Blog Archives

Writing Contests Open April 1

3/29/2023

Kansas Authors Club holds annual contests for writers of all ages. All residents of the state of Kansas are invited to enter. Members of Kansas Authors Club may reside anywhere (and get a reduced entry fee). ALWAYS read the guidelines before entering writing contests. Our guidelines can be found at https://www.kansasauthorsclub.org/writing-contests---all-ages.html

We accept entries April 1 – June 15.

Yes, we do charge fees for our adult writing contests. We are a 501(c)3 organization and our fees go to cover awards, honorariums for judges, and youth contests (there are no fees for our young writers to enter our contests).

Welcome New Members Peter and Hanni Hamel

3/22/2023

Today we welcome New Members Peter and Hanni Hamel of Germany. Peter is a co-author (with Gary Park) of The Learjet History:Beginnings, Innovations and Utilization.

From Peter:

It is a great pleasure and honor to being accepted as a new member of the Kansas Author Club. Although I am an engineer in Aeronautics for decades, I started loving airplanes from my very early years in the city of Hamburg.

After my career with the Technical University Braunschweig, the Hamburger Flugzeugbau (formerly Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm and now Airbus) and finally for another thirty years as director of the Institute of Flight Systems Technologies of the German Aerospace Research Center in Braunschweig, I decided to share my aeronautical engineering experience to the following generation. So, I authored and edited the book “In-Flight Simulators and Fly-by-Wire/Light Demonstrators” (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-53997-3).

Since then, I published and authored together with my transatlantic colleague and dear friend Gary Park the book “The Learjet History” (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-06031-1) which was widely welcomed not only in the Wichita environment.

I would like to attach a photo of my wife Hanni and I, taken in a holiday mood (see enclosure). Hanni gave me the patience and care I needed for my peace of mind while writing the two books.

Thank you again for welcoming us.

Best regards

Peter

The Hamels will be part of District 5.

website: https://learjethistory.com/

Member Book News: The Learjet History

3/17/2023

The Learjet History
Beginnings, Innovations and Utilization

This book offers a unique, comprehensive retrospective on the Learjet aircraft, from the establishment by Bill Lear in the sixties, to its slow demise in 2021. It accompanies readers on a unique journey through the configuration changes, and advanced technological applications that have transformed business jets and their market in the last sixty years. Important insights are given into numerous patents and innovations that have shaped the development of new technologies and aerodynamic improvements such as the winglet. Furthermore, this book presents many special missions carried out by the Learjet family, such as VIP, business and ambulance flights, research and military projects, and the use of Learjet in aerobatics, as well as aerial photography and cinematography. With a great number of original photographs and drawings, interesting events, stories and anecdotes, this book provides today's aeronautical and systems engineers and test pilots with an invaluable source of information and inspiration. Yet, it also offers a compelling reading to students, professionals and scientists in the aerospace field as well as to curious readers with a general interest in aeronautics.

website: https://learjethistory.com/

Authors: Peter G. Hamel , Gary D. Park

Covers the origins, stages of development, technical modifications and uses of learjet

Offers a unique, very detailed, source of information on the learjet history.

Shows how technology has progressively changed the learjet design.

Gary Park is a new member from District 5.

Learn More

If you have news of writing events that would be of interest to all Kansas Authors Club members, or if you are a member (dues current) who would like to announce an achievement, please submit your news via this form.

Seeking Entries for Anthology of Personal Experiences with Invisible Disabilities

3/17/2023

Duane L Herrmann is looking for submissions of prose or poetry for a proposed anthology of personal experiences with invisible disabilities. No more than six poems or 5,000 words.

Please send, with bio, by the end of March to: [email protected]

Welcome New Members Gary & Judy Park

3/12/2023

Today, we welcome Gary & Judy Park to the Kansas Authors Club. They are Wichitans and part of District 5.

Gary co-authored The Learjet History.

The Learjet History
Beginnings, Innovations and Utilization
Authors: Peter G. Hamel , Gary D. Park

This book offers a unique, comprehensive retrospective on the Learjet aircraft, from the establishment by Bill Lear in the sixties, to its slow demise in 2021. It accompanies readers on a unique journey through the configuration changes, and advanced technological applications that have transformed business jets and their market in the last sixty years. Important insights are given into numerous patents and innovations that have shaped the development of new technologies and aerodynamic improvements such as the winglet. Furthermore, this book presents many special missions carried out by the Learjet family, such as VIP, business and ambulance flights, research and military projects, and the use of Learjet in aerobatics, as well as aerial photography and cinematography. With a great number of original photographs and drawings, interesting events, stories and anecdotes, this book provides today's aeronautical and systems engineers and test pilots with an invaluable source of information and inspiration. Yet, it also offers a compelling reading to students, professionals and scientists in the aerospace field as well as to curious readers with a general interest in aeronautics.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-06031-1

website: https://learjethistory.com/

Welcome New Member Marie Asner

3/12/2023

We welcome Marie Asner of Overland Park to District 2 and to the Kansas Authors Club!

M.A. Asner is an entertainment reviewer, poet, and journalist. Her reviews are on www.tollbooth.org. She is a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle. Marie is a past member of Kansas Arts on Tour, and currently a member of the Missouri State Poetry Society. In 2022, Marie’s poems were published in Calliope, Grist, Pegasus, The Rockford Review, and Distilled Lives, Volume 6. In January 2023, Marie was a Zoom guest speaker of the Rockford Writers Guild on the topic of film and book reviewing.

Member Mark Scheel on Medium

3/11/2023

Member Mark Scheel has a new post for cat lovers on Medium.

Note from Mark: For those of you with an affinity for our furry friends, a new excerpt from my memoir-in-progress is now posted on Medium just for you!

Mark Scheel on Medium

Women SCORE HIGHER "Author Showcase" event

3/10/2023

This is a Wichita event, brought to our attention by Danielle Ramirez, 2022 convention speaker.

We are anticipating hundreds of in-person attendees in addition to the virtual attendees. This will be a lovely opportunity for women authors to showcase (and sell!) their book, plus network with other authors and entrepreneurs.

You must register for the event in order to sign up as an author vendor.
Early bird registration pricing ends Wednesday, March 15th
Author Showcase - Vendor registration deadline is Thursday, April 6th

Learn more: https://womenscorehigher.com/

Please reach out ASAP if you would like to be involved.

March 18 Program: Traci Brimhall, Kansas Poet Laureate

3/10/2023

March 18, 2023, 1:30 pm
Presenter: Traci Brimhall, Kansas Poet Laureate

Why Can't the Heart Stop Asking?

This presentation will take place at the Manhattan Public Library Auditorium.
629 Poyntz Ave, Manhattan, KS 66502

All members are welcome to attend this presentation in person. Please plan to arrive early as the program will have a prompt 1:30pm start time.

The presentation will also be broadcast via Zoom.

Poetry is an art of attention, but sometimes the more attention we pay to the world, the more astonishing and confusing it can be. The medical researcher Jonas Salk said "what people think of as the moment of discovery is really the discovery of the question," which I believe also holds true for poetry. What images do we see each day that excites our minds? What sounds do we hear that awaken our hearts? What poems ask for our attention and reward us with discovery? This presentation will use poetry to create surprises, explore our curiosities, and find new questions.

Traci Brimhall is the author of four poetry collections: Come the Slumberless from the Land of Nod (Copper Canyon); Saudade (Copper Canyon); Our Lady of the Ruins (W.W. Norton), winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize; and Rookery (Southern Illinois University Press), winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Believer, The New Republic, Orion, New York Times Magazine, and Best American Poetry. She’s received fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brimhall lives in Manhattan, KS and serves as the Poet Laureate of Kansas.

Members should have received the Zoom link for this meeting by email from the State and/or their district president. If you are a member who has not received an email, please contact us via the form below.

2nd Tuesday Open Mic: Hosted by D3/D4 on Zoom

3/10/2023

Districts 3 & 4 “Second Tuesday” Zoom Read-Around will be Tuesday, March 14, 2023, when Kansas Authors Club poet of the year, Duane Johnson, will be our featured reader. He plans to read poems from one of two chapbooks that garnered awards during last year's KAC poetry contests. (Duane received a second place and a third place in last year's chapbook contest.)
Districts 3 & 4 invite all KAC members (and guests) to join this and all their “Second Tuesday” Open Mic Zoom Read-Arounds.

How does Open Mic work?
7:00-7:10pm – we check in, sign up to read, greet each other and celebrate victories.
7:10-7:30pm – our Featured Reader presents.
7:30-7:55 – Readers share in order of sign-up. Plan on 3 minutes. If there is plenty of time, attendees will get a 2nd opportunity to read.

Member Receives 2023 Spur Award

3/10/2023

Western Writers of America announced on March 4 at the Tucson Book Festival that Clyde Toland is a 2023 Spur Award recipient for American Hero, Kansas Heritage as the Best First Nonfiction Book of books published in 2022.

Western Writers Association of America
for Best First Nonfiction Book

American Hero, Kansas Heritage:
Frederick Funston's Early Years, 1865-1890
by Clyde Toland
Flint Hills Publishing

“An engrossing, engaging, and superbly written account of ‘Fearless Fred’ Funston’s formative years in rural Kansas, which molded the individual who would go on to command forces in the Philippines, earn a Medal of Honor, and ultimately command in 1917 the largest US Army since the Civil War. Clyde Toland’s narrative clearly reflects Toland’s life-long interest in Frederick Funston and Allen County, his impressive capabilities as a researcher, and his incisive analytical skills as a lawyer. The product of his work is a truly delightful read!”
—General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, and former Director of the CIA

Learn More at Flint Hills Publishing

Clyde W. Toland, received a BA in history from the University of Kansas, a MA in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a JD from the University of Kansas. He is a semi-retired lawyer in Iola, Kansas, and a District 2 member of Kansas Authors Club.

Writing Contests Open April 1

Welcome New Members Peter and Hanni Hamel

Member Book News: The Learjet History

Seeking Entries for Anthology of Personal Experiences with Invisible Disabilities

Welcome New Members Gary & Judy Park

Welcome New Member Marie Asner

Member Mark Scheel on Medium

Women SCORE HIGHER "Author Showcase" event

March 18 Program: Traci Brimhall, Kansas Poet Laureate

Request Zoom Link for March 18 Program

2nd Tuesday Open Mic: Hosted by D3/D4 on Zoom

SUBMIT YOUR EMAIL HERE TO GET A ZOOM INVITATION TO THE NEXT 2ND TUESDAY OPEN MIC

Member Receives 2023 Spur Award

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