Marie Zhuikov—High Fire Danger: Poems of Love and Nature

Advance copy: Backstories on books by NASW members

Cover of the book High Fire Danger: Poems of Love and Nature by Marie Zhuikov, showing a white sheet of paper containing the title and author’s name in a charred brown ink, with fire-curled edges, seemingly ablaze. — High Fire Danger

HIGH FIRE DANGER:
POEMS OF LOVE AND NATURE
Marie Zhuikov
Poetry Harbor, December 1, 2025, Paperback, $15
ISBN-13: 978-1886895690

Zhuikov reports:

During a bout of insomnia a few years ago, I spent the wee hours developing book concepts. One idea was for my blog memoir, Meander North, which went on to win a silver Midwest Book Award for nature writing. The other was for a book of poems I’d written over my lifetime.

Portrait photo of Marie Zhuikov — Marie Zhuikov
Photo by Hunter Zhuikov

Once I retired from my science communicator job with Wisconsin Sea Grant early in 2025 and had time to work on the poetry book, I searched for my list of best poems, but couldn’t find it. Undaunted, I developed the list again and organized the poems by themes, which turned out to be love and nature. The nature poems show my science background, but even the love poems reflect it through botany, Great Lakes ecology, DNA tests, and bioluminescence. Many of the poems had already been edited in classes I took and by literary journal editors.

Around that same time, I attended a local poetry anthology book launch. The publisher of that book also attended that event. I knew her from joint ventures in the past. I learned enough to want to work with her on my book. We corresponded by email afterward.

I liked the idea of working with someone hyper-local—so local that she doesn’t want to advertise her services. She both edited my manuscript and provided the ISBN number at no cost. I paid only for the cover design. I found a local designer through the recommendation of another poet. I printed the book through my Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing account, so I can keep the profits and make text changes easily. The publication process only took two months, which is extremely fast!

I’m working on finding a publisher for a horror anthology that my writing group has produced. That manuscript has been languishing with a publisher for months. If that doesn’t work out, I feel confident enough from my experience with my poetry book to self-publish it. I’m glad my first books were not self-published, but as I age and time gets shorter, it’s good to know that self-publishing is an option.

Contact Info:

Marie Zhuikov, mzhuikov@msn.com
- Zhuikov’s website, Marie’s Meanderings
- LinkedIn: Marie Zhuikov
- Instagram Marie Zhuikov
- Facebook Marie Zhuikov
Book: High Fire Danger: Poems of Love and Nature

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Banner image adapted from original photo by Marie Zhuikov.

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Advance Copy

The path from idea to book may take myriad routes. The Advance Copy column, started in 2000 by NASW volunteer book editor Lynne Lamberg, features NASW authors telling the stories behind their books. Authors are asked to report how they got their idea, honed it into a proposal, found an agent and a publisher, funded and conducted their research, and organized their writing process. They also are asked to share what they wish they’d known when they started or would do differently next time, and what advice they can offer aspiring authors. Lamberg edits the authors’ answers to produce the Advance Copy reports.

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