Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp & Writing Retreat

08/26/2026

On Wednesday evening, October 28, David J. Rank will read from and sign copies of his debut collection of dark fiction, And Night Shall Come: Stories from the Shadows, at Yardstick Books in Algoma, Wisconsin.

The hour-long event starts at 6:30 p.m. In celebration of Halloween, the author will lead a trivia contest for horror aficionados.

Yardstick Books is located at 317 Steele St. in the city of Algoma, located about a half-hour east of Green Bay on the shore of Lake Michigan. Rank grew up in the neighboring city of Kewaunee.

And Night Shall Come: Stories from the Shadows will be released on October 20 by publisher Cornerstone Press, Stevens Point. It debuts during the Wisconsin Writers Association Fall Conference in Manitowoc on October 23.

This trade paperback collection of 37 Short, Flash, and Micro stories can be purchased at Yardstick Books. Or look for it at your local bookstore. Better yet, recommend to your local bookstore that they carry And Night Shall Come. The author would appreciate it.

The book also is available online through Bookstore.org, Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, or directly from Cornerstone Press.

08/22/2026

On Friday, October 30, David J. Rank will read from and sign copies of his debut collection of dark fiction, And Night Shall Come: Stories from the Shadows, at the Sippie Hippie, an upscale coffee shop & cocktail lounge in Slinger, Wisconsin.

The hour-long event will start at 1 p.m. In celebration of Halloween, the author will lead a trivia contest for horror aficionados.

The Sippie Hippie is located at 319 El Washington St., in the village of Slinger, located on I-41 about a half-hour north of Milwaukee.

And Night Shall Come: Stories from the Shadows will be released on October 20 by publisher Cornerstone Press, Stevens Point. It will debut during the Wisconsin Writers Association Fall Conference in Manitowoc on October 23.

This trade paperback collection of 37 Short, Flash, and Micro stories can be purchased online through Bookstore.org, Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, or directly from Cornerstone Press. Look for it at your local bookstore.

Better yet, recommend to your local bookstore that they carry And Night Shall Come. The author would appreciate it.

07/04/2026

Time to mark your calendar! The 2027 Novel Bookcamp will be held June 13-19 at the lovely Siena Retreat Center in Racine County, southeast Wisconsin. That's a week earlier than our usual last week of the month. We're busy making plans for the 14th annual Bookcamp. Stay in touch and let us know you plan to join us next year.

07/03/2026

Having lunch with Jill. I commented on your he color of her polish. She said she didn’t pick the color. She came with it.

06/14/2026

See you next week!!

Novel-in-Progress Bookcamp & Writing Retreat, Inc. ~ Newsletter 24; June 2026

06/05/2026

Something to ponder "What if in Wisconsin"...

From Next City's "The Weekly Wrap" newsletter:

Colorado Becomes First State To Enable Artist Corporations
A bill signed by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis creates a new LLC-like corporate classification designed specifically for artists and creatives, called an A-Corp or Colorado Artist Companies, The Colorado Sun reports.

Under the A-Corp classification, artists retain 51% shares in companies and the power of outside investors to control the company’s operations is limited. It also allows artists to receive shares in the company by creating art for the company rather than issuing capital.

According to the Sun, “artistic work licensed to the A Corp can never be transferred to nonartist investors or third parties.” It’s an intellectual property structure that runs counter to the work-for-hire norm that has governed most creative industries.

The business structure, originally envisioned by Kickstarter founder Yancey Strickler, has not yet been adopted by any other states but is reportedly being closely watched by other lawmakers and arts advocacy groups.

05/29/2026

Cynthia Pelayo's new novella reworks Frankenstein

Award-winning author Cynthia Pelayo is joining our Speculative Fiction instructional staff for the upcoming 2026 Novel Bookcamp in three weeks, June 21-27. In her Friday, May 29, email newsletter, she introduces her latest book, the novella Everina:

"Frankenstein changed the shape of literature. First published in 1818, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often placed in the framework of the tension between science and God. And yes, there is a lot to say in terms of the Gothic, and technology, and life and death. Trust me, I’ve written many papers on Frankenstein and Shelley during my PhD in English studies, and I’m sure I’ll discuss some of those learnings here throughout the next few months.

"However, we often fail to discuss the novel from its true narrative beginning, the grief of a mother who lost her child.

"I’m very honored to have this opportunity to write through this story from a female perspective, a mother’s perspective. Mary Shelley wrote a novel as a way to process the death of a child she so loved, and she ensured that very love would be remembered by all of humanity.

"This is my way to honor Mary Shelley and a mother’s love. Thank you to my wonderful agent and editor for helping me bring this project to life."

Novel to be released in June

Pelayo's novel, It Came From Neverland, is currently a top new release on Amazon in both hardcover and paperback under Vampire Horror. "While this is not a vampire horror novel, it does deal with some themes of psychic vampirism through the undercurrent of the story," she writes.

It Came From Neverland is available June 9th. "Preorders help substantially," Pelayo noted in her newsletter. "Every single preorder helps. So thank you to everyone who has preordered It Came From Neverland and reviewed it."

We're pleased Cynthia Pelayo is joining us for the 2026 Novel Bookcamp week, starting Sunday, June 21, at the Siena Retreat Center in Racine, Wisconsin. It's going to be an exciting week of writing expertise and advice.

05/29/2026

$1,000 for the Best Villain in North America.

A friend of the Novel Bookcamp, Bell Cow Productions, is running a new contest for authors offering a $1,000 prize. Here's details:

Good news from the Bell Cow pasture: because of the overwhelming interest in The Moriarty Award, we've increased the winning prize from $500 to $1,000.

If you've already heard about The Moriarty Award, thank you for helping us spread the word. If this is the first time it's crossed your desk, here's the short version:

The Moriarty Award is a national literary prize celebrating one of fiction's most essential elements: the antagonist.

We're looking for memorable, compelling, sharply drawn antagonists in published works of fiction. Villains, rivals, masterminds, charming troublemakers, institutional forces, morally complicated opponents, shadowy organizations, and beautifully written bad influences are all welcome.

The winning author will now receive a $1,000 cash prize. Full eligibility, submission details, deadlines, and award information are available here: https://www.bellcowproductions.com/moriarty-award

And if you're wondering, "Wait, who's Bell Cow?"

Bell Cow Productions is a Minnesota-based literary organization created to help connect authors with readers, bookstores, libraries, podcasts, book clubs, and the wider literary ecosystem. We launched our interactive author Cattle-log on January 1, 2026, with a focus on Minnesota authors, and we're continuing to expand across Wisconsin, the Midwest, and beyond through podcasts, author resources, literary awards, and community outreach.

The Moriarty Award is open to authors in the United States and Canada. So, if your book features an antagonist readers remember long after the final page, we hope you'll consider submitting. And if you know another author with a villain, rival, mastermind, or morally complicated troublemaker worth celebrating, please send them our way.

Spread the word. Ring the bell. Name the nemesis. We can't wait to read your submissions.

Best,
Rob Jung and Michael MacBride
🐮 Bell Cow Productions
https://www.bellcowproductions.com

05/04/2026

Bell Cow Productions is a regional literary platform that helps authors become more connected to readers, libraries, bookstores, book event organizers, and one another. Created by Minnesota authors Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride, Bell Cow is now expanding its services into Wisconsin. "We started in Minnesota with a simple idea: too many excellent writers are doing terrific work without enough regional support or visibility. So, we decided to build something useful," MacBride said.

Novel Bookcamp Director Dave Rank has started a conversation with Jung and MacBride to explore ways Bell Cow and Novel Bookcamp can assist each other in the future. For now, we suggest checking out Bell Cow Productions at their website, Home. If you decide to try them out and sign up for their Cattle-Log, a regional listing of authors, use the code Moo27 to let Rob and Michael know you heard about Bell Cow from Novel Bookcamp. It's a test to see if Bell Cow can be a promotional tool for us.

04/07/2026

Bruce Landay Author, a Novel in Progress Bookcamp graduate, released his debut today. Congrats! I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy. My five-star review is posted on the Wisconsin Writers Association site, Amazon, and Goodreads. It's a great accomplishment for Bruce and another feather in Novel Bookcamp's cap. We love it when our authors realize their goals!

Five years ago, Navy Special Ops pilot Jazmin Hassani lost her SEAL team in a burst of electromagnetic energy. A high-stakes rescue mission at a Chinese military base turned into a massacre—a live-fire test of a top-secret directed energy weapon. Horrifically injured, she was never meant to co...