2nd is Lynne Garrett series. Lynne returns to Nevada to be in a friend's wedding. An abduction threatens the outcome.
My maternal grandmother was a woman homesteader in New Mexico. When I visited the remnants of her homestead, the idea for The Homesteader (which is now a four-book series with Wings-Press.com) refused to be ignored. It was a Wing's Best Seller in May 2005. Since then, Wings has brought out, The Homesteader's Legacy, Back to the Homestead and just released Life on the Homestead. These characters have become such good friends it is hard to say goodbye to them. Now, it seems in order to continue I need to call the series "The Homesteader Chronicles" with Annabell's story being the fifth.
My paternal great-great-grandmother (Catherine Jennings) was one of the women in the Runaway Scrape in Texas. She sent her 10-year-old daughter, Katy (my great-aunt)bareback on her horse to warn the neighbors that Santa Anna was coming to kill all the settlers. Her husband, my great-great-grandfather was killed at the Alamo. Gordon C. Jennings was the oldest man killed there. One of his brothers was killed at Goliad. Catherine and Gordon's son, Samuel Jennings was a Texas Ranger. He was also my great-grandfather. The fact that I knew he was a Texas Ranger is what led me to create Tom Jennings as one in The Homesteader. Samuel Jenning's daughter, Laura Ellen Jennings married C.A. Williams who had my father, Thomas Jasper Williams.
With all this family history in my background, how could I not be a story teller?? I remember my father telling of the family exploits when I was a child. Of course, like most kids, I heard them so much they became just routine family history. Now, as I research the family tree, the stories come to life for me. However, all of the characters and actions in the books (while the history might give me a germ of an idea) are completely my imagination. I enjoy turning the characters loose and getting the story first hand. For me, it is like the experience you get when you read the finished book. That's the fun part.
Wings-press.com also Reprinted one of my YA mysteries, A Virginia City Mystery, as Goodbye is Forever.
Whiskey Creek Press.com released Blue Coat, a historical romance set in Northern Nevada. They also reprinted another YA, Goodbye, Bodie as Kat's Cradle.
It has been a longtime dream of mine to see my children's books published as picture books. Thanks to some great illustrating by K.C. Snider and publication by Guardian Angel Publishing, that dream is fulfilled. Five books have been released with at least another dozen in the pipeline. Andy and the Albino Horse has become an ongoing series and will go into a Tween format as well.
Writing for a group of Nevada newspapers which includes The Nevada Appeal and The Lahontan Valley News and their sister papers, I was honored to receive a 1st Place Award from the Nevada Press Association and 3rd place from The National Press Association for my part in the Best Spot News Story 2008 for coverage of the Fernley Flood.
I hope you will enjoy reading the stories I spin.
Mary Jean Kelso
