rom The Collected Poems of Weldon Kees, Bison Books: THE BEACH IN AUGUST The day the fat womanIn the bright blue bathing suitWalked into the water and died,I thought about the humanCondition. Pieces of old fruitCame in and were left by the tide. What I thought about the humanCondition was this: old fruitComes in and is left, and driesIn the sun. Another fat womanIn a dull green bathing suitDives into the water and dies.The pulmotors glisten. It is noon. We dry and die in the sunWhile the seascape arranges old fruit,Coming in with the tide, glisteningAt noon. A woman, moderately … Continue reading August with Weldon Kees

The Indian Interviews of Eli S. Ricker, 1903-1919 Voices of the American West, Volume 1  andThe Settler and Soldier Interviews of Eli S. Ricker, 1903-1919Voices of the American West, Volume 2  Edited by Richard E. Jensen “[A]mazing personal accounts [are] in these volumes, which present for the first time the extensive turn-of-the-century interviews of Eli S. Ricker, a pioneering Nebraska judge and newspaperman who traveled across the Dakotas a hundred years ago, interviewing the last of the old-timers on the northern prairie. . . . Here are the authentic voices of the real people who were actually there at Beecher’s … Continue reading Voices of the American West, Volumes 1 and 2

Nebraska Folklore by Louise Pound “Those of us not from Nebraska may be unfamiliar with Louise Pound, an oversight well remedied by this volume. Issued numerous times since its introduction in 1947 . . . it is now a classic.”—Bloomsbury Review Continue reading Nebraska Folklore

Mad Seasons by Karra Porter “Relive all of the great moments, the troubling challenges, the highlights, the star players, and gain a whole new perspective of what it took to get professional basketball into the spotlight that is today’s NBA and WNBA. There’s plenty for men and women alike to enjoy about Karra Porter’s Mad Seasons.”—Bill Ingram, Hoopsworld.com Continue reading Mad Seasons

have returned from England and am now all tan since it never rained once the whole time I was there.  But I did get to ride the London Underground, took pictures of Hadrian’s Wall and saw lots of castles.  I also did some reading.  I know.  Big surprise there.

I finally got to read a novel my husband has been pushing on me for months.  Heroics for Beginners by John Moore is the story of Prince Kevin Timberline who is in love with a princess.  Unfortunately the princess can only marry the man who returns the Ancient Artifact Model Seven to the kingdom and Prince Kevin really isn’t good at that sort of thing.  But he tries anyway and fails miserably, but by failing, saves everything.  It’s a funny, easy read.  I read it in one evening. 

Continue reading “Summer Reading, SF style”

ell, my advice is not to move to Canada halfway. As I continue to suffer from dependency on our Northern Neighbors to get so much as a cell phone or Internet access, I turned to reading and watching more television than is healthy. Modern science fiction overload. Then, I turned back to Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, culture shock perhaps for the uninitiated and unfamiliar. When one thinks, Science Fiction, whether you call it "sci-fi," "SF," or speculative fiction, this is not the novel that comes to mind. Readers tired of lax syntax, lazy lexicons, and the dull regularity of … Continue reading Return of The Itinerant Scribe

n the spring of 2001, my husband and I stayed at the Triangle Ranch B&B on the eastern edge of the Badlands in South Dakota. The Bad River wraps through the property, and in the morning we could hear wild turkeys nesting in the cottonwoods. Newborn calves and cows in various stages of mothering dotted the near-by pasture. The hosts, Lyndy and Kenny Ireland, live in a house that Lyndy’s great-grandfather ordered as a kit from the Sears catalogue in the early 1900’s. He traveled overland 45 miles to meet the nearest train and offloaded dozens of pallets onto wagons. With so little lumber available on the treeless plains, mail order houses were not uncommon, but this was no ordinary house. It was a two-story foursquare design—as high as it was wide as it was deep. The interior had prairie school elements: brick fireplace, hardwood floors, leaded glass in the sun room, oak woodwork, built-in bookcases, a wide bay window. Upstairs, four bedrooms and an indoor bath. Sears offered different designs for the outside façade, and Lyndy’s ancestors chose the Alhambra, a stucco exterior with an elaborate scalloped header named after the Spanish fortress in Granada.

Continue reading “Finding Toby’s House by Pamela Carter Joern”

Announcing Our Sizzling Summer Sale! Visit http://www.bisonbooks.com/sale and save 50% on a variety of books, including: Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, paper and cloth editions The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Local Wonders by Ted Kooser You’ve Got to Have Balls to Make it in This League by Pam Postema and Gene Wojciechowski Many more titles are on sale.  Visit our Summer Web Sale page for a complete list.  Sale prices good through August 31, 2006! Continue reading Save 50% on Select Books

The Broidered Garment by Hilda Martinsen Neihardt “[A] fondly told story of the lives of John and Mona Neihardt, The Broidered Garment is a fine addition to the Neihardt canon and in the spirit of other work by Hilda Neihardt, who died in 2004. She did much to champion her father’s work and reputation, performing readings of his poetry, accompanied by her son Robin on classical guitar; writing Black Elk and Flaming Rainbow: Personal Memories of the Lakota Holy Man and John Neihardt; and editing Black Elk Lives: Conversations with the Black Elk Family. The Broidered Garment completes this work … Continue reading The Broidered Garment