John Camp: The bestselling author of the Lucas Davenport detective series is returning to his journalism roots -- as an embedded reporter in Iraq with the Minnesota National Guard. Camp (aka John Sandford) left last Saturday for a two-week stint and will file his stories for MinnPost.com, a nonprofit online newspaper. The former St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for his work on "Life on the Land: An American Farm Family," a series on the Midwestern farm crisis.
Pete Hautman, Mary Logue: The writing duo from Golden Valley is about to publish "Doppelganger" (Putnam, April), the third in the Bloodwater series for young adults (ages 10-14). In this one, teen co-protagonists and just-friends Roni and Brian team up to solve another mystery. Roni is surfing the Internet when she spies a photo of Brian, a Korean adoptee, on a missing-children site. Have his parents told him everything about his adoption?
Lorna Landvik: She's putting together programs for "Party in the Rec Room," her one-woman show at Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 W. Lake St., Mpls., which runs Jan. 17-19 and Jan. 24-26. It's all improv, with different characters inspired by suggestions from the audience -- on everything from a person's brand of perfume to his/her politics. "It's as if I'm hosting a party in my basement rec room, and you are all my fellow party guests," Landvik said. "It's very funny!" says husband Charles Gabrielson. She's also working on a new novel (as always).
Sarah Stonich: The Minneapolis writer just finished a book of short stories, "Vacationland," and is awaiting a buyer. The 16 interconnected stories are linked to the same resort in northern Minnesota. "It's a departure from my other stuff in that it's kind of dark and humorous," Stonich said. "It's not Garrison Keillor's Minnesota, it's more like Diablo Cody's." Stonich said she's also working on two other books: a collection of essays about her family in Ely, Minn., and another short-story collection about women in their 50s.
