If you want a great procrastination tool, insist to yourself that you’ll write when you find the perfect place to write about. Well, guess what? You’ve got plenty to work with in the places you’ve already been. In this class, we’ll learn how to capture in writing the places and the people we know intimately in order to create the specificity that all readers desire. We’ll reexamine familiar places for new inspiration, look for the totems they offer us to work with, and inhabit the characters of these settings by writing from their points of view. For outside inspiration, we’ll read authors who have mastered the art of place. It’s time to see the extraordinary in the ordinary and start writing with purpose and urgency, right here and right now.
Come join us for coffee and refreshments as we discuss the book Bottomland.
Plot Twist Bookstore, 502 N Ankeny Blvd. #6, Ankeny, is pleased to host James and Rick Autry for a book talk on Saturday, December 9 from 11 AM to 2 PM. In their first father/son collaboration, James and Rick Autry have released, Everyday Virtues: Classic Tales to Read with Kids, (Smyth & Helwys) a collection of stories gleaned from the world's folk tale traditions. "This book is intended to give parents, grandparents, and other caregivers a valuable tool in luring kids, even for a short while, away from their digital obsessions," explained Rick. James added that he felt there was “nothing more important for kids than to hear a story read by a trusted adult.” Parents, grandparents, and caregivers will love sharing these entertaining and easily understood stories with children, ages 3 to 11. The book is divided into six virtuescompassion, justice, respect, humility, freedom, and couragewith each section containing four stories. Each story will be followed by a "virtue of the heart" that emphasizes the tale's lesson. The book also features story notes that explain the historical background of each story.
For most Americans, Iowa brings to mind endless acres of corn fields, one of the country’s longest-running state fairs, and American Gothic, but few may know how it serendipitously became the birthplace of the most iconic apple, why thousands of cyclists brave the Midwestern heat and humidity to cross the entire state one week each year, or how a former Des Moines sports announcer became one of the White House’s most popular residents. It Happened in Iowa goes behind the scenes to tell these stories and many more, in short episodes that reveal the intriguing people and events that have shaped the Hawkeye State. Partsch is the author of It Happened In Nebraska, It Happened In Iowa, and Images of America: Nebraska City. She is currently working on a fictionalized account of Japanese American internment during WWII. She lives with her husband, Dave, and son, Luke, in Nebraska City, home of Arbor Day. Beaverdale Books will have books for purchase and signing.
Extinction War is the seventh book in Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s post-apocalyptic series about one man’s mission to save the world. As an army advances, Master Sergeant Joe Fitzpatrick and Team Ghost return to Europe from a mission deep into enemy territory only to find that the Variant army has grown stronger. Back in the U.S, President Ringgold and Dr. Kate Lovato are on the run. The Safe Zone Territories continue to rally behind the ROT flag, leaving Ringgold more enemies than allies. But there are still those who will stand and fight for America and risk everything to save the country from collapsing into Civil War. Smith is the USA Today bestselling author of Hell Divers, the Orbs trilogy, and the Extinction Cycle series. He worked for Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management in disaster mitigation before switching careers to focus on his writing.
Meet author Aaron Putzel, who will be joined by popular Iowa quarterback, Chuck Long. They will be signing their book, Chuck Long: Destined for Greatness. Enjoy plenty of stories of Chuck’s incredible road to success and the resurgence of Iowa Hawkeyes football! Share your favorite memories of Hawkeyes football, the Hayden Fry era and get your picture taken with the Heisman Trophy runner-up and first round NFL draft pick! This book is the perfect Christmas gift for all the football fans on your gift-giving list.
Bring the kids and join illustrator Candace Camling as she shares her book, North Carolina, The First Golden State. Fifty years before the California Gold Rush, twelve-year-old Conrad Reed unearthed a shiny rock from a creek in North Carolina. For three years, the Reed family unknowingly used the hunk of solid gold worth thousands of dollars as a doorstop. When news finally got out about Conrad’s discovery, the lives of the Reeds—and the history of the South—was changed forever. Camling lives with her husband, son, daughter and three naughty cats in Des Moines, Iowa where she creates artwork in her attic studio.
After years of moving, schooling, and training, Dr. Katie LeClair wants nothing more than to find a place she can call home, and a small town outside of Ann Arbor seems perfect until one of her patients is found dead. When a closer investigation reveals it was murder, Katie is catapulted into an off-the-books investigation that leads her down a dark path of past secrets. Someone is willing to kill to keep part of the town's history in the shadows, and Dr. LeClair must find out who before it's too late. National bestselling author Dawn Eastman is a family medicine physician who now lives in Iowa with her husband, son, and daughter.
In his new book, Comic Shop, Dan Gearino traces the history of comic book shops, from their very beginning to present day, as the rise of digital platforms has the industry at a crossroads even though sales are robust. He spent a year traveling to stores around the country, interviewing those who have shaped comics retailing from the early days, including many pioneering women, top creators, and shop owners who continue to push the industry in new directions. The book includes a useful guide to forty of the most interesting shops in the U.S. and Canada. Dan Gearino is a Des Moines-area native and lifelong comics reader with tastes that swing from the classic Legion of Super-Heroes to the work of Michel Rabagliati.