“Writing has always been a persistent call throughout my life.”
-Author Terri Martin-
Straw Horse is a witty and suspenseful romantic mystery set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where life for Kathryn “Kat” Wilde is anything but tranquil. Though only in her mid-twenties, Kat finds herself juggling the many demands of a struggling horse operation, Wildwood Stables, while navigating a perplexing romance with her “sort-of” boyfriend, DNR officer, Nikko Olsen.
Sponsored by Modern History Press, Moravian Sons Distillery and Doc Chavent.
Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Straw Horse and Gift Horse.
Copyright (c) 2026. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Burning season on the exile world of Anduvea means the space station at the edge of the empire is full of rich, drunk tourists and their idiotic antics. When Senior Security Officer Rita Stabinov spots a thief wanted dead or alive by EmpaetorIradio VIII himself, she envisions a hefty reward or maybe a promotion anywhere else.
Sponsored by Moravian Sons Distillery, Modern History Press and Doc Chavent
A deathbed promise to keep the goods out of the Empaetor’s hands puts Rita in possession of a stolen treasure with a value far greater than she’s ever dreamed. The heavy-handed ruler will do everything in his power to get it back, and his agent is already on the way.
Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of I9.
Copyright (c) 2026. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Beyond Betrayal is set in Baltimore, Maryland at the turn of the century. Abigail and Bill are married and starting a family. Peter, their first born, dies at three months of age.
Sponsored by Moravian Sons Distillery, author Terri Martin and Doc Chavent.
Peter’s death is an inciting catalyst for Abigail’s mental illness. She taps, counts, and counts and taps feverishly. Her husband Bill and her mother-in-law pursue a way to help Abigail regain her stability. The nascent theories of William James and Sigmund Freud are on the horizon.
Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Beyond Betrayal.
Copyright (c) 2026. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
Created from a passion for literacy by Mike O’Brien, owner of the Book Cellar in Grand Haven, the Third Coast Author & Book Festival is one of the fastest growing book festivals in Michigan.
Sponsored by Moravian Sons Distillery, authors Diana Magnuson, Terri Martin and Doc Chavent.
The Third Coast Author & Book Festival in Grand Haven, Michigan is a large annual literary event held in the city’s vibrant downtown. It features 200+ well-known local, national, and international authors offering free signings, panels, and meet-and-greets. Readers can explore books across all genres while enjoying Grand Haven’s shops, food, and lakeshore atmosphere. The festival celebrates reading, writing, and community in one of Michigan’s most scenic towns.
Copyright (c) 2026. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
I had heard from an early age that we were related to James Otis the Patriot and had the impression he was important in Boston before the American Revolution. I was always curious in the back of my mind about what happened to him; why was he famous then but forgotten in the centuries that followed?
Sponsored by Modern History Press, Moravian Sons Distillery, authors Terri Martin, Diana Magnuson and Doc Chavent.
As I began to research James Otis and then the patriots he influenced, such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock, I came to see he was an extremely powerful force in resistance to the British. As a brilliant lawyer, Otis argued against the use of warrants called the Writs of Assistance which allowed British custom officials to barge into homes or businesses willy nilly looking for smuggled good. Young John Adams was in the courtroom that fateful day and later wrote that Otis’ argument of that case was when “the child Independence was born.” So, you could say that John Adams convinced me to write this book.
Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Sparks of the Revolution
Copyright (c) 2025. Emma Blogs, All rights reserved.
Explore the visible and hidden world of Noriko’s garden from her garden’s point of view, in and around all year long. After the deep snow of winter, her soil is prepared for planting.
Sponsored by Modern History Press, Moravian Sons Distillery, authors Terri Martin, Diana Magnuson and Doc Chavent.
Green leaves sprout as plants ripen to fruits and vegetables. Hungry forest animals prowl and pad-pad in to eat them. Insects and birds also aggravate garden, but others are important assistants to her growth. Exuberant and lyrical
Garden’s story explores nature’s wonders that support our lives.
Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Garden Sleeping, Garden Growing.
Copyright (c) 2025. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
“Deaf and rejected, Luczak longs for visibility among those who erase him: class bullies, teachers, and even his mother, who goes to the grave unable to accept her gay son. I found myself rereading Ironhood, wanting to savor his writing.”
— Beverly Matherne, author of Potions d’amour, thés, incantations / Love Potions, Teas, Incantations
Sponsored by Modern History Press, Moravian Sons Distillery, author Terri Martin and Doc Chavent
In Ironhood, the acclaimed poet Raymond Luczak recalls the neighbors and shopkeepers he once knew while growing up in Ironwood, Michigan during the 1970s and 1980s. They included a scruffy man who smoked cheap cigars while tending to his fragrant backyard garden, a cat-eyed woman who stood watch over a sea of typewriters, a bald jeweler whose dexterous fingers repaired a watch’s minuscule innards, and tired cashiers in red smocks who dreamed at the western edge of town.
Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Ironhood.
Dedicated to Dave Thompson as a tribute to his wife Jan who has passed on Nov. 12, 2025.
With deepest sympathy
A letter to Dave
Dear Dave,
It is with heavy heart that I write this sympathy message with Jan’s recent passing. I know how much you loved each other despite all the jokes.
On one of my countless stories about your involvement in American Legion and VFW post 8303 for The Lowell Ledger, Jan responded to my question: Why do you do all this?
“We’d be sitting at home and fighting,” she laughed.
Both of you were anchors of the Memorial Day activities at Oakwood Cemetery that spanned decades. Most recently, I hunted you down still participating in your car parked the closest to the monument.
That was the last time I saw Jan.
To be continued……….
My friends Jan and Dave Thompson
My friends who enrich me
Living in a different country than your homeland has its repercussions. That is what I write about in my memoir and what I have told my daughter Emma Palova-Chavent when she was deciding about immigrating to the USA from France.
“You’re leaving old friends behind, and making new relationships,” I said. “That becomes binding.”
Immigration is not an experiment.
While living here for more than two decades, I have made a lot of friends that keep enriching my life. I know more people around here, than I knew in the village I grew up in back in Czechoslovakia.
Probably the biggest compliment I’ve ever received was from Lowell resident Barbara Schmaltz, who used to work for the Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce. I did a story on her for “Behind the Scenes.” The compliment is bigger than an award from the Associated Press.
“Emma, it’s been a privilege knowing you,” she said.
The same goes for my longtime friend, Dave Thompson.
As we approach Memorial Day, I write about Dave who has been the master of ceremonies for the event for the last six years. I met Dave while working for the Lowell Ledger in 2006. He came to my tiny cubicle office to tell me that he was organizing a clown parade to honor the 175th anniversary of Lowell.
“I am my own chairman,” he said.
Dave told me he wasn’t going to organize the parade unless he was solely in charge of it.
I’ve always liked that statement for its power.
“Once a teacher, always a teacher,” Dave said.
As a former teacher of chemistry and biology, and a coach, Dave always likes to put an educational component into the Memorial Day ceremonies.
One year Dave did a briefing on military uniforms to explain to the public the meaning behind the metals.
Post commander of the Lowell American Legion Dave Thompson with Boy Scouts on Memorial Day.
“Everything on the uniform has a meaning,” he said. “It is decorated based on the things you’ve accomplished.”
And truly while interviewing Dave in his den with the secret door and a miniature railroad track, I noticed what was on the walls and how it was placed. One wall was dedicated to civic honors, and the other to military. There was no more room left.
So, here is Dave’s story abbreviated version:
Dave Thompson was born in Grand Rapids during the depression on Nov. 23 1933. He grew up and attended public schools, and graduated from Central High School in 1952. He attended Olivet College and graduated in 1956. He was the winner of the coveted Olivet Oaks Cup Trophy as the Outstanding Graduating Senior.
After college, he flew in the navy, later he became a Naval Air Intelligence Officer, specializing in survival, escape and evasion tactics. He retired as commander with 21 years of service.
His work history includes teaching in the Detroit area for 10 years biology and chemistry, and coaching football and track.
Dave bargained three of the first five contracts in the Detroit area before the state bargaining law took effect in 1965.
“That made me a bargaining expert, something I still chuckle about,” he said.
Dave was the first executive director of Grand Rapids Teachers Association. He was also the general manager of the Grand Rapids Symphony for five years.
“What was your instrument, Mr. Thompson?” people quite often asked.
“The ukulele and the radio,” he said. “Neither one is a symphony instrument, but I put people in DeVos Hall.”
Dave with wife Jan moved to Lowell in 1996, and built a home on the Flat River complete with hidden moving panel doors and a white pine kitchen fireplace mantle. The mantle originates from the first Thompsons who arrived to Vergennes Township in 1833 as the first pioneer settlers.
Dave & Jan Thompson, avid volunteers, in their unique home.
He is proud of removing cars from Main Street during parades and organizing Dutch spaghetti dinners, as well as being Jan’s ticket out of Arizona. Currently, Dave is the post commander of Lowell American Legion, and on the board of Gilda’s Club.
Dave has three sons scattered around the country and five step children. Both Dave and Jan have lived by a motto:
“We all owe something to our community and we should be willing to give some time to those causes that affect others,” he said. “But when something ceases to be fun anymore, it’s time to move on to something else.”
Dave said the biggest claim to fame after all is said and done is being known as Jan Thompson’s husband. The couple received the title of 2010 Lowell Persons of the Year awarded by the Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce.
Sponsored by Modern History Press, Moravian Sons Distillery, Doc Chavent
At the age of sixty, Suzanne Sunshower moved into an ancient hunt camp trailer that no one had attempted to live in year-around before, which she named Bear Shack, in a remote area of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This poetic collection is her story of adventure and adjustment.
Listen for a chance to win a signed copy of Still Wild.
Copyright (c) Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
The Third Coast Author & Book Festival in Grand Haven, Michigan is a large annual literary event held in the city’s vibrant downtown. It features 200+ well-known local, national, and international authors offering free signings, panels, and meet-and-greets. Readers can explore books across all genres while enjoying Grand Haven’s shops, food, and lakeshore atmosphere. The festival celebrates reading, writing, and community in one of Michigan’s most scenic towns.
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