Authors and Illustrators

authors & illustrators
HOME ORDERS SUBMISSIONS SERVICES	BENJAMIN "COACH" WADE		*No Turning Back* (nonfiction) Coming Soon
	NICK DONKERSLOOT		*Riding the Dragon* (nonfiction) Coming Soon
	MARK SMITH		*Storm* (children's picture book) Coming Soon
	edited by Jean Tennant		*Amber Waves of Grain:* *Third in the Series of Stories About* *Growing Up in and Around Small Towns* *In the Midwest* (nonfiction/anthology) Coming Soon
	GENE MILLER ERIN MILLER	www.littlealfoundation.org	*Heart to Heart: The Little Al Story* (children's picture book/nonfiction) Coming Soon
		NORBERT PAAS	*Round Trip to Eternity* (nonfiction) Coming Soon
		Jean Tennant is the author of several novels published by Silhouette, Kensington and Warner Books, as well as magazine and newspaper articles. She's acted as ghostwriter and editor for other works, and teaches creative writing throughout the Midwest, for which her schedule can be seen at: www.JeanTennant.com.	*Red & the Wolfe* a Lake Okoboji Fable Riley Harrison has traveled to her grandmother's house in Lake Okoboji, Iowa, where she plans to visit for a week . . . or so she thinks. All too soon, Riley learns that her grandmother isn't doing well, and can no longer care for the house and guest cabins that make up the Harrison Resort. While trying to straighten out her grandmother's finances, continue her job as a website designer long-distance, and renew old friendships, she meets Aaron Wolfe, a beguiling local restaurant owner and entrepreneur who seems to have his eye on Riley's grandmother's property. Or is his eye on Riley? Can she trust him? Or is he trying to seduce her only so he can get his hands on the Harrison Resort? Now Available
		Betty Taylor lives with her husband, Orville, in Hartley, Iowa. She has three children and six grandchildren. As a retired teacher, she found encouraging and facilitating writing to be the most rewarding part of her classroom experience. In their retirement years Orv and Betty sold antiques from their home shop, malls, flea markets and shows. Their extensive travels in the United States and Canada combined tourism with buying antiques to restock their shelves. in the past few years Betty has traded her obsession with antiques for an obsession with writing.	"Betty Taylor has put together a loving assortment of poems and essays here, on subjects as various as plants passed down from daughter to daughter through the generations, to the forgetfulness that accompanies aging, to the metaphors in patched windows of stained glass. The collection will be evocative for those who collect antiques, be they Hummel figures, depression-glass cracker jars, or parlor tables with ball-and-claw feet. But it will also be meaningful for anyone with the habit of looking back. Linger here if you too have walked again on childhood paths, and been caught up in the deep memories they evoke." Nancy L. Jones, Ph.D., director of the Writing Center at the University of Iowa College of Law *The Earth Abides* (memoir/anthology) Now Available
	Betty Taylor	Herman and Lena Hembd’s collected letters are compiled in Dear Folks. Their daughter, Betty Taylor, coordinated the project. Other typists and proofreaders include daughter, Esther Todd and grandchildren, Darlene Sopko, Carol Brownson, Glen Brockshus, Joe Hembd, Becky Siemonsma, Wendy Pine, and Ruth Todd. Marjorie Brockshus, another daughter, arranged to have the letters copied. Then she and Betty divided those copies and sent them to typists in Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota and California. This was truly a group effort, providing time to reflect on roots and bond once more with the past and with each other. The original letters will be archived in a place yet to be determined.	Dear Folks is a collection of round-robin and other letters written by Herman and Lena Hembd. The letters, written on small three-ring binder paper, were passed in sequence from one of the Hembd siblings to another. Dear Folks is a history of Herman and Lena’s family as they recovered from the Depression, sent loved ones off to the military during WWII, purchased the family farm, installed plumbing and electricity, celebrated graduations, weddings and births, and endured setbacks, illnesses and disappointments. Now Available
		Roger Stoner's short stories have been published in three anthologies and he has had two articles published in magazines. His current work, Horse Woman’s Child, a full-length historical novel, is in progress. Roger and his wife Jane live in Peterson, Iowa.	*Life With My Wife* (nonfiction) Roger Stoner’s column, “Roger’s Remarks” was published for fifteen and one-half years in the Peterson Patriot, a small-town newspaper. The column broached subjects ranging from serious editorials to humorous observations, the most popular of which were inspired by the ordinary, day-to-day experiences of life as a married man. Life with My Wife: The Memoir of an Imperfect Man, is a selection of fifty columns　from the 846 that were　published between July 1, 1989 and December 31, 2004.　They appear here as they were written, before being edited for publication in a family newspaper. Now Available
		Teresa Garrido Roberts is Chamorro on her father’s side. Abandoned by their father when Teresa was three, she and her sisters struggled over the years, moving often and always seeming to be the target of predators. Her many tough experiences made her strong, and in 2005 she traveled to the island of Guam to investigate the circumstances of her father’s death. What she learned there surprised and saddened her, but also put her in touch with the Chamorro family she hadn’t previously known. In The Island Calls she writes proudly of her Chamorro heritage. Teresa and her husband, Derrick Roberts, have a daughter, Nikki. She also has two step-children, Derrick and Erica, as well as a step-granddaughter, Sadie Lynn.	The Island Calls started out as a gift to Teresa’s little sister about the father they never knew and the life they missed by not knowing him. The love letter to her sister was information Teresa found in court documents, police investigations, news articles and stories shared by their family. Peggy was so moved that she shared the outline with people she knew in the entertainment business. They where also taken with their story and requested more details in book format, and a chance meeting led to The Island Calls quickly coming to print. Teresa's unique story is a must-read that will take you on a journey of sorrow, inspiration and triumph. *The Island Calls* A True-Life Novel about a Chamorro Daughter Finding her way Back Home Now Available
		Jacob Cummer was born and raised along the mighty Mississippi River in Iowa. He has taught elementary school for six years, and is the author of one previous novel for children. He lives and works in Iowa City, Iowa, with his wife and an ornery terrier.	*The Crepuscular Crusaders* (children's fiction) Now Available Graham Hintle is a boy who will do anything to avoid conflict. Until, that is, he's sent to stay with his aunt for the summer while his parents sort out their impending divorce. Graham's aunt is the resident caretaker of a museum at the park in Rocky Cove, Massachusetts, a town that has lived under the shadow of a deadly creature called Ahuizotl. The safety of the town rests on the unlikely shoulders of Graham and his new friends, Max and Tim, boys his age, and Stick and Clarence, two older gentleman with their own mysterious past dealings with Ahuizotl. Graham, Max and Tim - the Crepuscular Crusaders -must band together on a dangerous mission to recover a magical lighthouse lens from the very place where Ahuizotl dwells.
		Karen Carr is a proud grandma who was raised near Spencer, Iowa, and then raised her own two children in northern Iowa. She has been employed for nearly 30 years in a local hospital where she worked in pediatrics, and for the past 10 years as a secretary for the Behavioral Services Clinic. Besides working full time, she enjoys spending time with her four grandchildren, reading mysteries and being outdoors. She currently resides in Mason City, Iowa. http://sites.google.com/site/karencarrauthor	In a clubhouse in the little town of Hickory Grove, five friends have a meeting. Curious about their new neighbor on Hickory Lane, Molly, Toby, Betty Ann, Johnny and Davy decide to investigate. *The Many Hats of Jeremiah Porter* (children's picture book) Now Available
		Marshall Crane was born and raised in Carroll, Iowa, and educated at the University of South Dakota and Drake University in the Heartland. After a long career in secondary education, he's fulfilling a lifelong dream of writing. He and his wife Rhonda have two children, three grandchildren, and one large cat.	Rick Burns has given up on personal relationships. Hurt by love, he’s now a burned-out high school teacher planning to remove himself from his profession... until, that is, two of his students are senselessly murdered by a fellow classmate. Guilt and a search for redemption take Rick from the comfort of his Colorado home to the back woods of Mississippi, where he confronts a white supremacist organization bent on hatred and terror. *Good Fences* (fiction) Now Available
	Leslie Means (and Ella)	Leslie Means is a true Nebraska girl! Born and raised on a farm in south central Nebraska, she now resides in Kearney, Nebraska, with her husband, Kyle, and daughter Ella. She is anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby number two in July, 2010. Leslie has a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and is currently the co-host of a morning talk television show called NTV's Good Life, where she enjoys highlighting the best of Nebraska people and places every weekday morning. Ella B. Bella and the Magic Pink Shoes is Leslie's first children's book. Though this is a fictional story, the inspiration for it came from her daughter's journey to find her missing pink shoes. Leslie is thrilled to fulfill a lifelong dream and plans to continue writing more Ella B. Bella books in the future.	Ella B. Bella knows that her pretty pink shoes are magic. Whenever she wears them, something that’s lost becomes magically found! Ella is so proud of her shoes that she plans to show them off to her classmates at show-and-tell. But just days before her big reveal, the shoes go missing! Will she find them in time for their big debut? And will she ever get them back? Ella B. Bella and the Magic Pink Shoes (children's picture book) Now Available
		Nicole Moskonas Newby is a Wisconsin native. She has a master's degree in Clinical Social Work, with a specialty in child and family development from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Nicole has spent the past 13 years working with children and families in various settings, including mental health and acute care/trauma hospitals. She currently lives in Houston, TX with her husband, two young daughters and a spoiled 175 pound Irish Wolf Hound. Nicole and her family recently returned from a 1 year adventure in Switzerland where she wrote her first children’s book, "Ordinary Abigail", and a travel blog chronicling their European travels. Travel blog link: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Swis	Ordinary Abigail Written by Nicole Moskonas Newby Illustrated by Kimberly Jessen Published August 2009 Abigail is a freckle-faced, lopsided piggy-tail wearing first-grader who doesn't really believe that her life is very interesting. Abigail may have an ordinary, average life, but she is anything but boring!
		C.R. Lindemer is a writer and photographer living with her family on the historic Joshua Whitney farmstead(www.whitneyfarmstead.com) in Groton, Massachusetts. Her work has been featured in magazines and her photography has been shown in art galleries. One of Lindemer's essays is featured in Walking Beans Wasn't Something You Did With Your Dog: Stories of Growing Up in and Around Small Towns in the Midwest, also by Shapato Publishing.	Beauly the Donkey-Mooing Beltie Written by C. R. Lindemer Illustrated by Valerie Bouthyette Published February 2009 ‘Beauly’ is a newborn Belted Galloway. She copies her mother, but she also likes to explore her new world and try new things. And she has her own ideas! Sometimes she gets into trouble. And just like cats & dogs, farm animals have their own unique personalities…
		Kimberly Heinrichs grew up on her family's century farm outside of Everly, Iowa. She currently lives in Spencer, Iowa, with her husband, Jeff, and their black lab, Herky. Kim works as the Marketing Project Coordinator for Northwest Bank, one of the largest community banks in Northwest Iowa. Kim continues to produce photography and has been commissioned to complete several murals and graphic design projects throughout Northwest Iowa. Recently she has been putting her talents to work as an illustrator of children's books. Ordinary Abigail, written by Nicole Newby, became available in the summer of 2009. Ella B. Bella and the Magic Pink Shoes is now available.