Minnesotan William Kent Krueger, author of "Northwest Angle" and other Cork O'Connor mysteries, and three other Atria Books authors are embarking on the Great Mystery Bus Tour that will arrive Monday in Minnesota.
"We hear from so many quarters that brick and mortar bookstores are headed the way of the dodo bird. But you won't hear this from Atria," Krueger wrote in a news release.
"To show their belief in the strength of the bookstore and the value of the personal bookseller," Atria sent him and fellow crime genre writers John Connolly, Liza Marklund and M.J. Rose on an eight-day cross-country bus tour that started April 12 in New York City, Krueger said in a news release.
Krueger is expected at noon Monday at the Bemidji Public Library, at 6 p.m. Monday at the Blackduck (Minn.) Community Library and at the Walker (Minn.) Public Library at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
The "Minnesota Crime Wave" leg of the Minnesota tour itinerary includes a stop at 7 p.m. May 10 at Moorhead Public Library.
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Krueger's next novel in the Cork O'Connor series, "Trickster's Point," is due out on Aug. 21, according to Amazon.com.
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Minnesota Book Awards
Kurtis Scaletta of Minneapolis, who grew up in Grand Forks, received the Readers' Choice Award for his book "The Tanglewood Terror" at the 24th annual Minnesota Book Awards earlier this month, an event in St. Paul attended by more than 750 people.
In 2011, Scaletta was the featured author in Grand Forks at the annual Writing for Children and Young Adults conference at UND. Scaletta was born in Louisiana and grew up in Grand Forks, moving away after eighth grade and then returning to attend UND, where he graduated in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in English.
Scaletta is author of three books for children in the middle grades: "Mudville" (2009), "Mamba Point" (2010) and "The Tanglewood Terror" (2011).
"The Tanglewood Terror" is about a boy named Eric Parrish who comes across glowing mushrooms in the woods behind his house that turn into a fungus that begins to overrun the town of Tanglewood.
Other award winners included Richard A. Thompson for "Big Wheat," who won the Genre Fiction award, and "Pioneer Modernists: Minnesota's First Generation of Women Artists" by Julie L'Enfant, which won the Minnesota Award.
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The Minnesota Book Awards is a project of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library in consortium with the St. Paul Public Library and the city of St. Paul.
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'Patriot Acts'
Two UND graduates, Jim Lies and Gene Frazer, have co-authored "Patriot Acts," an eBook described as a historical novel, love story, war story and coming of age story that spans 70 years.
Here's a description of the book: "In the remote fields of North Dakota in 1966, a college student's search for truth about America's involvement in the Vietnam War leads him into a world of intrigue and danger. After discovering two mysterious strangers posing as farmers, he is consumed by the need to know the story of their dark past during World War II and the reason for their presence in America."
The student discovers history is "recorded in shades of gray" and he must confront his feelings about the draft, the morality of war, and the conflict between society and the individual, a release said.
"We released 'Patriot Acts' on Amazon a few months ago and it's actually getting some good reviews from people who are not married or related to us," Lies wrote in an email to the Herald.
Lies, of Grand Forks, graduated from UND in 1967 with a social studies major and taught history at Grand Forks Central High School for 32 years before retiring in 1998. Frazer graduated from UND in 1972 with a B.S. in English. He taught at Grand Forks Red River High School for seven years before leaving to get his masters in journalism and mass communications at University of Minnesota, which led to a career in business. He lives in Woodbury, Minn.
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Lies said he began writing the book in the early 1970s. It was finished last fall. "Patriot Games" is available on Amazon.com for $6.99.
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'Six Days Inside A mountain'
For years, Louane Beyer of Wilton, Minn., delighted her grandchildren with stories to encourage them to read and learn. To add interest, she thought up new stories for them, she said. Her family encouraged to write her stories down and even offered to help her with the illustrations.
Her first book, "Six Days Inside A Mountain," is geared for children ages seven to 13, she said. Here's a description of the book:
Two young brothers lost in the mountains set up a camp and build a fire which runs amok, setting the forest on fire. Now isolated from rescue, they are forced to take refuge in a nearby cave. Peter and Andy travel into a dark, scary tunnel and encounter experiences that would test an adult. Deep inside the cavern, they find two aliens, stranded there with their spaceship. Can they work together to survive and leave the mountain?
The book is for sale at Barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com, or by emailing order@xlibris.com . You can reach the author by email at louanebeyer@yahoo.com .
