In Town: Jeff Shaara, Susan Howe & Kathleen Fraser

World War I devastated a generation and elevated America to prominence as a world power. Writers have told the story of that war in many ways, imaginative and historical. This month Jeff Shaara, the author of such bestsellers as "Gods and Generals" and "The Last Full Measure," comes out with "To the Last Man," a historical novel set during this pivotal war. Shaara tells the story through the eyes of a young British solider and takes us deep into the world of trench warfare and the flying ace. In the third year of the conflict, America breaks its neutrality by sending the first wave of American Expeditionary Forces to Europe with the help of General John "Blackjack" Pershing. And the world waits to see whether American strength can change the tide. Shaara, who lives in New York and Montana, visits Mequon next month to read from this historically accurate and exciting novel.

Woodland Pattern Book Center, which is known as a center for new and old poetry, hosts two poets and essayists in November, one of them also working in mixed media.

Susan Howe, a professor of English at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, will read from her work. Her most recent poetry collections include, "The Midnight," "The Europe of Trusts" and "Pierce-Arrow." She has written books of criticism, among them "The Birth-Mark: Unsettling the Wilderness in American Literary History," which was named an International Book of the Year by the Times Literary Supplement. She has won several honors and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996.

Mixed media artist Kathleen Fraser, the author of 16 books, will also appear at both a reading and a discussion at the bookstore. Fraser's works include her new mixed genre collection, "Discrete Categories Forced Into Coupling," a recent chapbook of collaged wall pieces, and an essay collection, "Translating the Unspeakable: Poetry and the Innovative Necessity." Fraser currently teaches a post- graduate seminar at California College of the Arts, focusing on mixed media collaborations. She founded The American Poetry Archives and also wrote and narrated the video, "Women Working in Literature" and published and edited the groundbreaking journal, HOW(ever), from 1983 to 1991. She and her philosopher husband A.K. Bierman live in Rome each spring, where they lecture and translate.

IF YOU GO

What: Reading, signing

Who: Jeff Shaara

When and where: 7 p.m., Nov. 8, Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, 10976 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon.

What: Reading, discussion

Who: Susan Howe and Kathleen Fraser

When and where: reading at 7 p.m., Nov. 12, discussion at 2 p.m., Nov. 13. Both at Woodland Pattern Book Center, 720 E. Locust St.

How much: Tickets for reading, $5 in advance or for members, $6 otherwise. Discussion free.

Jeff Shara

Susan Howe

Kathleen Fraser

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