Current News from the Kansas Authors Club

Member Clyde W. Toland presents FREDtalk: the Becoming Frederick Funston Trilogy

11/6/2025

On July 10, 2025, I gave a book reading on my becoming Frederick Funston Trilogy, which was published in 2022. Volume one received a 2023 Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. This presentation was for my fellow residents of Pioneer Ridge Independent Living in Lawrence. It was well attended, residents wanting the answer to "Fred Who?!" The video of my talk is on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/czGXWKYTsq8?si=mpSzEWEldbwyAYg1

Clyde W. Toland @ Flint Hills Publishing

Help us celebrate the writing and publishing accomplishments of Kansas Authors!
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.

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Book Launch Party for Member Dawn Feltrop in Rose Hill, KS

11/6/2025

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Book Launch Party for Rosemary Chick: Pip, Zip, Hooray!

Saturday, November 29, 2025 • 5:00–8:00 p.m.

Join local author Dawn Feltrop at Morning Grit Farm, 15499 SW 140th St., Rose Hill, KS, for a fun family event celebrating her new children’s book Rosemary Chick: Pip, Zip, Hooray! Enjoy story-time, a petting zoo, coffee/hot chocolate bar, s’mores by the fire, cupcakes, and book signings.

RSVP by November 22: [email protected]
More info: www.DawnFeltrop.com

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Book by Member Patrick Kelly

11/5/2025

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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. I completed my thirtieth year in the classroom in 2024. 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. In February of 2025, K-State’s Wrestling Legacy was published. I’m thrilled with how it turned out and hope both wrestling enthusiasts and those just looking for compelling human-interest stories will pick it up and give it a read.

Website: https://www.flinthillspublishing.com/patrick-kelly

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Spry authors three books in 2025

11/3/2025

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Kansas Authors Club outgoing president Anne Spry is completing a banner year of books, finalizing three titles, all in the memoir genre.

Her first 2025 title, Riding Rainbows Through the Storms: Finding Perspective and Hope by Journaling Through a Pandemic, was issued in late February under her own publishing company, Personal Chapters LLC. The paperback and Kindle e-book includes color photographs, many of them nature shots Spry took, as well as blogs and Facebook Live scripts she produced during the pandemic. Readers may identify with the struggles Spry endured in adapting to a new reality we all faced during the pandemic. She admits to a lot of “whining” in the journal entries included, but she managed to summon all the positivity and spirituality she could in publishing this title.

Friend and fellow book publisher Thea Rademacher, Flint Hills Publishing, edited and published Spry’s other 2025 titles. Taking the Long Way Home: A Peace Corps Memoir of Brazil, documents Spry’s 1970s volunteer experiences. It took her decades to finish the manuscript she started before she even left Northeast Brazil. This year, with its upheaval and controversies on the world stage, provided the impetus for Spry to finish the story of how a wannabe hippie left campus protests in the U. S. to try to make the world a better place for democracy in South America. But the real story was how she found a home in her heart, despite personal childhood traumas.

When Spry shared with Radamacher how she planned to republish her first memoir, “Letters from Home,” her publisher colleague urged her to include only the funniest of the newspaper columns written during Anne’s 27-year newspaper career. “Living on Laughter: A Memoir of a Former Humor Columnist and Newspaper Publisher,” is like the Sunday funny papers, only in black and white and read all over. It shares her decades of laughing at herself and others through everyday struggles and the joys of parenting, aging, home repair and other life issues. She hopes it leaves you smiling or maybe even picking up a pen to capture your own stories.

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Sign Language Book by Members Todd and Hailey Stultz

10/8/2025

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This book provides clear and detailed 2D illustrations of each hand position and movement associated with the alphabet, making it easier for learners to understand and practice.

This resource is designed to help you:
• Build a solid foundation in ASL
• Enhance your ability to communicate using this beautiful and expressive language

Our mission in writing this book is to:
• Spread the beauty of ASL far and wide
• Empower people from all walks of life to find their voice by using their hands to communicate
• Foster a sense of connection and inclusivity

Our dream is to reach those who need this language but lack access to it. We ask for your support in praying that these books find their way to those who need them most. By sharing this mission or book, you can make a difference—one small act can create the biggest impact.

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Meet a Member at the Derby Public Library, October 10

10/7/2025

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The Derby Public Library will host Cathy Feemster for a Meet & Greet the Author on October 10 from 10 am to Noon. Cathy is the author of My Friend Rachel by Shep, the dog. Her book is appropriate for children ages 5 and up. It follows the adventures of Rachel's dog Shep who becomes a true hero. The book is based on a true story from Cathy's grandmother and takes place in 1901 on a farm on the Kansas prairie.

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Member Receives 2nd Place Honors in Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award

10/7/2025

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Member Paul Lamb received 2nd Place honors for his novel Parent Imperfect at the Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award luncheon held at the Woodneath Branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library in Kansas City on October 4, 2025. The award is sponsored by the American Association of University Women, Kansas City Chapter. Parent Imperfect was one of three finalists among 36 nominees.

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New Book by Member Rachel Anne Jones

9/17/2025

What happens when an introverted, science-minded boy meets the girl of his dreams?

A whole lot of chaos.

Before Charlie Barren knows what’s happening, he’s skipping class, climbing out of windows, and crashing a stranger’s quinceañera. He is shocked by his own behavior, but he can’t stay away. He’s never met anyone like Venus.

Rachel Anne Jones is a member from Cottonwood Falls.

New Book from Member Sherry Krehbiel

9/17/2025

Member Sherry Krehbiel will be launching her second book, EZRA’s VALENTINES: A Story of Kindness and Love on September 30th.

Sherry's Website

New Book by Member J. Khan

8/6/2025

J. Khan is a District 2 poet and author. He has published two books of poetry. His most recent book, Popol Vuh: The Maya Hero Twins in Xibalba is now available.
www.JKAuthor.com

New Member Leon Unruh Publishes 2nd Book in Spy Thriller-Set-in-Kansas Series

7/24/2025

Series Title: Dog of the Afterworld
Book 1 – Dog of the Afterworld (Birchbark Press, 2017)
Book 2 – Saltwood (Meadowlark, 2025)

A former Russian assassin using the alias Nick Deveraux has become a mysterious American hero but is kept under wraps following his spectacular capture. The FBI releases him after two years, right into the hands of the Russian mob. He is coerced to complete his former assignment — kill the Senate’s last moderate conservative, Harriet Gayfeather of Kansas. He finds himself caught between the twin grindstones of oil money and religious power and becomes oddly aligned with both the senator’s deputy and a woman who has made herself regionally famous by promising to kill an unidentified person in Kansas.

Praise for Saltwood

"I love Leon Unruh's SALTWOOD for the same reason I love his previous, related novel DOG OF THE AFTERWORLD: In terms of craft, he delivers everything you want from a thriller. I dare you not to be fully invested from the very first page in who these people are and where things are headed. But then Unruh, a longtime journalist, brings art and a sophisticated understanding of the world to the proceedings. There's nothing cookie-cutter about this novel. It's a deep, absorbing, kinetic read, featuring a main character—a former Russian assassin now named Nick Devereaux—trying to navigate American culture. It's hard for Nick. It's hard for all of us. And yet, this journey satisfies."
—Craig Lancaster, two-time High Plains Book Award winner

"Nick Deveraux, aka Nikolai Fyodorov, is a dichotomy, a Russian/American assassin with scruples. His target is a United States senator from Kansas, and his orders are: kill or be killed. He becomes the senator’s bodyguard instead. But an explosion at an oil rig leads Nick to question the morals and motives of a cast of characters, including the senator and himself. Unruh’s tale of suspense keeps the reader guessing. Who’s the villain? Who’s the victim?"
—Michael D. Graves, author of Human Shadow, a Pete Stone mystery

Saltwood, by Leon Unruh

Native Kansan Leon Unruh is the author of the Dog of the Afterworld series. He wrote for several small newspapers in Kansas and went on to work as an editor at dailies in Austin and Dallas, Texas; Wichita, Kansas; and Anchorage, Alaska. He was later the editor at the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.

New Poetry book by Kerry Moyer

7/22/2025

Salt is Moyer’s fourth full-length poetry collection. Kerry works as a mental health professional to guide struggling youth. Kerry is a gravel cycling enthusiast who has completed 1,000 miles of 100-mile cycling race events. He holds a fifth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a first-degree black belt in Hapkido and has studied various other martial arts. He enjoys leatherwork, woodwork, tinkering, and playing guitar. He lives with his family in Emporia, Kansas.

Kerry is an active member of Emporia Writers Group and he has served Kansas Authors Club on the state level as the 2020-2021 prose contest manager.

Salt, by Kerry Moyer

Poetry Collection by Iris Craver

7/19/2025

Member Iris Craver from Lawrence shares the following book news:

My first poetry collection was released last week.

Learn More at Anamcara Press

Discover the heart of North Lawrence in Iris Craver’s soulful poems, where everyday moments, nature, and resilience weave a rich tapestry of home.

The collection reflects on belonging, resilience, and finding magic in everyday life. Craver’s vivid storytelling captures the beauty of connection and the strength found in embracing where you call home.

Enjoy the rich details of Iris’s “herbal apothecary” tales of Kansas. Each poem speaks of the small details that make a life, for a poet who loves where she lives and declares, “I choose to stay and wear an apron/as my shield for the battle, pile up books to build my fortress/and use my love as a weapon of mass instruction.” Like her backyard garden, this collection is carefully tended.
Linda Barnes, Past President of the International Federation of Biblio-Poetry Therapy

“Craver’s poetry is a collection of ponderings, reminiscences, and humor about life in Kansas, her beloved place. “The sky is the color of cinnamon toast.” Tree branches look like chicken bones.” Her descriptions set the tone in this brilliant poetry collection, and she makes it easy to taste the music within her soul.”
Ronda Miller was the former State President of the Kansas Authors Club. Unfortunately, before this book went to press, she passed into the next life in December 2024. She was my cheerleader (the author).

“My attention span is about an inch long, and this book kept my interest. These poems capture what it is like to live in North Lawrence. Iris’s poems have changed how I view my neighborhood, and I’ve lived here 60+ years!”
Ted Boyle, President of the North Lawrence Neighborhood Improvement Association.

Iris is also the author of:

I call it "hysterical fiction"! My book titled, Do Lizards Have Lips? And Other Tall Tales From Toronto, Kansas was published in 2023 by Ice Cube Press.

https://icecubepress.com/2023/01/04/do-lizards-have-lips-2/

New Book by Member Robert Cory

7/19/2025

Kansas author Robert Cory offers a collection of his latest experiments in prose and poetry. A few are in the traditional haiku form, but the entire collection is a haiku-style contemplation of his environment, both natural and human. In the tradition of wordsmiths like e. e. cummings, Cory plays with syntax and vocabulary but is always true to his underlying emotion.

Robert is a member from Wichita.

The Magic Eye Book Launch, July 17, 7 p.m., Raven Bookstore

7/14/2025

The Magic Eye
A Story of Saving a Life and
a Place in the Age of Anxiety

A Memoir to be released July 15, 2025
by Mammoth Publications
ISBN: 9781939301574

“No endorsement can do justice to this vivid, lyric, wise, wry, compassionate, profoundly spiritual memoir of passage through some severe life trials.The Magic Eyeis a microcosmic epic of unvaunting human triumph. Bursting with life in its myriad forms, this is a book to love and to share.”
~ Stephanie Mills, author of In Service of the Wild and Epicurean Simplicity

“Nothing could have prepared me for being diagnosed with a rare and deadly eye cancer in the middle of trying to save the Kansas land where my husband and I live,” Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg writes of her new memoir, The Magic Eye: A Story of Saving a Life and a Place in the Age of Anxiety. Harriet Lerner calls The Magic Eye "....a luminous, poetic meditation on survival, community, and resilience. With tenderness and humor, her memoir speaks to the fierce beauty of holding on to life, to land, and to hope when the odds seem insurmountable. A deeply human story, this book is a testament to courage and the power of place that will stay with you long after you turn the final page.”

The Magic Eye encompasses a mythic, quirky, and timely journey with a cast of unforgettable friends that make surviving the odds—both the danger of invasive cancer in a body and invasive development vying for tallgrass prairie—possible. Crossing through the pandemic, this memoir is guided by tenderness, curiosity, and more than a dash of magic as Mirriam-Goldberg writes of giving endangered turtles names such as Gandalf and Harrison Ford, undergoing surgery to insert a radioactive disk in her eye, outsmarting a tornado, and the Rube Goldberg contraption of the body.

The Magic Eye investigates what it means to reinhabit our bodies and ecosystems.

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D., the 2009–13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of over two dozen books, including How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems; Miriam’s Well, a novel; The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community, and Coming Home to the Body. Her poetry and prose have been widely published in hundreds of literary magazines and anthologies over the years.

Founder of Transformative Language Arts (writing, music, storytelling, and other word arts for social and personal transformation), Caryn is a beloved writing workshop facilitator and writing coach with over thirty years of experience. She regularly teaches for Lighthouse Writers, Writers.com, the Transformative Language Arts Network as well as offering private classes, all focused on how writing can bring us greater meaning, vitality, connection, and joy. She loves life-giving collaborations: she offers Your Right Livelihood with Kathryn Lorenzen, Brave Voice with Kelley Hunt, and The Art of Facilitation with Joy Roulier Sawyer.

Caryn offers weekly “Write Where You Are: A Writer’s Companion” through her Patreon and her long-running blog, “Everyday Magic.”

As elaborated upon in this memoir, she makes her home with eco- logical writer Ken Lassman south of Lawrence, Kansas where the deer and the wild turkeys roam, a dog and cat keep house, and their adult children frequently visit.

Member News from Connlyn Sinclair

7/8/2025

Connlyn Sinclair, member from Lawrence shares book news:

My new short story collection Odysseys Into The Weird is now out exclusively on Apple Books. Odysseys Into The Weird is a collection of my YA fantasy writing and is guaranteed to delight any young fantasy reader or fantasy reader who is young at heart. Stories include a young witch’s strange encounter with the Easter Bunny, an LGBT reworking of Romeo and Juliet, and a daring World War II mission undertaken by a teen spy and her pet monkey.

(http://books.apple.com/us/book/id6748092819)

#ReadLocalKS: Pete Stone Series by Michael D. Graves

7/1/2025

Dear Kansas Authors,

If you know anyone who appreciates mystery, baseball, or a walk down historical Wichita's memory lane, I recommend Pete Stone detective stories from Meadowlark Press, Watermark Books, and your local library.

If you desire an author visit, Kansan Mike Graves will engage your audience to suit your event.

My All Hallows' Shadows review is available on GoodReads.

You are welcome to read and share my review of Shadows & Sorrows on GoodReads.

"Who dun it?" What is the motive, means, or opportunity?

Carmaine Ternes, Kansas Authors Club Member
Librarian, Author, Editor, Presenter
"A child who reads will be an adult who thinks!"
StoryCorps One Small Step

Buy the Pete Stone Series

New Book by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg: The Magic Eye

6/13/2025

“Nothing could have prepared me for being diagnosed with a rare and deadly eye cancer in the middle of trying to save the Kansas land where my husband and I live,” Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg writes of her new memoir, The Magic Eye: A Story of Saving a Life and a Place in the Age of Anxiety. Harriet Lerner calls The Magic Eye "....a luminous, poetic meditation on survival, community, and resilience. With tenderness and humor, her memoir speaks to the fierce beauty of holding on to life, to land, and to hope when the odds seem insurmountable. A deeply human story, this book is a testament to courage and the power of place that will stay with you long after you turn the final page.”

The Magic Eye encompasses a mythic, quirky, and timely journey with a cast of unforgettable friends that make surviving the odds—both the danger of invasive cancer in a body and invasive development vying for tallgrass prairie—possible. Crossing through the pandemic, this memoir is guided by tenderness, curiosity, and more than a dash of magic as Mirriam-Goldberg writes of giving endangered turtles names such as Gandalf and Harrison Ford, undergoing surgery to insert a radioactive disk in her eye, outsmarting a tornado, and the Rube Goldberg contraption of the body.

Read a feature on The Magic Eye by Max McCoy here: https://kansasreflector.com/2025/06/08/in-a-forthcoming-memoir-a-kansas-writer-sees-the-land-and-herself-anew/.

Please check out Caryn’s book tour, including a launch July 17th at the Raven Bookstore and many readings around and beyond Kansas: https://www.carynmirriamgoldberg.com/magic-eye

Member Robert Phillips on forthcoming book to be published

6/7/2025

Member Robert Phillips shares news about his new book.

This photo was taken by Robert's mother in 1948 with one of those old black box Kodaks.

I want to share with everyone how my book came about, Big Boys Don't Cry:

My Audio-Reader story.
About three years ago my wife and I retired, after selling our Bed and Breakfast/Wedding Venue we moved into Lawrence. My world stopped urning and my life turned to depression, anxiety, aggravated by PTSD brought on by my experiences in Vietnam. Nothing to do to occupy my time and get my thoughts going in a positive direction. My VA advisor, Dawn Claus suggested the Audio-Reader Program.

I failed to mention I am legally blind and do not drive any more. This only acerbated my situation. With my wife’s encouragement I started receiving taped books from the Kansas state Audio-Reader in Emporia. I started seeing improvement in my mental health after being able to immerse my mind in these stories and forget my negative thoughts lingering in the depths of my brain. This even started helping me get my thoughts off some of the physical pain, I was experiencing.

It wasn’t long before I had listened to all the books I really liked, that was memoirs of people living in Kansas in rural communities, especially about children growing up on farms. I kept kidding Maggie Wattie at the Emporia Audio-Book Library that I was going to write a book about me growing up near Virgil, Kansas and have it recorded. I am sure she was thinking to herself and maybe telling some of her co-workers, “You won’t believe what this crazy man told me he was going to do.

Now it is three years later and the book is written and that crazy man, now eighty years old has teamed up with the Audio-Reader Program here in Lawrence to launch this book. My contact person here is Martha Kehr. Listener outreach coordinator at Audio-Reader, University of Kansas.

I hope my experience will help other people learn about the Audio-Reader Program and maybe help put their minds in a more favorable state as it did me. Without the help of my wife Beverly, my friends and family, the great medical support both physical and mental provided by the Veteran Administration and the Audio Reader program this story would not have been told. My hat is off to you all.

For those of you who don’t qualify for the Audio-Reader Program this book can be purchased at a number of independent book stores and of course on line from Amazon. Not quite yet. In a few more weeks.

Robert W Phillips, Rp
Published Author
"Big Boys Don't Cry"
www.robertwphillips.com
Facebook
Volunteer, Audio-Reader, KU

Member Book News from Mark Esping

6/4/2025

Member Mark Esping Shares the following:

The Two Headed Doll is a recounting of interactions, usually involving both black and white persons. The author believes that several of the events in his life were orchestrated by a benevolent force. Seemingly some lives or portions of lives are choreographed.

The interactions took place in an atmosphere of preordination, which resulted in the author becoming almost human. The results of these stories guided him into eventually having access to some forms of African-America culture.

The five hundred Fridays east of Troost were spent attending weekly meetings of the most diverse audience discussing the most diverse subjects.

Eighty-Eight Pages
Cost $22.00 + $5.00 shipping

Mark O.J. Esping
603 North 2nd Street
Lindsborg, KS. 67456

<<Previous

Member Clyde W. Toland presents FREDtalk: the Becoming Frederick Funston Trilogy

Book Launch Party for Member Dawn Feltrop in Rose Hill, KS

Book by Member Patrick Kelly

Spry authors three books in 2025

Sign Language Book by Members Todd and Hailey Stultz

Meet a Member at the Derby Public Library, October 10

Member Receives 2nd Place Honors in Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award

New Book by Member Rachel Anne Jones

New Book from Member Sherry Krehbiel

New Book by Member J. Khan

New Member Leon Unruh Publishes 2nd Book in Spy Thriller-Set-in-Kansas Series

New Poetry book by Kerry Moyer

Poetry Collection by Iris Craver

New Book by Member Robert Cory

The Magic Eye Book Launch, July 17, 7 p.m., Raven Bookstore

Member News from Connlyn Sinclair

#ReadLocalKS: Pete Stone Series by Michael D. Graves

New Book by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg: The Magic Eye

Member Robert Phillips on forthcoming book to be published

Member Book News from Mark Esping

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