Category: Fiction
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Washington Island Lit Fest Announces Author Slate
The Washington Island Literary Festival Committee announced the festival’s 2018 slate of authors who reflect the festival’s theme of “Words on Water.” The 6th Annual Festival will be held Sept. 13-16 at the Trueblood Performing Arts Center and various locations throughout the island. “All of the authors invited to this year’s festival have made clean […]
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Review: ‘You Never Said. We Didn’t Ask: A Legacy from World War I’
by Thomas Davis She is reading her poetry on the second Wednesday of the month at Ephraim’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. White haired, intense, with a clear voice honed by decades of teaching college English students, Estella Lauter is not only performing for the assembled Door County poets, but is also teaching – just in […]
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The Bestseller List: July 13, 2018
HARDCOVER FICTION The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton There There by Tommy Orange A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Warlight by Michael Ondaatje The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah HARDCOVER NONFICTION Calypso by David Sedaris Educated by Tara Westover The World as It Is by Ben Rhodes How to Change Your Mind by […]
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New Novel from Door County Author
Door County native Katherine Hastings celebrates the release of her first romance novel on July 10. The historical romance titled In the Assassin’s Arms: Daggers of Desire is the first book in a series of historical romance novels to be released by Fiery Seas Publishing. This first book in the Daggers of Desire series is […]
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Questions & Authors: Cynthia Swanson
The Glass Forest, the second novel from bestselling author Cynthia Swanson, opens on the water of North Bay in Baileys Harbor, circa 1960. The protagonist, Angie Glass, is taking her infant son out in a canoe for an early morning autumn paddle. It’s the most calm moment in the novel. Past the first page, the […]
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The Bestseller List: June 8, 2018
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION 1. Less by Andrew Sean Greer 2. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood 3. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee 4. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward 5. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION 1. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann 2. Evicted by Matthew Desmond 3. Hillbilly […]
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The Bestseller List: May 25, 2018
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION 1. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward 2. Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout 3. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders 4. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman 5. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION 1. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann 2. Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance […]
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Review: ‘Death Rides the Ferry’
Death Rides the Ferry Patricia Skalka/208 pages, University of Wisconsin Press, 2018 For readers with a logical turn of mind, it is bliss is to sit by the fireside and read a well-written mystery novel – a book with a valiant hero or heroine, a mysterious murder, the theft of a priceless object, a […]
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Invisible Wounds of War: Scott Winkler Explores Trauma, Relationships in New Novel
The traumas of war, expectations of family, and the consequences of long-held secrets are explored in energetic, poetic prose in Casco author Scott Winkler’s debut novel, The Meadow. Set in the late 1960s, this work of historical fiction follows a young man, Walt Neumann, as he navigates the conflict between his personal dreams and his […]
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Book Review: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
The word “dystopia” – meaning a negative utopia – is a relatively new but useful addition to the English language. A dystopia is typically a work of fiction set in the midst of a utopian project that has gone horribly wrong. One of the most enduring dystopian novels is George Orwell’s 1984 (published in 1949); […]
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Questions & Authors: Dystopian Novelist Debra Leea Glasheen
A bomb set off by North Korea and an ensuing corporate world war set the foundation for Wisconsin author Debra Leea Glasheen’s new young adult novel, Backbiters. Following the blueprint of the popular dystopian literature genre, Backbiters plays out in a distant future world with perilous human and environmental conditions, including battles over fresh water […]
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2018 Hal Prize Judges Announced
The Peninsula Pulse newspaper is pleased to announce the judges of the 2018 Hal Prize poetry, prose and photography contest. They are: award-winning Wisconsin photographer Carl Corey, Minneapolis poet Leslie Adrienne Miller, Minnesota novelist Peter Geye, and nonfiction writer José Rodríguez. Conducted annually since 1998, the mission of the Peninsula Pulse’s Hal Prize is to […]
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Questions & Authors: Hal Prize Judge Peter Geye
The Peninsula Pulse’s annual contest, the Hal Prize, is now accepting submissions of prose, poetry and photography from writers and artists of all ages and skill levels. Those eager to share their fiction works with Pulse readers in this annual issue will also enjoy the chance to be read by Minnesota author Peter Geye, this […]
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Announcing the 2018 Hal Prize Contest
The Peninsula Pulse newspaper proudly presents the 2018 Hal Prize. Conducted annually since 1998, the mission of the Peninsula Pulse’s Hal Prize is to encourage and appreciate artistic expression through various literary forms and photography. The contest has showcased works from individuals of all ages and backgrounds – novice writers and photographers to professionals. The […]
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Review: ‘The Summer Before the War’
Helen Simonson followed the bestseller success of her 2010 debut novel Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand with a second book, The Summer Before the War. The British author had spent her teenage years in the East Sussex village of Rye, the setting for her novel which begins in 1914 during the summer before the beginning of […]
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Seven Fall Book Releases to Watch For
Fall and early winter is an exciting season for booksellers and readers alike, as this is the traditional time for publishers to release titles by big authors and about timely topics. So, while it may be time to pull your book from your beach bag, don’t feel blue – you can curl up next to […]
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Write On’s Jerod Santek and His Leap of Faith
“In the summer of 2013 I took what many might consider a huge leap of faith,” Jerod Santek said. “And left my job as program director at one of the oldest writing organizations in the country to head this new center. It is the best thing I’ve ever done.” After 19 years working with writers […]
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Announcing the 2017 Hal Prize Poetry, Photography & Prose Winners
Each fall, the Peninsula Pulse invites people of all ages, backgrounds and artistic abilities to submit stories, photographs and poems for a chance to be published in our annual Hal Prize literary and photography issue. The Hal Prize is held in the spirit of the late Hal Grutzmacher, a professor and Door County bookstore owner, […]
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Review: ‘Hag-Seed’ by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood, Canadian author of more than 40 books of fiction, has just brought out her latest novel, Hag-Seed, the title taken from one of the disparaging epithets slung at the monstrous Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. However, the much-maligned character fares better in Atwood’s fictional treatment of the play. Felix Phillips, Atwood’s protagonist, has […]
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Local Children’s Book Author Releases ‘Simon’s Farm Adventure’
Stay Toon’d Publishing is proud to announce a sixth work by local children’s book author/illustrator Janet Tlachac-Toonen. Simon’s Farm Adventure is the fourth book in the Sidney the Bear series and the sixth book Tlachac-Toonen has written/illustrated. The story features Simon the mallard ducking and his unplanned visit to a farm. How does a wild […]