Our Books

      “Children are enjoying the book nearly as much as the adults.” The recent release of our new children’s book, Uncle Sam: A Horse’s Tale,  has been a great experience.  This early reader tells the story of Sam, a US Cavalry horse who journeys to Louisiana in 1941.  Sam and several of his friends are set free and …

Scroll down for links on website template survey Please peruse the  back cover of my upcoming childrens’ book, Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam, a cavalry horse, travels to Louisiana in the months before America enters  World War II. Sam and his best friend, Sergeant Ed, are thrust into the middle of the Louisiana Army Maneuvers.   This series of mock battles pits …

    Uncle Sam: A Horse’s Tale Rides Again! Order your Christmas copies of Uncle Sam at Amazon. Read the entire book at https://www.creekbank.net/uncle-sam-2/   The experts say, “Don’t leak your book or give access to readers. They’ll read it for free and will skip buying it.” What do they know? Let’s prove the experts wrong. I’m putting all 38 …

Iles family and other interested persons: This is a letter written by my great-great aunt, Eliza, of her 1920 trip to a Mission Station in the Belgian Congo. Let’s use this blog page to gather information and learn more about Aunt Eliza’s life and early missionary work in what is no the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). You can reach …

A Note from Curt: As long as I’m alive, I will tell the story of Sgt. Leroy Johnson.     It’s a story worth telling, worth passing on.  We need to be reminded that freedom is never free. It’s important to remember stories of heroes who paid with their lives for our American freedom. There is no better example of …

This blog post from 2018 follows the development of our earliest drafts of The Three Trees.   Its original name was The Pineywoods Manifesto.   A word from Curt We continue with chapters from our upcoming summer book, The Pineywoods Manifesto. It’s written for my grandson about the values and priorities of the unique culture of western Louisiana. Our plan …

Readers are loving our latest short story collection,Where I Come From.   Reader feedback continues with, “Curt, this is your best book yet.” See for yourself! I want to invite you to visit our Where I Come From Amazon Page today.     You can read six sample chapters on the Amazon page.  Reader beware:  Few readers who read Chapters …

“I worship when I write, and I write when I worship.” This wonderful quote shares what I’ve come to realize: that writing and creating are ways of worshipping God. He is the source of my life, joy, and any writing skills I’ve been given. I want to be a good steward of those gifts in 2025 and beyond.   Merry …

  Scroll to the next post for Creekbank Book Information, or click here. Author’s note: I originally cut “A Broken Cup” from the book. I wasn’t sure I was ready to be this transparent.   When we needed one more chapter to match the book’s spine width with the page count. I felt this was God’s direction to include it …

This is the landing page for our upcoming short story collection, Where I Come From. We’ll be updating information on the book here. “Leave this world better” from Where I Come From.   Front Cover Image   This is the image for the front cover of: Where I Come From: Stories from the Pineywoods CURT ILES ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Where I Come …

  Sleeping on the Ground   When you sleep on the ground With the stars in your face, You can feel the full-length Of the beauty and grace. -Dan Fogelberg  “The Wild Places”   I’ve just spent the last two nights sleeping on the ground under the stars. One night was on a bicycle trip on the Tammany Trace Trail. …

. The Sign Phantom of Dry Creek From the book, The Old House, by Curt Iles It all began in the Spring of 1974, just prior to my high school graduation. A rainy April had kept the local streams flooded in “Dry Creek.” (The world’s most overworked cliché, “Well, how wet is it in Dry Creek?”) One afternoon, I went …

            ”The Old House at Night”  1963  tempera on cardboard by my uncle, Bill Iles. The Old House in Dry Creek. First constructed by my great-great grandparents circa 1892, this family home is my favorite spot in the world, the source of many of my stories, and my best writing muse. Below is the opening …

Leaders Eat Last You can listen to the podcast episode of “Leaders Eat Last”  at our The Quiet Leader Podcast Thoughts on Servant-Leadership   “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 I’ve recently discovered a fascinating book, Leaders Eat Last by …