Sue Boggio, Sara Frances, Larry Kilham, Mare Pearl, and Vicki Kay Turpen are dedicated authors who represent the diverse membership of SouthWest Writers (SWW). Their 2023 releases couldn’t fit in this year’s interview schedule, but look for new interviews or updates for most of these authors in 2024.
A list of interviewed SWW authors with 2023 releases is included at the end of this post.
Hungry Shoes: A Novel (University of New Mexico Press, September 2023) by Sue Boggio and Mare Pearl. Maddie and Grace meet in an adolescent psychiatric unit after each has committed desperate self-injurious acts in response to years of abuse, neglect, and chaos. Together they navigate the surreal world of their fellow patients while staff provide nurturance and guidance to support their healing journeys. With the help of veteran psychiatrist Mary Swenson, Maddie and Grace come to terms with their pasts and discover the inner fortitude they need to create futures filled with empowerment and hope.
You’ll find Sue and Mare on their website at BoggioAndPearl.com.
Unplugged Voices: 125 Tales of Art and Life from Northern New Mexico, the Four Corners and the West (February 2023) is an illustrated four-color coffee table 324-page compendium of verbal narratives collected and edited by Sara Frances. Make a connection to 125 unique western personas, each in a five-minute read. Stories abound everywhere; but the threads of nature in and of The West, its independence, resilience, creativity, and beauty, weave together in unique revelation of life and land. Theses narratives are told as if the taleteller were sitting in front of you, across the kitchen table, around the campfire, on the front porch, or under the stars.
Look for Sara on her Amazon author pages here and here.
Himalayan Adventures: India & Nepal (March 2023) by Larry Kilham. This is a captivating account of the author’s adventures hiking and trekking in India and Nepal. The author was an international sales manager who lived for climbing mountains in exotic lands. His most treasured goal was the Himalayas. Northern India borders the Himalayas so a mountaineering trip included sightseeing in the classic Indian cultural centers of Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Khajuraho, and Varanasi. He experienced the splendor of human and architectural achievement of which the Taj Majal is only one. Kathmandu in Nepal has a limitless collection of Buddhist, Tantric, and Hindu art. His hiking and trekking excursions could be a to-do list for any newcomer to the area: Kashmir in the Indian Himalayas, and Pokhara and the Mt. Everest area in Nepal. He also describes other adventure stops on a round-the-world tour: Chitwan National Park in Nepal (home of the royal Bengal Tiger) and the mountains of Kauai in Hawaii.
Visit Larry on his website at LarryKilham.net.
Opelika Opiate (Austin Macauley, June 2023) by Vicki Kay Turpen.
Opiate — to induce sleep; to stupefy; to hijack the brain and change its normal function.
Opelika, Alabama — where cars, men, and race collide to unhinge the life of a young woman. Piecing it back together will require figuring out the role she played, and who she really is — or wants to be.
You’ll find Opelika Opiate on Vicki’s Amazon author page.
SWW Author Interviews: 2023 Releases
Marty Eberhardt
Bones in the Back Forty
William Fisher
The Price of the Sky: A Tale of Bandits, Bootleggers, and Barnstormers
Patricia Gable
The Right Choice
Cornelia Gamlem
The Decisive Manager: Get Results, Build Morale, and Be the Boss Your People Deserve
Joyce Hertzoff
Train to Nowhere Somewhere: Book 1 of the More Than Just Survival Series
Brian House
Reich Stop
T.E. MacArthur
The Skin Thief
Nick Pappas
Crosses of Iron: The Tragic Story of Dawson, New Mexico, and its Twin Mining Disasters
Marcia Rosen
Murder at the Zoo
Lynne Sebastian
One Last Cowboy Song
JR Seeger
The Enigma of Treason
Suzanne Stauffer
Fried Chicken Castañeda
Jodi Lea Stewart
The Gold Rose
Patricia Walkow
Life Lessons from the Color Yellow
R. Janet Walraven
LIAM: The Boy Who Saw the World Upside Down
Donald Willerton
Death in the Tallgrass
Linda Wilson
Waddles the Duck and
Cradle in the Wild: A Book for Nature Lovers Everywhere
