Marshall, Texas – Shannon Christensen, publisher of CS Publications, announced today that Lagniappe, the debut novel of Hope, Arkansas, writer K.D. McLemore, has been named a Literary Titan Four-Star Silver Award selection.
CS Publications and McLemore were notified of the selection for the August, 2026, featured novels in a letter from Literary Titan Editor In Chief Thomas Anderson. “I truly wasn’t surprised by the email. I know a great book when I read one, and I am blessed to have been the lucky publisher chosen by Mr. McLemore.” CS Publishing owner, Shannon Christensen said. “It just needs traction for everyone else to see too.”
“Your book deserves extraordinary praise, and we are proud to acknowledge your hard work, dedication, and writing talent,” Anderson said.
In his review of the novel, Anderson said Lagniappe represented a departure from type.
“I enjoyed the way the novel balances domestic tenderness with tactical menace,” Anderson wrote. “It is a story about second chances bought at a high price. Lagniappe is a hard-edged thriller with a homesick heart.”
He said that McLemore’s protagonist Brock Beckett “could easily have been written as a simple hard-edged veteran archetype, but McLemore gives him bruised restraint, moral exhaustion, and a surprisingly literary mind.”
Anderson said the book recommends itself to fans of “military thrillers, crime fiction, mysteries, small-town suspense, political intrigue, and family drama…”
“Destiny may look like a modest Arkansas town of cafes, churches, ranchland, and school-board politics, but the book steadily reveals that even a peaceful place can become a firing line,” Anderson wrote.
Selection of Literary Titan Award designees are based upon a review of each submission by a Literary Titan editor and ranking by a peer board. Books with the highest ranking are designated a Literary Titan Award selection and are featured as Literary Titan recommended books on its website literarytitan.com online. An author interview and the official review also appear on the Literary Titan website. The complete official review and author interview are also posted on McLemore’s website destinypublisher.com online.
“I was taken completely by surprise by the recognition given to a first-time author’s debut novel,” McLemore said. “The Destiny, Arkansas Series of novels is a mystery/thriller look at life lived by mostly ordinary people as the small town of Destiny, Arkansas, faces the threat of a growing evil.”
McLemore, a former editor of The Hope Star, and his wife of fifty-one years, Carolyn, reside in Hope, Ar., where he retired after thirty-plus years as a reporter and editor in Texas and Arkansas.
