More local writers join Sept. 18 Celebrate Authors; a few slots still open

Celebrate Authors 2022 will be held 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, at Thomas Branigan Library, 200 E. Picacho Ave., with nearly 50 local and regional artists participating.

A few slots are left in this year’s event for authors who have had books published in 2020, 2021 and/or 2022, said event organizer Alice B. Davenport.

Here are more of this year’s participating authors.

• David Thomas has been researching and writing Mesilla Valley history for almost 20 years. To date, he has 10 books published on the subject and has won five literary awards.

Thomas’ latest book is “The Frank W. Angel Report on the Death of John H. Tunstall.” Angel’s 395-page, hand-written report of Oct. 3, 1878 “on Tunstall’s unprovoked, sadistic murder is published for the first time after 144 years in this book,” Thomas said. “It includes the testimony of the men present at the brutal killing – including Billy the Kid’s eye-witness account – and the violent consequences that followed.”

• Frank Thayer’s latest book, “The Quantum Jump Machine,” departs from his long tradition of writing about flying saucers and exploring supernatural horror. He has forsaken fiction to expose the hilarious reality of academic life in a community college in the 1960s. The story chronicles an idealistic young college instructor faced with incompetence and negligence in a newly established Ontario institution. The names have been changed, but little else, in this chronicle of day-to-day life of a journalism teacher whose sense of humor leads to guerrilla warfare in pursuit of integrity in education.

Thayer’s other books include, “The Aztec UFO Incident,” “Cobston Trilogy: The Ontario Horror,” “Terror Tales of the Southwest” and “The Whispering.”

• Lisa Archer’s latest work is a bilingual picture book done in collaboration with Susan Lynn Zenker telling the true story of Archer’s rescue dog, a Corgi who had been severely abused before finding her safety in Archer’s home.

Archer also has published a bilingual, educational coloring book of dogs, cats and other pets and “I, Julius King of the Castle,” a collection of cozy mysteries featuring an Angora cat, Labrador and mouse. In “Nuttin’ Butt Dawgs,” all her dog stories are gathered into one book.

“My advice for other writers is to join a critique group and accept constructive criticism,” Archer said.

• Peter Goodman, a poet, fictionist, photographer, columnist and radio host, is the author of “The Moonlit Path,” which contains the 1914 journal of Katherine Willard, a 32-year-old artist and avid gardener in Oakland, California. Initially, she has no clue how eventful 1914 will be for her. An independent woman in a man’s world and an artist in a profit-driven society, she is haunted by dark secrets. Impulsively, she starts writing in a blank garden-journal. Later, she records surprising experiences and unforeseen challenges. Willard’s jottings provide a clear view of 1914 and important issues in the United States on the eve of World War I.
• Lori Ann King and Jim King are the authors of “Raging Love,” which they describe as “far more than a sports memoir.” The book “is a tale of perseverance and purpose and a reminder that finding one’s path is an evolution from psychological discipline and mental toughness to forgiveness and self-love.”

A powerlifting national champion, finding peace and happiness assisting others, Jim King is a West Point graduate and retired U.S. Army officer. He coached the U.S. Army Europe Championship Wrestling Team in 1976 and was the 1992 American drug-free deadlift national champion.

Lori Ann King is the author of “Come Back Strong” and “Balanced Wellness After Surgical Menopause” and a two-time contributor to “Chicken Soup For the Soul.”

• Susan Lynn Zenker is a poet and playwright from New England who now calls El Paso home. Her latest work is a bilingual picture book, “Daisy Finds a Home: Un hogar para Daisy,” written in collaboration with Lisa Archer. A stray dog tells her story of homelessness as she searches for an owner to love. Zenker’s story collections are “The Long and Short of It” and “Moonlight, Rainstorms, and Other Things that Have a Soul.” “On with the Show” is a collection of monologues for teens. “Moody Gardens” and “Desert Winds” are her poetry books.

Zenker’s advice to writers is, “Use writing prompts and timed writings; polish your work and send it off to contests. Write a story each week and within a year you will have enough for two or three collections.”

Contact Davenport at 575-527-1411, email at adavenport@totacc.com, or come to Moonbow's Book Nook, 225 E Idaho #32.