Owl Member of the Month

Jory Sherman

This is the perfect picture to introduce you to Jory Sherman.  I found it on the webpage listing the nominees for the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Letters.  It was wedged between the pictures of Edith McCall and Laura Ingalls Wilder.  What good company.  Jory was nominated for his novel, Grass Kingdom.  I don't know who won the Pultizer that year.  I don't care.  In my mind, it was Jory Sherman.  Jack Kerouac once said, "If moderation is a fault, then indifference is a crime."  Jory Sherman has been anything but indifferent is his long and colorful career.  He has written with passion and knowledge, taught with passion and concern, and lived with passion and love.  Jory is the perfect selection for OWL's first MEMBER OF THE MONTH.

Jory Sherman has been a full-time writer for over forty years.  He began his amazing career as a poet in San Francisco's famed North Beach with Jack Keroac during the heyday of the legendary  "Beat Generation".  Jory's poetry was widely published when he began writing ficiton.  Warren French, Professor of Literature at the University of Florida, noted: "Jory Sherman has a strange and powerful knowledge of language and an almost perfect ear."   Now, both Jory's poetry and fiction have been published in journals such as: Epos, Quicksilver, Renaissance, The New York Herald Tribune, Laugh, Literary, Signet, The Black Cat Review, The Ozarks Mountaineer, Flame, The Galley Sail Review, and many other publications and anthologies. 

Jory was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Letters for "Grass Kingdom",  and won the Spur Award for his novel "The Medicine Horn".

Jory says he began writing at age 8, when he was grief-stricken over the death of his puppy, Doopers. He read James Joyce's Ulysses at the age of 10 and fell in love with language and mythology.

Jory has published more than 1000 articles and 500 short stories. Most recently, his stories have appeared in Tales of the American West, the WWA Spur Winners Anthology, published by NAL, Richard S. Wheeler, Editor, (COMES THE HUNTER), the WWA Short Story Anthology, American West. Loren D. Estleman, Editor, published by Forge Books. (THE SNOWS OF AUGUST). Read the West, an electronic magazine, has published an original short story, THE FILLY, in its April, 1999 ezine, and Read West has published his original story, SHADOWS AT SUNSET, Steve Law, Editor, in the Read West ezine in the February, 2000 issue. Just this year he had a story accepted for the Ozarks Mystery Anthology (AVENGING ANGEL), to be published by Skyward, Edited by Ellen Gray Massey.

Jory has not slowed down.  As the technological generation overtook the beat generation, Jory ventured into ebooks.   THE HILLS OF HOME, a collection of pieces on the Ozarks was published electronically by Hard Shell Word Factory in August, 2000, and CHILL #1: SATAN’S SEED, published in October, 2000 by HSWF, CHILL #2: THE SEPULCHRE, published in January, 2004, and, VISIONS OF A LOST GIRL, published in August, 2001. These are in both ebook and POD editions.

Sherman has published more than 300 books since 1965, with Doubleday, Zebra, Avon, Berkley, Walker & Co., Tor, Forge, Bantam, Major Books, Pinnacle, The First Ozark Press, White Oak Press, and others. He has created and packaged series for Avon, Harlequin Gold Eagle, Pinnacle, Paperjacks, Zebra, Bantam, and others, including  THE BARON SERIES, for Forge Books and BLOOD RIVER for Berkley. He is currently working on the first novel of a new series for Pocket Books entitled THE OWLHOOT TRAIL.

Jory Sherman lives with his wife, Charlotte, in Pittsburg, Texas on Lake Bob Sandlin.

Jory is a longtime member, and generous friend of OWL, as well as dozens of other writers groups throughout the country.  Along the way, Jory has made many friends, and has shared an exciting life with them...here are just a few snapshots from his past.

Jory and the late Fred Bean at a book signing in Austin, Texas

 “Fred and I kayaked and fished Town Lake almost every day when we stayed down there.  I kept my kayak at his dock, in fact. Later, we settled in Belton and Fred moved there.  We fished nearly every day, either in his boat or mine, and we laughed and traded friendly insults until the winds blew us off the lake.

     “Fred had a far-ranging mind, and we often spoke of literature and art and music.  He was very well read and a quick study.

     “Fred gave us all so much.  He was a great cook and often barbecued his famous brisket at W. C. Jameson’s in Conway, or at his place on Lake Belton. I miss you, Fred. I always will.”

In researching about Jory for this page, I went on a wild journey.  At one point, I found myself in a vampire website, which listed some of Jory's horror novels.  I haven't read those yet, but I plan to.  I didn't investigate this website too thoroughly after accidentally hitting a button that took me to a blood drive of sorts.  It said, "Donate blood for your Vampire brothers and sisters".  Although I think the site was meant to be fun, and I was fascinated to find Jory's name listed among such famous horror writers as Anne Rice, and Stephen King, I kept feeling a warm breath on the back of my neck so I returned to the real, and much safer, world of western writing.

     Jory was the keynote speaker at the Northeast Texas Writers' Organization 18th annual writers conference this past past April.  Here, he's taking a much needed break.

I wonder if this guy"s trying to tell us something?  Actually, this is Jory at his best; somewhere comfortable where he can talk about writing with his friends.  This is one of his favorite haunts, a place called The Coffee Cup.  They do book signings,  and have music and literature fests--every writer's dream.  Their website also has a wonderful page explaining exactly what makes a cappuccino different from an espresso. 

Jory's Library

Quote for THE SNOWS OF AUGUST, by Loren D. Estleman, Editor
From the anthology: American West.

"Jory Sherman was a member of the San Francisco beat poets that included Jack Kerouac. He is also one of the best western novelists of all time. 'The Snows of August' contains elements of Ernest Hemingway and Ambrose Bierce, but don't be fooled; when you read a story about bear hunting and you come away smelling of bear, that story is all Sherman."

A legendary Texas cattle empire, Grass Kingdom, is also a house divided by ambition and torn by the fierce desire of its early settlers to dominate the country's cattle business -- and to ruthlessly crush any who get in their way.  Grass Kingdom can be found either on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com

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The Baron books are complex tales of murder, revenge, and retribution set in the Rio Grande Valley.  They chronicle the Baron family's settlement of the Texas frontier in the early 1800s.  With the right amounts of color, action and suspense, Sherman certainly knows how to make a western gallop.  In this series, his gifted ability to create gritty characters prevails.  These characters from the beginning,  must pay the price of greed and ambition, with trial and tribulation.  The background for The Barons of Texas, is the state's early white settlement period.  Reader of Westerns will enjoy these tales of drama and homespun wisdom.

To order any of Jory's books, please enter the Barnes and Noble site from this website, we get credit for every book sold through OWL.  Thank you.  www.barnesandnoble.com

The Medicine Horn..."Jory Sherman is nothing less than a master storyteller of that time men flung themselves against the unknown, alone.  Few can tell this tale with as much authority, none with as much heart."...Terry C. Johnston

"Among today's novelists of the Old American West, Jory Sherman has no peer for poetic, powerful storytelling.  Read The Medicine Horn and see a gifted writer at the top of his craft."....Dale Walker, Rocky Mountain News

"The Medicine Horn provides the perfect canvas for the broad, bold strokes of Jory Sherman's brush.  To read the poetry of his prose is to be transported bodily to the wind-lashed plains and the blue-iced peaks of Sherman Country.  He is a national treasure."...Loren Estleman

The Ballad of Pinewood Lake..."A Calm, beautifully written story with increasingly dire hints of a heartbreaking tragedy to come, one that, given the two major characters and their weaknesses, could not have been avoided.  This book may be read on several levels, each one meaningful; the search of a husband and wife, held together by their love for their small son, for their own lost love, and their mutual battle with alcohol addiction."...Naomi Stokes

"Shermans departure from his usual fare proves that he is one of the America's hidden treasures.  The Ballad of Pinewood Lake is a touching, evocative story of the hidden soul of modern America."....Randy Eickhoff

"An abrupt departure from Jory Sherman's other work, The Ballad of Pinewood Lake, follows a troubled modern couple seeking paradise on a secluded mountaintop but finding they have brought their own personal hell with them.  Beautifully poetic, yet disturbing."....Elmer Kelton

"Maybe you'll think a little of Keats and a little of Lorca, but something else has come in, too.  The song and dance of Jory Sherman."...Charles Bukowski, from an introduction to Sherman's book of Poetry, My Face in Wax.

"All my senses are touched, warmed and flooded with signing phrases in Visions of a Lost Girl.  You amaze me that you can bring emotions and thoughts to my mind that I could not recall on my own.  I'm sure every reader feels the same, that your are reading into their heart as well as into their brain."...Jean Cantwell

Jory Sherman is a treasure.  His talent and knowledge of writing has not been selfishly kept in a room with his trophies and awards.  Jory generously shares with the writing world around him.  At OWL's May meeting, Jory joined an equally talented group of authors to hold a panel discussion and teach a workshop.  In talking to members afterwards, I came away with the awesome thought that I had heard a writing legend.  Someone that in fifty or a hundred years will be mentioned in the great university classrooms of this country.  Students will read his work, and discuss his skills, and wonder what he was really like.  I feel privileged to know such a writer.

Don't try to find Jory in this picture, I just thought it was an interesting photo from the Old West, and a perfect place to end.

This page is devoted to our members.  It will be changed periodically to showcase individuals from Ozarks Writers League that not only inspire other members, but the entire writing community.

Louise A. Jackson is the author of three novels: Gone to Texas: From Virginia to Adventure, Grandpa Had a Windmill, Grandma Had a Churn and Over on the River.  Louise published articles in The Reading Teacher, Language Arts, and Journal of the West.  In addition to being recognized for her writing, Jackson is much in demand as a speaker.  Her spirited presentations to children and youth in schools and libraries and her practical inservice sessions with teachers and librarians are highly praised.

A fifth-generation Texan, Jackson grew up on the family ranch in Central Texas, where she and her younger brother climbed trees, rode horses, and raised orphan goats and calves.  She attended a one-teacher school and a three-teacher school during her elementary years and graduated from a small rural high school.  Her career in teaching included stints in both Texas and Wyoming.  She was an elementary classroom teacher, a special reading teacher, and a university professor of reading and language arts.

Jackson now lives in Springfield, Missouri with her husband, Don.  She likes to read, write, garden, hike and travel.  She has been to most of the U.S. and to parts of Canada, Mexico, Western Europe and Argentina.

Gone to Texas is a historical adventure novel set in 1850
and tells about a boy named Ephraim Darter who got very tired of
working on the family farm and left home to travel to the new state
of Texas. He had all sorts of exciting adventures along the way and made some life-changing decisions in the midst of the most exciting adventure of all.

This was Louise's first book. She wanted to write about a farm because lots of first grades at that time had units on farms. I asked herself,  "What do I know about a farm?" The answer was that she had spent a lot of time on her gradparents' farm when she was little. So, she wrote
about her own memories.

This was Louise's second book. She moved her grandparents back a generation and made them "Mama & Papa" and wrote the stories her mother told me about her early life "over on the Colorado River of Texas."

All of Louise Jackson's book can be purchased from OWL's Bookstore.

Louise at age 3 in front of the capitol building in Austin, TX.  Louise says this is the same year her mother taught her to read.

  Louise's 8th grade photo, when she was twelve and a half.

Louise says she is second from the right in this photo taken of her with her cousins and her Grandma Darter when she was eleven.

Louise Jackson's father was a rancher and businessman, owning several different businesses while Louise was a child.  She says "when he got tired of one or it stopped making money, he began something else...cafe owner, a broiler chicken plant, a cedar post yard, and a limestone quarry...to name just a few. She says for a while he tried raising oranges in South Texas, and grapes in Argentina.  "But no matter what else he did, the ranch was always there."  They called it the "home place".

Louise's mother was a schoolteacher.  She would teach when times got hard and they needed extra money, as well as doing ranch chores, working with the local Baptist Church, and teaching Louise and her brother anything important that they weren't being taught in school.

Louise says she came from a family of storytellers and that's why she thinks it's so natural for her to speak in front of groups.  Early on, when Louise complained about being expected to "take part", in church presentations or school contests, he grandma would remind her..."Louise, the women in our family have always known hot to get up in front of people."  So Louise has never been stage shy.

When asked what her goals for the future are...Louise answers that she plans on continuing to write, and, as books come out, to travel to schools, bookstores, and conventions as a visiting author.  "It is an exciting prospect", Louise says.  "Life is good."

For a schedule of Louise's speaking events and book signings check her web page at http://www.louiseajackson.net

Who is Radine Trees Nehring?

She's an OWL member.

"I can't think of a thing I'd rather be doing."  That's what prolific Ozarks author and journalist, Radine Trees Nehring, says about a writing career she didn't take serously until she was old enough for AARP. . . .

This amazing sentence comes straight from an interview that Radine recently sat for.  Who asked the questions?  Radine did.  The previous sentence and what follows are part of a somewhat unorthodox interview that Radine conducted herself for a mystery fan conference in Muncie, Indiana, called "Magna cum Murder".  It's a rather interesting concept--interviewing yourself . . .read on.

     
 . . . Nehring's first book about the Ozarks, the non-fiction DEAR EARTH, A Love Letter from Spring Hollow," was published by Brett Books, Inc. in 1995.  Her award-winning mystery series, "Something to Die For," began with Macavity Award nominee, A VALLEY TO DIE FOR, in 2002.  The valley in question is part of the rural Ozarks of Northwest Arkansas.  This first novel featuring Carrie Culpeper McCrite and Henry King was soon followed by a second Carrie-Henry adventure, MUSIC TO DIE FOR, set at Ozark Folk Center State Park, Mountain View, Arkansas.         

    Radine's publisher, St Kitts Press,will soon release A TREASURE TO DIE FOR (yes, same folks, new troubles)which takes place at an Elderhostel in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Nehring points out that all her Ozarks settings are real places, good destinations for tourists, and the action can be followed at the locations themselves.  Nehring hands out location maps at her book signings and talks. 
    A short story featuring Carrie and Henry is now available as part of the
anthology, "Mysteries of the Ozarks, Vol. I" edited by Ellen Gray Massey
and released by Skyward Publishing August, 2004.
    I asked Radine if she has any ideas about why mysteries are so popular today.  (In fact, they've now passed romance as the most popular genre.)  She says:  "The type of traditional mystery I enjoy reading as well as writing--including my short stories--are really morality tales.  Though
terrible things happen and people die, good triumphs in the end.  In
today's troubled world, as never before, I believe people are looking for
this kind of satisfying reading experience."
    "So," I said, "For those who haven't read them yet, tell us a little about
your stories."
     "My main characters, widow Carrie McCrite and her best friend, Henry King, a retired Kansas City police major, come together in my first novel, "A VALLEY TO DIE FOR" to solve the murder of a mutual friend.  This killing happens in their Ozarks neighborhood, the beautiful and very real
Blackberry Hollow.  In the second series story, MUSIC TO DIE FOR, they
travel to Ozark Folk Center State Park, and are soon working together to
locate the kidnapped child of Branson musicians and solve the murder of one of her kidnappers.  The third series novel, A TREASURE TO DIE FOR, finds them in hot water in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
    Nehring's Ozarks tales have won the "Arkansas Governor's Award for Best Writing about the State of Arkansas" and the Dan Saults award from Ozarks Writers League, in addition to the Macavity nomination and a long list of other awards.  She is now at work on the fourth Carrie-Henry adventure novel as well as more short stories featuring this popular and dynamic senior duo.

For more than fifteen years, Radine Trees Nehring's magazine features, essays, newspaper articles, and radio broadcasts have been sharing colorful stories about the people, places, events, and natural world near her Arkansas home.  She's also the author of a book of essays set in the Ozarks.  "Dear Earth: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow" was published in 1995.

"Until I began to write about Carrie McCrite, I'd dealt only in facts," Radine says.  "What fun it is to take those facts and the settings I love, add people entangled in problems and seeking answers to important life questions, and come up with mystery fiction that shares my world with readers everywhere."

Nehring's research takes her to the places her characters go.  She's visited Arkansas tourist destinations, hiked hills and hollows, crawled through caves, spent time in jail (while training for the jail ministry) and as a news reporter, interviewed officials in every branch of law enforcement.  She and her husband, John, live in the Arkansas Ozarks.

Nehring's major at Principia College in Illinois was in Fine Arts.  She's done post-graduate work in English and creative writing at the University of Tulsa, and in the University of Iowa Summer Writing Program.

2003 Macavity Award Nominee

Carrie Culpeper McCrite, star of "Something to Die For" mystery series, is an employee of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, so she's familiar with Arkansas' adventure places. And, she can't seem to keep her nose away from humans in distress - or murder.

Radine is an avid reader, and her love for words is what made her try her hand at writing.

The event that finally kicked her into a career as a writer was her move to the Ozarks . . . a beautiful, exciting, inspiring place.  She began to paint pictures of the Ozarks with her words--poetry, essays, nature writing.

Then Radine asked herself, "What do I read for fun?"  Mysteries was her answer.  So she decided it would be fun to write a mystery. "Since only a handful of writers become wealthy practicing their art, it had better be fun," Radine says.

    "MUSIC TO DIE FOR is set at Ozark Folk Center State Park in remote Stone County, AR. Carrie and several friends have planned a weekend vacation at the Folk Center, where they're signed up for craft classes. Crafts take a back seat to a kidnapping, arson, and murder after Dulcey Mason, four-year old daughter of famous country musicians Chase Mason and Tracy Teal, disappears, and her abductor is found stabbed, his house burned. Romance blossoms again between Carrie and her best friend, Henry King, as they rush to save a child, solve a murder, and repair tragically broken lives. Can they do it before they, too, become victims of MUSIC TO DIE FOR?"

I did believe what Grandpa told me. He said it was important to love the land. To prove it, he bought a farm.

Most people in the city would have said Grandpa was poor, at least if you were counting money. I noticed, though that his chickens had a bigger yard to run in than his city grandchildren did. On Grandpa's farm there were pastures, woods, and a creek. Playing at the farm on weekends, I began to think like Grandpa: "The land is wealth."
 

Radine's website, at http://www.radinesbooks.com is a wonderful place to visit.  You can learn more about Radine and even pick up a few good recipes.  Visit her there.  Radine is also gracious enough to give out her home address for anyone wanting to get in touch with her that way.  I suspect she wouldn't mind if you just dropped by for a cup of coffee and a story . . . maybe on her porch where you could enjoy the beauty of the Ozarks.