A lead story in today’s Lawrence Journal-World is about Max McCoy’s book, “I, Quantrill.”
“Devil’s Advocate: Emporia author seeks to humanize Quantrill”
Max McCoy is an assistant professor in the English Dept. at ESU.
And he’s a prolific writer. Another of Max’s books, “Hellfire Canyon” recently won the Spur Award from the Western Writers Association. “Hellfire Canyon” also [...]
Filed under: Kansans, other people's stuff, writing on August 12th, 2008 | No Comments »
I don’t know if the Kansas Center for the Book has made an official announcement for the 2008 Kansas Notable Books, but while checking websites of two writer-acquaintances, I noticed that they have mentioned being honored by the award:
Max McCoy (Emporia) for Hellfire Canyon. (It also won the 2008 Spur Award from the Western Writers [...]
Filed under: other people's stuff, writing on June 1st, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I’ve just finished two more books by Ray Randolph (aka Helianthus 43). That makes four of his books I’ve read and have enjoyed each one. It’s fun to read books that friends have written. Haven’t actually met Ray - he lives in Indianapolis - but he’s a friend nonetheless. And a native Kansan
“Unfinished Business” is [...]
Filed under: writing, yabbering on May 10th, 2008 | No Comments »
More books arrived in the mail today! Thanks, Ray.
I’ve previously enjoyed two of Ray A. Randolph’s cop novels. Now I can catch up with the Indianapolis PD and the world of crime.
Ray’s a busy writer. He’s been writing a novel every year for the past five or six years - and that was before he [...]
Filed under: other people's stuff, writing on March 17th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Prolific Kansas writer Max McCoy has won the Spur Award for best original mass-market paperback novel from the Western Writers of America.
He will receive the award in June for his novel, “Hellfire Canyon,” at the WWA Conference in Scottsdale, AZ.
As Max mentions… Winners of the Spur Awards in previous years include Larry McMurtry for Lonesome [...]
Filed under: ESU, other people's stuff, writing on March 9th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Native Kansan Tracy Million Simmons read Sara Paretsky’s novel, “Bleeding Kansas” and, well, didn’t think much of it. Tracy’s review.
At least someone’s writing shines here - Tracy’s. She makes her case beautifully.
Filed under: writing on March 3rd, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I hadn’t been in this library since about 1980 - and they’ve done some major renovations since then. There’s a cafe and a used bookstore and gobs of meeting rooms. And books, I’m sure there were books in there.
The lobby. (I was going to call it the foyer, but that word always sounds silly to [...]
Filed under: places, writing on March 2nd, 2008 | 7 Comments »
Have you ever wanted to know what it was like to trudge through the jungles of Vietnam, a knife in one hand, rifle in the other, death looming around you?
Well, me neither.
But nevertheless, now I have a better understanding of what the Vietnam War was like. I read a first-hand account of the rain and [...]
Filed under: other people's stuff, writing on March 1st, 2008 | 8 Comments »
On Friday, a delivery came from Amazon. It was a Christmas present from my mom (who loves me very much). The book hadn’t been published yet (at Christmas). Mom reads Joshilyn Jackson books and knows I’m a fan also. Now the book is out and now I have it. I started it over the weekend [...]
Filed under: other people's stuff, writing on February 27th, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Today’s mail brought a book from a writer friend who lives near Manhattan. I met Charley Kempthorne several years ago when he gave a talk about writing family history at Barnes & Noble in Topeka.
In the ’70s, Charley began teaching writing workshops in Manhattan and encouraged people to write memoirs and family histories. His [...]
Filed under: other people's stuff, writing on February 25th, 2008 | No Comments »
I heard from a friend of a friend the other day. Karen Ross Epp sent an e-mail. She knows Beverley Buller who wrote From Emporia: The Story of William Allen White.
Karen Ross Epp told me a little about the book she wrote about her brother, Stanley Ross, who died in Vietnam in 1969.
With Love, Stan: [...]
Filed under: Kansans, writing on February 24th, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Here’s a great essay - about words, about life, about writing.
From a Southern writer -River Jordan: “When I was a child I had this belief that when you were born you had a certain amount of words assigned to you and stored up (who knows where) inside your body. When you used [...]
Filed under: other people's stuff, writing on January 18th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
From X365.org:
Dan Waber turned 40 on January 12th, 2006, and wanted to mark the occasion in some positive fashion. So he got this crazy idea (not an unusual event) to write 40 words (no more, no less) every day for a year, and each day he’d write about a different person (in [...]
Filed under: other people's stuff, writing on January 13th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
WINTER KILL
Winter killed her
sure as a knife in the back.
It could’ve been the
body-stiffening cold
that sucked the life from her body
as it weasled into the house
under the door or through
the frost-laden window.
But I know it was the gloom
of gray that pressed down to the earth
so low it smothered her
like a feather pillow,
clamped over her face,
her arms [...]
Filed under: seasons, writing on December 27th, 2007 | 10 Comments »
Not only did I get to hear Richard Uhlig talk at ESU on Oct. 2, I ran into him again at the Kansas Book Festival last weekend in Wichita. His book wasn’t available at his ESU reading, but I bought a copy on Saturday.
I had the book read by Sunday evening. It was that good.
“Last [...]
Filed under: other people's stuff, writing on October 13th, 2007 | 5 Comments »
