Articles by Steve Semken

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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In a world needing changes, and facing limited natural resources we will require new answers to our energy needs. Iowa, with its agricultural capacity harbors a reserve of potential fuel much like the oil fields once did in Saudi Arabia. In this wonderfully educational book you’ll discover “pioneers” who have already begun to utilize new […]

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In the middle of the middle land in the United States we have the greatest variety of weather possible: four distinct seasons, temperatures that plunge below zero by the double digits and escalate into triple digits, placid zephyrs and brutal tornadoes, gentle spring rains and mountains of snow, the crispness of autumn air and the […]

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Great journeys are often inspired by simple questions and observations. Join Chef Kurt Michael Friese as he travels through our nation’s Heartland. When he recognized that the epicenters of the world’s different culinary heritages have always been in the heart of a nation’s grain belt, whether it be France, India, China, Italy, or Germany, he […]

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A best-of collection by Homer Croy, Missouri’s prize-winning humorist, the United State’s first student of journalism, and the world’s first novelist to film his way around the globe. One part Mark Twain, and two parts Garrison Keillor, award-winning humorist and essayist Homer Croy was a man of many distinctions: “The first student of the first […]

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Fevers, pneumonia, and alcohol soaked clothes? A few clues as to how and when Foxes wore red vests. For the full story check out the Sioux City Journal article. The deep values of place learned during childhood can extend to living an enriched, responsible, creative, and authentic life in adulthood. The lessons in this collection […]

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What Cheer won the Silver Medal Award in Foreword Reviews 2010 Book of the Year Awards Part romantic comedy, part whodunit, part great American road trip, What Cheer asks a lover’s ageless questions: where, when, and with whom? Here’s a celebration of love sprung from perfectly surreal yet real places—What Cheer, Lost Nation, Story County. […]

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In our seasons of darkness, when snow lays deep upon the land and winds blow cold, winterberries are a gift of hope. Coated in heavy ice, the bright red orbs shine as sparkling memories on the bare  twisted stalk of age. These poems are reflections on the season and on life. They remind us to […]

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