I live in the state of juxtapositions. For the past week I've been in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, home to Shepherd University, where I am enrolled as a graduate student in Appalachian Studies. It's a program I've been a part of for the past couple[..]
In some ways, Ted Bundy is an icon of the '70s. He mixed show biz and violence in a way that had never been done before. - Stephen Michaud [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5TZ6fTYrsE[/embed] Ann Rule and I used to talk about certain murder cases. We met when I[..]
And so it starts, the third presidential impeachment of my lifetime. That might be the case for several of you readers as well. I was in high school during the Watergate impeachment inquiry. I was a reporter working the newsroom during the Clinton impeachment.[..]
He did something good, y'all, and for a brief moment, albeit very brief, I saw Trump as the president he could be - if only. If only he wasn't hateful. If only he put the best interest of the country ahead of his own selfish[..]
Give me a roll of duct tape and five minutes alone in a room with Steve Bannon and I swear to the Barefoot Messiah he will come away with a profoundly new respect for journalists and devotees of the First Amendment. Okay, well it[..]
Back when I was a reporter working the streets, one of my regular beats was cops and courts. I began my mornings by routine stops at the Oregon State Police, the city police, and the Sheriff's Department. I would read through the phone logs[..]
This election season has a lot of us running around putting out fires. Between Hillary Clinton's propensity for dodging the truth and Donald Trump's inability to bridle his tongue, and the media's lack of professionalism, is it any wonder all of us are having[..]
So while all y'all were glued to the television, watching Trump implode by 1) Refusing yet again to release his financials because he really doesn't want you to know how deep is his involvement with Putin 2) Committing treason by daring Russians to find him[..]
I listened to President Obama's remarks in the wake of the Ferguson Grand Jury decision as I drove home from Richland, Washington last night. I prefer the radio as my news source because it takes the hype out of the kind of reporting TV[..]
Author/Journalist Karen Spears Zacharias is a Gold Star daughter and an alumna of Oregon State University, Shepherd University and University of West Scotland.
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.
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