<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Read Minnesota Books]]></title><description><![CDATA[A literary podcast from the North Star State for readers and writers. Author interviews, book recommendations, and writing advice.]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!G9Hd!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb811c45a-8b3c-40b8-83f3-368e0aa4919b_256x256.png</url><title>Read Minnesota Books</title><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2026 05:10:23 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[deborahcopperud@gmail.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[deborahcopperud@gmail.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[deborahcopperud@gmail.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[deborahcopperud@gmail.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Sasha Maria Suarez and An Ojibwe Home in the City]]></title><description><![CDATA[An incredible story of long-term community organizing!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/sasha-maria-suarez-and-an-ojibwe</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/sasha-maria-suarez-and-an-ojibwe</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 02 Nov 2026 13:03:39 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/219919351/6aa4a438508b45970425a308eae1ee01.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Sasha Maria Suarez, Assistant Professor of History at University of Wisconsin&#8212;Madison, discusses <em>An Ojibwe Home in the City: White Earth Women and Community Organizing in Minneapolis</em>. We talk about native community organizing, the efforts of four key women who advocated for self-determination, and an incredible discovery in the University of Minnesota archives.</p><p><em><a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517917913/an-ojibwe-home-in-the-city/">An Ojibwe Home in the City: White Earth Women and Community Organizing in Minneapolis</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.maicnet.org/">Minneapolis American Indian Center</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/anishinaabekwereads/">anishinaabkwe reads</a></p><p><strong>Recommendations</strong></p><p><a href="https://racketmn.com/kawai-strong-washburns-names-of-the-new-world?giftLink=3cc3f572d0f15a7c31154d7da745f56d">Racket Profile of Kawai Strong Washburn</a></p><p><a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/anthony-ceballos-and-glassful-of">Anthony Ceballos episode of Read Minnesota Books</a></p><p>Thanks for listening to Read Minneapolis Books!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Pat Harris and A Season On the Drink]]></title><description><![CDATA[A Saint Paul sports novel!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/pat-harris-and-a-season-on-the-drink</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/pat-harris-and-a-season-on-the-drink</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2026 12:01:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/219713148/4c94d1da7b9b46b5bbe5cd9c2815e1a3.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Author Pat Harris tells us about his book, <em>A Season On the Drink</em>, based on a Catholic Charities legend about a 1986 softball team of chronic alcoholics. We talk about why he chose to fictionalize the story, his forty-year writing process, harm reduction programs, and the age-old Twin Cities spelling debate: St. or Saint?   </p><p><em><a href="https://shop.adventurewithkeen.com/product/a-season-on-the-drink/">A Season On the Drink</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.patharris.org/">Patharris.org</a></p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pat.harris.10441">Pat Harris on Facebook</a></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pat-harris-25b342a8/">Pat Harris on LinkedIn</a></p><p><strong>Recommendations</strong></p><p><a href="https://racketmn.com/td-mischke-new-book-winters-song-hymn-to-north-minnesota?giftLink=06a7cb81d4995da883c89a5a077a112a">TD Mischke&#8217;s </a><em><a href="https://racketmn.com/td-mischke-new-book-winters-song-hymn-to-north-minnesota?giftLink=06a7cb81d4995da883c89a5a077a112a">Winter&#8217;s Song: A Hymn to the North</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.theatreintheround.org/season75/">Theatre In the Round&#8217;s Celebration of Minnesotan Art and Resiliency</a></p><p>Thanks for listening to Read Minnesota Books!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sung Yung Shin 신 선 영 and Heart Eater]]></title><description><![CDATA[A memoir-in-essays from a Minnesota author, editor, and poet!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/sung-yung-shin-and-heart-eater</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/sung-yung-shin-and-heart-eater</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 21 Oct 2026 12:01:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/218692431/adca80b57659ca4a10bc2a59d0f69fcb.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Award-winning writer Sun Yung Shin &#49888; &#49440; &#50689; speaks with us about her memoir-in-essays <em>Heart Eater: A Memoir of Immigration, Belonging, and How We Find Ourselves in Language</em>, the inaugural selection of the Immigrant Writers on Immigrant Writing Series from Black Lawrence Press. We discuss transracial and transnational adoption, how activism can shift narratives, her experience as one of three young poets to publish collections about the Korean-American adoptee experience in 2006, and how writers can care for themselves while writing about intensely personal topics.</p><p> <em><a href="https://blacklawrencepress.com/books/heart-eater-a-memoir-of-immigration-belonging-and-how-we-find-ourselves-in-language/">Heart Eater: A Memoir of Immigration, Belonging, and How We Find Ourselves in Language</a></em></p><p><em><a href="https://shop.mnhs.org/products/good-time-truth">A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.sunyungshin.com/">Sun Yung Shin&#8217;s &#49888; &#49440; &#50689; website</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sunyungshin">on Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sunyungshin/">@sunyungshin on Instagram</a>, <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/sunyungshin.bsky.social">@sunyungshin on Bluesky</a> <span class="mention-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Sun Yung Shin &#49888; &#49440; &#50689; &#36763;&#21892;&#33521;&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:5627825,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;user&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:null,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7177427b-c1d6-42b9-8169-63a73a8cf7ff_1441x1441.jpeg&quot;,&quot;uuid&quot;:&quot;b7f2d2de-b487-4ce3-b683-d4ea364ffc5a&quot;}" data-component-name="MentionToDOM"></span> </p><p><strong>Recommendations</strong></p><p>Read Nik Chang Hoon&#8217;s essays:</p><p>&#8220;<a href="https://kenyonreview.org/piece/emotionally-self-aware-adoptive-parent-contract-for-services/">Emotionally Self-Aware Adoptive Parent: Contract for Services</a>&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;<a href="https://bhreview.org/articles/abandoned-supposings-a-letter-to-my-non-fathers-silence/">Abandoned supposings: A Letter to My Non-father&#8217;s Silence</a>&#8221;</p><p>Thanks for listening to Read Minnesota Books!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Stephanie Hansen and Kurt Johnson and The Moon Tavern]]></title><description><![CDATA[Delicious recipes at the end of every chapter!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/stephanie-hansen-and-kurt-johnson</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/stephanie-hansen-and-kurt-johnson</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 14 Oct 2026 12:01:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/217582355/55081ff4d7a1fa1353c693df9ad245ae.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Husband and wife co-authors Stephanie Hansen and Kurt Johnson talk with us about how a broken-down Yugo is a perfect narrative device, adapting Croatian recipes to be more Minnesotan, and why they capped the number of sex scenes in their novel <em>The Moon Tavern: A Culinary Love Story (With Recipes)</em>.</p><p><em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTS1T6H4?lv=shuf&amp;channelId=500&amp;plpRedirect=mhFallback">The Moon Tavern: A Culinary Love Story (With Recipes)</a></em></p><p><a href="https://www.fox9.com/tag/series/taste-buds">Taste Buds television show</a></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@TasteBudswithStephanie">Taste Buds with Stephanie</a> on YouTube</p><p><a href="https://www.stephaniesdish.com/">Stephanie&#8217;s Dish</a> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=stephanie%20hansen">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stephaniesdish/?hl=en">Instagram</a>, and <a href="https://substack.com/@stephaniesdish">Substack</a></p><p>Kurt Johnson on Substack</p><p><strong>Recommendations</strong></p><p>Best Minnesota-grown apple varieties: Zestar, First Kiss, SweeTango, and Snow Sweet.</p><p><a href="https://arb.umn.edu/AppleHouse">University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum AppleHouse</a></p><p>Thanks for listening to Read Minnesota Books!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[David Mura and Exit, Miss Saigon]]></title><description><![CDATA[A career-spanning memoir in essays!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/david-mura-and-exit-miss-saigon</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/david-mura-and-exit-miss-saigon</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:01:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/217287208/313a6e776e2c47b74498d0bfb7082273.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>David Mura joins us to speak about Asian-American identity, Broadway boycotts, thirty years of essays, and how typing is like jazz piano.</p><p><em><a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517921217/exit-miss-saigon/">Exit, Miss Saigon</a></em></p><p><a href="https://x.com/MuraDavid">@muradavid on Twitter</a> </p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/david.mura.71/">David Mura on Facebook</a></p><p><a href="https://davidmura.com/">davidmura.com</a></p><p><a href="https://davidmura.substack.com/">David Mura on Substack</a></p><p><strong>Recommendations</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/19/arts/to-invigorate-literary-mind-start-moving-literary-feet.html">&#8220;To Invigorate Literary Mind, Start Moving Literary Feet&#8221; by Joyce Carol Oates</a></p><p><a href="https://www.theatermu.org/community-events/exit-miss-saigon#gsc.tab=0">October 7, 2026, David Mura Book Launch</a></p><p><a href="https://www.magersandquinn.com/event/David-Mura-presents-Exit,-Miss-Saigon/670">October 20, 2026, Magers and Quinn, David Mura with Alexs Pate</a></p><p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/asian-american-memoir-tickets-1998918308470">November 11, 2026, Subtext Books event at The University Club of Saint Paul</a></p><p>Thanks for listening to <a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/">Read Minnesota Books</a>!</p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Emi Nietfeld and No Contact]]></title><description><![CDATA[No Hollywood endings in this anthology!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/emi-nietfeld-and-no-contact</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/emi-nietfeld-and-no-contact</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 11:01:45 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/215875082/3dee83c06d04b481e300b704fce6b42e.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Emi Nietfeld, journalist and author of the memoir <em>Acceptance</em>, joins us to talk about narratives of estrangement, journalism jobs, AI emptiness, and her essay &#8220;A Leap of Logic&#8221; in the anthology <em>No Contact: Writers on Estrangement</em>.</p><p><em><a href="https://books.catapult.co/books/no-contact/">No Contact: Writers on Estrangement </a></em><a href="https://books.catapult.co/books/no-contact/">edited by Jenny Bartoy (Catapult)</a></p><p><a href="http://eminietfeld.com">eminietfeld.com</a></p><p><a href="https://eminietfeld.substack.com/">Emi Nietfeld&#8217;s Substack</a></p><p><a href="https://slate.com/life/2024/08/no-contact-parents-meaning-family-estrangement.html">We&#8217;re Done</a></p><p><a href="http://www.thecut.com/article/surrogate-triplets-custody-china.html">Whose Babies Are These?</a></p><p><strong>Recommendation</strong></p><p><em><a href="https://moonpalacebooks.com/item/lRiEZ1bOgS8B7LHC9kALsQ">Racket: The First Five Years 2021-2026</a></em></p><p>Thanks for listening to Read Minnesota Books!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[12 Minnesota Novellas to Read This Fall]]></title><description><![CDATA[A whole bunch of fiction shorter than novels, longer than short stories!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/12-minnesota-novellas-to-read-this</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/12-minnesota-novellas-to-read-this</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:04:28 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I enjoy a search challenge, so when <a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/lori-odea-and-little-cavendish">I spoke with Minnesota writer Lori O&#8217;Dea about her new work </a><em><a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/lori-odea-and-little-cavendish">Little Cavendish</a>,</em> and why novellas are hard to publish, I knew I had to compile a good list of Minnesota novellas.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg" width="342" height="528.4120171673819" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1800,&quot;width&quot;:1165,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:342,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nnxq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1505cd9f-3ad0-4408-8b14-57e7e0b12888_1165x1800.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em>Little Cavendish</em> is a great place to start. The main character, Iris Cavendish, works as a flight attendant and tries to get in contact with her younger brother, whom she has not seen since she left their difficult family home. As Iris starts a new, independent living chapter in her life, she goes on a very satisfying homemaking set-up that reminded me of <em>The Boxcar Children</em> and the scenes in <em>Stone Butch Blues</em> where Jess furnishes and decorates her beloved apartment.</p><p><a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/lori-odea-and-little-cavendish">(If you haven&#8217;t listened to the episode, it&#8217;s a good one!)</a></p><p>What qualifies as a novella? Something in between a short story and a novel. Robert Lee Brewer <a href="https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/what-is-a-novella-in-literature-and-writing">writing for Writer&#8217;s Digest</a> says novella word count falls between 15,000 and 40,000 words. Some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#Word_counts">fiction contests</a> allow novellas as short as 7,500. That&#8217;s a really big range, but I don&#8217;t make the literature rules; I just write about them!</p><p>The first Minnesota novella I found was <em>A Little Norsk </em>by Hamlin Garland.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IivV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IivV!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IivV!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IivV!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IivV!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IivV!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg" width="314" height="486.7" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:279,&quot;width&quot;:180,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:314,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;A Little Norsk | Barnes &amp; Noble&#174;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="A Little Norsk | Barnes &amp; Noble&#174;" title="A Little Norsk | Barnes &amp; Noble&#174;" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IivV!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IivV!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IivV!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IivV!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd844e29-d390-445b-9117-7926dd764fe0_180x279.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21850">A Little Norsk</a></em><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21850"> (alternative title </a><em><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21850">Ol Pap&#8217;s Flaxen</a></em><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21850">) by Hamlin Garland</a>, is a pioneer adoption story that takes place during a deadly prairie winter. I also found an excellent literary criticism article in <em>Midwest Quarterly</em> that offers a queer reading of Garland&#8217;s bachelor homesteaders. </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zpGL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zpGL!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zpGL!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zpGL!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zpGL!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zpGL!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp" width="315" height="507.9581151832461" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:308,&quot;width&quot;:191,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:315,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zpGL!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zpGL!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zpGL!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zpGL!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F718fd1dd-ae49-470f-9efd-76dbf4403060_191x308.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><a href="https://clereviewofbooks.com/reviving-the-girl-meridel-le-sueur-arthur-boyle/">Writing in Cleveland Review of Books</a>, J. Arthur Boyle summarizes <em>The Girl</em> by Meridel Le Seuer:</p><blockquote><p>A not-so-brief summary: The eponymous Girl&#8212;as she&#8217;s referred to by everyone, including her mother&#8212;finds less-than-legal work in a prohibition beerjoint in Depression-era Minneapolis. This job also functions as her passage into adulthood. Chief is the question of sex, and men. Girl seeks a state of &#8220;knowing&#8221; with the help of three other women: Belle, the maternal proprietress of the beerjoint; Clara, a fellow server, a cast-off wandering through social systems and sex work and hoping to one day leverage it into class ascension; and Amelia, the Workers Alliance organizer, the collectivizer and historical consciousness for all of them. </p></blockquote><p>Also! Poet Mark Nowak introduced me to Meridel Le Seuer&#8217;s work when he was on <a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/mark-nowak-and-again">Read Minnesota Books to discuss his latest collection</a>.  </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!11de!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!11de!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!11de!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!11de!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!11de!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!11de!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg" width="341" height="586" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:586,&quot;width&quot;:341,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;The Diamond as Big as the Ritz: Fitzgerald, F Scott: 9781645941590: Amazon.com: Books&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="The Diamond as Big as the Ritz: Fitzgerald, F Scott: 9781645941590: Amazon.com: Books" title="The Diamond as Big as the Ritz: Fitzgerald, F Scott: 9781645941590: Amazon.com: Books" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!11de!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!11de!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!11de!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!11de!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00ae4f24-fb21-4a54-9c62-f0c786411c1d_341x586.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>A classic! Originally published in 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald&#8217;s novella <em>The Diamond as Big as the Ritz</em> is out of copyright, and <a href="https://americanliterature.com/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/short-story/the-diamond-as-big-as-the-ritz">available to read for free online</a>. It&#8217;s a satirical story about a family who owns a mountain-sized diamond, but has to keep it a secret because of supply and demand economics (if everyone knows there&#8217;s a diamond as big as the Ritz, those diamonds won&#8217;t be worth very much anymore). Pairs well with <a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/minnesota-money">my post about moneyed Minnesota families</a>.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yj6D!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yj6D!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yj6D!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yj6D!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yj6D!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yj6D!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg" width="330" height="495" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:2184,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:330,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;https://minnesota-us.imgix.net/covers/9781517920470.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="https://minnesota-us.imgix.net/covers/9781517920470.jpg" title="https://minnesota-us.imgix.net/covers/9781517920470.jpg" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yj6D!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yj6D!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yj6D!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yj6D!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F078b80ee-a00c-40fe-8846-b29903a8a8c0_1800x2700.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Minnesota mystery author Larry Millett wrote three novellas and bundled them together in a novel-length book collection titled <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517920470/mysterious-tales-of-old-minneapolis/">Mysterious Tales of Old Minneapolis</a>, published last year by University of Minnesota Press. </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VUpt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VUpt!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VUpt!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VUpt!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VUpt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VUpt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg" width="299" height="450" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:450,&quot;width&quot;:299,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;The Staggerford Murders by Jon Hassler&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="The Staggerford Murders by Jon Hassler" title="The Staggerford Murders by Jon Hassler" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VUpt!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VUpt!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VUpt!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VUpt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb89ffa36-29be-49c7-a635-35b9947895eb_299x450.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>This book bundled two novellas by John Hassler together. In a <em>Star Tribune </em>review from 2004, Pamela Miller panned <em>The Staggerford Murders: &#8220;</em>It's an amusing read if you're willing to believe that murder is funny and that old fogies are better than forensics at solving them&#8221; but praised <em>The Life and Death of Nancy Clancy's Nephew</em> as &#8220;one of Hassler&#8217;s finest works.&#8221;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1WmD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1WmD!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1WmD!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1WmD!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1WmD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1WmD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg" width="290" height="464" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:400,&quot;width&quot;:250,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:290,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1WmD!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1WmD!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1WmD!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1WmD!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce38606a-1183-4d7b-8441-8d15b8f8645c_250x400.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em>Spirit Pass</em> by Angela Ellen Grey contains three novella mysteries about a tribal detective investigating cases of missing and murdered indigenous women</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Em-8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Em-8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Em-8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Em-8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Em-8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Em-8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg" width="300" height="444.44444444444446" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:400,&quot;width&quot;:270,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:300,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Em-8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Em-8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Em-8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Em-8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F919e4e57-79f4-486d-9c26-512ab1cf8b44_270x400.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em>Road Trip</em> by Lynette D&#8217;Amico follows two travelers through Minnesota and Wisconsin. </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mrL_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mrL_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mrL_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mrL_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mrL_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mrL_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg" width="311" height="466" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:466,&quot;width&quot;:311,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;The Quarantine of St. Sebastian House&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="The Quarantine of St. Sebastian House" title="The Quarantine of St. Sebastian House" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mrL_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mrL_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mrL_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mrL_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa262c957-53f2-48e6-bdf1-0b162667d9b0_311x466.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ljZy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ljZy!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ljZy!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ljZy!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ljZy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ljZy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg" width="290" height="466" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:466,&quot;width&quot;:290,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;The Ecstasy of Michaela&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="The Ecstasy of Michaela" title="The Ecstasy of Michaela" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ljZy!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ljZy!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ljZy!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ljZy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45499dab-d2e9-4f76-a5c7-e1b80b60d54e_290x466.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Writer and academic John Pistelli earned a PhD from University of Minnesota and has published a novella titled <em>The Ecstasy of Michaela</em> with Valhalla Press and self-published a novella about the COVID-19 pandemic early in 2020, <em>The Quarantine of St. Sebastian House: A Novella</em>, of which <a href="https://grandhotelabyss.substack.com/p/the-critique-of-everything-from-the?r=2xhcr&amp;utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&amp;utm_medium=web">a sample chapter is available on his Substack</a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNFd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNFd!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNFd!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNFd!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNFd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNFd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg" width="300" height="453" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:453,&quot;width&quot;:300,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNFd!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNFd!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNFd!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tNFd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fea11f0aa-6346-40eb-971c-f5f5c2089cdc_300x453.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em>The Line</em> by Stone Lovecharm is a novella about a &#8220;former Satyr masquerading as a Minnesota retiree&#8221; available through Indie Minnesota. Do you know Indie Minnesota? It&#8217;s a <a href="https://library.biblioboard.com/anthology/b62da41a-594a-49ed-a21e-b0837fc1fcee">database full of self-published ebooks</a> by Minnesota writers.  </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JVDe!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JVDe!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JVDe!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JVDe!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JVDe!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JVDe!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg" width="300" height="462" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:462,&quot;width&quot;:300,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JVDe!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JVDe!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JVDe!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JVDe!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79e95efd-0641-4cf5-89d9-535ba68f3e51_300x462.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Mark Munger, a northern Minnesota writer and owner of <a href="https://cloquetriverpress.com/">Cloquet River Press</a>, published <a href="https://cloquetriverpress.com/products/kulkuri-vagabond-and-other-short-stories/">Kulkuri (Vagabond)</a>, a collection of short fiction that includes a novella titled &#8220;The Angle.&#8221;  </p><p>I have to think that novellas might be on their way to having a real moment, considering our current age of short-form everything catered to truncated attention spans.</p><p>How about you? Do you like this not-quite-a-short-story-not-yet-a-novel category? Have I missed any novellas you like, authored by a Minnesota writer or set in Minnesota? Let me know! Happy reading!</p><p> </p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Lori O’Dea and Little Cavendish]]></title><description><![CDATA[A novella from a Detroit Lakes writer!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/lori-odea-and-little-cavendish</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/lori-odea-and-little-cavendish</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:04:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/212904649/6d3a8b2ad2795427c678ae069d27a9bf.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Lori O&#8217;Dea speaks with us about art, the literary scene in Detroit Lakes, being a part-time Minnesotan, and short fiction trends.</p><p><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/little-cavendish/b5cb2786c9781f42">Little Cavendish (Rebel Santori Press)</a></p><p><a href="http://www.loriodea.com">Lori O&#8217;Dea&#8217;s website</a></p><p><a href="https://www.emceramics.studio/art-project-605-main">Art Project 605</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/lori.odea">@lori.odea on Instagram</a> </p><p><a href="https://www.loonwriters.com/">Loon Writers Festival</a></p><p><strong>Recommendations</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/12-minnesota-novellas-to-read-this">Minnesota Novellas</a></p><p>Thanks for listening to Read Minnesota Books!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Lina Patton and The Lake Club]]></title><description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s always the right season for a beach read!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/lina-patton-and-the-lake-club</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/lina-patton-and-the-lake-club</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:03:10 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/212911118/b7fb6b24f8fa6fd82086fc94ac18138a.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Author and doodler Lina Patton talks with us about chi-chi Minnesota geography, eavesdropping on service jobs, and lakeside fiction.</p><p><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-lake-club-lina-patton?variant=44325804507170">The Lake Club (William Morrow)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.linapatton.com/">Lina Patton</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/linapatton/">@linapatton on Instagram</a> </p><p><a href="https://thenerddaily.com/lina-patton-the-lake-club-author-guest-post/">Lina&#8217;s essay &#8220;The Summer Job That Taught Me How to Fail&#8221; </a></p><p><strong>Recommendation</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/minnesota-money">Read my Minnesota Money post</a></p><p>Thanks for listening to Read Minnesota Books!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Minnesota Money]]></title><description><![CDATA[A work-in-progress companion post to my upcoming Lina Patton interview!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/minnesota-money</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/minnesota-money</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2026 17:10:47 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Two Minnesota books inspired this post. First, I just interviewed Lina Patton, author of the very fun novel <em>The Lake Club</em>, a beachy read that takes place in the Twin Cities&#8217; wealthy western suburbs and includes a fictional member of the Cargill family. Plus, <a href="https://racketmn.com/mark-dayton-on-money-political-favors-and-how-donald-trump-mixed-him-up-with-matt-damon?giftLink=ebd44d4f9f13ce1ccee03d395ee2cf66">I just reviewed former Minnesota Governor and U.S. Senator Mark Dayton&#8217;s new memoir for Racket</a>. In <em>Perseverance</em>, Dayton writes candidly about his privileged upbringing. Both stories got me thinking, what are all the other ultra-rich Minnesotans doing with their moola?</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg" width="1456" height="1093" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1093,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:7075823,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/i/216289439?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CVNA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbbf3bd42-4ff1-4ec6-9c82-b0eb142f08ee_5328x4000.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@nikoloz_g?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Nikoloz Gachechiladze</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-view-of-a-city-from-across-the-river-56xWR1mGzGg?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure></div><h1>Dayton</h1><p>The Dayton family fortune has its origins in a dry goods store founded by George Draper Dayton in downtown Minneapolis in the early 1900s. That humble retail outlet became the fancy department store chain known as Dayton&#8217;s. The Dayton Company built shopping malls, expanded throughout the Upper Midwest, went public, and started Target. </p><p>Mark Dayton made his money make money by starting the Vermilion Investment Company. Read <a href="https://racketmn.com/mark-dayton-on-money-political-favors-and-how-donald-trump-mixed-him-up-with-matt-damon?giftLink=ebd44d4f9f13ce1ccee03d395ee2cf66">my Racket review</a> (or the entire book!) to find out more about how Dayton leveraged his wealth and influence to make Minnesota better for everyone.  </p><h1>Mortenson</h1><p>Founded in 1954, Mortenson Construction builds behemoths, like the U.S. Bank Stadium, where the Vikings play. Once you start noticing Mortenson-branded Jersey barriers at construction sites, you can&#8217;t stop seeing them. Beyond sports stadiums, the company builds hospitals, banks, and was recently linked to a 1.8-million-square-foot data center project in Hermantown, MN, projected to use 50,000 gallons of water per day (&#8220;equivalent to the daily use of about 160 homes&#8221; according to a March 4 <em>Star Tribune </em>article).  </p><p>Kate Mortenson, who&#8217;s married to CEO David Mortenson, used her fortune to run as a Democrat (but to the right of the already moderate Ward 13 incumbent) for Minneapolis City Council in 2023. She lost. The Mortensons recently sold a 7,000-square foot home in southwest Minneapolis for $1,925,000.</p><p>David Mortenson is also Chairman of Vermilion Group, which invests in other businesses. Totally separate from Mark Dayton&#8217;s Vermilion Investment Company! Why the similar names? Do these guys lack creativity? Really like the color red? It&#8217;s weird, right?</p><h1>Pillsbury</h1><p>Flour mills in the 1800s earned the Pillsbury family its fortune. The good guys! As their family history <em>The Pillsburys of Minnesota</em> by Lori Sturdevant would have you believe. Charlie Pillsbury palled around with Mark Dayton at Vietnam War-era protests. The Pillsbury company eventually merged with General Mills, and in 2021, five members of the Pillsbury family&#8212;Charlie included&#8212;called for a boycott of General Mills products to protest the company&#8217;s decision to build a factory on Palestinian land seized by Israel.</p><h1>Cargill</h1><p>Among the largest privately held companies in the United States, Cargill is primarily an agribusiness and commodity trading company with a circle-of-late-capitalism-hell list of alleged offenses:</p><ul><li><p>union busting</p></li><li><p>price fixing</p></li><li><p>animal abuse</p></li><li><p>toxic spills</p></li><li><p>deforestation</p></li><li><p>child slave labor</p></li></ul><p>Most Cargills keep a low profile, with the exception of Kathy Cargill, who married into the agri-money. She made obnoxious on-the-record pronouncements about her Park Point real estate grab in 2024, coined a scatological idiom about breakfast cereal, then <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/08/13/kathy-cargill-selling-half-properties-park-point">sold half of her plots</a> on Duluth&#8217;s sinking peninsula in 2025.</p><h1>Taylor</h1><p>This one&#8217;s not a generational wealth story, but I&#8217;m including Glen Taylor here because he&#8217;s the richest person in the North Star State and his decisions affect (or is it &#8220;effect?) us all. Taylor made his own fortune, founding the Taylor Corporation, a big printing company in North Mankato. He&#8217;s served as a Republican state senator, bought and sold basketball teams, and he&#8217;s owned the <em>Minnesota Star Tribune</em> since 2014. Lately, under his ownership, <em>Star Tribune </em>leaders have been making polarizing (or is it &#8220;polarazing&#8221;?) choices about the future of the newspaper, like laying off staff, trying to sell its print facility to data center developers, and outsourcing headline proofreading to, well, I don&#8217;t know what, but definitely not professional copyeditors.  </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-2_4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-2_4!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-2_4!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-2_4!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-2_4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-2_4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg" width="504" height="504" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:504,&quot;bytes&quot;:2973120,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/i/216289439?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-2_4!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-2_4!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-2_4!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-2_4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2eab5dd6-a389-48d8-ae57-195d21ed382d_2992x2992.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Let me know - which Minnesotan legacy wealth families are missing here? I can add to the list! I&#8217;m also curious, if you had a pile of old money, what would you do with it? Buy a sports team? Build a library? Run for office? Print bad headlines? </p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Read Minnesota Books! Subscribe now!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tony Wirt and Silent Creek]]></title><description><![CDATA[A thriller set in southern Minnesota!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/tony-wirt-and-silent-creek</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/tony-wirt-and-silent-creek</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:01:31 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/211587669/de4f10ea47bf2740f9da63c05cd24008.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Rochester author Tony Wirt joins us for a great conversation about fake towns on the South Central Minnesota I-90 corridor, Mayo Clinic connections, and why you can&#8217;t repurpose a Rachel Carson title for your contemporary thriller. </p><p><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/silent-creek-tony-wirt/8c11045bc3f61a16">Silent Creek by Tony Wirt</a></p><p><a href="https://www.tonywirt.com/">tonywirt.com</a></p><h1>Recommendations</h1><p>Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine August issue, Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl&#8217;s profile of William Kent Krueger is not online, but available in the print magazine</p><p>Thanks for listening! Subscribe at readminnesotabooks.com or on your favorite podcast app</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Andrea Uptmor and The New People]]></title><description><![CDATA[A serious contender for my favorite book of 2026!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/andrea-uptmor-and-the-new-people</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/andrea-uptmor-and-the-new-people</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:01:03 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/212763782/e541a6e17fd5b6d1fd6eaddbd5549e05.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Andrea Uptmor joins us to talk about main character discontent, MLS research, Minneapolis restaurants, and her real estate novel <em>The New People</em>.</p><p>&#8220;Happy people are wonderful in real life but they don&#8217;t really do much in novels. They don&#8217;t move the plot along.&#8221; &#8212;Andrea Uptmor</p><p><em><a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/andrea-uptmor/the-new-people/">The New People</a></em><a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/andrea-uptmor/the-new-people/"> by Andrea Uptmor (Little, Brown and Company, 2026)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/andreauptmor/">@andreauptmor on Instagram</a> </p><p><strong>Recommendations</strong></p><p><em><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/824943/the-miraculous-journey-of-edward-tulane-deluxe-collectors-edition-by-kate-dicamillo-illustrated-by-bagram-ibatoulline/">The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane</a></em><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/824943/the-miraculous-journey-of-edward-tulane-deluxe-collectors-edition-by-kate-dicamillo-illustrated-by-bagram-ibatoulline/"> by Kate DiCamillo</a></p><p><em><a href="https://books.catapult.co/books/gentrifier/">Gentrifier: A Memoir</a></em><a href="https://books.catapult.co/books/gentrifier/"> by Anne Elizabeth Moore</a></p><p><em><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/36979/life-would-be-perfect-if-i-lived-in-that-house-by-meghan-daum/">Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived In That House</a></em><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/36979/life-would-be-perfect-if-i-lived-in-that-house-by-meghan-daum/"> by Meghan Daum</a></p><p>Thanks for listening to <a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/">Read Minnesota Books</a>!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Season Two Trailer]]></title><description><![CDATA[Listen now | Subscribe now and never miss an author interview]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/season-two-trailer</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/season-two-trailer</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:25:34 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/214885971/ec7f3fa8537fe9edf97eda1ffdb36dc9.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s almost time for Season Two of Read Minnesota Books! There are so many new Minnesota books to talk about: we&#8217;ll learn about thrillers, memoirs, short stories, novellas, essays, and poems. If you&#8217;re a reader or a writer and you love the North Star State and its literary culture, subscribe to Read Minnesota Books on your podcast app so you can listen to all of the author interviews, recommendations, and publishing news. We&#8217;ll talk soon!</p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Bookish Poll About Read Minnesota Books]]></title><description><![CDATA[Help make Season 2 better than Season 1 and earn a FREE BOOK!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/a-bookish-poll-about-read-minnesota</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/a-bookish-poll-about-read-minnesota</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:39:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r_nA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r_nA!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r_nA!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r_nA!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r_nA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r_nA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg" width="376" height="376" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:376,&quot;bytes&quot;:1315190,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/i/211619581?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r_nA!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r_nA!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r_nA!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r_nA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2bbe802d-1219-4000-b277-d09f8bc1c6a6_2992x2992.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">The first draft of my Read Minnesota Books business plan</figcaption></figure></div><p>Summer&#8217;s almost over, which means Season 2 of Read Minnesota Books is almost ready to launch into your favorite podcast app! I&#8217;m excited to share new recommendations and conversations with authors of thrillers, domestic fiction, picture books, memoir, anthologies, novellas, and poetry.</p><p>But first, I have a couple of requests from you. Please fill out the following quick and fun poll. I want to learn more about your listening, reading, and Minnesota preferences.  </p><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:1014273}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:1014295}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:1014299}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:1014306}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:1014366}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:1014382}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><div class="poll-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:1014389}" data-component-name="PollToDOM"></div><h1>Book giveaway</h1><p>I am in desperate need of more Apple Podcast ratings and reviews! Why?</p><ul><li><p>An author actually turned my interview request down because I didn&#8217;t have a brag-worthy number of downloads-per-episode! </p></li><li><p>More Apple Podcast reviews make this look like a legitimate enterprise, so potential listeners will listen and subscribe. </p></li><li><p>Bigger download numbers means less rejection for me. If you rate the podcast ***** or leave a review, you&#8217;re helping my mental health because rejection hurts!</p></li></ul><p><strong>If you want to help the podcast and receive a FREE BOOK, here&#8217;s what to do:</strong></p><p>Leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It can take between 24 hours and 1 week for the review to show up. When your review is visible, let me know. Send me a screenshot or just a note with your Apple Podcasts username so I can verify you actually left a review. </p><p>Don&#8217;t know what to write? My internet review game is weak, too. Here are some suggestions:</p><div class="pullquote"><p>I love reading and this podcast lets me know about new books I wouldn&#8217;t otherwise hear of</p><p>Hell yeah, Minnesota books rule. Minnesota rules.</p><p>Author interviews keep me inspired to work on my own writing projects.</p></div><p>Then, choose which you love more: free books or book gossip. In exchange for a review:</p><ul><li><p>I&#8217;ll send you a free Minnesota book, snail mail! OR</p></li><li><p>I&#8217;ll tell you which Minnesota author turned me down </p></li></ul><p>Honestly, I&#8217;m both a generous and a petty person (no one thing defines me!) so I&#8217;ll probably grant you both.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg" width="522" height="391.5" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1092,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:522,&quot;bytes&quot;:4428346,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/i/211619581?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i-VZ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc424b47-46f8-45bf-b8de-786670763bef_4032x3024.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Shopping library used book sales is one of my hobbies!</figcaption></figure></div><h1>Thank you!</h1><p>Thank you, thank you! It&#8217;s great to learn more about you and your reading and listening preferences. If you have more to share about Read Minnesota Books, please comment on this post or send me a direct message.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Read Minnesota Books! Subscribe, already!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NXAL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NXAL!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NXAL!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NXAL!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NXAL!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NXAL!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg" width="412" height="412" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:412,&quot;bytes&quot;:1546802,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/i/211619581?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NXAL!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NXAL!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NXAL!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NXAL!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7fe0521-5b5d-4bc0-b343-bc366325062f_2992x2992.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Read Minnesota Books logo draft #1, LOL</figcaption></figure></div><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Writing Advice from 17 Authors of Minnesota Books]]></title><description><![CDATA[An accidental podcast side quest!]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/writing-advice-from-17-authors-of</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/writing-advice-from-17-authors-of</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:15:46 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span>Hello! Thank you for being here. There are now over 100 subscribers to Read Minnesota Books! If I invited you all over to my house I wouldn&#8217;t have enough chairs for you to sit in.</span></p><p><span>I hope you are having a decent summer. Here in Minneapolis we had a lovely and mild June, perfect for bike rides, picnics, outdoor concerts, and ice cream cones at the Lake Harriet Bandshell. Then in July the air turned wildfire sooty, heat dome hot, and spongy humid. My father-in-law died. The Boundary Waters burned. My kids&#8217; Youtube streams filled up with primary election attack ads. It wasn&#8217;t great. August has been better. My family took an epic road trip out West and I read a bunch of books, including some forthcoming novels from Minnesota writers I&#8217;m really excited to interview. I know that a lot of the country is back to school already, but here in Minneapolis, the State Fair&#8217;s barnyard births and deep-fried curds and all-you-can-drink udder juice rule our city&#8217;s school calendar, so we still have three solid weeks until the first bell rings.</span></p><p><span>I&#8217;m planning a fantastic season 2 of the Read Minnesota Books podcast. Besides reading, I&#8217;ve been preparing by listening again to the first season. My number one change? I&#8217;m dumping the favorite Minnesota writer question because making authors pick their fave isn&#8217;t fair. There are too many to choose from, and authors who live here have too many friends to offend by omission. I&#8217;m thinking about asking, instead, &#8220;What&#8217;s the last Minnesota book you&#8217;ve read?&#8221; But I&#8217;m open to suggestions. If you have another Minnesota book question that&#8217;s better than that, comment below or send me a direct message.</span></p><p><span>I started the podcast as a service to readers, to offer an expansive view of what qualifies as a Minnesota book and to recommend new things to read. But in my re-listening, I realized that I&#8217;ve also been collecting writing advice. Below, I&#8217;ve compiled some of the best writing lessons from the first twenty episodes of Read Minnesota Books.</span></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg" width="1456" height="1456" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Gsyq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19d32d61-97c6-4aa9-b12d-6e1fe7d6ad57_2992x2992.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Big loon on Madeline Island&#8217;s Big Bay beach</figcaption></figure></div><h1>To write, read widely</h1><p><span>You can&#8217;t be a writer without first being a reader. Read widely, and outside of the genre in which you write. When I asked my first poet guest, Mark Nowak, &#8220;Who&#8217;s your favorite Minnesota writer?&#8221; I expected him to name another poet. Instead, he introduced me to Meridel LeSeuer, a novelist and essayist who wrote in a completely different style from him, but with some of the same themes about labor and dignity and fairness.</span></p><p><span>Reading work that&#8217;s different from yours can also help you find effective and surprising structures. Duluth musician and memoirist Gaelynn Lea talked about reading memoirs when she was working on her own. She was smart and didn&#8217;t stick to music memoirs. Instead, she found the right structure for her book through analyzing the format of Russian spy Alexei Navalnei&#8217;s autobiography. Navalnei began his memoir with his poisoning, the thing everyone knows about him, which inspired Lea to begin her memoir with winning the NPR Tiny Desk Concert, her most well-known achievement.</span></p><h1>The pen (or pencil) is stronger than the blank page</h1><p>How do you feel about an empty document? Is your first sentence the hardest? If the blank screen stumps you, try writing by hand. Jill Swenson doesn&#8217;t start on a computer. Instead, she begins by &#8220;opening my blank composition book and pulling out my sharp pencil.&#8221; She told me that she writes by hand because, &#8220;For me, that&#8217;s much more efficient. I&#8217;m getting raw stuff down on the page. There&#8217;s nothing more exciting than that fresh take, dropping into a scene from a memory that you nearly forgot, or figuring out a plot point.&#8221;</p><p>Swenson also keeps a notepad on the passenger seat of her car for scribbling down ideas when inspiration strikes. Minneapolis poet Anthony Ceballos does the same, but with ink. He begins with an open notebook, &#8220;a couple of good pens, and just sitting.&#8221;</p><p>Forcing yourself to begin a new project can also help get you out of an emotional funk. For novelist Katherine Packert Burke, beginning <em>All Us Saints</em> while promoting her first novel helped her to deal with a grueling book tour and debut author anxiety.</p><p>Starting a brand new draft might just become your new, most enjoyable part of the writing process, what Kao Kalia Yang describes as, &#8220;That first spark of inspiration, the thing that puts me to the page, when the stories are there and I feel them and I can connect with the emotional truth of that first experience, writing it out, that is my favorite.&#8221;</p><p>I wonder if writers like Yang, who love to write first drafts, enjoy generating because the initial work they produce is close to done. For the rest of us? We have to get words down on the page, even if they&#8217;re bad. Andrew Elfenbein, by way of advice from his University of Minnesota colleague Julie Schumacher, says that the key to drafting a novel is filling sixty pages without worrying about the quality of the writing. Sixty pages gives you a skeleton of a plot. Elfenbein said, &#8220;I could feel comfortable knowing that it was okay if my draft wasn&#8217;t 300 pages. It was fine if it was more of a seed than a complete draft, but it was useful to have a beginning, a middle, and ending.&#8221; Once you have the start of something&#8212;some craft advice crudely calls it a vomit or garbage draft&#8212;then you can clean it up.</p><p>True story: I once submitted a first draft to a writing instructor that was so bad, so upchucky, so dirty overflowing dumpster-worthy, that she called me to ask if I was okay. She thought I had had a stroke! LOL? </p><p>For children&#8217;s author Margi Preus, first drafts feels like work, but she gets them done because she knows that once she has something to work with, the fun begins. There&#8217;s really no shortcut around writing a first (probably bad!) draft. You have to get it down on the page. Angela Pelster, author of <em>The Evolution of Fire</em>, and director of the creative writing program at Hamline University, teaches writing students and undergraduates in different programs of study. She says the best way to become a better writer is &#8220;just to write and write and read and read and write and read. And then you&#8217;re going to figure it out.&#8221;</p><h1>Revise relentlessly</h1><p>Revision isn&#8217;t fun for everyone. Whether they like revising or not, every writer I&#8217;ve interviewed on Read Minnesota Books acknowledges that good writing requires multiple drafts. As Swenson said, &#8220;I know, as an editor, good writing becomes really good through rewriting and revision and editing.&#8221;</p><p>Children&#8217;s author Mary Casanova also spoke about this crucial part of the writing process, saying, &#8220;You can transform your writing if you revise enough.&#8221; For novelist Stacy Carlson, revision lets her &#8220;consider the elements of craft that I want to utilize, develop the themes and the story&#8212;that all happens more fully in revision.&#8221;</p><p>Revision lets you experiment and try different techniques. If your draft is dragging, play with the perspective. Tell the story from a different angle. Switch tenses. Carlson spoke about how present tense can &#8220;close the distance between the reader and the heart of the book.&#8221; Or, play with point of view. When Swenson writes historical scenes, she said, &#8220;I sometimes change point of view. I will go into first person and write it from one character&#8217;s point of view. It helps me understand what&#8217;s happening in that scene, in that historical moment. Switching those perspectives helps me reconstruct the scene.&#8221;</p><p>Elfenbein, with his sixty page draft, said that revision lets him notice opportunities for humor and  &#8220;connections between earlier and later parts of the book that may not have been visible to me when I was drafting.&#8221;</p><p>After all of that experimentation, how do you know when you&#8217;re done? For Schumacher, when she spoke with me about her short story collection <em>Patient, Female</em>, she acknowledged the difficulty of knowing when to end a story. She said, &#8220;Honestly, writing is terribly hard. It never gets easier. But that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s interesting--because you can work and work on something and think, &#8216;Am I done? What does done even mean? Because there is no such thing as perfection.&#8221; As you revise your draft, Schumacher suggests that arriving at the most specific description possible is the way to complete each detail in a story. &#8220;You can&#8217;t get to any sense of the universal except through the specific,&#8221; is her advice to fiction MFA students.</p><h1>Cultivate your community</h1><p>I heard from many writers that community was key to their success and mental health. Christopher Johnston, author of the novel <em>Where You Come From Is Gone</em>, found his writing cohort in a year-long class at The Loft Literary Center. Mary Casanova and her writing group have been meeting for thirty years. For children&#8217;s author Margi Preus, her family is a part of her writing community. Her adult children even helped name the playful character in her Shrew Detective series!</p><p>Can your heroes be part of your community? For sure. Take memoirist Courtney Kocak: she was very influenced by Cheryl Strayed&#8217;s memoir Wild. Kocak wrote Strayed an email of thanks and even included Strayed in the Acknowledgement section of <em>Girl Gone Wild</em>. &#8220;I don&#8217;t ever anticipate receiving a response,&#8221; Kocak said. &#8220;She already gave me enough. She doesn&#8217;t need to give me anything else.&#8221;</p><p>If you&#8217;re a classic introvert type of writer, maybe your community is right here! Podcasts can form a satisfying, asynchronous type of writing community.</p><h1><strong>Don&#8217;t quit, submit!</strong></h1><p>Be patient. Publishing can be excruciatingly slow. Keep in mind these inspiring words from author and Minneapolis College writing professor Shannon Gibney: &#8220;Your superpower, as a writer, is the ability to think and write your way to the emotional truth of a situation.&#8221; Writing takes time. According to Gibney, you sometimes have to put things away for a while until you have more insight.</p><p>&#8220;What every writer wants is somebody to read their stuff,&#8221; Rashad Shabazz told me. When he wrote <em>Prince&#8217;s Minneapolis</em>, he worked extra hard, as someone comfortable with a naturally academic voice, to make the writing accessible for a general audience. He took care to make sure his book reached the right people.</p><p>Keep working on your essays, articles, and stories. Keep those submissions circulating. Mary Casanova, who has published scores of books, accumulated over two hundred rejections before her first publication.</p><p>What&#8217;s the best thing to do when you&#8217;re waiting on your submissions, queries, or pitches? Start a new project. Got the empty doc blues? Scroll back up to the top of this advice article and review how to approach the blank page.</p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Summer Special: Gail Rosenblum and Kait Ziemer-Davis and Sea Salt Eatery]]></title><description><![CDATA[Listen to a special summer episode of Read Minnesota Books]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/gail-rosenblum-and-kait-ziemer-davis</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/gail-rosenblum-and-kait-ziemer-davis</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:03:06 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/208255345/c3e7dc7bc145f2a4eb2e9395eb89363f.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of beloved Minneapolis outdoor restaurant Sea Salt Eatery, Gail Rosenblum and Kait Ziemer-Davis collaborated to create a commemorative cookbook featuring history and recipes.</p><p><a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517920388/sea-salt-eatery/">Sea Salt Eatery: Recipes to Enjoy Year-Round</a></p><p><a href="https://cooksofcrocushill.com/sea-salt-eatery-twenty-years-and-a-cookbook-august-6-st-paul-6-pm/">August 6, Cooking demonstration at Cooks of Crocus Hill</a></p><p><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;opi=89978449&amp;url=https://www.brookiesfishmarket.com/&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjbjuv52emVAxV7G4YAHVzkFOQQFnoECBgQAQ&amp;usg=AOvVaw2BLomvY2um4nij09auNTIz">August 8, 2pm, Brookies Meet and Greet</a></p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/seasalteatery">@seasalteatery</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/gail.rosenblum">@gail.rosenblum</a> on Facebook</p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/seasalteatery/">@seasalt</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/gail.rosenblum/">@gail.rosenblum</a> on Instagram</p><p><a href="http://gailrosenblum.com">gailrosenblum.com</a></p><h1>Recommendations</h1><p>Read <a href="https://racketmn.com/sea-salt-eaterys-cookbook-dishes-out-recipes-with-a-side-of-history?giftLink=b34966c7128593920e9ee8b3d682e47d">Deborah&#8217;s Racket review: Sea Salt Eatery&#8217;s Cookbook Dishes Out Recipes With a Side of History</a></p><p>Listen to <a href="https://racketmn.com/racketcast-ep-56-bookcast-vol-2-feat-writer-podcaster-deborah-copperud?giftLink=0e6d050179954e91b68bc2a1428ff7cd">RacketCast, Ep. 56: BookCast Vol. 2 Feat. Writer/Podcaster Deborah Copperud</a></p><p><a href="https://racketmn.com/products">Support local media</a></p><p><a href="https://newsceniccafe.store/">New Scenic Cafe Cookbook</a></p><p><a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517918170/the-ultimate-minnesota-cookie-book/">The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book</a></p><p>Thanks for listening to Read Minnesota Books!</p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[9 Minnesota Book Recommendations ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Minnesota books to read on the beach, a boat, or in your air conditioned bedroom]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/9-minnesota-book-recommendations</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/9-minnesota-book-recommendations</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:18:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here is an eclectic list of books I&#8217;m excited about. Heavy on the short fiction, the perfect form for my summertime attention span. When the sunlight lasts past nine o&#8217;clock, my ability to concentrate seems to shrink!  </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg" width="1456" height="1092" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1092,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:4278325,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/i/204899388?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!THTv!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd7c2baf1-f1f5-4780-96cf-6dd884eb0b2d_4000x3000.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><h1>Novels</h1><h2><em>The Lake Club </em>by Lina Patton</h2><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxzO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxzO!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxzO!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxzO!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxzO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxzO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg" width="228" height="342" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:525,&quot;width&quot;:350,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:228,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;The Lake Club by Lina Patton (9780063447295)&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="The Lake Club by Lina Patton (9780063447295)" title="The Lake Club by Lina Patton (9780063447295)" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxzO!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxzO!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxzO!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxzO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd043f34f-dc39-495b-8aeb-f7fd539d6cca_350x525.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Lina Patton based her buzzy new novel <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-lake-club-lina-patton">The Lake Club</a>, in part, on her experience working a service job on Lake Minnetonka, so I know it&#8217;s going to contain an enjoyable amount of upstairs-downstairs intrigue and Midwestern passive aggressive dialogue. As someone who doesn&#8217;t own lake property, who has <a href="https://racketmn.com/city-swimming-is-better-than-owning-a-cabin">publicly declared my disdain for cabin culture</a>, and will never pay for a membership to a place more exclusive than Costco, I am so excited for this book. I&#8217;m saving my copy to read on a Lake Superior beach on an upcoming (anti-elitist) long weekend camping trip.</p><h1><em>Ada</em> by Mark Haber</h1><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7lHa!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7lHa!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7lHa!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7lHa!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7lHa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7lHa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg" width="228" height="353.43131868131866" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:2257,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:228,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Book cover of &amp;#39;Ada&amp;#39; by Mark Haber with pink background and black illustrations&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Book cover of &amp;#39;Ada&amp;#39; by Mark Haber with pink background and black illustrations" title="Book cover of &amp;#39;Ada&amp;#39; by Mark Haber with pink background and black illustrations" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7lHa!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7lHa!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7lHa!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7lHa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F550d4c23-5065-42be-a9d3-659ddf4a0463_1500x2325.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Out next week from Coffee House Press, <em><a href="https://coffeehousepress.org/products/ada">Ada</a></em><a href="https://coffeehousepress.org/products/ada"> by Mark Haber</a> promises absurd hilarity in this first-person narrative about a petty tyrant in a fictional European country, written in Haber&#8217;s signature style.</p><h1>Short Fiction</h1><h2><em>Again, Harder</em> by Alice Stoehr</h2><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://feministpress.org/products/9781558613898-again-harder" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K-EE!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K-EE!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K-EE!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K-EE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K-EE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png" width="212" height="337.43333333333334" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:382,&quot;width&quot;:240,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:212,&quot;bytes&quot;:126430,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://feministpress.org/products/9781558613898-again-harder&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/i/204899388?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K-EE!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K-EE!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K-EE!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K-EE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9897ac28-f185-470e-aac2-b18b59901fff_240x382.png 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>This recommendation is from <span class="mention-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;katherine packert burke&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:121171026,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;user&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:null,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bfeb2c11-4f34-49ea-913b-7978b38aa352_597x597.png&quot;,&quot;uuid&quot;:&quot;b0b11713-b5ea-4f70-9ab8-956e7e04e7f2&quot;}" data-component-name="MentionToDOM"></span>, <a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/katherine-packert-burke-and-all-us">who I interviewed about </a><em><a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/katherine-packert-burke-and-all-us">All Us Saints</a></em><a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/katherine-packert-burke-and-all-us"> back in May</a>. <em>Again, Harder </em>is a collection of Alice Stoehr&#8217;s short fiction about a community of trans women living in a Midwestern town, published by Feminist Press this spring. If you enjoyed <em>Stag Dance</em> by Torey Peters, <em>Again, Harder</em> should be the next book you read.</p><h2><em>July Sun </em>by Aamina Ahmad</h2><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cd8p!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05f8d5a4-4540-42f7-8d56-eaf52ee0eb18_255x401.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cd8p!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05f8d5a4-4540-42f7-8d56-eaf52ee0eb18_255x401.png 424w, 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data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/05f8d5a4-4540-42f7-8d56-eaf52ee0eb18_255x401.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:401,&quot;width&quot;:255,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:203,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;book cover for July Sun&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="book cover for July Sun" title="book cover for July Sun" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cd8p!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05f8d5a4-4540-42f7-8d56-eaf52ee0eb18_255x401.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cd8p!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05f8d5a4-4540-42f7-8d56-eaf52ee0eb18_255x401.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cd8p!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05f8d5a4-4540-42f7-8d56-eaf52ee0eb18_255x401.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cd8p!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05f8d5a4-4540-42f7-8d56-eaf52ee0eb18_255x401.png 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>In this new collection by University of Minnesota creative writing professor, playwright, and award-winning author Aamina Ahmad, the short stories take place in Pakistan. Described as &#8220;searing&#8221; and &#8220;atmospheric,&#8221; some of the stories in this collection were previously published in prestigious literary journals like <em>The Missouri Review</em>, <em>One Story</em>, and <em>Ecotone</em>.  </p><h2><em>The Extra</em> and <em>The Other</em> by Annie Neugebauer</h2><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Outsiders-Sequence" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pSOi!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9fa6458b-b4b5-4810-b4c9-0ddb317ed649_167x250.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pSOi!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9fa6458b-b4b5-4810-b4c9-0ddb317ed649_167x250.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pSOi!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9fa6458b-b4b5-4810-b4c9-0ddb317ed649_167x250.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pSOi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9fa6458b-b4b5-4810-b4c9-0ddb317ed649_167x250.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pSOi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9fa6458b-b4b5-4810-b4c9-0ddb317ed649_167x250.jpeg" width="167" height="250" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9fa6458b-b4b5-4810-b4c9-0ddb317ed649_167x250.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:250,&quot;width&quot;:167,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;The Extra&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;The Extra&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Outsiders-Sequence&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="The Extra" title="The Extra" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pSOi!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9fa6458b-b4b5-4810-b4c9-0ddb317ed649_167x250.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pSOi!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9fa6458b-b4b5-4810-b4c9-0ddb317ed649_167x250.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pSOi!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9fa6458b-b4b5-4810-b4c9-0ddb317ed649_167x250.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pSOi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9fa6458b-b4b5-4810-b4c9-0ddb317ed649_167x250.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Here&#8217;s the creepy premise of <em>The Extra</em>, Book One in horror author Annie Neugebauer&#8217;s The Outsiders Sequence series:</p><blockquote><p>Ten people head out on a backpacking trip, but the first night eleven set up camp. Everyone remembers everyone else. Who is the extra?</p></blockquote><p>And Book Two, <em>The Other</em>, is ready when you&#8217;ve recovered from <em>The Extra!</em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Outsiders-Sequence" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3IzU!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2b46b7d1-54ca-4e96-bb48-7327b09d402e_167x250.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3IzU!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2b46b7d1-54ca-4e96-bb48-7327b09d402e_167x250.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3IzU!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2b46b7d1-54ca-4e96-bb48-7327b09d402e_167x250.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3IzU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2b46b7d1-54ca-4e96-bb48-7327b09d402e_167x250.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3IzU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2b46b7d1-54ca-4e96-bb48-7327b09d402e_167x250.jpeg" width="167" height="250" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2b46b7d1-54ca-4e96-bb48-7327b09d402e_167x250.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:250,&quot;width&quot;:167,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;The Other&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;The Other&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Outsiders-Sequence&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="The Other" title="The Other" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3IzU!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2b46b7d1-54ca-4e96-bb48-7327b09d402e_167x250.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3IzU!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2b46b7d1-54ca-4e96-bb48-7327b09d402e_167x250.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3IzU!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2b46b7d1-54ca-4e96-bb48-7327b09d402e_167x250.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3IzU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2b46b7d1-54ca-4e96-bb48-7327b09d402e_167x250.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>These are books I have to read in broad daylight! But if you&#8217;re braver than me, they&#8217;d be perfect for spooking yourself on a dark, stormy night, or for reading aloud around a campfire.</p><p>And if you want even more scary stuff, read <a href="https://badhandbooks.com/ebooks/you-have-to-let-them-bleed-by-annie-neugebauer">Neugebauer&#8217;s debut short story collection </a><em><a href="https://badhandbooks.com/ebooks/you-have-to-let-them-bleed-by-annie-neugebauer">You Have to Let Them Bleed</a></em><a href="https://badhandbooks.com/ebooks/you-have-to-let-them-bleed-by-annie-neugebauer"> published by Bad Hand Books</a> earlier this year. </p><h1>Local History</h1><h2><em>Minnesota&#8217;s Phoenix: From the Ashes of Braniff to Sun Country Airlines </em>by Karyn Fernandes, Jennifer Kimball Gasperini, and Maggie Hill</h2><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.calumeteditions.com/books/minnesotas-phoenix/" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c4Qd!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9577a4f6-6185-4d3a-bf0f-b5e91aae1b81_1707x2560.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c4Qd!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9577a4f6-6185-4d3a-bf0f-b5e91aae1b81_1707x2560.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c4Qd!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9577a4f6-6185-4d3a-bf0f-b5e91aae1b81_1707x2560.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c4Qd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9577a4f6-6185-4d3a-bf0f-b5e91aae1b81_1707x2560.webp 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c4Qd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9577a4f6-6185-4d3a-bf0f-b5e91aae1b81_1707x2560.webp" width="200" height="300" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9577a4f6-6185-4d3a-bf0f-b5e91aae1b81_1707x2560.webp&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:2184,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:200,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Minnesota&#8217;s Phoenix&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.calumeteditions.com/books/minnesotas-phoenix/&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Minnesota&#8217;s Phoenix" title="Minnesota&#8217;s Phoenix" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c4Qd!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9577a4f6-6185-4d3a-bf0f-b5e91aae1b81_1707x2560.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c4Qd!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9577a4f6-6185-4d3a-bf0f-b5e91aae1b81_1707x2560.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c4Qd!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9577a4f6-6185-4d3a-bf0f-b5e91aae1b81_1707x2560.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!c4Qd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9577a4f6-6185-4d3a-bf0f-b5e91aae1b81_1707x2560.webp 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>With the recent Allegiant Air purchase of Sun Country and with summer travel at its peak, now is a great time to read up on local aviation history and the scrappy, homegrown origins of MSP&#8217;s biggest budget airline. </p><h2><em>STRIKE! Twenty Days in 1970 When Minneapolis Teachers Broke the Law</em> by William D. Green</h2><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517912956/strike/" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxlG!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbddcb6b1-edfc-4650-a398-259c4f2cd498_145x224.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxlG!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbddcb6b1-edfc-4650-a398-259c4f2cd498_145x224.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxlG!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbddcb6b1-edfc-4650-a398-259c4f2cd498_145x224.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxlG!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbddcb6b1-edfc-4650-a398-259c4f2cd498_145x224.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxlG!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbddcb6b1-edfc-4650-a398-259c4f2cd498_145x224.jpeg" width="183" height="282.70344827586206" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bddcb6b1-edfc-4650-a398-259c4f2cd498_145x224.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:224,&quot;width&quot;:145,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:183,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Cover of 'Strike!' by William D. Green &quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517912956/strike/&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Cover of 'Strike!' by William D. Green " title="Cover of 'Strike!' by William D. Green " srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxlG!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbddcb6b1-edfc-4650-a398-259c4f2cd498_145x224.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxlG!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbddcb6b1-edfc-4650-a398-259c4f2cd498_145x224.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxlG!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbddcb6b1-edfc-4650-a398-259c4f2cd498_145x224.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RxlG!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbddcb6b1-edfc-4650-a398-259c4f2cd498_145x224.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>An illegal teacher&#8217;s strike! I first read about this fascinating episode in Minnesota labor history when <a href="https://racketmn.com/read-an-excerpt-from-strike-21-days-in-1970-when-minneapolis-teachers-broke-the-law?giftLink=e0e33328de4786d44387406d4bb4d640">Racket published an excerpt from Green&#8217;s latest</a>, recently published by <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517912956/strike/">University of Minnesota Press.</a> Of interest to anyone who follows the neverending story of Minneapolis Public School&#8217;s budget crisis. (And for extra credit, listen to <a href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/season-one-finale-shannon-gibney">my episode with Shannon Gibney</a>, Minneapolis author and School Board candidate.)</p><h1>Pop culture</h1><h2><em>What Would Ken Do? </em>by Kara Nesvig</h2><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RjUu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RjUu!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RjUu!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RjUu!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RjUu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RjUu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg" width="242" height="246.85766423357666" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:559,&quot;width&quot;:548,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:242,&quot;bytes&quot;:108219,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;What Would Ken Do? by Kara Nesvig | Hachette Book Group&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="What Would Ken Do? by Kara Nesvig | Hachette Book Group" title="What Would Ken Do? by Kara Nesvig | Hachette Book Group" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RjUu!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RjUu!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RjUu!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RjUu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4461c5c9-7bd7-4bc0-b85c-7bb1424321c1_548x559.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I&#8217;ve been enjoying writer <span class="mention-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Kara Nesvig&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:14884,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;user&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:null,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1f6db26b-cf09-4f17-b380-9dfcf3ee86b1_500x500.png&quot;,&quot;uuid&quot;:&quot;4f4ebc60-befe-4a7e-8261-689af0409b1b&quot;}" data-component-name="MentionToDOM"></span>&#8217;s newsletter <a href="https://substack.com/@ohilovethat">Oh I Love That</a> so I was delighted to come across her fun romp into Barbie culture, <em><a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kara-nesvig/what-would-ken-do/9780762488735/">What Would Ken Do?</a>, </em>on a shelf promoting local authors at Acorn Bookshop in St. Paul. Read this if you&#8217;re nostalgic for simpler times, like the summer of 2023.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Read Minnesota Books! If you like these recommendations, subscribe and tell a friend!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p></p><p></p><p>  </p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Season One Finale: Shannon Gibney and Where Is My Sister?]]></title><description><![CDATA[Trigger warning: pregnancy and infant loss | Listen to episode 20 of Read Minnesota Books]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/season-one-finale-shannon-gibney</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/season-one-finale-shannon-gibney</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 12:01:22 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/203137987/33649d366cd88bc077abf6d78f8f0eaf.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Shannon Gibney is the first Read Minnesota Books guest author running for political office! She speaks with us about her new book <em>Where Is My Sister?</em>, her activism, and why writers make good public servants.</p><p>Minute 12 of this episode contains a frank description of stillbirth. Please take care while listening.</p><p><a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517911454/where-is-my-sister/">Where Is My Sister?</a></p><p><a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517907938/what-god-is-honored-here/">What God Is Honored Here? Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss by and for Native Women and Women of Color, Edited by Shannon Gibney and Kao Kalia Yang</a></p><p><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/shannongibney.bsky.social">@shannongibney on Bluesky</a></p><p><a href="https://www.shannongibney.com/">shannongibney.com</a></p><p><a href="https://www.shannonforschoolboard.com/">Shannon Gibney for District 3 Minneapolis School Board</a></p><p><a href="https://racketmn.com/author-educator-activist-shannon-gibney-the-job-is-to-help-people-imagine-a-different-way-forward">2024 Racket interview about Gibney&#8217;s picture book </a><em><a href="https://racketmn.com/author-educator-activist-shannon-gibney-the-job-is-to-help-people-imagine-a-different-way-forward">We Miss You George Floyd</a></em></p><p><strong>Recommendation</strong></p><p>Make a plan to vote!</p><p>Subscribe to Read Minnesota Books and look forward to Season 2 in the fall!</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Margi Preus and The Shrew Detective]]></title><description><![CDATA[Listen to episode 19 of Read Minnesota Books]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/margi-preuss-and-the-shrew-detective</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/margi-preuss-and-the-shrew-detective</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 12:03:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/202346682/d1994ffa57b387c53b95e6a64efc2fb1.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Author Margi Preus joins us for a conversation about the marvelous city of Duluth and Northern Minnesota writers, how she names her characters, and the cozy allure of tiny homes.</p><p><a href="https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/shrew-detective-the-case-of-the-pilfered-pearls-shrew-detective-1_9781419778025/">The Shrew Detective</a></p><p><a href="https://www.margipreus.com/">Margipreus.com</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/margipreus/">@margipreus on Instagram</a></p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/margi.preus/">@margipreus on Facebook</a></p><p><a href="https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/lifestyle/arts-and-entertainment/designer-from-duluth-has-hollywood-moment">Margi Preus&#8217;s The Devil Wears Prada 2 connection</a></p><p><strong>Recommendations</strong></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Born">Adolf Born</a></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Read Minnesota Books! Subscribe for free to receive new episodes.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Anthony Ceballos and Glassful of Prayer]]></title><description><![CDATA[Listen to episode 18 of Read Minnesota Books]]></description><link>https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/anthony-ceballos-and-glassful-of</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/p/anthony-ceballos-and-glassful-of</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Copperud-Read MN Books]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 12:03:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/197886583/c297eb6f2b91042e6aa5dc66b6398a2e.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Poet Anthony Ceballos talks with us about public transportation inspiration, loving a wounded city, and how he knows when to revise and when to leave a poem alone.</p><p><a href="https://triohousepress.myshopify.com/products/pre-order-glassful-of-prayer-by-anthony-ceballos">Glassful of Prayer by Anthony Ceballos (Trio House Press)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/thatcasualgayvampire/">@thatcasualgayvampire on Instagram</a></p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/anthony.p.ceballos">Anthony Ceballos on Facebook</a></p><p><strong>Recommendation</strong></p><p><a href="https://shop.mnhs.org/products/wild-things">Wild Things by Lynette Reini-Grandell</a></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readminnesotabooks.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Read Minnesota Books! If you like it, tell all of your friends!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>