Spoken interview

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Here’s some background information for starters:

Don Bodey: I  live near where I was born, in  rural Indiana, in places I keep saying I am “fixing up,” like I’ve been saying about places in Florida for awhile, Oregon for nine years, Chicago for another nine. I’m a carpenter, and for most of my life I’ve been making my living by “fixing” houses while  I live there amongst the fixings, then get another one, fix it up.

Somehow I’ve also been a writer and sometimes a teacher of writing. I’ve taught at colleges and universities as a part timer. I got my Bachelor’s degree in 1968 and was immediately drafted into the Army, trained to be a mortar man, sent to Vietnam for 405 days, discharged. I earned  my MFA at Oregon, and came away with the beginning of  what would become F.N.G. 

I spent some years building houses on the coast, then ended up in Chicago, teaching and writing. Within six months, in 1985, my book came out, then won the Midland Award, and my house burned down. That tragedy overwhelmed the book. With two old friends–one was  81 years old–I bought a bar in a rather “tough” Chicago neighborhood and that lasted 3 years, during which I became a father. Full circle:20 years after I left, I came back to Indiana, with my wife and son, and went to work as a carpenter again, for the ensuing 20 years.

Without the mental wherewithal to be a writer and a fixer-upper, I assumed the pragmatic role of a carpenter again, and writing all but disappeared from my life. But it’s a strong pull to want to write, so when a publisher, Victor Volkman, offered to re-publish the book, and suggested I write something to tie it into today, I jumped at the chance. It took about 18 months to put it together, but the happy result is this new edition, which ultimately, consequently, brings me here.

Roadkill Justice

SKU ‎ 978-1-61599-774-9
$19.95
Featuring Yooper Woodswoman Nettie Bramble
1
Product Details
UPC: 978-1-61599-774-9
Brand: Modern History Press
Binding: Paperback
Audiobook: Audible, iTunes
Edition: 1st
Author: Terri Martin
Pages: 164
Publication Date: 11/01/2023

Nettie Bramble lives with her ma in Upper Michigan in a cabin that's slightly off the grid. She claims to "subsist" off the land and prefers to do so without the benefit of hunting or fishing licenses. Nettie is bound to have a clash or two with the local woods cop, CO Will Ketchum, and the chronically cranky Judge Nightshade. Most places that Nettie goes, her "citified" nephews, Wanton and Wiley, tag along to muddle up her plans. Nettie will meet up with Church Lady Bea Righteous, as well as Tami and Evi Maki (thrice-removed cousins) in an erratic road rally with a cash prize that brings out the worst in everyone. No spoiler alert for the surprise ending in this collection of short stories featuring a strong dose of the Yooper way.

"Terri Martin writes fast-paced little tales peppered with humorous disasters following one after another... If you live in the U.P., you'll have heard plenty of fish tales and hunting sagas from your outdoor friends. Some of them may be whoppers, but none as big as the ones Nettie Bramble tells." -- Jon C. Stott, author of Yooper Ale Trails

"Roadkill Justice has to be among the funniest books I have ever read. Our heroine's ongoing battle with the law, the clever use of malapropisms and the caricature of a now-gone culture had me laughing several times on every page." -- Bob Rich, author of Hit and Run

"Roadkill Justice's" unlikely heroine, Nettie Bramble, is rough-edged but 'big-hearted, with 'sisu' to spare. Author Terri Martin does a fantastic job of capturing the spirit and the spunk of the Northwoods character in a plot that sweeps her reader along, like a fast-running trout stream, on a delightful ride filled with twists, turns, laughter and the occasional explosion." -- Nancy Besonen, author of Off the Hook

Learn more at www.terrilynnmartin.com

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Roadkill Justice

 

 

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