Articles by Steve Semken

We live in a frenzied world. Many of us find that the relentless pace and constant distractions of our lives greatly limit our abilities to do anything well, including forming an authentic identity. Being authentic is such a struggle that many people have given up the quest for an integrated, whole self. Becoming Real addresses […]

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During a hot, sultry, and eerie evening on August 31st, 1886, Isabella Strybing Klinck was preparing her family for bed at 134 Broad Street when her home began to shake and fall apart. Written with wit and detail, Isabella’s original account of the Great Earthquake offers a new glimpse of both Charleston’s history and natural […]

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The Juggler received a Silver Book Award from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA) Imagine a young farmer…all wiry and tan…yearning to juggle. He can toss chickens, catch doors, juggle cabbages…but he wants to do more! Through the magic of rhythm, rhyme, and color author Jeanette Hopkins and artist Stormy Mochal capture young reader’s delight […]

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A regionalist view of living and growing up in the Midwest. […]

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A Firefly In The Night is a candid and humorous story of a life repeatedly interrupted by emergencies. Irelan tells his story the only way he can, with more humor than the events recorded might seem to require. As a child he learned a set of values from his parents and other elders and he […]

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Featuring writing by David Hamilton, John T. Price, Gary Holthaus, Lisa Knopp, Robert Wolf and “creekography” photography byEthan Hirsh. A collection full of the meanings, history, folklore, nature, and ideas of rivers and Iowa’s natural borders. Click here to see photos from the book. This popular Ice Cube Press, Harvest Book continued this year with an […]

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A Good Man Was Nominated for the Southeastern Bookseller Association’s Book of the Year! Harry Ducharme is at the end of his rope. Booze and bad decisions have taken him from the A-list of talk radio fame down to a tiny cinder-block station, WWHD, in St. Augustine, Florida. He talks, mostly to himself, from 10 […]

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Capture the magic of a ladybugs’ ball … crimson colored gowns, antennae tiaras … and all of the starlight your child can imagine. A full-colored children’s book with lessons to be learned not only from the natural world, but through music, patterns, and artwork. A charming story told in the form of a waltz by […]

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“Always amusing, often hilarious, Irelan reminds me of Donald Barthelme and George Saunders.”–Dr. Science, (Dan Coffey) These stories will take you places you can’t ignore. Welcome to a world of office anarchy, self-improvement fraud, and space aliens who live in silos. Observe an urban scene so ugly that it drives people into group therapy. Enroll […]

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Former Kansas Poet Laureate, Denise Low writes: “the Great Plains of the North American continent have dramatic seasons, intense colors, otherworldly thunderstorms, and epic winters.” Denise Low has emerged as one of the most trusted writers of this region. With a balance of drama and finesse, she describes the juncture between the natural world and […]

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