Middle West Press

Three Middle West Press titles now make up something of a non-fiction trilogy for writers and readers of military themes and topics. As such, they make great seasonal and professional gifts for past- and present military service members, veterans, and family. Writes Editor-Publisher Randy Brown: “One principle that drives our military-themed work at Middle West Press, is that not all veterans are American Snipers and Navy SEALs; be proud of who you were, what you did as a job and what you tried to do in your country's name, and who you are now. ” Things We Carry Still: Poems & Micro-Stories about Military Gear playfully explores military life around a single idea—“show and tell” from our closets and footlockers—while offering new inspirations for future writing! Why We Write: Craft Essays on Writing War helps define a genre/practice of "Military Writing" as a big tent—one that includes veterans, service members, civilians, novelists, poets, scholars, science-ficti

In her debut collection of poetry, Paying for Gas with Quarters , U.S. Army veteran Aly Allen explores and illuminates the war in Afghanistan , wartime and childhood traumas , and the challenges of  post-war parenthood . The Kindle e-book edition is available for pre-order here at this link . The print edition will release Oct. 10, 2023. Allen deployed to Afghanistan as a broadcast journalist with the U.S. 10th Mountain Division . A divorced parent of two, Allen is neurodivergent, as are her kids. She also is diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) . She recently gender-transitioned, after years of sobriety and therapy. Allen’s writing often ponders the effects war has on her children and first wife . Soldiers and veterans are directly affected by wartime experiences, she says, but how many others inherit these wounds? Many of Allen’s poems thrust readers into the midst of daily chaos—whether in the parental or soldierly gaze— weaving attempts to navigate parent-child re

A leading monthly on-line literary journal has published an interview with Middle West Press LLC editor-publisher Randy Brown in its July 2023 issue. In the feature, Brown reveals the origins and objectives of Middle West Press. The interview, published by The Wrath-Bearing Tree , is here at this link . The interview was conducted by Peter Molin , an established observer and commenter on the American war-writing scene in the 21st century. In addition to his long-running war-and-culture blog  “Time Now” , Molin currently writes a limited-run column for Wrath-Bearing Tree titled “Strike Through the Mask!” Molin also interviewed MilSpeak Books publisher, author, and U.S. Marine veteran Tracy Crow . The   Wrath-Bearing Tree was founded in 2015 by U.S. Army veteran Aidrian Bonenberger and others. In late 2021, the publication re-organized as a 501(c)3 non-profit . Strategic plans call for developing the journal as a paying market; literary press; writing contests; and readings and worksho

In an anthology chock-full with revealing poetry and prose, approximately 60 emerging and established military writers unpack their stories of sacrifice, hardship, joy, and laughter in uniform. Contributors to Things We Carry Still: Poems & Micro-Stories about Military Gear were challenged to capture their narratives in 300 words or less, or few lines of poetry. The Kindle e-book edition  is available for pre-order here at this link . The print edition will release Nov. 1, 2023. “Inspired by a prompt from writer and activist-veteran Vicki Hudson, the uniforms, objects, and souvenirs we found in closets, shoeboxes, and footlockers revealed not only anecdotes and war stories , but also threads of history ,” says project co-editor Randy Brown. “We discovered that stories from recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began to interweave with those from the Vietnam War , deployments to Korea , and even family stories from World War II. ” To motivate other writers, veterans, and readers

Middle West Press LLC , an independent micro-publisher of military-themed and -adjacent literary projects, has issued a call for human-generated poems engaging with  “Giant Robot” technology themes. This is a "speculative poetry" market. What is a "Giant Robot" theme? For this project, the term "Giant Robots" can include examples of technologies in timelines both real and imagined, and of any size or (even formless) form . Living Ships. Loitering Drones. Taxi-cab AI. Robot Tanks. Virtual Soldiers. Space Explorers. Mecha-suits. In short, any vessel for exploring themes of human-electro-mechanical-cyber interaction, connection, and competition . The working title of this project is Giant Robot Poems: Poetry About Mecha-Human Science, Culture & War . Editors of the project write: Our intent with this project is to have fun , but also to illuminate, interrogate, and challenge (via the still-human domain of poetry!!!) the ways people think about emerging

In a punchy collection of poetry packed with humor and grit, The Explosion Takes Both Legs: Noir Poems from the War in Iraq , former U.S. Army infantry-officer-turned-crime-writer J.B. Stevens delivers both action and insight into how Americans go to war in the 21st century. Despite the can’t-miss, explosive nature of some of his war stories, his poems are also often filled with stoic, deadpan grace . For example, he begins “A Ghost in an Arabian Desert” with ... “After we returned, We had a ceremony and the commander said many nice things, I got a Bronze Star. My mother and father and brothers met me at the base, Because my fiancée had cheated and left, And my brother brought me ice-cream. [...]” Stevens’ collection of noirish short-fiction,  A Therapeutic Death: Violent Short Stories , was published in 2022 by Shotgun Honey Books. Infused with TV and other pop-culture references, Stevens’ debut poetry collection,   The Best of America Cannot Be Seen: Pop Poems , was published i

  Middle West Press LLC , an independent micro-publisher of military-themed and -adjacent literary projects, has issued a call for 300-word proposals regarding craft essays on the writing of Military-themed Science-Fiction and Other Genres. Editors there write: In 2019, we published "Why We Write: Craft Essays on Writing War," a 250-page anthology featuring tips, techniques, and insights from more than 60 established and emerging authors , each of whom tell stories involving military themes and topics . With this newly proposed project, we are aiming at similar targets, but viewed through a specific scope: how military-writers write and publish creative, genre, and speculative fiction.   For the purposes of this project, "Military-themed Science-Fiction and Other Genres" can be defined to include , but be not limited to: MilSciFi and related/adjacent sub-genres such as Space Opera , Space Marines , Alien Invasion, Space Noir, Post-Apocalyptic, Galactic Empire ,

In a quietly epic narrative—lashed-together from the author’s life-experiences as husband and father, literary scholar, and U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer—Liam Corley’s debut collection of poetry, Unwound: Poems from Enduring Wars , navigates with readers previously unseen frontiers in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). With care and precision, Corley’s poems probe the dark, interior corners of American heroic ideals, marriage, family, and homecoming . In the collection’s titular poem, for example, he delivers “a poem for the other soldiers / citizens who never fired back [...]” He writes: “[...] I see you with a yellow ribbon wound tight around your chest, looking down when asked about the war [...]” For veterans, family members, and other citizens living in troubled times , Corley’s collection provides a beacon of clear-eyed reflection, assessment, and hopes for the future . However we identify—whether wounded or unwounded, civilian or military— this is war poetry for the rest

Middle West Press LLC , the Iowa-based business that administers The Aiming Circle community of practice as well as other military-writing projects, announces  the pending release of three new poetry collections centering on or adjacent to issues of war, healing, and military service. The midwestern micro-publisher has now produced more than a dozen collections, anthologies, and chapbooks of war-related poetry and prose, offering readers new and unexpected narratives of what it means to be a U.S. military veteran or family-member . For example, Jessi M. Atherton's recent debut poetry collection, The Time War Takes , explores narratives of healing, growth, and resilience—through Colorado wildfires, trauma, and divorce. In 2005, Atherton deployed to Iraq as a Michigan National Guard citizen-soldier working in logistics. She is now a registered nurse—soon to be a nurse practitioner—working in veterans’ and women’s mental health. She lives and works in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn

Forthcoming in November 2023: Offering an explosive mix of nostalgia, insight, humor, and wisdom , more than 100 emerging and established writers of military themes celebrate their favorite (and sometimes, hated) pieces of uniform gear, swag, weaponry, equipment, and kit . “ The military uniform is a symbol of the service, a tool for the wearer, the representation of a culture. The accoutrements have meaning,” writes author and 33-year U.S. Army veteran Vicki Hudson in the book’s foreword. “Some tell of the wearer’s valor, sacrifice, loss, duty, accomplishment, or rite of passage. Some parts are hard-won, like a tab on the right shoulder. Some mark a history, like the overseas ribbon on a sleeve. [...] Each uniform tells a story. ” Through May 1, 2023 , editors invite submissions to the book at: middlewestpress.submittable.com “ We’re looking for 100-line poems, and 300-word fiction and non-fiction items , each centered on the stories of the military stuff we once wore or used—and

In her forthcoming debut collection of poetry, The Time War Takes , U.S. Army veteran of the Iraq War, registered nurse, and mental health advocate Jessi M. Atherton explores themes of memory, resilience, and healing. As a deployed Michigan Army National Guard soldier chancing upon a Baghdad bazaar in 2005, Atherton found what she was looking for, but hadn’t known she needed: a crystalline moment of grace. A reminder to be kind and open, to oneself and to others. The small, pink quartz elephant was a surprise , one crafted especially for her by a young street vendor named Mohammad (call me “Mo,” he had said). On a journey of healing, the figurine has followed her ever since—through Colorado wildfires, trauma, divorce, and the daily challenges of motherhood. Now a Minnesota-based nursing professional active in veterans and women’s mental health, as well as suicide prevention, Atherton shares stories of healing and resilience through the power of poetry. In 2019, Atherton was recognize

In the new Kindle e-chapbook  Twelve O’Clock Haibun: Parables & Poems from a Classic TV Show , humor-loving s oldier-poet (and former “Army lessons-learned analyst”) Randy Brown invites readers to view the 1964-1965 first season of the “12 O’Clock High” as a series of moral dilemmas and puzzles. The TV series is now viewable on Amazon Prime Video , as well as Internet platforms. In this standalone spin-off to the author’s ground-breaking 2022 lyrical meta-essay Twelve O’Clock Haiku: Leadership Lessons from Old War Movies & New Poems , readers can now  match wits and wisdom with the charismatic and brooding Brig. Gen. Frank Savage (Robert Lansing), commander of the fictional 918th Bomb Group, as he and his heroic air crews stoically navigate tests of endurance, morality, courage, and loss. A haibun is a Japanese form, comprised of a short prose narrative followed by a haiku. In haibun, the prose and poetry elements traditionally do not address each other directly, but they do

A recently released episode of Museum of the American Military Family Museum & Learning Center’s At Ease podcast features interviews with Middle West Press editors Randy Brown and Lisa Stice . Museum founder and Executive Director Circe Olson Woessner hosted the 73-minute interview, which is available via the  Podbean mobile app network  or web-browser FREE  here at this link . The three discussed their respective personal histories with the military, and how those experiences shape their actions both as poets, and as editors and publishers of poetry. Located east of Albuquerque in Tijeras, New Mexico, the museum’s  mission  is “to bring together people with shared experiences showcasing and honoring those who also served—America’s Military Families.”  In keeping with that mission, the museum’s MAMF Media project “presents video and audio podcasts and shares the stories, memories, news and culture of the men, women and children who serve alongside America's service members

Middle West Press LLC, an independent micro-publisher of military-themed and -adjacent literary projects, has issued a call for submissions for poems & 300-word “micro-stories” (fiction/non-fiction/memoir) inspired by military uniforms and equipment , for an anthology anticipated to publish in November 2023. Editors request both new and previously published (reprint) works that center on physical items used, carried, or encountered during military service. This project was inspired by a concept first suggested by U.S. Army veteran and author Vicki Hudson. For the purposes of this project, “micro-stories” can be defined to include prose-poems, micro-fictions/nonfictions, anecdotes, vignettes, and other forms. Maximum word-count for each “micro-story” is 300. (The approximate size of one-and-a-half Tweets.) Maximum line-count for individual poems is 100. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. There is no submissions fee. A Submittable page is here at this link . Submit no more th