Kate Sebeny

Author of the Month

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Kate Sebeny was chosen as Kellan Publishing’s author of the month for March 2018!

Author Chat

Sun, 11 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll be hosting an author chat on Thursday, March 1st 2018 at noon CST. There will be book discounts and prize opportunities for chatters. To participate head on over to kellanpublishing.com and click on the Chat Live With Us icon on the homepage or visit my Kellan Publishing author page. For more information see kellanpublishing.com/blog/straight-from-the-author-s-mouth-or-keyboard.

Book of the Month Sale

Fri, 16 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The Last Best Thing is available with a discount this month after being selected as the book of the month by Kellan Publishing!

Publisher Book Sale

Sun, 07 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Don’t miss the Kellan Publishing book sale running this month. The Last Best Thing is available for half price!

Everyone's a Winner!

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The one-year anniversary of the publication of The Last Best Thing is coming right up. (See also my introduction blog from last spring.) As I mentioned in last month’s blog, I’ll be celebrating the occasion with a contest at my personal website. For the month of April, site subscribers will be registered for a chance to win one of three free ebooks at the end of the month. In addition, because I’m so grateful to readers who make books like this possible, I want to thank all new subscribers with an exclusive bonus chapter.

The Last Best Thing is told from multiple viewpoints. All of the main characters get a chance to tell the story from their own perspectives—all but one, that is. Joe, the character around which the entire plot revolves, remains voiceless throughout by virtue of being dead before the action even starts. So I thought it would be interesting to let Joe speak for himself and offer his story as a lagniappe (“a little something extra”) to augment readers’ enjoyment of the tale.

Complete the form to receive a digital copy of a bonus chapter for The Last Best Thing.

You can get in touch with me on my Kellan author page, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

Pet Medicine and Online Book Club Discussions

Thu, 28 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’d like to share an excerpt from a recent project called Rei(g)ning Cats and Dogs. Head on over to Bublish for part 1 and part 2 to read more!

As for The Last Best Thing, Kellan Publishing Reads is hosting an online discussion all this month for interested readers.

“Join us in reading Kate Sebeny’s literary fiction novella, “The Last Best Thing.” Throughout the month we can chat about the book and then after the event, discuss it in more detail.”

This event is open to everyone! RSVP any time this month here to get involved.

Away in a Menagerie

Fri, 18 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

A short story by Kate Sebeny

There are few things as joy-inspiring as a youngster’s excitement during the holidays, at least in the abstract. Though I usually take a “bah-humbug” approach to Christmas, last year was different because I had little ones—four of them.

So it was with something like good old-fashioned Christmas spirit that I sprung for a tree and lugged the boxes marked “Xmas” down from the attic. The holiday paraphernalia was left over from my own childhood, so old the tinsel that was carefully recovered each year was real tin. The contents of the boxes reawakened fond memories as I started hanging these precious, delicate mementos.

But my nostalgic reverie was interrupted when two of my “kids” – Moxie and Mitzi, Russian Blue kitten siblings – got so rambunctious chasing around in the branches that they actually toppled the tree. I jumped out of the way, but a box of bulbs didn’t. To counteract the kittens’ enthusiasm, I sunk an anchor bolt into the ceiling and strapped the tree to it for security.

Once I was satisfied the tree could withstand the kittens’ horseplay, I got back to decorating the lower boughs. Being a smart person who can anticipate the inevitable, I reinforced the flimsy hangers with pieces of baling wire. That would surely keep the keepsake ornaments firmly in place.

Then my other two young ones—Dickens and Twain, a pair of Border Collie puppies—got into the act. While the kittens batted with abandon at the fragile glass balls, the puppies sniffed the shiny orbs warily, shying at their sway. Luckily, they were tuckered out from a recent romp in the snow and soon fell asleep. By the time the puppies stirred again, I’d made good progress on trimming the tree.

It occurred to me to give the pups a treat by playing that novelty song where dogs bark out the tune to “Jingle Bells.” The effect could not have been more explosive if I’d fired off a large-caliber gun in the house. Before the end of the first chorus, a chain reaction of alarmed responses had spread throughout the pet population. A few more ornaments succumbed to the ensuing chaos.

Once I killed the music, relative order again prevailed and I figured it was safe to resume tree trimming. I was well into the tinsel part of the program when I heard the first crunch.

Dickens – that little dickens! – had bitten down on an insubstantial glass sphere. Of course, Twain had to follow suit. Then, naturally, they fought over the pieces, competing to eat them. All the youngsters, puppies and kittens alike, consume many things that aren’t food – as their output proves. But thin sharp shards sounded downright lethal. So I scolded the glass eaters and rummaged up my lineman’s pliers to remove all the low-hanging ornaments I’d reinforced with wire. Problem solved.

Hung with decorations only above the puppies’ reach, however, the tree looked odd. So I filled in with extra tinsel and a little garland action. I didn’t dare put lights on the thing. And heaven forbid I should string popcorn.

As the days approaching Christmas passed, the tree – predictably – started looking rattier and rattier. It seemed to sport less tinsel every day, and that fresh Christmas-y pine scent was gradually displaced by a less pleasant odor. It wasn’t until I went to water the tree one morning that I realized the source of the smell: Dickens and Twain, evidently mistaking this indoor tree for an outdoor counterpart, had been “watering” it, too! Swapping out the traditional Christmas-tree skirting with puppy pads fixed that.

And I solved the mystery of the missing adornments when I started finding tinsel turds. The yard was festooned with festive Yule logs and the litter box was dazzling. I’m surprised the tin didn’t poison anybody; the tinsel passed through their digestive tracts intact, in all its glittering glory.

Then there was Christmas morning. Coming downstairs, I saw that there had indeed been an overnight visitation. But not by Santa. Instead, it looked like a random band of vandals had ransacked the place: The presents I set out were shredded to confetti, what was edible had been eaten (along with items not meant for consumption), and the toys had been worked over big-time, the remnants scattered.

Nestled in the wreckage, the four little culprits slept soundly and sweetly, dead to the world after their busy night.

Angelic as they looked, I think we’ll skip the tree thing this year.

Happy Holidays

Fri, 27 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Come meet Kate Sebeny at Beaverdale Books on Sunday, December 6th at 2:00 p.m. to get an autographed copy of The Last Best Thing.

Also check out my recent interview on Snowflakes in a Blizzard!

The Last Best Thing is available for purchase through Kellan Publishing, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. Please note that purchasing the book through Kellan Publishing supports the author and publisher more than other venues.

Iowa Author Fair

Thu, 03 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Avid readers, here is a wonderful opportunity to meet emerging Iowa writers. Authors will be selling and signing books for attendees. Enjoy snacks, door prizes, and good conversation during the Central Library’s first Iowa Author Fair!

In other news, The Last Best Thing was featured on CreativeLiteraryConsultants.com.

If you would like to read The Last Best Thing, the book is available for purchase through Kellan Publishing, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. Please note that purchasing the book through Kellan Publishing supports the author and publisher more than other venues.

Kellan Publishing Author Focus Week

Wed, 29 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I was selected as the focus of Kellan Publishing’s Author Focus Week!

Check out my focus interview that discusses my latest novella titled “The Last Best Thing”. As a part of the Author Focus week you can even read the first chapter of The Last Best Thing. Stay tuned at Kellan Publishing and make sure to enter the raffle this week for a free copy of The Last Best Thing.

Also coming up in August is another book signing at Plain Talk Books in Des Moines, Iowa’s historic East Village district. This is a “wine & sign” event with some jumping blues music. Hope to see you there!

Finally, I was recently feature on Snowflakes in a Blizzard, a site that claims to be “separating authors from the herd and giving them one-on-one time with readers”.

Besides offering the first presidential primary of the election season, Iowa is also known for writing and writers, and Kate Sebeny is very much a part of that scene. She graduated from the University of Iowa’s writing program — considered one of the top five in the nation — and has since edited a weekly newspaper and a national magazine. At one point, she lived in a renovated former county jail in in Winterset, IA, the setting for Robert James Waller’s best-selling “The Bridges of Madison County.” She has also taught writing at two Iowa colleges.

Kate calls her latest novel “a sort of geriatric big chill.”

Remember that in addition to Kellan Publishing, The Last Best Thing is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. Please note that purchasing the book through Kellan Publishing supports the author and publisher more than other venues.