Dude Ham was a retired King Ranch cowboy who opened a diner in Bliss, Texas. Dinner music was provided by a tuba player who performed all kinds of music, even Italian love songs.
The above is from a fictional story in a book of short stories titled KING OF THE LAKE AND OTHER STORIES written by Temple author Kira Marie McCullough.
“From the time I was eight years old I always wanted to be a published author. I guess it all started when I was in the third grade and the teacher showed a film of an author during an interview talking about a book that he had written for a third grader. I was so impressed, listening to this author and what it was like to be a writer and make books. I thought to myself that’s what I want to be someday. I want to write a book and be interviewed by somebody.”
One of the first things she wrote as a third grader was a letter to President Nixon asking him to end the Viet Nam War.
“In it I said we need more peas in the world. I didn’t know how to spell peace. I spelled it peas.”
Kira did some writing in middle school and high school then got married, had three children and led a peaceful life as wife and mother.
“About ten years ago I decided it’s time to take my dream off the shelf. So I went back to school, got a degree in English and started writing short stories. Some of them got published while I was working in public relations and broadcast news. One of my good friends who was a publisher at WordCraft Press said ‘let’s put these stories in a book.’ So we did. And that became KING OF HE LAKE AND OTHER STORIES, which came out last year. It got a five star review on Amazon and Good Reads and people are getting in touch with me and telling me they love the book.”
Kira is a good listener and always carries a note pad and pencil with her all the time to write down things she might hear in a restaurant or some other public place.
“There’s nothing better in a fictional story or novel than having reflections of real life. Then it becomes authentic. And the reader thinks yeah, I know somebody who talks like that or thinks like that. So when I hear something I write it down and use it in my writing. I have a plastic tub of notes.”
Kira is working on a novel that takes place in the 1820s. She spent six months researching the time period. The book is due out next year. Back to the tuba player at Dude’s Diner in Bliss, Texas.
“Every time I sat down to work on this story I laughed. I laughed my way through it and I hope that readers will enjoy it as much as I did.”