Just as an ichnolite is a fossil footprint...

This Little Ichnolite of Mine fossilizes memories from a small town on the Mississippi River from 1950 to 1970.

Martin Settle recounts a childhood in the woods and on the river, a Catholic education, humorous and morose, friends that became hippies and drug addicts, the town’s racism and homophobia, and a family always on the edge of the law with gamblers, bootleggers, and bars. As much mythology as memoir, and told with humor and poignancy, Settle is able to remind us all about the power of “place” to shape the mental landscape of its inhabitants.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Martin Settle lives in Charlotte, NC, where he taught English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Since his retirement in 2010, he has published eight books. His early years were spent in Quincy, Illinois, which provided critical experiences for his teaching and writing careers. Living on the Mississippi River near the hometown of Mark Twain, Settle was infused with the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and hoped to be a writer like Twain. Besides Twain’s tall tales, Settle found material for his writing in his colorful father and relatives, who ran bars, told jokes, recited doggerel, bounced customers, and gambled. Finally, Quincy itself has been a profound source of inspiration and imagination for Martin Settle. While a stranger may see a city in decay in the Rust Belt, Settle remembers only the enchantment of a city lost in time. Learn more about Martin Settle and his publications on his website.