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“(Until the Big Water Takes Them) is a romance between a man and a woman and a between humans and the ever-changing North Shore, as well as a vanishing way of life.”
-Mary Ann Grossman, St. Paul Pioneer Press
My Story
John Jensvold is a Minnesota-based fiction author. He and his wife, Madeline, have three adult daughters: Brielle, Mallory, and Liza. Together, they have made many excursions into the north country, particularly along Lake Superior’s legendary North Shore. When not writing, John is the Vice President of one of the largest Asian-American-owned commercial construction companies in the U.S. John holds a B.A. Degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. His work has appeared in From the Depths, Tin Can Literary Review, Alligator Juniper, and Santa Fe Writers Project.
Read John's story Cap Gun in The Scribbler, Volume 1, Issue 2.
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Owen Martin is a self-made man, a one-time orphan, and a skilled wielder of tools. Wandering from gig to gig in the north country, he can’t ignore the timeless simplicity of the slightly worn Palisade Point resort on Lake Superior’s North Shore. There he meets two very different sisters, Ann and Roxie Martini, who are both attracted to Owen for different reasons. Tragedy strikes even before he’s hired on. The summer unfolds in a series of life-altering events that put the Martini family and its cherished Palisade Point squarely in the crosshairs of corporate interests. Soon, the sisters find themselves vulnerable and alone, with only a new friend to trust.
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“Guadeloupe”
Short story featured in From the Depths, published by Haunted Waters Press, 2021.
Click to view John's interview with Haunted Waters Press
Click to view John's interview You, Defined by Alyssa Kreutzfeldt
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“Cap Gun”
Short story featured in Tin Can Literary Review, published by Haunted Waters Press, 2021.
“Forward Motion”
Short story featured in From the Depths, published by Haunted Waters Press, 2014.
“What About This One?”
Short Story published as a Top 25 finalist in the Santa Fe Writers Project national fiction awards, 2009.
“The Same Prairie Grass”
Short story featured in Alligator Juniper, literary journal published annually by Prescott
College (AZ), 2009.
Meet John Jensvold - CanvasRebel Magazine
We were lucky to catch up with John Jensvold recently and have shared our conversation below. John, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have…
Testimonials
John Jensvold’s debut novel demonstrates he is an accomplished storyteller. Until the Big Water Takes Them plays out across a region undergoing rapid social and economic transformation – with unforeseen and at times tragic consequences. Jensvold’s novel grips a reader from the first chapter to the last.
~(Professor) Thomas Saylor, Concordia University—St Paul, author of Minnesota’s Greatest Generation and Minnesota in the ‘70s
In his beautifully crafted novel Until the Big Water Takes Them, John Jensvold brings the Minnesota landscape and the tensions of family and industry to life. The majestic landscape and eminent figures who explored, wrote about, and cultivated this vibrant, volatile terrain not only loom large, but function as characters with whom everyone must respect and contend. Until the Big Water Takes Them is a gorgeous novel with a propulsive story that readers will not want to put down.
~Aaron Tillman, author of Consolation Miracles and Every Single Bone in My Brain