1958.
RURAL WISCONSIN.
Fire Conditions is a coming-of-age tale set in 1958 rural Wisconsin. Thirteen-year-old Mike and his seven-year-old brother, Jimmy, are sent to spend the summer with their eccentric grandmother in the small town of Friendship. As their family faces separation, Mike must navigate the complexities of growing up, while also searching for his missing brother. Filled with nostalgia, heartbreak, and suspense, this evocative novel captures the spirit of the era and the challenges of family and identity.
Acclaim for fire conditions
Set in the late 1950s, Fire Conditions is a captivating account of brothers sent to spend the summer in central Wisconsin
with their maternal grandmother. With an authentic voice,
This gripping story offers a wide range of human emotions. Malin combines nostalgia, heartbreak, dread, and heroism
masterfully.
-Pete Sheild, author of Bad Medicine and Remnants
Fire Conditions carries the reader away to 1950s small-town Wisconsin, with its Hamm’s beer signs and Timex watches, the Lone Ranger on TV and a pink Nash Rambler in front of the tavern. This tender story brings together puppy love and polio, abduction and addiction, deepalin has an eye for detail and a gift for dialogue.
This story sings!
Kim Suhr – Author of Two Collections of Short Stories; Nothing to Lose and
(soon) Close Call
Thomas Malin does an excellent job of showing us what happens when a marriage begins to fall apart, and two little boys seem to be in the way. Mike is 13 and Jimmy is 7. Their mother puts them on a train in Evanston, Illinois—
destination: their grandmother Flowers’s home in Friendship, Wisconsin. Arriving in Friendship, they quickly learn that their grandmother is a quirky character, with a
house full of dogs. She also owns a tavern and their bedroom is on the second floor of the place. The book is a page turner.
Jerry Apps, Author of In a Pickle
and several other novels and nonfiction books.
Thomas C. MalIN
Born in Wisconsin Rapids and raised initially in Adams County, I frequently returned to visit relatives who inspired some characters in my writings, though most are fictional. My debut novel, Fire Conditions, reflects an imagined Adams County intertwined with its historical essence.
read more
The Fire Conditions Tour
Meet and Greet Thomas C. Malin
MORE INFO COMING SOON
MORE INFO COMING SOON
MORE INFO COMING SOON
Get in touch
hello@fireconditions.com
socialS COMING SOON
Sign up for updates, news, and exclusive content!