The international non-profit indie book organization, Next Generation Short Story Awards, has named my short story "What Child is This" the winner of their 2024 Family & Parenting category. It's an honor that they chose my story considering the ambivalence and regrets of parenting - a point of view not often seen. The story will appear in their anthology of winners, to be available soon on Amazon. Thanks, NGSA!
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I just released the Ruriksaga on the 14th of May. It's a companion volume to the 4 fantasy mystery novels starring Edward Aethelredson already available. Here's the link to the whole series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCKWZKYQ From Book 1: “Rob mixes intrigue, murder, and magic into his own cool blend.” – Larry Correia
Edward sought a future of honor and hope, but only got murder and mayhem. He came to the Empire of Makhaira to join the Imperial Guard, who admit only the best. Instead, he pledges his sword—and his life—to an innkeeper rather than the emperor. In a land known for intricate plots and ancestral enmities, the empire’s corruption seeks to end his life with knives in the night and hidden treachery. And he must face these blades while memories of a father slain, a king defied, and oaths broken threaten his soul. Can he find the one bringing schism, death, and hate before that steel tastes his blood? Or will be just another who came to the empire to lose everything? I am writing local history articles for The Saint Francis Herald. My first article about The Howard T Sawhill park and bandshell was published on the front page of the newspaper May 9th, 2024!! I have several more articles to come. Congratulations, Sheree!
With the contest in full swing, member Roy Stucky shares a revised edition of his half of the February 2020 D5 presentation with Roy Beckemeyer. Both Roys are frequent entrants winning many prizes in the annual Kansas Authors Club Literary Contest. Competition is life for authors. There is a finite pool of readers. More finite the less pornographic the work. At the same time, we strive to honor authorship's rich tradition. This puts authors under tension. The rich tradition demands an honest yet creative expression of life as reflected in your soul. Conversely, the marketplace demands we tickle the fancy. Potential responses are predictable. Pursue market and scorn art. We call that pandering. Pursue art and sneer at market. We call that starving. Being all market or all art is simpleminded. The road divides the ditches. Solitary effort and community feedback are both essential to the deft hand required to hold to the road. Enter the Kansas Authors Club (KAC) literary contest. The road between pandering and starving is difficult because ditches trap us. The literary contest embodies the requisite balance. While open to expression, the categories are nothing like formless. The judge and competition demand structural accuracy and creative interpretation in each contest category. The literary contest provides authors a proving ground. If you spurn the category rules the judge will return the favor. If you slavishly follow the rules, competitors will expose your lack of imagination. . . . Also from Roy:
The blog item above it, Zero Draft, is a small description of my method to avoid either failing of the wild-but-messy or the neat-but-dull. Sunday, May 19, 2:00 PM Red Rocks State Historic Site 927 Exchange Street, Emporia, KS Writing & Publishing Creative Nonfiction Presentation by Tracy Million Simmons Meadowlark Press & 105 Meadowlark Reader Tour Red Rocks FREE in 2024 Wednesdays through Sundays. EMPORIA, Kansas - “Writing and Publishing Creative Nonfiction” will be presented on Sunday, May 19 at 2 p.m. at Red Rocks State Historic Site, 927 Exchange Street. Tracy Million Simmons, owner and publisher of Meadowlark Press based in Emporia, will present this program focusing on the writing and publishing of creative nonfiction. Simmons, a native of Dodge City, founded Meadowlark Press in Emporia in 2014. In ten years of operation, Meadowlark has brought to print 70 books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Five volumes have been named Kansas Notable Books, one was named a High Plains Book Award winner and three finalists, and many other Meadowlark books have been cited for various awards. “In the beginning, I wanted to build the type of press I was looking for as an author, and as an author, I wanted a partner in the process of publishing. I wanted someone who could answer questions and advise me yet honor my story and my voice.” Simmons explained. “My focus was on writers with whom I shared deep roots, writers from Kansas, voices of the Midwest. Meadowlark publishes prose (fiction and nonfiction) and poetry because the best communities are the ones where all voices are heard. Maybe that’s the vision: to build a community with strong connections between writers and readers.” In 2021, Tracy Simmons as publisher and Cheryl Unruh as editor launched 105 Meadowlark Reader: A Kansas Journal of Creative Nonfiction. The seventh edition of the semiannual journal with the theme of “Intersections” was released this May. The journal aspires to publish writers of true Kansas stories set in or references one or more of the 105 Kansas counties. Simmons characterized the initiative this way, “When Cheryl and I began talking about publishing a journal, we knew we wanted to focus on true stories. We are both essayists, at heart. I think in the end, we both agreed that a publication like 105 Meadowlark Reader would serve our purposes of strengthening the Kansas literary community with a publication where people who were sharing their stories for the first time would be welcomed among more seasoned writers.” “William Allen White was a prolific writer, published in all genres. He was an early member of the Kansas Authors Club, an inaugural judge for the Book-of-the-Month Club, and a true mentor friend to so many writers and journalists.” said Roger Heineken, White Community Partnership program chair. “Editor White would be delighted to know Meadowlark Press is based in his hometown of Emporia.” The Sunday at the Site programs are free, and the public is invited to attend. Donations in support of the site are always appreciated. Tours of the site are free in 2024, Wednesday through Sunday. The William Allen White Community Partnership, Inc. is the local organization that works in cooperation with the Kansas Historical Society to present Red Rocks State Historic Site, the legendary home of the White family. The Partnership helps fund operations of the historic site and, each year, presents a program series to interpret the White family story and associated history. The entire selection of Meadowlark books can be viewed online at meadowlarkbookstore.com. Thursday, May 16, 7:00 p.m. Eighth Day Books 2838 E. Douglas Wichita, Kansas After 50 years of writing poetry, Arlice Davenport is not yet finished: “When I contemplate/this insatiable universe/bulging against its borders/I carefully store my tools/and leave the unfinished unfinished.” He takes his cues from “this insatiable universe” in this, his fourth collection of poems, in pursuit of an ever-receding horizon of completion. For decades editor of the Book and Travel sections of the Wichita Eagle, Arlice will read from In Search of the Sublime and his other books Thursday, May 16, 7:00 p.m., at Eighth Day Books.
Join us on Zoom for this month's program on writing emotion. Ryan Dennis, author of The Beasts They Turned Away and founder of The Milk House, will be presenting from Ireland. We are excited to bring monthly programs to our members across the state (and beyond) via Zoom. Some of our members combine this programming with monthly in-person meetings. Some attend from the comfort of their own homes. Membership in Kansas Authors Club is open to anyone with an interest in writing. All members will also receive the link for attendance in the monthly email newsletter. Presentation Category: Nonfiction, Fiction, Craft (skills and techiniques), Writing, Editing Readers come to a story wanting to feel something. It’s our task as writers to remind them that they’re human and prone to all the complexities of joy and sorrow that comes with that. For better or worse, that doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not enough to simply write about something sad. This workshop will break down techniques essential for delivering emotion within fiction and nonfiction that avoid cliché, melodrama or disengaging the reader. It will focus on preventing pitfalls that are common among beginning and experienced writers, as well as how to deliver prose that are original and stay with the reader once they leave the story. We’ll look at how the whole scene can be used to create emotion, as well as an examination of how to best use interior monologue. Learn more about our presenter: Ryan Dennis Read Ryan's Book:
Barbi Mills Byers, Elizabeth Farnsworth, Jenny Fellows, and Lisa D. Stewart (KAC member from Prairie Village). From Elizabeth's book launch at Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, Sunday, April 21, 2024. Celebrated journalist Elizabeth Farnsworth (PBS Newshour, multiple Emmy nominations) has written her first novella, and it is set in Topeka and the Flint Hills. Last Light is historical fiction inspired by true events. Farnsworth chatted about the history and landscape that inspired her story, writing, and shared anecdotes from her life. Elizabeth had a long career as a foreign correspondent and Jim Lehrer’s substitute anchor on the NewsHour.
More about Last Light: In the summer of 1943, a young woman is hired to interpret for German prisoners of war at a U.S. Army Hospital in Kansas. Harboring dark secrets from her childhood, Isabelle Graham will be forced into a struggle that saves her own life as well as many others in the distant, ongoing war. Last light is a thrilling and moving account of a young woman's courage and determination in the face of seemingly insuperable odds. Elizabeth Farnsworth's full bio: Elizabeth Farnsworth, documentary filmmaker and former chief correspondent of the PBS NewsHour, has written for publications ranging from The Nation Magazine to Foreign Policy. Her memoir, A Train Through Time: A Life, Real and Imagined, was published by Counterpoint Press in 2017. Farnsworth’s documentary, The Judge and the General, co-produced with Patricio Lanfranco, premiered at the 2008 San Francisco Film Festival and aired on POV (PBS) and other networks around the world. As a print reporter and for television, she has covered crises in Iraq, Cambodia, Vietnam, Botswana, Chile, Peru, Haiti, Iraq, Iran, and Israel, among other countries. Farnsworth grew up in Topeka, Kansas, where her ancestors were pioneers. She graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College and earned an M.A. in Latin American History from Stanford University. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Washburn University (2021) and Colby College (2002). She has received three national Emmy nominations and the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award, often considered the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, which is also administered by Columbia University. Farnsworth serves on the advisory board of the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of Law, and the advisory committee of the World Affairs Council of Northern California. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, retired attorney Charles E. Farnsworth. They have two children and six grandchildren. Last Light was published by Flint Hills Publishing, owned by Thea Rademacher, Kansas Authors Club member. Poetry that warms the heart in places where the sun forgot to shine. With eloquent finesse, Irsik explores the bonds between mothers, friends, and nature. Inviting readers to discover the divine in life’s smallest moments, Irsik provides a heartfelt connection to the human spirit to brighten the hidden corners..
In a collection dedicated to her younger self, D.A. Irsik shares words that evoke images of life, love, and belonging. … a nostalgic look at how the simple parts of life are, in the end, most important. —Curtis Becker, author of My Second Act and Greetings from Topeka. Sunshine in the Weeds is a lyrical odyssey into the human heart, where love, faith, and nature intertwine. … a journey from shadows to sunshine. … Her poetry gives emotional flight to those precious single life moments between mothers and daughters, mothers and sons and close friends and family members. Irsik’s poetry warms the heart in places where the sun has forgotten to shine. —Liz Martel … While the vast array of poems in Irsik’s collection reflect sunshine, she shares a smattering of weeds that allude to darker aspects of a woman who, while looking outward, comes to better understand the internal. —Ronda Miller, author of five poetry books including MoonStain, and the award winning children’s book, I Love the Child. With an honest and heartfelt voice, D. A. Irsik explores the dimensions of faith, loss, personal accountability, wonder of nature and creativity … the overall theme the reader is left with is the spark of magic, the sense of possibility and sorrow that can be found in the mundane. —Brenda White, author of Blue Collar Saint, which won the Kansas Notable Book in 2022. She also has been published in 105 Meadowlark Reader and the Write Bridge. … Irsik’s evocative words honestly portray the rawness and despair of grief, yet leave the reader with her personal sense of hope, encouraging each of us to take a little gut-check of our lives right here, right now. —Marcia Lawrence, journalist, photographer, stockbroker, editor, corn de-tasseler, musician, and mom. She is a lifelong scholar of regional history, an author, and a passionate researcher. Thank you, D.A. Irsik for sharing your sunshine. This deeply personal gift reflects the giver: thoughtful, generous, kind, motherly, beautiful in word and in fact. Your devotion to life and love glows in every word. —Jerilynn Jones Henrikson, has produced eight books for kids, a humorous memoir, a YA novel, and a creative nonfiction novella Lots has happened since last Aug. I've rejoined the Civil Air Patrol and have several specialty tracts. I'm serving on the Wing Staff as Asst. Director of Communications. I have additional duty as Director of Public Affairs for Group 2. I get to use my writing skills here. I also serve as a Ground Team Leader and aid in Blood runs and other emergencies. I kept my flight status a Master Observer. Carrot Ranch posted my response to two prompts, Adirondack Center for Writing posted three. One poem (Luna One) was published in The Write Bridge: Solitude and Solidarity, and another (Abandon Houses) was posted on Spillwords.com. Lothlorian Poetry Journal, print vol 31 – 5 poems, The Wise Owl 1 poem (Full Surprise) in the April issue and (One Special Day) in May, plus podcasts of each of those poems. Lothlorian Poetry Journal – short story: 'Felix and Ahmed: Conquaerere and Educare.' And, today (3 May) MasticadoresUSA posted my short story: Missing Mother.
Writing From the Center Zine Submissions April 10 - May 31, 2024 The guidlines have been updated to include the following note: work submitted to the Zine in 2024 is also eligible for the 2024 Kansas Authors Club writing contest, as the zine will not be publicly available until convention time. It is also true that pieces published in the zine in 2024, would not be eligible for the contest in 2025.
Friends,
Here's my latest publication just out on April 17th on Spillwords.com, an excerpt from my memoir now being shopped by my agent. The subject is war and humanity's unavoidable attraction to it. Quite, sadly, apropos today. Do have a look! https://spillwords.com/the-inescapable-redundancy-of-war/ Be well all, Mark Dugan’s poetry collection, A Record of Change, is a tapestry woven with the threads of age, love, and the poignant weight of loss. The author’s words remind us that vulnerability is the wellspring from which true metamorphosis emerges. Join Dugan on a voyage, where the soul’s evolution is illuminated through powerful writing that challenges, heals, and ultimately celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. "Attuned to the bluesy frequency of both inner and outer life, Dugan gives us a prescription. In this case, it is his poems—full of grit and softness, darkness and light. Give it a listen. It will help." —Kevin Rabas, Poet Laureate of Kansas (2017-2019), Improvise Dugan’s debut collection explores the evolution of the soul when age can no longer be used as an excuse not to change or when the pain becomes too great to remain the same. These poems reflect the rigorous self-examination it takes to reinvent yourself. Through love, grief, and loss The author does this, while never losing sight of his collective humanness. Roy Stucky has been a member of Kansas Authors Club since 2017. He has served on the state board and as a leader at the district level. Roy is currently publishing with Barnes & Noble Press. 2010 - Transapparent: A Novel for Three-Dimensional Christians (a literary novel) Follow people lost upon the flat Earth of human wisdom to their encounter with Jesus alive in all dimensions. These layers speak in lyrics as well as prose. Though He accepts the simple, God is not simple. "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Matthew 10:16 It was an age when everything was known but nothing understood. Choices multiplied; decisions withered. Roadblocks were shattered but the maps were burned. In such an age, our own, the traveler found it easy to move but hard to arrive. In such an age, our own, truth was worshiped yet denied. This is the story of a search for the foundation in a land where all bedrock had been pounded into sand. This is the story of a restoration. 2018- Truth War: A Play In Three Acts (a stage play) Enter the history of a nation destroyed by civil war. The point of conflict? The nature of T(t)ruth. 2019 - Library Dog: A Novel for Gifted Youth (a teen novel) Fraternal twins are surprised to meet a dog who lives in the local library. Their ideas about intelligence, and its limits, will be transformed. 2022 - Revelation: Keycode of the Bible (theology) Revelation's multitude of cross-references weave it firmly into the context of the Bible. This Revelation keycode unlocks the plan God hid in plain sight throughout the Word. Most of this book is Scripture text. No need to look up hundreds of related verses. This book displays cross-reference passages right after their Revelation verse. All you need do is read and understand. Instead of a "sword drill", focus on the patterns of Revelation's Biblical context. Revelation can key a core study of the entire Bible. 2023 - Dragons Drown and Other Musicals (stage plays) Four Musicals: Dragons Drown, Grounded, Every Sixty Seconds, Six of Me 2023 - Per Eyewitness: A Novel of Jesus (historic novel) A Novel of Jesus drawn from a harmonization of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. No single Gospel conveys the full richness pictured in the Bible, an intensity beyond any invention two thousand years after the eyewitnesses were murdered for their testimony. Authors bent on "fixing" this testimony take away but even worse add things of their own. Let Jesus speak. 2023 - Sans Taboo: Poems by Roy Stucky (poetry) Works in this volume are disdained by modern poetry for the crime of rhythm and rhyme. Far worse, in some eyes, many works also prize the Lordship of Jesus the Christ. Beware. Here there be outlaws. Jeanice lives outside Clearwater, KS. She has this to say about herself and her writing: I have had works published, mostly poetry, and I am currently attempting to get a poetry collection (or maybe two) published. I write pieces of creative nonfiction in addition to poetry. I also have the bones of a book about modern dying, death, grief, and eulogy, but it has been a bit side-tracked by life and work. I inherited my small family farm a couple of years ago and my husband and I are building a small home on the property. I teach composition, creative nonfiction, and poetry writing at a small regional university in Claremore, Oklahoma (and yes, it is a long commute). I am also working on creating a website, but that will have to be added later! Thank you so much for making me feel welcome! Welcome, Jeanice - we're glad to have you!
Members will receive the link to attend this program via zoom in their monthly email newsletters. The link is also available on the Member Pages of this website, sign-in required. Please plan to sign on to Zoom a few minutes early. We start our programs right on time! Purple Doesn't Look Good on Anyone: How to Write Emotion Presentation Category: Nonfiction, Fiction, Craft (skills and techiniques), Writing, Editing Readers come to a story wanting to feel something. It’s our task as writers to remind them that they’re human and prone to all the complexities of joy and sorrow that comes with that. For better or worse, that doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not enough to simply write about something sad. This workshop will break down techniques essential for delivering emotion within fiction and nonfiction that avoid cliché, melodrama or disengaging the reader. It will focus on preventing pitfalls that are common among beginning and experienced writers, as well as how to deliver prose that are original and stay with the reader once they leave the story. We’ll look at how the whole scene can be used to create emotion, as well as an examination of how to best use interior monologue. Ryan Dennis is the author of The Beasts They Turned Away, published by époque press. The Irish Times described the novel as “a demanding debut, dense and dark, but ultimately rewarding in its strange beauty.” His work has appeared in various literary journals and he is a syndicated columnist for agricultural print periodicals in four countries and two languages. He is also a Fulbright alumnus and PhD in creative writing, and has taught at the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd, the National University of Ireland Galway and Maynooth University.
In addition to exploring the dynamics of rural life in literature, Ryan also seeks to serve those communities more directly. In 2020 he founded The Milk House, an initiative to showcase the work of those writing on rural subjects in order to help them find greater audiences. Born on a farm in New York State but now living in the West of Ireland, he has been featured in numerous rural publications and programs, such as The Irish Farmers Journal and RTE’s Countrywide, addressing agricultural policy concerns. In 2021-2022 Ryan was selected as a Writer-in-Residence at Maynooth University. As part of the residency, he created and edited Voices from the Land, a collection of short stories, essays and poems by Irish farmers. Patrick lives in Topeka with his wife Lisa; they have three adult children. Here's what Patrick has to say:
I grew up in the heart of wrestling country in northern Iowa and have been a wrestling enthusiast since my earliest memories (think high school, college, Olympics, and not the chair-throwing, predetermined outcome type of wrestling). I was introduced to the sport early and competed throughout my college years. Along the way, I read about every book about the sport and kept up with current happenings by subscribing to wrestling magazines and reading daily newspaper articles. After college, I became a teacher and coach. In the fall of 2024, I will embark on my thirtieth year in the classroom. In 2022 I retired from coaching at the high school level and began to devote more time to researching and writing about the sport, which I have dabbled in through the years. I have written articles for several wrestling publications and currently write a monthly article for WIN Magazine, a nationally circulated wrestling publication. Shortly after my coaching retirement, I began researching the Kansas State University wrestling program, which operated from 1922 until it was dropped in 1975. I found the stats and stories fascinating and worthy of a broader audience. I am putting the final touches on the manuscript of a book with a working title of The Undertold Story of Kanas State University Wrestling. I look for it to be out in late fall 2024. Let us know when the book is out and we'll post a Member Book News notice here! Welcome, Patrick. The recording of the April program is now available for viewing by members at this link. (Member sign-on required.) This video will be available until replaced by the March program recording. JOIN US IN MAYMay 18, 2024
Purple Doesn't Look Good on Anyone: How to Write Emotion Presenter: Ryan Dennis Location: Zoom Presentation Category: Nonfiction, Fiction, Craft (skills and techiniques), Writing, Editing Readers come to a story wanting to feel something. It’s our task as writers to remind them that they’re human and prone to all the complexities of joy and sorrow that comes with that. For better or worse, that doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not enough to simply write about something sad. This workshop will break down techniques essential for delivering emotion within fiction and nonfiction that avoid cliché, melodrama or disengaging the reader. It will focus on preventing pitfalls that are common among beginning and experienced writers, as well as how to deliver prose that are original and stay with the reader once they leave the story. We’ll look at how the whole scene can be used to create emotion, as well as an examination of how to best use interior monologue. Ryan Dennis is the author of The Beasts They Turned Away, published by époque press. The Irish Times described the novel as “a demanding debut, dense and dark, but ultimately rewarding in its strange beauty.” His work has appeared in various literary journals and he is a syndicated columnist for agricultural print periodicals in four countries and two languages. He is also a Fulbright alumnus and PhD in creative writing, and has taught at the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd, the National University of Ireland Galway and Maynooth University. In addition to exploring the dynamics of rural life in literature, Ryan also seeks to serve those communities more directly. In 2020 he founded The Milk House, an initiative to showcase the work of those writing on rural subjects in order to help them find greater audiences. Born on a farm in New York State but now living in the West of Ireland, he has been featured in numerous rural publications and programs, such as The Irish Farmers Journal and RTE’s Countrywide, addressing agricultural policy concerns. In 2021-2022 Ryan was selected as a Writer-in-Residence at Maynooth University. As part of the residency, he created and edited Voices from the Land, a collection of short stories, essays and poems by Irish farmers. Arlice W. Davenport, a member of District 5 of the Kansas Authors Club, will read from, comment on, and sign copies of his most recent book from Meadowlark Press, In Search of the Sublime. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 16 at Eighth Day Books, 2838 E. Douglas Ave., Wichita, KS.
Sublime is Davenport's fourth work from Meadowlark Press and his most ambitious to date. Drawing on the words of William Wordsworth, one of his favorite English Romantic poets, Davenport explores four themes: searching for the sublime in the self, Old World Europe, Nature's Kingdom, and the new worldview he has acquired from decades of travel around the globe. He is the author of three other poetry collections from Meadowlark Press: Setting the Waves on Fired, Everlasting: Poems, Kind of Blue:New Poems. Davenport is the retired Books editor and Travel editor for The Wichita Eagle newspaper in Wichita, Kansas. As Books editor, he was a strong advocate for reviewing major names in poetry, including W. S. Merwin and Marvin Bell, whom he interviewed for features stories and, of course, reviews. You can reach him at arliced@yahoo.com. |
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