Review by Victor R. Volkman What is it about wintertime that lends itself so supplely to the horror genre? Beginning with Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” in 1908, the dangerous beauty of winter was driven home. Now throw in a dash of the supernatural, as in John W. Campbell’s…
Review by Mack Hassler I think there is no argument that our writers who set themselves up as our poets are the real forerunners in language development. Storytellers entertain us, historians order and give us useful general ideas, comic tone writers defend us against the many predators that lurk in…
Review by Mack Hassler I think a writer develops a kind of cockiness that is helpful when he or she is accepted by the “teams” of publication in a culture. The great poet Virgil was close to the Emperor Augustus. Writers need patrons and mentors, and they need the teamwork…
Review by Mack Hassler This is my third review in six months of the work of this trickster with the Vonnegut-stolen name (t. kilgore splake) in the context of the “new literature” of the UP, and I think finally I begin to see clearly the profound loneliness of his chosen…
Review by Mack Hassler One of our great origin texts Genesis speaks of “giants in the earth” (chapter 6, I recall) prior to its own set of stories. These ancient “fathers” may have included the light dinosaur flyers. Some of the champion ski jumpers apparently make use of their trim…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera Crossroads is the third volume of four volumes by Sigrid Undset about medieval Norway, which earned the author a Nobel Prize in Literature at the time of their original release. Even though this is a “new” publication as an English translation, it is important to…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Raymond Luczak’s book “Compassion, Michigan: The Ironwood Stories” presented tales of courageous women who lived in Ironwood, Michigan, a small town located at the west end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P.). Many young men, during the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, fled to this community…
Review by Sharon Brunner In A Yooper Tale: Death by Wendigo, author Robert Hugh Williams managed to enthrall the reader with the danger and mystery of an evil plot of a powerful family and how a monster lurked in the woods in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Native American folklore…
Review by Sharon Brunner In Not Your Mary Sue, Rebecca Frost brought attention to the dynamics of a relationship in which a woman was held captive by a charming psychopath. She managed to create a variety of scenarios of suspense, tender moments, tension and a whole host of family situations….
By Sharon Brunner Kilgore Splake elicits strong imagery about various life situations. “Camp Baraga Ghosts” contains photographs of the old prison that was located in Baraga, Michigan, long closed. The imagination is sparked by the renditions of things past. Splake provides this quote in his introduction: “The old long-abandoned and…
Having reviewed other titles originally from Norway, a novel and another book of folk tales that I thoroughly enjoyed, I jumped on the chance to review Troll Magic: Hidden Folk from the Mountains and Forests of Norway. I’ve always believed that folk and fairy tales are not necessarily for children….
Review by Mack Hassler Deborah K. Frontiera is a major voice in the writing of a UP literature, and I have been very interested in most of her work across several genres. She keeps trying new things. But history is a hard genre to get right. History is all we…
Review by Tyler R. Tichelaar New Jack Handler Series Launched with Threat of COVID-22 Jack Handler once again saves the world in Michael Carrier’s latest thriller, To China with Love. Carrier is the author of the Jack Handler books, which consist of two series, each with seven books. This latest…
Review by Victor R. Volkman I’ll admit it’s extremely rare for a book like Know Your Ships 2022: Field Guide to Boats and Boatwatching on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway to cross my desk, but I am extremely impressed by the beauty and detail that it packs into…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Sharon M. Kennedy has mastered the art of telling short stories due in part to her history as a columnist for the Sault News in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, the articles she has written for the Mackinac Journal and her collection of short stories in View from…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Hilton Everett Moore explored life during the early to mid-1900s in Nelson, a fictional small community located near Baraga and Marquette in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In North of Nelson, the trials and tribulations of some of the main characters as they face their challenges served…
Review by Brad Gischia “Perspective is where you stand and how you measure the world you pass through.” This line, in relation to the passage it was pulled from, is important. In relation to the work as a whole, this line perfectly shows what D.J. Williams has done in his…
Moose Willow Mystery begins with a suspicious death in a game-processing meat locker at the village of Moose Willow. I questioned the place the mystery woman, who showed up one time at a choir practice, held in the book. Her role was explained but the explanation was hard to buy…
