Books by Maulsby
Welcome to the official books page of Dennis Maulsby, an award-winning author whose literary works bridge the divide between reality and imagination. Here you’ll find a diverse collection of books that reflect his passion for storytelling, history, and the human experience—particularly as seen through the eyes of veterans, dreamers, and ordinary people navigating extraordinary moments. Whether you’re drawn to the haunting echoes of war, speculative visions of alternate realities, or deeply personal reflections on life and loss, Dennis Maulsby’s books offer a rich and compelling journey for readers of all backgrounds.
For Maulsby, writing is more than a craft—it’s a powerful form of therapy. Drawing from his own military experience, he uses the written word to process trauma, honor fellow service members, and explore the emotional landscapes shaped by war and memory. This therapeutic aspect of his work adds a profound layer of authenticity and vulnerability to his storytelling, making each book not just a literary achievement but also a personal testament to healing and resilience.
Through poetry, short stories, and novels, Maulsby invites readers to connect deeply with the internal struggles and triumphs of his characters. His books resonate not only as works of fiction but as lifelines for those seeking meaning in the aftermath of conflict and loss. Whether you’re a veteran, a lover of speculative fiction, or someone seeking emotionally rich narratives, his writing offers both insight and solace.
Winterset
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Reviews
Winterset by Dennis Maulsby is a fantastical creation of mystical magical proportions, at once charming and deadly, fanciful and dark. Maulsby has conjured up a feast of short stories featuring Father Donahey, a retired Catholic priest. Donahey, born in Ireland and having served for most of his life in South America, has moved to Winterset, Iowa. He didn’t choose the locale to spend time protecting the world from denizens of destruction; he moved there to enjoy long walks in between reading good books in his retirement. But Winterset is the site of a worldwide inter-dimensional gateway for supernatural beings, most of them of the unfriendly variety. Pulled into the maelstrom of the havoc created by other-world entities, Donahey battles evil, aided by friends who exhibit supernatural powers themselves. The writing is captivating and intense, placing the reader in the midst of the action—surrounded by the sights, scents, and sensations of cataclysmic struggles—almost as if the reader has been transported into the pages of the book. Keep your nightlight on. Betsy Beard Military Writers Society of America
Associated Works
The Crow’s Story The Kitsune Wedding
Overview
The Irish-born Father Donahey has retired from many years of service as a Catholic priest in South American countries to Winterset, Iowa. It’s not to be the life of books and long rural walks that he expects. The community and the surrounding area are awash with supernatural creatures. Some are friendly, some not, but all must be dealt with in order to protect his new parish, state, country, and the wider world from chaos and destruction.
Notes
Note: stories from the book published independently: 1) The first story, “The Night of the Pooka,” won the first-place award at the Montezuma All-Iowa Writers Conference in 2015, has been published in Mused Literary Review and Lulu’s Share Your Scare anthology. 2) The short story “Betty and the Demon has been published in Astounding Outpost Magazine. 3) “Two Dogs and a Pig” has been published in The Writing Piazza Press 2017 Where We May Wag Anthology. 4) “Pixies, a Troll, and a …” received an honorable mention in the third quarter of 2018 L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest. This story was also published in The Norwegian American Newspaper under “The Norwegian American Troll” in 2019. 5) “The Wizard and the Queen of Demons” was published in 2018 in the Halloween anthology Chills Down Your Spine, NeoLeaf Press.
House De Gracie
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Dennis Maulsby’s House de Gracie is an excellent mix of fantasy fiction and military action that will leave the reader wanting more. Hugh de Gracie is a worn-out, half-blind, shot up military officer who is out of the Army because of his injuries. He doesn’t have long to live, and so he returns to the family mansion to live out his remaining days. While home, he learns two important things. First, being home has completely cured him of any illness, and second, he has started a blood feud with the family of terrorists he killed when escaping Taliban activity. As he learns more about his family history, he realizes that the timelines don’t make sense. His father should be MUCH older than he looks. More and more, as Hugh learns things are not what they seem, he is hurtling down a path of reckoning with a Taliban fanatic that will see much bloodshed by both families. While I am not a fan of fantasy fiction, I am a fan of military fiction, and I love how Maulsby weaves both together to create one of the most unique stories I have ever read. The story seems perfectly plausible, even though it shatters the normal boundaries of time and the human relationship with nature. It’s very well done, and a fun read besides. I am absolutely hoping for a sequel! Rob Ballister Military Writers Society of America
Associated Works
Amtrak Dream
Overview
To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heavens: Ecclesiastics 3:1 After ten years in the U.S. Army, Major Hugh de Gracie returns to his five-hundred-year-old family mansion in the New York’s Adirondack Mountains. A terminal bat-borne disease caught in Afghanistan gives him very little time to reconcile with a family he rejected a decade ago. Only his pending death provides a powerful enough reason to bring him back into an isolated Gothic household of many secrets. The family and house are more intimately intertwined than Hugh can possibly imagine. The illness is not the full extent of his problems. An implacable Taliban enemy made on the battlefield will seek him out. Supported by wealthy Saudi interests the enemy will attempt to destroy him, his family, and his house.
Notes
Note: story extracts from the novel published independently: 1) “The Graceful Raven,” in All Gave Some, 2014 Anthology of the Military Writers of America. 2) “The Dive Bar,” appearing in the 2017 Main Street Rag anthology Of Burgers and Barrooms. 3) “Amtrac Dream,” (500-word flash fiction) received an Honorable Mention in the 2015 Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition—the annual community arts outreach program of the National Federation of American Pen Women. 4) “Bull Run Picnic” dream sequence published in the winter edition of Dispatches, the online magazine of the Military Writers Society of America.
Free Fire Zone
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Sometimes, we are compelled to fight evil. To do so, we must become evil at times. This novel is about the risk of becoming that which you confront. Free Fire Zone by Dennis Maulsby is a complex book. It is a combination of thriller, literary fiction, and science fiction. The novel speaks to the pain of war, the horror observed therein, and the inner battle the warrior fights to resist becoming what he must be on the battlefield. Maulsby addresses the demons created by PTSD, but he brings his demon to life, imbuing it with personality and power beyond any description I’ve read before. One does what one must in war in order to survive and support his warrior brothers. There is heart-rending, heart-changing danger in doing that. Maulsby tackles the topic head-on and breathes life into it, even if it makes a reader uncomfortable. This is mature audience reading, for sure. Mike Mullins Military Writers Society of America
Associated Works
Alien Moon The Mall Maul Frozen Chosin
Overview
Welcome to the Free Fire Zone, also known as a free kill zone. In Vietnam, it was enemy territory; all the friendlies and neutrals moved out. Anyone found in such an area was considered hostile, a legitimate target that could be killed on sight, no questions asked. Each of the seventeen stories in this book originate from this zone, any subject, any genre fair game. The short stories are bound together by the main character, Rod Teigler, traveling through his life beginning in mid-sixties Vietnam and continuing to the present day. Teigler’s war experiences, helped along by government experimentation, leave him with a severe personality disorder. Fear or anger turns the hero into something you don’t want to meet up with in broad daylight, let alone in a dark alley. Free Fire Zone received a Silver Medal Award from the Military Writers Society of America and a finalist award in the 2017 International Book Awards contest.
Notes
Heart Songs
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Far-reaching in subject matter and depth, Heart Songs is a poetry collection that offers a vivid, powerfully emotional window into the soul of war, Nature, and love. Dennis Maulsby has achieved the lofty goal he’s set out to do, that of moving his readers’ hearts to the beat of the music of life. David Ervin Editor-in-Chief Military Experience & the Arts, Inc.
Associated Works
Overview
Heart songs come from many sources. We welcome those of love, whether romantic or platonic. Our life experiences evoke other songs, whether bawdy, prideful, humorous, sad, happy, terrifying, or in joyous dance — the heart’s percussion, riffs, and chords changing in response to each experience. Poetry can capture them all, permitting the intimate sensual and intimate virtual to blend. In this book, think of the poems as the author’s sheet music — records of the heart’s songs. • blonde girl’s earbuds throb • heavy metal guitar chokes • peppery symbols The book has won two first-place awards from the Military Writers’ Society of America and American Book Fest American Fiction Awards.
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Near Death / Near Life
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Vivid imagery and thought-provoking shards of brilliance. The flashes of brilliance force one to pause and remember one’s brushes with death and glory in the joy of living. The war experience is described in short bursts, similar to a soldier’s reaction in a firefight. At times Maulsby’s verse scratched off the scabs from old wounds compartmentalized in my warrior memory. Life is dance, music, rain, flowers, and birds on wings. Death is final and universal. Maulsby takes the reader by the hand and meanders between the two with great skill. Veterans should read the book. Lovers of free verse poetry shouldn’t miss the opportunity to walk hand-in-hand with the author. Michael D. Mullins Military Writers Society of America
Associated Works
Overview
Poetry is great therapy. Writing pushes out the bad and exposes it to sunlight. A veteran friend explained it this way: “When we returned, we fought our demons with drugs, women, or creativity.” The author chose the safest option. The content of Near Death/Near Life reminds veterans that they are not alone in their experiences. The book introduces non-veterans to the vastly different requirements of military service. However much a service job resembles its civilian counterpart — cook, mechanic, typist, programmer, truck driver, etc. they are expected to kill or be killed if the situation requires. Given the intensity of the war pieces, the author has layered the in-between spaces with recovery poems — peaceful and insightful offerings.
Notes
Note: 1) Near Death/Near Life has 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 was a Best Book Awards finalist.
The Fantasy Works
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Associated Works
Overview
Welcome to The Fantasy Works. Check out an award-winning author’s works of poetry, short stories, and novel extracts, previously published and yet-to-be-published. Read tales of war, peace, demons, and the old gods — the past forcing itself upon the present. Action and twists in short stories as a serial killer meets a demon, the mythical chimera (a blend of snake, goat, and lion) meets a grizzly bear in mortal combat, over coffee, Dr. Freud and a 350,000-year-old demon discuss psychoanalysis, a war veteran fights for control with his war-born berserker personality in a supermarket, and Father Donahey struggles to protect his community from paranormal attacks in the small town of Winterset, Iowa. These stories and extracts from the unpublished novels The Assisi and The Sommelier demonstrate the author’s ability to tell powerful stories. The prize-winning poetry covers subjects ranging from war to gentler subjects of family and mysticism.