We are starting out our New Year with one less family member. It was not a death that claimed him. Not a death in the typical sense at any rate, though, if I am completely honest, there have been moments when I think that[..]
Hardly anyone ever mentions the people we don't miss at the family gatherings. I don't mean those we love who have gone on to what I hope is an eternal celebration and not an eternal rest. I'm talking about the people who no longer gather[..]
There are things I regret as I look back over my life, having an abortion is no longer one of them. This month marks the 45th anniversary of the day I checked into the Medical Center in my hometown of Columbus, Georgia, for a three[..]
I think about obituaries more than many in my wide-circle of friends do. This isn't some age-oriented obsession, I've collected obits for years. People mail them to me from all over. So perhaps it isn't surprising that when I learned that Reince Priebus had been[..]
Sitting in the courtroom, listening to Earl's momma lie through her pearly white teeth, Morgan wished upon her momma's grave that she had not thrown out that book. She wished she'd read it cover-to-cover. Wished for all things fried in deep fat that[..]
The last time the West Coast contingent of the Spears family came together was for Mama's funeral. This past weekend we came from up (Los Angeles) and down (Seattle) the West Coast for my nephew Robert's wedding. [caption id="attachment_1799" align="aligncenter" width="1588"] West Coast Spears Clan[/caption][..]
Author/Journalist Karen Spears Zacharias is a Gold Star daughter and an alumni of Oregon State University.
Karen's work has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Times, CNN, National Public Radio, and Good Morning America.
Her debut novel, Mother of Rain (Mercer University Press), received the Weatherford Award for Best in Appalachian Fiction from Berea College and was adapted for the stage by Georgia's Historic State Theater, The Springer. In 2018, Karen was named Appalachian Heritage Writer by Shepherd University, and Mother of Rain was chosen as the One Book One West Virginia Read.
Her first true crime book A Silence of Mockingbirds was chosen by the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as the One City Read.
Karen's upcoming book The Murder Gene, is her second true crime work.
Karen and her husband, Tim, make their home in Deschutes County, Oregon.
For more information on Karen and her books, click here