There is no shortage of books by writers with Midlands ties or with subjects of local interest. Writers no longer have to depend on the big publishing houses to get a book published. Small publishing houses, self-publishing and online publishing have made it easier for writers to get their books out to the public. Here are a few you may want to check out. They cover a variety of styles and subjects.
“Do You Really Know What Goes on in Nursing Homes?” by Shirley Ann Kraemer (Vantage Press, $15.95). The author, who lives in Laurel, Neb., has a master’s degree in counseling and is a doctor of divinity, worked in nursing homes for more than 30 years. She discusses why we have nursing homes, what we can expect to find in them and what they will be like in the future. She is a staunch advocate for the elderly.
“The Sword and the Tambourine” by Hanna Farwell (Destiny Image Publishers, $16.99). The mother of 10 and former missionary now lives in Omaha. Her book is more or less a call to arms in the Christian battle against evil, although she offers ways to find joy in faith and charges readers to look at what is really important in life. Anyone who believes the end times are near may want to try her book.
“The Whistleblower” by Kathryn Bolkovac with Cari Lynn (Palgrave Macmillan, $25). A true story of suspense by a former Nebraska police officer who went to work for a private contractor in Bosnia. There she discovered human-rights violations, including a network of sex trafficking, and fought to bring down its perpetrators, no matter who they were. It’s a tale of cover-ups, scapegoats, greed and indifference. And learning that the abuses continued will make readers crazy. Bolkovac lives in Lincoln.
“The Nebraska Dispatches” by Christopher Cartmill (University of Nebraska Press, $18.95). Playwright and actor Cartmill returned to his hometown of Lincoln to write a play about Ponca Chief Standing Bear. His three years of research took him across the state and south to Oklahoma. He learned a lot about the Native American population and about himself. He recorded his journey of discovery in a series of thoughtful dispatches shared in this book.
“Stateside” by Jehanne Dubrow (Northwestern University Press, $16.95). Dubrow started this collection of poems while she was at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln working on her Ph.D. A Navy wife, her poems look at military service from the point of view of the people left behind when their loved ones are deployed to another state or another country.
It’s a subject close to her heart, and readers can’t fail to be moved by her words. Includes an introduction by Ted Kooser.
“Baby Boomers and Beyond” by Amy Hanson (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Publications, $24.95). The subtitle of this book tells it all: ‘Tapping the Ministry Talents and Passions of Adults Over 50.” Hanson shows church leaders that they can find a deep reservoir of people important to their congregations. Hanson is a consultant, teacher and speaker who lives in Omaha.
“Three Bodies Burning: The Anatomy of an Investigation Into Murder, Money and Mexican Marijuana” by Brian Bogdanoff (Concierge Marketing, $19.95). In 2005, Omaha police officers found three dead men whose bodies had been set on fire. Bogdanoff, a former Omaha police detective, details the case as investigators discover a drug conspiracy and bring down its members. This was a real-life murder mystery right here in the heartland.
“Seven by Jay: Seven Short Stories” by Jaysen True Blood (Publish America, $24.95). The writer from Sidney, Iowa, offers an interesting collection of short pieces that range from a ninja’s tale to the story of an assassin searching for a lost daughter to a story of two brothers to the adventures of a frontier doctor.
“Celestial Dust: Essays and Poetry From a Prairie Life” by Richard Alex Jensen (Pine Hill Press, $16.98). This doctor, who lives in Sioux Falls, S.D., writes about familiar things and surprising things he finds in the Midwest and in his life. His words have a way of making us look at everyday things in a different way.
“William Kloefkorn: New and Selected Poems” edition and with an introduction by Ted Genoways (University of Nebraska Press, $26.95). This overview of many of Kloefkorn’s poems covers more than 40 years of his writing career.
The poet, professor emeritus of English at Nebraska Wesleyan University and surely one of Nebraska’s literary treasures, writes of everyday things in luscious verse, capturing every human emotion in his words and from his readers. This volume will hold you for quite a while if you just take one poem a day, but you won’t be able to restrict yourself that way.
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