Holiday Greetings!
As we approach the end of 2025, here is an introduction to our incoming Board and an end-of-year review of our chapter activities.
Changing of the Guard
Old Guard
We want to thank all the Board members who helped steer the chapter through this year, including Amanda-Grace Schultz (who served as President until a family illness led her to pull back from the organization); Beverle Graves Myers and Elaine Munsch (who both stepped in to serve as co-presidents for the rest of the year); Carol Preflatish (serving as Publicist). Thank you all for your time and effort!
New Guard
Leading us forward for 2026, our new board will be:
Miki Reilly-Howe – President
Frannie Gossen – Vice-President
Lynn Slaughter – Secretary
Pam Herschler – Programming
Susan Bell – Web Meister and Treasurer
See our home page for Board member bios.
Member News for 2025
It was an exciting year for our members. Here are some highlights:
Jeanette Pope
Jeanette’s new book, Throwaway Kids, will be released in January 2026!
Lynn Slaughter
Lynn’s coming-of-age romantic mystery, Missing Mom, had its official release date on January 14, 2025. Midwest Book Review called it a “remarkable book” that “invites readers to immerse themselves in a narrative that beautifully captures the essence of struggle and triumph.”
Lynn also signed a contract with Melange Books for her seventh novel, Death in the End Zone, a sequel to her adult mystery, Missed Cue, which again features Lieutenant Caitlin O’Connor investigating a puzzling case. Publication is slated for the spring of 2026.
Be sure to join us for our chapter meeting in January, where Lynn will share her expertise on POV. See details here: Lynn Slaughter: Choosing Your Point of View – and Avoiding Pesky POV Pitfalls
Beverle Graves Myers
Beverle Graves Myers’ short story, On the Path to St. Edmund’s Cave, was published in Dragon Mythicana, an anthology of dragon stories from Inkd Press.
Carol Preflatish
Carol Preflatish’s new book Exposure, a Coyote Canyon Mystery (book one in her new series) was released in July and is available on Amazon.
Sherry Youngquist
Sherry Youngquist’s new novel, Knotty by Nature, was released in October and is available on Amazon. Sherry shared this work with our critique group, and we were thrilled to help her celebrate her book publication had a cozy little coffeehouse downtown.
Rhonda Lane
Rhonda Lane announces that her first novel, Fatal Image, has been released and can be found on Amazon.
Lorena Peter
Lorena, writing under the pseudonym Peter Rufer, published her novel Dread.
Lynda Rees
Lynda’s new book, The Attic, A Flip or Flop Mystery, launched in July!
Guest Speakers
We had some wonderful guest speakers this year.
Paul Stansbury – Writing the Short Story
Paul Stansbury is a lifelong native of Kentucky. He is the author of Inversion-Not Your Ordinary Stories; Inversion II-Creatures, Fairies, and Haints, Oh My; Inversion III-The Lighter Shades of Greys; Inversion IV-Another Infusion of Speculative Fiction; and Down by the Creek-Ripples and Reflections. Over one-hundred and thirty of his works have been published. His speculative fiction stories have appeared in a number of print anthologies as well as a variety of online publications.
Paul is also a poet, a Kentucky Monthly Penned winner, and the Scheduling Coordinator for The Jeanne Penn Lane Celebration of Kentucky Writers. His short play, Nana Toby, was selected for the Union Commonwealth University of New Plays. He is the owner of Sheppard Press.
Email Paul Stansbury: pstansburywriter@gmail.com
Follow Paul Stansbury on Facebook: Paul Stansbury Author
Website: https://www.paulstansbury.com
Trace Conger – Writing the Thriller: Elements of Suspense.
Trace Conger is an award-winning author in the crime, thriller, and suspense genres. He writes the Connor Harding (Thriller) series and the Mr. Finn (PI) series, among others. His Connor Harding series follows freelance Mirage Man Connor Harding as he solves problems for the world’s most dangerous criminals. The Mr. Finn series follows private investigator Finn Harding as he straddles the fine line between right and wrong. Conger won a Shamus Award for his debut novel, THE SHADOW BROKER. His novel, FIVE WILL DIE has been optioned for film and will go into production in 2026.
Ken McCormick – Book Cover Design
Ken McCormick speaks about all aspects of book cover design. How to do it yourself. How to work with an artist. And for those just starting a writing project, what to keep in mind for that cover you will need in the future.
Ken McCormick is an art director and brand architect for the organic foods and agroecology movement. His portfolio includes the design of consumer package goods, magazines, books, exhibitions and direct mail programs. Forty years ago, he took on the role of the public voice of the original Greenpeace office and began creating context-rich imagery that forges physical and spiritual links between humanity and this amazing planet we live on. Over a 30 year career, he designed the packaging and marketing for many of Nature’s Path Foods popular brands. And today, he’s semi-retired, primarily working on his own art exhibitions for museums and art galleries in Louisville, Kentucky. More info on Ken and his projects at: www.redironcaves.com
Joanne Dobson – World-Building and Creating a Unique Voice for Your Characters
Joanne Dobson, author of the Karen Pelletier academic mystery series and The Kashmiri Shawl, spoke about world-building and creating a unique voice for your characters.
Joanne is a novelist, retired English professor (Fordham University), and creative writing teacher at the Hudson Valley Writers Center in Sleepy Hollow, NY. In 2014, Joanne was honored by the Writer’s Center as Noted Woman of Letters. Joanne has often taught National Endowment for the Humanities and Fulbright Fellowship International summer programs at Amherst College.
Joanne’s six-book Professor Karen Pelletier academic mystery series (Doubleday and Poisoned Pen Press) won her an Agatha nomination and a Noted Author of the Year award from the New York State Library Association.
Events
Scoundrel members took part in a variety of writer’s conferences, book fairs, and author signings over the past year. This is just a brief glimpse:
Kentucky Flea Market
This was an unusual venue for us, but we wound up doing some good sales. However, setting up at the Kentucky Fairgrounds, and various parking fees and staffing for 3 days made the profit not really worth the effort. But it was worth a try!
From the Ground Up Books
Several of our members, including Carol Preflatish, Elaine Munsch, and Lynn Slaughter have done signings at From the Ground Up Book store, either their LaGrange location or the one in Shepardsville.
Other venues for author signings included Moonstruck LLC’s Book Nook in Williamstown, KY – they hosted members Lorena Peter and Lynda Rees for a book launch party. The Clarksville Public Library presented an author’s fair for local writers, including Bev Myers, Elaine Munsch, Carol Preflatish, and Susan Bell. The Books, Hooks, and Crooks author event – hosted by the Kentuckiana Romance Writers – was attended by members Lorena Peter, Susan Bell, Elaine Munsch, and Carol Preflatish. And as always, we had members attending two of the largest events in Louisville: the LaGrange Book Fair and Imaginarium.
Last, but not least, our members participated in two different writer’s conferences this year:
Pam Hershler, Susan Bell, and Lynn Slaughter were at Killer Nashville – Lynn was a panelist on several panels and Pam moderated two panels.
Susan and Gloria Casale attended the the Appalachian Writer’s Conference in Berea.
Thank you all for a productive 2025, and looking forward to 2026.
I can’t remember the first time I used writing as a form of creative expression, but by the time I entered middle school, I had already discovered an easy love of poetry. Perhaps it was the influence of my early years as a theater kid and young love affair with Shakespeare, but using descriptive language to encapsulate intense to me, unnoticed to others experiences greatly appealed to me.