Want to Live: Poems for Fair and Affordable Housing. Also as part of the 50th anniversary events, she convened a housing task force that supported the successful initiative to close a loophole in Milwaukee County’s fair housing law so that it now covers people with rent assistance vouchers. She writes monthly columns for the Los Angeles Art News and Milwaukee Neighborhood News. She leads poetry and journaling workshops and serves as a civil rights consultant to community organizations.

 

New Memoir about hiking the Ice Age Trail

 

Squatter: One Woman’s Journey to Reclaim her Spirit on the Ice Age Trail
Yolanda DeLoach
Memoir
Cornerstone Press, January 31, 2024, 288 pages
Print $28.95
Buy on Amazon 
Barnes and Noble 

About the Book

“I’m emotionally not in a good place.”

So begins Yolanda DeLoach’s raw and redemptive Squatter, a tale of trails, trekking, and overcoming trauma. Between heartache and the realization that a relationship was never as it seemed, DeLoach pushes herself toward Wisconsin’s historic Ice Age Trail, a place of friendship and, ultimately, forgiveness. But the forgiving starts from within, as she makes her way, section by section, along the trail’s storied footways. 

Honest, heartfelt, and told with a survivor’s grace, Squatter inspires, encourages, and listens, like a good friend on the trail.

My Review

DeLoach’s memoir about using time on Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail to work through an abusive relationship is a harrowing but restorative read. The author spends the first several chapters explaining her situation in gritty detail, inviting the reader into her chaotic and emotional life. She lays out her need for balance in order to get away from not only the personal torture of a relationship gone badly wrong, but also the trauma of the Sars-Covid 19 epidemic in the life of a nurse. The outdoors was a haven to many during this time.

The story seems both too short and yet deep as DeLoach shares her very recent journey to learn more about herself. The lessons are valuable for anyone struggling with problematic decision-making issues. Professional therapy and general support can only go so far to help people who have a deep-seated need to seek fulfillment in personally damaging ways. DeLoach takes her time showing us her angst and trauma; readers who are sensitive to psychological abuse should be cautious. By the time the author shares her adventures on the trail, we’re invested in her commitment to take control of her addictive behavior and to conquer the trail. After 800 miles, DeLoach finds her trail name, “Squatter,” when she invites herself to share the warmth of a fellow hiker’s heated tent instead of her own solo tent.

DeLoach replaces adrenalin highs of demanding people with physically and emotionally demanding elements of hiking all the trail segments she could between work and home life, through all seasons, over the course of a year. From making new trail buddy friends, to staying in friends’ garages while hiking sections, to campgrounds, to elegant homes, to monasteries, the author completes goals she sets for herself. “This time was different,” she says after completing the northern route. “This time, I had the trail. And the trail was magic.”

DeLoach is candid in admitting that she didn’t want her adult and teen children involved in her problems, but that she needed to work on being more open. I was relieved to read that, because she had teen daughters at home while practicing risky behavior and the mom in me had concerns. She listens to podcasts along the way to learn more about herself and toxic relationships and concludes, “The human spirit is resilient. Even when reduced to smoldering ash, the spirit is able to spark back to life with the right conditions. I found those conditions in nature’s touch and the hearts of others along Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail.”

I lived near and walked segments of the southeastern part of the trail during the years it was developed and worked on in the 1990s. I appreciated this in-depth journey of nature’s healing power. Readers of true adventure stories, nature hiking, and memoirs will find much to appreciate in Squatter: One Woman’s Journey to Reclaim her Spirit on the Ice Age Trail.

About the Author

Yolanda DeLoach is an avid section hiker and outdoors advocate, having become a “1,000-miler” on the Ice Age Trail in 2021. She lives in Central Wisconsin, where she works as a palliative care/hospice registered nurse.

 

Release Day for new collection of WI Short Stories

Red Road Redemption: Stories from the Heart of Wisconsin

PJA Fullerton

WWA Press, April 25, 2023

Fiction, short stories

258 pp

Paper, Hardcover, Ebook

Buy on Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Kobo

The days of small family farm life in rural America are quickly fading to memory. Story-tellers like PJA Fullerton mean to keep them alive. The iconic red gravel roads of Marathon County lead past idyllic farms and fields, across tall rolling hills and through forests of majestic white pines and ancient maples. RED ROAD REDEMPTION: COUNTRY TALES FROM THE HEART OF WISCONSIN is an unforgettable collection of short stories filled with haunting characters, both human and animal, overflowing with thought-provoking drama, humor, and nostalgia. Take an unquiet walk in the woods, peer through a poignant lens at disappearing family farms, all seasoned with triumph and tragedy. Encounter the Unseen Menace, the Old Grey Mare, and a distinctive terrier named Dickens. Meet the Forest Witch, grieve in the hay loft of a magnificent barn.

These stories are about the lives lived beside those roads that connect, but can also divide neighbors, and for some, can become rare paths leading to the redemption of dignity and spirit. “Sometimes clever, sometimes heartbreaking, but always lyrical,” Maggie Smith, author of Truth and Other Lies says, “Fullerton’s stories explore the intricacies of the human heart as her characters cope with the challenges life brings their way in the often-neglected rural settings of the vast Midwest. She writes with an honesty, empathy, and grace that will engage your intellect at the same time it touches your soul.”

AUTHOR: PAMELA FULLERTON is the middle sibling in a family of fifteen P.K.s (Preacher’s Kids). She began her advanced education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison at age fifteen and eventually secured a law degree. She pursued careers in education in a juvenile prison and Administrative Law after youthful stints as a stock car driver and Go-Go dancer. She is co-producer of the documentary “Honor in the Air,” about the life of an unsung American and Wisconsin Vietnam Era military hero. Fullerton lives on her farm near Wausau where she breeds and trains Arabian and Thoroughbred performance and endurance racehorses.

Review of Resist by Margot McMahon

 

Resist! A Visual History of Protest
Margot McMahon
Memoir, 50 pp
December 13, 2022, Aquarius Press LLC
16.99 print

Buy on:
Barnesand Noble
Bookshop
Amazon


About the Book:
Resist: A Visual History is the true story of the later years of Franklin McMahon, artist-reporter for many powerful moments in U.S. History, from the Emmett Till Trial to the Apollo missions. McMahon was a WWII Army Air Corps veteran and former prisoner of war in Germany who made it back home to Chicago to his sweetheart Irene. McMahon became an award-winning presidential artist, among numerous additional honors. This book is the final in a series by Franklin's daughter, Margot McMahon. This book is part of the RESIST! exhibitions in museums nationwide.


My Review:
“Stop examining your belly button…get out there and make a change!” was William Franklin “Mac” McMahon’s lasting advice to all of us. Mac’s daughter, sculpturer Margot McMahon, devotedly shares decades of his work to make a difference in social justice across our world.

Through these short pages, Margot portrays her father as a POW in WWII, a family man, a reporter and an artist who became dedicated to the cause of creating a better society. The book opens as Mac is taken prisoner in Germany during his Army Air Corps service in World War II, missing one boot. Margot shares the story of his resolve to say nothing during the frequent interrogations. With his imagination to keep him company, Mac spent time “mind drawing” his surroundings: “ Insights into gestures and expressions kept him observing intently. The drawing gave a purpose to this unearthly hell.” Later in Stalag III he was able to draw with donated YMCA art supplies and was even able to send ideas for cartoons back to a Chicago magazine. He also met Tuskegee Airmen survivors.

We move next to the 1950s where McMahon has press credentials from Life Magazine as a reporter and cartoonist/artist. He’s in Mississippi to cover the Emmett Till trial, with copy and art. Mac’s daughter recounts her father’s emotions and doodles during the brief atrocity dangerously called a trial. A brief sentence sums up the disposition of the community: At the coffee shop door they (reporters) were surrounded, closely, by a few white male citizens, “You Northerners go back home and leave us Sumner folks alone.”

That trial and article showed McMahon “that art could effectuate social change.” In the next decade, the author takes her place around the family table, as seventh of nine children, growing up the 1960s. Conversation was lively with her journalist father and Irene, her mother, who was also an author. The turbulence of social justice protests during this time—women’s rights, worker’s rights, racial justice, gay rights, all were freely discussed. The McMahons encouraged the family to learn about world news, raise questions about politics and culture, all spurring Margaret to use her talent and carry on speaking out for change of inward and small-thinking injustices around the world. Franklin McMahon continued to capture the times in his art, and with his wife Irene, created award-winning films.

In 1995, at the age of seventy-five, McMahon participated in the Million Man march at the National Mall in Washington D.C. to protest systemic racism and call for revitalization of communities of color. Franklin McMahon passed in 2012 at the age of 90, having left a legacy of encouragement toward social justice. In his eulogy, Margot said, “With his art, he illumed awareness to nudge the world in a fairer direction, watched the change erase justice with presidential strokes of a pen and captured the protests again as people took to the streets with handmade signs to express their rights and wrongs.”

This powerful short book is filled with the late McMahon’s art and advice, the story of what it’s like to fight for a change both on the world stage and in our own neighborhoods. The book a good read for discussion; it’s an actionable book for families, for book clubs, and anyone who wants to see conscionable shifts in action and learn where to take a stand themselves.

 
About the Author:
A lifelong environmentalist, internationally-awarded Margot McMahon sculpts, writes, and paints human, plant, and animal forms to say, through art, her hope that decisions be made to support life on earth. Margot earned an MFA from Yale University then taught sculpture and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, DePaul University and Yale University’s Norfolk Summer School as well as Oak Park's District 97. Margot has created documentary movies to explain and share the insights she has gained from her background and explorations in art. Cinema Guild in New York City represents her videos. https://www.margotmcmahon.com/

**This review originally appeared at wiwrite.org

Wisconsin Olympic Athlete Memoir Gwen Jorgensen

 

Gwen Jorgensen, USA’s First Gold Medal Triathlete

by Gwen Jorgensen, Elizabeth Jorgensen, Nancy Jorgensen

Young Reader Memoir, 175 pp

October, 2022, Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd.

paperback, $16.95

Buy on Amazon

 This memoir of USA Olympic Triathlete from Wisconsin, Gwen Jorgensen, is a lovely book geared toward young readers, encouraging them to reach for their dreams. Gwen competed in triathlon in the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The book is an account of her years of training, and overcoming challenges to become a professional athlete on her way to the world stage and a gold medal.

Gwen had big dreams of being an Olympian as a child, working hard to become a competitive swimmer. She learned about swim meets through school, and her parents supported swim lessons at a local high school. There she met friends who encouraged each other at practices and in competitions.

Eventually she earned a walk-on collegiate swimming spot at UW-Madison, added running to her repertoire, and then finally when learning about the triathlon, bicycling. She met her husband while training for triathlon events and competing in Europe, Mexico, Canada, Japan, and Australia. The book intertwines her preparations for Rio with elementary years, upper grades and college. Along the way she dealt with bone breaks and fractures and other lessons of difficult training situations, including heartbreaking setbacks and losses. Gwen shares what it was like to prepare for the triathlon in Rio, from packing for the journey with her husband, to what each moment of the journey, of being in Brazil, including recipes for healthy meals, such as her overnight oatmeal. 

A personal letter from Gwen which includes an invitation to engage with young readers who can post their goals on her social media pages sets the stage. Tips and lessons, such as how to learn swim strokes, self-advice about patience and dedication, personal essays, and excerpts from newsclips.

The book is nicely laid out and easy to read, embellished with art work, personal quotes, and numerous photos, giving it a scrapbook feel. The book also includes goal-setting advice and a worksheet. Gwen Jorgensen is a positive, encouraging read and would make a wonderful gift for the young reader in your life.

Crossing the Pressure Line by Laura Anne Bird

 

Crossing the Pressure Line

Laura Anne Bird

Middle grade fiction, 243 pages

Orange Hat Publishing, March 1, 2022

$14.95 paper

$6.99 ebook

Buy on Amazon 

Barnes and Noble 

Kobo 

About the Book:

Twelve-year-old Clare Burch has just lost the person she loves most in the world. She wonders if her feelings of sorrow and self-blame over her grandfather’s death will ever go away.

Out of the blue, a special request sends Clare on a journey from her home in Chicago to the Northwoods of Wisconsin. She knows that she must honor Grandpa Anthony’s last wishes, even though they completely upend her summertime plans.  

Clare heads to rural Alwyn with her little blind dog and a duffel bag full of worries. What will she do without her best friends and swim team? Who will take her fishing and spoil her with candy now that her grandfather is gone? And most important, is she strong enough to let him go, forever?

During her summer up north, Clare stumbles upon the answers to her many questions. Even more, as she makes peace with why she couldn’t save Grandpa Anthony, she ends up rescuing someone else from danger.

Above all, Clare learns to listen to the courageous voice inside—and discovers just how tough she really is. 

My Review

Twelve, going on thirteen-year-old Clare is part of Grandpa Anthony’s last pet project—getting his girls to just get along better. Grandpa’s will has two surprising directives, neither of which sounds like any fun, especially not when both Mom and Grandma can’t even agree on what to pack for a summer exiled up north at Grandpa’s favorite place in the world.

“No friends, no swim team, no you, and a mom and grandmother who are experts at arguing.”

But a little voice inside of her says, “Just make it work, Clare Burch.”

It’s a summer of revelation as Clare makes goals, and works to achieve them. She keeps up with her friends at home, makes new friends who have surprising international backgrounds but aren’t really much different, keeps in shape by swimming in the lake, tries to reel in that elusive musky, and learns to drive. But when Grandma Lulu makes a devastating decision, it’s just one more hurdle to try to handle.

Revelations come in many forms; revelations of self-acceptance at any age or stage of life as Clare works to overcome survivor’s guilt and learn empathy, her mother works to accept her talents, and Grandma to accept her new life without her husband. The Burch family makes their mark in the late Grandpa Anthony’s hometown, but for how long? Anything can happen above the pressure line—where the air is more breathable and the stress of problems seem easier to resolve.

Middle grade, pre-teen girls will find much to enjoy about Clare’s eye-opening summer, where she learns to look past outside and recognize grief plays out in many forms. Just a note: keeping certain endangered or predatory bird feathers is illegal in Wisconsin, but if you want to know more about that, you’ll just have to read the book.

About the Author:

A Milwaukee native, Laura Anne Bird graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in English. She lives in Madison with her husband, three teenagers, and little dog. When she’s not reading, writing, or reviewing books, she loves to exercise and explore the outdoors. Crossing the Pressure Line is her first novel. You can find her on Instagram @laura_at_the_library. www.laurabirdbooks.com

WWA JADE RING CONTEST opens March 1

 

Contest opens on March 1, 2022 and closes on June 5, 2022

The Wisconsin Writers Association is pleased to announce our 73rd annual Jade Ring Writing Contest.  

Categories: 

• Fiction: Including short story, flash, novel excerpts, romance, mystery, humor, science fiction, fantasy, etc. Limit 2,000 words. 
• Nonfiction: Including article, essay, nostalgia, memoir, humor, self-help, etc. Limit 2,000 words. 
• Poetry: Including any style or theme. Up to three poems may be submitted per entry. No poems may be longer than a page. 
  
  

Eligibility: 

• Contest is open to anyone writing in English, age 18 or older. 
• Only original submissions which have not been published in print, digital, or online (including blogs or social media) will be considered. 
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed, applicants MUST email submit@wiwrite.org to withdraw your submission if it is accepted elsewhere. 
• Jade Ring Contest Administrators and Wisconsin Writers Association Board Members are not eligible to submit. 
• Jade Ring Contest Administrators reserve the right to close any category that does not meet the minimum level of submissions, in which case entry fees will be refunded. 
• Questions about eligibility, please contact submit@wiwrite.org. 
  
  

* Fist, second, third place winners in each category.  To learn more about Shake Rag Alley visit: shakeragalley.org

Submission Guidelines:*

• The Jade Ring Contest accepts online submissions and payments only. Mailed submissions will be discarded without being read. 
• One entry per category per person. 
• All entries must be formatted as double spaced (with the exception of poetry, which may be single spaced), 12 PT font, 1 inch margins, paginated, and in a common serif font such as Times New Roman. 
• Entries must be submitted as a Word document. PDF files and other file types such as Pages and Google Docs will not be accepted. 
• Entries must be text only. Please do not insert clip art, drawings, icons or any graphics within the document. 
• The Jade Ring Contest is judged blind. Author name should NOT appear on the submission, either on the manuscript or on the file name. 
• Title and Word Count must be placed at the top of the first page. 
• Please name your files as follows: Title +category (e.g.; TaleofTwoCities_fiction.doc) or Title+category+critique, if you are purchasing a paid critique option (e.g.; TaleofTwoCities_fiction_critique.doc). Please take care to ensure your file names are properly formatted. 

*Entries that fail to follow submission guidelines will be disqualified. 

Publication Rights:

• WWA reserves the right to publish winning entries on its website. First-place winners are expected to submit a brief biography and head shot for use in promotion of the Jade Ring Writing Contest.
  
• WWA reserves the right for Jade Ring Writing Contest administrators to copy edit winning entries prior to publication on its website, in the Creative Wisconsin Anthology, and other partner publications.
  

 Special note: Please add submit@wiwrite.org to your contact list to ensure timely emails that do not disappear into spam or junk folders.

Meet Our Judges 

David J Rank - Fiction 

Author, editor, and recovering journalist, David J. Rank has written hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines, and online, with more than 35 short stories and flash fiction pieces published in regional magazines, online, and in anthologies. He is the founder and director of the nonprofit Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp & Writing Retreat. David is the past president of the Wisconsin Writers Association, and member of Chicago Writers Association, Off Campus Writers’ Workshop, HerStry Writing Community, Horror Writers Association, and Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.

Bruce Dethlefsen - Poetry

Bruce Dethlefsen, Wisconsin Poet Laureate (2011-2012), has three full-length books of poetry published.  Bruce volunteers doing poetry workshops in Wisconsin prisons and lives in Westfield, Wisconsin.

Orange Hat Publishing Ten16 Press Editors - Nonfiction 

Sean Malone, Jenna Zerbel, Kaeley Dunteman

Is This a Lousy Job or is it Me with Terri Jacke

 

IS THIS A LOUSY JOB OR IS IT ME?
By Terri Jacke
Inspired Publishing, August, 2020
244 pp.
 
Ebook: $9.99
Hardcover: $22
 

Buy on Amazon 

Barnes and Noble 

Apple iBooks 

About the Book

Have you ever felt deflated at work? Whether you are just starting your career or have

finally gained enough experience to advance to your “dream” job, you may find yourself disillusioned by difficult bosses or coworkers, drained by unreasonable demands, or disappointed with the lack of growth opportunities. Given these lousy elements of your job, how can you achieve fulfillment from your work?

In IS THIS A LOUSY JOB OR IS IT ME?, executive coach Terri Jacke explores how every success and every struggle at work can be used to develop your character, which determines the way you handle each experience. It is your character that shapes your behavior in the workplace and informs the quality of decisions you make at work and about your career. By using stories—sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking—Terri invites you to join her on a journey that chronicles her growth through the seven stages of character development at work: Beginning, Yuckiness, Fear, Authenticity, Boundaries, Love, and Exit.

Terri holds nothing back in taking you into the heart of her experiences from her first job at a campground at age 12 to succeeding at iconic corporations and finally fulfilling her dream to establish her own firm. Combining real-life experience and organizational development expertise, IS THIS A LOUSY JOB OR IS IT ME? Provides practical tools and hard-won wisdom to help you develop your character at work.

The insights you gain into the seven stages of character development, captured in the BY FABLE model, will empower you to make sense of your workplace experiences and effectively move yourself through the stages in their natural sequence, allowing you to create a fulfilling career path leading to your inevitable success.

A Brief Interview with the Author

Terri, what do you love about your book?

I am excited that my book offers young professionals, in particular, insights into the experiences they are having in the workplace. It prepares them for the interesting people and unexpected challenges they may face on their journeys, so that they are able to handle those situations with confidence and grace rather than surprise and confusion, which sets them up for success. It also offers more seasoned employees an opportunity to put their careers in perspective in order to contemplate the impacts they hope to have and the legacies they want to leave behind. It's informative, but written in a storytelling fashion that keeps readers engaged whether they are new to the workplace or have been around the block a few times!

Share something you learned while writing it.

As I spoke to people about their workplace journeys, I learned that - without exception - everyone experienced a similar character development journey over the course of their careers. The stages of character development were the same even if the timing and experiences were vastly different. I was astounded by some of the stories people shared and the richness their experiences added to my book. I made sure to incorporate elements of my story, which is the basis for the book, that highlighted the wisdom I gained from other people who had shared their journeys with me.

What do you hope readers will talk about?

I hope readers will reflect upon their career journeys thus far and be thoughtful about how they want to manage themselves for greater fulfillment and success. I would love for readers to contemplate their current state of character development and to be intentional about how they might use workplace situations to continue to evolve their character.

What are you reading now?

I am currently reading The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt.

What's next for you?

I am researching material for my next book which will be for workplace leaders. I want leaders to explore the impact of their current stage of character development upon the people they lead, and I plan to offer practical, specific ideas for leaders to develop the mental and moral qualities of themselves and others. Maybe when I retire from executive coaching and organizational development work, I will write a nonfiction book...perhaps a psychological thriller based in an American workplace.

 

About the Author Terri Jacke, MS

Terri Jacke is a seasoned organizational development consultant and the founder of Inspired Training Institute, Inc. She serves as a professional coach to executives and business owners, guiding the growth of their character as a foundation for increased leadership effectiveness and teamwork. She is also a sought after workshop facilitator and professional speaker on topics related to professional development, leadership, and culture. Terri lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with her husband, Chris. She is the mother of three adult children, her daughter and two step-sons.

 

Shattered by Thomas Cannon

 

Shattered- A Novel
December 31st, 2021, Tumbleweed Books
$2.99 ebook
$16.99 paperback
266 pp
buy on Amazon

About the Book

Oversized comedian Mikey Haskell believes he has escaped the pain from his breakup with Karen by going on the road for six months. His first few days of being home in the Twin Cities sets him straight. At first, he believes he can only move forward by declaring he is in love with his best friend, Alaine. When that does not go well, he tries to leave all human emotion behind by becoming an animal-like being.

This animal persona sets himself loose on the comedy-circuit of 1995 and on all the people he cares about. Mikey is locked inside the persona and fights to make sense of what has happened to him.

My Review

Brutal and frank story of a gifted young man's spiral into despair. Set in the mid-1990s, standup comic Mikey has it all: an agent who books him the biggest gigs, friends, minor fame, and a family who supports him. All Mikey can focus on when he returns home to Minnesota from a lengthy road trip are the things he's lost. When he attempts to replace those losses with deranged and damaging behavior, he must face and deal with the cruelest enemy--the past.

Told in increasing self-damaging episodes of the present interspersed with events of the near past, the reader is drawn helplessly into the rip tide of Mikey's life. Well-done and occasionally mesmerizing, Shattered is told in first person through Mikey's eyes. He is often confused and outraged, and the author never lets up or loses reference as he deftly plants clues to the past until everything makes sense. Love Mikey or hate him, he's not a pitiful character by any means; just lost and feeling the great hurt of one of the most tragic events humans can experience. Sure to spark meaningful conversations, mature audiences of contemporary dramatic fiction will have a hard time putting this one down. Graphic sex and violence.

About the Author

In August 2021, Thomas Cannon was selected as the inaugural Poet Laureate of Oshkosh, WI. He is the author of the books The Tao of Apathy and Shattered. With his essay “Part of the Gift,” Cannon was the lead contributor to Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children With Autism. His poems and short stories have been published in various journals such as Midwestern Gothic and Corvus Review. Thomas is active in the Oshkosh writing community, having helped establish the Lakefly Writers Conference. He and his wife have three children and two grandkids.

Lovely picture book by KM Waldvogel

Whoo Whoo Who’s Out There
By KM Waldvogel, illustrated by Jayden Ellsworth
c. October 2021
Orange Hat Publishing
Children’s picture book, 24 pp.
 
$9.99 paperback
$14.99 hardcover
 
Buy on Amazon 
Barnes and Noble
 
About the Book
So many strange sights and sounds around Baby Owl! He frets about the scary world and wonders who will watch out for him. Mama Owl envelops him with love and helps him understand that as he grows, he will learn all about the world. She will be there to protect him until it is time for him to soar on his own.
​
A sweet story about parental love.
 
My Review
This picture book about baby and mama owl is absolutely delightful. Charmingly illustrated with bright, bold, colorful characters. Mama replies in sweet calm soothing responses to her owlet’s fears. Toddlers are sure to want to hear this story often.
 
Baby owl trembles at the new world around him: the flutter of wings, the snap of underbrush, the reflection of glowing eyes at the edge of the meadow. Each time baby wonders “Whoo’s out there!” Mama lets him know that he has nothing to fear. When at last he feels safe, he is able to look around and marvel.
 
Whoo Whoo Who’s Out There is a reassuring tale of a parent’s love and understanding, and helping a child grow into independence naturally. Excellent advice underneath a treasured storyline. Recommended as a great gift for parents and grandparents everywhere.
 
About the Author
K.M. Waldvogel is a former teacher who now enjoys writing for children. She is the author of the middle-grade narrative nonfiction book, Spies, Soldiers, Couriers, & Saboteurs: Women of the American Revolution. The book highlights little-known women who risked their lives to help the Patriots defeat the British. Her Halloween picture book, Three Little Ghosts, is written in rhyming text and is a light-hearted adventure of ghosts on Halloween night as they join trick-or-treaters. You can read more about Waldvogel at her website: www.kmwaldvogel.com. Follow her on Facebook @ author.KM.Waldvogel.

Wisconsin Writers Association Maria Alvarez Stroud and the immigrant experience

 

This review originally appeared here: https://wiwrite.org/book-reviews/10985425 

Brave Crossing: the Journey In-Between, by Maria Alvarez Stroud

Historical Fiction, 212 pp.

August 2021, Publisher: Little Creek Press

Reviewed by Keridak Silk

Amazon

$9.99 ebook

$18.95 print

About the Book:

This coming-of-age saga is told through the eyes of Ricardo, a young Spanish-Filipino, as he voyages to America in 1916. He embarked on his journey thinking he was leaving behind war, rampant disease, unspeakable deaths, and family secrets only to find a country on the cusp of race riots, World War I, and a global pandemic. He learns that each of these events has the power to define who he is and who he will become.

To succeed, he'll need to face memories of his past life of privilege, grapple with his own culture, and come to peace with the loss of his parents. He'll also need to confront his many attackers. His future depends on it.

In her ambitious debut novel, Maria Alvarez Stroud explores a never-ending question: How welcoming is America to the immigrants who leave everything from their previous lives behind? Richly imagined and vividly rendered, BRAVE CROSSING-A Journey In-Between offers a moving portrait of one man's search for home.

This novel reminds us that historical fiction is not just a view into the past but, in many ways, a mirror to our present.

Keridak Silk’s review:

An absorbing tale from beginning to end. Brave Crossing begins in 1916. Stroud’s father Ricardo Alvarez stands on the ship’s deck regretting his impetuous decision to leave the Philippines. He is barely able to speak English and has no plan for where to live or what to do once he arrives. Ricardo is fortunate to befriend a Filipino couple on the months long voyage. They invite him to stay with them in Chicago.

Ricardo has an ongoing yearning to go back home. Especially when he is met with frigid Midwest winters and ongoing racial inequality because of his brown skin. Warm clothing gets him through the cold. But it’s his ability to reach out to others and his tenacity that help him persist. His fears, curiosity and determination are what keep this novel fresh.

Letters from family and friends make them feel like our own. Ricardo alters how he responds to each. Understanding what he hides, what he gets off his chest, who he asks advice from and who he shares memories with are part of the rhythm of this story. Gradually daring to ask questions about his buried memories, Ricardo re-discovers his family history and his passion. He frequently flaunts expectations prepared to fail but desiring success and acceptance. 

Stroud includes letters to institutions complaining, often demanding, that Ricardo be removed or thought lesser of simply because he wasn’t white. The responses are thought provoking.

Ricardo writes his sister, “Nena, who are these people who think you can treat someone like an animal?” Ricardo also reflects on his own biases. He wonders how often he unknowingly treated people differently. Questions that resonate today.

I enjoyed the historical aspects from Ricardo’s perspective. World War One, Prohibition, the Spanish Flu Pandemic, and the rise of the Klu Klux Klan. Even simple, first-time adventures such as using a phone, riding a train, or tasting German beer.

Bits of Filipino culture, food and language are brought in. One of my favorite quotes is: “Kapag tinapunan ka ng bato, tapunan mo tinapay. If someone throws stones at you throw back bread.” Readers who enjoy discovering another cultural viewpoint will find Brave Crossing fascinating. I did.

His journey takes him from naïve teenager to late twenties. Then we flash to the end of his life answering our questions. Is Ricardo destined to fail or achieve his dreams? Will he ever fit in?

Reviewer Keridak Silk is a Wisconsin/Florida author: A kaleidoscope of magic, myth and reality. Intuitive counselor, tarot reader, and hypnotist, Keridak’s nature makes her a perfect pantser. Stories surprise her as much as they will you. Her fiction and non-fiction cover multiple genres. Discover her published and upcoming creations on her website.

About the Author: 

More than anything, I'm an avid reader and love historical novels. I've done many things throughout my career, from being an executive director of a non-profit to leading a national organization serving public broadcasting stations across the country, and being a producer and community engagement leader in-between. Writing and public speaking have generally been a big part of everything I've done, and so has

listening. What I discovered throughout, is the power of stories. We all have them and by sharing them, others can gain new perspectives, about the world and themselves. When I'm not writing, I'm doing something outdoors; gardening, out on a hike, or on my bike, kayaking or horseback riding. I also love to travel internationally. I live in Madison, Wisconsin with my longtime husband and partner and travel out west to visit our kids as often as we can, always with notebook, computer and kindle in hand.

Next Open Mic at WWA Zoom Thursday August 5 Register soon

It's that time again!

Join us on August 5th at 7PM to support Wisconsin Writers and hear some great new works. 

Plus a mini craft chat.

Want to read your work? Email hello@wiwrite.org. 

There are only 10 spaces available, first come first serve.

Thursday, August 05, 2021

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Location: Zoom

. 

Poetry from RB Simon

 This review originally appeared at Wisconsin Writers Association.

The Good Truth by RB Simon, Madison

Poetry, 40 pp

July 2, 2021, Finishing Line Press, KY

Paperback, $18.80

Buy on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Good-Truth-R-B-Simon/dp/1646625382/

About the Book:

In her debut collection, poet R.B. Simon paints a compelling canvas of identity one poem at a time. With evocative, lyrical language, these poems of loss, identity, and ultimately recovery, show that the complex fabric of our lives often weaves together something more beautiful than we could foresee. The Good Truth offers an accessible and poignant look at the forging of a woman through hardship and alienation, and her quiet, forceful return to the home of herself. The Good Truth is that each one of can join her on the journey.

 

My Review:

Simon’s opening biographical poem “Heritage” sets the table for the reader. With its starkness of the opening line and lyricism of internal time and space as its own dimension, we are drawn deeply into our own childhood angst, sharing our trauma with the poet, no matter who we are or how we existed. Any author of any genre who can pull us into her world is an artist. Simon’s art exposes the grit, love, and wonder of who and why she is, and begs us, her readers, to do the same.

 

“who are you, little i?” spoke to me through the questions of “who are you” from those outside, to the poignant self-wonderment of “who can you become?” Everyone who has hidden under the blanket or in a closet with a flashlight and read till your eyes bled knows how to escape into anyone else’s world but your own.

 

The 23 poems of The Good Truth are written in prose style, some speak in syncopation and several undulate across the page as they weave tales of discovery, humiliation, joy, resignation, despair, and acceptance. Phrases like “stacked facial muscles into a good morning” from “anything to keep you happy” and “the sound of infinity” from “Retreat” make me sigh in contemplation and revelation. The poem “Indelible” makes me want to make sure my loved ones are safe especially from themselves so that I will never have to feel like a “posthumous voyeur.”

 

Poetry is an intimate revelation, and Simon carefully peels back layers of the soul to share flashes of her world. Just the right size to breathe in a few poems at a time and contemplate. Lovingly laid out and finely written. Recommended for poetry aficionados.

 

About the Author:

R.B. Simon is a queer artist and writer of African and European-American descent. She endeavors to create poetry centered in the mosaic of identity, the experiences that make us who we are in totality. Having battled mental health issues, substance use disorder, and trauma throughout her life, she is now in recovery and studying to become an Art Therapist, supporting others on the same journey. She has been published in multiple print and online journals including The Green Light Literary Journal, Blue Literary Journal, Electric Moon, and Literary Mama. The Good Truth is her first book. Ms. Simon is currently living in Madison, WI with her partner, daughter, and four unruly little dogs. Website.