Dr. Kyle Juracek was born in Lincoln and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. He currently lives in Lawrence, Kansas. For about thirty years he was a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). During that time, he authored or coauthored about ninety scientific publications on various environmental topics. Much of his research was focused on the effects of human activities on the environment. Throughout his life, he has always been passionately interested in, and concerned about, the environment.

Following his retirement from USGS, the focus of his nonfiction writing became the encouragement of people to do what they can to improve their own lives, the lives of others, and the quality of the environment. His desire to make things better was the motivation for his two recent books which are titled Fit Life, Happy Life: One Man’s Journey and The World We Want?. A third book is currently in the works.

On a personal note, Dr. Juracek lives an active lifestyle and enjoys gym workouts, hiking, biking, kayaking, and pickleball. Other interests include sports, movies, travel, good food, and of course reading. He loves dogs. 

SAVE THE DATE
March 21, 2026, 1:30 p.m.

Latinos USA reviewed member Duane L. Herrmann's poetry book, Ichnographical: 173 on their website.

After spending 35 years immersed with technical writing, Kevin Peterson has published his recent book of poetry A Poetic Wandering. The book features recent works and includes a few excerpts of of some of his published poetry from the 1980s.  

His book is available through
Red Fern Booksellers
106 So Santa Fe
Salina, Kansas - 785.833.2088
redfernbooksellers.com

Well done, Robert!

You can subscribe to Robert's newsletter by clicking through to his website. 

 I have been very fortunate to attend the Hines VA Blind Rehabilitation Center here in Chicago. I arrived on January 12 and anticipate returning to Kansas on February 7, 2026. The classes have been very intensive and should provide me with opportunities I have not had since losing my vision several years ago. This training is available to any veteran who is legally blind for any reason, even if it is not related to military service. If you are aware of any veteran in this situation, please contact me, and I would be more than happy to assist them in receiving these services.

They provided us with numerous devices to assist with reading. We were given Meta Glasses during this visit. With these glasses, you can look at something and ask, “Meta, what am I looking at?” and the glasses will give you a full description.

I returned from Hines, and within a couple of days, my wife Beverly’s mother had a stroke, so here we are in Tyler, Texas. I was able to bring my computer, but I have had very little time to work on my next book.

 The Birth and Demise of a Small Flint Hills Town
Virgil, Kansas, is a very unique community that I was fortunate to be born into in 1944. I spent my formative years there, growing up and developing my love of rural life. The community began to be settled by pioneers just a few years before the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Hundreds, even thousands, of small communities like Virgil were being formed not only in Kansas but across the entire country at that same time.

Join me in researching old newspapers, visiting cemeteries, exploring museums, looking over old land records, talking with individuals from the area, and reviewing numerous school yearbooks. Of course, we can't forget attending the Virgil gathering held every quarter in Olpe, Kansas at the Chicken House.

I hope all my newsletter friends are doing well and staying healthy. Bless you all.

-Robert, The Storyteller

Janice Northerns joined KAC in 2021 and has enjoyed being more active at the local level since she and her husband moved to Wichita in 2023. She served as KAC poetry contest manager the past two years.

Janice is the author of new poetry chapbook, Men & Angels, as well as a 2020 full-length poetry collection, Some Electric Hum, which won the KAC Nelson award. The book also won the Byron Caldwell Smith Award from KU and was a finalist for the WILLA Literary Award.

This season, she is hosting the Kansas segment of Poets on the Plains on High Plains Public Radio. To purchase her books, find out more about Poets on the Plains, or read some of her work, visit Janice’s website: www.janice.northerns.com

Available HERE for purchase.​

Melanie Bonner Thomas is a western Kansas native and the youngest child of field paleontologist Marion Charles Bonner. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from the University of Kansas. After a brief period as a college English instructor in Kansas and Texas, she has spent the bulk of her career as a writer, editor, and communications specialist. Her master’s thesis was an annotated edition of an 1869 work of plains literature called Buffalo Land. While a graduate student, she served as teaching assistant and editor of Cottonwood Review, a literary magazine, and edited the anthology Kansas Women Writers and co-edited Nineteen Stories: Contemporary Fiction by Kansas Writers. 

Her interest in Great Plains literature, history, and science can be traced directly to the influence of her father. Her 2025 book, Old Man of the Fossil Beds, tells the story of her close relationship with her autodidact father.

Melanie lived in Texas from 1986 to 2024. While working in Austin as copy chief and associate editor for Texas Monthly magazine and as managing editor of Hispanic magazine, she contributed history, archaeology, and paleontology features. She currently lives in New Orleans.

Melanie's author website is also her publishing company's page: www.chalklilybooks.com. She has a spinoff paleo book in the works -- hoping to publish it in March or April. She's planning to take part in the Kansas Book Festival in late September, and also hopes to come to the Kansas Authors Club Convention in early October. She is looking forward to visiting with other Kansas authors!

​Linda Cook, Kansas Authors Club, Finance Officer
 
I joined the Kansas Authors Club in January 2023, after retiring from a 45-year career in communications, public relations and business planning. Starting in 2026, I am honored to be a member of the KAC Board of Directors and serve as the Finance Director.

Most of my career was with General Motors Corporation where I started working in Kansas City in 1977, fresh out of Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and mass communications. (I was the Kansas farm girl moving into the corporate world). I also have an MBA degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earned in 1998 when I was selected to receive a GM Sloan Fellowship. The invaluable knowledge I gained in finance and accounting at MIT will undoubtedly serve me well as I assume the KAC Finance Director role.  Maybe I was destined to serve in this role, even though I am more a word person than a numbers person.

After 25 years at GM, while moving around the country and traveling the world, my hunger for a new career experience took me back to Kansas City where I became vice president of communications for Midwest Research Institute, an independent laboratory that conducts biological and chemical research (some of it being top secret stuff) for the U.S. government and for agricultural and pharmaceutical companies. My next career move was to lead communications for Honeywell’s Federal Manufacturing and Technologies facility, also in Kansas City. My job involved even more top-secret work, this time for the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Communications work in an information secured facility requires a delicate balance in providing enough information about a topic to inform and assure the public of their safety and security, without saying too much to jeopardize that security.

My last two professional roles brought me back to Kansas State University: first as the vice president of communications for the KSU Alumni Association and last as Chief of Staff for the K-State President and director of community relations for the university.

My writing experience has included newspapers and magazines articles, news releases, brochures, video scripts, web content and executive speeches. Now that I’m retired, my writing focus is on short stories (fiction and nonfiction) and working on that ever-elusive novel(s). More recently, I was honored to have  three short stories published in the 105 Meadowlark Reader (topics included: Landmarks, Intersections, and Accomplice). I also received Honorable Mention in the 2025 KAC Literary contest for a humorous prose short story entitled “Rebound Date.” Yes, it was based on a real-life experience when I was in my late twenties.

​Retirement has also afforded me time to get involved in community activities. I currently serve on the board of directors for five community organizations in Manhattan.   
I look forward to serving on the KAC Board of Directors and meeting more KAC members. 

Greg Jordan is a writer, educator, and former small-business development director based in Kansas. After a 40-year career in public service, entrepreneurship, and higher education, he is now focused on writing projects that blend storytelling with practical insight.

Greg’s work spans narrative nonfiction, business and strategy writing, and emerging explorations in fiction. He is currently developing a series of short, accessible books on strategy and artificial intelligence for small business owners, as well as a longer narrative project drawing on his experiences in government and economic development. His writing often centers on decision-making, resilience, and the human stories behind institutions and systems.
​
He teaches introductory business at the university level and continues to explore how technology—and especially AI—is reshaping how people work, create, and tell stories. Greg joined the Kansas Authors Club to learn from fellow writers, share ideas, and stay grounded in the craft and community of writing.

​We invite you to play an active role in our 2026 Kansas Authors Club convention by submitting your proposals for speakers and workshops.

We are looking for 50-minute, participatory workshops on writing and/or discussion leaders on topics of interest to writers.

We are also looking for potential panelists for moderator-led discussions.

Presentations that explore the convention theme, "Writing Our History & Creating Our Future: Building Community Right," are particularly welcome.

A Kansas connection is appreciated but not required for consideration. Speakers will be paid, but there is a limited budget for travel expenses and housing.

The convention is being planned for in-person presentations. We are looking for an array of workshops that will address beginning writers through those with experience in writing and publishing. We will also plan for a balance of workshops covering fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

If you are looking for information about our Literary Contests (Writing Contests) (for all ages), that event OPENS for submissions on
April 1, 2026 and close on June 15, 2026. 

For clarification:
Literary contest entries are for individual poems and shorter form prose entries that have never been published. The Book Awards contest is for books that were published (with a press or independently) in the previous year.

The 2026 guidelines for our adult and youth writing contests are now available on the website. Review them today and mark your calendar for April 1, the opening day of the contest (no joke!) 

Contest Highlights

• The Annual Writing Contest is for unpublished work in prose and poetry.
• Awards include certificates and cash prizes (1st through 3rd places) and honorable mentions. 
• This contest is open to non-member writers residing in Kansas and to all current members of the Kansas Authors Club, regardless of residence.
• Fees are $5 per entry for current Kansas Authors Club members, and $8 per entry for non-members.

As with any contest, read the complete guidelines before submitting.

The deadline for entering the Book Awards (for published books) is March 1, 2026. Those guidelines can be found under "Book Awards" in the menu to the left, or the button below.

Kevin R Peterson is a 4th generation Kansan (and Salinan) born on January 29 – Kansas Day. His affinity for poetry began in high school and grew as a result of a local writer’s group. He was fortunate enough to have many of his early works published by editors of numerous poetry magazines that were in print during the 1980s. During that period he published four poetry chapbooks. 

In 1989 he authored a book which detailed the story of his daughter’s becoming one of the first children in the United States to receive a cochlear implant. 

Kevin pulled away from creative writing for about thirty-five years as he was involved  with technical writing: creating brochures, writing magazine articles, posting internet  articles, and sharing hundreds of case histories that explained processes and solutions  for products manufactured by companies he worked with. 

Now retired, and settling back into “creative” writing, he recently published his newest  chapbook A Poetic Wandering. He looks forward to becoming involved with, sharing,  and meeting current writers of KAC.

​

When Energy Healing Meets Meditation is a guide to engaging with the energy field within and around our physical bodies for healing and personal growth. This book is accessible to all readers interested in deepening their meditative practice. The practices and perspectives offered here are not bound to any specific healing or meditation modality, but rather reflect universal principles that apply to a wide spectrum of practices. Each lesson is presented as a “trailhead” for gaining personal experience in such universal areas as grounding, centering, holism, and expression, all of which apply to your evolving practice, no matter the style of your inner and outer work. Whether this is your first foray into meditation practices or you are a seasoned inner astronaut, there is something here for you. 

Publication: December 15, 2025
Published by Jim Gilkeson
Edited by Denise Low
Cover design by Aimee Eldridge
$12.95, Paperback
ISBN: 979-8-218-77428-8
For media inquiries and review copies:
Email: jim@jimgilkeson.com.
Web: www.jimgilkeson.com
Phone: (707) 696-2768

Mace grew up on a farm north of Troy, Kan., in the Missouri River Hills. His journalism degree is from Benedictine College in Atchison. He has spent his professional life as a journalist (The McPherson Sentinel and Atchison Globe), organizational communicator and strategist working in agriculture and public policy (Kansas Farm Bureau, the American Farm Bureau and the United Soybean Board). Storytelling has always been central to his work—whether explaining complex issues, capturing the stories of real lives, or building fictional worlds grounded in historical truth. His last two works, West Bottoms and The Ghosts of Gumbo Flats, were published with the guidance of Anne Spry from Personal Chapters publishing.

Mace is the author of three works of historical fiction, all grounded in the American Midwest and shaped by a deep interest in place, character, and the moral choices ordinary people face during extraordinary times.
 
Jawbone Holler
His debut novel follows Perry Adams, a troubled young man whose life is reshaped by the Civil War. Set between Indiana and territorial Kansas from 1858 to 1864, the book explores personal growth and redemption, loyalty, and the hard realities of frontier life. Readers have described it as a fast-paced, immersive story with strong historical grounding.
 
The Ghosts of Gumbo Flats (my latest)
This stand-alone novel is also the continuation of the Jawbone Holler story. The novel leans heavily into Perry’s friend, Moses Watson, and his memory of family misplaced by slavery, devotion to the land and the lingering pull of past trauma. It’s a rescue mission that examines how history shapes families and communities, particularly in rural America, where tradition and innovation have always gone hand-in-hand.
 
West Bottoms
This novel is set against the backdrop of one of the Midwest’s most storied districts, Kansas City’s West Bottoms. Cowritten with his brother-in-law Rogers Brazier, it explores ambition, loss, and survival in a gritty landscape shaped by scandal, passion and commerce. It is a story rooted in relationships and reprisal set in the rugged, Depression-era streets of Kansas City.

​Mace currently balances his fiction writing habit with a career in strategic communications and marketing at Stratovation Group, where he is a partner. His wife, Denise, is also a native Kansan, hailing from Wamego. The Thorntons have three adult children and one granddaughter. They live outside of St. Louis but visit their beloved home state as frequently as possible.