Bayfield County, Wisconsin author, James Brakken, began writing in college when "Muskie Madness," his story of a fishing trip with his father, appeared in Boy's Life Magazine in 1974. More articles followed in Sports Afield, Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, School Arts, and other publications.His first novel, The Treasure of Namakagon (2012), features a boy in an 1883 northern Wisconsin lumber camp and Chief Namakagon's legendary lost silver mine. The suspicious 1886 death of Namakagon and the 1846 disappearance of a Sault Ste. Marie murder fugitive led to two more novels, Tor Loken & the Death of Chief Namakagon (2013) and The Secret Life of Chief Namakagon (2014), where Brakken solved a 168-year-old cold case when he proved Chief Namakagon was actually John Falcon Tanner, the adventurer and war hero who'd vanished in 1846. Brakken's Annotated Early Life Among the Indians (2016) documents the existence of Chief Namakagon's silver mine and offers many great 1800s Lake Superior tales.Treasure won 2nd place out of 10,000 worldwide entries in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. Brakken also received the 2013, 2014, and 2016 Lake Superior Writers Award and the coveted Wisconsin Writers Association Jade Ring for his collection, The Moose and Wilbur P. Dilby plus 36 Fairly True Tales from Up North (2015). His 2nd short story collection is Billyboy, the Corner Bar Bear plus 36 Fairly True Tales from Up North (2017).Brakken earned statewide recognition for conservation as reflected in his Saving Our Lakes & Streams: 101 Practical Things You Can Do Today (2016). Brakken offers discounts of this book to conservation clubs and lake associations. Alias Ray Olson (2017) is a true-crime thriller that exposes the truth behind the June 1939 homicides in Sawyer County and Wisconsin's largest-ever manhunt. It's a close look at the perceived guilt of a man convicted in the press and hunted by hundreds. Brakken's INFAMOUS (2019) is another true-life, north woods crime novel from the 1930s. It chronicles John Henry Seadlund's rise to Public Enemy #1 in only 4 years. DARK: A Campfire Companion (2012) is an illustrated collection of 56 of the author's delightfully frightening short stories and poems. It's ideal for dark and stormy nights or for reading under the blankets by flashlight.Brakken's 3rd short story collection brings the total number of heart-rendering, illustrated stories to over 110. 45 Fairly True Tales from the Old Corner Bar offers hilarious tales of life way back when. It's a must-read for anyone who's ever been "up north."Brakken's most recent fact-based novel, Thornapple Girl (2020), chronicles the life of Myra Dietz, a young woman caught up in her father's 1910 struggle against lumber barons who denied him of his earnings. It is accompanied by the long overdue publishing of Myra's lost 1929 memoir. Of Brakken's writing, Publisher's Weekly Magazine and Amazon Books said, "A great read," and "the flow of words is like an old fashioned song."
