M.A. Kleen

After taking a break from my website for the past several years, as life and a pandemic got in the way of regular posts on this site and my ability to go out and explore our wonderful country, I began to re-engage this year and post regular (if not infrequent) content.

I wrote and published 61 posts and articles on my website this year. These were some of my (and your) favorites:

• Cross-Carryin’ Men: Itinerant Preachers at EIU. May 29, 2024. Over the years, I’ve written several posts reminiscing about the interesting places and events that I experienced during my time at Eastern Illinois University, but I’ve seldom written about the people. This article about our campus preachers received a lot of Facebook comments and a respectable 286 views this year.
• Untran’s Last Stand. June 16, 2024. I rarely write fiction, but I’ve been a longtime fan of the Battletech franchise and a few years ago I decided to try my hand at writing a story set in that universe and submitting it to their quarterly magazine, Shrapnel. After waiting over two years for a response, my submission was ultimately rejected. So I posted it to my website and it’s gotten over 425 views, probably more than it would have if it was published in Shrapnel.
• Thoughts on an Attempted Assassination. July 14, 2024. Among the most dramatic and, frankly, frightening events in a wild and chaotic presidential election year was the attempted assassination of then candidate Donald Trump. I haven’t written much commentary lately, but this event moved me to put hands to keyboard and express my hopes that we can all step back from the brink.
• Navigating Stalin’s Paranoia in HOI IV. September 3, 2024. Turning to less serious topics, this guide to mastering a Soviet mini-game in Hearts of Iron IV didn’t get much attention when I posted it, but has since garnered a steady stream of views. My Hearts of Iron IV series from 2017 is still among my most popular content and I hoped to recapture some of that interest.

• New Orleans Ghosts, Voodoo, and Vampires. October 16, 2024. This article was partly a book review, partly a trip down memory lane about my visit to New Orleans as a high school senior in the year 2000. It didn’t get much attention, but it’s near the top of my personal list of this year’s favorites.
• Growing Up in the Stacks: Memories of the Des Plaines Public Library. December 18, 2024. I wrote and published this article earlier this month and it already has over 445 views. It received over 442 likes and 130 comments in the Facebook group Des Plaines People Memories and was shared by the official Des Plaines Public Library page. I really enjoyed writing this one and hope to add more recollections to it in the future.

Somehow I also had time earlier this year to publish a new book, Fading Corners & Abandoned Images. It is a 98-page hardcover, full-color book filled with over 200 unique images from all over the United States, including Arizona, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Georgia, and Florida. Plus a few photos from Canada and even Iraq! Many of the locations in this book no longer exist, except for these photographs. Order now at Amazon

Thanks again for your readership and support over the years. My goal is to keep writing in 2025 and bring even more content and regular posts to this site. Happy New Year’s and I look forward to interacting with you and sharing our lives and memories!