Candace Simar's Blog

What a thrill it is to hear from readers. Patti T. sent this email last week:

“I just finished Montana Matrimonial News and wanted to thank you. I so appreciate your style of writing. You made the life of my grandmother come alive again.”

Check out all my titles at  www.candacesimar.com

Reviews on Amazon, Good Reads, and other social media mean the world to writers like me.  Thanks in advance!

Kirkus Review Montana Matrimonial News Save 2025

Look at these faces! My Danish grandfather, as a young immigrant, worked on a Red River Valley bonanza farm in the 1890s. He spent summers at the farm and then hiked to logging camps in Northern Minnesota over the winter. With this steady income, he was able to get a start in America. I’m living proof. He met my grandmother who was a cook at the Bonanza farm. Sister Lumberjack tells a story of a frontier logging camp in northern Minnesota. For more infomation go to www.candacesimar.com

Stop at my book table, All my titles will be available, including Montana Matrimonial News! It’s always a fun day at Fort Abercrombie!

Click the link for more info!

https://www.newsdakota.com/2026/05/11...

THOSE BEREAVED WINS FINALIST AWARD
I received wonderful news! THOSE BEREAVED, published as a short story in History Through Fiction’s anthology, An End of Troubles, is a finalist for this year’s Spur Awards in short fiction. The story is also a chapter in MONTANA MATRIMONIAL NEWS. I’ll be attending this year’s Western Writers of America convention in June to receive my award. It’s always fun to hang out with the cowboys. Thank you, Western Writers of America, for this great honor.

#Historythroughfiction, #Montana Matrimonial News Ads, Dakota Territory Mail order brides, North Dakota 1889 homesteaders, Doctor Gamla Prairie Midwife, Norwegian homesteaders, North Dakota Historical Society, Prairie romances

This class series is geared toward the writer just beginning a work, just finishing, or somewhere in the middle. Together we’ll find ways to tighten your prose, sharpen your story-telling skills, and getting that manuscript to the finish line. Have you ever wondered why your story sags in the middle, takes a while to start, or misses a satisfying ending? This year’s Pencil to Paper will deal with STRUCTURE AND POINT OF VIEW, two reasons that weaken your manuscript unless executed with precision.

Learn how to choose the best character to tell your story, how to manage multiple points of view, and how to know when it’s not a good idea.

Thursdays, 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. CST, January 8 to February 12, 2026, via ZOOM (Classes are recorded if unable to attend live) Cost: $240.

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT!

Class Size is limited. Please register by filling out this form. Invoices will be sent January 5, 2026.

Instructor: Award Winning Author Candace Simar Hosted by: Krista Soukup, Blue Cottage Agency Weekly topics for Fiction/Non-Fiction/Memoir/all Genres Registration: Please use the form to register Info: bluecottageagency@gmail.com

Pequot Lakes author, Candace Simar, likes to imagine how things might have been. Her historical fiction combines her love of history with her Scandinavian heritage. Simar has been recognized by a Spur Award from Western Writers of America, a Will Rogers Gold Medallion, a Peacemaker Award from Western Fictioneers, and Laura Awards for Short Fiction. “Sister Lumberjack” received the Midwest Book Award, was a finalist for the Willa Literary Awards in Historical Fiction and took 3rd place in the Catholic Novel category of the Catholic Media Awards. Learn more about her work at www. candacesimar.com.  

On Friday November 7th, my new book launched into the world. Thank you to everyone who came to the Brainerd Library to help celebrate MONTANA MATRIMONIAL NEWS. The reviews are already trickling in. One person said it is my best book yet. Another described it was a “fun read” that kept her laughing. The Kirkus Review compared it to John Steinbeck’s CANNERY ROW. Please let me know your thoughts. MONTANA MATRIMONIAL NEWS is a novel of interconnected short stories about prairie homesteaders looking for wives in personal ads. Through it all, the old doctor woman offers advice and cures for every situation. “My cures work if you can stand them.”

Michael Zimmer’s blog about the newspaper, MONTANA MATRIMONIAL NEWS, was my inspiration for writing this new book. My brain lit on fire after learning about his historical newspaper that was dedicated to personal ads in the 19th century—similar to modern day E Harmony websites.[image error]

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If you missed the Brainerd event, you have another chance. Craig Nagel and I will do a joint book event at the Pequot Lakes Library this Wednesday, November 19th at 2pm. We’re going to interview each other and discuss MONTANA MATRIMONIAL NEWS and Craig’s new book, VANISHING POINT. It should be a most interesting conversation. I’ve been jotting down questions to ask.

[image error]On Saturday, November 8th, I participated in the Lake Country Journal poetry reading at Central Lakes College. What a fun event!

Then on Sunday, November 9th, we traveled to the Old Depot in Duluth for the Northeast Minnesota Book Awards. Was I surprised that SISTER LUMBERJACK won the fiction category. I’m still smiling. Thank you to the Lake Superior Writers for facilitating and hosting the event.

MONTANA MATRIMONIAL NEWS NOW AVAILABLE!

Digger and his brother homestead on adjoining claims near Nickelbo, Dakota Territory. They search for wives in the Montana Matrimonial Newspaper.  It’s risky to agree to marry a stranger, but the men are lonely and isolated on their claims. Told in interconnected stories, MONTANA MATRIONIAL NEWS reveals life on the frontier in all its struggles. Doctor Gamla, the almost-doctor of Nickelbo, delivers babies and treats all manner of maladies while dishing out advice. “My cures work if you can stand them,” she says.

Buy the book at Bookshop.org and support local bookstores! CLICK HERE

You are invited to a book launch at the Brainerd Library on Friday, November 7.  Doors open at 1pm with a program at 1:30pm.  Refreshments will be served.

It’s been great working with the good people at North Star Press of St. Cloud and  Blue Cottage Agency. Thanks to Sheila O’Connor and the participants of Camp Candace who helped critique my efforts. Also, thanks to my sister, Angela Foster, who edited MONTANA MATRIMONIAL NEWS. Hope to see you at the launch.

Montana Matrimonial News: Loneliness gnaws and chews like the relentless prairie wind. Dakota homesteader, Digger Dancy, props his feet in the oven and waits for the storm to end. His brother, George, barges into the soddy in a swirl of blowing snow. George announces he will abandon his claim to seek a wife. He can’t stand the loneliness. Digger slaps a stack of old newspapers on the table and convinces him to place an ad for a correspondence bride in the Montana Matrimonial News.

Doctor Gamla, the almost-doctor and midwife, treats George’s frostbite, and offers a cure for his melancholia. She tells of two sisters living in tar-paper shacks along the Mad Dog River. The brothers cannot imagine how Doctor Gamla’s cure will change their lives.

Nickelbo’s whole world is wheat. The homesteaders talk about crops, worry about the weather, complain about prices, and dream what they’ll buy after the harvest. Asa Wainwright busts sod with a grasshopper plow. Ingrid Larson dallies over planting to avoid her sister’s wedding. Drunken Oscar Borgom gets lost in a storm on the way to the outhouse. Emma Wilson kneels in the cellar and prays for the hailstorm to miss their farm. Sunniva hauls buffalo bones into town with a team of mules. Skeeter Jorgenson plots for his correspondence bride to arrive in time for the harvest festival.

Through it all, Doctor Gamla delivers babies, treats ailments, and offers cures and advice. “My cures work if you can stand them.”

Pequot Lakes author, Candace Simar, likes to imagine how things might have been. Her historical fiction combines her love of history with her Scandinavian heritage. Simar has been recognized by a Spur Award from Western Writers of America, a Will Rogers Gold Medallion, a Peacemaker Award from Western Fictioneers, and Laura Awards for Short Fiction. SISTER LUMBERJACK received the Midwest Book Award, was a finalist for the Willa Literary Awards in Historical Fiction, and took 3rd place in the Catholic Novel category of the Catholic Media Awards.