MoonStain describes the blood moon as it shines through tree leaves, marking the long hours of a sleepless night as it spreads from one point to another on a young child’s bedroom floor. 
 In this collection of poetry, Miller weaves stories of life, death, and love through her poetry, primarily narrative in form. From glimpses of her childhood home on her grandparents’ farm to images of a woman’s life, her loves, her losses, we learn of life’s stains, of moments that shape and become a part of one woman’s voice. 
 Ronda Miller is a poet and Life Coach. Born in Ft. Collins, Colorado, she was raised on her grandparents’ farm in the high plateau region of NW Kansas. She holds degrees in Human Development and Creative Writing from the University of Kansas. She is a Fellow of the Citizen Journalism Academy and a district president and current board member of the Kansas Authors Club.

MoonStain

Literature & Fiction

Miller, Ronda

Poetry

Meadowlark

A 2016 Kansas Notable Book Award Winner: Pete Stone hadn’t always been a private eye. He’d lost his dairy business at the toss of a coin when the depression hit. His children grew up, as children do, and his wife left him for a chinchilla farmer. He had learned to like his solitude. When Mrs. Lucille Hamilton walked through his door searching for her missing husband, Pete was the only one who believed her husband’s death hadn’t been a suicide.  “With a clean, detailed, vigorous style, Graves introduces us to Detective Pete Stone, his worldly and lovable gumshoe. Set in 1930’s Wichita, Midwesterners will take particular joy in Graves’s depiction of the city and the jazz age in this compelling mystery.”      --Kevin Rabas, Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano

To Leave a Shadow (Pete Stone, Private Investigator)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Graves, Michael D.

Mystery

In this collection of poetry, Ronda Miller continues to weave life stories, giving bold narration to moments in time that are sometimes touching, sometimes shocking, sometimes joy filled, and always honest. Miller gives voice through her poetry to stories we are sometimes afraid to listen to, lest through them we grow in understanding and compassion for each other, for humankind.

WaterSigns

In this collection of short stories, Tracy Million Simmons captures slices of life, glimpses of everyday people and everyday thoughts and actions, and the many moments—touching, amusing, happy, sad—of lives in progress. This book is an intimate peek into a writer’s stash, written across the decades, an experience of timelessness and the human condition. Through fiction, these stories reveal relatable truths. “Like Oreo cookies, I kept reaching for another until the whole package was gone.” ~ Michael D. Graves, author of To Leave a Shadow “In this big-hearted book, we see the lives of Midwesterners through their own eyes. Tracy is our own Emporia version of Grace Paley, and she moves with compassion and empathy from stories of childhood to stories set at the nursing home, always with that kind of plucky magic for which Kansas storytellers are known, a wise twinkle in their eyes.” ~ Kevin Rabas, author of Songs for My Father “Tracy Million Simmons shows clearly the moving parts of relationships. Her stories reveal the irreversible ties of family. She shows the push-and-pull between spouses, between parent and child, between dear friends, and we see how we’re all recklessly and joyfully bound one to another.” ~ Cheryl Unruh, author of Walking on Water “A Life in Progress is filled with a variety of diverse and in-depth studies and stories about people of all ages and for readers of all ages. Tracy Million Simmons shows astute awareness and intuitive chameleon-like ability to be inside the head of both male and female, young and old, and across a diversity of cultures. Her work is not only emotional and heartfelt, but astoundingly on target. The price of this book is worth it for each story. A highly recommended read that kept me satiated with unexpected surprises and delights.” ~ Ronda Miller, Life Coach and author MoonStain (2015) and WaterSigns (2017) “...so many thought provoking stories that live in your head long after reading them.” ~ Yvonne Evie Green, Write Stuff Coordinator, Topeka, KS

A Life in Progress and Other Short Stories

Simmons, Tracy Million

Short Stories & Anthologies

James Kenyon, a born storyteller, writes an account of growing up in 1950s rural America that will make a reader laugh, smile, and occasionally shed a tear. As a young farm boy raised on the high plans of western Kansas, James shares memories of learning to care for cattle, ride (and fall from) the family horse, nurse a piglet back to health, and drive a tractor. Whether selling eggs from the back of his red wagon to the women in the nearest town of Bogue (population then approximately 300) or saving the family cow from death by bloat, readers will enjoy these glimpses of a farm boys life, a look back on simpler a time in America, post-depression, post-war. Winner of the 2018 Martin Kansas History Book Award by the Kansas Authors Club.

A Cow for College: and Other Stories of 1950s Farm Life

Biographies & Memoirs

Kenyon, James

Historical

Everyday Magic features the best of Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg's blog of the same title, fields notes on the mundane and miraculous unfolding around us, and how to live with greater verve, meaning and joy. Journey through whimsical, tender, and fierce explorations of travel and homecoming, beloveds and the art of loving, grief and resilience, the arts and politics, spirit and being a body in essays as varied as “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Parenting,” “Satan Called: He Wants His Weather Back,” “Body Is As Body Does,” “The Glory of Failing,” “Have Torah, Will Travel,” “How to Make a Decision About Anything,” “Why Poetry Matters,” “If You Give a Dog a Bagel,” and “I Wanted an Enchilada, I Got a Prairie Fire” as well as meditations praising Clarence Clemons, Mexican food, Benazir Bhutto, bathtubs, Laura Nyro, Marian McPartland, and Davy Jones, among others. "Reading this book is like having a wise friend take you by the hand and walk you down a healing path. Thank you, Caryn, for showing us how to embrace the beauty, joy and pain in everyday life." ~ Harriet Lerner, Ph.D author of NYTimes bestseller The Dance of Anger and Why Won't You Apologize? "Many thanks to Caryn for these beautiful lessons in living, really living from a poet laureate who reminds you of your best friend. It's wonderful to feel so deeply inspired by a world that feels so deeply familiar." ~ Dar Williams, Singer-songwriter, and author of What I Found in 1,000 Towns "Like Da Vinci, Caryn is in love with the world, knows its many ways, excels at all she does, and captures the hidden emotion behind what she studies. My world opens up, when I read these. Yours will too." ~ Kevin Rabas, Poet Laureate of Kansas, 2017-2019, All That Jazz "Enter the amazing world of genius writer Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg as she ruminates, rejoices, revels, and reflects. Her book Everyday Magic is a passport to her remarkable life as mother, wife, daughter-in-law, friend, professor, community leader, and writer. The author’s Wells Overlook homestead becomes as familiar as my kitchen table when I read scenes from her rocket-speed life." ~ Denise Low, Kansas Poet Laureate 2007-2009, author of Turtle’s Beating Heart “It's not just a body, it's an adventure,” is the title of one of Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg's essays on the exceptionality of the everyday. This body of work is an adventure—not necessarily the roller-coaster-ride variety, but one of the turning of the moments of a life into opportunities for introspection, for sharing, for recognition that this instant in time is truly meaningful and lovely and deserving of notice." ~ Roy Beckemeyer, author of Music I Once Could Dance To "'Listening to another means learning a new language,' writes Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg. This former poet-laureate of Kansas is absolutely present in the world. This book is an invitation to join her in a celebration of mundane moments illuminated by her loving presence. Wrap yourself in a warm embrace of words."  ~ Sherry Reiter, PhD, Director of The Creative Righting Center, and Poetry Therapy pioneer "Each piece is a window into a room in the author's mind, each so enticing that I wanted to see the next room, and the next. This house is a well-lived-in home, filled with compassion, honesty, wit and humility." ~ Doug Lipman, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award for storytelling, National Storytelling Network "With an open heart and often with sly humor, Caryn shares stories of bad vacations, burritos, family, faith, navigating a difficult childhood, and the passing of people dear to her. In these graceful essays I marvel, as always, at Caryn’s skill with language. Words are in her care and her command." ~ Cheryl Unruh, author of Flyover People: Life on the Ground in a Rectangular State

Everyday Magic: Field Notes on the Mundane and the Miraculous

Mirriam-Goldberg, Caryn

Religion & Spirituality

When a cop killer strikes Wichita, Pete Stone, Private Investigator, is on the case. He has to be. He wakes up in jail, battered and bruised and accused of a murder he’s almost certain he didn’t commit. He must prove his innocence before he’s abandoned by his clients, his friends, and one special lady. When Stone is not getting knocked around by cops, he’s getting roughed up by love.

Shadow of Death (Pete Stone, Private Investigator)

Salacir had no need of a Peace Bringer for more than a century, yet two babies were born with the diamond-shaped birthmark of the prophecy on the same day. One the spoiled prince of a high king, the other a studious daughter of a warrior tribe—would they prove the old seer correct?  “A fascinating plot that turns and twists in ways I could not predict, Book I in The Salacir Chronicles: What Lies Beyond, Hannah Jeffers-Huser’s first novel, is a fast paced fantasy that has it all: action, romance, and mystery! Looking forward to Book II.”  ~ Brenda Sanchez--Associate Professor of English, Independence Community College  “Hannah Jeffers-Huser cements characters in a world crafted with care and intricacy. She creates a world that feels active and lived in. The characters each feel utilized, presenting their own philosophies and ideals, rather than simply presented as narrative tools. The story itself is spry and engaging, something that will keep young readers turning the pages. Her writing contains a flavor that reflects much of her personality and wit, encompassed in a fantasy realm. The Peace Bringers’ unique personalities and attitudes highlight upon the pages from the moment they’re introduced. The first book in what is bound to be an extraordinary series, The Salacir Chronicles, finds its place as a wondrous adventure full of unending events.” ~Zach Palmer, President of Quivira, Emporia State University

What Lies Beyond (The Salacir Chronicles)

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Jeffers-Huser, Hannah

Fantasy

“With wildly-original images, sparkling wit, and a voice all her own, Olive writes poetry of expansive courage and vision, tipping over the edge of dreams we can remember without understanding, and celebrating the impermanence of life’s nuances. In the end, she illuminates the vital colors, textures, shapes of pure desire, deep quandaries, and the kind of exploration that brings us to the essence of home—all on the way to “Welcome the spirits in.” As she writes in her poem, Praise Song for the River, “We come to god each in our own way/ but we find ourselves on the banks of the same river,/ our hot feet dangling in the same cool green water.” This collection of poetry shines with originality, wisdom, and power as it continually tilts the reader toward new ways to perceive their own journeys.”  Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate and author of Everyday Magic: Field Notes on the Mundane and the Miraculous

Wandering Bone

Sullivan, Olive L.

Starting with her Kansas childhood, Izzy Wasserstein explores questions of science and faith, myth and politics, in When Creation Falls. From nights listening to Royals baseball on the radio to paleontology, from prehistoric past to end of world, these poems explore how we relate to an indifferent universe, how we make meaning, and how we might create something better.

When Creation Falls

Wasserstein, Izzy

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Meadowlark publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Meadowlark