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Stephen Burckhardt

Goodreads Author

Born

in Wichita, Kansas, The United States

Website

http://burckhardtbooks.com

Twitter

@BurckhardtBooks

Genre

Fiction, Historical Fiction

Influences

Shakespeare, author: Laurel K. Hamilton, author: Patricia Briggs, auth ...more

Member Since

October 2015

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/stephen_burckhardt

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I was born in Wichita Kansas and lived most of my live in and around there. For a while in my youth, I had the privilege to live a few years on a ranch near Benton, Kansas. It wasn't a big place, only 10 acres, but there was a large dairy barn and plenty of pasture land for a few horses.

I learned how to ride, shoot a gun, grow a large garden, drive a tractor, and raise and care for animals. I even had beautiful black pet Banty Rooster and Hen in a cage in my bedroom. I would tie a string around one of their legs and take them for walks out in the yard. I miss living out in the country surrounded by nature. With any luck, my better half and I will have a ranch here in the near future. I have a need to have horses again and I want to try rai I was born in Wichita Kansas and lived most of my live in and around there. For a while in my youth, I had the privilege to live a few years on a ranch near Benton, Kansas. It wasn't a big place, only 10 acres, but there was a large dairy barn and plenty of pasture land for a few horses.

I learned how to ride, shoot a gun, grow a large garden, drive a tractor, and raise and care for animals. I even had beautiful black pet Banty Rooster and Hen in a cage in my bedroom. I would tie a string around one of their legs and take them for walks out in the yard. I miss living out in the country surrounded by nature. With any luck, my better half and I will have a ranch here in the near future. I have a need to have horses again and I want to try raising miniature goats.

I have always been an avid reader. I was reading Shakespeare for fun in junior high. My fascination with reading led to a fascination with writing; that started in junior high too.

My interest in writing led me to earn a degree in Journalism from Wichita State University. After graduation, I worked for several different publications and eventually ended up doing freelance work. Which led me to ghostwriting.

As a ghostwriter, I wrote fiction and non-fiction. My last project was writing a western for Luis Antwoord titled, Western: In the Company of Thieves. He wanted a short story. I had never even thought about writing westerns. My reading interests had never included westerns, I really don't know why. I told Luis that I'd love to give it a try but no promises. If he didn't like it, he wouldn't have to buy it.

I was surprised how much fun I had writing it. It took me right back to my childhood on the ranch and old family stories I had heard about some of our relatives. The only trouble I was having was keeping it as short as Luis wanted. I started over three times and just couldn't get it short enough and tell the story I wanted. So I took a whole different direction and started the story for Luis over one last time. This time I took one of the characters out of the story I wanted to tell and gave him a side story. This time it came out just right. The reviews on Amazon have been great with the only real complaint being that it is too short, people loved the story but they wanted more.

According to Luis shorter westerns do sell very well but considering the reviews I decided I would go a bit longer than his story had been. I decided to make shorter novellas but still provide a fully fleshed out story. To accomplish this I would write my books in serials. I am writing a 900-1200 page book but I publish it in scions as 150-200 page novellas. Each "book" or "saga" will be released in 5-6 novellas.

November 6th, 2015 I published the first instalment of my first saga serial, Into the West, Into the West: The Orphan train. It has since won two literary awards.

I had the book uploaded the last week of October and could have released it Oct. 30th but Nov. 6th has special meaning. I was very close to my maternal grandmother, Arlene Polk, my Granny. She always loved reading westerns. For 13 and a half years I worked in a big chain bookstore and I would take her bags of westerns. It was amazing how many she could go through in a month. She would have been 100 years old on Nov. 6, 2015. We lost her in May at 99 and a 1/2. It seemed fitting to dedicate this book to her and to release it on her birthday. I miss her everyday.
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Stephen Burckhardt’s books

Average rating: 4.51 · 65 ratings · 24 reviews · 10 distinct works

	The Shot Rang Out by Scott Harris (Goodreads Author), Stephen Burckhardt (Goodreads Author) (Contributing Author) 3.80 avg rating — 46 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Into the West: A New Home - Special Edition: Part Two of the First Book in The Territories Saga Serials (S.E. Includes Parts One and Two) (The Into the West Saga Serial) by Stephen Burckhardt (Goodreads Author), Dianne Burckhardt (Editor), Greg Wood (Editor) 4.68 avg rating — 19 ratings — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Into the West: The Orphan Train (Part One of Book One of The Territories Saga Serials) 4.35 avg rating — 20 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Dark & Stormy Night by Scott Harris (Goodreads Author), Stephen Burckhardt (Goodreads Author) (Contributing Author) 4.88 avg rating — 8 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Into the West: Sharon Springs 4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Into the West: Most Wanted: Part Four of the First Book in The Territories Saga Serials Collection (The Into the West Saga Serial 4) 4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Into the West: To Save Them All: Part Five of the First Book in The Territories Saga Serials Collection (The Into the West Saga Serial 5) 4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Into the West: Last Showdown: Part Six of the First Book in The Territories Saga Serials Collection (The Into the West Saga Serial 6) 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Into the West: Family Ties: Part Seven of the First Book in The Territories Saga Serials Collection (The Into the West Saga Serial 7) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Into the West: The Orphan Train: Part One of the First Book in the Territories Saga Serials Collection by Stephen Burckhardt (Goodreads Author), Greg Wood (Editor) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Traveling the Alphabet Geographically: Sylvia Clare’s Journey from Fear to Freedom|S5 EP220: Book Banter Podcast

Sylvia Clare shares how a lifelong journey of travel, writing, and mindfulness helped her move from fear and trauma into resilience and personal growth, offering insight into mental health and the power of lived experience.

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Published on April 29, 2026 09:01

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Series by Stephen Burckhardt

Into the West Saga (2 books)
by

Stephen Burckhardt (Goodreads Author),

Dianne Burckhardt (Editor),

Greg Wood (Editor)

4.51 avg rating — 39 ratings

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Moby Dick

by Herman Melville

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Stephen Burckhardt wrote a new blog post Traveling the Alphabet Geographically: Sylvia Clare’s Journey from Fear to Freedom\|S5 EP220: Book Banter Podcast Sylvia Clare shares how a lifelong journey of travel, writing, and mindfulness helped her move from fear and trauma into resilience and personal growt Read more of this blog post »
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Stephen Burckhardt is now following Robert Hilliard Author of In Freedom's Shadow
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