Writer's Corner

RENEE VALOIS, who, in addition to being a prize-winning author, is a well-known poet and also served as a movie reviewer for a major newspaper. She discussed, (coincidentally, on Halloween!), her latest book titled “Collecting Spirits, life with ghosts, guardians and guides,” a collection of her own and other people’s experiences with ghosts and the paranormal.

JOSH WEBER, who is a principal of Calumet Editions, the sponsor of Writers Corner, and is also the publisher of Alan’s novels, not only had a spirited interchange with Renee, but brought in several of Calumet’s most recent books, discussed them, and noted they are available to readers. He also discussed his relationship with Afton Publications, a nonprofit that publishes historical material about Minnesota.

Colin Nelson, who has been a prosecutor, defense attorney, and adjunct professor, still found the time to write seven books before his latest, “The Havana Syndrome,” a fictional thriller focused on the mysterious syndrome which struck United States officials in Havana in 2016 and still has not been resolved.

Colin spent time in Cuba before the embargo, and got to know and like the people. He is married and lives in Plymouth, MN, and he still finds time to play the saxophone in two bands.

Annamaria Alfieri is the pen name of Patricia King, a New York City-based novelist who dreamed of being a writer since she was nine.

Alfieri has penned two historical mystery series, one set in British East Africa in the early 1900s, and the other set in South America.

Stanley Trollip is one half of a team (with Michael Sears) that writes the internationally famous Detective Kubu series.

The series features David “Kubu” Bengu, a senior police detective in Gabarone, Botswana. Kubu, the word for hippopotamus in the Setswana language, is the unlikely hero of the eight-book series.

Trollip has also just released Wolfman, a thriller set in northern Minnesota that is the prequel to a new Trollip/Sears series featuring investigative reporter Crystal Nguyen.

David Housewright is one of the nation’s top authors.A former President of the Mystery Writers of America, winner of three Minnesota Book Awards for crime fiction, and the prestigious Edgar Award.

He has two new novels for this year, “Girl in a Dumpster” in his Holland Taylor series, and “Them Bones,” the 22nd book in his Rushmore McKenzie series, due for release four days after his interview with Alan on June 20th.

He discussed the difference between the two main characters and many of the choices he faced in completing these two books, each destined to be a best seller.

“This book should accompany every AARP registration,” was part of the introduction of Andrea Gilats’ memoir “Radical Endurance” about “growing old in the age of longevity.” Gilats, who holds a Ph.D., nearing 80 years old, is a writer, educator and former Yoga instructor and who authors a very personal story of her aging process filled with quotations from a variety of experts, philosophers, and writers, and offers suggestions about dealing with old age, and even facing the prospect of death.

Jeffrey Burton, a return guest, has written several previous series, his latest in the Chicago K-9 novel, “The Second Grave,” in which his two “cadaver dogs” uncover a suicide and then discover two graves, on with three bodies and one with only one. This leads to the difficulty of finding the story behind the killings and an intriguing twist involving a decades old bank robbery.