Vicki Turpen, Kris Bock (aka Chris Eboch), Léonie Rosenstiel, and Lynne Sturtevant are a few examples of the genre-diverse membership of SouthWest Writers (SWW) who had one or more books published in 2025. Their new releases couldn’t fit in this year’s interview schedule, but look for 2026 interviews or updates for many of these authors.

A list of interviewed SWW authors with 2025 releases is included at the end of this post.

Kat’s Dilemma: An Historic Tale of Principle and Prejudice (Austin Macauley Publishers, March 2025) by Vicki Turpen. Kat’s Dilemma is a work of fiction created out of bits and pieces of research into the social and cultural challenges encountered by women and men in America at the turn of the last century. The people of that era (and ours), influenced by societal norms or religious dictates, never fully understood the real meaning of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Therein lies the promise and the struggle between principle and prejudice in Kat’s Dilemma. Katherine Gehm was the author’s great grandmother. Some of the known family incidents and resulting emotions are reflected in the character Kat.

You’ll find Vicki on her SWW author page. Look for Kat’s Dilemma on Amazon.

A Stone Cold Murder: A Paranormal Murder Mystery with Psychic Sleuth (Reluctantly Psychic Murder Mystery Book 1, Tule Publishing, April 2025) by Kris Bock (aka Chris Eboch). She hates her gift—but it just might save her. Geologist Petra Cloch can touch an object and sense the emotions of the people who’ve held it. It’s a miserable way to live. She studied rocks because they rarely ‘talk’ to her and she’s dodged friendships so she won’t need to explain her gift or feel like a voyeur. But when she takes a job as the rock and mineral curator at an unusual western history museum and picks up a jagged crystal in her new office, flashes of rage, fear and death hit hard. Everyone says her predecessor died in a car crash, but what if he was murdered…what if he died because of something he did on the job? She could be next. Petra knows she’ll need evidence, not her psychic sense she hides. If you love mysteries with a paranormal twist, smart heroines, and small-town intrigue, this book will keep you guessing until the very last page.

Death at Rock Bottom: A Paranormal Mystery (Reluctantly Psychic Murder Mystery Book 2, Tule Publishing, July 2025) by Kris Bock (aka Chris Eboch). After solving the mystery of her predecessor’s death, geologist Petra Cloch wants to focus on her new job as the rocks and minerals curator at a quirky, small-town New Mexico museum. But her friend and colleague Liberty is suspicious of the “accidental” death of Frank Underwood, a retired petroleum engineer and rockhound who unexpectedly died while hiking. Frank acted odd and secretive in his last weeks—mumbling about an incredible find in the desert and aliens. Was he showing the first signs of dementia, or were more sinister forces at work? Petra agrees to help excavate the truth, and soon, instead of meeting for book club, she and her friends become amateur investigators. Petra uses her psychic gift and her brains to sort through the contradictory stories and confusing clues as she and her friends dig for answers.

Visit Kris Bock on KrisBock.com (and Chris Eboch on ChrisEboch.com), Instagram, and Goodreads. You’ll find her books on her Amazon author page.

They’re Coming for Your Elders and Your Inheritance: Ways to Protect Your Family, Mitigate the Damage, and Change the System (Dayspring Resources, April 2025) by Léonie Rosenstiel. Legal guardianship often feels like a swamp (and that’s how guardianship is described in the author’s award-winning book Protecting Mama: Surviving the Legal Guardianship Swamp). If guardianship is a swamp, then elder care is a jungle. Is your bank account prepared for the trek? Even wealthy elders see their nest eggs dwindle, sometimes to zero, as they battle chronic diseases or catastrophic accidents. Do you worry about what might happen to one of your older loved ones, should that person no longer be safe living independently? You should also take precautions to protect yourself. Particularly if you still have children to consider, you are financially and emotionally vulnerable from both ends of the age spectrum. Do you think you don’t need protection too? Some family members are hauled into court by the institutions that cared for Mom and Dad. Many states allow them to sue for payment from next of kin (and judges will enforce this). See the take-aways inside this book for more information.

Look for Léonie’s books on Amazon here and here, as well as on Barnes & Noble.

The Witch Jar (The Off-Kilter Chronicles Book 3, April 2025) by Lynne Sturtevant. Strange things are happening in Black Hand Holler, West Virginia. Mysterious lights flicker deep in the forest. Knocks echo from long-sealed coal mines. Even the bees in the abandoned orchards and the crows on the ridge tops are agitated. When a wealthy woman swoops in with plans to evict the elderly residents and transform the holler into an upscale resort, the supernatural disruptions intensify. Is the backwoods witch who hexed the holler a century ago to blame, or is something much older and deeper at play? Home health aide Ginger Stewart turns to Birdy, a granny woman with Appalachian folk magic coursing through her veins. Does the key to the holler’s survival lie in the secret ways of the mountains? Can they find it in time?

You’ll find Lynne at LynneSturtevant.com. Visit Amazon for all of her books.

SWW Author Interviews: 2025 Releases

Tom Andes
Wait There Till You Hear From Me: A Charles Prentiss Novel

Irene Blea
Talking with Rudy: Platicando con Rudolfo Anaya

Marcia Butler
Dear Virginia, Wait for Me

Kira Córdova
Carma: How It Is

Dita Dow
Sins in Black

Patricia Gable
The Right Discovery

Peter Gooch
LIPS: Kiss The Lips That Lie

Holly Harrison
Death in the Land of Enchantment

A. Michael Hibner
The Gangs of Santa Fe

Wendy Johnson
Kinship Medicine: Cultivating Interdependence to Heal the Earth and Ourselves

Sharon Kayne
The Green Silk Gown

Ed Lehner
Sunset in Paris

Jack Woodville London
Dangerous Latitudes

Gary Lucero
The Unknown Race

David Menicucci
Two Centuries to Freedom, The True Story of One Family’s Two-Century Migration from Lucca, Italy, to New Mexico and Other American States

Lisa Page
Saving Cottonwood

Douglas W. Price
Livengoods Living Well

Lisa C. Taylor
The Shape of What Remains

Zachry Wheeler
Starship Eternity

KL Wagoner loves creating worlds of fantasy and science fiction. Her current work in progress is The Last Bonekeeper fantasy trilogy and short stories in the same universe. A member of SouthWest Writers since 2006, Kat has worked as the organization’s secretary, newsletter editor, website manager, and author interview coordinator. Kat is also a veteran, a martial art student, and a grandmother. Visit her at klwagoner.com.