Check out our series page for more information on specific press series titles. 

All titles available to order direct from the publisher acornerstone.press@uwsp.edu, or check in with your local bookstore!

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New Release, Legacy Series 2019

Great Escapes from Detroit

Joseph O'Malley

Publication Date: December 2019 

“Joseph O’Malley writes about ordinary people with such care and a clear eye for the truth. The stories in Great Escapes from Detroit are luminous with what lesser writers miss—the magic and the splendor of the commonplace come alive.”

–Lee Martin, Pulitzer Prize finalist, author of The Bright Forever

In Great Escapes from Detroit, Joseph O'Malley tells stories of families living in Detroit. In an imperfect city that beckons and repels, these characters probe the ever-shifting terrain of the human heart, where the tenacious pull and push of love, trepidation, and occasional joy plays out as they navigate the opposing impulses that exist in all families: to embrace their circumstances, or to escape. Whether it's the father who fears he may have spawned a monstrously violent child, the woman overwhelmed by dealing with a crazy neighbor while caring for her ailing father, the teenage boy who finds that asceticism won't shield him from the horrors or the joys of life, or the happy woman who can't help her severely depressed husband, these stories reveal the throbbing kernel of hope that persists even in the most dire circumstances.


The Legacy Series


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Interviews:
"Lake Effect" on Milwaukee NPR 12/10/2018









Check out this article in The Day, and this 
excerpt from The Heroines' Circle, both 
featuring interviews with author Susanne Davis.

Download the Reader's Guide to
The Appointed Hour for your book
clubs, reading groups, and classrooms.


The Portage Poetry Series

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Reviews:

The Wisconsin Heritage Series

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The J. Baird Callicott Environmental Humanities Series

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Past Publications

Nothing to Lose

Kim Suhr

Publication Date: December 2018

“It seems as if Kim Suhr doesn’t invent characters; rather, she channels them. She finds a perfect balance between the plainspoken thoughts of her unlikely heroes and the exquisitely chiseled prose of her own voice. “Oh him,” you might think; “Oh, her”; and then the punch of a story’s turn makes you gasp with recognition.” 

-Sandra Scofield, National Book Award finalist, author of Beyond Deserving

Drawing on the rich complexity of the American Midwest, Kim Suhr peoples her debut book of fiction with characters that we know, carved out of the Wisconsin landscape and caught between expectation and desire. An Iraq war veteran stalks the streets of Madison. Four drunk friends hunt deer outside of Antigo. A mother tries to save her son. A transplanted New Yorker plots revenge against her husband. A man sobers up and opens a paintball range for Jesus. A woman with nothing to lose waits for her first kiss.


Personal and powerful, Kim Suhr’s Nothing to Lose shows us a region filled with real people: less than perfect, plagued with doubts, always reaching.

Visit Kim Suhr at www.kimsuhr.com



The Appointed Hour 

Susanne Davis

Publication Date: December 2017

"A shatteringly original collection of short stories from an extraordinary writer."

-Caroline Leavitt, New York Times best selling author of Pictures of You

In these luminous interconnected stories, Susanne Davis crafts characters whose root run deep into the land. A woman experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder finds her voice in communion with other women. A Mayflower descendant wrestles with the legacy of a controversial monument that honors his ancestor. A tattoo artist fights for the passionate  dream of his art. A couple confronts the foundation of their marriage when faced with a terminal diagnosis.

The Appointed Hour shines a compassionate light on a changing rural America, spanning generations and locations by exploring the emotions that accompany life’s trials. The heart-wrenching challenges draw Davis's characters together in feelings of love, loss, hope, and
community, united throughout history by the place they call home.

Visit Susanne Davis at www.susannedavis.com

Subscribe to Susanne Davis's YouTube Channel, "How to Create a Writer's Life".





The Almost-Children

Cassondra Windwalker

Publication Date: April 2019

"With taut, beautiful, and oft-haunting prose, Cassondra Windwalker gives us a book of unforgettable poetry that burrows into your heart and mind in equal measure." 

- Seven Jane, author of Isle of Gold

Uncovering heartbreak and hope, Cassondra Windwalker takes us on a journey deep into the human heart, set against the backdrop of a beautiful natural world. Her poems are filled with pain and redemption, force and forgiveness, and the responsibility of love. Intense in its imagery, graceful in its style, and keen to the matters of the heart, The Almost-Children will haunt you, heal you, and lift you up. 



Meditations of a Beast

Kristine Ong Muslim

Publication Date: December 2016

"A wonderful poet, and a tribute to Cornerstone Press."
 -Jim Pollock, Council for Wisconsin Writers

"Kristine Ong Muslim is a fearless writer who pushes us to the edge of an abyss and asks us to jump. Meditations of a Beast is a dark, wild, ruthless collection that offers glimpses of worlds and futures beyond our own. Each poem leaves a bruise. Each verse slips right into your ear—eel-like—and never leaves. We are witnessing the rise of a truly singular voice in speculative fiction and poetry."  
 -Adam Morgan, Chicago Review of Books
Selected as one of the "Best Poetry Books of 2016" 

Visit Kristine Ong Muslim at kristinemuslim.weebly.com 



The Wisconsin Idea

Charles McCarthy (Edited by Ross K. Tangedal and Jeff Snowbarger)

Publication Date: 1912 (new edition, 2019)

“The Wisconsin Idea remains to this day an important record of historical events, and a seminal document, in its own right, of the progressive movement in the United States.”

—J. David Hoeveler, author of John Bascom and the Origins of the Wisconsin Idea

Charles McCarthy’s The Wisconsin Idea, originally published in 1912, made the phrase “the Wisconsin idea” famous throughout the state and the country. Grounded in thorough research, meticulous detail, and a steadfast belief in the public good, the book is an important historical document of the state of Wisconsin, the Midwest, and the United States. McCarthy’s chronicle of progressive state craft in practice charges those in government to invest in “hope, health, happiness, and justice,” in order to build up, rather than exploit, the resources (both human and natural) of the country, that we may truly prosper as a free people.

This new edition, with informative annotations for contemporary readers, is a must read for scholars and students of progressivism at the turn of the nineteenth century, as well as a must own for those who believe in the power and responsibility of the Wisconsin Idea.





Stranger, Creature, Thing, Other

Clint Jones

Publication Date: 2019

"Jones has seen more clearly than anyone else’s ecologically-oriented work of which I am aware, that these beings, which we mark off in varying ways as “not-us” (while often simultaneously worrying that versions of them nevertheless lie within us), tell us, in their reverse image way, so much about how we have conceived of ourselves and, in the context of Jones’s ecostentialism, how we might more appropriately conceive of ourselves.”

-Warwick Fox, University of Central Lancashire

Dr. Clint Jones delves into the problematic nature of human Being by examining how we created the climate crisis and what it will take to change they nature of ourselves to save the natural world. Using the motif of monstrosity, Jones examines consumption, domination, historical inheritances, alienation, and competing social epistemologies to provide a richer understanding of the human element in nature and develop a new philosophical paradigm, ecostentialism, for coming to terms with what it means to be a moral person living in the aftermath of environmental collapse.



Ecological Reflections on Post-Capitalist Society

Clint Jones

Publication Date: 2018

"This slender book of elegant essays covers a remarkably wide range of subjects-from political ecology to ecoeroticism with continental philosophy, Marxism, feminism, and race theory in between. And in remarkable depth. Clint Jones cuts right to the chase in each one of them. The topics are all cutting-edge contemporary and the discussion of them is well informed by the latest relevant literature. It's a great read.

-J. Baird Callicott, University of North Texas

Ecological Reflections provides an intellectual roadmap for deciphering the difficulties facing civilization confronted by the destabilization of late stage capitalism. Drawing upon a variety of resources, Dr. Clint Jones argues that it is of vital importance that traditional ideas about the human-nature divide be systematically broken down, not merely along the typical socio-political divides of race, class, and gender, but at deeper ontological and metaphysical levels.

   













Stay! 

D.K. Wells 

Publication Date:  2015

It's 1968 and the Vietnam War is ramping up with a vengeance. Young Ray Merriweather decides to volunteer for service upon his high school graduation and ends up joining Company C of the 36th Infantry Platoon Scout Dogs. There he meets Ike, his new canine companion who, like many war dogs, was patriotically donated by a family under the U.S. Army's promise that he would return home safely. But for the first time in history, the Army has no intention of returning the dogs to their loving homes.

While deployed in Vietnam, Ray and Ike cross paths with Jesse, one of the first female journalists reporting on location, and their fates become intertwined. In an inspiring tale of hope, courage, and sacrifice, we face one question:

Will Ike come home?




Eddie and Harry 

Jane Kretzmann

Publication Date:  2014

Set in the Elkhorn Slough State Marine Reserve in California and aimed at readers in grades 3-5, this coming-of-age story tackles issues such as identity and coping with bullying. The friendship between Eddie, a Great Egret, and Harry, a Great Blue Heron, fosters an atmosphere of trust where both birds wrestle with their insecurities and come to understand themselves better. The work is beautifully illustrated by artist Diann Ditewig.
 
 
 
The Great Cat Nap

A.M. Bostwick

Publication Date:  2013

​Filled with adventure, suspense, and humor -- all told from the point-of-view of a cat -- The Great Cat Nap will appeal not only to young adults and feline enthusiasts but also to lovers of mystery and animals in general.

Ace is a hard-core newspaper reporter. He's tenacious, confident, and assertive. He's also a cat. When the famous show cat Ruby the Russian goes missing, Ace is on the story. But Ace bites off more than he can chew when he agrees to play detective and find the show cat, believed to have been stolen by animal smugglers. He'll need to call on help from his feline friends, a few dogs, and even a boastful rat nemesis in order to solve this mystery.

      

 

 

Among the Leaves: A Collection of Outdoor Essays

George Rogers

Publication Date:  2012

"This isn’t one of those me and Joe went fishin’” books….

From fish to deer, places to people, and everywhere in between, George Rogers captures the essence of Wisconsin’s wildlife and history in Among the Leaves. “What happened to THE State Park?” and “where have all the passenger pigeons gone?” are some of the questions answered in this captivating description of what the outdoors has to offer, both in Wisconsin and beyond. As a writer for the Stevens Point Journal and the Portage County Gazette, Rogers wrote an expertly crafted, widely read outdoor living column.

This collection contains Rogers’ personal favorite stories, along with brand new entries for both readers new to Rogers as well as old friends. Not only does Among the Leaves detail nature and its rich history, it also shows the grand adventures of a man who never lost sight of what the outdoors really means, both to him and to the world.

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Syncopation

Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

Publication Date:  2012

In nineteenth-century France, a woman’s role was explicitly defined: she was a daughter, then a wife, then a mother. This view was held by novelist and poet Victor Hugo, but not by his daughter, pianist and poet Adèle Hugo. Under such constraints, what’s a woman of passion to do? Syncopation, by Elizabeth Felt, breathes life into the unconventional thoughts of this controversial female figure. An elderly Adèle recounts her desperate attempts to gain personal freedom. Her memoir blurs the fine line between truth and madness, in a narrative that is off-kilter, skewed,…syncopated.

 
 
   
  
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Whipped, Not Beaten
 
Melissa Westemeier

Publicaton Date:  2011

Sadie Davis is craving change. Recently dumped and working for a boss she despises, she is determined to shake up her life as a single woman in the city of Madison. She takes a side job as a home party consultant selling kitchenware, hoping that it will be the spice that turns her life around. Through failed recipes and cold ovens, Sadie works to create something that’s a bit sweeter, a lot richer, and oh, so very delicious.
 

 
Jake the Grizz and the World's Fastest Snowboard
 
Kit Kiefer

Publication Date:  2010
 
A snowboarding mystery novel intended for readers aged nine to fourteen.
 
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Fugitive from Spanish Fascism

A Memoir by Miguel Domínguez Soler

Translated and with an Introduction by Richard Barker

Publication Date:  2010

Miguel based his memoir on the diaries he kept his entire life, including the dangerous years when he was a fugitive. His account of the Fascist repression is a valuable addition to recent works on the suppressed history of the atrocities committed during the Spanish civil war that brought General Francisco Franco to power.
 


Wisconsin River of Grace

Kyle L. White

Publication Date:  2009

Ghosts and kielbasa. Blow guns and flying whitetails. Abraham Lincoln and the Wisconsin-Illinois Truce of '07. Aldo Leopold's warning. Icelandic immigrants who wave. These are just a few of the mysteries of Wisconsin River of Grace, a book that explores the irresistible pull of God's Country.

Point: The Beer that Made Me Famous

James Nolan

Publication Date:  2008

Follow an authentic Cheese Head's story from the hallowed halls of UW-Stevens Point (and the hallowed vats of the Stevens Point Brewery) to the bright lights of Broadway, where he auditions his Point Beer juggling trick for the LATE SHOW with David Letterman. Along the way, James is cremated by the Pacelli Cardinals, detained by Central Wisconsin airport security, shadowed by air marshals, harrowed by New York City taxis, confused by Times Square, lost in Central Park, paralyzed by stage fright, left brokenhearted, and even kidnapped!​

 

 

 

Wildflowers of Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest

Merel R. Black and Emmet J. Judziewicz​

Publication Date:  2007

A comprehensive guide for amateurs and professionals.

 

Availability: Currently available from the University of Wisconsin Press as:

Wildflowers of Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Region
 
 

The Soul of a Place

Michael C. Demchik

Publication Date:  2006
 
Associate Professor Michael C. Demchik reminisces and compares life in his native West Virginia to that of the Midwest, from natural resources to farming practices.

Miss Adventures

Lisa Greyhill

Publication Date:  2006
 
"Lisa Greyhill is the ideal travel companion in a book filled with wonderful storytelling and delivered with a good dollop of humor. Take this armchair journey; you won't be disappointed!" -Arnie Bernstein, author of Hollywood on Lake Michigan
 

Casmer Sikorski Remembers

Casmer Sikorski

Publication Date:  2005

Follow Casmer Sikorski's life from 1908-1984 as his stories are recaptured in this non-fiction piece, a collection of Sikorski's letters to the editor of the Stevens Point Journal.​

 

Availability: Out of print

Your Annotated, Illustrated College Survival Guide, Volume I

Patrick J. Rothfuss

Publication Date:  2005
 
Patrick J. Rothfuss, with illustrations by B.J. Hiorns, brings us his first volume of Your Annotated, Illustrated College Survival Guide.
 
"Pat approaches everything with a childlike, almost infantile wonder. His wide-eyed amazement is so young and fresh it would be crispy, yet tender, if it was a vegetable." -B.J. Hiorns​
 
Availability: Out of print

As the Ashes Fade

Caroline Meehean

Publication Date:  2004
 
In her debut novella, Caroline Meehean explores how sins of the past resonate in the world of the present as she takes the reader into the mind of Willard Weiss. Once a member of a militant hate group in the American south, he is now a miserable old man trying to escape from his past and live a life separate from it.
 

Slough of Memories

Dorothy Zmuda

Publication Date:  2004
 
Hardship, sacrifice, community, family - it's all there, as seen through the wide eyes of a Polish girl from the north side of Stevens Point, Wisconsin in the 1920's. Follow the tales of Dorothy as she tries to find her niche in life while living across the "slough." Here, money is scarce; but love, compromise, and the ability to enjoy life and laugh at one's situations are abundant.​
 
Availability: Out of print

Influences: How Ancient Hinduism Dramatically Changed Early Christianity

A.L. Herman

Publication Date:  2004
 
This is a work about influences and what "influences" means. It is also about the influence of one ancient Indian civilization's religious beliefs of two Mediterranean religions, one from the first centuries after the Christian era.
 
 

 

A Wisconsin River Almanac

Ron Hay

Publication Date:  2003

Inspired by his love for the outdoors and its wild things, retired educator Ron Hay leads readers on a month-by-month series of adventures along the Wisconsin River.
 
Availability: Out of print
 

The Buckridge Chronicles: Sketches From Oak Ridge and Glacial Valleys

Dick Hall

Publication Date:  2002

Enjoy this delightful collection of personal essays and sketches relating the inner workings of a woodland community. Experience a world of oak trees, glacial valleys, and ridges in the Buckridge woodlot. Hear the spring turkey song, encounter whitetails, and live close to the earth in every season. The Buckridge provides environmental directions for our relationship with natural communities. ​
 
 

Echoes of Portage County Past

Portage County Historical Society

Publication Date:  2001
 
Covering the first half of the century, from the Model T to World War II, from fashion to farm life, from Franklin Roosevelt to television, the stories contained in Echoes of Portage County Past will give you an exclusive, first hand glimpse into the history of the area. We hope this collection will inspire conversations and spark memories. You might even learn a thing or two!​
 
Availability: Out of print

Grace... Before Meals

Grace Howaniec

Publication Date:  2000
 
In this, her fourth cookbook, long-time food writer Grace Howaniec gleans the best from her "Grace... Before Meals" column, which appears in such papers as The Oshkosh Northwestern, The Post-Crescent (Appleton) and The Stevens Point Journal. Grace invites you into the kitchen to share in the favorite recipes of her family, friends, and readers.
 
Availability: Out of print
 

Seeing Clearly

Julie Ray

Publication Date:  1999
 
It's the seventeenth of May, around nine o'clock in the morning and I have just started one of the most extensive projects of my life. Who am I, and what is this project? I was born with a hereditary disease which affects my eyes called Bests Disease. The condition was something I never thought about or was bothered by. Life was normal for me until I spent my first summer at my Aunt Alison's house.​
 

Trapped in a Mine

Susan Gress and Jane Randerson

Publication Date:  1998
 
A week without TV? A hefty challenge set by Eddie Anderson's fourth grade teacher turns into a time of adventure and growth for Eddie and his friends.
 
Availability: Out of print

 

On Wisconsin! 

Eds. Christina Brando and Bryon Thompson

Publication Date: 1997 
 
On Wisconsin! was written, edited, and published by University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point students in conjunction with Cornerstone Press. It is a natural adventure. Learn to appreciate nature again with Brian Hoskins as he works desperately to save his family's grand old maple. Feel the aching sadness of nostalgia with Wendy Tobinson as she returns home to find nature altered. Envision a sailboat with a plaid and polka dot sail as Nicole Maurer describes her "Grandpa and His Second Love." Experience the anxious waiting and the glory of landing a first muskie with Jennifer Woodruff and Lori Lenhard. Enjoy all these natural adventures and more inside the pages of On Wisconsin!  ​
 
Availability: Out of print

Raspberry Island Red

Matt Welter

Publication Date:  1997
 
Poetry by a student in UWSP's College of Natural Resources. ​
 

Road Songs

Alys Culhane

Publication Date:  1996
 
Road Songs, a collection of personal narratives, takes you on a four-month bicycle exploration of New Zealand's outer landscape as well as Culhane's inner landscape.
 
 

Samples from "A County Sampler"

John Anderson

Publication Date:  1994
 
"The editor has gathered some of Portage County's best and most entertaining authors to give the reader a sample of what has made this county unique and always intriguing to read about. This is an excellent sampler." -Tim Siebert, President of Portage County Historical Society.​
 
Availability: Out of print

Hidden Treasures 

Gwenneth Hinz

Publication Date:  1993
 
A great, full-color children's book​.
 
Availability: Out of print

Portage County: Of Place and Time

Maurice Perret

Publication Date:  1992
 
Are you curious about how Portage County came to be? Within these pages Maurice Perret takes you on a journey into the past of central Wisconsin.
 
Availability: Out of print

White Ladies and Naked Gardens

Justin Isherwood

Publication Date:  1991

A selection of essays concerning rural landscapes, nuances, sentiment, love, humor, farm identity, and values. White Ladies are in reality farmhouses, and Naked Gardens are the particular kind of gardens that, when surrounding the Ladies, exposed expressions of not only family will and integrity, but of a rural spirit. ​
 
Availability: Out of print 

Portage County Shadows

Janet Menzel Jurgella

Publication Date:  1990
 
In this colorful collection of true stories, seven well-known local historians and writers remember the notorious side of Portage County's past.
 
Availability: Out of print

Flight to Freedom

Margit Anaday

Publication Date:  1988
 
Budapest, 1941. A city torn by Hitler's advance. Amidst the wailing sirens, with baby carriage and suitcases in hand, Margit dashes for shelter. And then the bombs come. Margit's story is true. She and her husband, both Yugoslavian natives, were faced with only two alternatives: join or escape. Yet the decision to flee from the communists led the couple to diverging paths, separate fates.
 
Availability: Out of print
 

 

Pordnorski (and that's about it)

Kyle L. White

Publication Date:  1988
 
Zany and sarcastic Kyle L. White has finally put together a collection of cartoons, many of which were first featured in The Pointer, The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point newspaper. ​
 
Availability: Out of print

Tiger Island

Jack Ritchie

Publication Date:  1987
 
James Forrest is considering selling his half of the island to Mike Hegan. But Forrest has not been to the island since he was a small boy, so he returns to decide if he should sell or not. Now he cannot leave.
 
Along with eight of Hegan's mysterious friends and family, there is a tiger on the island. A hungry tiger. And the tiger isn't the only one killing.
 

Sean Murphy

Dan Houlihan

Publication Date:  1984

 
A tale of murder, drugs, and mayhem on a Wisconsin college campus. ​
 
Availability: Out of print