148 ratings | 14 reviews | avg rating:4.79

more photos (2)

Stephen Burckhardt’s Followers (19)

Stephen’s Bookshelves

to-read (29)
currently-reading (2)
read (152)
did-not-finish (0)
books-i-ve-written (8)
joanne-fluke (21)
jr-ward (16)
laurelle-k-hamilton (43)
michia-kaku (6)
non-fiction (1)
See all bookshelves »

Stephen’s Friends (188)

Sammy Sutton

791 books | 1,492 friends

Phrynne

7,993 books | 2,913 friends

Doug Cooper

493 books | 3,713 friends

C.M. Gray

107 books | 2,623 friends

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*

11,549 books | 3,727 friends

Deborah

9,872 books | 1,319 friends

Lance Morcan

267 books | 2,754 friends

Louise Wilson

7,853 books | 2,900 friends

More friends…

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

edit data

Stephen Burckhardt is a pen name of award-winning author and podcaster Dianne Burckhardt.

Dianne was born in Wichita, Kansas, and lived most of her life in and around the area. For a while during her youth, she had the privilege of living 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.

She learned how to ride, shoot a gun, grow a large garden, drive a tractor, and raise and care for animals. She even had a beautiful black Banty rooster and hen in a cage in her bedroom. She would tie a string around one of their legs and take them for walks out in the yard. Dianne misses living out in the country surrounded by nature. She and her husband Pedro n Stephen Burckhardt is a pen name of award-winning author and podcaster Dianne Burckhardt.

Dianne was born in Wichita, Kansas, and lived most of her life in and around the area. For a while during her youth, she had the privilege of living 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.

She learned how to ride, shoot a gun, grow a large garden, drive a tractor, and raise and care for animals. She even had a beautiful black Banty rooster and hen in a cage in her bedroom. She would tie a string around one of their legs and take them for walks out in the yard. Dianne misses living out in the country surrounded by nature. She and her husband Pedro now live in Germany, and with any luck they will have a ranch there in the near future. They both have a need to have horses again, and Dianne wants to try raising miniature goats.

Dianne has always been an avid reader. She was reading Shakespeare for fun in junior high. Her fascination with reading led to a fascination with writing.

Her interest in writing led her to earn a degree in Journalism from Wichita State University. After graduation, she worked for several different publications and eventually ended up doing freelance work, which led her to ghostwriting.

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

She was surprised how much fun she had writing it. It took her right back to her childhood on the ranch and old family stories she had heard about some of her relatives. The only trouble she was having was keeping it as short as Luis wanted. She started over three times and just couldn't get it short enough and tell the story she wanted. So she took a whole different direction and started the story for Luis over one last time. This time she took one of the characters out of the story she 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, Dianne decided she would go a bit longer than his story had been. She decided to make shorter novellas but still provide a fully fleshed-out story. To accomplish this, she wrote a 900-1200 page family saga but published it in sections as 100-200 page novellas. Dianne plans to write more sagas in the future and follow the same format, with each saga released as a five-to-seven novella serial.

On November 6, 2015, Dianne published the first installment of her *Into the West* saga serial, *Into the West: The Orphan Train*. It has since won two literary awards.

She uploaded the book during the last week of October and could have released it on October 30, but November 6 had special meaning. Dianne was always very close to her maternal grandmother, Arlene Polk, Granny. Granny always loved reading westerns. For thirteen and a half years, Dianne worked at a big chain bookstore and took bags of westerns to Granny. It was amazing how many she could go through in a month.

Granny would have been 100 years old on November 6, 2015. Dianne lost her in May of 2015 at 99 and a half years old. It seemed fitting to dedicate this saga serial to Granny and release it on what would have been her 100th birthday. Dianne still misses her every day.
...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Stephen Burckhardt questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Stephen Burckhardt’s books

Average rating: 4.52 · 66 ratings · 24 reviews · 10 distinct works

	The Shot Rang Out by Scott Harris (Goodreads Author), Stephen Burckhardt (Goodreads Author) (Contributing Author) 3.77 avg rating — 47 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: 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 — 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: 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

More books by Stephen Burckhardt…

906 posts
Stephen Burckhardt's Blog: BurckhardtBooks.com/blo

Discover the Heart and Family History Behind Meet Me Under the Lights by Cassie Miller | S5 EP231: Book Banter Podcast

Cassie Miller discusses the heart and family history behind Meet Me Under the Lights, sharing how her years as a teacher, her family's theatrical roots, and her own life experiences inspired her debut young adult romance. She also previews her upcoming holiday rom-com and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the stories she loves to tell.

View more on Stephen Burckhardt's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on July 15, 2026 07:27

View all 906 posts »

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

Stephen is Currently Reading

Stephen Burckhardt is currently reading

Meet Me Under the Lights

by Cassie Miller (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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

May 30, 2026 05:52AM

Stephen Burckhardt is currently reading

Moby Dick

by Herman Melville

bookshelves: currently-reading

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

Apr 08, 2019 12:57PM

rss
Stephen’s Recent Updates

Stephen Burckhardt wrote a new blog post Discover the Heart and Family History Behind Meet Me Under the Lights by Cassie Miller \| S5 EP231: Book Banter Podcast Cassie Miller discusses the heart and family history behind Meet Me Under the Lights, sharing how her years as a teacher, her family's theatrical root Read more of this blog post »
Jul 16, 2026 04:24AM · like
Stephen Burckhardt has read Into the West: Family Ties: Part Seven of the First Book in The Territories Saga Serials Collection (The Into the West Saga Serial 7) by Stephen Burckhardt (Goodreads Author)	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
Jun 10, 2026 03:33AM · like
Stephen Burckhardt is currently reading Meet Me Under the Lights by Cassie Miller (Goodreads Author)	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
May 30, 2026 05:52AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Meet Me Under the Lights by Cassie Miller. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Meet Me Under the Lights by Cassie Miller <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Stephen Burckhardt wants to read Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane by Cassie Miller (Goodreads Author)	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
May 30, 2026 05:51AM · like