Author: April Coker

April Coker cannot remember a time when she didn’t want to be a writer. Her dream solidified when she discovered the book “Harriet the Spy” in her elementary school library. She went on to become her high school newspaper editor, with hopes of becoming a newspaper editor and novelist, but her dreams were derailed when she found she wasn’t aggressive enough to be a reporter for her college newspaper. After going pre-med andstruggling with chemistry, she switched to education. April believes that God wanted her to become a teacher all along.

Raising a family and teaching high school English, science, and credit recovery took all her time for the next thirty years. Even though she could teach writing, write newsletters, and write articles for her professional association, it wasn’t until her children were grown that she could devote time to writing books. She has six books to her credit and is currently working on more.

A native of East Texas, April holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary education with certification in biology and English and a master’s degree in educational administration. She was married to her late husband Jimmy for 41 years. Together, they raised two children and have three grandchildren. Besides writing, April enjoys decorating, thrifting, junk journaling, glamping, spending time with family, and quiet evenings at home with her Boston terrier Stella. She belongs to Sand Springs Baptist Church in Mineola, Texas, the Association of Texas Professional Educators, the Texas Retired Teachers Association, the East Texas Writers Guild, and the East Texas Writers Association. She also does individual tutoring and resells vintage items in her Etsy shop, Mary Lillian Vintage. April enjoys staying busy!

Find out more about April and her books at www.aprilnunncoker.com, where you’ll also find links to her social media.

Author: Laura Bentz

Laura since she was little, liked to write and illustrate her own stories as cartoons. At age ten, she wrote her first novel: “Mike and the Secret of Mount Tui.” Sadly, she got no encouragement from anyone. Even her teacher only proofread it for grammar and spelling. So, after 6th grade, she didn’t write more stories until her early twenties, as she pursued other interests and eventually became a teacher. Then, one day, sitting in a church service, she began writing once again.

Her genre is mostly memoir, although she wrote one fantasy and one science fiction. And those are both based on her own life experiences, so she considers them “memoirs in disguise.”

As for the ETWC, she found it on the web after a friend from her former home of Florida suggested she join an organization to help her writing journey.

Her most positive experiences are pouring out her thoughts and ideas on paper and when others are impacted and lifted up through her stories and books.

The most challenging aspect is keeping a positive attitude and not getting discouraged.

She was born in Rochester, New York, but moved to the Sunshine State when she was ten. She has gotten stories published in a journal and has entered numerous contests. Also, published in 2017 her book “The Land of Efacia on the Planet Zemora.” which was what she started in that church service years ago. It’s available on Amazon.

She and her husband, Bob, moved to Texas in 2020.

Her goal in the next few years is to publish the finished book, “Lost on the Moon” and her incomplete memoir, “The Unwinding Tail”.

Author: Delia Latham

Writing Heaven’s touch into earthly tales, Delia Latham puts her characters through the fire of earthly trials to bring them out victorious by the hand of God, His heavenly messengers, and good, old-fashioned love. You’ll always find a touch of the divine in her tales of sweet romance.

Delia and her husband Johnny live in East Texas, where their pampered Pomeranian, Kona, kindly allows them to share her home. The author enjoys multiple life roles as wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend, but above all, she loves being a princess daughter to the King of kings. She admits to a lifelong, mostly un-battled Dr. Pepper addiction, and loves hearing from her readers.

A former newspaper Staff Writer, Delia is now blessed to have twenty-seven published novels and novellas, as well as short works in several devotional anthologies. Her novel, Spring Raine (Book 1, Paradise Pines), took the first place position, Contemporary Romance category, in the 2017 Interviews & Reviews contest; At First Sight won the 2016 Clash of the Titles Laurel Award; Gypsy’s Game (Book 3, Solomon’s Gate) was a finalist in the annual Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards Contest.

She designs cover art and marketing materials and offers freelance editing/proofreading services. Contact her about speaking at your upcoming event.

“One Harvest Knight”

A raging Knight in rusty armor storms her flowery world.

She lives in a world of petals and pretties. His heart is soured on romance and suspicious of dreams. But a special soup kitchen, a pair of aging twin sisters, a nudge or two from God Himself…and a mysterious child, might just bring these two hearts together.

List of Books

Find Delia Online:

Website:  delialatham.net

Email: Click here to email Delia

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Author: Caleb Pirtle III

He knew he wanted to be a writer the day he read his first book. Writing for him was never as much of a vocation as an obsession. Over the years, Pirtle has served as a newspaper reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, travel editor for Southern Living Magazine, and editorial director for a custom publisher in Dallas. He has found the time to write more than seventy-five books and is currently writing noir historical thrillers set against the backdrop of World War II and historical fiction novels built around the oil-driven Boom Towns of the 1930s.

Pirtle has written more than seventy-five books, hundreds of magazine articles, and the teleplays for three made-for-television movies, including the CBS mini-series, Gambler V, Playing for Keeps. His Ambrose Lincoln series features Secrets of the Dead, Conspiracy of Lies, Night Side of Dark and Place of Skulls. Back Side of a Blue Moon is the first novel in the Boom Town Saga series. In 2018, the novel won the Beverly Hills Book Award and the Best of Texas Book Award for Historical Fiction. His psychological thrillers are Last Deadly Lie and Friday Nights Don’t Last Forever. A Lovely Night to Die is his first thriller, a novella, featuring a rogue CIA assassin who is given the assignments no one else dares to tackle. Pirtle has written a Memoir of Sorts, The Man Who Talks to Strangers, and his newest release is Confessions from the Road, a collection of short stories he heard from those he encountered during his travels.

He is the award-winning author of XIT: The Life and Times of the American Cowboy, The Unending Season, Where the Stars are Always Shining, Spirit of America, and Echoes from Forgotten Streets. His memoir of sorts, The Man Who Talks to Strangers, is an epistle that showcases the odd array of celebrities and characters he has known during his long career traveling the back roads of America – from Appalachia to death row, from paranormal ghost haunts to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

Pirtle lives in Texas with his wife, Linda, who is the acclaimed author of “The Games We Play Series.” Her first two cozy mysteries as The Mah Jongg Murders and Deadly Dominoes. They serve as book coaches, teach writing classes, and work with authors to professionally package their books.

“Confessions from the Road”

I grew up in a world occupied by storytellers. Their stories were better than books. Their stories became books. After all, life is just one story piled on top of another with page numbers.

In those days, storytellers did not know they were telling stories. They were simply carrying on a conversation. I never outgrew their stories. Nor did I ever stop listening to conversations that hopscotched their way along the side of a wayward road.

The voices stay with me. So do the stories they told me.

The voices may come from down the road apiece, at the counter of a diner, on the bar stool in a beer joint, sitting in the front yard of a mountain cabin, along a stretch of spun-sugar sand, back in the darkness of a pine thicket, amidst the downtown traffic jam of a city at sundown, or from the faint memories of a distant past.

Everyone who crosses my path has a story to tell. It may be personal. It may be something that happened last week or the year before. It may have been handed down for more than a single generation. It may even be true, but who knows anymore?

For decades I’ve collected the stories I hear and can’t forget those whose names are often long forgotten. But at one time in my life, they came my way, and I wrote down their confessions from the road.

List of Books
Fiction

• Back Side of a Blue Moon
• Secrets of the Dead
• Conspiracy of Lies
• Night Side of Dark
• Place of Skulls
• Lovely Night to Die
• Friday Nights Don’t Last Forever
• Last Deadly Lie
• The Man Who Talks to Strangers
• Confessions from the Road
• Jokers Are Wild
• Dead Man’s Hand

Nonfiction

• Gamble in the Devil’s Chalk
• XIT: The American Cowboy
• No Experience Required: Jackie Sherrill and Texas A&M’s 12th Man Kickoff Team
• Engineering the World
• The A Game: Great Moments in the History of Alabama Football

Find Caleb Online!

Website: www.calebandlindapirtle.com

Email: Click here to email Caleb

Social Media: Click on the buttons below to connect with Caleb on your favorite social media sites.

Author: Linda Pirtle

It is only natural that I would one day wind up in the literary field. I taught the art of writing and understanding literature for years as an English teacher at St. John High School, Lancaster High School, and Ennis High School as well as Business Communications at Navarro College.

When I retired, I turned my attention to working with my husband to create and build Venture Galleries, a website connecting authors and readers. Our current website, CalebandLindaPirtle.com is also a literary Website devoted to connecting readers with today’s growing population of authors throughout the world. I have served as editor for some great books presently in the marketplace, and three years ago I entered the field as an author myself.

It was a perfect transition. I have long read and reviewed mysteries, and I found myself infatuated with the kinds of cozy hometown mysteries produced by Agatha Christie. I am fascinated with dastardly murder mysteries solved by the lady next door who relies on intuition, instinct, and deductive reasoning.

I decided to write a cozy mystery series – The Games We Play — which focuses on how people bent on evil can ruin an innocent, fun game. There of three books in my series: The Mah Jongg Murders, Deadly Dominoes, and Tarot Terrors. Book Four, Scrabbled Secrets, is in progress.

“Tarot Terrors”

In a crowded Santa Fe Plaza, Lillian meets an elderly Navajo chieftain whose booth displays the most brilliant silver/turquoise jewelry she has ever seen. She suddenly hears a commotion and turns to see tourists running frantically. What’s wrong? When she looks back to the chieftain, he has vanished, but lying on the table is a small box addressed to “Miss Curiosity.” How did he know the nickname her husband gave her?

Her old college friend Simon Townsend, a government agent, has surreptitiously slipped an object to her husband, and now Bill lies dead on the sidewalk. It’s the beginning of one tragic moment after another. Warnings. Threats. Kidnapping. And death.

Lillian does not believe in coincidences or predictions. But with the help of her standard poodle, Eli, and her son, Grant, an FBI agent, Lillian begins her own quest and faces the biggest challenge of her life: Bringing to justice those responsible for the death of her beloved Bill.

Award-winning Cozy Mystery author, Linda Pirtle introduces three new characters in Tarot Terrors: Madame Sophia, who reads tarot cards and predicts Lillian will find Bill’s killer in Pagosa Springs, Colorado; Sammie Nightingale, a young red-haired Navajo woman who has just completed a vision quest; and Sammie’s Uncle Jack Darling O’Toole, who runs the Pagosa Springs Trading Post. Who’s guilty? Who’s innocent? And what secrets do they have to hide?

List of Books
Name of Series: The Games We Play

• The Mah Jongg Murders
• Deadly Dominoes
• Tarot Terrors
• (In the process of writing) Scrabbled Secrets

Find Linda Online!

Website: www.calebandlindapirtle.com

Email: Click here to email Linda

Social Media: Click on the buttons below to connect with Linda on your favorite social media sites.

Author: Brinda Carey

Brinda is happily married to the man who rescued her from a life of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Together, they broke several dysfunctional cycles and raised four beautiful children who love the Lord. Playing with her twelve grandchildren brings joy to her life, and she anxiously awaits the birth of another grandchild due in 2012.

She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and recently retired from a position as an adult probation officer. Writing a book about her life experiences has long been a passion of hers in order to reach out to other child abuse survivors. Completion of this memoir has been a labor of love and is dedicated to the two sons who were a result of sexual abuse by her biological father. They died in 1976 and 1981.

Creating awareness of the ongoing problem of child abuse, specifically incest, is the basis for much of her writing. Brinda also accepts speaking engagements to inform the public and offer hope for those in recovery. She is a member of the RAINN Speakers Bureau and VOICE Today, Inc.

Brinda’s book, Don’t Cry, Daddy’s Here is not easy to read. It is not a cozy, friendly little book meant to cheer you up and brighten your day. It is, however, a starkly true story of what happened to a little girl born in Texas in 1960.

Her first 22 years were an unimaginable hell – unimaginable, that is, to those of you who haven’t experienced your own version of that hell. Sexual abuse and manipulation by a deplorable father and a descent into the emotional wasteland of promiscuity are just two of the facets of that inferno.

Can anyone ever recover from the unrelenting sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of their parents? Brinda Carey did. Her message of hope and renewal is for every abuse survivor living alone with her pain – and it is for everyone who wishes to know about the resilience of the human spirit and the power of love and forgiveness.

 Brinda’s book is available at these locations:

• Amazon.com
• Whitebird Publications
• Barnes and Noble

Find Brinda Online!

Website: www.brindacarey.com

Email: Click here to email Brinda

Social Media: Click on the buttons below to connect with Brinda on your favorite social media sites.

Author: Catherine Sellers

Always, her first romance novel, was published in 1989 by Meteor Publishing’s line of Kismet Romances. Always was followed in 1991 by Rainbows & Love Songs and Fair Warning in 1993.As the daughter of an oil patch roughneck, Catherine Sellers has lived all over the state of Texas, but in 1995 she and her husband wound up in the small community of Berryville on Lake Palestine in East Texas.

2001 saw the publication of her fourth romance, Suddenly Love.

Currently, all of Catherine’s titles are being reissued as e-books by White Bird Publications. All books will retain their original titles with the exception of Suddenly Love which has been re-titled, Fall from Grace.

Catherine’s interests include reading, writing, all things family related, and the East Texas Writers Guild in Tyler, Texas which she founded in 2004.

Corresponding with readers is one of Catherine’s favorite pastimes, so feel free to contact her via one of the methods below.

Find Catherine Online!

Website: www.catherinesellers.com/

Email: Click here to email Catherine

Author: Janice Ernest

Janice Ernest is from East Texas and has been writing since the late 1980’s in small publications as a freelancer; in 2009 she started, edited, and published a magazine in East Texas titled, WhileUWait magazine. This publication was exhibited in the Arlington Museum of Art, as well as the Wheeling Center in West Virginia and graced the tables of many waiting rooms throughout the East Texas area. Her company, Jan Distributing, L.L.C. offers editing and beta reading services with plans to expand toward assisting writers with their promotional and social media platform, as well as bookings, signings, press releases, and followups.

She was a Semifinalist in the 2015 First Chapter Awards. Her current publications include several short books as well as a series titled, Brocksport, and her latest full-length novel Butterfly. All are available on Kindle or Amazon.com or can be ordered at any bookstore upon request.

Find Janice Online!

Website: www.janiceernest.com

Email: Click here to email Janice

Social Media: Click on the buttons below to connect with Janice on your favorite social media sites.

Author: Patricia LaVigne

Patricia La Vigne is a newly-published author, although she has been writing since her childhood–journals of trips made through the years, diary entries, short stories whenever the spirit moved her. Her first published story was for an anthology, compiled by her writing group, called Spiritual Autobiographies of Southern Women. Later, working with East Texas Writers Association, she published another story about a young man’s journey from living on the streets to his rescue by Covenant House mission workers in Houston. This was also published in an anthology.

Then came the Good Old Days magazine. Her first story that received pay she entitled Licorice Lips—an account of a trip to a local candy store.

During these times, Patricia worked on a novel inspired by a member of East Texas Writers Association during a meeting. The group was given pictures to be used as prompts. Patricia chose a jockey on a horse during a race. She went home, wrote a ten page story which she read to the group at the next meeting. “I think you have a book in there,” Gay Ingram told her. That was the birth of Wind-Free, the story of a teen-aged girl, the love she developed for a horse, and the bond that was built between them. That book is now on the market. Wind-Free was released in September 2012

Patricia and Pierre La Vigne married on January 12, 1974. They moved to Jacksonville, TX in 1978 with their two children, Andrea and Ian. Pierre’s work as a broadcaster (a/k/a as Perry Andrews) with KOOI-FM gave him exposure throughout East Texas. He and Patricia made many acquaintances, some of whom still maintain contact today. Patricia, widowed in 2003, lives with her daughter in Jacksonville. Her son, Ian, and his wife, live close enough to make an occasional visit.

Find Patricia Online!

Website: www.patricialavigneauthor.com

Email: Click here to email Patricia

Social Media: Click on the buttons below to connect with Patricia on your favorite social media sites.

Author: Marvin S. Mayer

Marvin is a kid occupying the body of a senior citizen. He loves to be around children, so that’s one reason he became an active volunteer at, among other places, the Tyler Library’s Book Buddy program.  Each week, Book Buddies visit children’s day care centers or schools and read to the children/students to encourage development of early reading habits. Marvin also volunteered at several of the Tyler Independent School District’s elementary schools to read to first and second graders, and helped at Children’s Advocacy Center of Smith County.

His real childhood was spent in his hometown, Louisville, KY, but unlike Peter Pan, he had to at least act the part of an adult, so after earning his Bachelor’s degree, he went to work in the grown up world of banking and bank regulation. As a bank examiner, he moved to New Orleans where he met and married the love of his life. Back then, banking was a volatile industry, and soon, he and his wife began a series of moves that took them to several interesting places before finally getting to Texas. Now, retired from the financial “rat race,” he lives in the Piney Woods of East Texas. His publication credits include children’s books, magazine articles, and poems depicting family “milestone” events.

Marvin chose to write children’s books because he, himself, was not an avid reader as a child. Now an adult, he recognizes how important reading is in our everyday lives. By writing mostly happy, fun books that don’t preach, lecture, or deal with “heavy” social issues, he hoped he could encourage some of today’s youngsters not to make that same mistake, but to embrace reading at an early age.

“Come On, Grandpa; You Can Do It!”

Six year old Fred is frightened and confused when his best friend, his grandpa, suddenly is unable to speak, stand up, or walk. When he is told Grandpa had a stroke, Fred doesn’t understand, so he asks his Grandpa’s doctor to explain. In the end, Fred is relieved to know he was not the cause of Grandpa’s illness, that he can help his grandpa recover, and that with help and over time, Grandpa can regain much of what he lost due to the stroke.

Come On, Grandpa; You Can Do It! attempts to help adolescent children understand that strokes “happen.” No one is at fault, particularly the child who may think his/her behavior was responsible for the parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or close friend’s stroke, (“If you don’t stop that, you’re going to give me a stroke!”) and this book explains that in a rhyming verse, colorful way that can not only relieve any guilt complex the child may feel, but also show how the child can help the stroke survivor in ways only a child can do.

Marvin’s published books include:

• Sammy Squirrel and The Sunflower Seeds (Mid grade chapter book)
• Ferdinand Frog’s Flight (pre-school to 1st grade picture book)
• The Day X Ran Away
• The Queen’s Tea
• Case of the Stolen Stash

Marvin’s books are available directly from Marvin’s website or at the following locations:

Find Marvin Online!

Website: www.kidsbooksbymarvin.com

Email: Click here to email Marvin

Author: Mike Clifton

A public educator for over 38 years as a teacher, coach, and administrator, currently lives in Mount Pleasant, Texas with his wife, Melanie and family cat, Sadie.

He is the author of The Treasure Hunt Club and The Janus Witch, a member of The Northeast Texas Writers Organization, East Texas Writers Guild, and the East Texas Writers Association.

“The Janus Witch”

Malice vs Love

A beautiful witch, a member of a murderous coven, is torn from her medieval world and transported to East Texas. The passage leaves her with no memory of her previous life. She falls in love with a young pediatrician, but her dark past threatens to reassert itself…and make her a threat to the very man she loves.

Find Mike Online!

Website:  www.michealscottclifton.com

Email: Click here to email Mike

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Author: Patricia Taylor Wells

Patricia Taylor Wells published her first book in 2016: “Camp Tyler, A First of its Kind” for the benefit of Camp Tyler, the oldest outdoor education school in the country, which she attended as a child. Most of Ms. Wells’ writing has been directed at serving organizations and causes important to her.

She published her first novel, “The Eyes of the Doe,” in 2017 (Bedazzled Ink Publishing). The book was awarded First Place for Family Life Fiction in 2018 in the Best of Texas Books Awards sponsored by the Texas Authors Association. In March 2018, Bedazzled Ink Publishing released her memoir “Mademoiselle Renoir à Paris.” Her short story “Final Curtain” received the First Place award for Realistic Fiction in a contest sponsored by Texas Authors Association. The story was published in “Short Stories by Texas Authors” (Volume 4) in the fall of 2018. Once again, she received The First Place Award in 2019 for her short story “Among the Thorns.” It was published in “Short Stories by Texas Authors” (Volume 5) as well as “Short Stories by Indie Authors” (Volume 1).

Ms. Wells enjoys writing poetry. She published her collection of poems titled “LodeStar” in April 2019. In the meantime, she is working on another poetry collection and several short stories.

Ms. Wells, who holds a BA in English and French, facilitated writing critique groups for the Atlanta Writers Club and Knoxville Writers Group. She draws inspiration from the full range of experience she gathered from her travels and living in a variety of places. She currently lives in Tyler, Texas, with her husband Bob and their dog Kaspar.

Most Recent Published Work

LodeStar is a collection of poems that seeks to juxtapose the light and dark moments of life. Patricia Taylor Wells explores the longing of a broken heart as well as the magical power of infatuation. She addresses the complexities of faith, hope, and loss alongside the simplicity of creation. Like a light guiding us out of darkness, there is no better lodestar than a poem.

Other Published Works:

“Camp Tyler, A First of its Kind” © 2016

“The Eyes of the Doe” © 2017

“Mademoiselle Renoir à Paris” © 2018

Find Patricia Online!

Website: www.patricia-taylor-wells.com

Email: Click here to email Patricia

Social Media: Click on the buttons below to connect with Patricia on your favorite social media sites.

Author: Nancy Larson

a.k.a. Nancy E Brown Having been in the business world for over forty years, N. E. Brown retired and began pursuing a new career in writing. Wanting to bring the ideas of a younger generation, Ms. Brown collaborated with her daughter, S. L. Jenkins, to bring about a mystery that was both historical and suspenseful.

Ms. Jenkins brings her love of mysteries and intrigue to the forefront by introducing a questionable character, that in today’s world would be known as a stalker and a murderer.  Their combined efforts brings an exciting and historical venue to life.

Nancy’s current publications include the Galveston Indignities series.which can be purchased on Kindle or Amazon.com

Click here for a review of Galveston 1900, Indignities: The Arrival

Find Nancy Online!

Website: www.nebrown.com

Email: Click here to email Nancy

Social Media: Click on the buttons below to connect with Nancy on your favorite social media sites.