The Challenges of Being Me is a contemporary young adult #novel coming out on December 1st. This is a coming of age story dealing with the challenges of not knowing who you are, yet still supposed to project confidence about yourself to those around you.
I’m excited about this book coming out and would love for you to join me on this journey
Im "Rahmen des Seminars 'Der globale #Roman'" werden am Institut für #Germanistik der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (#HHU_de) am 21. und 28. November 2023 zwei Gastvorträge veranstaltet.
Today in Labor History November 20, 1820: An 80-ton sperm whale attacked and sunk the Essex, a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts. The tragedy occurred off the western coast of South America. 7 members of the 20-man crew died at sea, as they attempted to make land in the lifeboats. Survivors ate their dead comrades to stay alive. The story inspired Herman Melville to write his 1851 novel Moby-Dick. And it inspired modern day orcas to organize and fight back to reclaim the seas from humans.
Today in Labor History November 17, 1942: Ben Reitman, hobo organizer, anarchist and one-time lover of Emma Goldman, died. Reitman served as a doctor for hobos, prostitutes and the downtrodden. He participated in numerous free speech fights and anarchist causes, getting beaten, tarred and feathered, jailed, and run out of town for his troubles, most notably during the San Diego free speech fight. He also wrote the book, “Boxcar Bertha.”
Today in Labor History November 17, 1947: Revolutionary and author Victor Serge died. Serge lived in Paris in the early 20th century, where he was loosely associated with the Bonnot gang of anarchist bank robbers, and where he collaborated with Raymond Callemin on the newspaper L’anarchie. He was in Barcelona during their anarchist uprising and contributed to the CNT’s newspaper, “Tierra y Libertad.” He went to Russia in 1918, initially in support of the communists. However, he quickly became disillusioned with the repressive, autocratic rule, criticized the party and was imprisoned. He wrote numerous books, including the classic “Birth of Our Power” and his autobiographical “Memoirs of a Revolutionist.”
Today in Labor History November 16, 1849: Russian authorities gave a death sentence to author Fyodor Dostoevsky for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group called the Petrashevsky Circle. He and his colleagues were lined up before the firing squad when, at the last minute, a cart arrived with a letter from the Tsar, commuting their sentence. He still had to serve 4 years hard labor in Siberia. Dostoevsky alludes to his experience before the firing squad in his 1868-1869 novel, “The Idiot.”
LOVE, HEARTBREAK, AND LOSS are the cornerstones of this elegantly constructed novel that captures the power of connection and the pain of isolation. Sex is a constant presence in the book, but evocations of food and friendship hit even harder. A MINUS
Check out this excerpt from the thirteenth chapter of my novel, Below the Heavens - JiangXi.
I have the entirety of the novel published on Royal Road for free. I'm actively publishing the second novel of the series as well! You can find the link to both in my bio.
SENSATIONAL WILD-WEST DETECTIVE yarn features the “Holmes On the Range” brothers—a pair of cowboys turned sleuths—guarding a fossil dig in Wyoming with trouble not far behind. Brilliant return of these colorful characters in a sharp, twisty plot. A MINUS
Today in Labor History November 7, 1918: Kurt Eisner led an uprising that overthrew the Wittelsbach dynasty in Bavaria, during the German Revolution. After the Kiel Mutiny a few days prior, uprising broke out throughout Germany. Within months, the Independent Social Democrats, who were heading the provisional government, were overthrown by the Bavarian Raterepublik, composed of Workers', Soldiers', and Farmers' Councils. Those fighting the socialists included anarchists and anti-authoritarian communists like Erich Mühsam, Gustav Landauer, Ernst Toller and Ret Marut (who became known as the novelist B. Traven after fleeing the counterrevolution and living in exile in Mexico).
NEAR-FUTURE NOIR THRILLER, set in a Pacific Northwest sodden with “broken weather,” combines lots of action and a colorful cast of characters for a highly entertaining read. B PLUS
Today in Labor History November 5, 1916: The Everett Massacre occurred in Everett, Washington. 300 IWW members arrived by boat in Everett to help support the shingle workers’ strike that had been going on for the past 5 months. Prior attempts to support the strikers were met with vigilante beatings with axe handles. As the boat pulled in, Sheriff McRae called out, “Who’s your leader?” The Wobblies answered, “We’re all leaders!” The sheriff pulled his gun and said, “You can’t land.” A Wobbly yelled back, “Like hell we can’t.” Gunfire erupted, most of it from the 200 vigilantes on the dock. When the smoke cleared, two of the sheriff’s deputies were dead, shot in the back by their own men, along with 5-12 Wobblies on the boat. Dozens more were wounded. The authorities arrested 74 Wobblies. After a trial, all charges were dropped against the IWW members. The event was mentioned in John Dos Passos’s “USA Trilogy.”
Today in Labor History November 4, 1839: The Newport Rising began. It was the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain. It began when approximately 4,000 Chartists, led by John Frost, marched on the town of Newport. When several were arrested, other Chartists, including coal miners, many armed with homemade weapons, marched on the Westgate Hotel (where they were held) to liberate them. Up to 24 were killed when soldiers were ordered to open fire on them. The Chartists were fighting for the adoption of the People’s Charter, which called for universal suffrage, the secret ballot, and the right of regular working people to serve in the House of Commons. Three leaders of the uprising were sentenced to death, but popular protests got their sentences commuted to Transportation for Life, probably to Australia or Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania). America’s first cop, Allan Pinkerton, supposedly participated in this rebellion. He was a known Chartist in those days, a physical force man who loved to battle cops and Tory thugs. Because of his history of street violence and vandalism, he had to flee Britain in the dark of the night, ultimately settling in Illinois, where he eventually set up the private detective agency that would go on to murder numerous union organizers, and set up hundreds more for long prison stints through the use of agents provocateur and perjured testimonies.
The riots were depicted in the following novels: “Sir Cosmo Digby,” by James Augustus St John (1843), “Rape of the Fair Country,” by Alexander Cordell (1959) and “Children of Rebecca,” by Vivien Annis Bailey (1995).
Check out this recent review of my novel, Below the Heavens - JiangXi.
I have the entirety of the novel published on Royal Road for free. I'm actively publishing the second novel of the series as well! You can find the link to both in my bio.
THE GREATEST ELIZABETHAN MYSTERY—who killed Amy Robsart, wife of the Queen’s favorite, Robert Dudley?—explored in this intriguingly framed novel that breathes new life into a much-told story. Richly envisioned. B PLUS
“Michael Dunn has created the characters that bring the 19th Century's Mine Wars to life for today's readers. Anywhere but Schuylkill will remind readers of John Sayles and Tillie Olsen and the best in the long tradition of labor literature.”
—James Tracy, co-author of Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels and Black Power: Interracial Solidarity in 1960s-70s New Left Organizing
DELIGHTFUL, UNLIKELY SLEUTH Mrs. Pargeter—widow of an English crime boss—gathers her late husband’s crew to solve two linked mysteries. Entertaining cozy is author Simon Brett at his best. B PLUS
Check out this excerpt from the fifth chapter of my novel, Below the Heavens - JiangXi.
I have the entirety of the novel published on Royal Road for free. I'm actively publishing the second novel of the series as well! You can find the link to both in my bio.
A MAGIC-INFUSED FAMILY SAGA traces the lives and the gifts of three generations of Dominican-American women. Beautifully realized characterizations and lush prose shine. B PLUS
This is a great labor novel, as good as any I have read. Given the current revival of pro-union sentiments, from Starbucks to Amazon to General Motors, I hope it will be widely read.
“In the tradition of Upton Sinclair and Jack London, Michael Dunn gives us a gritty portrait of working-class life and activism during one of the most violent eras in U.S. labor history. Anywhere but Schuylkill is a social novel built out of passion and the textures of historical research. It is both a tale of 1870s labor unrest and a tale for the inequalities and injustices of the twenty-first century.”
—Russ Castronovo, author of Beautiful Democracy and Propaganda 1776.
A TALENTED, PRIVILEGED, COMPLICATED family unravels long-buried secrets in this keenly observed, expertly crafted novel alive with details of its vibrant Cape Cod setting. B PLUS
UNTANGLING A FAMILY LEGACY of secrets, shame, sacrifices, and survival, a mother and daughter find their way toward a new understanding. Powerful, nuanced characterization of three generations of Vietnamese-American women. B PLUS