Title: Helotes historian's new book to debut in November Author: Joni Simon Publisher: Northwest Weekly Date: 8/12/2010 The city of Helotes, this fall, will find a place on library shelves next to cities large and small, as Arcadia Press adds one more pictorial history to its "Images of America" series. On the cover of the book about Helotes is a picture of the John T. Floore Country Store, a dance hall and concert venue for top-rated country musicians. The book from cover to cover, according to author Cynthia Leal Massey, is primarily photographs with captions. "Half of the pictures have not already been published in my first book and I'm excited about that," Massey said. "It will tell a story, but through photographs. If they want to know more, they'll buy the first book because it gives all the background information." The book will be sold at Barnes and Noble in the Texana section for $21.

99, according to Massey, who said book signing events have not as yet been finalized. A Helotes city councilwoman, Massey says her books are what got her into politics. When she was researching her first offering, "Helotes, Where the Texas Hill Country Begins," published in 2008 by Old American Publishing, she jumped right into the fire. Literally. At the time, the infamous mulch fire was smoldering and, she recalls much infighting at city hall. "I started going to City Council meetings knowing nothing about the politics of the town. It was during the time when they were having the fight with the 'greenies,'" she said, "I started going to all the meetings because I wanted to meet people and became increasingly agitated by some of the things that were going on." She says it was then that she became embroiled with Helotes' past, present and future.

The historical book made its debut in February 2008, and in May 2008 she ran for office. Today, she's a councilwoman as well as a board member of the Economic Development Corporation, and is working on another historical book about a Texas Ranger killing in 1873. "That was kind of strange to have a book come out and be running for office," Massey said. "But I had been approached by so many people, who had seen me speaking at the meetings. They would say, 'You know so much about the history of the town now and it's good to know about the history when you're make plans for the present and the future.'" Massey says although she's always liked history, she hesitated a bit before deciding to write the historical account of Helotes, but in the writing of the book, she fell in love with Helotes after talking to all the pioneers and discovering what a rich history the town has. "It ended up being like a perfect storm of loves. I've always loved history and I fell in love with this town because of its history," she said.

"It all came together for me writing the history of Helotes." All future works, no matter what genre, will be set in Helotes, she says, because she has become quite the expert of the area. "I guess I'm where I should be," Massey said. "Things just worked out for me as a writer.".