Author Spotlight
Trina Haynes Pritchett
Trina M. Haynes Pritchett is a local author and historian from Weatherford, Texas. She is a member of the Parker County Historical Commission and is dedicated to preserving Parker County's history. After moving to Weatherford in 2006, she fell in love with her new hometown and found her passion for writing. Combined with historical research through archives and oral history, she writes to bring the past back to life. Trina has four publications under her belt: Weatherford, Texas Historical Walking Tours, Manhunts & Murders: The Story of Retired Parker County Sheriff Billy Cain, The Castle That Love Built: The Pythian Home, and Death Toll: The Victims of Bonnie & Clyde.
John Bradshaww
John Bradshaw is an award-winning novelist and journalist from West Texas. His works include Elmer Kelton’s The Familiar Stranger, co-authored with Steve Kelton, Elmer Kelton’s The Blessing, and Between Two Skies, From Vietnam Medevac Pilot To Helicopter Cowboy.
John Bradshaw is an award-winning novelist and journalist from West Texas. His works include Elmer Kelton’s The Familiar Stranger, co-authored with Steve Kelton, Elmer Kelton’s The Blessing, and Between Two Skies, From Vietnam Medevac Pilot To Helicopter Cowboy.
David L. Kilpatrick
David L. Kilpatrick is a veteran criminal justice administrator, public safety innovator, and award-winning author whose career has spanned more than four decades in community supervision and corrections. Since joining the Tarrant County Community Supervision and Corrections Department in 1984, he has served in roles ranging from court officer and field supervision officer to Operations Manager of Court Services, earning a reputation as a respected leader, policy developer, and subject matter expert in criminal justice operations. Throughout his career, Kilpatrick has been entrusted with some of the most influential committees, task forces, and criminal justice initiatives in Texas. He served on the Texas Community Justice Assistance Division's Presentence Investigation Report Committees in both 1991 and 1995-1996, helping shape statewide standards and practices. His expertise was further recognized through appointments to the Governor's Office Task Force on Crime Victims, the Tarrant County House Bill 93 Task Force, and the Legislative Advisory Task Force on Sex Offender Registration. Earlier in his career, he also contributed to the State Ad Hoc Committee on Presentence Investigation Reports, helping refine procedures used across Texas courts. From 1991 through 2005, Kilpatrick supervised the Presentence Investigation, Transfer-In, and Transfer-Out Units, where he led numerous high-impact initiatives. He coordinated the Governor's Office-funded Absconder Program from 1998 to 2004, directed efforts to locate and monitor high-risk offenders, and served as the Texas Department of Public Safety Terminal Agency Coordinator for Tarrant County CSCD. He was instrumental in developing the department's Presentence Investigation Internship Program, creating partnerships with five universities to train future criminal justice professionals. As chair of the Community Resources and Referral Agencies Committee, a position he has held since 1998, he strengthened relationships between the criminal justice system and community-based treatment and support organizations. Kilpatrick has consistently been recognized for his ability to modernize operations and improve organizational effectiveness. As Operations Manager for Field Services, he oversaw seven field units consisting of more than 110 officers, supervisors, and support personnel. After assuming leadership of Court Services in 2010, he initiated a comprehensive restructuring of multiple field and court operations units. His accomplishments include creating a statewide model Pandemic Response Policy, implementing innovative four-day workweek policies, developing an Express Reporting system for low-risk offenders, establishing an Early Dismissal Review process, and creating an Incentives Unit designed to encourage offender compliance and success. A recognized expert in specialty court development, Kilpatrick created and supervised several specialty court programs, including Prostitution Court, Veterans Court, Repeat DWI Offender Court, HOPE Court, and Drug Court. He also transformed the department's relationships with treatment providers by establishing enhanced policies, minimum standards, quality control procedures, and oversight practices. Additional accomplishments include restructuring the Presentence Investigation Unit, creating a new intake services model, and negotiating innovative contract services with ignition interlock providers. Beyond his distinguished public service career, David L. Kilpatrick is an award-winning author whose novels blend suspense, crime, humor, and imaginative storytelling. His published works include Noah the Wanderer, LA Stalker, Undercover White Trash, and The Alien Contract. Whether developing criminal justice policy, leading organizational change, or crafting engaging fiction, Kilpatrick has built a career defined by leadership, innovation, public service, and a lasting commitment to improving the lives of others.
Darrell Best
Darrell Best is a Realtor, podcaster, and author whose curiosity usually begins with a simple question: What’s the story behind this? He is the author of The Gap: Data Centers and the Price of the World You Click Through, an exploration of the people, communities, and consequences behind the digital infrastructure most of us rarely see. He also writes historical fiction, drawn especially to the overlooked people and moments living at the edges of larger events. For Darrell, the best part of writing is the research: following an unexpected detail, finding the story behind the accepted story, and discovering where the facts lead when you keep asking one more question. He is also the host of the Edge of the Story podcast, where he explores many of those same overlooked stories and the people who witnessed them.
Amanda Thrasher
Amanda M. Thrasher is an international award-winning author. She’s a multiple Gold Recipient of The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA), earning the award in multiple categories, including Young Adult, General Fiction, and Children’s Chapter Books. She’s a multiple Gold Medal and Bronze winner of the Readers’ Favorite International Book awards and was awarded a New Apple Literary Award. In addition, Amanda was contracted to write a graphic novel for the Driving on the Right Side of the Road Program. The publication is part of the Driving on the Right Side of the Road (DRSR) program, developed by the Law-Related Education Department of the State Bar of Texas Law Focused Education, Inc., and the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center, with funding from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Texas Department of Transportation. The program aims to provide preventive education to encourage responsible decision-making and adherence to traffic laws and safe practices. The graphic novel titled What If … A Story of Shattered Lives was adapted into a reader’s theater for as few as five speakers or as many as twenty-six. CAPTAIN FIN was based on a screenplay by Kevin James O’Neill. Amanda was contracted to adapt the screenplay into a novel for Kevin. Kevin is a director, actor, and producer. CAPTAIN FIN, the novel, won a Readers’ Favorite International Gold Book Award and was the Gold Recipient of The Mom’s Choice Awards®. The Mom’s Choice Awards® The Mom’s Choice Awards® program is globally recognized for establishing the benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media, products, and services. The organization is based in the United States and has reviewed thousands of items from over 55 countries.
Katlyn "Kathy" Bates
Katlyn Bates writes contemporary fiction for young adults. Her debut novel, Nightflower of Comanche Mound was named a 2025 Spur Finalist by Western Writers of America (WWA) in the Juvenile-Young Adult Fiction category. The recognition, along with multiple 5-Star book reviews from Readers’ Favorite, encouraged her to dust off old stuff she wrote just for fun, and look at them with fresh eyes. Drawn to action and adventure that is grounded in real life, Katlyn finds inspiration in the wildness of the world around us. “Nature doesn’t care what we think. It’s wild and ferocious and unpredictable—a good reminder not to take ourselves too seriously. The downright ridiculous seems to call for a twist of humor. What I can’t see, I can imagine.” Juggling family, work, and life, over the years Katlyn grasped whatever time she had available for a writing class when she could—poetry, creative, a bit of journalism. What she discovered was that stories come from deep within us…a moment. A memory. An experience or impression or dream. Only when they surface, can you add texture and color. A late-bloomer by her own description, Katlyn’s writing kicked off when she joined Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), a community of like-minded people who selflessly share, uplift, and guide, one meeting at a time. “There’s so much to learn, just for the listening. Other writers energize me, challenge me to ‘say it better’. Everyone has a natural style, and it always amazes me how many ways there are to tell a story. From SCBWI to the Writers’ League of Texas (WLT)—where Nightflower of Comanche Mound was a 2022 Thriller/Action-Adventure Finalist in the Manuscript Contest—on to Western Writers of America and Women Writing the West (WWW), Katlyn has found that it’s networks of writers that encourage her “No matter what stage of writing skill, anyone, at any age, with a yearning to write should seek out others who love what you love. Don’t wait.” A native Texan, Katlyn Bates lives near Dallas, TX, outside a small town that—like so many inter-connected communities, is quickly becoming absorbed by the sprawl. “As for me, it’s open skies and nature and landscape that frame a plot, and lend power to a story.”
Kaleigh Whitford
Kaleigh Whitford lives in Texas with her son and husband and their entirely unruly herd of pets. Characters and stories have drifted into her mind since childhood, and she's finally decided she ought to write them down and share them with the world. Her hobbies include drinking coffee, staring at her hands until they behave and write the words on paper in the proper order, and trying to be inconspicuous when random people and events in public inspire her and she must write down her ideas immediately. (Even if it happens, say, during a concert, or an absolutely silent and solemn meeting at work... Which has almost definitely, certainly, never happened.)
