The Year God Forgot Us by Dennis Nau
Dennis Nau, originally from the Minneapolis area, was educated to be an English teacher, but never went into teaching. Instead, he founded successful businesses in the areas of industrial sales and manufacturing. During a weak moment, he and his wife started a restaurant. In the past five years he’s had a number of short stories published in various literary magazines. He is mayor of Gibbon, Minnesota, and is currently immersed in municipal sewage problems.
The Year God Forgot Us is set in North Dakota in 1936 amidst the height of the Great Depression. The dust bowl ravaged the Midwest. Scam artists preyed upon the desperate. Hatred and prejudice grew, even though the crops would not. Everyone was looking for someone else to blame for his or her misery. Johnny Ogdahl is at the center of a group of townspeople determined to stamp out evil, save the American way of life, and put money into their pockets at the same time. Johnny pours coffee at his restaurant and dreams of romance and success as his small town stumbles and the world creeps closer to another war. You can read it here.
