Seeking clarity in a murky world
Exciting new releases from Murky Press in 2020!
now available!
As the U.S. enters the Second World War, Effie Mae Board thinks she knows her husband of seven years. But a chance discovery prompts her to untangle the secrets of his early life and the wreckage he has left in his wake. As she struggles with these revelations—and examines the decisions she herself made as a young mother—the reader glimpses her husband, Lyons, recklessly careening from one fresh start to another as he tries to find his place after returning from the Great War.
Next Train Out is the culmination of nearly 10 years of research and writing. What started as a desire to learn something about a missing grandfather turned into a picaresque tale of an enigmatic rogue. Is Lyons a heartless narcissist and a scoundrel, or a lost soul trying to navigate the cultural fractures and shifting mores of the early twentieth century?
Whatever you decide about Lyons, there's no doubt who Effie Mae is. Readers have fallen in love with the straight-shooting native of the Eastern Kentucky coal camps who tries her level best to understand Lyons and accept him, despite his transgressions. She and Lyons come from vastly different worlds, but they find uncommon common ground in their resiliency and their fearless embrace of each other.
Next Train Out is now available in both paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon, from Barnes & Noble, or upon request from your favorite independent bookseller (ISBN 978-0-9992540-3-5). If you prefer, contact us at Murky Press and we'll make arrangements to mail you a copy.
Review
“How can a man hide a secret like that?” This singular question haunts Effie Mae Board throughout the pages of Next Train Out, the mystery she has to solve to save both her sanity and her marriage. It is also the question her husband, Lyons, determines to answer by finally, for the first time in his life, telling the truth. Spanning the years between the end of WWI and the early days of WWII, Showalter deftly turns over the heavy stones of secrets, wanderlust, regret, abandonment, and the pressures of societal expectation to show us what it takes for two people with very different dreams to commit themselves, one to the other. Effie Mae and Lyons will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.
—Teri Carter, Lexington Herald-Leader columnist
“How can a man hide a secret like that?” This singular question haunts Effie Mae Board throughout the pages of Next Train Out, the mystery she has to solve to save both her sanity and her marriage. It is also the question her husband, Lyons, determines to answer by finally, for the first time in his life, telling the truth. Spanning the years between the end of WWI and the early days of WWII, Showalter deftly turns over the heavy stones of secrets, wanderlust, regret, abandonment, and the pressures of societal expectation to show us what it takes for two people with very different dreams to commit themselves, one to the other. Effie Mae and Lyons will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.
—Teri Carter, Lexington Herald-Leader columnist
Book Signings and Events
March 16, 2020: Given today's recommendations from the CDC regarding gatherings of 50 people or more, the following events have been indefinitely POSTPONED. We will update you as soon as we have confirmation of new dates. Meanwhile, please stay safe and do all that you can to protect yourself and your loved ones from illness. It's a great time to read a book! Refer to the paragraph above for information about getting a copy of Next Train Out.
Book Launch Party
Music/Food/Cash bar
Sunday, April 5, 2020
1:30-3:30 p.m.
Trackside Restaurant and Bourbon Bar
134 E. 10th Street
Paris, KY 40361
Anderson County Historical Society
Monthly meeting
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
6-7 p.m.
Anderson Public Library
114 N. Main St.
Lawrenceburg, KY 40342
March 16, 2020: Given today's recommendations from the CDC regarding gatherings of 50 people or more, the following events have been indefinitely POSTPONED. We will update you as soon as we have confirmation of new dates. Meanwhile, please stay safe and do all that you can to protect yourself and your loved ones from illness. It's a great time to read a book! Refer to the paragraph above for information about getting a copy of Next Train Out.
Book Launch Party
Music/Food/Cash bar
Sunday, April 5, 2020
1:30-3:30 p.m.
Trackside Restaurant and Bourbon Bar
134 E. 10th Street
Paris, KY 40361
Anderson County Historical Society
Monthly meeting
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
6-7 p.m.
Anderson Public Library
114 N. Main St.
Lawrenceburg, KY 40342
NOW AVAILABLE!
Murky Press is proud to have played a small role in the reprinting of Celebrate a Community, a handsome collection of historical photos and documents and carefully researched text recognizing the people and history of Fayetteville and Perry Township, Ohio. Lovingly compiled by Peggy Mezger Cooper and Harold Showalter, it recognizes the significance that one small town played in the cultural history of a region. The book is now available from Amazon.
The first meeting of Simon Kenton and Tecumseh likely occurred in Perry Township on the banks of East Fork in 1792. Located about midway between Cincinnati and the first state capital of Ohio at Chillicothe on one of the first roads (circa 1806) that connected these two important points, the area is also about an equal distance north of Limestone (currently Maysville, Ky.) opposite the terminus of Zane's Trace. Many early settlers traveled through this region on their way into the Northwest Territory wilderness. The reasonably priced land also attracted immigrants who built a community with a strong Catholic presence, influencing education and other aspects of community life well into the 1960s.
The editors of the book capture its purpose beautifully on the back cover:
The first meeting of Simon Kenton and Tecumseh likely occurred in Perry Township on the banks of East Fork in 1792. Located about midway between Cincinnati and the first state capital of Ohio at Chillicothe on one of the first roads (circa 1806) that connected these two important points, the area is also about an equal distance north of Limestone (currently Maysville, Ky.) opposite the terminus of Zane's Trace. Many early settlers traveled through this region on their way into the Northwest Territory wilderness. The reasonably priced land also attracted immigrants who built a community with a strong Catholic presence, influencing education and other aspects of community life well into the 1960s.
The editors of the book capture its purpose beautifully on the back cover:
Two sample spreads inside the book:
From 2017, the Murky Press Original Publication
The Last Resort: Journal of a Salt River Camp 1942-43
Part field journal, part diary, The Last Resort: Journal of a Salt River Camp 1942-43 by John C. Goodlett chronicles the outdoor adventures of a group of young men in rural America just before they are called to serve during World War II. Their story is a reminder of a time when our lives were more rooted in the natural world, before a global war and the industries and public institutions it spawned accelerated our dislocation from our homes and our land.
Available online from Barnes & Noble or Amazon or request it from your local independent bookseller (ISBN 9780999254004/paperback edition; ISBN 9780999254011/hard cover edition with illustrated map).
For more about the process of publishing The Last Resort or about the people and places that populate the book. check out the Murky Press blog, Clearing the Fog. You can comment on a particular post, or contact us at Murky Press here.
Available online from Barnes & Noble or Amazon or request it from your local independent bookseller (ISBN 9780999254004/paperback edition; ISBN 9780999254011/hard cover edition with illustrated map).
For more about the process of publishing The Last Resort or about the people and places that populate the book. check out the Murky Press blog, Clearing the Fog. You can comment on a particular post, or contact us at Murky Press here.
THE LAST RESORT
a youth well spentThe author fishing central Kentucky's Salt River.
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among friendsTwo buddies, Bobby and John Allen, taking a break in the old Model T.
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before the warThe author, as he begins the transformation into Army man.
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