June 25, 2025
by Steve Oetting Do you yearn for a story of suspense and intrigue that grabs you within the first few paragraphs and never lets go? If so, Marjorie DeLuca, under the pen name M. M. DeLuca, offers a myriad of novels that might be the answer to appease your unsated thirst. Here is an excerpt from the second page of her most recent novel, The Divorce Party. In just a few short paragraphs, Ms. DeLuca …
May 27, 2025
by Steve Oetting The intriguing story depicted in Madison Kehler’s historical fiction novel, Journey of Hope, transports us back to 1915 to the Pale of Settlement, an exclusive zone in the western Russian Empire where Jews were allowed to live at that time. The expression “beyond the pale” was derived from folks emigrating out of that area, mostly to eastern Europe, which is exactly what Madison’s main character intends to do. Her reading of Chapter …
October 15, 2024
By barb janes Japan, Japan / If I say it enough \ Will it come true? Only a secure writer opens her reading with words from another writer as Sally Ito did with the above poem by David Fujino. In 11 short words, Fujino’s poem evokes the deep longing for culture and identity that spurred Sally Ito to write The Emperor’s Orphans, a cultural memoir about her family. Facilitated by MWG’s Susan Rocan, this Zoom …
October 9, 2024
by Steve Oetting On Sept. 11, Katherine Bitney, one of the founders of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and Prairie Fire Magazine, provided us with an engaging book chat. She noted that it was many years ago when they started the Guild and an extremely exciting time, a virtual “explosion of literature in our province.” She felt they had virtually no idea what they were doing and mostly “flew by the seat of their pants.” I …
June 2, 2024
Book Chat Review by Amanda Le Rougetel On Valentine’s Day, a small group enjoyed an intimate online reading of love poems by MWG member Carmelo Militano. He chose selections from his book Archeologia Eros, work inspired by others’ erotic poems.
April 4, 2024
By Amanda Le Rougetel It was three o’clock in the morning about seven years ago when Gimli-based author Raye Anderson’s main character came to her out of the blue. She woke up suddenly with the name Roxanne Calloway in her mind: a tall skinny red-headed police officer from Saskatchewan. And that was that. Her main character was named. Today, Raye has written four books featuring Roxanne, and a fifth is in the early stages.
February 7, 2024
Book Chat Review by Steve Oetting As a Guild member that has never attended a Book Chat, I had no idea what to expect. I have to say it was both highly informative and thoroughly enjoyable. It was hosted by Susan Rocan and had eight other members in attendance.
December 27, 2023
By Luke A. Dondo It was a cozy evening of strange stories, and I’d be lying if I said I slept without nightmares of beetles and rats.
