Uncategorized

The River Knows

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Steve Semken

Insightful, provocative, and humorous by turns, The River Knows is a thought-provoking discussion of how industrial agriculture, conservative politics, religion, and climate change combine to challenge the legions of citizens looking for hope on the river and in nature. […]

Do Lizards Have Lips?

Posted on January 4, 2023 by Steve Semken

Based loosely, or tightly (who knows for sure) on some real truths about life in and around the small town of Toronto, Kansas. These Lizard Lips stories will leave you smacking your own lips and wanting more–sweet romances and spicy adventures. […]

The Art of Disobedience

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Steve Semken

The Art of Disobedience: Essays on Form, Fiction, and Influence. | 21.95 | ISBN 9781948509145 | Essays On Writing | Available NOW The best art is always disobedient. The creative works that move us, compel us, provoke us, haunt us, and transform us—the works that matter most to us and that we cherish—break the rules […]

The Ghost Of Craven Snuggs

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Steve Semken

A novel with a serious critique of the destruction caused by modern corporate agriculture and large-scale meat production. In the tradition of greats like Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard. Mystery, CAFOs, and adventure in the Heartland. […]

The Long Way Home

Posted on February 20, 2022 by Steve Semken

In a world of shortcuts, a book that embraces the long way. Here are detours of discovery, a spiritual wayfinding through the wilderness of time and memory. […]

Slippery Steps

Posted on February 19, 2022 by Steve Semken

Slippery Steps isn’t your typical, hell-and-back recovery memoir. I never intended to quit drinking, rarely gave it a thought. I’d spent decades as a successful and productive journalist. I was a loving husband and father. My life worked, and worked well. Until it didn’t. Freedom from drinking has enriched my life in ways I’d never imagined. […]

Bach and the Blues

Posted on December 6, 2021 by Steve Semken

Cellomaster Pablo Casals and ‘King of the Delta Blues’ Robert Johnson recorded iconic albums the very same week in history. Late November 1936. In Spain, Pablo was dealing with an erupting World War II. While in America’s ‘Jim Crow’ South, Robert was dealing with racism and the ‘Great Depression.’ […]

A Playbill for Sunset

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Steve Semken

Moon of the Snow Blind

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Steve Semken

The Spirit Lake Incident in March of 1857 was a dark moment in Midwestern History, incited by indigenous resistance to their loss of homeland culture, and people. A number of white settlers in northwest Iowa’s lakes region were killed. Four female survivors were taken by lnkpaduta and his band of Dakota Sioux. […]

Chasing Weather

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Steve Semken

Chasing Weather is an award-winning book. It is a Finalist in the Midwest Independent Bookseller Association’s Choice Award for poetry, and was also a Midwest Connections pick! Plus, the book was selected a Kansas Book Award Winner for the 2014. “The sky is made of rivers before and after they became rivers,” Caryn writes in Chasing […]

Clubfoot

Posted on October 29, 2019 by Steve Semken

Clubfoot: The Quest for a Better Life for Millions of Children tells the little-known story of the world’s most common skeletal birth defect and development of a revolutionary […]

Three books by K.L. Cook

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Steve Semken

We rarely accept one book at a time, so when we accepted three new books by one author you know something BIG is happening. This fall (2019) we’re releasing three new books by K.L. Cook Marrying Kind, a collection of stories; Lost Soliloquies, poems; and The Art of Disobedience, essays. K. L. Cook is the […]

Minds Changing … Still Here

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Steve Semken

By Nancy Adams-Cogan As an interfaith chaplain, Nancy has served 14 years in geriatric clinics at a university hospital in the Midwest. These poems reflect on her observations and situations during this time. As a trained chaplain, rather than a nurse, she brings the ability to listen to help patients and others. Using a framework […]