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2018 Anthology COVER - Spine

The Guilded Pen

2018 Anthology of the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild

What is a writer? A daydreamer? An observer? A chronicler who sees the world around him and lays it bare for others—shining in all its glory or uncovered, to reveal its pain? Do writers decipher the quandaries and take the ordinary and turn it into something extraordinary? Do they inspire joy? And where there is tragedy, do they pluck the chords of human emotion to create a melody bursting forth in a new song of hope?

The simple answer is, yes. They do this all and more. This anthology brings you the works of 47 writers. Authors who share their memoir tales of sacrifice and triumph, imaginative short stories that tickle, amuse, inspire, or shock with bone-chilling possibilities. They provoke thought with introspective essays. They bare their souls with sensitive, imaginative poetry. Within these pages, writers, the everyday chroniclers of life and living, share their art. They turn words on a page into a living, breathing, thing - an idea to spark the human imagination. Take a moment. Sit back. Shed the day's cares and let your mind go wandering. Between the pages of a good book is where the magic begins

— Marcia Buompensiero, Managing Editor
The Guilded Pen-2018 Anthology
San Diego Writers and Editors Guild

Sumerland Cover-Spine 1-17-19

An award-winning novel, set in San Diego, spanning three generations of a family’s history. Buompensiero’s work was inspired by a true story―her own! 

Sumerland traces a family’s devastating history and the ghosts who haunt the present, seeking to right the wrongs of the past.

A lyrical harmony of mystery, romance, and the webwork of family, M. Lee Buompensiero’s Sumerland is a true page turner. It’s deeply human and lovingly written.         

—Richard Lederer, Best-selling author of Anguished English; Columnist, San Diego Union Tribune

What if the “not so dearly departed” could return from the other side of the grave to right the wrongs they committed while alive? How would that impact the living? The main character in Sumerland is about to find out. Take a self-assured young heiress, a psychic best friend, a stray dog, a young veterinarian, an old mansion, and a couple of dispirited spirits with an axe to grind—mix them up—and you have Sumerland.

When Kate Post inherits the old Liebersohn mansion—her estranged mother's bizarre bequest to the daughter she rarely saw and barely knew—Kate doesn't want it, but an odd inscription etched in concrete beside a garden pathway haunts her dreams. Convinced that a period restoration will result in a quick sale, she begins renovating. But Kate's plans and the resident ghosts' scheme are about to collide. The result will unhinge Kate's world, uncover haunting family secrets, and set her on a mission to undo the wrongs that only she can set aright.

“Sumerland is a story of a family divided—literally split in two—for generations. Neither side knowing about the existence of the other. Sumerland is based on another family story—mine. Like the family in Sumerland, we were two sides split by generations. Finding each other was pure dumb luck. A real miracle and maybe something else. Did the unseen hands of our long-dead ancestors play a part in reuniting us? We’ll never know. Sumerland’s ghosts take us to their world to experience their life-altering events. We see how their misguided passions changed their lives and sealed their fates. Sumerland reveals how trust can be destroyed by betrayal—and, how it can be redeemed by love. Sumerland is a love letter from the past to the future.”

—M. Lee Buompensiero


2017 Winner

Best Published Mystery

 San Diego Book Awards

Irreverent Forever

True Tales from a Newspaperman’s Outrageously Rewarding Life

Drop in on the world’s zaniest people—newspapermen and women—from the hick town of Douglas, Arizona, to the sensuous beaches of Honolulu and even Europe’s high-brow (and low-brow) colorful locales. Dave’s tales include old shoes that saved a life, a colleague who caught fire on the operating table, a roadrunner named Rodney, and much more. Plus, there are talks with two Pulitzer Prize winners and tales of fabulous cars like a Model-T Ford named Heathcliff. Trace the good old (happy) newspaper days to today’s (unhappy) newsrooms. There’s a love of those old days, which were filled with rapscallions, inebriates, and a few decent souls. The author’s family proves equally fascinating.


This often-hilarious memoir offers up a love of authors (two Pulitzer winners), a love of cars (a French Gangster car named Jean-Pierre) and a love of those crazy, weird, off-beat newspaper folks from yesterday and today.

Robert Vavra, Writer/Photographer who teamed up with  James Michener for the book Iberia

With all the darkness in the world, you might assume that a book about newspaper reporters would be a downer. Not this book. Irreverent Forever is suffused with David Feldman’s love of life, family, and the zany Damon Runyonesque characters who dance through his world.

 Richard Lederer, author of Anguished English


Fatal Little Lies

Theo discovers that her mother, Dena Hunter, who disappeared 30 years ago, was involved in a U.S. Congressman’s assassination attempt in which two people died. Theo believes Dena is still alive and in hiding. Theo and an ace computer hacker head to San Francisco to retrace her mother’s steps. When she uncovers Dena’s extremist ties and bloody past, a key witness is killed. Theo becomes the hunted and the end game is sudden death.

When the grisly discovery of a friend’s body becomes a police cover-up led by her ex-fiancé, Theo Hunter vows to discover the truth. Her meddling exposes a political scandal involving organized crime that threatens to topple the city’s powerful kingpins. Uncovering corruption at a high level of government comes with a price. Unprotected and on her own, Theo becomes the target of a ruthless killer


Deadly Little Secrets

All hell just broke loose in San Diego—investigative reporter Theo Hunter is caught in the middle of it. The slaying of a retired priest is shrouded in secrets, lies, and cover-up. Was the old man the innocent victim of a deranged killer? Or a pervert who deserved what he got? Theo is hell-bent to find out. When three members of San Diego’s social and political elite—her prime suspects—are murdered, only one fact is clear: the killer will strike again. Armed with nothing but a madman’s cryptic notes, Theo scrambles to decipher the clues while the killer lurks in the shadows, poised to silence her for good.

2014 Finalist San Diego Book Awards Best Unpublished Mystery

"Highly recommended, good read"
- The San Diego Writers and Editors Guild

A lucky poker hand wins Benjamin Harrison Johnson a ramshackle homestead, the Six Bar Ranch in California. There’s a big problem—a young lad, Joseph, comes with the property. Something BHJ wasn’t prepared to deal with but accepts the challenge. Discovering oil, having his house burned to the ground by outlaws, and other wild west adventures, set in motion a fast-paced saga covering three generations of the Johnson dynasty. Over the decades, many diverse and interesting characters will put their mark on the Six Bar Ranch and its descendants. But amid the misadventures and tragedies, in the end, it is the Six Bar Ranch that helps them heal and thrive. Benjamin Harrison Johnson could never have imagined how a winning poker hand would change his life forever.