Summer 2025: New works from SPU alumni
By Alumni Staff
We love learning about recent books by SPU alumni authors. Over the years, alumni have written books that span a wide range of genres 鈥� including theology and devotionals, poetry, nonfiction, fiction, children鈥檚 literature, and more. In case you missed them, here are a few recent titles by your fellow alums:
Faith Matters: The Ebb and Flow of Unstoppable Hope
(On the Tracks Media, 2024)
Although Greg Asimakoupoulos 鈥�74, SPU鈥檚 Alumni Ambassador, retired after more than four decades in pastoral ministry, he continues to preach across the country, write weekly newspaper columns, and blog at . A prolific author and poet of more than 17 books, he blends personal stories and spiritual insight in Faith Matters, a devotional that highlights God鈥檚 presence in both the ordinary and extraordinary. It鈥檚 an invitation to rediscover God鈥檚 guidance and grace each day. .
Commodore Rookery
(Finishing Line Press, 2025)
In this poetry collection, Christy Barnes MFA 鈥�13 reflects on new motherhood and finding unexpected solace in daily visits to a blue heron colony with her infant son. Her poems in Commodore Rookery weave together fairy tales, dreams, early morning feedings, and the quiet moments of becoming a parent. .
Tsimshian Eagle: A Culture Bearer's Journey
(Chin Music Press Inc., 2023)
David Boxley 鈥�74 began his career as a high school teacher 鈥� but today, his classroom spans the globe. A Tsimshian carver from Metlakatla, Alaska, David is now a world-renowned artist with totem poles on display at Disney World, the Memphis Zoo, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. In Tsimshian Eagle, David shares his story through images and interviews, chronicling a lifelong mission to preserve and share Tsimshian culture through art. .
Where Is Sheep 100? A Skip-Counting Story 海角网 the Good Shepherd鈥檚 Love
(B&H Publishing, 2025)
In her newest book, Where Is Sheep 100?, Susie Sonntag Crosby 鈥�89 invites young children to learn 鈥渟kip-counting鈥� while discovering the tender love of the Good Shepherd. A 海角网-area kindergarten teacher, Susie also wrote the devotionals Lighthearted 100-Day Devotional (B&H Books, 2024) and Just One Word: 90 Devotions to Invite Jesus In (Credo House Publishers, 2023). .
The Long Invisible
(Wildhouse Poetry, 2024)
In this collection, Michael Dechane MFA 鈥�18 explores broken relationships, personal transformation, and the possibility of renewal. A native Floridian, Michael included poems in The Long Invisible that are set in locations that have shaped him: the Gulf Coast, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the mountains of western North Carolina, where he now lives. , and hear Michael read from his collection.
Dancing 海角网 Architecture Is a Reasonable Thing to Do: Writing 海角网 Music, Meaning, and the Ineffable
(Cascade Books, 2022)
In Dancing 海角网 Architecture Is a Reasonable Thing to Do, Joel Heng Hartse 鈥�03 looks at the relationship between music and writing, arguing that both are part of our deeper need to make meaning 鈥� connecting music with love, belief, and language. Joel is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. His other books include the academic writing guide TL;DR: A Very Brief Guide to Reading and Writing in University (On Campus, 2023) and Sects, Love, and Rock & Roll (Cascade Books, 2010), a memoir of Christian rock fandom. .
City Nave: Poems
(Resource Publications, 2024)
Betsy Brown McClelland MFA 鈥�15 draws on her years at SPU and beyond in this reflective poetry collection. In City Nave, Betsy explores the architecture of both the built world and the inner life 鈥� cathedrals and airports, sonnets and memory 鈥� all as spaces shaped by longing, story, and faith. .
A Desert Between Two Seas
(University of Georgia Press, 2025)
Winner of the 2024 Flannery O鈥機onnor Award for Short Fiction, this debut novel in linked stories by Amy Muia MA-TESOL 鈥�97, MFA 鈥�21 follows two grief-stricken characters 鈥� a defrocked priest and a woman trying to outrun her violent reputation 鈥� through the abandoned 19th century Spanish missions of Baja California. Amy鈥檚 award-winning book is a mythic exploration of guilt, redemption, and grace across landscapes, villages, and decades. .
Hymns of Joy and Grace, Piano Settings for the Church Year (Volume 3)
(Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2024)
Sylvia Berg Oines 鈥�75, the organist at 海角网鈥檚 Bethany Presbyterian Church since 2000, arranged the hymns in Hymns of Joy and Grace, a three-volume collection published by Augsburg Fortress. Volume 3, released in 2024, features piano settings for the church year, while Volumes 1 and 2 鈥� focusing on music for Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter 鈥� were released in 2022. .
A Day in the Life of a Chaplain: Bringing Grace and Hope to Hurting People
(Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2022)
In A Day in the Life of a Chaplain, Rick Rood 鈥�72 shares stories from 23 years of hospital chaplaincy, offering gentle wisdom and practical insight for walking with others through pain, uncertainty, and loss. The book echoes the theme of grace that shaped his earlier memoir, Our Story ... His Story (Xulon Press, 2015), in which he reflected on the 19-year journey he shared with his first wife, Polly Howard Rood 鈥�72, following her Huntington鈥檚 disease diagnosis. Together, these works reflect Rick鈥檚 deep calling to care for others with hope and compassion. .
Are you an SPU alumni and author 鈥� or do you know an SPU alum who is?
We love celebrating books by fellow SPU alums! Share your latest book news, and we鈥檒l include your news now in the SPU . We鈥檒l also consider it for a future edition of SPU alumni author highlights. Add your news here: .
This article first appeared in the 2025 summer issue of Connections.