What the critics are saying...

From the Star Tribune:
Inspired by the ghost of Jack Kerouac, the father-daughter team from Janesville, Minn., captures the spirit of the modern pilgrim in this anthology of new essays, poems and stories -- the first of what the Gateruds hope will be many Blueroad Readers. Many Minnesota favorites are among the book's 38 contributors, including Bill Holm, John Rezmerski, Phil Bryant, Freya Manfred and Joyce Sutphen. They bring us the news from New Orleans, Iceland, Mexico, England; from nursing homes, cemeteries and cornfields; from inside their imaginations -- wherever the road has taken them. All are enhanced by handsome etchings and woodblock illustrations and graced with a striking cover photo, "Ice on Judd Creek," by Jim Brandenburg. A perfect companion for both the restless and the road-weary.
-Sarah T. Williams, August 19, 2007

From the Minneapolis/St.Paul City Pages:
With its recent publication of "The Blueroad Reader: Stardust and Fate," Blueroad Press is the newest kid on the vibrant Minnesota small press block. The fiction and literary nonfiction stories and poems that comprise the collection, the first volume of what Blueroad hopes will be an annual publication, rambles across the upper Midwest, the United States and parts farther flung. Like any good road trip, the volume, edited by John Gaterud, has its ups and downs, but it doesn't take much digging to find gems. In Ed McManis's series of poems, "Postcards to Mike," a chaperone on a student trip to Europe sends postcards to an invisible friend, "Europe is still/the puzzle piece floating between Columbus/and the Beatles. They brag about Italian wine/imagine French prostitutes they'll coax, the strength/of the American dollar." In Mark Dewey's "Franklin Finds Out," a father laments the loss of the weekly road trips with his daughter for her piano lessons. The narrator in Rachael Hanel's "The First Glimpse" meditates on the deaths of members of her family. The book (which is unfortunately a little too unwieldy to be brought along when readers hit the road) is illustrated with subtle black and white engravings. With this inaugural publication, Blueroad Press needn't worry about getting beat up by the bigger kids on the small press block.
-Rhena Tantisunthorn, August 15, 2007

From the Minneapolis Observer Quarterly:
When our kids were little, we had various story collections we kept handy for bedtime reading. But as an adult, I find I still enjoy a good story at bedtime, and 'Stardust and Fate' beautifully fills that desire. Its beauty isn't just in the eclectic combination of stories, essays, and poems relating to roads and travel, but its lovely wood engravings, it spare elegant design, even the comfortable horizontal orientation make it a pleasure to hold on your lap. Contributing writers include Robert Bly, Bill Holm, Freya Manfred, Joyce Sutphen, Pop Wagner, and many more local luminaries; all excellent, lucid writers. The entries range in length and depth, from Terry Davis's mesmerizing 22-page story about his parents to lighthearted short poems, so that you can find something to suit your state of mind on any given evening. Not that you have to read them at night, but the book is so well-suited as a bedtime reader for grownups. [John] Gaterud has done a marvelous job of assembling this first anthology from his Janesville, Minnesota, press. We hope to see many more Blueroad Readers.
-Sharon Parker, Winter 2007