I Write Because I Need The Therapy
Struggling against memories of war is the fate of all soldiers returned from killing places. The fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan will create another generation of afflicted men and women. For those of you that have never made this journey, I hope you will welcome them back. They need your understanding. For you veterans, try the creative act, whatever that might be for you. It is the most powerful therapy I have discovered.
– Dennis Maulsby
Many thanks to all the members of the writing groups that encouraged me and pressured me to do my best.
I would love to hear from you! Please email me any questions, comments or orders.
Email dennisdmaul@gmail.comAbout Dennis Maulsby
Dennis Maulsby is a retired bank president living in Ames, Iowa, with his wife, Ruth, a former legal secretary. A son and grandson, Matt and Kaden, live in the Pacific Northwest. His poetry and short stories have appeared in Lyrical Iowa, The North American Review, Haiku Journal, Spillway, The Hawai’i Pacific Review, Sherlock Homes Mystery Magazine, The Briarcliff Review (Pushcart Prize nomination), and numerous other journals and anthologies.
A U.S. Army Veteran, Maulsby spent four and a half years on active duty. Enlisting as a private, he served two years as a Russian voice intercept operator, rising to the rank of Specialist Fifth Class before attending Ft. Benning, Georgia’s Infantry Officer Candidate School. After graduating as a Second Lieutenant, he returned to the Military’s Intelligence branch. In 1968, he served with the 25th Infantry Division while in Vietnam. Maulsby led a mobile electronic intelligence gathering platoon with elements established in firebases and Vietnamese villages in southwestern Vietnam. He received an honorable discharge in 1970.
His first book of war poetry, Remembering Willie, and all the others won silver medal book awards from the Military Writers Society of America (MWSA) and the Branson Stars & Stripes organization.
Maulsby’s second book of poetry, Near Death/Near Life, was released by Prolific Press in 2015. The book has since received a gold medal award from the Military Writers Society of America, was named a finalist in the De Vinci Eye Cover Art award, and received a winner-finalist prize in the USA Book News contest.
Free Fire Zone, a book of linked poetry and short stories, was released in 2016 by Prolific Press. It has since been named an International Book Award finalist and received a silver medal from the Military Writers Society of America.
Three additional books have followed. The first is Winterset, Short Stories of Pixies, Demons, and Fiends, released by NeoLeaf Press in 2019. It received a gold Global Ebook award and a Winner’s Award in the Eric Hoffer Book contest, and it made the shortlist for the Grand Prize.
The two other books, released in 2020 by NeoLeaf Press, are The Fantasy Works, a collection of poetry, short stories, and novel extracts, and House de Gracie, Maulsby’s debut novel. This book won silver Global Ebook and Reader Views medals.
In 2022, Cyberwit Press released Heart Songs, a full-sized book of poetry, which garnered an MWSA Gold medal and an American Fiction First Place award. In May 2004, his poem “6 June, Omaha Beach” was featured with musical background on National Public Radio’s Themes & Variations in memory of the Sixtieth Anniversary of the WW II Normandy landings. That same year, he was named the Edgar Award winner of the Oak Hill Poetry Contest. His poem “Isle Royale Hunted” received a Pushcart Prize nomination in 2011.
As of spring 2024, eighty-eight of his poems have been individually published, forty percent of which have won awards, ranging from honorable mentions to first places. Out of eighteen short stories published, nine have won awards.
Maulsby is a past President of the Iowa Poetry Association. He holds memberships in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Iowa Poetry Association, The National Federation of State Poetry Societies, The Military Writers Society of America, The League of Minnesota Poets, and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association.
Omaha Beach
