Award Winning Minnesota Author Karl Vanghen Releases New Historical Fiction Novel, 'Lowertown'

ST. PAUL, MN, April 26, 2013 (Press-News.org) Award winning Minnesota author Karl Vanghen has announced the release of his latest historical fiction novel 'Lowertown'. The book details St. Paul's part in the Civil War, built around the formation of the Civilian Alliance Committee, to replace police and fire personnel who answered the call to arms in 1861.

After the Union army's terrible loss at Bull Run, President Abraham Lincoln called for every able-bodied young man between eighteen and forty-five years of age to volunteer to fight for the life of their country. For seventeen- year-old Devon Finch, watching his older brother Randolph leave to fight in the war is the hardest day of his life. But with most of St. Paul, Minnesota's firemen and policemen marching alongside Randolph, the city needs the men still home to ensure the safety of the remaining population. Enlisting in the Alliance Committee, and organization dedicated to doing just that, Devon finds himself a police officer in the most notorious section of the Mississippi River's most notorious port of call.

Devon, once a simple boy filled with grand vision, now finds himself in the seedy world of Lowertown on an extraordinary adventure of love, fear and danger. Filled with river men, degenerates, honorable men, women both decent and despised, and gamblers, this brightly-and broadly-colored tapestry of St. Paul's most lively and dangerous neighborhood will mature a young boy quickly. But a dangerous confrontation may put an end to his time patrolling Lowertown's streets - and may just cost him his life in the bargain.

"I wrote this book," stated Mr. Vanghen, "in part, to correspond with the Minnesota History Center's 2013 exhibit, 'Minnesota and the Civil War.' Although it is fiction based on fact, it will give readers an insight into the life and times of St. Paul's Lowertown in 1861, and the types of people who may have lived there during an era filled with unrest, expansion, and war. To the dislike of those who thought better of it, the city was recognized as 'the bawdiest town on the river.'"

"Readers will enjoy this book because it touches on the experiences of a young boy thrust into the seedy world of St. Paul's most lively and dangerous neighborhood, Lowertown, during the first year of the Civil War. His experiences with river men, honorable men, women both decent and despised, will provide the reader with a cross-section of humanity that poured into St. Paul during the first great wave of settlers, shortly after the Dakota Indians ceded millions of acres over to the new territory."

Karl Vanghen is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below, or by email at kvan79@comcast.net. More information is available at his website. 'Lowertown' is available at Amazon.com and at his website.

Born in 1929, Karl is a lifelong resident of St. Paul, Minnesota. After serving aboard the battleship U.S.S. Wisconsin during the Korean War, he followed his discharge, by building a career in graphic arts, using his father's advice to "always do more than you're paid to do". Eventually he became Vice President of the firm. His interests in writing and painting began at an early age, and eventually led him to become an award-winning wildlife artist, and a published author. Karl's book "My Enemy, My Beloved" won The Authors Show Gold Medal Award, while featuring him in their book, "50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading".

His latest book, 'Lowertown', took root while attending the St. Paul Police Academy's Civilian Patrol, wherein he learned about St. Paul's part in the Civil War, that of forming the Civilian Alliance Committee, to replace police and fire personnel who answered the call to arms in 1861.

Karl's love for history and research have currently propelled him to begin writing his fourth historical novel, 'Rivertown', which is set in Stillwater, Minnesota as a sequel to 'Lowertown'.

Karl lives with his wife in Shoreview, Minnesota, a suburb of Saint Paul.