Top selling book in an Indie Book store. What a thrill.

You may now refer to me as an 'International Author.' Although that comes with some tongue in cheek. A long ago friend whom my wife and I met in Hawaii in 1985, happened across one of my books and got in touch.
     She then proceeded to buy all of my books and read them no less--what a joy. THEN, she carried a box of them back to her home town in Zamboanga, Philippines, where she proceeded to form the Jim Misko Book Club.

Then, I met three more ladies who had original roots in the Philippines and they became honorary members of the Jim Misko Book Club.

I tell you, being an International author has some appeal. Never laughed so much in my life as these ladies are fun. Hope you get a chance to visit Zamboanga and trade a few dollars for pesos. What a challenge that will be. May it go well with you. Jim

Misko's The Path of the Wind is Nautilus Award winner

I enjoyed the email from Nautilus Book Awards that my last novel, The Path of the Wind had been awarded SILVER winner in fiction for 2018. Winning awards is the next best thing to selling a lot of books and getting a lot of good reviews. Always the toughest part of writing--getting reviews.

Misko's Novel a finalist in Nancy Pearl Literary Awards

It was 7:30 at night, and I was getting ready to read in bed. The phone rang. The person on the other end notified me that my novel The Path of the Wind, was one of three finalists in the Nancy Pearl Literary Awards, and that a letter would be arriving soon to confirm that. I had a smile on my face all the while reading and even when the sun finally went down—in Alaska, it takes a while—I was still smiling. Somebody liked my novel. Just what an author lives for.
     The letter came on August 24th telling me to have my reservations and how to acquire my books for the program by August 15th. That left me wondering why Alaska is so far behind the rest of the United States when it comes to snail mail. But we are.
     

School teacher for 33 years touts THE PATH OF THE WIND

Jim Misko's latest book, The Path of the Wind, is his best yet in my opinion.  Which is saying something because his others have earned him some well-deserved praise.  So good, in fact, that if limited to a one-word review, it's a no-brainer what I'd choose:  Authentic.

The author's history is one of a jack of all trades, which undoubtedly helps him to flesh out characters so well.  He's trod where they have.  And it shows.  In The Path of the Wind, Misko so nails the people that I found myself nodding throughout and also affixing real-life names and faces from my 33-year teaching career to those personalities he included in the book.  

His eye for detail doesn't stop with the characters.  As a recently-retired teacher, I could relate to everything.  A small, rural school facing declining enrollment.  Check.  Piling assignments on the new guy, including areas not in his wheelhouse, perhaps up to and including driving the school bus.  Check.  Small-town politics, curmudgeonly control-freak administrators, nosy busybodies...check, check, check.  

I could relate too closely to the energetic, conquer-the-world young teacher whose brash get-er-done attitude runs headlong into those who would rather see things remain the same, or even want the school to wither and die.  Trying to keep a household intact on a pittance while burning the candle at both ends--a typical teacher scenario--all while mostly fending off the aggressive advances from a hormonal senior girl.  The eternal educational battle between common sense and power-hungry individuals.  It's all here...and more.  

And while this book is set decades ago, it is often said in this business that the same general themes keep reappearing as a new bandwagon glosses them up and gives them a new name.  This story is age-old, and yet eternally fresh.  And very well done.  Trials, tribulations, and in the end, a delicate balancing act of tragedy and triumph...an outcome that is a little of both.

                                                                                    Bryce Lambley, Fremont, Nebraska

                                                                                   Author of PLATTE RIVER DRIFTWOOD

Misko wanders through Nebraska

Started in Ashland, Nebraska where I was privileged to address the 100 attendees to the Nebraska Writers Conference. Photo's below show me giving the keynote address, then standing with my publisher, Rudy Shur of Square One Publishing Inc. in NY. We were causal and cold. It snowed both days we were there and this was spring.

Then we headed for Holdrege where a book club has featured my novels and met with four of the ladies during their afternoon bridge club session.

Thence we journeyed to Red Cloud, the storied hometown of Willa Cather. We whipped around through the Willa Cather Museum, bought one of her books that I didn't have and asked them to carry my Nebraska book As All My Fathers Were. They took my info and promised to look into it. Red Cloud and other towns in Nebraska still maintain some streets that were originally paved with red bricks. They are not quiet to travel on, but they sure have lasted a long time.

Then it got cold. We took the Southern route toward North Platte thinking south is better than north when it's getting windy, cloudy, snowing and the temperature plummets. Generally that is a good idea. In this case the historic blizzard reached from Kansas up to North Dakota so it hit all of Nebraska a good lick. Just before it hit we had 80F weather getting to Crawford, Nebraska and got to visit the Crawford Library which had purchased my books. 

Driving into Valentine, Nebraska was a treat and easy to get there from Crawford. We took a room in a fine motel, ate at a local BBQ that featured fine wine and my favorite Scotch. What could be better?
The next three days put me to remembering what a Nebraska storm is like. Temperature dropped to 7 degrees, wind hit 50 mph, airports, roads, restaurants--everything closed. When it cleared up three days later I asked the parking lot snow plow to please remove the two feet of snow from behind my car so I could get out. My car was surrounded with two feet of packed solid on all four sides. When I backed it out I took this photo of where it was parked.

We looked at the road reports and figured we could make it to Lincoln in a day if the roads were on the good side of "wet, slushy, snow" which the highway patrol was saying. Off we went and slid into Lincoln in between storms. The next day to Omaha to deposit the car and fly home to Alaska where it was warmer, the wind only 15 mph and sunny for 18 hours. I so wanted some good kolaches but none were to be had where we were so we sampled a Nebraska special, a Runza.

Tis an enveloped sandwich with ground meat and cabbage. No doubt it will fill you up and if you aren't too choosy about what you eat, by that I mean ignore all the components of the Runza, it is quite good.

So there you have it. An eight day road trip around the outside edge of Nebraska. My favorite drive through area was Ash Hollow up near the Niobrara River. We saw wild turkeys, quail, antelope, hawks by the dozens, and big country with always three or four windmills working in the pastures. I could imagine Seth and Richard riding over that land with Filoh cussing them every mile.

THE PATH OF THE WIND gains honors

I received exciting news yesterday. My latest novel, The Path of the Wind, was awarded 1st place in Fiction and Grand Prize over all of the KinleBookPromosBookContest2017, the fifth year they have awarded these prizes.
     Two book clubs in California have taken it as their book of the month, one in Oregon and one in Nebraska.
     AND, The Feathered Quill awarded it First Place GOLD in Adult Fiction today. Exciting. But you know, a book could win 100 awards and if people don't buy it and read it, what the author ends up with is a shelf of awards and little validation that his work has resonated with readers.
     That's why I like to meet my readers, get letters and emails, and especially see that they have taken the time and thought to write a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads. That's where the rubber meets the road.
     Patti and I are headed to Nebraska tomorrow where I am to give the keynote address and conduct a writing workshop at the Nebraska Writers Conference. Then we're off across Nebraska to towns that I never saw growing up during the depression and WWII when money, gasoline, and tires were hard to come by.
     There's a grizzly old rancher who told me in Broken Bow that I needed to come up to the Niobrara River country, that there is a story there for me. We're headed to the Niobrara, then south to Red Cloud and sniff out the Willa Cather homestead. Back in Alaska mid April. Until next time, good reading.  Jim