New Release by Katherine Kirby Smith

(Kathy Parr)

Faith, hope, and betrayal. In 1860, Jane Burnett and her family flee poverty in Scotland to join the Mormon church, taking advantage of its fund to support immigrant settlers in Utah. Sailing the Atlantic, traveling by train to the Midwest, and joining a wagon train, the Burnetts finally arrive in burgeoning Salt Lake City. Jane marries Jim Smith, a successful rancher, and raises their children in the Promised Land. However, the promise is broken by a dark secret held by church leadership. Knowledge of that secret forces Jane and her family to leave Utah for Montana where the Indian Wars once again test her resilience.

The Authors Guild of Tennessee’s Next Meeting

Thursday December 4th

The Authors Guild will hold their next monthly meeting at Mimis Cafe in Turkey Creek this Thursday, beginning at noon. Twenty-one members and five spouses will be attending. After a brief social time, Mimi’s staff will serve lunch, followed by our business meeting, including a presentation related to the season given by president Cheryl Peyton.

New Release by Chota Writers Circle

The Chota Writers Circle is comprised of new authors and members of AGT, including Bill Barbour, Carmen Flores, John Forcum, Kathy Parr, Cheryl Peyton, Chuck Roseberry, Frank Snyder, Jeri Weems, and Curt Young. Their latest anthology of short stories is Winter Tales, 14 short stories set in the winter.

The stories recall memories of the wintertime, including working on the Paramount lot at Christmastime, surviving a storm at sea in Antarctica, family celebrations in winter, sheltering from blizzards in the rural northwest, the future AI influence on Christmas, and imagining how the first wolf approached the cave dweller’s fire to form a bond that would continue for thousands of years.

The book is available on Amazon as a paperback and an eBook.

Kaye George’s Crime Stories Included in Newly Released Anthologies

In Crime Songs, stellar cast of sixteen crime writers brings you their crime stories inspired by Tom Waits, Blondie, The Clash, Lana Del Rey, AC/DC, and more. Bestselling, indie, and transgressive writers combine to give you dark, noir, cozy, and all possibilities in between. Make Crime Songs your number one.

In After Dark, dive into your next sleepless night with this spine-tingling horror/thriller anthology collection by 20 amazingly talented authors!

Stories included featuring: Mayhem, ghost, demons, monsters, bumps in the night, altered reality, fractured reality, fractured psyches, haunted people & places.

New Release by Susan Kite

Three stories depicting the early years of Zorro — the masked defender of the poor and downtrodden!

Return with Honor — Ten-year-old Diego de la Vega, brutalized by a bully, must decide how to stand against a larger foe while maintaining a semblance of honor.

European Encounter — En route to a European fencing tournament, university student Diego dons a dark disguise to rescue his new friend, the mute Bernardo, from a false charge of theft — and from the confines of a German prison!

California Encounter — General de Silva arrives in Spanish California, accompanying a new magistrado. Will Diego’s fencing master help or hinder Zorro in his battle against a corrupt commandante?

New Release by David Johnston

AGT member, David Johnston, has just released his second book of poetry titled More Poems & Musings from Walden Ridge. 

In this follow-up to Poems & Other Musings From Walden Ridge, find yourself lost in our spiritual connection to the forests, mountains, and rivers that make up our beautiful world. Enjoy another peek into life on Walden Ridge and immerse yourself in a place where time moves more slowly, the music of nature is ever-present, and the morning coffee just tastes better.

New Release by Cheryl Peyton

How did Adam and Eve talk to each other? How were people able to speak different languages after the Tower of Babel was brought down? How many Greek words are in our English vocabulary? How many Latin, French, German, and Spanish? What were the influences on American English in various parts of our country, manifested in regional accents?

These and other similar questions will be answered in this book by tracing the roots of American English from Biblical times to the Norman Conquest, to the waves of immigrants who arrived on our shores and shared their language and social traditions. All these influences have converged to create a rich and heterogeneous American language and culture.

New Release by Bill Barbour

In Barriers, the author examines the reasons why people may not attend church. As he points out, some attended a church in their youth but stopped going for various reasons. Some still attend church but do not have a complete understanding of the theology and meaning of Jesus’ teachings. Others reject all religions because they consider anything unseen and unheard to be fantasies, or that God did not act the way they expected.

The author writes that his own faith journey grew as he learned more about God and Jesus by studying the Bible.

Through the topics discussed in this book, he hopes to bring people to, or back to, Christianity, and enhance their knowledge so that their faith grows stronger.

Authors Guild of Tennessee Presents

Prizes to Winners of LCHS 2024-2025 Writing Contest

AGT president Cheryl Peyton and Writing Contest Co-ordinator Dr. Jerry Morton presented awards to the first and

second place winners at the Lenoir City High School Awards programs on Monday, May 5 at 11:00 a.m. for the Underclassmen, and on Tuesday, May 6 at 6:00 p.m. for the Seniors.  First Place winners received an engraved plaque and a monetary gift. Second Place winners received a Certificate of Achievement.

Underclassmen winners: 

1st pl., 1st period, Abby Holm for “The Teacup Cruiser”

2nd pl., 1st period, Vanessa Singletary for “Apocalypse on Zephyr”

1st pl., 5th period, Vinncent Taylor for “A Desperate Grasp”

2nd pl. 5th period, Xander Brock for “Plague”

Senior winners:

1st pl., 2nd period, Maxx Brown for “Appreciation”

2nd pl., 2nd period, Natali Ortega for “Eternal Summer”

1st pl., 4th period, Isabelle Mayes for “Superstitions — Here Comes the Tide”

2nd pl., 4th period, Ruby Bridges for “Dead Together Forever”

We congratulate all the winners and wish them much success in the future.

Creative Writing Contest

Lenoir City High School

2nd Semester 2023-24

In the second semester of the 2023-4 school year, Angela Crabtree, teacher of the junior/senior writing classes at Lenoir City High School, selected poetry as the literary form for the Creative Writing Contest sponsored by the Authors Guild of Tennessee.

The first- and second-place winners in Ms. Crabtree’s two classes are linked under this notice. Again, the students were not assigned particular subjects but were encouraged to write from their personal experiences and viewpoints. The poems are honest and personal and sometimes reflect harsh realities in each student’s life. They are all well-written and create word pictures of place and time.

The Authors Guild of Tennessee is proud to publish these outstanding literary accomplishments on our website with parental consent for students who are minors.