The Breakfast Jury
Kenneth B Humphreyhttps://www.kenhumphrey.com/
Ebook $7.00
Buy on Amazon
A peer sharing site of all things Wisconsin
About the Book
“I’m emotionally not in a good place.”
So begins Yolanda DeLoach’s raw and redemptive Squatter, a tale of trails, trekking, and overcoming trauma. Between heartache and the realization that a relationship was never as it seemed, DeLoach pushes herself toward Wisconsin’s historic Ice Age Trail, a place of friendship and, ultimately, forgiveness. But the forgiving starts from within, as she makes her way, section by section, along the trail’s storied footways.
Honest, heartfelt, and told with a survivor’s grace, Squatter inspires, encourages, and listens, like a good friend on the trail.
My Review
About the Author
Yolanda DeLoach is an avid section hiker and outdoors
advocate, having become a “1,000-miler” on the Ice Age Trail in 2021. She lives
in Central Wisconsin, where she works as a palliative care/hospice registered
nurse.
Left for dead in a mysterious cave, Guilder Rayne awakens
into a world of magic and monsters he has little knowledge of. With the help of
some…complicated friends, Guilder begins to discover his own prowess for magic
while uncovering the troublesome past of the alleged Butcher Prince. As his
journeys take him into the dark recesses of his world, Guilder must hone his
newfound abilities before an ancient power becomes bent on destroying magic
itself. One reluctant sorcerer would sacrifice all to restore what once was.
The other, willing to sacrifice himself to save what has become. Can Guilder
and his friends stop this ancient power before it erases all magic as well as
their very existence?
Strackbein’s world of magic is filled with those who control the elements, and creatures morphed into the marvelous and profane in a setting familiar but transformed. Guilder is a sympathetic and memorable hero in need of the personality transplant inflicted on him by a Memory Eater. The venom doesn’t last forever, and Guilder is deeply troubled by the state of warring kingdoms and the role his family has played in bringing about chaos. Fae folk, zombies, changelings, a touch of steam punk and magic keep this twisty tale ever moving. Betrayals lurk around every corner where one must be very careful about the exact wording of promises made and kept. Guilder surrounds himself with a quartet of friends who control different aspects of nature, air, water, metal, and fire. Together, they learn how powerful they can be as they unravel the terrible mystery of Luna and the secret of a prophecy that will either save or destroy the world they know. Told through multiple viewpoints in a fast-moving adventure, readers of high fantasy will enjoy The Mourning of Lost Magics.
Each of the twenty-one stories features a child, in-law, grandchild, other denizens of Singer Street, even the neighborhood itself, such as the tale of The Day Nothing Bad Happened. Guiseppa is the fulcrum of the tales, which slowly revolve through nearly a generation timespan, neatly tied with a death on both ends. Marrocco’s command of detail creates 3D pictures without overwhelming the senses. “Timing was everything” isn’t a cliché on Christmas Eve, when a most unusual role reversal occurs and we see tenderness beneath the trigger temper of Guiseppa’s son Nicky, who has little memory of his father. It is “sisters who help their brothers miss what they could not recall,” he thinks. Descriptions such as “Each letter looked like a little tombstone,” and Gramma’s blanket “was an itchy sort of thing, probably picked up on a clearance at Goldbatts’s by someone out shopping for something else entirely,” are amusing and poignant as they work to set the tone.
Guiseppa holds her family tight, a mother who defends her children and grandchildren under any and all circumstances and is held in the utmost esteem to her deathbed. She’s teacher, overseer, confidant, sly; the provider most of them don’t ever fully understand and appreciate. One of my favorite scenes is when Gramma counsels her young grandson John about his confession that he thought about everything and concluded there was no God. The fact that he even reluctantly told Guiseppa while believing he’d shock and mortify her, says so much about the power of her love. Guiseppa works to ensure all of her children stay true to the family, even if it means getting them brides or arranging for adoptions from Sicily. Family feuds, family secrets, family dreams all muddle together in a charming and thoroughly entertaining collection of generational stories wrapped sweet and sour, like pollo in agrodolce.
The Change Paradox
Told through the lens of multiple characters, some whose stories you believe and others are questionable, this twisty tale cracks new puzzles with each revelation. Sanders walks a big fat line of edgy, self-destruction as she works her cases which will either endear or turn off fans—sometimes at the same time. A great debut from an up-and-coming author, this story will hit a high note for fans of time-travel, and detective adventures.
Survival Food: North Woods Storiesby a Menominee Cook
About the Book: An intimate and engaging Native food memoir
My Review:
I already experience of pang of wounded conscience reading Weso’s preface listing foods he grew up eating in the generation of change when food preparation sank to the bottom of the list of family activities. Allowing strangers to create shelf-stable quick-prep eat-and-run food marched us another step away from our identities. In twenty-one stories about life growing up Menominee, Weso attempts to redirect us toward our own family memories as well as encouraging us to forge new ones and pass them on to the next generation.
Weso lived mostly with his grandparents. “Grandma’s meals always followed the basic Menominee food pyramid….sweet, salt, meat and water.” Meal times were family times, stories and making plans, sharing news. The recipes that follow each story are full of pithy comments, such as the one in Venison Soup: “This is a relatively simple dish to make, after preparing the corn, and finding a deer, dispatching it, and dressing it.” Some of the recipes I’m excited to try, such as Winter Tamale Pie, many ingredients of which can be substituted with canned goods. “These also work during pandemic quarantines when trips to the grocery store are limited.” Other recipes…not so much. I do believe and accept that grasshoppers have lots of protein, but I’m not quite so anxious to make grasshopper tacos. Weso ate a grasshopper taco once in his “search for authenticity” as a college student in Madison.
Every story is an opportunity to share a life lesson or
comment such as why Grandma encouraged them to drink coffee and tea, not
alcohol. The stories are generous memories of tick bites, porcupine rescues,
bear hunting, working on a road crew, felling trees, going to college, learning
family lore such as the history behind Grandma and Grandpa’s house. All the way
to the passing of Weso’s mother, Weso’s memories weave a loving and poignant, sometimes
funny, and always thought-provoking tale of the importance of family and memory
and how food is often the main ingredient of home.
About the Author: Thomas Pecore Weso (1953–2023) was an author, educator, artist, and enrolled member of the Menominee Indian Nation of Wisconsin. His book Good Seeds: A Menominee Indian Food Memoir, published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press in 2016, was reviewed widely and won a national Gourmand Award. He also wrote many articles and personal essays, a biography of Langston Hughes with coauthor Denise Low, and the children’s book Native American Stories for Kids (Rockridge Press, 2022), which was named a 2023 Kansas Notable Book. Weso was an alumnus of Haskell Indian Nations University and the University of Kansas, where he earned a master’s degree in Indigenous studies. He died in Sonoma County, California, on July 14, 2023.