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Cynthia Kraack is a Twin Cities-based writer and winner of the 2010 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for Fiction for her first work, Minnesota Cold. In September 2010, North Star Press of St. Cloud released her second novel Ashwood, the first book in a speculative fiction trilogy following one family’s experience after a global economic depression.
Kraack's new novel Harvesting Ashwood: Minnesota 2037 builds on the tradition of Ashwood by challenging today’s status quo within the twists and turns of a spellbinding thriller.
Kraack explores social issues from today’s culture in a different future. From the basic right of people to daily food to the complex relationship the United States has with its children, the Ashwood series pushes readers to question the trade-offs made by politicians under the pressure of military expansion or international diplomacy.
Tag Archives: Family
My father speaks
My father is dying. The many physical failures of his eighty-five-year-old body have gained control in a way no medical intervention can defeat. He has a health directive in place so our family waits. In this holiday month a Christmas tree lights his apartment and seasonal music has become lullaby and comforter. After the first assault of pictures, he will not watch the news from Connecticut. He said “We’ve seen this before” and asked the channel be changed. After growing …
Holiday Ghosts
Writing about holidays is tricky. What do you really remember about childhood holidays? Was the Thanksgiving meal served at noon or maybe in the early evening? Did you realize that somebody had to be in the kitchen by about five in the morning to have a turkey ready to serve at noon? As a kid you didn’t have to think about that side of the holiday. If Grandma or Mom or Auntie Martha wasn’t as silly as the rest of …
Writing from the Seniors Apartment
If you need a very quiet place to work, look up a friendly senior citizen living in a senior apartment complex who needs someone to look after the place for a few days. My father is still in transitional care, the floor guy is stretching the refinishing our hardwood floors over too many days, and the pile of things to do that can’t be done in Caribou’s has grown alarmingly. So today I am working at the kitchen desk of …
Writing during Crisis
My elderly father is seriously ill. This time the call came on Sunday evening while my husband and I finished dinner. The buildup to the phone ringing developed piece by piece through two weeks of multiple doctor visits, tests, worry. He is fragile. Time spent next to his hospital bed disappears like a ball of yarn rolling down a staircase. The doctor was supposed to be in at ten only now it is eleven thirty and then it becomes one …
Time for Change?
When is the time right for major change? My life as a writer is far less structured than any other role in my career. Lately I’ve been focusing on book activities and resurrecting a collection of short stories. There have been signings and book club gatherings and networking on the book’s behalf. The short story collection is a whole different set of activities centered on building a submission plan for individual stories and wading into revision with some works so …
Writer at Rest
One thing working in corporate America has going for it is that there are some boundaries around hours of work. You might do emails and text messages from early morning through the evening. You might make revisions on a big presentation while watching television. But the majority of the time you shut off work at a decent time in the evening and chill. Writing is a different kind of master. If you’re creating new material, you work as long as …
Hunger Games Lessons
Hunger Games trilogy may bring young adult readers and their parents together for a summer of interesting discussions
Work Travel
Whether sitting in economy class, first class, or on a corporate jet, a family person is always alone at the end of a day of business travel.
Lake Michigan Home
Filling my eyes with Lake Michigan, even in winter, reminds me that I grew up in climates dictated by her power and that her shores will always be my home.