Local Authors

Buried in the red soil of the Oklahoma prairie is a secret only Charlie McDonagh can fully reveal. Charlie is an ordinary man who is witness to extraordinary events and people. A stone statue of a striking young woman, broken into a hundred pieces is uncovered from the dirt of a remote location-a broken statue representing shattered lives and shattered dreams.

The story of the statues is one of love, greed, betrayal, power, and crushed aspirations. The statue symbolizes what was and what could have been. A tale of a great oil empire betrayed, destroying the lives of the family who built it. An intriguing story based on the real-life legacy of the Marland Mansion and the statue still located within its walls.

by Edward Donahoe

Originally published in 1937, this was Donahoe's first novel, big with unrestrained vitality. He recreated the crudeness and power and evil that oil brought into the land; and in the mighty figure of Thomas McGraw he imaged all that was great, both good and bad, in the American builders of Empire. This loosely ficticious book so infuriated some of the leading families of Ponca City, Oklahoma, that they destroyed every copy of the book they possibly could; thus making it now very rare and quite valuable. John J. McGraw, great-grandson of the central character, has republished the book, replacing the vaguely disguised characters and other aspects with their actual models.

My name is Ree.

Some folks know me as The Pioneer Woman.

After years of living in Los Angeles, I made a pit stop in my hometown in Oklahoma on the way to a new, exciting life in Chicago. It was during my stay at home that I met Marlboro Man, a mysterious cowboy with steely blue eyes and a muscular, work-honed body. A strict vegetarian, I fell hard and fast, and before I knew it we were married and living on his ranch in the middle of nowhere, taking care of animals, and managing a brood of four young children. I had no idea how I'd wound up there, but I knew it was exactly where I belonged.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks is a homespun collection of photography, rural stories, and scrumptious recipes that have defined my experience in the country. I share many of the delicious cowboy-tested recipes I've learned to make during my years as an accidental ranch wife—including Rib-Eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce, Lasagna, Fried Chicken, Patsy's Blackberry Cobbler, and Cinnamon Rolls—not to mention several "cowgirl-friendly" dishes, such as Sherried Tomato Soup, Olive Cheese Bread, and CrÈme BrÛlÉe. I show my recipes in full color, step-by-step detail, so it's as easy as pie to follow along.

You'll also find colorful images of rural life: cows, horses, country kids, and plenty of chaps-wearing cowboys.

I hope you get a kick out of this book of mine. I hope it makes you smile. I hope the recipes bring you recognition, accolades, and marriage proposals. And I hope it encourages even the most harried urban cook to slow down, relish the joys of family, nature, and great food, and enjoy life.
About the Author

Ree Drummond began blogging in 2006 and has built www.ThePioneerWoman.com into an award-winning website, where she shares recipes, showcases her photography, and documents her hilarious transition from city life to ranch wife. Ree lives on a working cattle ranch near Pawhuska, Oklahoma, with her husband, Ladd, and their four ranch hands.

The Story of the 438th Troop Carrier Gorup During World War II by Austin J. “Buck” Buchanan and Maj. W. L. George Collins, USAF-Ret. This story is taken from notes Austin “Buck” Buchanan wrote in notebooks he carried in his pocket all during World War II. “Buck” is no longer with us. Collins edited and compiled “Buck’s” notes into a manuscript that became this book. Here you will ride with “Buck” as he flies his plane through a field of fire so intense that one shell blows a hole in the plane big enough for a man to go through and uncountable bullet holes perforated the plane. All aircraft controls are shot out except elevator and ailerons. You will ride with him as he manages to complete his mission and bring his barely flying plane back to England. And you will ride with him through hundreds more such harrowing trips, in his C-47 with no armor plate and no guns, into other fields of fire, and often impossible weather. Also available in Hardback.

Jeff Denton, a modern day humorist and author of Don't Let the Idiots Win and Please Don't Throw Me Under the Bus, tells the life changing stories of real men and how their life experiences have brought them to a new understanding of faith and a relationship with their creator. Jeff simplifies the question of "who made the rules and why do men struggle with living up to them?" These are real men stories, direct, true, and humorous, grounded in faith based living.

A collaboration between Ponca poet Dan C. Jones and Comanche artist Rance Hood, this book focuses on American Indian life on the Great Plains. Written while Jones lived with tribes all over the United States, the poems are grounded in American Indian history, mythology, and religion. Nostalgia for the vanished past and anger at the destruction of the environment shape his work, a perfect complement to the dramatic imagery of Rance Hood, one of the best known American Indian painters.

From "Blood of our Earth"

When a Warrior Feels Weak

When a warrior feels weakwhen he chases a bear from his home.

When a warrior feels weak, when I think of the sparrow
that attacks the eagle.

When a warrior feels weak

This paperback volume is a collection of 50 crossword puzzles crafted by Patrick Jordan which feature words and phrases that nearly everyone knows. It was this aspect of the puzzles that led to the book's title. "The solver gets a 'square deal,' because he or she doesn't have to keep reaching for the dictionary to look up obscure words," Jordan said. "Some of the clues may be a little tricky, but nearly all of the words in the puzzles should be in everyone's vocabulary."