Indie publishing awards go to Memphis authors
Memphis creators of independent books prospered in this year’s awards season.
Michael Thompson, retired from the Thompson & Co. advertising firm, has a new career in publishing that has resulted in the two-volume “David: The Illustrated Novel” from his own Shepherd King Publishing. Volume 2 of “David” took home first prizes for best graphic novel and best interior design from the International Book Awards announced by USA Book News this month in Los Angeles.
Thompson founded Shepherd King to publish the first volume in 2010 of “David,” i n which he tells the story of the biblical figure up to his 30th year. The second volume covers the last 40 years of King David’s life, in dialogue by Thompson with illustrations by Mitch Foust.
And last month in New York, the Independent Publisher Book Awards presented a silver medal in its sports and recreation category to “A Million Wings,” written by ArtsMemphis president Susan Schadt with photographs by Lisa Waddell Buser.
For “A Million Wings,” Schadt and Buser chronicled the lore and tradi- tions of 12 hunting clubs scattered across Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. The longstanding sites — with characterful names such as Greasy Slough, Screaming Wings and Fighting Bayou — are kept mostly by collections of well-to- do families and their friends who have, in the process of maintaining their sport, become the noble caretakers of environments that are essential to migrating waterfowl.
Buser’s breathtaking panoramic photographs of sunrise scenes in watery woods and massed birds in flight go a long way to explain the hunters’ devotion to their avocation.
Aside from providing rich descriptions of club history, the text honors the individual personalities of each club. At Cuivre in Missouri, for instance, hunts begin late in the day, letting “the ducks get up of their own accord,” while at Greasy Slough, “it was not unheard of for mem- bers to drive to the property at 2 a.m. or earlier to stake claim on their hold of choice.”
Schadt founded Wild Abundance Publishing, which has released three books on the hunting-club culture of the Mississippi Flyway.