Celebrate the (belated) Lincoln launch of author Theodore Wheeler’s new novel IN OUR OTHER LIVES along with the release of the new paperback edition of Kassandra Montag’s celebrated novel AFTER THE FLOOD! Both authors will read from their books with a Q&A to follow!
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A provocative novel about abandoned faith, heartbreaking loss, and inescapable government scrutiny in the heartland of a post-9/11 nation. American missionary and ROTC cadet Tyler Ahls, long missing in Pakistan, has just surfaced, proselytizing in an Afghani terrorist propaganda video. For Omaha nurse Elisabeth Holland, it’s a shock that her brother is even alive. Now she must ask herself a more grave question: Is he a hostage or a traitor? Seasoned FBI special agent Frank Schwaller is asking this too. He’s come to Nebraska armed with countless hours of video, audio, and email surveillance. The object of his unyielding gaze is Elisabeth. But the more Schwaller uncovers about her–from her and Tyler’s evangelical Christian upbringing to her shattered youthful dreams to her broken marriage to a drifter–the more mystifying Elisabeth and the two men in her life become. To find out the truth about these entwined lives–and the desperation that comes from love, fear, and the need to disappear–Agent Schwaller will discover how even the most lonesome corners of the Plains can be darkened by the long shadow of war. From Kings of Broken Things author Theodore Wheeler comes an exploration of love lost, the failure of humanism, and the revelations of how deeply the US government spies on the personal lives of its citizens.
Theodore Wheeler is the author of the novels In Our Other Lives and Kings of Broken Things, and Bad Faith, a collection of short fiction. His work has appeared in Best New American Voices, New Stories from the Midwest, The Southern Review, The Kenyon Review, Narrative, and Boulevard. He has been recognized with a Marianne Russo Award from the Key West Literary Seminar and a prestigious fellowship from Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany. A graduate of the creative writing program at Creighton University, Wheeler teaches at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, covers a civil-law beat for a national news service, co-directs Omaha Lit Fest, and sidelines as a bookseller for the Dundee Book Company roving book cart, one of the world’s smallest bookstores. For more information,visit
theodore-wheeler.com.After the Flood is a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year. An inventive and riveting epic saga, After the Flood signals the arrival of an extraordinary new talent.
A little more than a century from now, our world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, rising floodwaters have obliterated America’s great coastal cities and then its heartland, leaving nothing but an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water. Stubbornly independent Myra and her precocious seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, fish from their small boat, the Bird, visiting dry land only to trade for supplies and information in the few remaining outposts of civilization. For seven years, Myra has grieved the loss of her oldest daughter, Row, who was stolen by her father after a monstrous deluge overtook their home in Nebraska. Then, in a violent confrontation with a stranger, Myra suddenly discovers that Row was last seen in a far-off encampment near the Arctic Circle. Throwing aside her usual caution, Myra and Pearl embark on a perilous voyage into the icy northern seas, hoping against hope that Row will still be there. On their journey, Myra and Pearl join forces with a larger ship and Myra finds herself bonding with her fellow seekers who hope to build a safe haven together in this dangerous new world. But secrets, lust, and betrayals threaten their dream, and after their fortunes take a shocking—and bloody—turn, Myra can no longer ignore the question of whether saving Row is worth endangering Pearl and her fellow travelers. A compulsively readable novel of dark despair and soaring hope, After the Flood is a magnificent, action packed, and sometimes frightening odyssey laced with wonder—an affecting and wholly original saga both redemptive and astonishing.
Kassandra Montag is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, and freelance medical journalist. Her work has appeared in journals and anthologies such as Midwestern Gothic, Nebraska Poetry, Prairie Schooner, and Mystery Weekly Magazine, among others. She holds an MA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Creighton University, and makes her home in Omaha, Nebraska.
Topic: Ted Wheeler & Kassandra Montag
Time: Nov 18, 2020 05:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 836 0526 4307
Passcode: 226264
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