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.
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.
Mace's author website can be found at www.macethornton.com.
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