Traverse City News and Events

Three More Local Authors Making Their Marks

May 30, 2016

Three local authors demonstrate just how varied – and vibrant – Traverse City’s publishing scene has become. One writes about the future, another about vegetables with very cool names, the other about a child’s extraordinary imagination. Here's a quick look at three local books gaining traction.

Mike Dow's Dark Matters
Mike Dow’s first novel (published by GTM Ventures) envisions the year 2075 when there are 10 billion people on Earth and climate change is an accepted fact that no one can ignore. Making matters worse (or better, depending on your point of view), the extreme concentration of wealth we hear so much about these days has left most political power and access to advanced technologies in the hands of trillionaires.

Dow, whose background is in business, chose the year 2075 very consciously. His research, he says, indicated that “all those things seem to converge around that time.”

The first book in a planned trilogy, the fast-paced and politically-charged Dark Matters has earned the Independent Publisher's 2016 Gold Medal Award winner in science fiction.

Lisa Maxbauer Price's Squash Boom Beet
Lisa Maxbauer Price focuses on a quite different topic: vegetables. Squash Boom Beet: An Alphabet for Healthy, Adventurous Eaters (published by Blue Bay Books, her own company) encourages kids to embrace the colors and flavors of locally-produced veggies. It helps that the leading characters in this drama have cool names like "Dragon Tongue Beans," "Dinosaur Kale," "Candy Cane Beets,", "Easter Egg Radishes" and others, all of which Maxbauer Price illustrates through her own photography.

She chose the title carefully.

“I wanted to choose vegetable names that actually sounded like active verbs…you squash something, beat a drum, for example,” she tells The Ticker. 

Parents emphasize the health benefits of eating well, she says, “but they don’t tell their kids how exciting it can be. Vegetables come in all shapes and colors and names. The book emphasizes you have to be brave to eat, say, 'Fairy Tale Eggplant.”'

Throughout, Maxbauer Price voices her support for local food producers. Her great-grandparents, the Maxbauers, started the meat market 1913 that still bears the family name, and her great uncle ran Maxbauer Creamery on West Front Street. 

“There are so many wonderful things going on in the food scene in Traverse City,” she says. “But we have to support it or it could disappear.”

Squash Boom Beet mentions 56 local farms, gardens, schoolyards and stores in the Grand Traverse area.

Brianne Farley's Secret Tree Fort
The young protagonist of local writer and illustrator Brianne Farley’s latest children’s book creates an imaginary tale to get the attention of her bookish older sister who would rather read than play. Inspired by her own relationship with her younger sister and the many tree forts they designed growing up, Farley wrote and illustrated the book while living in Brooklyn as “a bit of a love letter to Michigan.”

“Then I ended up moving back to Michigan just a few months after I handed in the book to my publisher!” she adds.

Secret Tree Fort (published by Candlewick Press) is designed for young readers, but it speaks to many audiences.

“I was actually surprised how many adults have told me, ‘I was just like the younger sister and my sibling is just like the older sister,’ or vice versa," she says. “I love that people see themselves in this story. I hope it inspires them to build or create or at least call their sibling for a chat.”

All three books are available online and at local northern Michigan booksellers.

Comment

Eye-Popping Numbers From The Warmest Winter In Traverse City History

Read More >>

Join The Ticker for April Recess at Commongrounds!

Read More >>

GT Regional Land Conservancy Acquires $5.1M Property in East Bay Township

Read More >>

173-Home Rental Subdivision, Timber Ridge Expansion Proposed

Read More >>

Leadership Changes, Housing Project, Commons Trail on Garfield Agenda

Read More >>

What's Next for Nonprofits at Planned Innovation Center Site?

Read More >>

Land Bank Plans New Uses for Crestwood, Kingsley, Boardman Properties

Read More >>

Meet Traverse City's Behind-The-Scenes Patrons Of Youth Music

Read More >>

Local Wineries Score In Largest U.S. Wine Competition

Read More >>

Judge Dismisses Studio 8 Lawsuit Against City, Three Individuals

Read More >>

NMC Audio Tech Program Plots Fundraiser Concert

Read More >>

How Two TC Filmmakers Captured The Story Of Michigan’s Arthouse Movie Theater Heritage

Read More >>

Avelo Airlines Coming to TVC with Direct Service to New Haven

Read More >>

$30-$40 Million Technology/Logistics Park Proposed Next to Airport

Read More >>