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About
me, my writing, and Puzzlebox Press |
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I was born and raised in
Spooner, Wisconsin, and have written four books, of which The
Boys: 1st North Dakota Volunteers in the Philippines is the most recent.
After earning my bachelor's and master's degrees in English from
the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire and the University of Tennessee
respectively, I served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines, was active
in Wisconsin politics for several years, and served in various
administrative capacities in Wisconsin's human services system in both
the private and the public sector.
My first published work, The
Taos Massacres, is a well-regarded historical novel dealing with the
rebellion of Mexicans and Indians against American authority in 1847 in
the aftermath of the Mexico-American War. It was published through
Puzzlebox Press, which I
established to get my work before the reading public. During that
process, I discovered how much I enjoy creating a ready-to-print book
and cover.
My second book is The
Odyssey of Mary B, another well-received historical novel that
follows a young convict woman sent to Australia in the First Fleet. She
later escaped and was returned to England, where
James
Boswell of biography fame took up her cause.
My third book is a memoir titled Behind
Enemy Lines, which tells of my childhood polio and its effect on my
early life. Readers admire the memoir’s honesty and its rich detail about
small town life in northern Wisconsin.
The Boys: 1st North
Dakota Volunteers in the Philippines grew out
of my interest in making my grandfather’s unpublished narrative of his
service with the 1st North Dakota Volunteers more accessible
and understandable to younger readers. It is my first, purely historical
work. It is a comprehensive history of the early days of the war in the
Philippines, and I am happy to see that it has garnered good reviews.
I recently edited and published a memoir written by
a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, A Wedding in Samar, by John
Halloran. I think it is
an honest, rich, and unique work that deserves publication, even
posthumously.
Under Food for Thought you will find some of my other writing,
offered there for your reading enjoyment.
I am unmarried, live in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and have one
surviving son, and three grandchildren.
I appreciate your interest in my writing, and welcome your
feedback.
John Durand
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