Upcoming Books

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. […]

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. […]

The Land Remains

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Steve Semken

Blends personal memoir, a history of Iowa land conservation, an analysis of contemporary issues of soil health, water quality, public lands, and future challenges to tell how land shapes our lives. A family farmer and expert agricultural lawyer delivers a dedicated conservationist’s assessment of the past, present and future of American soil. […]

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.’ […]

Sneezing Coyotes

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Steve Semken

Sneezing Coyotes | Salvatore Marici | $19.99 | 9781948509312 | Poetry | Travel | Interview with Writer’s Voices Read the Toasted Cheese piece Read book review Review at Toasted Cheese Engaging interview on WVIK-NPR on Talking Art A short interesting interview with the author on Des Moines’ Culture Buzz Show Watch this interview with the […]

Post-Modern Blues

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Steve Semken

Post-Modern Blues: love, lost loves, mortality, time, death, sex, connection, a soupçon of politics, the weather, and the vicissitudes of daily distraction—and yet more love, because obsessions do not change. […]

The History of Orthodontics Through Time & Space

Posted on August 12, 2021 by Steve Semken

Long time Midwest artists Craig Campbell and Priscilla Steele give us a unique, entertaining, colorful, and fascinating take on a seemingly everyday topic—devising a fully transformed adventure full of magic and charm. There are stories all around us and this one moves from the heart of creativity … […]

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. […]

Our Friend Sitting Bull

Posted on July 13, 2021 by Steve Semken

A long journey to homestead and in pioneer spirit the Dell’s moved from Iowa to the Dakota territory. Travel, food, children and hardships awaited them as they worked to achieve their dreams. Along the way, a friendship developed with well-known Lakota Chief Sitting Bull. A humble and educational story. […]

Birds In The Morning

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Steve Semken

Lyrical meditations on rural life braided with observations from her global public health and medical practice with struggles raising an autistic son and all the beauty and challenges brought by the creatures that surround her wild Iowa home. An instant environmental classic. An updated Leopold Land Ethics book. […]

The White Man Who Stayed

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Steve Semken

A timely and useful look at race in US History by James Autry with an introduction by well-known author/media host Bill Moyers […]

When This Is Over: Pandemic Poems

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Steve Semken

The Last Caucus in Iowa

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Steve Semken

Creation of an Artist

Posted on May 17, 2020 by Steve Semken

I May or May Not Love You

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Steve Semken

David Perkins | ISBN 9781948509152 | $19.99 | 136p | gatefold paper Read all about the book below and WATCH (and listen to) the wonderful book trailer. “I want you to step easily into me and feel comfortable and calm, though storms may be going on, and touch the reachable in ways your mind will […]

The Art of Disobedience

Posted on November 14, 2019 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 […]