Newsletter of the Society of Southwestern Authors
Vol. 36, No. 5 Oct./Nov. '08
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Upcoming Events
October 19
Forum @11:30-2PM
Four Points Sheraton
Kathy Lacapa
"SSA Writing Contest Awards!"
(see article this page)
After the forum, Star Cactus, the new group for writers of fantasy and science fiction, will have a brief planning, get-acquainted session. Prior to the meeting, interested cadets can e-mail Katherine Rambo at kbrambo@comcast.net
October 25
Saguaro Romance Writers @10-1:30PM
El Parador, 2744 E Broadway Blvd
Howard Allen, "Subtext and Writing Dialog"
$15 members, $20 others. E-mail Suzanne
Moore at suz72350@hotmail.com
October 26
Readers' Theatre @2-4PM
St. Frances Cabrini Church
3201 E. Presidio (Country Club & Ft. Lowell area)
Showcasing SSA Playwrights,
$10 admission includes refreshments
(see article)
November 8
Arizona Mystery Writers @10-20PM
HomeTown Buffet, River and Oracle
Sam Turner, "How to 'Read' the Night Sky"
$12 or $5 if you don't want lunch.
November 16
Holiday Book Fair @12-4PM
Four Points Sheraton
"Get your Holiday shopping done early"
(see article this page)
November 22
Saguaro Romance Writers @10-1:30PM
El Parador, 2744 E Broadway Blvd
Jessica Faust, co-founder of BookEnds, LLC
$15 members, $20 others. E-mail Suzanne
Moore at suz72350@hotmail.com
December 21
Forum @11:30-2PM
Four Points Sheraton
Carol Costa and her Readers' Theatre Troupe
"Christmas Mystery Play and Par-tay"
To R.S.V.P. Forum
Leave Phone Message
at 546-9382
or e-mail: forums@ssa-az.org
WEDNESDAY before the Forum
$20 paid at the door
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October Awards Luncheon - The Reveal
by Mary Ann Hutchison
From start to finish, the Writing Contest consumes the better part of ten months.
Judges and appraisers are found and their names kept under wraps, entries are
received, emails are answered, meetings are held, decisions are made, and the
results are kept as secret as is humanly possible; only given on a need-to-know
basis.
On October 19, poker faces will be replaced by happy smiles as winners meet
judges, and vice-versa, and winning stories are revealed. No, our judges do not
know the names of the winners, and the winners do not know the names of the
judges. Hopefully, only immediate family members now know which relative
will receive a winner's packet along with applause—happy secrets can only be
kept just so long without being shared.
Although not a secret, how much do you know about Michael Lacapa, the man
SSA chose to honor by naming the First Place Winner's Award in the Children's
Short Story Category in his memory? Kathy Lacapa, Michael's wife, will join us
for the third year in a row, to share their story—one of inspiration and love.
Make your reservation early, and join us at this happiest Forum of the year!
SSA Holiday Book Fair - Sunday, Nov. 16, '08
Instead of our normal forum, SSA will hold its Fourth Annual Holiday
Book Fair at the Four Points Sheraton Conference Center from Noon until
4pm, featuring two Award-Winning Guest authors: Rhys Bowen (IMBA
#1 best seller Her Royal Spyness, The Royal Pain, Molly Murphy Mysteries)
and Virginia Nosky (Blue Turquoise, White Shell—IPPY Gold Medal, First
place Glyph trophy Arizona Book Publishing Association).
This event is open to the public to attend and is a fabulous venue to sell
your books. Space is limited to SIXTY authors—and it's filling fast. You
must be an SSA MEMBER to sell, but everyone is welcome to attend.
AUTHORS: $20 registration fee
gets you a FULL TABLE to display
your work, as well as munchies
and beverages. DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS NOVEMBER 1ST. A
registration form is attached to this edition of The Write Word.
VOLUNTEER HELPERS: $10 sign up fee will cover food and
beverages.
We will have door prizes to give away to the public and a fun Holiday
atmosphere to get them in the gift-buying mood. But it's up to YOU,
SSA Members, to make this a great success! Tell everyone you know
to come and find that unique gift
for someone special. All genres will
be represented—Children's Books,
Mysteries, Romance, Historicals,
Non-fiction—so there will be
something for everyone.
Don't forget—no forum, just BOOK
FAIR! Sunday, November 16, noon till
4PM at the Four Points Conference
Center, 1900 East Speedway (At
Campbell).
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Successes
Peter Baird was interviewed by Professor
Ron Carlson about his novel, Beyond
Peleliu, on his KAET, channel 8, "Books &
Co." show which aired on April 27, 2008.
To watch a repeat of the program, go to
YouTube and type in "Peter Baird."
His next book, Protecting Moscow From
The Soviets, will be released by National
Writers Press in September, 2008. "It is
a collection of pieces I have written for
The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek,
The Wall Street Journal, Mens Health,
The Chicago Tribune Magazine, Writers
Digest, Rosebud, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Magazine, The Arizona Republic, American
Heritage Magazine, Phoenix Magazine, Shark
Tales (Simon & Schuster), Criminology
(Harcourt Brace Jovanovich), My Brush
with History (Black Dog & Leventhal) and
dozens of other publications."
"The Phoenix NPR station, KJZZ, has
chosen both Beyond Peleliu and Protecting
Moscow From The Soviets for a fundraising
drive, which will kick off at the Arizona
Historical Society Auditorium on October
6, though the date has not be officially
confirmed."
Kitty Chappell's Good Mews,
Inspurrrrational Stories for Cat Lovers, was
released by Thomas
Nelson early this year
and is now available in
all Sam's Club stores.
This beautiful hard
cover book contains
true stories involving
award-winning
author, Kitty, and her
family cats. You will
laugh and cry and relate with each story
which relates how while Kitty tries to
teach her cats something, God teaches
her something. Its foreword was written
by Martha Bolton, author of more than 50
books and comedy writer for performers
such as Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Ann
Jillian, Jeff Allen, and Mark Lowry. Martha
writes: "Cat lovers are special people. We
can be snubbed and not take it personally
. . . we can pretend we don't smell kitty
litter when it's five feet away (even
though it's wilting the house plants)
. . . we are fluent in "purr" and can carry
on conversations with our pet that no
one else understands. That is why this is
the perfect book for cat lovers. It not only
talks about the world we've all come to
know and love, the world of cats, but it
reminds us of how much our cats teach
us." Good Mews is available at all book
stores, Sam's Clubs, the Internet, and, of
course, the author.
Kitty is also author of the book Sins
of a Father, Forgiving the Unforgivable,
which was written into a play, entitled
Absolution, by Carol Costa and read
at SSA's July meeting in 2006. That
same year the book went out of print
but was picked up by award-winning
Poland Publisher, VOCATIO, and will
be released this fall as updated, with
a new cover and title, I Can Forgive If I
Want to, Forgiving the Unforgivable. It will
be released simultaneously in the U.S.,
Poland and Denmark where it has been
translated into Polish and Danish. (A
publisher in China has expressed interest
in translating it into Chinese) Until its
release under the new title, it is available
under the original title at Amazon.com
and other Internet outlets, as well as from
the author at www.kittychappell.com.
Bob Hunton roports great news: "I'm
signing a contract with Andrew Whelchel,
National Writers Literary Agency, New
York/Denver, to represent my middle
grade/YA novel, Gift of the Desert Dog."
Lorraine Lachs's play, My Son, My Son,
was selected by the Vermont Playwright's
Circle for their annual Staged Reading
of New Works series. The play—an
exploration of the treacherous terrain of
good intentions —was presented in June.
Mabel Leo is working on Mob Mole, a
new book delving more
into Jack Durant's criminal
activities. She reveals
Jack's life as a mole for
the mob—his adventures
while traveling around
the Midwest, waiting
for orders. It is a novel
describing real-life
events behind a facade of fiction (some
names have been changed to protect the
innocent).
Out of the eight books Leo has written,
it is the first one, The Saga of Jack Durant,
that after 12 years is still her best seller.
This bio of Jack Durant, a well-known
restaurateur in Phoenix, AZ, tells the story
of how a young boy hopped the train, left
his home in Tennessee with the dream
of being a professional baseball player.
Instead he became the most trusted friend
of the infamous gangster, Bugsy Siegel.
The book became the basis of an awardwinning
play, followed by Leo's next book
on Durant, Jack's World.
Watch her website for updates: www.
booksbyleo.com.
Connie Spittler's story "Universal
Language" appears in the July released
Cup of Comfort for Cat Lovers, Adams
Media's national best selling series. The
book celebrating feline friends is available
in bookstores or from Connie. She read
from the Cup of Comfort book, as well as
from her book The Desert Eternal at the
Humane Society's Adopt-A-Thon Fair
on August 2nd. When Connie read to a
group of children there, she noticed one
girl about ten years old, hanging on every
word. The child's eyes widened with the
story's events and she frowned when
appropriate. The girl also whispered
little comments, like "Oh, no," and "Aw"
to add to the reading and flashed a big
smile afterward. About half an hour later,
the little girl came back and whispered,
"Would you read me the story again?"
Of course that is exactly what happened.
It was Connie's turn to smile, because
it's truly one of the reasons that writers
write, isn't it?
At this same event, Connie sold a copy
of Chicken Soup for the Grandparent's
Soul, which contains her story, "Through
a Windowpane," the true tale of a
granddaughter and a baby quail. The
purchaser had her son with her and a
neighbor child. The woman told Connie
the book would be a gift for the little girl's
grandparents, who were adopting the
child after her parents disappeared. That
book received a very special inscription,
indeed. Chicken Soup for the Grandparent's
Soul is available through Amazon.
Recently Connie rewrote the story,
"Through the Windowpane" and called
it, "The Nest." Recently she received
word that it was selected as a finalist in
the Environmental Protection Agency
competition called the Rachel Carson
Sense of Wonder Contest. Only stories that
were intergenerational were considered.
Results expected sometime in the fall.
Karen Ferguson Tauber's second short
story collection Reaching for a New Leaf:
Stories of Teachers Dancing With Fate
has just been released. In this second
collection, the teacher-protagonists seize
upon various opportunities in hopes of
creating new beginnings. Throughout
these eleven stories, readers gain an
awareness of how new life experiences
help us to grow whether the chances
we take yield the results we long for or,
instead, lead us back to the familiarity of
tried and true dances.
Karen's book will be for sale through her
at karentauber@gmail.com and look for it
at various locations throughout Tucson.
Reaching for a New Leaf makes a good gift
for the teachers in your life and for all
those individuals who are curious about
the world of public education.
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