Meet the Sheaf House authors....

Sheaf House, a new publishing house founded by Joan Shoup, will have its first book released in November 2007. The title is One Holy Night by J. M. Hochstetler. Meet the Sheaf House authors below. For more info on Sheaf House you can go to the website at www.sheafhouse.com

A. K. Arenz

Mother of two grown daughters and grandmother of three, A. K. Arenz has a two year degree in office information systems from Northwest Missouri State University, where she also worked for several years. While with the College of Education, A. K. assisted with the college accreditation both at the national (NCATE) and state (DESE) levels. She’s found this experience and that of being administrative assistant to the chair of the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems to be invaluable tools for her writing.

Since reading Walter Farley’s Black Stallion series as a child, A. K. has been creating her own stories. Her earliest publication was in the small, family-owned newspaper where her articles, essays, and poems were frequently included. From this early beginning, she honed her skills through university courses, studying Writer's Digest, how-to books on the craft, and through frequent submissions. In the mid-nineties, her writing earned her a stint with a well-known New York literary agency, and, although it failed to produce the hoped-for results, her determination to press forward eventually led her to Sheaf House.

A. K. has had poetry accepted for inclusion in various anthologies, as well as in the Maryville Daily Forum newspaper. She won an honorable mention and publication in the chapbook Look Who's Writing in Northwest Missouri, had an article published in Family Safety & Health, and was the creator, editor, and head writer for a nationally registered fanzine.

As a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, A. K. has found the fellowship of both published and non-published members an inspiration. She has been a judge in the ACFW Book of the Year contest since 2005 and participated in judging ACFW’s 2007 Genesis contest for unpublished authors.

She lives in Missouri with her husband and two Himalayan cats. For more information, go to www.akawriter.com.

J. M. Hochstetler

Joan M. Shoup, writing as J. M. Hochstetler, is the author of One Holy Night as well as of Daughter of Liberty and Native Son, books 1 and 2 of her American Patriot Series set during the American Revolution. When she isn’t writing historical novels, she’s tending to all the minutia of running an independent small press or happily spending time with her husband, daughters, and grandchildren.

Born and reared in central Indiana, the daughter of Mennonite farmers, Joan graduated from Indiana Universitywith a degree in Germanic languages. After moving to Nashville, Tennessee, she worked for The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, assisting with the development and production of the only weekly television program devoted to First Amendment rights, broadcast nationally on PBS. She then spent twelve years as an editor in various capacities at Abingdon Press.

Joan’s interest in the American colonial and Revolutionary War eras grew out of the experiences of her Anabaptist ancestors who immigrated to America from Europe seeking religious freedom. She is currently developing the subsequent books in her series. Along with her cousin, multi-published author Bob Hostetler, she is also working on a novel about the massacre of three of their ancestors during the French and Indian War and the Indian captivity of the attack’s survivors.

Joan is married to a truck-driving, motorcycle-riding, retired pastor, and they live in the Nashville, Tennessee, area whenever they are not exploring the country with their fifth-wheel camper. For more information, visit http://www.jmhochstetler.com/.

Kathi Macias

Kathi Macias is an award-winning author of more than twenty fiction and nonfiction books including My Son, John, the bestselling devotional A Moment A Day from Regal Books, and the popular Matthews mystery novels from B&H. Kathi has written commentary for Thomas Nelson’s Spirit-Filled Life Bible (Student Edition) and was part of the devotional writing team for Zondervan’s New Women’s Devotional Bible.

Kathi has also ghostwritten and collaborated on books for several prominent individuals including Jack Hayford, Kevin Leman, Josh McDowell, Rosey Grier, and Richard Halverson as well as for the Minirth-Meier Clinic. She has published numerous articles, short stories, and poems in various periodicals. She is a staff member for The Christian Communicator Manuscript Critique Service and a member of The Christian Proofreaders and Editors Network, Christian Authors Network, American Christian Fiction Writers, Christian Writers Fellowship International, Advanced Writers/Speakers Association, for whom she serves as membership chair, and Orange County Christian Writers Fellowship.

A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi is a credentialed minister and for six years served as associate pastor at a large church in Southern California, where she did biblical counseling, trained small group leaders, and oversaw support and recovery ministries. She is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences, and has appeared on several radio and TV programs. A mother and grandmother, Kathi lives in Homeland, California, with her husband. For more information, go to www.kathimacias.com.

Michelle Sutton

Michelle Sutton is a mother of two teenage boys and a wife of seventeen years. She resides in Arizona, is employed full-time as a government social worker, and has been writing for four years. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Michelle was elected to the ACFW board to serve a two-year term as Volunteer Officer. She is a member of her local writer’s group, CWOW (Christian Writers of the West) and is their blog mistress.

An avid blogger and book reviewer, Michelle is an active member a variety of blogger communities. Her contact and friends list is extensive and her two main sites get fifty or more hits per day. She has endorsed four novels and has had book reviews published on Novel Reviews, Christian Book Previews, Writer…Interrupted, Historical PASTimes blog, as well as other sites. Michelle’s novel Healer of My Soul finaled in the Great Beginning contest through RWA in 2005. She has a number of completed novels available for publication. To find out more about Michelle just visit her website www.michellesutton.net