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Ann H. Gabhart
ANN H. GABHART has been called a storyteller. With 39 published books, the title fits. Ann wraps her stories around Kentucky historical times and settings. She’s written about Shakers in The Outsider and others, explored Appalachian history for These Healing Hills, An Appalachian Summer and Along a Storied Trail, mined family history for Angel Sister, Scent of Lilacs, and more. In her recent release, In the Shadow of the River, she dropped her characters down on a showboat on the Ohio River. For her 2024 release, Ann headed back to the Appalachian Mountains for The Song of Sourwood Mountain. Publisher’s Weekly says, “Gabhart sensitively portrays both the challenges of mountain life—poverty, harsh weather, disease—and the heart and warmth of this hardscrabble community.” Ann keeps her keyboard warm on her Kentucky farm where her dogs, Frankie and Marley, make sure she gets plenty of exercise. Find more at www.annhgabhart.com.
Featured Book
The doors she thought were closed forever are starting to open up . . . just a crack
Though the century began with such promise, a few years later Mira Dean’s hopes of being a wife and mother are dashed to pieces. Her fiancé dead from tuberculosis, Mira resigns herself to being a spinster schoolteacher—until Gordon Covington shows up.
No longer the boy she knew from school, Gordon is now a preacher who is full of surprises. First, he asks Mira to come to Sourwood in Eastern Kentucky to teach at his mission school. Second, he asks her to marry him. Just like that.
With much trepidation, Mira steps out in faith into a life she never imagined, in a place filled with its own special challenges, to serve a people who just might end up becoming the family she always yearned for.
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William F Carman
Bill Carman is a hunting and fishing guide and award-winning outdoor writer. His stories have appeared in numerous outdoor magazines, and he won the national Outdoor Life Book Club short story contest. He has written three books of hunting and fishing essays and authored a true crime book, Saving Noah, set in a small town in Kentucky. His latest
book, Fishing with Daniel Boone, takes the reader on a fly fisherman’s journey to the rivers and streams of Daniel Boone’s life. Bill regularly conducts outdoor skills workshops, and he teaches outdoor writing at the Carnegie Center. He and his wife live in Lexington, Kentucky where he is teaching his grandchildren the ways of the woods. Bill can be reached at www.kentuckywildoutdoors.com.
Featured Book
Fishing with Daniel Boone- Fly Fishing the Streams of an American Hero is an immersion in both the life and lore of one of America's greatest pioneers, and the quest of a modern fly fisherman to experience the streams Boone explored. Follow the author on his multi-state journey as he casts flies to hungry fish while surrounded by the woods and waters where Daniel Boone trekked, hunted, fought, and eventually died.
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Carol June Franks
As a recently retired teacher, I'm very excited to begin a new adventure as a children's book author. Even as a child, I always loved writing. However, I didn't "become a writer" until I participated in the Louisville Writing Project's Summer Institute. Those four weeks impacted my teaching more than any other professional development. I learned about myself as a writer, I learned to share ideas with fellow teachers, and I learned how to write along with my students. When I asked my students to write a certain genre, I tried it out alongside them. I shared my ideas, my thinking, my struggles, and let them give me feedback. Thus, I modeled a writing process of brainstorming, drafting, sharing, revising, editing and publishing. Overall, I learned to become a better writing teacher by writing with my students.
My 25 years as an educator included middle school science and language arts teacher, middle school literacy coach, literacy consultant at the Kentucky Department of Education, and middle school reading interventionist.
Because I am a teacher at heart, I want to do more than simply write children's books. I want to incorporate ideas that parents and teachers can use to strengthen children's reading and writing ability. My experience as a writing teacher and a reading interventionist helps me do just that. I am a firm believer that picture books are a perfect venue for improving reading and writing for students of all ages.
I live in smalltown Bagdad, Kentucky, with my husband, Ken, and our two dogs, Duke and Winnie. Our son, Kenny, works in the world of tech and lives too far away to suit me in California.
When I'm not writing, I can be found gardening, reading, hiking with friends, walking with Duke and Winnie, being at my church, hanging out with my family and friends, cleaning old cemetery headstones, and learning new hobbies. There is just so much God has given me to enjoy!
Featured Book
Enjoy the thrill of a sled ride down Unrue Street! Jump on your sled and soon feel giant snowflakes against your face and the rattle of your sled bouncing up and over the bumps on the icy path. Let the story’s rhyme and repetition engage you in a cadence that moves you along as the main character in the story.
On a snow-lit night
filled with laughter and snowball fights
and neighborhood kids bundled tight,
take your sled for a ride
down Unrue Street.
Hiruni’s illustrations, vividly created in brilliant watercolor, give readers a nostalgic experience with snowy nighttime scenes. Her whimsical style brings the story to life and catches the eye of readers of all ages.
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Catherine, aka Cathy Perkins
Catherine Perkins (she/her), semi-retired Thoroughbred trainer, part-time zero-turn mower operator, horse crossing guard, stand-up comedian and full time poet, is the author of "Udder Uproar," Accents Publishing 2024. "Udder Uproar" is a small collection of entertaining, often humorous, sometimes bawdy or risqué poetry.
Featured Book
Udder Uproar is Cathy Perkins's debut collection of humorous poems. Courageous, bawdy at times, but always unapologetic, the poems in this book surprise and entertain the reader with their mixture of frankness and vulnerability.
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Chris Helvey
Chris Helvey is an award winning short-story writer, a poet, and a novelist. The author of more than a dozen novels and multiple short-story collections, Chris’ latest novel, Revolution, was recently released by Wings ePress, and is available in both paperback and e-book formats on Amazon. A founding member of the Bluegrass Writers Coalition, he is also editor-in-chief and publisher of Trajectory Journal.
Featured Book
A realistic, honest, and exquisitely detailed look at a revolt of an oppressed people in a small Latin American country, Revolution pulls no punches and takes no prisoners. It's a novel you won't want to put down and one you'll never forget.
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Ginny Patrick
Ginny Patrick is the pen name for Virginia Smith, award winning author of more than fifty novels and many shorter works. As Virginia Smith, Ginny writes in a variety of styles, from lighthearted relationship stories to breath-snatching suspense. Two of her novels have received a Holt Medallion Award of Merit. She writes under the pen name Ginny Patrick to distinguish her fantasy stories from her real-world works.
Ginny serves on the World Fantasy Convention Board of Directors, and as president of Bluegrass Writers Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting literacy and a love of literature in her home state of Kentucky. She and her husband live in central Kentucky with a barky Maltese named Max. Learn more at www.virginiasmith.org.
Featured Book
The fate of three kingdoms lies in the hands of one lonely young woman.
The Brotherhood of Power is dedicated to training those throughout the Twin Kingdoms who possess the rare ability to transform the very substance of physical matter. For centuries this power has been found only in boys - until a member of the Brotherhood visits a remote mountain village.
Orphaned as an infant, Arien instinctively learned to hide the abilities that marked her as different from everyone she's ever known. The discovery of others who share her gift offers her a hope she never dreamed possible. Could she find a home among those who are like her? But her hopes are dashed when she arrives at the Hall of the Brotherhood. The inflexible men who lead the powerful and formidable institution will never accept a girl. Once again, Arien is a peculiarity, an oddity who doesn't fit in.
When a smuggler arrives at the king's palace with a covert message, Arien is called upon to use her power to save the Twin Kingdoms from attack by a hostile empire. Her assignment will put her deepest desire within reach. But she must choose between her longing for acceptance and her duty to the king. Between the family she craves and the people she has come to love.
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Virginia Smith
Virginia Smith is the bestselling author of more than fifty novels (and counting!), two illustrated children’s books, and many articles and short stories. An avid reader with eclectic tastes in fiction, Ginny writes in a variety of styles, from lighthearted relationship stories to breath-snatching suspense. Her books have been named finalists in many international awards. Two of her novels have received a Holt Medallion Award of Merit. The first book in the highly successful Goose Creek series, The Most Famous Illegal Goose Creek Parade, was Library Journal’s top pick of the month, and a finalist for the prestigious Bookseller’s Best Award.
In addition to writing, Ginny is an inspirational speaker and frequent presenter at schools and conferences. Her speaking ability, groomed through years of presenting dry material to bored corporate employees, has been described as entertaining, energetic, and informative. “She keeps her audience enthralled through her high-energy presentation,” according to Amy Barkman, director of Voice Of Joy Ministries.
Ginny loves to introduce readers to the her home state of Kentucky (where the grass really is green, not blue!), and enjoys setting some of her books there. But she also loves to travel, and makes it a point to visit the settings of her stories. A strong believer that research makes a story better, some of her favorite experiences have been scuba diving in Cozumel, Mexico (Into the Deep), working in a zoo (The Zookeeper’s Daughter), learning pottery (The Amish Widower), and cruising the Pacific northwest (the Seattle Brides series). She even enjoys the stuff others might find boring, like reading excavation reports about ancient ruins (The Last Drop of Oil, Raised for a Purpose, and The Woman Warrior.)
Ginny lives in central Kentucky with a barky Maltese named Max.
Featured Book
When Rylee unearths a dusty box of old cases, her boss, Thomas Stackhouse, tells her to throw it away. Before pitching the files, Rylee examines them, and she’s shocked to learn that her mother’s best friend from high school was convicted of murder twenty-five years ago. Rylee realizes that the woman might be innocent. Now she needs to prove it.
The heartfelt and heart-racing novel from Annie’s will soon be an action-packed movie! Go to GuiltySecretsMovie.com to see the movie trailer, exclusive interviews and more!
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Paul Stansbury
Paul Stansbury is a lifelong native of Kentucky. He is the author of the four volume Inversion short speculative fiction collection; and Down by the Creek – Ripples and Reflections. Over one hundred of his speculative fiction stories have been published in a variety of print anthologies and in a variety of online publications. His poetry has appeared in several print anthologies and in a variety of online publications as well. He is a Kentucky Monthly Penned winner. His short play, Nana Toby was selected for the inaugural Union Commonwealth University Festival of New Plays. He is Scheduling Coordinator for The Jeanne Penn Lane Celebration of Kentucky Writers. He is the owner of Sheppard Press. Now retired, he lives in Danville, Kentucky.
Featured Book
Another Infusion of Speculative Fiction is speculative fiction for the inquisitive mind. In the fourth volume of his Inversion Series, Author Paul Stansbury invites you to experience again a world where the rules as you know them do not always apply. INVERSION means turning upside down or inside out, reversal of a normal order or relation. What better title for a collection of speculative fiction stories? When you ask, “What if?” the result is not your ordinary story.
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Richard C Stuecker
Ric Stuecker is a writer and poet living in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, Barbara, of over 50 years.
He holds an A.B. in English from Duke University, an M.Ed,from Spalding University and an MFA in creative writing from the Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University.
A Pushcart Prize nominee, he has published two collections of poems with Kelsay Books (The Uncertainty Principle and Ghostlier Demarcations}, a collection of essays on conscious aging with John Hunt Publishing (Vibrant Emeritus: The Elder in the Twenty-First Century) and two novels with Next Chapter Publishing (The North Pole Letters and Coasting America}.
Ric is a certified presentation skills coach, a certified life coach, and he has keynoted, hosted, and presented numerous state, regional and national conferences. He has mentored successful poets, fiction, and creative non-fiction authors and has taught creative writing at Francis Parker School, Saint Xavier High School, and Indiana University Southeast.
Ric and Barbara often travel to visit family in Lucca, Italy and Cape Cod. Mostly they dote on their beautiful grandchildren: Lucy, Sylvia, Marley and Dane.
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Shannon McRoberts
Shannon McRoberts is a Creative Deconstructionist reimagining life around her one work at a time. At her core, the USA Today Best-Selling author, award-winning poet, and artist is a lover of all things fantasy. She works to weave myths and lore into the fantastical tomes she pens. Shannon finds time to write from her home in Kentucky when she's not busy gaming, herding cats, making art, or being a mother.
Featured Book
Are you more than just your DNA? Are you really you without your memories?
Zarra believed, after she tore down Genetic Corp X, she would finally be free. With the company dismantled and everyone who knew the truth about Zarra out of the way, she couldn't fathom any problems sinking into anonymity. Not wanting to waste of second of freedom, Zarra disappeared with her new identity. Everything seemed to go according to her plan; so, why do assassins keep showing up on her doorstep?
After being injured in a brutal skirmish, Miranda Roseland spent the last ten years of her life stuck in a hazy memory of blood and snow. Now she finds herself released from her nightmare with a fresh chance at life. But instead of taking her well earned retirement from military life, Miranda learns the owner of Psi Corp X, her father's employer, needs someone with her particular set of skills. The job is simple: covertly follow a global security threat and keep tabs on them. Finding herself itching to get back into action, Miranda agrees to an all expense paid year-long contract with Psi Corp X. She doesn't realize, until after she starts investigating her target, this simple job may end up costing her father everything.
Join Miranda in a race against the clock as she searches for the secrets of Psi Corp X while trying to end the threat against her father. Scroll up and purchase your copy today to read the sequel to the book others have compared to Blade Runner!
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James Wells
James B. Wells is a retired Criminology and Criminal Justice Professor in the School of Justice Studies in the College of Justice, Safety, and Military Science at Eastern Kentucky University. A former carpenter, soldier, and correctional officer in a super-maximum-security prison and later as a researcher/planner assisting architects in prison design, he has multiple degrees, including an M.S. in Criminal Justice, a Ph.D. in Research, and an MFA in Creative Writing. He’s authored or co-authored over sixty-five books, chapters, articles, and essays, as well as over a hundred and fifty research reports for various local, state, and federal agencies. Recent essays from his research and memoir work appear in Collateral Journal, About Place Journal, Wild Roof Journal, Military Experience and the Arts, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, Shift, and Proud to be: Writing by American Warriors. His investigative memoir about his father's still CIA-classified death in Vietnam in 1965, titled Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew, will be released on Father's Day, June 15, 2025. Links to publications, presentations, trailers, social media, blog, and other information can be found at https://jamesbwells.com. James enjoys spending much of his leisure time with his spouse on their Lexington, Kentucky farm located on the palisades of the Kentucky River, where he is an organic gardener and beekeeper.
Featured Book
Because is published by Milspeak Books and will be available for preorder in January, 2025. It will be released Father's Day, June 15, 2025.
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Beth Dotson Brown
Beth Dotson Brown has visited with a king in Ghana, listened to the dreams of mothers in Guatemala and made friends with the monarchs in Kentucky. Beth is an award-winning feature writer, short story author, essayist and debut novelist. She is the author of Yes! I Am Catholic and contributor to A Cup of Comfort for Breast Cancer Survivors, Scenes from the Common Wealth, and The Bandana Book. Heartland Plays published her collection of one-act plays, Mothers, Daughters and the Spaces in Between. Her short stories have been published in literary magazines and aired on the BBC World Service Short Story Programme. Beth earned her journalism degree at Ball State University. Besides writing, she also works with nonprofit organizations and mentors writers. Beth is a member of the Author’s Guild and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. She lives in a small Kentucky town where she enjoys family, friends and cooking from the goodness of the garden.
Featured Book
Ava Winston likes her life of routine in Lexington, Kentucky. Each day she goes to the place she’s worked for 20 years then returns home. On Sundays, she cooks a meal with a fabulous dessert for her 25-year-old daughter, Juniper. It’s a little boring, but as Ava nears fifty-five, she deserves a bit of ease. Then a tornado blows it away. Ava is safe in the basement but when she emerges, only one corner of her home stands. The loss causes her to see the world through new eyes.
Ava wants to seize the opportunity to find the owners of a wedding album and a suitcase that landed on her lawn during the storm. Yet, Juniper urges Ava to rebuild, her employer doesn’t want Ava to quit and her ex-husband invites Ava back into his life. Following her instincts deepens the tension with her daughter and pushes Ava to face her fears. Rooted in Sunrise is a story of finding resilience within the strength of family and friends.
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