Blog Archives

Fiction on Trial: Curt Bohling

2/27/2019

The 2019 convention of the Kansas Authors Club welcomes attorney Curt Bohling. He will speak about trial procedures and answer questions about getting legal details right. Bohling has been a federal attorney for over 30 years, with most of his career spent as an Assistant United States Attorney in Washington, D.C., and Kansas City, Missouri. His cases include the Miracle Cars fraud case that was featured on CNBC’s American Greed; and one of the largest criminal software piracy cases in the United States that also resulted in the tax fraud prosecutions of a Hall of Fame NFL football player and a former NBA basketball player. In Kansas City he served as the Chief of the Monetary Penalties Unit, dealing with asset forfeiture and victim restitution issues, and Chief of the Appellate Unit.

Bohling is the son of Diane Wahto, renowned Kansas poet, who has served as president of District 5 for three years, as well as KAC awards chairperson and chair of the 2019 convention. With Diane in the family, Bohling has been intimately acquainted with literary pursuits throughout his life. He taught law writing to beginning law students. When the series Homicide was on TV, actor Yaphet Kotto came to court to observe a homicide case that he was prosecuting. At the Kansas Authors Club convention in October 2019, Bohling will return to his hometown to discuss Fiction on Trial: Can Writing About Law Be Both Accurate and Interesting?

About his seminar, Bohling says, “Lawyers and the law are staples in books, movies, and TV. Sometimes writers get the legal details (mostly) right, often they get them very wrong. Do these details matter, or do they just get in the way of a good story?” His presentation will compare the real and fictional worlds of law to find answers to those questions.

This entry is cross-posted at: annchristinefell.com

HB Berlow to Share Insights on Creating Historical Fiction

2/25/2019

District 5 of the Kansas Authors Club is pleased to have HB Berlow as a presenter at the 2019 Wichita conference. Making his way from Boston to Wichita a few years ago, he found his niche writing historical fiction about Arkansas City, Kansas. At the October conference he will discuss History in the Making: The Challenge of Writing Historical Fiction.

Berlow studied film-making and creative writing at the University of Miami in the 80’s, was involved in the Boston Poetry Scene in the 90’s, and was president of the Kansas Writer’s Association from 2012 to 2013. The historical crime fiction series, Ark City Confidential and Secrets of the Righteous, published through The Wild Rose Press, is currently available on Amazon.

About Ark City Confidential: Baron Witherspoon, a disfigured WWI vet, now a beat cop in a small Kansas burg, is on a collision course with Jake Hickey, a volatile Chicago gangster. While Baron wants merely to provide residents with a safe place to live and escape the memory of the horrors of war, Jake is looking to recapture the glory of Prohibition. Forced to hide out in Arkansas City, Baron’s town, Jake’s impatient nature drives him to put together his own gang. The local crime outfit is wary of Jake’s dealings and lack of cooperation. Baron has his own suspicions but can’t prove anything. A mutual acquaintance from the past, a dead war hero, holds a secret that raises the stakes even higher. Baron has too much to lose, but the town’s future is in the balance.

In book two, Baron Witherspoon finds himself immersed in two different murder investigations that span the course of three years. Each case is heinous and filled with twists and turns. To catch the killers, he must go deep into their demented minds. What he doesn’t count on are the secrets—the ones that will be revealed and the ones he must keep. Will the knowledge he gains give him the answers he seeks or will it instead destroy him in the end?

Berlow’s seminar will examine how writing historical fiction is filled with subtle nuances. Enough detail needs to be inserted to provide readers a sense of time and place while at the same time not making the work sound like a term paper. Research is vital in order to present factual information. The challenges in writing a historical crime fiction series will be presented as well as guidance to proper research.

This entry is cross-posted at: annchristinefell.com

Book ‘Em!

Hotel information:
KS Authors Club

Award-winning Author Clare Vanderpool to Speak at KAC 2019

2/20/2019

http://clarevanderpool.com/

Clare Vanderpool is the award-winning author of two novels: Moon Over Manifest and Navigating Early. Moon Over Manifest, her debut novel, was awarded the prestigious 2011 John Newbery Award which is awarded annually by the American Library Association to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Clare is remarkably the first debut author in thirty years to win the Newbery Medal. Her books have both hit the New York Times best seller list as well as the Book Sense best seller list. The recipient of much critical-acclaim, including seven starred reviews, a top ten Historical Fiction Kid’s Book by Instructor Magazine, a Junior Library Guild selection, and a Golden Spur award, Clare’s writing has connected with readers young and old. Interviews with Clare have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and almost all of the media outlets across the nation have covered her writing career. Most recently, Clare’s second novel Navigating Early was named a Printz Honor Book for Young Adult Fiction by the American Library Association.

In her early years of writing, Clare set out to write a historical novel set in the fictional town of Manifest, Kansas, which is based on the real southeastern Kansas town of Frontenac where her maternal grandparents lived. Drawing on stories she heard as a child, along with research in town newspapers, yearbooks, and graveyards, Clare found a rich and colorful history for her unforgettable novel, Moon Over Manifest. She says “having lived most of my life in the same neighborhood, place is very important and for me true places are rooted in the familiar—the neighborhood pool, the sledding hill, the shortcuts, all the places where memories abound. But I wondered, what would a ‘true place’ be for someone who has never lived anywhere for more than a few weeks or months at a time? Someone like a young girl on the road during the Depression. Someone like Abilene Tucker.”

Clare has been making appearances at schools, libraries, and conferences around the country and abroad. She enjoys meeting children, educators, librarians, and parents who have embraced her and her writing. She lives in Wichita, Kansas with her husband and four children.

At the Kansas Authors Club convention in Wichita, October 4-6, 2019, Clare will present a seminar, Writing in the Crossroads: Where Craft and Creativity Meet. As writers, we all work at the craft—honing our skills in use of language, imagery, detail, and description. But is there a risk of focusing on the calculated to the exclusion of the creative? How do we know when it’s time to loosen the reins on plot, character, and conflict, allowing the creative process room to stretch and pulse and breathe life into the bones of the story? In this workshop Clare will discuss the synergy and struggle of writing in the crossroads — where craft and creativity meet.

In addition, for those who wish to share a lunch with Clare, she will talk about Books I Have Loved and I Swear Loved Me Back: The Transformative Power of Story. (Luncheon provided by Holiday Inn. Tickets available with registration.) We’ve all heard that to be a writer, you must first be a reader. And we know from experience that stories have power—to touch, to heal, to transform. In this talk, we’ll journey into our reading past to the books that provided joy, comfort, even friendship in our younger years, and discover how stories become stepping stones in the writing life.

This entry is cross-posted at: annchristinefell.com

Hook ‘Em!

Hotel Information:
KS Authors Club

Seminars Offered by Paul Bishop

2/18/2019

District 5 of the Kansas Authors is pleased to host Paul Bishop as the featured Keynote speaker at the convention October 4-6, 2019 at the Wichita Holiday Inn, 549 South Rock Road. His planned topic for the Keynote speech is “When Worlds Collide.” For thirty-five years, Paul Bishop pursued two careers—putting villains in jail, and putting words on paper. As a detective with the LAPD, he chased bad guys and solved crimes. Under the cover of darkness, however, he donned his Cloak of Stories, finding cathartic release writing novels…But what happens when the cop and the writer inevitably crash into each other?

In addition, Bishop will offer two seminars at the convention. “Murder and Mayhem for Writers” will explore how to get police procedures right in your next mystery novel. Veteran LAPD detective Paul Bishop will take you into the world of homicide crime scenes, sex crimes investigations, suspect interrogations, and many other aspects of law enforcement so you can get the details right.

A second seminar, “Getting the Words Right” examines how to trim excess wordage from your drafts. “Do these words make my manuscript look fat?” Writer, editor, and publisher Paul Bishop shows you how to cut empty calories from your manuscript—words and phrases that will get your stories rejected before the end of the first page. He’ll also explain why putting second things first is important, and how to avoid the deadly sin of info dumps.

A special opportunity for four lucky participants will be a 15-minute private conference with Bishop as a writing coach and editor. District 5 will raffle off chances for these conferences. Win one of four fifteen-minute, one-on-one sessions with writer, editor, and publisher Paul Bishop. Bring the first five pages of your manuscript to battle The Red Pen, scourge of all writers. Get answers to make your manuscript bulletproof. This will be a possibly harsh, but honest experience. However, it could be the fifteen minutes you need to get published.

Contact Paul at http://www.paulbishopbooks.com

Hook ‘Em!

See you in Wichita this October.

This entry is cross-posted at: annchristinefell.com

District 7 Announces Writing Contest - Open to all members and writers residing in kansas - deadline for entry may 18, 2019, postmarked

2/17/2019

ANNOUNCING WRITING CONTEST

Members of the 7th District of Kansas Authors Club will be sponsoring a writing contest for the 7th District Gathering to be held in Colby on Saturday, June 8 in the Pioneer Memorial Library at 11:00 a.m. The Library is at 375 W. Fourth Street in Colby. It will be a catered luncheon meeting and contest winners will be invited to attend and read their winning entries to the group.

Ronda Miller, president of Kansas Authors Club, will be the featured speaker at the meeting.

Contest Chairman is Sheryl Brenn, at 892 Country Rd. 0, Levant, KS 67743-9200, Phone 785-586-2384.

The contest is for either prose or poetry entries and is for writers 18 years of age or older. It can be about any subject the entrant wants to write about and must be their own work. Entries must not have been published in any other source.

District 7 includes most of Western Kansas but entrants don’t have to be a member of Dist. 7 or even a member of Kansas Author’s Club, but they do have to be living in Kansas unless they are a member of Kansas Author’s Club who has moved away.

They will be using the rules set by Kansas Authors Club for prose and poetry. Those rules can be found in the Kansas Authors Club year book or on the website. Small money prizes will be awarded to first, second, and third place winners in both divisions and honorable mentions will receive certificates.

Judges will not be members of Kansas Authors Club. You can enter both prose and poetry but a charge of $2.00 must accompany each entry. Make checks payable to Dist. 7, Kansas Authors Club. Do not send cash.

Due to computer problems with last year’s entries, they are asking for a hard copy of your typed entry to be sent to the contest chairman by U.S. Mail no later than Saturday, May 18, 2019. Entries must be postmarked by that date. No email entries will be accepted. Do not put your name on the entry. Use a face sheet with your name, address, and phone number on it so it can be removed and your name will not be seen by the judges.

2019 Keynote Speaker in Wichita–Paul Bishop!

2/11/2019

Novelist, screenwriter, and television personality, Paul Bishop is a nationally recognized behaviorist and deception detection expert. A 35-year veteran of the LAPD, his high profile Special Assault Units produced the top crime clearance rates in the city. Twice honored as LAPD’s Detective of the Year. Paul is the author of sixteen novels, including five books in his LAPD Detective Fey Croaker series. He has written scripts for episodic television and feature films and starred as the lead interrogator and driving force behind the ABC TV reality show “Take the Money and Run” from producer Jerry Bruckheimer. His book, Lie Catchers, is the first in a new series featuring two top LAPD interrogators. The forthcoming sequel is titled Admit Nothing.
Bishop’s books include:

Hot Pursuit
Deep Water
Penalty Shot
Fey Croaker: Kill Me Again
Fey Croaker: Grave Sins
Fey Croaker: Tequila Mockingbird
Fey Croaker: Chalk Whispers
Fey Croaker: Pattern of Behavior
Shroud of Vengeance
Running Wylde
A Bucketful of Bullets
Nothing But the Truth (Almost)
Suspicious Minds
Felony Fists
Swamp Walloper
Lie Catchers

Bishop wrote three episodes of the TV Series Diagnosis Murder:

The Last Resort (1998)
Down Among the Dead Men (1999)
Murder at BBQ Bob’s (2000)

He was featured as the Chief Interrogator in the 2011 Reality TV Series Take the Money and Run produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and in the 2004 Unsolved History documentary JFK: Beyond the Magic Bullet where he appeared as himself.

Since his retirement as a full-time detective, Bishop has been a featured speaker at law enforcement conventions and writing conventions across the country, including the 2018 Writers’ Police Academy Conference in Wisconsin.

http://www.paulbishopbooks.com

Book ‘Em!

Don’t miss Kansas Authors Club convention 2019, October 4-6, in Wichita.

Calling all writers!

2/5/2019

The Wichita-based District 5 of Kansas Authors Club will host a weekend event October 4-6, 2019, at the Holiday Inn, 549 South Rock Road, Wichita, Kansas. Whether you are a beginner or have years of experience, there will be classes for everyone.

Over the coming weeks, various presenters will be featured in a series of posts here. Many of the planned workshops will enhance the theme with suggestions about how you can hook readers into turning every page, tips that are good for poets as well as any prose genre. Several classes will offer in-depth information about mystery and crime fiction genre, some even explore topics that involve research and detective work in historical settings.

There will be opportunities to chat with old friends, and make new ones. Share your writing adventures, successes, and dreams. Participate in a read-around. Find out the winners of the 2019 KAC literary contests. Great food—great fun—great classes!

You won’t want to miss the KAC convention 2019, “Hook ‘Em and Book ‘Em!”

Mark your calendars: Wichita, October 4-6, 2019.