Mayhaven Publishing

Archives

Authors and Artists

Awards

Catalog

Contact

Guest Writer

Mayhaven Matters

News and Upcoming Events

Reviews etc.

Contact

mayhavenpublishing@mchsi.com

————————

Mayhaven provides a rich assortment of books and audio books for Children, Older Children, and Young Adults. Here are a few for Younger Children:

Cullen Porter's Grandpa Grumpy Pants

Book and Audio Book

Read by the Author

Illustrated by Jean Spencer

——————

If you like fireflies, you will like Todd Porter's Firefly Fred, and Dana Marquess' Night of the Lighted Freedom

Todd Porter's Firefly Fred

Book and Audio Book

Read by Faye Porter

Illustrated by Brian Pantenaude

—————

Dana Marquess' Night of the Lighted Freedom—A Firefly Fantasy

Book and Audio Book

Marquess wrote this book for her brother Russell P. Marquess.

—————————————

Dawn Story's Prisoner of Filmore Street, Winner of Mayhaven's Award for Children's Fiction

Illustrated by Jean Spencer

All about stretching the truth a little!

Coming soon in Audio Book

—————————

Valerie Huffman Osborn's A Week of Bunnies

Available in Book and Audio Book

Audio Book Read by the Author

Music by John Dee and the IQ Illinois Woodwind Quartet

Illustrated by Michael Osborn and Edited by Kimberly Osborn

———————————

Nancy Orr Johnson Jensen's

Helen, Ethel & The Crazy Quilt

Based on the Letters 1890 Letters Between Helen Keller and Ethel Orr

See January Event at the State of Maine Museum, Augusta, Maine

And for Older Children and Young Adults

Judith Bourassa Joy's A Doorway Through Space, Winner of Mayhaven's Award for Children's Fiction

Sci-fi Space adventure.

————————————

PJ Farris' Crossover Dribble

Book and Audio Book

a novel for young adults

Audio read by

Featured in an article in the Illinois Reading Council Journal. Farris was also the Keynote Speaker at 2009 Illinois Reading Council Conference.

———————————

See our Catalog for additional books and audio books for children of all ages.

—————————————————

NOVELS for ADULTS

Mystery and Suspense

L.W. Stevenson's A Family Possessed

Book and Audio Book

Audio Book Read by Brian H. Porter

Mayhaven's first "sleeper"—this ghost story has become a favorite with readers.

————————————

Robert Auler's Keep and Bear Arms

Terrorists in the Heartland. This courtroom drama draws on Auler's considerable experience as a defense attorney.

A novel of suspense set in Central Illinois

———————————

John Knoerle's The Violin Player

Winner of Mayhaven's Award for Fiction

Riveting novel of suspense.

A Stalker Finds His Prey

———————————

AND A LITTLE ROMANCE

Margaret Hay Van Damm's The River Love

Available in Book and Audio Book

Audio Book Read by the Author

Novel of late-life romance set in the steamy south

Margaret Hay VanDamm is the daughter of George Hay, founder of Nashville, TN's Grand Ol' Opry.

———————————

See our Catalog for a listing of all books and audio books

Mayhaven Publishing, Inc.

Quality Publishing Since 1990

Congratulations to the Glen Carbon Public Library, Glen Carbon, Illinois, selected as the Best Small Library in America and we are proud of the entire staff, which includes Michelle Petersen, daughter of Mayhaven's publisher. The cover of the Library Journal is below, and the article is listed on line.

Staff: Anne Hughes - Director

Janet McAllister - Assistant Director

Michelle Petersen - Head of Circulation/Homebound Coordinator

Magi Henderson - Youth Services Director

Christina Walker - Youth Services Assistant

Susan Kesler - Head Cataloger

Joyce Bringenberg - Cataloger

Joan Schneider - Associate

Amanda Wendel - Associate

Tammy Green - Associate

Michelle Mondloh - Associate

Leigh Gardner - Associate

Christine Gerrish - Associate

Donald Ladd - Page

Laura Kubicek - Page

Jenna Stoeber - Page

Best Small Library in America 2010 awarded by Library Journal and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The following Mayhaven authors have been a part of the Glen Carbon library's lively literary programs: Cullen Porter, Dan Guillory, Donna Bennett, Doris R. Wenzel, Neva Swartz, The Ten Sisters, Valerie Osborn, Vinita Lawler, and Wayne C. Temple.

————————————

Congratulations to the Pixar Animation Studios' Academy Award nomination for UP. We are pleased that actor Ed Asner, "Carl," is also among Mayhaven's outstanding authors.

———————————————————

Celebrating Black History Month

Lincoln's Better Angel by actor/author David L. Selby

This novel was inspired by a newspaper article about a national park service employee whose life ended while working at the Lincoln Memorial. The story presents the differing views of a father and son in regard to their interpretation of Lincoln's actions in regard to the black Americans of his generation. There are many significant moments in this book, but one is chillingly similar to a recent event, when a noose, a symbol of a dark, dark period in American history, is used to intimidate. This book provides much to talk about among generations of those who ponder Lincoln and Black history.

This moving and creative novel challenges conventional views of Lincoln.

See Kimberly J. Largent's interview and review

of David Selby's book on the Review Etc. page.

Selby recently portrayed Lincoln in The Heavens are Hung in Black at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. In addition, he served on a panel to discuss the Emancipation Proclamation at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

See the full review of Lincoln's Better Angel on our News and Reviews page.

“Lincoln’s Better Angel gives us a history lesson, and Lincoln’s words and actions demonstrate how he changed our way of thinking and made it possible for all of us to be the best that we can be.”

—Rafer Johnson, Author, Humanitarian, and Olympic Decathlon Gold Medal Winner

“From its opening paragraph, Lincoln’s Better Angel is touching, and at times astonishing. David Selby has created a living, breathing Lincoln, true to historical roots, yet alive and relevant in today’s world. Any student of American history will be dazzled by Selby’s interpretation of Lincoln and his plausible reactions to contemporary events. With every page, you tumble further into this amazing world, and meet a charming, wise and surprising ghost of Lincoln."

—Bob Rogers, BRC Imagination Arts, Executive Producer of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum

————————————

Defile de Navidad y Mas by Gwen Watkins

These stories and poems create a portrait of the author's life through her travels and her experience is candid, sometimes humorous, and inspiring words.

The author spent many years as a x-ray technician before devoting much of her time to writing. Watch for her first children's book.

——————————————————

The History of Wood River Baptist District Association Volume II, 1996-2004 Compiled and Edited by the Reverend Eddie Mabry

This unique church history is recorded through records, writings, photos and comments. This record of the oldest continuous Black Church in America, demonstrates why churches have played a significant role in Black history.

—————————

Introducing (for Children)

Heidi McIntyre's Jack's Snack Attack

Resisting the yummies isn't always easy.

Illustrations by Doris Replogle Wenzel

—————————————————

Introducing (for adults)

Kirk Combe's 2084 In 2084, Kirk Combe delivers a sci-fi novel that explores the limits of a world waiting to happen. Cover art by Clayton Combe.

2084 is a world run and employed by a single mega corporation, whose reach extends into the very brains of the population, tapping into their fantasies and their base drives at the expense of everyone and everything around them. This technically controlled society is opposed only by the shrinking members of a free-thinking humanity.

Author Kirk Combe believes fiction should not be a pleasant escape from social reality, but an intensive and imaginative exploration of it. 2084 is his first science-fiction novel.

A Professor of English at Denison University (Ohio), Combe has authored several books and articles, including A Martyr for Sin: Rochester's Critique of Polity, Sexuality, and Society (University of Delaware Press), Theorizing Satire: Essays in Literary Criticism (St. Martins Press). He has also published works of fiction and poetry in literary journals.

Combe has a B.A. from Davidson College (North Carolina) and an M.A. in English, Middlebury College (Vermont). He completed his doctorate and received his D.Phil. in English Literature from Oxford University (England). The author is originally from Idaho, and he has taught at universities in both Europe and the United States.

Kirk Combe and wife Brenda Boyle celebrate their marriage and their new books. View the contents on www.NewarkAdvocate.com

—————————

Harry Haines' TEXAS PANIC! Harry Haines has set this newest novel of suspense, Texas Panic!, in the Beef Industry. Orphan, winner of Mayhaven's Award for Fiction, is set in the world of Horseracing—both industries thrive in the author's home state of Texas. Designer Steve Mayes created the jackets for both books.

"People love their beef and the threat of anything wrong with it could cost billions of dollars. Texas Panic tells the tale of Mad Cow Disease hitting American and how one veterinarian, James Robert Masterson, is faced with the first possible case of Mad Cow Disease in Texas history. Prophetic, entertaining, and intriguing, Texas Panic is a top pick for speculative fiction fans who want to know what could be."

—James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, The Fiction Shelf, Midwest Book Review

—————————

Brian H. Porter's Harvey's Life - Now What? Book and Audio Book Read by the Author. Through these short stories, some humorous, some dark, the author searches for reason in an unreasonable world. Brian Porter first presented samples of his writing as Mayhaven's guest author.

We are happy to announce that the Illinois Radio for the Visually Impaired broadcast Porter's, Harvey's Life - Now What? (Narrated by Ed Walsh.)

—————————

Marilyn Arnold's Unidentified Lying Objects takes you to the Red Rock area of Utah, where some very strange characters are caught up in a flash flood. A prolific author, Arnold won Mayhaven's Award for Fiction with Minding Mama (now in its second printing).

Arnold's Perfecting Amiable, like Minding Mama and Unidentified Lying Objects, are full of laugh-out-loud humor, and also leave the reader with something to ponder. Cover illustrations were created by Aaron Porter and Doris Wenzel.

.................................

For Older Children and Young Adults

Yoli's Cruisin' Sarah, winner of Mayhaven's Award for Children's Fiction A mystery for older children and young adults. Yoli is a prolific writer and has been commissioned to write a children's play for Point Park Playhouse in Pittsburgh, PA. She will also direct the play in the spring of 2010. Artist Douglas Dean created the cover art. Yoli is also teaching a class for kids called Acting Out Art at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Yoli, author of our newest young adult book, Cruisin' Sarah, visited Mayhaven Publishing on December 21, 2009 with her husband Earl. We had lunch at the Hen House and talked and talked. Yoli directs and writes children's plays in Pittsburgh and husband Earl is a producer of plays in Pittsburgh. What a treat. And the best review of Cruisin' Sarah? My granddaughters, a very tough audience.

Author Yoli and publisher Doris Wenzel at Mayhaven's warehouse in Mahomet, IL.

——————————

Terri A. DeMitchell's Jigsaw is the second of DeMitchell's "Olde Locke Beach Mysteries" for older children and young adults. The first, You Will Come Back, won Mayhaven's Award for Children's Fiction. The covers for Jigsaw and You Will Come Back were created by Aaron Porter.

——————————————

Special Events - 2010

January, 2010—The State of Maine Museum, Augusta, Maine, featured Nancy Orr Johnson Jensen's book and audio book: Helen, Ethel & The Crazy Quilt—Based on the 1890 Letters Between Helen Keller and Ethel Orr. The actual quilt and the letters from Helen Keller to Ethel Orr are on display and the author will be available for interviews and signings. Author Judith Joy (A Doorway Through Space) recently visited the museum and was impressed with the quilt, the letters and presentation of the book and audio book.

January 10, Doris Replogle Wenzel (publisher and editor) was Alex Ruggieri's guest on WCIA TV's One on One—right after Face the Nation and just before the game! Those who missed can Google Doris Replogle Wenzel and click the listing for One on One with Alex Ruggieri. The interview will pop right up.

February—The Children's Writer newsletter will include quotes from Doris Replogle Wenzel in an article on Science Fiction for Children and Young Adults.

February 17, 2010—Harry Haines, (Orphan, and Texas Panic!) will be a guest speaker at the Southwest Writers Event in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

February 25, Dan Guillory will read from his highly acclaimed book, The Lincoln Poems, at Barnes & Noble in Champaign, IL.

March 13 and 14, 2010—Doris Wenzel will speak at the University of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ - March 14 from 11:30 to 12:30. A book signing will follow.

April 11-14, Ed Asner, actor (UP, and co-author with Burt Hall of Misuse of Power), will portray FDR in Covington, VA.

April, 16-17—Meet Mayhaven's Illinois Authors, Rantoul, IL Library Festival.

April 18—Mayhaven authors will be featured at the Early American Museum and the Mahomet Library in Mahomet, IL. Watch for details.

May 7-23, Yoli (Cruisin' Sarah) willl direct The Dark Side of Zylo’s Moon, a science fiction play for the Pittsburgh Children's Theater.

June 2010—Doris Wenzel will be speaking to the Frontiers in Writing at Amarillo, Texas.

September 2010—Doris Wenzel will be a judge for the First Annual Independent Writer's Conference in Studio City, CA

—————————————

For the Lincoln Bicentennial, Mayhaven published three new titles on the 16th President. Together, these three works offer a vivid and penetrating look at Lincoln in his lifetime and as he is viewed in ours.

Lincoln's Travels on the River Queen During the Last Days of His Life by Wayne C. Temple

Also available in audio book—read by the author.

This is the eighth book written about Lincoln by Temple. This nonfiction work presents Lincoln in a little known setting. Temple has been called the greatest living Lincoln historian, and is a recipient of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial edition of the Order of Lincoln, the highest honor that can be awarded by the State of Illinois (2009). You may also see him as a guest historian in Prelude to the Presidency, now playing on PBS stations. Check your local schedule for dates and times.

"Once again, Lincoln scholar extraordinary Wayne Temple has filled a void in the Lincoln literature with an authoritative, exhaustive, and irresistibly lively account of one of the 16th President's favorite perks: his riverboat. Any Lincoln enthusiast lucky enough to pick it up will find it impossible to set aside; impeccably researched, it reads like an adventure story. The River Queen was a witness to history. Fortunately for us, so is Wayne Temple."

— Harold Holzer, co-chairman, U. S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

Dr. Temple's book, Abraham Lincoln: From Skeptic to Prophet, has been included in the top 100 books on Lincoln. Mayhaven is pleased to have published ...Skeptic... and four other books by Dr. Wayne C. Temple. (See Catalog)

———————————————

The Lincoln Poems, by Dan Guillory

Also Available in Audio Book

Guillory's poems, that have been called both lyrical and audacious, are based on events in Lincoln's life. Guillory, a prolific and insightful writer of both history and poetry.

"....these poems can stand on their own. ....Lincoln's voice here will have its greatest effect when it speaks of the smaller moments of a large and complex life.... Guillory's Lincoln draws simple but illuminating parallels to his and our greater preoccupations. When the lines are distilled with some flavor of a Thoreau or a Dickinson readers may feel most rewarded....
—Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal, March 1, 2009

"Part history, part mythology, and all word music, "The Lincoln Poems" is Dan Guillory's loving tribute to the nation's first and only poet President. Guillory channels Abraham Lincoln through the ages and into the moment, breathing fire and wit and soul into his marbled memory. The results are audacious and inspired. Read these poems. Read them aloud. Give voice to your own inner Lincoln."

—William Furry Executive Director, Illinois State Historical Society

"....This is a fine book, well crafted, well produced, and complete in itself, but it also has a value to drive one further into investigating this man who, in my travels abroad, I have found is better known than any other American. A final word on the last three poems, "Contents of My Pockets, April 14, 1865"; "Bullet in My Brain, April 15, 1865"; and "Alternate Ending". These are a tour de force. I have never felt Lincoln's death more keenly than in reading this trio, after the cumulative effect of the whole book. They are unforgettable."

—A brief portion of a much longer review on The Lincoln Poems in the Illinois Times by Jacqueline Jackson, books and poetry editor, and professor emerita of English at the University of Illinois at Springfield

Watch for a new book by Guillory, published by Mayhaven Publishing, Inc.