Dave Wilkinson

Witchgrass: a Pipe Dream Dave Wilkinson

Publisher Marketing: New novel lampoons Drug War. WITCHGRASS: a pipe dream, a novel by Dave Wilkinson portrays shattered lives and conflicted families as a New England town splits apart. What if a Vietnam helicopter suddenly landed in your back yard? The town of New Salem, Maine faces an invasion of military operations, secret spies and child-parent betrayal that sets a peaceful rural county spinning. Carolyn Chute, author of best-selling The Beans of Egypt, Maine, "cry-laughed and laugh-cried through a book more important than most of what they give kids to read in school." Witchgrass: a pipe dream sweeps the reader into a quiet world turned upside down by the War on Drugs. An afternoon invasion becomes a multi-faceted dramedy as marijuana-hunting helicopters cause confusion and panic one summer during the early 1990s. School children, sheriffs, professors and prosecutors play their parts in a story about one of America's major social issues. Emotions boil in the culture clash over cannabis, a matter which divides parent from child, employee from company, husband from wife. As the story comes to its unexpected and riotous climax, Maine in the Bush One era becomes a positive vision of future enlightenment. In its non-judgmental portrayal of cannabis users, this novel brightens the image of much-maligned pot smokers. Contributor Bio:  Wilkinson, Dave Author Dave Wilkinson studied photography in the 1960s with the late Minor White. Starting in a camera shop in 1964, photography led Wilkinson to publication in Aperture magazine and several exhibitions. His professional career covers a wide range of journalism, including a year with the landmark Maine Times, campus photography, advertising and fine art. In 2007, with Producer Marilyn Taylor, Wilkinson created incredibleMAINE, a half-hour weekly TV show on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. He has twice been Emmy nominated for Directing the award-winning show. His first novel "WITCHGRASS: A Pipe Dream" gained a wide readership and many positive reviews. Workshop is his fourth novel.