Books by Scott A. Winkler

The Meadow

Peregrino Press - Spring 2018

Invisible wounds. We may think we've buried them in a place from which their sting can no longer reach us, but it does. Such wounds cut deeply, linger, metamorphose, and when they eventually surface, their consequences are dire. Such wounds motivate The Meadow, a work of literary historical fiction set in America's heartland.

In 1968, Walter Neumann is torn between two visions for his future: his own, which finds him attending college and pursuing a scholarly life, and his father Otto's, which envisions Walt serving in Vietnam as Otto had served in World War II.  An unexpected accident allows Walt to follow his dream, but his relief is temporary as long-hidden family secrets come to light, threatening to shatter the world as Walt knows it.  
 
The Meadow is a novel of love, sacrifice, and service set in America's heartland, but the questions and answers it poses and explores are timeless and universal, transcending history and culture with an urgency poignantly captured by Winkler's lyrical, energetic prose as Walt struggles to reconcile truths he's known his entire life with new truths necessary to his, his family's, his community's, and his nation's survival.

Purchase The Meadow here .

The Wide Turn Toward Home

Pocol Press - 2008

Baseball becomes a lens and a barometer for exploring the lives of the characters who experience the magic and pain of hope, loss, and understanding themselves in their worlds. Unexpected moments compel them to make difficult choices, as in the title novella, where an aging ballplayer must choose between the game he loves and taking over the family farm. Most of the stories occur in my fictional Wisconsin and are written in prose that possesses a keen ear for the honesty of a story well-told and the music of language. The result is a collection that makes the stomach believe.

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Purchase The Wide Turn Toward Home here.