Funny guy Doug Schlatter sent private eye George Haven out into the world in 2011 when Doug’s first novel, Loved to Death was published by L&L Dreamspell. George isn’t really much of a tough guy. His idea of working is sitting in his office sipping bourbon and collecting unemployment. But he has to toughen up fast to solve this case and keep himself alive.

Love, betrayal, and revenge in a sweltering city where murder knows no class or color and sex isn’t always for fun. In a deadly triangle of adultery, threesome passion, and multiple murders, George’s search for the killers leads him into high society, the black ghetto, the lesbian scene, hot women, and cold blooded murder. In the end, justice is done, but at a terrible cost. Dougschlatter.com.

Doug Schlatter

Martha Everhart Braniff’s articles about the dark side of the juvenile justice system have been published in important journals and newspapers. A thread of that darkness often appears in her poem and short prose. Now Marty has taken a bold stride in Step Over Rio, her first book-length fiction, which treads horribly close to reality in the world-wide web of child trafficking.

A young Guatemalan boy’s triumphant odyssey to find a better life in the United States. Aided by a fearless journalist and federal agent, his journey is woven into a larger quest to bring down the kingpins of a child trafficking ring. Published by The Way Thins Are Publications, Step Over Rio is Marty Braniff’s fictional exploration of very real and timely issues affecting hundreds of thousands of youths every year. Marthabraniff.com

Karen Daniels did not take her first formal writing class until she was thirty, and I was fortunate to be one of her first instructors. A stay-at-home mom with three kids under the age of seven, she attended Thursday night classes and learned the elements of writing, but she already had the one important element no one can teach: persistent curiosity and creativity. Later, Karen took a part-time job for a private investigations firm, a natural fit. Her debut novel, Three Days in Purgatory, takes a unique look at the question: Do we ever learn if the mistakes we make have purpose?

Meet Camille Sawyer and her daughter Elizabeth. Camille is immersed in regret over the bad choices she has made. Elizabeth - who prefers Beth - is angry that Camille always puts the men in her life ahead of her children. Just once, Beth tells her mother, she wishes Camille would put her children first. That statement triggers a three-day whirlwind of change in which Camille awakens each morning living a different, totally baffling life that only vaguely resembles her own. Kdaniels.com

JoAn Martin was working on her first children’s book when she came to my class. Today her books continue to be loved by children and published again and again, including one of my favorites, Yankee Girl: A Grand Adventure, now in its third edition from KAM Publishing. Meanwhile, JoAn has written more than 30 articles for such magazines as Stable Kids, Travelocity, Byline Magazine and educational magazines such as Learning, The Mailbox and Oasis-Good Apple.

JoAn reviews children's books for The Baytown Sun. She believes reading can change lives and writes to give children books that deal honestly with the issues kids face today, stories that show children how they can understand themselves and others. Joanmartin.com

I first met Jack Thomas at a book signing. I was promoting my Dixie Flannigan series, and Jack was there with Whirling Fire, an amazing book of poetic imagery about the Viet Nam war. So when he came to my class, I was both pleased and honored. Jack was working on several book-length works at the time, fiction and nonfiction.

Coyote Jack—Drawing Meaning from Life and Vietnam: A Memoir is a strong, honest and heartfelt assessment of conflicts and resolutions, of growing up with an abusive father, going to war and returning to take a second look at the scenes of that war years later. Lyndonjacks.com