Current News from the Kansas Authors Club

#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

2024 Achievement in Writing: Cheryl Unruh

11/10/2024

Cheryl Unruh began her membership in Kansas Authors Club in 2011, but her name in Kansas literature well predates her association with our club.

Cheryl Unruh was raised in the tiny town of Pawnee Rock in central Kansas. She graduated from the University of Kansas in 1981. She now resides in Emporia.

For 11 years she wrote her Flyover People column about Kansas topics for The Emporia Gazette. She has been a commentator on Kansas Public Radio. She has won awards from the Kansas Press Association and the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. In 2016, because of her writing focus on Kansas, Cheryl was named one of Kansas’ Finest by Kansas! Magazine.

She has published two books of Kansas essays. Flyover People: Life on the Ground in a Rectangular State received the Kansas Notable Book Award in 2011, and Waiting on the Sky: More Flyover People Essays received the Kansas Notable Book Award in 2015. Walking on Water, poems, was published by Meadowlark Press in 2017. Her most recent book, a memoir, titled Gravedigger’s Daughter: Vignettes from a Small Kansas Town, was awarded the 2022 Nelson Poetry Book Award and the 2023 Martin Kansas History Book Award by the Kansas Authors Club, the first time in the club’s history that these two awards were given to the same title.

Cheryl has been the editor of 105 Meadowlark Reader, A Journal of True Kansas Stories, since 2021. This popular Kansas publication has featured a total of 152 Kansas (and former Kansas) writers, representing 80 of the 105 Kansas counties, by setting of essay or author hometown, within the first eight issues of publication (Issue 8 will be available in November 2024). Cheryl created the position of and served as the first Welcome Wagon Chair for the Kansas Authors Club, pulling member introductory efforts into the modern age by giving new members the opportunity to introduce themselves to the Club via featured posts, created by Cheryl, on our website and on social media. Cheryl served in this position from 2021 to 2023.

Cheryl is a founding member of the Emporia Writers Group, an often informal, but sometimes ordered and structured meeting of writers that began with a handful of attendees in 2011. Today the facebook page for the group boasts 53 members, with somewhere between 6 and 20 attending the current monthly meetings. Cheryl’s leadership and cheerleading for writers across Kansas is unsurpassed. Her achievements as a wordsmith are to be commended.

Nomination by members of Emporia Writers Group
Lindsey Bartlett, Angel Edenburn, Linzi Garcia, Mike Graves, Hazel Hart, Roger Heineken, Jerilynn Henrikson, Deb Irsik, Emilie Moll, Kerry Moyer, Kevin Rabas, Tracy Million Simmons, Brenda White, Michelle Zumbrum

2024 Kansas Authors Club Literary Contest: Prose Results

10/7/2024

Prose Contest Manager - K.L. Barron

Kristine A. Polansky, Anne Spry, and Janice Lee McClure

Prose Theme Contest: Words Take Flight: Choose Your Own Adventure (15 entries)

First Place: “The Cave” by Janice Lee McClure, D7

Second Place: “Up La Luz Trail With Penny” by Janice Lee McClure, D7

Third Place: “Encountering Hunger, Death, and Adventure in the Peace Corps” by Anne L. Spry, D1

Honorable Mention: “Bridge Over Cimarron” by Amy D. Kliewer, D5

Honorable Mention: “You Just Never Know” by Kristine A. Polansky, D4

Sandra Lou Talyor and S.L. Brown

Stories Written for Young Readers (14 entries)

First Place: “Catfish” by S.L. Brown, D2

Second Place: “Be Brave Bertie” by S.L. Brown, D2

Third Place: “Areon” by Sandra Lou Taylor, D5

Honorable Mention: “A Treasured Glow” by Abbi Lee, D5

Joe Bollig, S.L. Brown, and Julie A. Sellers

Short Story (14 entries)

First Place: “Sunflower State of Mind” by Julie A. Sellers, D1

Second Place: “Ficklin, Kansas” by S.L. Brown, D2

Third Place: “At the Roadside” by Robin St. James

Honorable Mention: “Just Another Day” by Ashley Masoni Huber, NM

Honorable Mention: “Dick Banal, Private Eye: Sticky Situation” by Joe Bollig, D2

Cynthia Mines, Janice Lee McClure, and Hazel Hart

Memoir/Inspiration (29 entries)

First Place: “Last One on the Line” by Don Money, D3

Second Place: “Students on a Stick” by Roger Heineken, D2

Third Place: “Breathe In, Release” by Cynthia Mines, D5

Honorable Mention: “Someone Else” by Hazel Hart, D2

Honorable Mention: “Idaho, 1950” by Janice Lee McClure, D7

Gretchen Cassel Eick and Julie A. Sellers

Humor (16 entries)

First Place: “Waiting for Daddy” by Kimberlee Bethany Bonura, D2

Second Place: “Local Professor Jailed for Crime of Fashion” by Julie A. Sellers, D1

Third Place: “The Brain Trade” by Gretchen Cassel Eick, D5

Honorable Mention: “How Gemma Changed My Life” by Margaret McKay, D5

Honorable Mention: “Brotherly Affection” by Amy D. Kliewer, D5

Sandra Lou Taylor, Hazel Hart, S.L. Brown, and Julie A. Sellers

Flash Fiction (8 entries)

First Place: “Distant Grief” by Kimberlee Bethany Bonura, D2

Second Place: “What She Ordered” by Hazel Hart, D2

Third Place: “Outlook” by Gretchen Burch, D2

Honorable Mention: “My Big Chance” by Sandra Lou Taylor, D5

Honorable Mention: “A Word Edgewise” by Hazel Hart, D2

Honorable Mention: “Deja New” by S.L. Brown, D2

Honorable Mention: “The Good Mood” by Julie A. Sellers, D1

Jerilynn Henrikson and Mike Graves (above her in the Zoom window)

First Chapter of a Novel (17 entries)

First Place: “The Yellow-Wellie Incident: An Inspector Wigford “Wiggy” Thorpe Mystery” by Kathleen E. Kaska, D2

Second Place: “A Mystery in Two Voices” by Michael D. Graves and Jerilynn Henrikson, D2

Third Place: “Birth of a Warrior” by Elmer Fuller, NM

Honorable Mention: “Shadows Deep” by Michael D. Graves, D2

Honorable Mention: “A History of Madness” by Alisha Davis, NM

Tracy Million Simmons and Julie A. Sellers

Playwriting (4 entries)

First Place: “The Magic Lamp” by Julie A. Sellers, D1

Second Place: “Community Meeting Chaos” by Cynthia Schaker, D5

Third Place: “The Heavenly Lounge” by Tracy Million Simmons, D2

S.L. Brown and Julie Ann Baker Brin

Prose Rural Voices (11 entries)

First Place: “Salt Plant” by Amy D. Kliewer, D5

Second Place: “Buried Treasure” by Julie Ann Baker Brin, D5

Third Place: “Stealing Dinner” by S.L. Brown, D2

#ReadLocalKS : The Wasp Queen by Julie Stielstra

8/30/2024

Michael D. Graves, member from Emporia, shares about his current Kansas read, The Wasp Queen, by Julie Stielstra, member from Ellinwood.

The Wasp Queen (Little Fox Books, 2023) by member Julie Stielstra, Ellinwood. ISBN 9798987569702

A kind queen is possessed by an evil spirit. The king and his princess are frantic. A lady’s maid knows what happened, but who would believe her fantastic tale? A wasp lurks in the shadows. A dog barks the truth - if only humans spoke “woof.” Julie Stielstra weaves a cunning tale of deceit and revenge, leaving us on edge until we reach the happy ending. Or do we?

--Michael D. Graves, author of the Pete Stone series

JulieStielstra.com

What are you reading? Help us lift and share the good news about Kansas literature. Tag your book loves and reviews on social media with #ReadLocalKS and submit here to be posted on the Kansas Authors Club website.

D2 Members Invite You to a Double Book Launch Celebration

7/13/2023

Meadowlark Press Announces Double Book Launch Featuring Emporia Authors

EMPORIA, KS - Emporia’s Meadowlark Press will celebrate the release of Remembering Martha by Jerilynn Jones Henrikson and Human Shadow, by Michael D. Graves on July 26, 2023, at the historic Granada Theater, 807 Commercial Street, in downtown Emporia from 6-8 p.m.

Henrikson and Graves have written books inspired by their grandparents. As part of the launch, each author will read short selections from their new books. The audience will have some time to ask questions about their writing processes and inspiration.

Remembering Martha, a novella, is inspired by an interview Henrikson did with her grandmother for a class at ESU. Martha grew up in the small town of Neosho Rapids at the turn of the 20th century. This book captures the grueling life on the Kansas prairie, but does so with humor, as the reader follows Martha’s life amid its challenges and joys.

Emporia State University professor, Amy Sage Webb-Baza calls Henrikson’s book “a feast for the soul and the sense: hilarious, heartbreaking, rich with detail.”

Human Shadow by Mike Graves is book number five in the Pete Stone Private Investigator series. Stone is a private detective in 1930s Wichita. Oft-champion of the downtrodden, Stone takes on a case to prove the innocence of a shell-shocked war veteran accused of arson and murder. Graves created the Pete Stone character as a memorial to his grandfather. His first and third Pete Stone novels, To Leave a Shadow and All Hallows’ Shadows, were Kansas Notable Books.

Come to socialize, eat some apple pie, and celebrate family legacy, Kansas roots, and books with Jerilynn, Mike, and Meadowlark Press. Books will be available for purchase at this event. Learn more at www.meadowlarkbookstore.com.

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Click the cover image below to learn more:

Writers in Community: Mike and Monica Graves

6/10/2023

Mike and Monica Graves visited the residents at Sunflower Care Homes in Emporia. Monica sang with the residents and Mike read from his upcoming book, Human Shadow, as well as an essay in 105 Meadowlark Reader.
The residents received hats from Mike as part of the activity.

Writers in the Community is a Kansas Authors Club program that highlights member educational and outreach efforts in our communities.

Click here to learn more and submit your own news

Congratulations to the Kansas Authors Club Members Published in 105 Meadowlark Reader, the Animal Issue

5/29/2023

The spring 2023 issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader features the following essays by Kansas Authors Club members:

A Cryptid Sighting in Kansas
by Denise Low (D2)

Love Bears All Things
by Amy D. Kliewer (D5)

Nocturnal Nuisance
by Elizabeth R. Schmidt (D5)

The Right Man for the Job
by Brenda L. White (D2)

Little Owl
by Lindsey Bartlett (D2)

My Heron
by Michael D. Graves (D2)

You Dirty Bird
by Jerilynn Jones Henrikson (D2)

Blessed is the Peacemaker
by Cheryl Suzanne Heide (D2)

Introducing the Black Tornado
by Cynthia Schaker (D5)

Buddy the Bookstore Beagle
by Linda Crowder (D6)

Princess With an Attitude
by Thomas N. Holmquist (D4)

Skiing in Kansas
by Boyd Bauman (D2)

Not a Playmate
by Carolyn Hall (D2)

Broken Heart
by Ann Vigola Anderson (D2)

I Did. I Saw a Camel!
by Marilyn Hope Lake (D2)

Invaders Via My Pre-vet Roommate
by Annabelle Corrick (D2)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow
by Pamela Yenser (D7)

This Is Not About Dogs
by Julie Ann Baker Brin (D5)

Congratulations to our members! 105 Meadowlark Reader is currently (through June 30, 2023) taking submissions on the theme of Landmarks.

Submission Guidelines

Subscribe to 105 Meadowlark Reader

Author Michael D. Graves Hosts 1930s Cocktail Party, Fourth Book in the Pete Stone Private Investigator Series Released

4/7/2022

Emporia, KS – Meadowlark Press and Michael D. Graves announce the publication of the fourth book in the award-winning Pete Stone Private Investigator series. Shadows and Sorrows is available for pre-release order through meadowlarkbookstore.com and a launch event is planned for Thursday, April 14, from 4-6 pm at Twin Rivers Winery, 627 Commercial Street, Emporia. Attendees will enjoy readings by the author and themed cocktails will be featured. 1930s cocktail attire is encouraged; party fedoras will be on hand for guests.

Shadows and Sorrows opens in Wichita, Kansas, on April 18, 1938. Cocky Wright has been Pete Stone’s friend since they first met on a baseball field, a couple of kids with skinned knees, lots of moxie, and not much else. Now Cocky is dead, Cocky’s wife and daughter are in danger, and shady characters are after something Cocky was hiding. Was Pete’s friend dealing secrets to the German American Bund? Was his friend really out to threaten the safety of the country?

Accident or murder? Pete Stone is searching for the truth, once again, and he must solve the puzzle before his pal’s reputation is tarnished forever.

Books 1 and 3 of the series were recognized as Kansas Notable titles. The first book of the series, To Leave a Shadow, received the designation in 2015, and the third, All Hallows’ Shadows, was named to the list in 2021. All Hallows’ Shadows was also the recipient of the 2020 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award by the Kansas Authors Club, and it was a Midwest Book Award Finalist. The series is set in 1930s Wichita, the character of Pete Stone a memorial to the author’s grandfather.

Shadows and Sorrows, by Michael D. Graves

Book 4 in the Pete Stone Private Investigator Series
Published by: Meadowlark Press, Emporia, KS
April 2022
ISBN paperback: 978-1-956578-03-4
ISBN Kindle Edition: 978-1-956578-09-6

Members Published in 105 Meadowlark Reader, Issue #2

11/2/2021

Carolyn Hall, D2 Member, is one of 21 Kansas Authors Club members published in the second issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader: Kansas Travel Stories.

The journal of Kansas creative nonfiction can be purchased at "Partner Bookstores" including Crow and Co Books (Hutchinson), Eighth Day Books (Wichita), Flint Hills Books (Council Grove), Raven Book Store (Lawrence), Russell Specialty Books & Gifts (Russell), and Watermark Books & Cafe (Wichita).

Subscriptions can also be purchased at Meadowlark Press.

Kansas Authors Club members featured in this issue include:

Ann Anderson (D2)

Curtis Becker (D2)

Sheryl Brenn (D7)

Annabelle Corrick (D1)

Gretchen Cassel Eick (D5)

Marie Baum Fletcher (D7)

Tammy Gilley (D6)

Michael D. Graves (D2)

Monica (Osgood) Graves (D2)

Carolyn Hall (D2)

Jerilynn Jones Henrikson (D2)

Sally Jadlow (D2)

Nancy Julien Kopp (D4)

Sandee Lee (D5)

Jim Potter (D6)

Julie A. Sellers (D1)

Mark Scheel (D2)

Tracy Million Simmons (D2)

Barbara Waterman-Peters (D1)

Brenda White (D2)

Editor, Chery Unruh (D2)

The journal is currently taking submissions for issue #3 to be published in the spring of 2022.

Theme: True Bicycle Stories
Guidelines can be found on the
105 Meadowlark Reader website.

2021 Length of Membership Awards

10/9/2021

Jeff G. Guernsey – 10 years
Ronda Miller – 10 years
Ray “Griz” Racobs – 10 years
Gloria Zachgo – 10 years
Michael D. Graves – 10 years

Susan Hill – 15 years
Arlene Rains Graber – 15 years
Betty A. Laird – 15 years

Tracy Million Simmons – 20 years

Joann Williams – 25 years

Maryann Barry – 30 years
Lorine A. Gleue – 30 years
Cynthia J. Ross – 30 years

Frankie Roland – 35 years

Millie Horlacher – 40 years

Octogenarians
Carol Katsantoness
Frank Powers*
Susan Hill

*has reached 5 years of membership

Three Members Make 2020 Midwest Book Awards Finalists list

4/27/2021

Three Kansas Authors Club members were named finalists in the 31st annual Midwest Book Awards. The awards program, which is organized by the Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MiPA), recognizes quality independent publishing in the Midwest.

Michael D. Graves, District 2, made the Fiction: Mystery/Thriller list with All Hallows' Shadows, the 3rd book of the Pete Stone, Private Investigator series.

Jerilynn Jones Henrikson, District 2, made the Fiction: Young Adult list with A Time for Tears.

Julie Stielstra, District 6, made the Fiction: Young Adult list with Opulence, Kansas.

All three titles are published by Meadowlark Press of Emporia, Kansas, owned by Tracy Million Simmons (D2).

The 31st annual Midwest Book Awards was open to books published and copyrighted in 2020 in MiPA’s 12-state Midwestern region: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

This year’s competition garnered 241 entries in 35 categories, submitted by 74 independent publishers and judged by a panel of nearly one hundred librarians and booksellers from throughout the Midwest.

Historically, an awards gala is held in Minneapolis to announce the winners, but this year, as in 2020, winners will be announced and celebrated online, first in a Zoom webinar open to MiPA members and finalists, and shortly thereafter in a social media premiere that can be shared with friends and family. A period of book giveaways and winner highlights will accompany the social media premiere.

“This shift to celebrating online has enabled us to engage with a larger publishing community throughout the Midwest,” said Jennifer Baum, executive director of MiPA. “The number of entries received in 2020 grew by about 25% compared to the prior year, which can be attributed to our greater online presence.”

Following the conclusion of the gala celebrations, winners will be encouraged to participate in MiPA’s second season of the Virtual Reading Series, a limited series launched last year on MiPA’s YouTube channel.

Finalist books will also be for sale in MiPA’s affiliate shop on Bookshop.org, a website that shares proceeds with independent booksellers. Buyers can opt to select which independent store will receive the commission, or to leave it in a general pool to be distributed among independent booksellers.

For a complete list of finalists, visit www.mipa.org/midwest-book-awards. Follow @MIPAMidwestBookAwards on Facebook for updates on the gala’s social media premiere and book giveaways.

March 23 Author Talk - Michael D. Graves, author of All Hallows' Shadow

3/21/2021

March Author Talk:
Michael D. Graves

All Hallows' Shadows

Winner:
2020 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award

Recording Available for Viewing by Members - Click Here

Mike will be talking about research methods he has used in writing the Pete Stone books.

Use Coupon Code: KAC21
in the Meadowlark Bookstore for 10% off of the Pete Stone novels. This coupon is good for KAC members through the end of April.

"In All Hallows’ Shadows, Michael D. Graves serves up both homage and an original take on the hard-boiled detective genre. The mean streets of the novel are historic Wichita, Kansas, which Mr. Graves renders impeccably, edging in a history lesson with his mystery. Graves, an evident baseball fan, hits through the cycle of the genre’s tropes, but does so in a manner entirely his own, realizing a style entirely his own. Out of a field of strong competition, my choice for the J. Donald Coffin Book Award is Michael D. Graves’s All Hallows’ Shadows."

-William Sheldon, judge, 2020 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award

February Author Talk, Chuck Warner, winner of the 2020 Martin Kansas History Book Award

1/30/2021

February Author Talk: Chuck Warner

Birds, Bones, and Beetles: The Improbable Career and Remarkable Legacy of University of Kansas Naturalist Charles D. Bunker

Winner:
2020 Martin Kansas History Book Award
&
2020 "Looks Like A Million" Design Award

Tuesday, February 23, 7pm
Click here to register (must register to attend).
University Press of Kansas has agreed to offer members of KAC a 30% discount on copies of Warner's book. Beginning today, this offer is good through March 31, 2021, and applies only to online purchases from University Press of Kansas using the Promo Code KAC30. (https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-2773-8.html)

“While reading Chuck Warner’s book, I felt myself being transported back in time and seeing life through the eyes of Charles Bunker. Birds, Bones, and Beetles tells the story of naturalist Charles Bunker's life from his early years in Illinois in the late 1800s through his long career at the University of Kansas. Much like Charles Bunker, the book itself is unassuming and down to earth. Warner takes care to not only reveal Bunker's strengths but also his flaws. Yet, the book is more than a biography. Warner ties Bunker into a larger world that include his relationships with his colleagues and family, developments within the University of Kansas, and the natural history of the state. This well written and well researched book is not only a treat to read but is a valuable contribution to the history of Kansas.”

-Thomas C. Percy, PhD, judge, 2020 Martin Kansas History Book Award

March Author Talk: Michael D. Graves

All Hallows' Shadows

Winner:
2020 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award

Tuesday, March 23, 7pm
Click here to register (must register to attend).

"In All Hallows’ Shadows, Michael D. Graves serves up both homage and an original take on the hard-boiled detective genre. The mean streets of the novel are historic Wichita, Kansas, which Mr. Graves renders impeccably, edging in a history lesson with his mystery. Graves, an evident baseball fan, hits through the cycle of the genre’s tropes, but does so in a manner entirely his own, realizing a style entirely his own. Out of a field of strong competition, my choice for the J. Donald Coffin Book Award is Michael D. Graves’s All Hallows’ Shadows."

-William Sheldon, judge, 2020 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award

April Author Talk: Ronda Miller

I Love the Children

Winner:
2020 Kansas Authors Club Childrens' Book Award

Tuesday, April 27, 7pm
Registration Link to Come (must register to attend).

Coming 2021: Author Talks

1/16/2021

Kansas Authors Club will host a monthly “Author Talk” featuring an award-winning writer, with first priority given to authors who have won KAC book awards. The author will talk about an aspect of writing, publishing, or marketing (author's choice). The presentations are expected to last an hour to an hour and a half and will include time for questions and answers.

These events are being planned via Zoom, to take place on the 4th Tuesday of each month. The event will be open to all Kansas Authors Club members. A recording of the event will be made available to members who cannot attend live.

You must be a Kansas Authors Club member to attend an Author Talk. Not a member? Join today!

January Author Talk: Jon Kelly Yenser

The News as Usual

Winner: 2020 Nelson Poetry Book Award

Recording Available for Viewing by Members - Click Here

The News as Usual is available from Twice Told Tales Bookshop, and wherever you buy books! Support Kansas literature by supporting a Kansas Author!

"The title for Jon Kelly Yenser’s 2019 collection of poems, The News as Usual, accurately and profoundly describes his poetry although the “usual” here is shown to be startling and wondrous and occasionally wry and subtly humorous. Yenser writes from the ground up in choosing both his words and the subjects for his poems, reflecting his recognition that the "news," that is, ordinary life during all seasons in Kansas—in fields, in the backyards of its small towns, and in friendships—can be astonishing.

"Neither idealizing nor prettifying his Kansas, Yenser chooses language precisely and astonishingly. He creates metaphors that make the familiar spring wondrously into new life, thereby making the usual news become unusual."

--Elizabeth A. Schultz, judge, 2020 Nelson Poetry Book Award

Tuesday, February 23, 7pm
Click here to register (must register to attend).

University Press of Kansas has agreed to offer members of KAC a 30% discount on copies of Warner's book. Beginning today, this offer is good through March 31, 2021, and applies only to online purchases from University Press of Kansas using the Promo Code KAC30. (https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-2773-8.html)

“While reading Chuck Warner’s book, I felt myself being transported back in time and seeing life through the eyes of Charles Bunker. Birds, Bones, and Beetles tells the story of naturalist Charles Bunker's life from his early years in Illinois in the late 1800s through his long career at the University of Kansas. Much like Charles Bunker, the book itself is unassuming and down to earth. Warner takes care to not only reveal Bunker's strengths but also his flaws. Yet, the book is more than a biography. Warner ties Bunker into a larger world that include his relationships with his colleagues and family, developments within the University of Kansas, and the natural history of the state. This well written and well researched book is not only a treat to read but is a valuable contribution to the history of Kansas.”

-Thomas C. Percy, PhD, judge, 2020 Martin Kansas History Book Award

March Author Talk: Michael D. Graves

All Hallows' Shadows

Winner:
2020 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award

Recording Available for Viewing by Members - Click Here

2020 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award

10/3/2020

Michael D Graves, All Hallows’ Shadows

In All Hallows’ Shadows, Michael D. Graves serves up both homage and an original take on the hard-boiled detective genre. The mean streets of the novel are historic Wichita, Kansas, which Mr. Graves renders impeccably, edging in a history lesson with his mystery. Graves, an evident baseball fan, hits through the cycle of the genre’s tropes but does so in a manner entirely his own, realizing a style entirely his own. Out of a field of strong competition, my choice for the J. Donald Coffin Book Award is Michael D. Graves’s All Hallows’ Shadows.

Judge William Sheldon lives with his family in Hutchinson, Kansas where he teaches and writes. He took his BS and MA in English from Emporia State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Wichita State University. His poetry and prose have been published widely in such journals as Blue Mesa Review, Columbia, Flint Hills Review, New Letters, and Prairie Schooner. He is the author of two books of poetry, Retrieving Old Bones (Woodley, 2002) and Rain Comes Riding (Mammoth, 2011), as well as a chapbook, Into Distant Grass (Oil Hill, 2009). Retrieving Old Bones was a Kansas City Star Noteworthy Book for 2002 and is listed as one of the Great Plains Alliance’s Great Books of the Great Plains. He plays bass for the band The Excuses.

THANK YOU TO OUR MEMBERS FOR SUPPORTING OUR FIRST VIRTUAL CONVENTION

10/3/2020

An extra special shout-out to the following members for providing a bit of extra support to the convention team via program advertising. Please take a moment to visit these member websites and check out their books!

It's All Show Business, by Connie Rae

www.105meadowlarkreader.com

Blue Cedar Press

royjbecekemeyer.com

Pete Stone, Private Investigator

Member contributions in anthology published by blue cedar press

9/20/2020

Congratulations to D5 member, Gretchen Eick, and the following Kansas Authors Club members who were published in this anthology: Ronda Miller (D2), Jim Potter (D6), Mark McCormick (D5), Judy Keller Hatteberg (D5), Robert Dean (D5), Michael Poage (D5), Julie Baker Brinn (D7), Mike Graves (D2), Ruth Maus (D1), Julie Stielstra (D6), Mark Scheel (D2), Miriam Iwashige (D6), Najiyah Maxfield (D6), Janet Stotts (D1), and Diane Wahto (D5).

PRESS RELEASE
September 20, 2020

The Death Project: An Anthology for These Times is now in print and available to order at your favorite bookstore and Amazon.

This book is a 205 page anthology of stories, poems, mini memoirs, and factual pieces about the various ways we lose loved ones to death and how we grieve and heal. It is a collaboration by 36 writers from across the US, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Britain, Turkey, etc. who contributed their writing to help others suffering from grief or anticipation of grief. It is intended to expand readers' thinking, feeling, and imagining about this universal, often-hidden experience brought relentlessly to the world's consciousness in 2020.

The writers are Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Bah'ais, atheists, and New Age, and of different races and ethnicities. Some write of family loss including suicide, others of war or devastating illness, of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter. Others share rituals that helped them recover.

Published by Blue Cedar Press (Wichita, KS) and edited by Dr. Gretchen Eick and Cora Poage, proceeds from the sales of The Death Project after the cost of publication and shipping will go to an assortment of international organizations fighting COVID-19. $12 paperback, $7 ebook (epub and Kindle).

For more information contact:
Gretchen Eick, 316-682-8818
[email protected]

We want to help you share your writing news!

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.

Third Book of Detective Series set in 1930s Wichita is Released

3/20/2020

Emporia, KS – All Hallows’ Shadows, the third book of the Pete Stone, Private Investigator series, is the newest book by Kansas publisher, Meadowlark Books. The book retails for $16.98 and is now available for order.

Author Michael D. Graves (District 2 KAC member) created the character of Pete Stone as a memorial to his grandfather. The first book, To Leave a Shadow, published in 2015, took Graves by surprise when it was recognized as a 2016 Kansas Notable Book. Book 2, Shadow of Death, was released in 2017. The third book, released this month, comes just in time for a debut at the Iola Reads celebration, where To Leave a Shadow was chosen by the organizers in Iola, Kansas, to be the community read book.

Though the character of Pete Stone is fictional, the stories are set in an historically accurate 1930s Wichita. In book 3, Stone has been hired by a Wichita university professor to prove that the suspect in a recent murder investigation is innocent. While Stone begins to suspect the professor and his motives, additional murders bring to the surface clues that suggest the killer isn’t finished.

In the writing of the novels, Graves enjoys placing clues and mementos from his own story. Graves was born in Wichita, and his father is the model for Rusty, the paperboy who makes an appearance in all three novels, and the green bike that Rusty rides is a tip of the hat to Mike’s first published book, Green Bike. Graves enjoys exploring Wichita, studying locations for the Pete Stone novels. He has spent countless hours in Wichita libraries, both public and the university, gathering details for his novels.

Meadowlark books are available to order through any traditional bookstore and online book outlets. Books can also be purchased directly from the authors and from Meadowlark’s web-store at
www.meadowlark-books.square.site
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Service Award: Michael D. Graves

10/21/2019

Awards for achievement in writing, service to Kansas Authors Club, or a special accomplishment are presented to deserving Kansas Authors Club members each year at the convention. Nominations are made by members and are due by July 1. Members should review the yearbook for current awards submission guidelines.

Mike Graves has been a member of Kansas Authors Club since 2011, active in the District 2, Emporia area writing group, where he gave local writers a taste of author Jim Harrison and collaborated with Tracy Simmons and Kevin Rabas on their group novel Green Bike. During this time, he went from talking about the novel he'd been working on, to publishing what became his first Pete Stone book, To Leave A Shadow, with Meadowlark, where it won multiple awards.

Mike has served KAC as Prose Contest Manager in 2016 and 2019, and made himself of service in many other ways, including stepping in to assist with the prose awards at the 2018 convention when the contest manager was unable to attend.

Mike has a well-seasoned, well-pitched storytelling voice, and draws from a deep well of historical and personal anecdotes from his life. His presentations on writing the Pete Stone mysteries at the KAC convention in 2018 were insightful and enriching, and left participants thinking of the author himself as the kind of character you'd read about in one of his stories. Along with storytelling, Mike has many other qualities that bear mentioning in the line of duty: commiserating with the right amount of wisdom to win over self-pity, and bearing with all kinds of work while maintaining an attitude of being smitten with the prospect of doing so, were two that made him a most agreeable, enjoyable, thoroughly competent professional writer to have connected with the KAC and Emporia writing groups. Mike used his well-honed skills to corral judges and contest chairs alike for the KAC Literary Contests, as well as to care about the details both behind the scenes and at the front of the awards presentations, handling both with finesse and a touch of Pete Stone class. His devotion to his wife Monica and his family are touchstones to his work, and his empathy extended to the authors submitting to the Prose Contest, expressing itself in disappointment at not being able to read every entry before the judges did. What he has in spades, however, is a quality of kindness that makes him resonate with the uniquely human experience of stories, that makes how he writes and shares the world a uniquely Mike Graves experience, and that reaches out to readers, colleagues, and community alike who receive his works and get to know him better in person.

Nominated by: Wendy Devilbiss, D2,
and Tracy Million Simmons, D2