Area Man Writes Book

Feb 22, 2007 | Area News, Headline News

That’s because author Ken Reger, a resident of the Humphreys area, used the technique that writers will tell you makes the most successful publications – write about what you know.
Peppered throughout Reger’s book are references to places that, while they don’t have the same name, will be familiar to those who know the north central Missouri area.
“All the names are fiction,al although some of the names of the towns will be familiar to readers,” Reger said.
“The main town in my story is Wells and I had to do a lot of checking to make sure there was no town in north Missouri that was called Wells,” Reger continued. “But when you read about the town, hopefully it will remind you of some place you might have been in this area.”
Those towns whose names are mentioned – Columbia, Kirksville, Chillicothe and Kansas City – give readers a reference point as to where the towns in the book such as Wells might be located. Descriptions of the places and people who reside there also give the reader a sense that those towns really do exist – just with different names.
The story begins simply – a Missouri Vietnam veteran who has returned home and is undergoing treatment in the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Columbia for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Becoming suspicious of the treatment he is receiving, he decided to return home and goes to work in a food plant. As he contemplates suicide he meets Cherokee Irons (the girl on the bridge), with whom he strikes up a romance. As their relationship grows, he begins to remember things about his time in Vietnam, which results in him becoming entangled in a mystery involving the government and, before he knows it, he finds his life in danger. It’s the return of his memory that will be the key to his survival.
Reger, who is a product of the Vietnam era, drew on the experiences of his friends to develop the character of Kevin Edwards.
“I was in the service during the Vietnam era, but I wasn’t there,” he said. “But I did have friends who were there and their experiences were a real help in developing who Kevin Edwards is.”
Reger also describes many of the characters in the book as “very north central Missouri-ish.”
“If you know north Missouri, you will recognize these people,” he said.
This is Reger’s first attempt at a novel, although he is hardly a stranger to writing and literature. He began his formal post-secondary education at Trenton Junior College, where he served as the student body president, then went on to Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, where he earned a secondary education degree in social science. He spent five years as a teacher before returning to school at the University of Kansas to earn his doctorate degree.
“I wrote while I was there and I’ve continued to write, but this is my first stab at writing a novel,” Reger said.
Reger’s actual ambition was “to be a cowboy,” but realized it might take a little money before he could achieve his dream. After his stint at KU, he returned to the Milan area and purchased a farm, “which let me realize my dream.”
But to support that dream, Reger also took a job as administrator of the Sullivan County Hospital at Milan while his wife, Carol, taught school. During that time he was also approached by Trenton Junior College to teach classes as an adjunct instructor.
“One of the things I found as a teacher, before I cam to TJC, that there weren’t classes available to students that taught humanities in a broad sense,” he said. “I made a proposal to the college to create a course that integrated the humanities and I ended up teaching that class, as well as one other, for about 15 years.”
In 2002, Reger decided it was time to retire and pursue his two loves fulltime – writing and “taking care of the cows.”
“I had written some things for the publication at the college, but now it was time to do this seriously,” he said.
So the novel he started about 10 years ago got more of his attention. As he got closer to finishing his work, he began to realize he needed to find an editor to review the work. He made some contacts and had very little success until a chance meeting at a class reunion.
“I had a lot of bad experiences until I met Ruby (Kershaw),” Reger said.
It was at a class reunion in 2005 at Polo that he and Ruby first met. Ruby had retired from an agency as a editing author in Portland, OR and as the two visited, Reger talked Ruby into reading the first chapter of his novel.
“She cut it to pieces,” Reger laughed. “But in the end she asked for more chapters. Then, within a week, she asked to see the rest of it.”
That’s when he knew she liked it and she agreed to take him on. Because she’s retired, their agreement is he will pay her from any profits he may make from the book sales.
“I’ll get my first royalty check in April, so then we’ll see,” he said.
The book was published in late October of 2006 and has sold several copies, both locally and on book sites, including Amazon. Locally, the book is available at the Boji Stone Bookstore.
“I’ve been able to move about 400 copies just on my own promotion and it has moved up on the ‘hot read list’,” Reger said.
Reger has been pleased with the response he has received thus far, in particular correspondence from a Vietnam veteran who told him “he nailed it” when describing not only the character of Kevin, but the whole experience of being a veteran.
Reger is already beginning to think about his next novel and has a tentative title, “The Girl on the Run.”
“But it’s not a sequel in the true sense, although you might see a lot of the same characters in the next book,” Reger said.
And don’t be surprised to see a lot of the same places as well. Or at least some you just might recognize.