Jerk, California is Friesen’s debut novel recounting his personal experiences growing up with Tourette Syndrome. Sam Carrier, like the young Friesen, deals with his tics and embarrassing outbursts by faking coughs or just plain avoiding everyone. All parts of his life seem unbearable until an unexpected and mysterious trip to Jerk, California unearths the truth about his real father, and his own inner strength.

Friesen is a volunteer writer and member of the Tourette Syndrome Association that has more than 300 worldwide chapters.

Sherry Quan Lee is the author of “How to Write a Suicide Note,” a work that delivers a haunting portrait of the daughter of a Black mother and a Chinese father who dares to be who she isn’t supposed to be. Anya Achtenberg is the author of “The Stories of Devil Girl,” which follows the exploits of a young girl born into Brooklyn housing projects and the nightmares of her immigrant family.

Both Lee and Achtenberg have taught at the Split Rock writer’s conference.

Lewis delivers an insightful look at leadership by sharing his personal experiences and fascinating stories. The Emerging Leader shares the secrets of success to both young and experienced professionals who want to emerge as a leader in their home, their business, and their community.  Discover what a chess player, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Noah and his ark, the Belmont Stakes horse race, and a TV show have to teach you about leadership.

Hillman takes a fresh look at the ancient world  as he shows that the founders of democratic society were drug users, and not just for healing. The Chemical Muse shows that, due to the harsh realty of daily life, drug use was a necessity in Greco-Roman society. Whether medicinal or recreational, Hillman shows extensive evidence of drugs in mythology, medical texts, and the works of  some of the greatest writers of the Western world, and explains how contemporary society would not be the same if it weren’t for these ancient users and dealers. The Chemical Muse is the first book to tackle this long-standing taboo while illuminating the sordid side of Classical society and scholarship, as well as modern ideas of drug use and freedom of thought.

Teatro Chicana is a first hand history of a Chicana women’s political theatre group that operated in the 1970s and 1980s in San Diego. The group performed plays addressing social, gender, and political issues of the working class and the Chicano Movement.  In this collective memoir, seventeen women come together to share why they joined the theatre and how it transformed their lives.

In this moving memoir, Sklar, on the verge of burnout and a personal crisis, decides to return to Mexico where he first decided to become a doctor. Reflecting on his experiences working in an understaffed, under-funded Mexican clinic in the foothills of the Sierra Madre where the people believed more in powerful spirits than microorganisms and antibiotics, Sklar reflects on how he acquired the proper balance of folk healing and common smarts that endured long after his volunteer term in Mexico.

Mona delivers a fascinating look into the world of Minnesota sports as he recounts his experiences working the sports beat for print and radio over the last forty years. Go behind the scenes to meet celebrities and characters like Sid Hartman, Billy Martin, Dave Moore, Rod Carew, Halsey Hall and others.