Near Death / Near Life strikes a meaningful and tender balance between the appreciation for life's poignant moments, and the human experience of war, both as a construct and a memory. Poetry: 114 Pages, Paperback Dennis Maulsby is a retired bank president living in Ames, Iowa with his wife, Ruth, a retired legal secretary, and his dog, Wally, a retired CIA operative. His poetry and short stories have appeared in Lyrical Iowa, The Des Moines Register, The North American Review, Spillway, Haiku Journal, The Hawai'i Pacific Review, The Briarcliff Review, and other journals. Maulsby is a native of Iowa and a graduate of Marshalltown High School and Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa. A U.S. Army Vietnam veteran, he served with the 25th infantry Division while in country. He is a past president of the Iowa Poetry Association. "To read Dennis Maulsby's powerful, uncompromising poems is to inhabit the vivid, surreal dream of a soldier--to see the world as he, a Vietnam veteran, did, many years ago. The poems are about the horror of war, and loss, and the road back to civilian life, described in hauntingly beautiful and precise images that you cannot forget. As they bear witness to the reality of war and its lasting effects, they are a triumph of honesty and the power of art. Read them." Karen E. Bender, author of Refund "In his newest collection of poetry, Near Death/Near Life, Dennis Maulsby captures a devastating universe of visceral juxtapositions with acuity and grace. His sensual images alternate between the raw and highly polished, move from being softly lyrical to staccato-rapid firing, blend unique jazz riffs with discordant turbulence. The language is compelling, interestingly fresh, concise and layered. Maulsby's poetry is intense and immediate, and can leave the reader breathless as memories of war-time nightmares take on tender overtones, but he intersperses well-crafted haiku, musical interludes, historical fragments and love poems throughout his book to offer moments of respite from the symphonic killing fields he depicts. Complicated, intelligent, moving, fascinating, horrifying Maulsby's book is a rare glimpse into the creative spirit struggling to reconcile the brutal realities of death with the compassionate beauty of life." Marilyn Baszczynski, President of the Iowa Poetry Association "Maulsby's third collection of poetry begins in violence and ends in an aria, carrying the reader along in an intimate and tender journey through decades of love, life, war and peace. Along the way, we touch on all the things we've come to expect from Maulsby--haiku, Vietnam, deep imagery, capital-R Romanticism, etc--but we also see an expansion both in the scope of the content and in the exuberant and musical prosody. Settle in, fasten your seatbelt, and plan to spend some time with this book " Jim Coppoc, Senior Lecturer, Iowa State University Author of Manhattan Beatitude; Reliquary; and Blood, Sex & Prayer "

The Fantasy Worksfan-ta-sy (fan(t)əsē) -noun- Imagining things that are impossible or improbable.works (wɜːks )-plural noun - 1. a place where work is done, as in a factory. -2. a writer's achievements. Such as the works of Shakespeare. -3. To operate successfully.Welcome to The Fantasy Works. Join your imagination with that of award-winning author Dennis Maulsby in works of poetry, short stories, and novel extracts. Immerse yourself in tales of war and peace, demons, and the old gods-the past is forcing itself on the present. Who will win?

Welcome to the Free Fire Zone. In Vietnam, it was enemy territory. Anyone found there could be killed on sight, no questions asked. Each of the sixteen stories in this book originate from this zone, any subject, any genre fair game. Follow American soldier Rod Teigler as he adventures through war, the old west, jungles and beyond. Teigler's war experiences, helped along by government experimentation, leave him with a severe personality disorder. Fear or anger turn the unlikely hero into something enemies fear and a handful of troubled souls adore. Published by Prolific Press Inc., with a Foreword by W. H. "Bill" McDonald Jr., Vietnam Veteran - 128th Assault Helicopter Company; Founder and first president of the Military Writers Society of America.

From the confines of a cage to the embrace of a child. From the trust between friends to the abject sufferings of progress. These are some of the places we journey in Where We May Wag, a collection of stories focused on animal testing but with the all-important glimmer of hope amid despair. A great story takes readers from whatever setting, whatever place of comfort they've chosen in which to read and carries them through danger and fear, through horror and into salvation. Such is the purpose of this anthology: to escort readers through the lives of the animals that we know exist but often forget to remember.

Twenty-eight-year-old Army Major Hugh de Gracie returns to his half a millennium old family home in the Adirondacks for the first time in a decade. He is close to death, due to the cumulative effect of wounds and an untreatable virus acquired as a Taliban prisoner in Afghanistan. Kept ignorant by father and family during his childhood and rebellious teenage years, he does not realize the true nature of the family residence. The de Gracies both serve and are served by their domicile. The multistory de Gracie chateau is a living plant, a mythical tree of life, whose human companions have evolved over tens of thousands of years to function as symbiotes to what they call the mother-tree.Complicating matters, the fighting in Afghanistan has earned him an implacable human enemy, one whose culture insists on vendetta. Fahad, a Taliban commander, backed by the vast resources of a wealthy Saudi family, seeks revenge for Hugh's killing of his relatives. In less than a year, the war will come to upper New York State.

The Military Writers Society of America (MWSA) is a diverse group of authors: active duty military, veterans, civilians, and family members. We are historians, journalists, memoirists, bloggers, poets, musicians, and novelists. Some are old pros. Others are just beginning their writing careers. Most are somewhere in between. A love of the United States military binds us together as colleagues and friends. Every few years, MWSA provides an opportunity for members to be published in one of our anthologies. Reflections: Service to our Country includes poems, articles, and stories. Some will make you laugh. Others you will find enlightening. You may even shed a tear. We hope you enjoy our reflections in keeping with MWSA's mission of "Saving History One Story at a Time."

Third Flatiron Anthologies presents 28 short science fiction/fantasy/horror stories in the original anthology, "HiddenHistories." Tales range from dark to playful, featuring fantasticalelements, alternate history and secret histories, conspiracy theories,as well as a flash humor section, "Grins and Gurgles."An international group of new and established contributors includes Bruce Golden, Matthew Reardon, Brenda Kezar, Kai Hudson, Brian Trent, Jonathan Shipley, Dantzel Cherry, Edwina Shaw, Dennis Maulsby, Michael Robertson, Mike Barretta, Ricardo Maia, J.D. Blackrose, John A. Frochio, Arthur Carey, Sandra Ulbrich Almazan, Elizabeth Beechwood, Robert Dawson, James Chmura, Tony Genova, Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, Simon Lee-Price, Shannon McDermott, Jennifer Lee Rossman, H. J. Monroe, Evan A. Davis, Tyler Paterson, and A. Humphrey Lanham. Edited by Juliana Rew.