County writers have new works
Books by Butler County authors continue to roll from the presses.
'The Little Giraffe'Makenna Hilliard, who won a Pittsburgh writing contest earlier this year, has written and published a book, “The Little Giraffe Who Couldn't Sleep.”Pumpkin is a little giraffe who has trouble falling asleep, but with his mama's help, he finally finds a way.Makenna is having a book signing at the Butler Public Library from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 8.She is 6 years old and a student at Emily Brittain Elementary School. She is the daughter of Kristen and Daniel Hilliard of Butler.Her 26-page softcover book released in August is available online for $9.50 from CreateSpace Independent Publishing.
In Mike Kilroy's new book, “Into Dust,” Jack Grimm knows when each person he meets is going to die.He doesn't know how or why; he just knows when.He thinks he is alone in this “Insight,” but comes to find there are others like him, all struggling with their ability.Jack tries in vain to save those around him, but each time he fails.Then he meets a woman whose death clock he cannot read, and he saves a man.Kilroy is a sports reporter for the Butler Eagle.His fourth science fiction novel is available in digital format for $2.99 online.<b>'Opal W. Fitzgerald'</b>“The Life Story and Collected Works of Opal W. Fitzgerald” details Fitzgerald's life after being born in 1909 in Tyler County, W.Va. In 1931, she moved to Prospect where she spent the remaining 72 years of her long life (she succumbed to Alzheimer's disease in 2003).The 354-page book presents her life story and her collected works.The book has been compiled, edited, and annotated by R.L. Palmer, and published by Book Publishers of El Paso, www.bookpublishersofelpaso.com.The first part of the book recounts Fitzgerald's life from her own handwritten journals. A large collection of her poems, along with a few narratives, comprise the remainder of the book.The book reveals life in the early 1900s in Fitzgerald's own words about the radio, automobile, influenza epidemic, World War I and the Great Depression.
Steve Hallock, a former Butler resident and former Butler Eagle employee, wrote “Justice Delayed: The Catherine Janet Walsh Story.”Hallock explores the murder in 1979 of 23-year-old Catherine Janet Walsh.Thirty-two years later, thanks to the emerging science of DNA forensics, Detective Andrew Gall, who was the initial responding officer to the murder scene, had a prime suspect in this cold case in a small riverside blue-collar town.The 432-page book is available online from the publisher, The Artists' Orchard.Hallock's other books include “Reporters Who Made History: Great American Journalists on the Issues and Crises of the Late Twentieth Century” and “Editorial and Opinion: The Dwindling Marketplace of Ideas in Today's News.”Hallock is director of the school of communication at Point Park University. He earned his doctorate in journalism at Ohio University in 2005 following a nearly 30-year newspaper career.
