Now available: The Vessel
Scientists attempt to save humanity by implanting all the world’s evil into one human vessel. Will it work?
The Vessel is the heart-pounding second book in The Devil Particle dystopian YA series. If you like flawed characters and world-shattering stakes, then you’ll love Kristin A. Oakley’s gripping tale.
Book One: The Devil Particle
A skyscraper filled with deception. A troubled teen seeking redemption. Will his race to the top become a fatal dilemma?
Paul Salvage longs to prove himself. So the loyal seventeen-year-old is thrilled when he’s selected to compete in the trials to determine who is worthy enough to save society by accepting all of humanity’s evil. But when his brother is murdered, the gallant young man gives up his dream to comfort his grieving father.
Persuaded not to drop out by a powerful family friend, Paul sets aside his own feelings and joins the group of fifty teens chosen to battle to the top of a tower filled with tests and traps. But as he grapples with one horrible choice after another, the haunted young man fears he isn’t noble enough to be the hero who will rescue everyone on Earth.
Can Paul escape the endless doubts and dangers to climb his way to victory?
The Devil Particle is the explosive first book in the Devil Particle dystopian YA series. If you like flawed characters, deadly competitions, and world-shattering stakes, then you’ll love Kristin A. Oakley’s dark tension.
Award-winning Carpe Diem, Illinois is the first book in the Leo Townsend Series
For decades, the small town of Carpe Diem, Illinois has quietly unschooled its children, eschewing tests and classrooms for real-life experiences. Now, long-smoldering political feuds and deep personal secrets threaten to explode. More
The second book in the Leo Townsend Series
Chicago Examiner reporter Leo Townsend has landed the interview of a lifetime with openly gay, front-running US presidential candidate Griffin Carlisle. But when Leo is forced to abandon the interview to rush to the side of his estranged father, Leo’s personal and professional worlds collide.. More
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Laurie Scheer and the New Nature Writers
Laurie Scheer, the powerhouse who made UW-Madison’s Writers’ Institute a must-attend event for thousands of writers throughout the Midwest, is offering new opportunities for writers. In this interview, Laurie and I discuss Nature Writing and her latest venture, New Nature Writers.
Unschooling and Learning to Read
I vividly remember when my daughter Caitlin learned to read. One morning when she about six years old, Caitlin stormed into the kitchen with a library picture book in her hand. It wasn’t a favorite book, in fact, it was the first time we’d taken it out. I think I’d read it to her only once. Caitlin slammed the book on the kitchen table and read it out loud without missing a beat. Then she slammed it shut, and said, “There!”
I don’t have such a memory of when her sister, Jessica, started to read, but Jessica and I both remember the first chapter book she read by herself — Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn Dixie.
The remarkable thing about this to most people, though not to me, is I never taught Caitlin or Jessica to read. They taught themselves.
Everyone Has a Story to Tell
When I was about seven or eight, I asked my mom, “Do you want to meet everyone in the world?” She looked at me in surprise and said, “No.” Her answer surprised me. I thought everyone wanted to meet everyone else. And I had been feeling anxious, wondering if I had the time to meet everyone. I couldn’t understand her not wanting to know everyone, but her answer took some of the pressure off of me.
Fifty years later, I still haven’t met all 6 billion people on the planet, but I have found that others have this same desire.