February Member News

Amy Hale Auker, The Story is the Thing "Uncle Bill" Morgan knew about love and loss. He had watched over the land and the people at the Benson Ranch for decades. Julia was a free spirit, quirky and fun, trapped in a marriage with hospital corners and traditional expectations. Charlie was trapped as well, but by something more sinister than tradition and, in the end, realized that it is okay to love more. Cody Jack needed more — more of everything that soothed and comforted and numbed — but he stood to lose the only good thing he'd ever known and he would hurt anyone to keep it. The old cowboy is gone, but he left his story behind. It is a story of love, loss and life lessons, of confession and absolution, a story of poetry and rescue, a story of loneliness and a story of coming together. And, after all, the story is the thing. 

J.D. Squires, Desperate Straits Hermit's Rest in the Arizona Territory is the meeting place of Irish immigrant, Sarah Ryan and veteran lawman, L.T. McAllister -- two people with nothing in common but loyalty to their newly orphaned nephew, Will. When that loyalty puts the reluctant partners squarely between Sheriff Grant Simpson and his quest for the Lost Adams Gold, L.T. and Sarah are forced into a battle for justice...and their lives. 

M.M. Justus, New Year’s Eve in Conconully is a paranormal historical short story. 

No good deed goes unpunished. In a place outside of time, the magic keeping a ghost town alive is beginning to alter. Bringing two newcomers in has caused a welcome renewal of life here. But every action has a reaction, and the consequences are far beyond what Conconully’s accidental magician ever expected. 

Sharman Russell, Teresa of the New World is a young adult novel about the fictional daughter of the Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and a Capoque mother from the coastal tribes of Texas. Set in the dreamscape of the American Southwest in the sixteenth century, the story explores the turbulence of First Contact as Teresa struggles to find herself in the New World.

Articles and Podcasts

Susan Wittig Albert ,WILLA finalist for her book, A Wilder Rose, is featured in the February Writer's Digest. Susan shares interesting and helpful information in the article "Success Stories in Self-Promotion." 

C.M. Mayo's "Conversations with Other Writers" occasional podcast series features "Making Connectionswith Literature and Art: A Conversation with Rose Mary Salum." Based in Houston, Texas, Mexican writer Rose Mary Salum is founding editor of the bilingual magazine Literal: Latin American Voices. Also C.M. Mayo at the UCSD Center for US-Mexican Studies: Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution, FranciscoI. Madero's Secret Book.

 Jane Kirkpatrick’s article, "Writing - and reading - stories as soul medicine" about mental health in
the west, appears in WWA's February issue of Roundup Magazine.

Congratulations to you all!