124: Karen Brenner- Author of Appaloosa Sky

After a long business career that included running a Montessori school and teaching deaf children, Karen decided to get serious about her writing and four years later, indie published her debut novel harkening back to the state she grew up in – Texas and her love for horses. A sweeping family saga spanning over 70 years, the book’s main character was meant to play a secondary role until she began taking over the narrative and insisted on being heard.   Blanton Brenner grew up in North Texas in a large extended family that raised horses and holy hell and, in between, sang together in four part harmony. While attending university, she met a drummer from Chicago, married him and moved to Chicago where they raised their children. For over ten years, Brenner wrote and read stories from her life on WBEZ, the NPR station in Chicago.  She was awarded the Peter Lisagor Prize from the Society of Professional Journalists for her radio story, “Driving with Frank Sinatra.”  K. Blanton Brenner published her debut novel,  Appaloosa Sky, in 2019. It is the story of a family of tenacious Texas women who break horses and hearts. Appaloosa Sky lives in a genre somewhere between Nancy Drew and Sex and the City. The author’s second novel, The Trinity Rivers Trilogy will be published soon. It is tells the story of the Quinn family: the enormously talented, wildly dramatic, funny and sometimes dangerous Quinns.  To learn more about Karen, click here.