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Ted Morrissey

Born: in Galesburg, Illinois
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: I was born and raised in Galesburg, Illinois, graduating from Galesburg High School in 1980. I worked for a number of years for the Galesburg Register-Mail newspaper. I earned a BS in English education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (1984), an MA in English from SIUC (1995), and a Ph. D. in English studies from Illinois State University (2009). I have taught English in various academic settings throughout Illinois, including United Township High School in East Moline (1984-1987); Mt. Vernon Township High School (1987-1998); and Williamsville High School (1998-present). I've been an adjunct instructor in English at Benedictine University Springfield (formerly Springfield College in Illinois) since 1999, and an adjunct lecturer in English at University of Illinois Springfield since 2010. I've lived just north of Springfield, in Sherman, Illinois, since 1998.

Biography: I am the author of the novel ''Men of Winter'', originally published in 2010 and re-released by Twelve Winters Press in a revised and expanded edition in 2013, the novelette ''Figures in Blue'', released in print from Twelve Winters and digitally from Battered Suitcase Press in 2013, and the novel An ''Untimely Frost'' (Twelve Winters, 2014). My short fiction has appeared in numerous journals, including ''Glimmer Train'', ''Paris Transcontinental'', ''The Chariton Review'', ''PANK'', and ''Pisgah Review''. A Ph.D. in English studies from Illinois State University, I’ve also published the monograph ''The Beowulf Poet'' and ''His Real Monsters'' (Mellen, 2013). I’ve had essays on writing and related topics appear in ''Writers Ask'', the ''North American Review'', and ''Slush Pile Magazine''. I teach English in a variety of academic settings, including University of Illinois Springfield.


Awards:
  • D. Simon Evans Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in 2013 (Edwin Mellen)

Primary Literary Genre(s): Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Email: jtedmorrissey@gmail.com
Website: http://tedmorrissey.com/
Ted Morrissey on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=ted+morrissey


Selected Titles

An untimely frost, or The authoress :
ISBN: 0989515117 OCLC: 869435460

Crowsong for the stricken :
ISBN: 9780998705729 OCLC: 1004565577

When uncanny events happen in an isolated Midwestern village, the village questions whether the events are divine or demonic. Central to the events is the crowlike figure of Plague, who haunts the villages, especially the children.

Figures in blue :
ISBN: 9780989515139 OCLC: 864042304

Figures in Blue is the story of Esteban Espiritu, a young Spanish artist who is commissioned to paint the portrait of Kristena von Lichtenberg, an elderly Baroness living in a deteriorating mansion that overlooks a provincial German village. However, Esteban uncovers a local mystery regarding the disappearance of her brutish husband, the Baron. The novelette is set in the beginning of the twentieth century and references classical mythology. --

Men of winter /
ISBN: 0982956886 OCLC: 696618205

Punkin House, Covington, KY : ©2010.

Story of Russian journalist Hektr Pastrovich, travelling to the frontline of his country's long-standing war to report on the war and gather lurid details for some sensational stories to be published by a rival publisher. In particular, Hektr is searching for a vagabond, who referred to himself as the Prince of Ithaka. Enroute Hektr meets a mysterious woman he calls Helena, who is also travelling to the front. After time, he begins to wonder if they both are searching for the Prince of Ithaka.

Men of winter :
ISBN: 0989515109 OCLC: 857915994

Story of Russian journalist Hektr Pastrovich, travelling to the frontline of his country's long-standing war to report on the war and gather lurid details for some sensational stories to be published by a rival publisher. In particular, Hektr is searching for a vagabond, who referred to himself as the Prince of Ithaka. Enroute Hektr meets a mysterious woman he calls Helena, who is also travelling to the front. After time, he begins to wonder if they both are searching for the Prince of Ithaka.

The Beowulf poet and his real monsters :
ISBN: 0773444645 OCLC: 861667389

[publisher not identified], [Place of publication not identified] : 2013.

This book opens new lines of inquiry into the Old English poem. One such inquiry is trauma theory, which attempts to map the psychological typography of an author and his or her culture, that is, when the text appears to be wrought of traumatic experience. Indicators of a ""trauma text"" are narrative techniques often associated with postmodernism--expressly, intertextuality, repetition, a dispersed or fragmented voice, and a search for powerful language. The anonymous Beowulf poet made extensive use of all four narrative techniques, suggesting he and his culture were suffering some sort of tr.

Weeping with an ancient god :
ISBN: 9780989515160 OCLC: 899213932

Twelve Winters Press, Sherman, Ill. : 2014, ©2011.

A novella set in the Marquesas Islands in the summer of 1842 were the protagonist, Melvill, has jumped ship from the whaler Acushnet into a wild, savage and exotically beautiful land. Melvill contemplates his dangerous present, his sad past and his wholly uncertain future on an island teeming with cannibals.

 

 

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