Winona State University will host alumnus and author Brian Krans at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, on the first floor of the Darrell W. Krueger Library for a book reading and signing of his third novel, Assault Rifles & Pedophiles: An American Love Story.
Intertwining his experiences working retail and reporting for newspapers, Krans writes his own version of a classic love story. He describes the book as “[skipping] along the boundary separating fact from fiction, hoping to tell a story so believable it must be untrue.
“It is my cathartic release from working too many years pushing carts and not enough writing for newspapers,” said Krans.
In a review, John Vivian, WSU mass communication professor, describes the book: “A cops and courts reporter unwittingly discovers a new beat: celebrity suicide. And amid his scoops lies a troubling dark side that novelist Brian Krans explores in Assault Rifles & Pedophiles. Inside a masterfully developed plot with more unexpected twists than a Quentin Tarantino movie, madness everywhere in a world verging on apocalypse, the question becomes what any individual can do anything about it. In the midst of the chaos of it all, Krans’ central characters, the reporter and his celebrity lover, find a way.”
Krans graduated from WSU in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication with an emphasis in journalism. During his reporting career he has covered topics from Hurricane Katrina to homicide to the politics of antibiotic resistance to the health benefits of a Disney princess’ twerking routine. His work has been published by numerous outlets including The Radvocate, Be-Mag, Wired, Charged, The Huffington Post, Yahoo! News, Fox News, and BladeorDie.com. Originally from Wisconsin, he now resides in Oakland, Calif.
For more information on the event, contact John Vivian or Kendall Larson.
