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Within These Woods

A Collection of Northwoods Nature essays with Original illustrations by the Author

by Timothy Goodwin

WithinThe Northwoods has a new voice to discuss the connection between mankind and our natural world.

With the eye of a biologist and the soul of an artist, Tim Goodwin guides the reader on a personal and educational journey through the Northwoods of the Great Lakes Region. He reflects on the elegance of the evolutionary process and the interconnectedness of all living things. At times a microscopic examination of the forest floor, and at others a far-reaching gaze into the wonders of a night sky. Goodwin explores this enchanted place and the delicate dance its history, geology, and organisms have performed since before recorded time. Along the way, he asks the hard questions about stewardship and spirituality that only connecting to nature and understanding our place in it can begin to answer.

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About the Author

After teaching secondary science for 20 years, Tim Goodwin now serves as an instructor in the education department at Bemidji State University. With a M.A. and Doctorate in Education from Hamline University and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from St. Olaf College, Dr. Goodwin’s research involves work in environmental education, ecological literacy and ecological identity. His scholarly investigations led to the development of a unique, thematic biology curriculum. In addition to teaching and writing and illustrating about his Northwoods experiences, he is also a musician. His CD, Bones, is available for digital download. Dr. Goodwin lives in beautifully biodiverse Bemidji, MN with his wife and two children and always looks forward trekking from his home in Minnesota to the family cabin in Winter, Wisconsin.

Girl Unreserved

by Tashia Hart

GirlGirl Unreserved is a very intimate coming-of-age narrative told from the perspective of a "mixed-blood" girl from a Chippewa Indian reservation in Northern Minnesota.

The story addresses how the concepts of identity, gender, and sexuality are shaped by both our cultural environments as well as the intrinsic, spiritual landscape we grow and carry inside of ourselves throughout our lives.

Other themes this book addresses are: the prevalence of sexual assault in Indian Country; poverty and malnutrition and their effects on the mental states of children; alcoholism; and one of the worst coping mechanisms for suffering, the "I Don't Care" mentality that allows subscribers the belief that they are in control of their own suffering--leading to cycles that recreate the suffering over and over again.

This mentality is currently devastating Native communities, with particularly harmful repercussions for the youth of these communities.

Girl Unreserved is based on the author's own coming-of-age story and has woven into it elements of fiction and a touch of magical realism.

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About the Author

Tashia Hart is from the Red Lake Reservation of Chippewa Indians in Northern Minnesota, where her father and other enrolled family members reside.

Like many women, her recovery from traumas like the ones portrayed in Girl Unreserved is a life-long, on-going process.

She is currently finding ways to bring healthy feminine and masculine energy into her life.

The Hunters #2: Beneath the Chapter

The Hunters #2

by Jessica Walsh and Briana Lawrence

BeneathWas this why? Was this the reason he'd told her to be quiet, because this needed to happen?

The middle of winter has given the residents of the warehouse plenty of time to mull over their last adventure. The Storyteller has been found, but has left behind only more questions and no real answers. Just when the group exhausts all of their resources, a new organization comes to the surface that could tie up all the loose threads.

Unfortunately, the Chapter isn't what it appears to be, and the Hunters are now left to deal with a new threat that hits a little too close to home. What secrets is the Chapter hiding, and is it worth uncovering the truth?

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About the Authors

Jessica Walsh's life is a flurry of writing, art and creativity. You can usually find her reading a book, scribbling notes in a notebook for future creations, typing on a laptop with music blaring in her ears or buried in her basement watching documentaries and sitting behind a sewing machine.

Jessica has been writing for as long as she can remember and have boxes of old notebooks in horrible handwriting to prove it. Only recently has she stumbled back into writing and finishing her ideas.

Seeking the Storyteller is the first novel she's published with her partner in crime and life, Briana Lawrence. Jessica also writes horror, fantasy, supernatural and occasionally romance pieces which she is currently shopping around through contests and publishers.

At the age of nine, like most kids, Briana Lawrence had a dream. She wanted to be the best "WRITTER" in the whole wide world. Her fourth grade class laughed and wondered how one hoped to become a "writer" if they couldn't even spell the word. Back then her stories were created with crayons and construction paper. As she grew older they progressed into notebooks and colored ink pens of pink, blue, and purple. When she lost her older brother, Glenn Berry, in a car accident, she stopped writing.

Dreams, however, have a funny way of coming back.

Before she realized it she was grabbing her notebook and pens again. She would write stories that ranged from high school romance to her imagination running wild with the likes of Goku, Vegeta, and the other characters of Dragonball Z. This continued throughout college where she would always end up writing about the space exploits of the pilots of Gundam Wing and other works of fan fiction. Soon she realized that she wanted to do more than that. Her head was full of ideas, full of original characters and worlds that she wanted to share with others.

Thus, she stepped into an English Major with some Women's Studies on the side.

She graduated Iowa State University in 2006 and moved to Minneapolis with her partner. Here, she tried to get into graduate school, but things didn't pan out the way she wanted. She ended up working retail, her dream becoming buried by Black Fridays and other busy times of year. Once again, however, that dream returned. She went from immersing herself in geeky fan fiction to actually writing about the geeky things she loved for several anime and video game review sites. However, it was her discovery of National Novel Writing Month that made her go back to creating her own characters and plots.

Now, here she is, an author in the writing world.

The Hunters #1: Seeking the Storyteller

The Hunters #1

by Jessica Walsh and Briana Lawrence

SeekingI know of the Storyteller, it whispers into the man’s ear, I’ve met him. If you promise not to kill me, I’ll take you to him.

Alix Andre DeBenit and Randall Fagan are Hunters, part of a hidden network of humans who track and kill the monsters lurking in our world so everyone else can pretend they don’t exist. But when a living shadow mentions someone called the Storyteller, Alix hesitantly decides to learn more. They say the Storyteller lives in a massive library full of books that tell every being’s life story. He can read these books, rewrite them and change anything he wants, even if it’s already happened. That’s the power Alix wants, the power to bring his murdered family back and he’s determined to make the Storyteller do it. He just has to decide if working with the very creatures he’s supposed to kill is worth it.

Purchase information

Seeking the Storyteller is available from:

Not ready to purchase?
Go to Goodreads and add it to your to-read list!

Other books by these authors:

About the Authors

Jessica Walsh's life is a flurry of writing, art and creativity. You can usually find her reading a book, scribbling notes in a notebook for future creations, typing on a laptop with music blaring in her ears or buried in her basement watching documentaries and sitting behind a sewing machine.

Jessica has been writing for as long as she can remember and have boxes of old notebooks in horrible handwriting to prove it. Only recently has she stumbled back into writing and finishing her ideas.

Seeking the Storyteller is the first novel she's published with her partner in crime and life, Briana Lawrence. Jessica also writes horror, fantasy, supernatural and occasionally romance pieces which she is currently shopping around through contests and publishers.

At the age of nine, like most kids, Briana Lawrence had a dream. She wanted to be the best "WRITTER" in the whole wide world. Her fourth grade class laughed and wondered how one hoped to become a "writer" if they couldn't even spell the word. Back then her stories were created with crayons and construction paper. As she grew older they progressed into notebooks and colored ink pens of pink, blue, and purple. When she lost her older brother, Glenn Berry, in a car accident, she stopped writing.

Dreams, however, have a funny way of coming back.

Before she realized it she was grabbing her notebook and pens again. She would write stories that ranged from high school romance to her imagination running wild with the likes of Goku, Vegeta, and the other characters of Dragonball Z. This continued throughout college where she would always end up writing about the space exploits of the pilots of Gundam Wing and other works of fan fiction. Soon she realized that she wanted to do more than that. Her head was full of ideas, full of original characters and worlds that she wanted to share with others.

Thus, she stepped into an English Major with some Women's Studies on the side.

She graduated Iowa State University in 2006 and moved to Minneapolis with her partner. Here, she tried to get into graduate school, but things didn't pan out the way she wanted. She ended up working retail, her dream becoming buried by Black Fridays and other busy times of year. Once again, however, that dream returned. She went from immersing herself in geeky fan fiction to actually writing about the geeky things she loved for several anime and video game review sites. However, it was her discovery of National Novel Writing Month that made her go back to creating her own characters and plots.

Now, here she is, an author in the writing world.

The Callie Lindstrom series #2: A Stone for Amer

The Callie Lindstrom series #2

by Connie Claire Szarke

AWill Lindstrom was only sixteen when he and his father left the predictable routine of their family farm in southwestern Minnesota and were launched, via the Transcontinental Railway, into the wilds of eastern Montana to find Uncle Amer. The year was 1919. Decades later, after he and daughter Callie arrive at the Scandinavian Cemetery in Rockford, Illinois, in search of Amer's tombstone, an elderly Will recounts that difficult journey west, pays homage to the life that was, and reveals controversial truths about his beloved uncle and the prejudice that killed him. This novel, A Stone for Amer, is part of the Callie Lindstrom trilogy, which includes Delicate Armor and Lady in the Moon, A Novel in Stories.

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About the Author

Midwest author, Connie Claire Szarke, grew up in “The Land of 10,000 Lakes.” A writer of fiction and poetry, she also taught high school French for many years. She enjoys playing classical piano, painting, alpine skiing, and kayaking with her Shetland sheepdogs near her home west of the Twin Cities. Much of her work has been published in literary journals and magazines, including The Talking Stick, Dust & Fire, Stories Teachers Tell, Lake Country Journal Magazine, and Community Connections: The Minnesota Project.

The Callie Lindstrom series #1: Delicate Armor

The Callie Lindstrom series #1

by Connie Claire Szarke

DelicateSet in the Upper Midwest, 1950s-1990, Delicate Armor is the coming-of-age story of Callie Lindstrom, a cheeky girl who shares a special bond with her father. After the loss of his baby boy, Will Lindstrom places his energy in young Callie, teaching her his love for the outdoors. Accepted into the world of men within her family and privy to their dreams and struggles, she learns to navigate waves of conflict and loss while realizing her own place in the world. This book is about lost time, the tenacity of the human spirit, and our narrator’s emerging consciousness as she passes from young girl to self-possessed woman. Delicate Armor is Callie’s tribute to the land and to her microcosm of men.

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Delicate Armor is available from:

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About the Author

Midwest author, Connie Claire Szarke, grew up in “The Land of 10,000 Lakes.” A writer of fiction and poetry, she also taught high school French for many years. She enjoys playing classical piano, painting, alpine skiing, and kayaking with her Shetland sheepdogs near her home west of the Twin Cities. Much of her work has been published in literary journals and magazines, including The Talking Stick, Dust & Fire, Stories Teachers Tell, Lake Country Journal Magazine, and Community Connections: The Minnesota Project.