Minnesota Reads

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring cartoonists who will exhibit at the Minneapolis Indie Xpo, an independent comic book festival happening on November 5-6, 2011, at The Soap Factory. This event is free and open to the public on both days from 10am-5pm. MIX features web cartoonists, self-published cartoonists, boutique publishers, and large [...]

Avast me lads and lasses. If it's a pirate tale ye been seekin', Mike Kalmbach's debut novel, The Caldarian Conflict will whet yer appetite. Caldaria is plagued by pirates. Admiral Cain of the Caldarian navy has come up with a plan not only to rid the sea of pirates, but also alleviate the streets of [...]

If you write books for middle-grade readers or young adults I can’t imagine why you’d live somewhere other than the Twin Cities. Seriously folks, this area is filthy with MG and YA readers. I’d list them off but I’d probably forget someone and that’d be embarrassing. But as I type this, I can list ten [...]

Do you remember way back in August when Kurtis Scaletta asked Steve Brezenoff six questions? Well, it’s payback time. Like Steve, Kurtis has already answered the questions we always ask and the questions we hardly ever ask. Before we get to the questions, you should probably know that Kurtis has a new book out today. [...]

I cried when I finished reading Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff. While I’m generally a crybaby, I wouldn’t need to use my toes to count how many times a novel has made me cry. But there I was, snuggled into bed turning the last page of this brilliant, profound young adult novel my face wet. [...]

What’s a blog editor to do when a certain author has answered the 6 questions we always ask AND the 6 questions we hardly ever ask? Here’s what you do, you leave it to someone else to ask the questions. This was an idea born one night over tator tots at Grumpy’s. I wish I [...]

William Kent Krueger is the author of the New York Times bestselling, award-winning Cork O’Connor series. He also has one of the more charming About pages I’ve ever read. You should go read it, especially the ‘Flameboiled fiction’ section. Anyway, the eleventh volume in his wildly popular series, Northwest Angle, will be released at the [...]

Before I blatantly steal the ‘about’ section from Ellen Baker’s website you should know that her latest novel I Gave My Heart to Know This got a pretty sweet rave in the StarTribune this weekend. So here comes the ripoff portion: “Ellen Baker was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and grew up in Wisconsin, Illinois, [...]

Back in the olden days of the early 1980s, “The Wizard of Oz” was event TV. My sisters and I would flop belly-down in front of the TV, chins propped on our hands and watch with rapt attention as Dorothy wound her way through the wonderful land of Oz. Every year, without fail, I would [...]

Besides being an award-winning TV new producer, Julie Kramer is the creator and author behind the wildly popular Riley Spartz mystery series. In fact, the fourth installment Killing Kate, was just released today. In case you need to play catch up the series also includes: Stalking Susan, Missing Mark, and Silencing Sam. And if you [...]