Connect with us

Milwaukee, WI

A Look Into Five Great Milwaukee Novels

Published

on

A Look Into Five Great Milwaukee Novels


Novels offer a great escape, but sometimes we want our fiction to hit closer to home. These recent books are set in Milwaukee, but do they paint a recognizable portrait of our beloved city?

MYSTERY | PENGUIN BOOKS, 2022 | $18 

Photo courtesy Penguin Books

Sneha, a queer South Asian college grad moves to Milwaukee in 2013 for a job. She explores identity, romance and friendship, along with our city’s socialist history and alcohol culture.  

Is Milwaukee a “character?”  

Most definitely. The people whom Sneha meets ring true to our region, including “tony Brookfield,” Bay View and beyond.

Advertisement

 Does it feel like Milwaukee?  

Certainly. Sprinkled throughout are local history lessons and discussions of our prodigious alcohol consumption, not to mention a little day-drinking on Brady Street.  

Name-drops:

Bay View Massacre, North Division and Rufus King high schools.

 


Celebrate the Milwaukee leaders who foster connection, create opportunity and strengthen our community!

 


COMING OF AGE | POLIS BOOKS, 2021 | $19 

Advertisement
Cover of At the End of the World Turn Left by Zhanna Slor
Photo courtesy Polis Books

Ukraine-born Masha must return from a new life in Israel to her childhood home in Milwaukee, where her sister has mysteriously gone missing. 

Is Milwaukee a “character?” 

Mostly. Masha’s father lives in the “semi-dangerous neighborhood of Riverwest.” Despite frequent allusions to Masha’s youth in Ukraine, Milwaukee’s cafes and clubs provide the main setting for Masha’s adventures. 

Does it feel like Milwaukee?  

Indeed. Slor has clearly done her Riverwest research:Masha spends plenty of time sipping at Fuel Cafe (RIP) and checking out music at Bremen Cafe.  

Name-drops:

Foundation, Uptowner


POSTMODERN | PENGUIN PRESS, 2025 | $30 

Cover of Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon
Photo courtesy Penguin Press

In speakeasy Depression-era Milwaukee, a softening former cop deals with organized and not-so-organized crime as he follows the trail of a wayward cheese heiress.  

Is Milwaukee a “character?” 

Yes, early on. It’s left behind as a concrete setting for the second half of the book, but Cream City remains the spiritual home for our main character.

Advertisement

Does it feel like Milwaukee?  

The details are rich and almost always amusing. Characters gab around bubblers, drink old fashioneds, play sheepshead and talk more cheese than you can believe.

Name-drops:

Paramount Records (a defunct blues label in Grafton), Holton Street Bridge, Oriental Drugs


SUSPENSE | THREE TOWERS PRESS, 2019 | $27 

 

Cover of Beneath the Flames by Gregory Lee Renz
Photo courtesy Three Towers Press

Mitch is a firefighter looking to escape a tragedy in rural Wisconsin. He relocates to Milwaukee to join a busy firehouse, leading to many adventures.  

Is Milwaukee a “character?” 

As a former pro, Renz knows his firefighting, and he knows Milwaukee well enough to strike a clear contrast between the quiet, manure-air of Mitch’s farm home and the frenetic energy of the North Side. 

Advertisement

Does it feel like Milwaukee?  

The neighborhoods are richly drawn, and Renz includes the violence, conflict and racial tensions all too familiar in our unequal city.  

Name-drops:

Teutonia Avenue, a character called the “Jawbreaker of South Milwaukee”


THRILLER | BALLANTINE BOOKS, 2021 | $19 

Cover of We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz
Photo courtesy Ballantine Books

Following a traumatic episode in Chile, Emily tries to recover with a new job in Milwaukee. A friend from the past arrives, and their violent history comes slowly to the surface.  

Is Milwaukee a “character?” 

Not really. Local author Bartz places the main characters here, but the setting isn’t the biggest factor in their character development.

Does it feel like Milwaukee?  

The plot mostly shines on the internal life of Emily, but there’s local insight: She’s “over Milwaukee – her hometown – with its smallish size and polarized communities.” 

Advertisement

Name-drops:

Brady Street and the “slightly creepy Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit at the public museum” 


The cover of the January 2026 issue of Milwaukee Magazine

This story is part of Milwaukee Magazine’s January 2026 issue.

Find it on newsstands or buy a copy at milwaukeemag.com/shop.

Be the first to get every new issue. Subscribe.





Source link

Milwaukee, WI

Brewers finally announce cable, satellite TV channels for broadcasts

Published

on

Brewers finally announce cable, satellite TV channels for broadcasts


play

Just before the pitch clock hits zero, the Milwaukee Brewers released a rundown of channels on cable and satellite for game broadcasts, mere hours before the 1:10 p.m. CT first pitch on Opening Day, Thursday, March 26.

The club said channels include 1263 on XFinity, 670 on DirecTV, 1743 on U-Verse, and 319 or 469 on Spectrum. The broadcasts are also listed as available on streaming service Fubo.

Advertisement

The Brewers are pointing fans to a channel-finding tool on their web site at Brewers.com/watch, though in the moments after the announcement, the channel finder was not yet locating details for Spectrum customers for Milwaukee-area zip codes. A club spokesperson said Major League Baseball was aware of the error and the games would indeed air on Spectrum in Milwaukee.

The built-in Spectrum guide still showed Channel 308 as the “BREW” offering in Milwaukee, with Brewers Live Pregame scheduled to begin at noon CT and baseball at 1 p.m. March 26.

With the February announcement of a switchover from FanDuel Sports Wisconsin to Major League Baseball productions in 2026, MLB negotiations have gone down to the wire with the various providers around Wisconsin. Several teams covered by Main Street Sports, which operated the FanDuel brand, have been in a similar boat this offseason.

Brewers fans aren’t alone in experiencing the late-arriving channel information. Maury Brown of Forbes has been keeping track of all the late-arriving channel announcements for teams around baseball, specifically those that were covered by the Main Street Sports. As of 7 a.m. March 26, the Royals, Rays, Tigers and Braves also still hadn’t released channel listings.

Advertisement

Streaming customers who used the FanDuel Sports Wisconsin app in previous years can use the new Brewers.TV option to once again watch games. The opener is also one of 10 games simulcast on over-the-air channels this season, including WITI-TV (Channel 6) in Milwaukee.



Source link

Continue Reading

Milwaukee, WI

Chase, crash into Milwaukee library construction site; man pleads guilty

Published

on

Chase, crash into Milwaukee library construction site; man pleads guilty


A Milwaukee man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a pursuit that ended with a crash into a library construction site.

In court:

Advertisement

Court records show Cameron Moore, 37, pleaded guilty to three felonies and the state dismissed two others as part of a plea deal. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in May.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android

The backstory:

Advertisement

Sheriff’s deputies were monitoring a home near 2nd and Lloyd. They were trying to locate a man, later identified as Moore, who was wanted for burglary and fleeing/eluding.

Moore left the home and got into an SUV that afternoon. Detectives tried to pull the SUV over and, while it did briefly stop, it almost immediately took off.

Advertisement

Crash damages library at MLK and Locust, Milwaukee (Jan. 7, 2025)

About a mile into the chase, the SUV ran a red light and slammed into a car at the intersection of King Drive and Locust Street. It then careened into the library construction site. 

Nobody in the vehicles involved in the pursuit or crash was injured, according to authorities. A construction worker inside the building reported leg pain, and he was examined and cleared at the scene.

Advertisement

SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News

“120 to 140 miles per hour on the freeway, on the public roadways passing people,” Court Commissioner Katharine Kucharski said after charges were filed. “We are all very lucky that nobody is…passed in this situation.”

Advertisement

The Milwaukee Public Library’s new Martin Luther King Branch opened months later. At the official opening, Ald. Milele Coggs acknowledged the roadblocks along the way – including the crash.

The Source: Information in this report is from the Wisconsin Circuit Court and prior FOX6 News coverage.

Police ChasesNewsHarambee
Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Milwaukee, WI

Musical ‘The Wiz’ eases on down to Milwaukee’s Water Street

Published

on

Musical ‘The Wiz’ eases on down to Milwaukee’s Water Street


“The Wiz” was a good idea in 1974, and it’s still a good idea today: Retell “The Wizard of Oz” as a musical with a Black cast, singing tunes with R&B, disco, soul and gospel arrangements.

The North American tour of this brightly colored song-and-dance spectacle, directed by Schele Williams, has eased on down the road to Milwaukee’s Marcus Performing Arts Center for performances through March 29.

It’s a clever blend of human creativity and technology. The tornado winds, poppies and even the yellow brick road are represented by costumed ensemble dancers (the yellow brick road people are drum majors). But during the March 24 opening performance, the Marcus audience also saw some groovy, psychedelic projections and a futuristic Oz.

Just like in L. Frank Baum’s original novel (1900) and the famous movie adaptation (1939), a cyclone deposits young Dorothy (Phoenix Assata LaFreniere) in Oz, where she meets and befriends Scarecrow (Elijah Ahmad Lewis), Tinman (D. Jerome) and Lion (Cal Mitchell). They’re off to see The Wiz (Alan Mingo Jr.), hoping he’ll give them a brain, a heart, some courage and a way home for Dorothy. But wicked witch Evillene (Kyla Jade) has designs on that silver footwear Dorothy’s wearing (yes, silver like the novel, rather than the movie’s ruby red).

Advertisement

LaFreniere is a convincing Dorothy in her yearning ballads, character moments and dance moves. Lewis’ adorable Scarecrow has some early Eddie Murphy charm. There are some big voices here, too, include Jade, who could power most of Water Street with her roar in “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News.”

Jaquel Knight choreographed the nearly nonstop flow of dance, which ranges from balletic moves to the disco party in the Emerald City.

There’s no Toto in this version, which has led to a few changes in how the story unfolds. The way this version ends is even stronger than the 1939 movie in depicting the fabulous four as coming to understand they had what they were searching for all along.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending