Monday, March 19, 2018

This week, at Boswell and elsewhere: Brian Castner, Game Night, Bradley Beaulieu, Cozy Mysteries, Red Oak presents Carol Wobig and Friends, plus events at Schlitz Audubon, Urban Ecology Center, and Villa Terrace

It's nature week and more!

Monday, March 19, 7:00 pm, at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, 1111 E Brown Deer Rd in Bayside:
Scott Freeman and Susan Leopold Freeman, author and illustrator of of Saving Tarboo Creek: One Family's Quest to Heal the Land:

Schlitz Audubon Nature Center and Boswell present Scott Freeman and Susan Leopold Freeman, who own and manage over 240 acres of forestland in Jefferson County, all protected by conservation easements held by Jefferson Land Trust. This event is free with Center admission or membership. Registration required for this event by calling (414) 352-2880 x0.

Saving Tarboo Creek is based on the land ethic of Aldo Leopold, Susan Leopold Freman’s grandfather. Since its publication in 1949, A Sand County Almanac has inspired readers to reduce their impact on the land. Scott Freeman’s story offers a concrete example of how one family did their part to repair environmental damage and inspires readers to do the same through thoughtful, individual choices.

Tuesday, March 20, 7:00 pm at Urban Ecology Center in Riverside Park, 1500 E Park Pl in Milwaukee:
Michael Edmonds, author of Taking Flight: A History of Birds and People in the Heart of America:


Edmunds, Director of Programs and Outreach at the Wisconsin Historical Society, has written a dynamic account of ornithological history in America’s heartland. Edmonds, a recreational birder, has authored numerous books and articles and has won awards from the American Folklore Society and the American Association for State and Local History. This event, held at and cosponsored by the Urban Ecology Center, is free. Pay what you can.

Today, more than fifty million Americans traipse through wetlands at dawn, endure clouds of mosquitoes, and brave freezing autumn winds just to catch a glimpse of a bird. The human desire to connect with winged creatures defies age and generation. In the Midwest, humans and birds have lived together for more than twelve thousand years. Taking Flight explores how and why people have worshipped, feared, studied, hunted, eaten, and protected the birds that surrounded them.

Wednesday, March 21, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Brian Castner, author of Disappointment River: Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage:

For fans of Jon Krakauer and David Grann comes an exciting new dual historical narrative and travel memoir. Boswell is honored to host Marquette University grad and Bronze Star recipient Brian Caster for his book, Disappointment River: Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage. Marquette University graduate Brian Castner is a former Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer who received a Bronze Star for his service in the Iraq War. He is the author of two books, The Long Walk and All the Ways We Kill and Die, and the coeditor of the anthology The Road Ahead.

In his new book, Castner transports readers back to the heroic age of North American exploration and places them in a still rugged but increasingly fragile Arctic wilderness in the process of profound alteration by the dual forces of globalization and climate change. Fourteen years before Lewis and Clark, Alexander Mackenzie set off to cross the continent of North America with a team of voyageurs and Chipewyan guides, to find a trade route to the riches of the East. What he found was a river that he named “'Disappointment.' Mackenzie died thinking he had failed. He was wrong. In Disappointment River, Brian Castner not only retells the story of Alexander Mackenzie’s epic voyages in vivid prose, he personally retraces his travels, transporting readers to a land rarely glimpsed.

Read Rinker Buck's review in The Wall Street Journal.

Tuesday, March 20, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Game Night at Boswell

Enjoy an evening sampling new and bestselling games from our collection, including Donner Dinner Party and Quicktionary. Jen and Jason will offer a short intro and demos on our favorites, plus we’ll have giveaways too. Come alone or in groups.

Please note this game night is for folks 16+. Some of these games involve adult language. Registration requested at boswellgame18.bpt.me. Registration live until 3 pm the day of the event. After that, call us at (414) 332-1181.

Wednesday, March 21, 7:00 pm
A ticketed event with Nancy Lawson, author of The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife, at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum,2220 N Terrace Ave:

Tickets are $25 for the general public and do not include the book. Her talk is called 'The Humane Garden: Cultivating Compassion for All Creatures.' More information here.

Thursday, March 22, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Bradley P. Beaulieu, author of A Veil of Spears

From Racine’s Bradley P. Beaulieu comes the third book in The Song of Shattered Sands series - an epic fantasy with a desert setting, filled with rich worldbuilding and pulse-pounding action. Following Twelve Kings in Sharakhai, which was on many best-of lists for 2015, and With Blood upon the Sand, the new novel features Çeda, a pit fighter in the desert city of Sharakhai, who discovers a dangerous secret that might help her overthrow the cruel, immortal Kings of Sharakhai.

Matt Staggs interviews Beaulieu in Unbound Worlds, on his influences: "The initial drive was Tolkien. I’m a big Tolkien fan, and I’m one of those guys who actually loved the poems and the songs he wrote. Before I started 12 Kings in Sharakhai I had a rough idea of what the book was about, but I needed to know the history... I wrote an epic poem that had to do with how they came to rule the desert, and those are the things that Ceda uncovers, eventually. Those poems, actually, led to the formation of the first book and the whole series."


Racine writer Bradley P. Beaulieu is the author of the Lays of Anuskaya trilogy and the Song of Shattered Sands trilogy. His novels have garnered many accolades, including a Gemmell Morningstar Award nomination.

Friday, March 23, 2:00 pm, at Boswell:
A cozy afternoon tea featuring Beth Amos, writing both as Annelise Ryan, author of Dead Calm and Allyson K. Abbott, author of A Toast to Murder, as well as Mary Carter, writing as Carlene O’Connor, author of Murder in an Irish Churchyard

Boswell invites you to a cozy tea with mystery writers Beth Amos (Annelise Ryan and Allyson K. Abbott) and Mary Carter (Carlene O'Connor. We'll be serving tea and mini scones from Beans and Barley. Specifically, we've ordered classic cream with currants and apple with date. So if you don't like dried fruit, you'll have to wait till we feature cucumber sandwiches another time.

Cozies are a storied tradition in the mystery world, but probably the matriarch is Agatha Christie, whose Miss Marple series has influenced many later writers. Here's a list from Sara Nicholas at Book Riot featuring top cozy scribes, but the picks are definitely up for debate. Alexander McCall Smith? Yes, I'd say that fits. Diane Mott Davidson? Absolutely, she popularized the recipe addition, a popular addition to many series. Most authors whose protagonists are paired with a cat costar? (Rita Mae Brown, Lillian Jackson Braun) That seems fair. But Louise Penny? Sorry, I disagree.

Beth Amos is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. She's also a registered nurse in Janesville. While Chicago-based Mary Carter has written three books in the Irish Village series under the pseudonym Carlene O’Connor.

Sunday, March 25, 3:00 pm, at Boswell:
Carol Wobig, author of The Collected Stories, Yvonne Stephens, author of of The Salt Before It Shakes, and Patricia Ann McNair, author of of And These Are the Good Times: A Chicago Gal Riffs on Death, Sex, Life, Dancing, Writing, Wonder, Loneliness, Place, Family, Faith, Coffee, and the FBI

Carol Wobig's short stories and monologues are written with unfailing sensitivity and empathy, and in language that rings clear and true.Wobig has won awards from the Writer’s Digest Competition, the Florence Lindemann Humor Contest, and the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. Read Jim Higgins's review of The Collected Stories in the Journal Sentinel.

In The Salt Before It Shakes, poet Yvonne Stephens writes about nature, loss, change, hope, motherhood and family with honesty, courage, sensitivity, and moments of keen existential humor. Marquette University’s Angel Sorby praised “the earthy alchemy of her attentive and deeply nourishing work.” The poems of Stephens have appeared in the Dunes Review, the LAND Creative Writing Journal, and Family Stories from the Attic.

Patricia Ann McNair’s recently released collection of essays is And These Are the Good Times. McNair lives just two miles from where she was born, and her writing reflects her Windy City grounding. McNair is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Columbia College. Her story collection The Temple of Air was named Book of the Year by the Chicago Writers Association.

This event is cosponsored by Red Oak Writing.


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