Wichita lawyer’s novel wins national award

By day, Vince Wheeler is an attorney for Hite, Fanning and Honeyman LLP.

By nights and weekends, Wheeler is an award-winning independent book author.

Last month, Wheeler was named the winner of an Independent Publisher Book Award for his debut novel, “The Things of Man,” released in September. It won a silver medal for Best Midwest Fiction.

On Tuesday, the awards were presented in New York City’s Times Square, though Wheeler spent his day in Wichita.

The protagonist of “The Things of Man” is similar to Wheeler in a few ways: He’s an attorney in Wichita.

But the book isn’t a legal thriller, Wheeler said.

“It’s the story of someone who rather abruptly discovers that the memories he has of basically the first 25 years of his life are all false,” Wheeler said. “He doesn’t know what he did, where he was, who he was during that time. He wants to find out, and eventually he does, but the answer’s not something he’s prepared to deal with.”

Wheeler, who said he had dreams of being a writer since childhood, wrote the book over a span of about seven years. Though he’s written book-length projects before, this is the first time he’s been published, he said. Austin-based Belle Lutte Press published the book.

“Trying to practice law and write a book at the same time is interesting,” he said. “You have some down time to write, then you get really busy and it gets shoved aside. You come back in a couple weeks and can’t figure out where you were.”

Wheeler said he is already working on a new project.

“The Things of Man” is available locally at Watermark Books and Cafe, as well as online on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online book sellers.

This story was originally published June 1, 2017 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Wichita lawyer’s novel wins national award."