Welcome to my website. My name is Debra Guiou Stufflebean and I write historical fiction novels. My profession as a writer happened by fluke when a storybook I had written for my grandchildren was picked up, literally, by a book publisher who asked if I had considered having it published. My first book was called, A Star worth Sharing - Mr. and Mrs. Claus celebrate Jesus' Birthday! I also illustrated the book and assumed that the publisher would have an illustrator replace the pictures, but was told, "I think these pictures look like something a child would do!" Perhaps he was paying me a compliment - perhaps NOT. Either way, that chance encounter set me on my path. I have taken many twists and turns along the way.
I was born and raised in the small southeast Kansas town of Buffalo. Married right out of high school, becoming a mother was my first big job, followed by becoming a paralegal. When the youngest of three daughters started kindergarten, I decided to go to college which transplanted me from Chanute to Topeka, Kansas. I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Washburn University in Topeka in Business, but did not want to leave education so pursued my Masters and Doctorate at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where I graduated Summa Cum Laude in Communications. For several years I taught at one or the other university.
Today I am the Executive Director of Shepherd's Center of Topeka which offers classes and fieldtrips for adults 55 and older in areas such as health, religion, art or literature, people & places, community, news & current events, and music. It's a deeply satisfying job as I feel like a principal of a small school, yet I have time to continue to write. I've been published in various academic journals, and write feature stories for TOPEKA magazine, but my true love is writing books.
Novels - Historical Fiction
At this Time, In this Place
- An American Christian woman, Pamela Wentworth, and a Japanese Buddhist man, Takuho Osaki, fall in love when Tuk comes to live with Pam's family as an exchange student. Pam teaches Tuk how to restore an historic home; Tuk teaches Pam how to speak Japanese. Both teach each other about their culture - but the lessons do not end there. A mysterious box of letters brings some revelations for the two about what it really means to love someone.
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Untold Secrets
- Can memories be genetically transferred through DNA? Are dreams gifts from God? Untold Secrets spans over 150 years from the life of Mary Todd Lincoln in the 1830's to the life of Debra DeVereaux in 1980's revealing a remarkable similarity in the life stories from one generation to the next.
Read article in Topeka Capital-Journal.
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Goodnight, Mary Ann: The LiveS of Mary Ann Sage
- A heart-tugging adventure about the Sage family's arrival into Kansas in 1854. Alfred Sage was married twice, both times to women named Mary Ann - equally strong women who helped him homestead the Mission Creek & Dover area in Shawnee County. Includes stories of John Brown, the sacking of Lawrence, the underground railroad, and the role of the Kansas Militia during Price's Raid in the Civil War.
Read about the Author's time as Propietor of the Historic Sage Inn.