My Home State Authors

OK I have to admit that I did not realize that my home state of Missouri had so many authors living in it. Of course I was aware of Missouri most famous author Mark Twain. I also knew of a few others Suzann Ledbetter, Eileen Dreyer, Emilio Corsetti III and Janet Daley. But I was surprised to find out that Laurell K Hamilton lives in St. Louis County.

I made this wonderful discover because I was thinking about joining J.Kaye's Suspense and Thriller Challenge and I was researching some books under inverted mystery and I came up with the author Rett MacPherson. As I was reading the synopsis of her book Died in the Wool, I found out that the setting was in the town of New Kassel, Mo. So I looked into Macpherson bio and found out that she lives in Arnold, Mo. and that her writing group has Laurell K. Hamilton in it. So I did some more research and found Missouri Romance Writers of America and found some more and one I read The Accidental Demon Hunter by Angie Fox. So I googled Missouri authors and I came up with Missouri Center of Books which state that there are nearly 500 authors currently living and writing in Missouri and the number may be higher because Angie Fox was not listed.

I don't know why I am surprised that so many authors live in Missouri and some of them famous even. I mean it's Missouri. ( I can say this because I born and raised in Missouri. I lived 30 miles outside of St. Louis and have relatives in Southwest Missouri close to Springfield.) I guess I knew there were authors in Missouri, but not so many and main stream authors at that. I don't know why I am so amazed. Who knew?

I guess we never give our home state the respect it deserves.

I guess now I have to see about Illinois Authors. I predict there will be more because of Chicago.

Maybe I should do an Authors In Your Home State challenge?

How many authors are in your home state?