All Things Books and Publishing

Making my home in Ridgeland, Mississippi, since 1999, I'm, a native of Laurel, a graduate of University of Southern Mississippi with a BS in psychology, Belhaven University with a Master of Arts in Teaching, and gifted certification from Mississippi College. I'm an author, editor, and educator.

My short pieces have appeared in Letters from the Soul, Brick Streets Press: 2010 Winners' Circle, Mississippi Profiles, The Magnolia Quarterly, and I've placed as a semifinalist or higher at the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Wisdom Competition, 2012-2016, with Broken finishing in the top twenty novels.

'm Bob Coltrain Kennedy from the small town of Dudley, North Carolina. Bobby to family and old friends. I am not good at bios because I hate to sound self absorbed. There are so many far more talented artists and writers, but people have been kind to me. I  grew up listening to traditional Country and Southern Gospel. Charlie Daniels, Marshall Tucker Band and Lynard Skynard were played on Rock stations during high school, so I was influenced by their styles as well. I started writing first, as songwriting was my goal. I only started singing my songs to give voice to them. My father was a part time preacher, but earned his living working, and I first sang in church. One night I sat up in a biker bar for tips. I sang my songs and others. To my surprise they gave a good amount of tip money and people seemed to enjoy it. That led to other bookings every time. I've played about every venue imaginable..many nightclubs and bars, private parties for rich and poor (no charge there, just supper and sweet tea), festivals, fairs, Prison, military base, Beach events, churches, Country Clubs, Weddings & Receptions, America Legions, VFWs, Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and other Nashville clubs, etc.  I was signed as a Nashille artist and songwriter with an indie label in the nineties (Killer Records/TNT Promitions). I've had 24 songs published, mainly recorded by regional bands all over the country.

I am a long time contributing writer for the Northside Sun  and was winner of the General Interest Column, Mississippi Press Award, 2007 and was a second place winner in 2014. I have written and published four books: a memoir, Come Up Churning and Keep your Buckets High,  Streams of Mercy, a book about my rescue dog, June Cleaver and a walk she and I took up the Natchez Trace to Savannah Tennessee; I have written two novels, Redemption Ridge and Saleta's Secrets and  quite a few short stories and essays.

Patricia Loofbourrow was born in southern California in 1962, and currently lives in Oklahoma. Learning to read at the age of three, she grew up on Heinlein, Bradbury, and Asimov, and found at an early age that she loved science.

 

Earning a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology with a minor in Chemistry from Cal Poly Pomona then an MD from Rush University, Dr. Loofbourrow practiced family medicine for ten years before becoming a stay at home mom in 2000. After leaving medicine, Patricia Loofbourrow ran one of the first “ask a doctor” patient education websites from 2000-2004.

 

Patty wrote her first novel during the 2005 National Novel Writing Month, going on to write ten novels, four novellas, and well over 100 short stories, mostly speculative fiction. Her debut novel, The Jacq of Spades, was self-published in 2015, making the NY Times and USA Today best seller lists as part of the Dark Humanity science fiction and fantasy box set in February 2017.

 

She has been a long-time member of the Forward Motion Forums, and was the founder of Fifty Word Fiction on DeviantArt. She has also worked as a freelance non-fiction writer and editor since 2000, and currently runs an informational website on edible landscaping.

Body on the Bayou, the second book in Ellen’s Cajun Country Mystery Series, recently won the Left Coast Crime Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery, and is nominated for an Agatha Award in the category of Best Contemporary Novel. Ellen's debut novel in the series, Plantation Shudders, was nominated for Agatha, Lefty, and Daphne awards, and made the USA Today Bestseller list. Book three, A Cajun Christmas Killing, launches October 10th. She’s written over 200 national magazine articles; published plays include the award-winning Graceland; TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, Fairly OddParents, and pilots. Visit her at http://www.ellenbyron.com/

Ian Mackenzie was born in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa and grew up in Johannesburg. He was schooled at Queens College, Queenstown and at Parktown Boys High in Johannesburg. He served with the Rhodesian military during the bush war where he met his wife Rosemarie Kennedy. He has two sons in their 30’s and lives with his wife in Johannesburg. Clouds In The Wind is his first novel.

I'm a Chicago native who retired to a lake and golf community in Loudon, Tennessee (outside of Knoxville), with my husband Jim in 2004. In my professional work experience, I was a social worker on Chicago's south side, an interior designer on the North Shore, and a paralegal employed by a sole practitioner. 

 

I wrote my first book in 2011 titled, Six Minutes to Midnight, about the theft of a nuclear weapon from a Y-12 shipment by a band of social misfits. I had become acquainted with a former nuclear weapons courier who became my consultant on the project and fostered my interest in researching a subject for authenticity in a fictional story. Since that time, I've written 6 other books:  a series of 5 cozy-style international travel mysteries featuring a female tour operator turned amateur sleuth; and one biography of a friend's difficult, but ultimately successful, treatment of paralytic polio. 

 

For more information about me and our Guild, my website is: cheryljpeyton.com, and our organization's site isauthorsguildoftn.org.

Gary Starta is a former journalist who studied English and Journalism at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

His love for science fiction compelled him to write his first novel What Are You Made Of? published in 2006. Inspired by Isaac Asimov, the science fiction novel focuses on intelligent artificial life and whether sentient androids should possess the same rights as humans. The androids in Starta's novel are created as hybrids - part machine, part human - further blurring the line between human and machine. Starta foresees a near future where humans will be forced to decide if intelligent machinery is indeed a life form. Possibly, in this near future, some humans will possess computer enhancements to overcome disabilities becoming hybrids themselves. The line between biological life form and mechanical life form continues to be examined in 2010's Gods of the Machines.

9 Incarnate, along with its preceding Caitlin Diggs (series) novels, Demon Inhibitions, Extreme Liquidation and Blood Web are reminiscent of the The X-files television/movie series. Contemporary authors Laurell K. Hamilton, Rachel Caine, Jim Butcher and Kelly Armstrong also fuel his aspiration to create paranormal suspense. Watch for Diggs and Shay books soon.

Starta's crime novella ' Murder By Association' blends mystery with forensic investigation. It is a departure from previous books because it contains no science fiction or paranormal elements. Its follow up is 2012's Kindred Killers. Additionally, Starta foresees his 2008 novella ' Alzabreah's Garden ' - a fantasy romance - as another out-of-the-box effort. 

Coalescence begins a trilogy including forthcoming Time Wanderer and Obsolescence. If you like zombies, check out Dead Market, as a vice cop battles the evil machinations of Big Pharma.

Radio Host and Author Yvonne Mason Discusses her upcoming appearance ond the Investigation Discovery Channel Married With Secrets and her True Crime Silent Sream about the victims of Florida's first serial killer Gerard Schaefer.

If you enjoy When Calls the Heart by Janet Oke, or Promise Me Tomorrow by Lori Wick, then you'll love the stories written by Linda Tillis.

Linda was born in Appalachia, Goody, Kentucky to be exact. You know, coal mining country. Her mother moved her to Cleveland, Ohio when she was a small child. She had the best of both worlds. In the summer, she ran bare-foot through the mountains, drank from a cool, sweet, well…and yes, used an outhouse! But during the school year, she attended concerts and art galleries. She lost her mother to cancer when she was ten years old and moved to Florida to live with her father and his new family. She read voraciously during her high school years. In fact, at lunch on Thursdays, she would make a couple of dollars writing book reports for others.

She worked in the garment industry for eighteen years, then changed careers in 1986. Really changed careers. She went from fashion to forensics, and spent the next twenty years with the local Police Department as, yep, you guessed it, a CSI. After so many years of brutality, death and general mayhem, her wonderful husband helped her realize it was becoming detrimental to her health. So she retired. She spent a year re-acquainting herself with the “real” world. She took up nature photography, and sold a couple of articles, with photos, to the Florida Wildlife Magazine.

Her husband said, "Now, you should write a book." And so, she did. The story of the Hinton Family Saga will warm your heart and renew your beliefs. Please leave Linda a review and let her know how much you enjoyed meeting the Hintons.