Writers block - 2022 Events

Writers block

2022 Writers Block

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April 21 Steve Thorpe, Walking Wounded
April 21 Anna Davidson Martinez, Live & in the Flesh

May 19 Seth Tupper & Johnny Sundby, Surviving the '72 Flood

June 16 Bruce Junek, The Foundling of Dayr Castle, with Tass Thacker

July 21 Dorothy Rosby, Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate
July 21 Kenny Putnam, Work in progress

August 18 Barbara Evenson, The Shadow Tiger: Billy McDonald, Wingman to Chennault

September 15 Erica Lane Harvey, What the f*?

October 20 Anton Kaiser, Joan of Arc: A Study in Charismatic Women's Leadership
October 20 Gary Friendshuh, Stories for All Ages and The True Life and Times of One Man
October 20 Paul Peterson, Winterland
October 20 Adrian Ludens, The Tension of a Coming Storm and Bottled Spirits

November 5 Lindsay Stephens, South Dakota Needles: The Adventure Climbs of Jan and Herb Conn

Stephen Thorpe Walking Wounded

A beloved local folk singer and writer, Steve Thorpe, brings out a new edition of a novel first published by Doubleday 30 years ago.

Sherwood O’Neal and Art Johnson—back from an unpopular war and unable to fit into the lives they left to serve their country—are building a new life in a remote cabin in South Dakota’s Black Hills. That life is disrupted by the death of Sherwood’s sister, which leaves him the only living relative of her four-year-old son, Jamie. Reluctantly, Sherwood accepts his responsibility to do ‘something’ for his nephew, which takes the two recovering soldiers back to California where they are forced to confront both the fall-out from their service and the lives they had sought to escape. Slowly they realize that the Army didn’t create all their problems, as surely as getting out didn’t fix all of them.

Through the confusion and uncertainty of a society trying to reconcile itself with the fact that The United States of America is losing a war, Sherwood and Art come face to face with the collateral damage of that war on the home front.

Check out his book HERE.

Johnny Sundby and Seth Tupper Surviving the '72 Flood

Honoring the stories that refused to be swept away.

On June 9, 1972, a line of thunderstorms hovered over the Black Hills of South Dakota and dumped up to 15 inches of rain in some locations over a span of only six hours. Houses, vehicles, propane tanks, trees and other debris rocketed down the creek. Some victims were swept away in an instant as their loved ones looked on helplessly. Authorities eventually counted 238 deaths.

But there were also stories of survival. Some people managed to climb onto roofs, cling to trees, or float on debris. Emergency responders, soldiers, and volunteers conducted heroic rescues. Community members banded together to mourn the dead, clean up the wreckage, and limit the devastation of future floods.

This book preserves the memories of some of those survivors and heroes, based on interviews and photography conducted in commemoration of the flood’s 50th anniversary year.

Check out the book HERE.

Bruce Junek A Bright One Chronicles

with Tass Thacker

Author Bruce "B. Burgess" Junek draws on a lifetime of bicycle trips around the world to create his Young Adult series, A Bright One Chronicles. As he and his partner, Tass Thacker, crossed four continents through sweltering temperatures and winter snowstorms, he was storing up details which he would later use in his fiction. Punctuated by flat tires, risky food, unknown water supplies, their travels also exposed them to many different variations on the human experience. Bruce has also authored two nonfiction books about their travels, illustrated with photography by Tass. They are seasoned presenters, having talked about their travels in front of hundreds of audiences. Their travels, books and lives show a compelling message: Recognize what you value most in life, and pursue it!

Check out the book HERE.

Dorothy Rosby Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate

Dorothy Rosby’s humor column has appeared in small community newspapers for more than 20 years. It has been recognized by the National Federation of Press Women, the South Dakota Federation of Press Women and the South Dakota Newspaper Association. Dorothy was a finalist for the 2015 Robert Benchley Annual Award for Humor Writing and is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

Check out her books and blog HERE.

Kenny Putnam: A man of many talents.

Kenny Putnam is well known among locals as the outgoing violinist with the Red Willow Band, Song Pilots, and Lonely Rangers. But the hands that so skillfully wield a violin bow are also busy with cameras, paintbrushes, tablets, a variety of other artistic and technological mediums, and in the process in writing a Deadwood mystery.

Barb Evenson The Shadow Tiger: Billy McDonald, Wingman to Chennault and China Visions

Billy McDonald of Birmingham, Alabama, had an adventurous and dangerous career as a pilot in the Golden Age of Flight, and into World War II. He jumped from military cadet to wingman in Chennault’s famed aerobatic flying group Three Men on a Flying Trapeze. In China, he moved from instructor for the Chinese Air Force to combat pilot flying Chennault’s legendary Hawk 75 Special against the Japanese over Nanking in 1937. He began by ferrying world-famous passengers like Hemingway and high-value cargo like gold for the China National Aviation Corporation and then flew gasoline and gunpowder over The Hump (Himalayas) for Chennault’s Flying Tigers and the Chinese Army. Through it all, controversial and legendary aviator Claire Lee Chennault remained his mentor, often his boss and always his friend, indelibly shaping his life. This is the story of a remarkable career, and a man who bore witness to some of the twentieth century’s historic events and pivotal characters. Mac tells us the tale in his own words through newly-discovered photos, correspondence and manuscripts.

Check out the book HERE.

Erica Lane Harvey What the f?

With 51 wildlife and landscape feature photos with stories, plus photo tips, "What the f?" is a funny, beautiful and heartwarming adventure! "What the f?" isn't your typical coffee table book. I've picked out a collection of my favorite landscape and wildlife photos that have stories behind them, and they all have some sort of moment in them where I was probably saying, "What the f?!?!" in my head! (It's pretty innocent other than that, though - I promise, no bad words, the book is safe around the kiddos!)The title is also a fun double play on the letter "f," which does NOT just indicate a bad word. In the photography world, the letter "f" stands for a camera's aperture setting. I explain the "f/stop" or aperture setting, along with several more of my best photography tips I like to share with people, in a special section at the end of the book. Join me, Erica Lane Harvey, as I take my camera on adventures across the globe!

Check out the book HERE.

Anton Kaiser Joan of Arc: A Study in Women's Leadership

This book is a comprehensive study of Joan of Arc as a soldier, not as a saint. The view is wholly from the lowly foxhole and not from the lofty perch of spiritual enlightenment, although they often coalesce as one and the same. The primary purpose is to explore her martial relationships and her battlefield actions and their influence on soldier motivations, explaining why these relationships and actions led to her successes and failures. Joan's talents are demystified, allowing a more appropriate integration of her battlefield example into the greater arc of military history, demonstrating yet again what does and does not work on the battlefield. Just how did this untrained, illiterate teenage female convince medieval knights to accept her decisions and to obey her commands in the elusive art of war? Moreover, how did she motivate these men to risk their lives, inspiring them with a “will to fight”? Would modern soldiers have fought with her and for her and, if so, why? This last question is of special interest to our American armed forces, currently tasked to integrate enlisted and commissioned women into our frontline combat arms units.

Check out the book HERE.

Gary Friendshuh Stories For All Ages; The True Life and Times of One Man

Gary Friendshuh has lived an unusual and adventurous life. He has produced three books, and is at work on his fourth. The introduction to his children's book, Stories For All Ages, teaches values and encourages young people to ask:

Have you ever hunted with a bow or been hunted by a mountain lion?

Have you ever seen a bear face to face standing on its hind legs protecting her cub behind her?

Do you know the value of a smile or a prayer offering?

Can you make yourself do what has to be done, or show kindness to those who may not like you?

Most importantly, do you know the value of truth and of your own story? For your story is all that you will truly ever own.

Check out his books HERE.

Adrian Ludens The Tension of a Coming Storm and Bottled Spirits

Adrian Ludens is the author of the new short story collections The Tension of a Coming Storm (Dark Owl Publishing) and Bottled Spirits (Lycan Valley Press). He has contributed stories to the anthologies Blood Lite III: Aftertaste, The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper Stories, Gothic Fantasy Science Fiction Short Stories, Shadows Over Main Street, The Beauty of Death, and many others.

Check out his collections HERE.

Paul Peterson Winterland

A local artist is branching out into the book world. He has created an intriguing graphic novel and push others to branch out and try new things.

Lindsay Stephens South Dakota Needles: The Adventure Climbs of Jan and Herb Conn

Long before camming devices, sticky rubber or kernmantle ropes, a daring duo from the East Coast took to South Dakota's Needles with an 80-foot rope, soft iron pitons and tennis shoes. Herb and Jan Conn made their mark exploring and mapping the Needles, as well as ascending classic and sometimes outrageous lines to incredible places. This guide describes over 240 climbs and recounts the stories of this enigmatic Black Hills couple. The author also reclimbed, and in some cases, rediscovered the location of, those climbs.

Check out her book HERE.

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