Three Books available:
May 2026, New book release:
Summer Days at the Five and Dime - Elm Grove Press, 2026
Summer Days at the Five and Dime is a memoir in verse about growing up in
post–World War II central Wisconsin, when summer days stretched wide and
children belonged to the streets, the woods, and each other. Set in 1950s and 1960s
small-town America, this coming-of-age story captures a Midwestern childhood shaped by freedom, family, and friendship. As the poems move into adulthood and aging, memory reveals resilience, gratitude, and the enduring pull of place.
... a feast of memories that serve as both reminders of how life was, and more importantly, how it can still be if we take the time to notice, remember, and love one another. –– Gloria Heffernan, author of What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List, and Fused.
... (the poet) invites us to notice and stockpile the joys of loving found in our own days. — Phyllis Cole-Dai, writer and poet, co-editor of Poetry of Presence anthologies
Combat and Campus: Writing Through War
Elm Grove Press, 2021 - Gold Medal Award- MWSA
As a journalist and soldier with the 25th Infantry Division, riding armored personnel carriers into rice paddies, engaging in nighttime sweeps of the jungle, Sgt. Peter Langlois chronicles the smells, sights, and sounds during the Vietnam War from 1968 to '69. He would return home to a nation still protesting the war in which his younger sister, Annette, had walked to class behind National Guardsmen marching across the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Their correspondence and her poetry offer a unique perspective of the war in Vietnam and the social change happening at home.
… There is no better way to understand how the Vietnam War impacted an entire generation than to read these eloquent letters and poems… they lead us to understand how the war continues to reverberate in our hearts and lives. — Ruth W. Crocker, author of Those Who Remain: Remembrance and Reunion After War
… It’s a riveting, heart-breaking, read, and I couldn’t put it down.— Robin Chapman, author of The Only Home We Know
Becoming Trans-Parent: One Family’s Journey of Gender Transition - Finishing Line Press, 2017
What happens when a child announces they are transitioning from man to woman? Read one family’s story of an adult child’s transition from son to daughter. Through accessible poetry, learn how unconditional love, acceptance, and fierce advocacy are woven together with information about healthcare, telling extended family – even sharing clothes, and the first time mother and daughter use a restroom together. There is humor but also a serious call for life-saving support.
Becoming Trans-Parent, is a guidebook for the heart … at once exquisitely personal and tenderly universal … These poems are about transformation and love and love … I am a better person for having read Becoming Trans-Parent. — Bruce Dethlefsen, Wisconsin Poet Laureate (2011-2012)
Love Is For All of Us - poems of tenderness and belonging from the LGBTQIA+ community and friends, edited by James Crews and Brad Peacock. (Two poems and an essay.) A tender reading by James and Brad BOOK LAUNCH ZOOM READING 4/21/2025
Voices from Vietnam - National play premiere ( one of my brother’s letters is in this play)
* “Talking Spirits” Wis. Veterans Museum, Cemetery Tours - play about “Combat and Campus,” October 2-8, 2023. 12-minute Video
* COMBAT AND CAMPUS - GOLD AWARD (Elm Grove Press, 2021)
* Green Bay Press Times - Combat and Campus wins Gold,
* Peninsula Pulse
* Military Writers Society of America REVIEW
* Vietnam Veterans of America/VVA Veteran REVIEW
* Cherries Writer Vietnam War Website- John Padloski REVIEW
* Backstory BLOG click HERE
MORE REVIEWS WAR PHOTOS GOODREADS AMAZON
COL. GEORGE FENTON REVIEW KATHRYN GAHL REVIEW
JANETTE STONE REVIEW ROD VICK REVIEW
MWSA/DISPATCHES MAG see pgs .27-29
Recorded Events/Interviews
* WGBW Radio Interview (Maino and the Mayor) October 12, 2023
* Veterans Breakfast Club (Pittsburgh) March 28, 2022 on ZOOM
* Wisconsin Veterans Museum Book Talk, January 10, 2022 (you tube, 1 hour)
* WFRV TV, Ch. 5, Green Bay (Memorial Day) May 31, 2021
* Wis Public Radio/’Route 51’ Honoring Fallen Heroes. May 28, 2021
* Virtual book launch/reading May 17, 7 p.m. - Write On Door County
POETRY / BIO / AWARDS / PHOTOS-Annette / ASTROPHOTOS by Anna
Original photography © Annette Grunseth