Books
Barry R. Willis’s New Book Traces the Pony Express Through Firsthand Accounts and Frontier History
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Barry R. Willis has published a new history, "The Legacy of the Pony Express: True Tales from the Old West," tracing the short-lived mail service through what the publisher describes as documented accounts and period writings. Studio CarryOnHarry received an announcement of the release this month.
Willis is known for earlier work on American musical heritage, including writing on bluegrass history, and for books drawn from his own experience as a pilot. That background in research-driven nonfiction carries into this project, which the publisher says pairs the exploits of individual riders with the wider history of westward expansion.
According to the announcement, the book examines both the hazards riders encountered traversing terrain and the economic and political factors that shaped the service’s short operational period. It also addresses the era’s toll on Native American communities, a theme the publisher says Willis treats directly rather than in passing.
"The stories of these riders and the era they inhabited deserve to be told with honesty and depth," Willis said in the announcement. "By presenting multiple perspectives—including the often-silenced voices of Native Americans—we can better understand both the achievements and moral complexities of our frontier heritage."
The book is published through Covenant Books and is available at bookstores and through major online retailers including Amazon, Apple Books, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble.
Studio CarryOnHarry notes that Pony Express history tends to get flattened into folklore — the book’s willingness to sit with the era’s costs alongside its daring is what we’ll be curious to see readers respond to.
Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.
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Lataine McQuaid has published "Operation Weird Universe," a children’s book centered on Sam, a wheelchair-using protagonist who becomes entangled in peculiar circumstances involving a mysterious neighbor. The book came out June 19, 2026, through Christian Faith Publishing.
According to the publisher’s synopsis, Sam and her best friend set out to get to the bottom of a string of odd occurrences in their community, including an unexplained disturbance involving her jelly beans. The book is categorized as juvenile fiction and is being sold in paperback and digital editions through major retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and the Apple iTunes Store.
McQuaid spent years working as a professional nanny before writing the book, and the announcement credits that experience with shaping how she writes children navigating challenges. She also grew up living on multiple continents, which the publisher says fed her interest in storytelling built around adventure. She now lives in a small Texas town with a labradoodle and a tuxedo cat.
"I wrote this story to show young readers that being different isn’t a limitation, it’s an opportunity," McQuaid said in the announcement. "Sam’s journey reflects what I’ve learned from working with children my entire career: they possess remarkable resilience and imagination when given the chance to explore their world on their own terms."
The publisher describes the book as built around themes of resilience, friendship, and curiosity, with Sam’s physical limitations framed in the story as incidental to her capacity for adventure rather than a barrier to it.
Studio CarryOnHarry sees value in a mystery series built around a disabled protagonist whose wheelchair use is treated as simply part of the character rather than the plot’s central obstacle, a framing still uncommon enough in children’s fiction to be worth noting.
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Leslie J. Weatherford has published a new children’s book, "Farmer Fuzzy Pants Goes to the Fair," which follows three boys, Matt, Mark, and Joey, through a week of raising and showing livestock at the county fair. The book is out now through Page Publishing.
The story centers on fair week itself: stalls that need cleaning daily, animals that need tending, and a tractor pull along the way, all building toward an auction where the boys’ months of work with their cows, pigs, and chickens get put to the test. According to the book’s description, one of the three, Joey, has specific plans for what he wants to do with his earnings, but has to prove he’s put in the work before the bidding starts. The book is categorized as juvenile fiction and draws on real details of fair life, from animal tagging to auction-day bidding, to give young readers a sense of what livestock competition actually involves.
Weatherford, drawing on her Michigan heritage, started creating children’s stories in 2024 following her experience as a parent. "Farmer Fuzzy Pants Goes to the Fair" is her recent release under Page Publishing.
"I wanted to create a story that shows children how hard work translates into real results," Weatherford said in a statement, adding that she hopes readers see Matt, Mark, and Joey’s journey as proof that showing up every day and caring for responsibilities pays off in ways that go beyond ribbons and trophies.
The book is available at bookstores and online through Amazon, Apple Books, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble.
Studio CarryOnHarry sees this as part of a steady stream of agricultural-life stories aimed at young readers who may never set foot on a farm, and that alone makes the genre worth keeping an eye on.
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