Members' Biographies
Robert Dean Bair
The Cloisters of Canterbury, a political suspense novel, is scheduled to be released by ArcheBooks in July 2006. Robert Dean Bair tells the story of courage exhibited by a group of ordinary people with deep convictions, honor, patriotism, and integrity. They risk their lives to fight corruption, treason and murder during the months leading to the end of World War II and thereafter.
President Harry S. Truman has concerns about the United States intelligence organizations, military contract fraud and information leaks from within the government. This covert group of ordinary citizens, who are not part of the government, share the president's concerns about the effectiveness of the government’s intelligence organizations and gather information from many points of the world for the President of the United States and certain members of Congress. The group is also determined to locate any Nazis wanted for war crimes that have escaped from Europe and return them for trial. Murder, fraud, identity theft, leaks in the government, and concerns about the intelligence community are rampant, not unlike the world today.
Robert's website is @ www.booksbyrdbair.com.
Ruben Colon
Born in New York City, Ruben Colon attended public schools. After serving overseas with the U.S. Army, he attended and graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy. While studying full time, he married his wife, Hilda. They have two sons. After graduation, he worked in the South Bronx and Black Harlem both as employee and employer. His stories evolved from those experiences—good and bad.
Ruben has three published novels - Clarissa, Painted Eyes, and Damon and the Furies.
Dr. Marianne de Deugd
Dr. Marianne de Deugd has been a full-time counselor for over 20 years and currently serves as the director of Royal Palm Ministries Counseling and Training Center in Fort Myers, Florida. She obtained a Doctorate of Ministry in counseling and has also earned two Master degrees.
Dr. Marianne is a frequent speaker, seminar leader and author. During her career she has been busy writing college level curricula, workshops, newsletters and has published several articles. In November 2008 her book "Fifty Two Mondays" was published.
Website: www.drmariannejdedeugd.com
Carol deFrank
I am a non-fiction writer that has been published in hundreds of articles over a 25 year period. My profession before moving to Southwest Florida was advertising.
My byline has appeared in GulfShore Business, Naples Daily News, The News Press and the Fort Myers Magazine, The Business Journal, Parent Magazine, Senior News, The Vindicator as well as many other publications
During my writing tenure I was commissioned to write a coffee-table book titled Visions of the Valley. I have written hundreds of newsletters, brochures and advertisements for newspaper, radio and television. I have written and disseminated a seminar that teaches small business owners how to handle their own marketing and advertising.
A Cum Laude graduate of Youngstown State University with a Bachelors Degree in business/communication and a minor in journalism, I attend writing workshops and seminars to hone my skills .
Contact Carol: cjdassociates@aol.com
Charlie Diemer
Charlie Diemer was a prosecutor for over 25 years in Dakota County Minnesota. He had a dynamic courtroom presence and was involved in many exciting cases. He successfully prosecuted a politician for lying during a political campaign. According to an appellate court he convinced a jury of 12 to convict a sex offender without any evidence. Sadly, after release from prison, the offender murdered his mother.
His first novel, PEARL OF TAO was just released and in the dedication he gave credit to the Gulf coast writer’s Assn and one of its critique groups for their help. He is working on another novel as he promotes his first. To learn more about Charlie and PEARL OF TAO go to www.charliediemer.com
Book announcement
Pearl of Tao is Charlie Diemer’s first novel. It is an action adventure based on the world’s largest pearl, a religious artifact of two major world religions-Taoism and Islam. The novel is set on the beautiful white sandy beaches of Lovers Key and Palm Beach. For more information and to order, go to www.charliediemer.com
Keith M. Donaldson
I am an author and playwright, a graduate in drama, and have acted and directed for nearly 50 years. Along the way, to pay the bills, I worked in network broadcasting production for NBC radio and television, and then in local radio as an account executive. I matriculated into advertising and marketing, forming my own agency in 1977. During those years, I founded and published the Washington Flyer magazine. Avocationally, in 1979 I became a theater reviewer on WEAM ‘Big Band Radio’, aka Keith Montgomery, for five years and continued covering theater for seven more years writing commentaries for three local magazines.
I began writing plays in 1988 and when I ended reporting on theater, I became an active participant as an actor, director, and writer. I am a member of the Playwrights Forum of Washington. Most of my short plays have been produced in and around Washington, DC. A scene from my one act; A Touch of Spring, was published in the Best Stage Scenes of 1996.
I turned to fiction writing in 2004 and as of 2010 have self-published three novels: Death of an Intern, a mystery, and The Hill People, a mystery/political thriller, winner of two finalist awards in Politics and Multicultural fiction at the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Both books star my fictitious Washington, DC newspaper reporter Laura Wolfe.
My third novel, Rude Awakenings, a mystery with international intrigue, politics, and a dash of romance was published in November 2009 and recently won a finalist award in Mystery at the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Website @ www.donaldsonkeith.com
Robert Dornburg
Born in Pittsburgh, Pa., after graduating from high school, entered the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943. He served in the pacific and when World War II ended was assigned to occupation duty in Japan. Returning to civilian life, he became involved in airline flying and accumulated twenty-five thousand flight hours in thirty five years, beginning with the piston engine DC-6 to the 747 jet aircraft. He retired in 1987 and presently he and his wife reside in a retirement community in Fort Myers, Florida.
Robert has published two novels, Windmeer and Thorn Castle.
Richard Georgian
Mr. Georgian is self employed, and since 1994 has conducted research in American Tent Shows (1892 -1921), and the American Communist Party (1919-1927). He is working on a non-fiction manuscript; Buffalo Bill’s Deceit, the Cossacks Curse, a history of Georgian, Gurian riders in American wild west shows. He is developing; Red Mill Crossing, an historical novel about Buffalo Bill’s wild west exhibition set in 1901. He is continuing his research for a biography of the life and times of Alexis E. Georgian. Mr. Georgian from 1984 to 1994 was a senior systems analyst with Validity Corporation. He was a program manager, technical writer, training department head, instructor, and organized the corporation’s trade shows. Mr. Georgian from 1962 to 1984 was in the United States Navy and specialized in communication system
Henry Hermann
Henry Hermann, author, co-author, and editor of fifteen books on diverse topics, has been a writer, professor, and biologist most of his life. Much of his research and writing have been directed towards understanding the behavior of humans and other social animals.
Originally from New Orleans, he now resides in Ft. Myers, Florida, where he is a faculty member at Edison State College.
In writing Beginnings, he has succeeded in portraying early humans, their behavior, and environment as they actually must have been 200,000 years ago, resulting in their emergence from an animalistic world as elite bipedal primates.
You may write to Mr. Hermann care of: henry.hermann@archebooks.com
W.C. (Chuck) Highfield
My interest in writing began in the early 1990s. With eagerness to write stories for children, I enrolled in, and successfully completed, a course in Special Publishing offered by the Institute of Children’s Literature.
In 2000, I decided to write an adult-themed novel. In 2001, I self-published In Sun Down Far. The story is set on Fort Myers Beach, Florida, but I fictionalized all of the names of locations and establishments (to protect the innocent and the guilty). Having regularly visited Fort Myers Beach since 1991, I drew on many personal experiences, and worked some of them into the book. As a theme for the story, I take a somewhat critical look at the pursuit of materialism. The narrative presents an island slice of life with an emphasis on the music of the blues. I strive to strike a correlation between the two.
My second novel, Streets, was completed in 2010. Streets is set in Key West, Florida and the story’s subject concerns the ever-growing crisis of homelessness. The main character undergoes a series of surreal experiences that begin to have a positive impact on his life. The dilemma our country faces with a continuing increase of its citizens living on the street is a subject that concerns and distresses me. The book uses an out of the ordinary means to consider the problem.
Both novels, several children’s stories, and a number of articles written for The Island Sand Paper (Fort Myers Beach) appear on my website: www.WCHighfield.com.
I am a graduate of the University of Delaware and also a native of The First State. After a decade of employment in the moving and storage industry, I embarked on a twenty-year run of ownership of a residential and commercial painting business. In 2006, I moved to Fort Myers.
Sports have always been a big part of my life. Baseball was tops from an early age, and culminated with playing ten years in the Delaware Semi-Pro League. Later, I picked up the running bug and participated in hundreds of road races ranging from 5Ks to half-marathons. I continue to take part in various forms of physical activity and endeavor to enjoy outdoor life
Connie Hope
My first experience cooking was on a chair next to my mother. Then I learned to add spices and herbs, create appetizers, mix fruits and vegetables to make salsas and chutneys, use fruits to make jellies, jams, and experiment with all type of ingredents to make homemade soups. You can use side dishes to make a ho-hum meal into a excellent meal. My book, In Addition...to the Entree helps you put your meals together quickly and easily by making it enjoyable. Don't eat out every night, why not try cooking by help from Connie.
In Addition…to the Entrée is all about side dishes. It has fourteen sections, one hundred and sixty recipes, sixty five colored photographs and many sketches to let you experience the recipes first hand.
Timothy M. Jacobs
For over 25 years I've been writing poetry, short stories, articles and books. My work has been published in such publications as Kracked Mirror Mysteries, Lighthouse Digest, The Connecticut Nutmegger, Gulf & Main Magazine, and Patriots of the American Revolution. I've also written for such newspapers as The Beacon, The Source, The Valley Courier and Guilford Courier.
Books I've written include: Goodspeed's Folly: The Life of William Henry Goodspeed and his Opera House, Milestones & Memories: The History of the St. George Catholic Community Church, The Basics of Research, Writing and Self Publishing and my latest release is H. E. Heitman: An Early Entrepreneur of Fort Myers, Florida.
I’m also the editor for Patriots of the American Revolution magazine. Check out www.patriotsar.com for more information.
Please visit www.tmjacobs.com to learn more about me, my writing, upcoming lectures, current projects, and much more. I’ve been a member of the Gulf Coast Writer’s Association for six years, and was a guest speaker in May 2005.
Michelle A. James
Michelle was always an avid reader since her childhood days, spent in her island home of Jamaica. She would read primarily romance and mystery novels which piqued her interest. The adventure later began in her college years when her thirst for knowledge was unquenchable. She would thumb through endless pages of various magazines and publications: science, business, home and garden and religion... just to name a few. It was then that she realized that she had a knack for writing, particularly poetry.
Now, instead of keeping all her thoughts on paper to herself, she feels the need to share them with the world. “One never knows whether or not this seed of mine that is being sown, will fall on the soil of another person's heart, to burst forth roots of encouragement, produce fruit of inspiration, or bloom flowers of blessing,” she says.
Much of the content of Michelle’s material stems from the foundational roots of her Christian faith.
Her published works include "A Black Sheep in the Fold" (fiction) and “Writes of Passage” (poetry).
Michelle says she hopes “to continue to shine this little light of mine, which God in His grace has given to me, in a dark and dying world. Whatever the impact, I pray that, as He has been a blessing to me, I will pass the batón throughout this Life Race and be a blessing to others as well.”
Feel free to visit her website at: http://michellejameswrites.webs.com
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Patricia B. Janda
My interest in writing goes back to childhood days in Trenton, New Jersey. In 1942, at the age of ten, I was impressed by a movie newsreel account of General James H. (Jimmy) Doolittle’s crucial bombing mission over Tokyo in World War 11. That evening I composed a poem about him and my grandmother mailed it to the War Department in Washington. A short time later, the general responded. He said my poem "was indeed inspiring"…and he would take it with him and go on to victory. Those words, and the rest of his letter, gave me the encouragement to pursue writing. Continuing to write poems and short stories, later I joined the high school newspaper and yearbook staff.
In 1977, my husband and I and our sons moved to Spencer, Iowa, where I got a job working in the Activity Department in a nursing home. It was there that I had the opportunity to start a monthly newsletter for the residents. Not knowing how to type, I wrote the copy in long hand and the Activity Director typed it. The Lantern continues to this day. In 1983, I was again working at a nursing home, this time in Topeka, Kansas. A resident wanted to improve his English and asked me if I had any books on grammar. I searched my home and found an old workbook from college days in 1951. One exercise had never been turned in. A question on the page asked, "What do you really want to be?" I had written, "I want to be a writer." Realizing then just how long this love of writing went back, I decided to really pursue my desire to write.
Enrolling at Washburn University, I took all the Creative Writing and Writer's Seminar courses available. I joined Kansas Authors Club and eventually my poem, Wayward Boy, was selected for their yearbook. It remains on file at the university library. I was now writing poems and stories for the classes and initiated a newsletter for the Newcomers Club, writing in long hand and my friend typed it. When she moved out of town, I was forced to learn to type. Unable to attend the typing classes offered at the time, I bought a $3.00 instruction book, sat at my kitchen table for hours at a time, and typed on my son's manual typewriter with a grocery bag on my head (so I couldn't peek at the keys!). In one week, I could type – very, very slowly, but accurately. A column called Personally with Pat for the Topeka Weekly Review came next. The pay was ten dollars a week, but I had a byline with my picture!
My first check ever for writing was $50.00 (for five columns). That made me a ‘professional writer!’ Taking the coveted check to the bank, I suddenly snatched it back from the teller before she could cash it. I just couldn’t let it go. Hurrying over to a Xerox machine, I made a copy to keep forever and finally cashed the check.The tiny Sherwood Gazette periodical hired me for a 300-word piece and paid the unbelievable salary of $20.00 a month!
My poem for the newsletter Compassionate Friends was published on the front-page and circulated in several states. In Topeka, Kansas, all my dreams came true. Perhaps I was going to be a writer after all. Another transfer, and we were in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Joining a writers' club, I began submitting non-fiction manuscripts to the big magazines. I learned the hard way that you do not send a story about the elderly to Redbook, which caters to 18 to 40 year olds; finding the right market is key.
My 300-word piece to Reader's Digest came back so fast, it almost made my head spin. Later I learned they receive 50,000 unsolicited manuscripts a year. I'm sure mine never had a chance. Little by little, I was discovering the trials and tribulations a writer must go through. From White Bear Lake we relocated to Florida. While working at the Seven Lakes Association, I had the opportunity to write stories for their seasonal Seven Laker newspaper. Besides my regular column about the residents called At the Pavilion, I wrote more than one hundred additional non-fiction articles over an 11-year period.
In October 2001, Gulf Coast Writers Association came into my life. Since then several of my articles have been published in the club's Anthology and five pieces have appeared so far in Ft. Myers Magazine. My association with Gulf Coast Writers has been extremely gratifying. The members' encouragement, assistance and caring help me more than I can ever say. Looking back over the years, I smile when I think of General Jimmy Doolittle’s kind words, as well as that gentleman in Topeka, Kansas who wanted a book on grammar. Because of them, I realized that, "Yes, I want to be a writer."
Carol Kennedy
Dr. Carol Kennedy has authored three books: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PARENTING FROM A TO Z, SO HELP ME GOD, now in its fourth printing. You’ll find practical parenting tips as well as literacy games for the whole family. THE FIFTEEN MINUTE GUIDE TO PARENTING complements the A-Z book, and is a Christian workbook. THE GRIEF MONSTER carries the reader on a journey, as Dr. Carol shares gripping moments as she struggled with her ‘monster’ when her sister was killed. In progress is the fourth book, ONLY GOD CAN UNSCRAMBLE EGGS. Dr. Carol speaks to schools, churches, ladies groups and conventions. To find out more please visit www.drcarolkennedy.com. She is also in the speakers’ bureau of www.faccs.org
Lew Knickerbocker
A long military career sent Lew around the globe in assignments ranging from embassy duty to clandestine activities and special operations. Along the way, he earned advanced degrees in management, political economics, and economic forecasting. Returning to civilian life, he held a management post with a Fortune 500 corporation and later founded an international consultancy. He wrote numerous articles that appeared in industry publications and co-authored two niche-market non-fiction works on pesticides published by Agro/Informa (UK). Loss of his eyesight ended the days of poring over spreadsheets. Nowadays he dictates novels and short stories in collaboration with Fanci Shipp, his seeing eye person and editor.
Lew's first novel, That Moment of Moments, is the story of an easygoing war hero who believes only in luck falls in love with a girl who believes only in self-discipline and planning every move. When opposites attract, sparks fly. It received a 4.5 star reader rating on Amazon.com.
He’s searching for a publisher for his recently completed novel, The Earth Endures. The good, the bad, and the CIA clash in Argentina. CIA agent Kurt-Gustaf von Arnheim is there because Argentina has oil. The US wants it. Argentine President Juan Peron stands in the way. Along the way, von Arnheim collides with Argentina’s chief spycatcher, a beautiful assassin, a rich bitch and a bomb-throwing courtesan.
Carmine and Dorayne Lombardo
CARMINE LOMBARDO – 2009 SENIOR POET LAUREATE OF FLORIDA, AUTHOR, LIBRETTIST, LYRICIST
Carmine began his writing career at age 16 and to date he has written 11 children's books, poems, many which have been published in collections and anthologies and 11 musicals - DOBDINOB, The Children's Book and DOBDINOB, The Family Musical being his latest, was recently published by Heuer Publishing LLC. (See Hitplays.com) Presently, he has completed the lyrics and, in collaboration with his wife, Dorayne, the book of his new musical, The Studio. He has also collaborated in writing over 800 songs, many of which have been published and have become hits. As a member of BMI, (Broadcast Music, Inc.), he won a scholarship to a musical theatre workshop under the direction of Lehman Engel. Carmine became a staff writer for Southern-Peer Music, Inc. and Fred Fisher Music in NYC. He spent 13 years in Nashville producing albums and collaborating with many famous country writers. He was honored to receive the 2009 17th Annual National Senior Poets Laureate of Florida Award sponsored by Amy Kitchener’s Angels Without Wings Foundation. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, The Authors’ League and Gulf Coast Writers Association, Inc. He received his B.A. and M.A. from Seton Hall University and became a Language Arts and drama teacher. His family of three children, six grand children and five great grand children are closer than pages in a book. Happily and gratefully blessed, he now lives in Cape Coral, Fl with his wife, Dorayne.
DORAYNE LOMBARDO - WRITER- ARTIST- SINGER - DESIGNER
Dorayne Lombardo, aka Lydia Ann Cummings, has a long and successful singing and writing career. A member of BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) and Gulf Coast Writers Association, she collaborated in writing, editing, participating in and designing the costumes and staging for many musicals and revues, the latest – DOBDINOB, The Family Musical.
Her creative art works have been widely accepted in the United States and Europe. She is a member of The Cape Coral Art League and Pine Island Art Association, where she instructs. Presently while continuing her fine art, she is engaged in contributing her artistic talents as set designer and art director for Cape Coral’s Cultural Park Theatre.
Dorayne’s music, editing, visual, creative costume designs and scenery for DOBDINOB, The Family Musical, have contributed to its illustrious productions. Recently, in collaboration with her husband, Carmine, she completed the book of their exciting new musical, The Studio.
Email for Carmine and Dorayne: cdpenbrush@aol.com
Judy Loose
I started making up stories to tell whoever would listen, virtually when I started talking. I started writing the stories down when I was nine or ten. Yet, somehow as an adult, for about thirty years, the only writing I did was business and technical writing. I spent those years working for corporations in the High-Tech industry, specializing in implementing company-wide Information Systems. At age fifty, I started writing for pleasure, again - first poetry, then short stories, and finally novels.
I am currently trying to find publishers for my last two novels:
• Junkanoo is an international thriller about trying to stop a very deadly computer virus.
• Mangrove Madness, set in Florida, is a humorous mystery about a newly licensed female PI trying to track down first one, then two...then seven missing people.
Next is a follow up novel to Mangrove Madness.
Please feel free to email me at jcloose@looselinks.com
Mary Beth Lundgren
Mary Beth Lundgren has belonged to Gulf Coast Writers for six years. She especially loves to write for children, and is the author of two picture books—the award-winning Seven Scary Monsters, and We Sing the City, and teen novel, Love, Sara, a Junior Library Guild selection. Her stories, poems, and articles have been published in anthologies and magazines for children: Spider, Cricket, Pockets, and My Friend, she’s also published articles, memoirs, and essays in anthologies, newspapers, and magazines for adults. For three years, she tutored students at Project: LEARN, an adult literacy program in Cleveland, OH, which published her award-winning, restricted-vocabulary book about computers. Since moving to Florida in 1999, she’s been a member of the Florida Native Plant Society, and put together the monthly newsletter of the local FNPS chapter for a year. She lives in "The Cape" with husband, Ted, a computer consultant, and three gorgeous and loving black cats.
Jeri Magg
Jeri, a freelance writer for the past fifteen year, has written interview, health, travel, history and art pieces for local, regional and national magazines and newspapers. Recent articles have appeared in The National Cowboy Hall of Fame Magazine, Persimmon Hill, Transitions Abroad, Mature Lifestyles, Ft. Myers News Press, Sanibel Island Sun, Sanibel Islander and Ft. Myers Magazine. She has produced newsletters and designed and maintains the GCWA and Sanibel Historical Village and Museum websites. Currently she is working on a nonfiction book "Historical Sites of Sanibel and Captiva Islands." She is a resident of Sanibel Island, Florida for the past 26 years, and a founding member of the Gulf Coast Writers Association.
Contact Jeri: jerimagg@comcast.net
Sandra McClinton
Sandra McClinton, author of Lyrical Aviators: Traveling America's Airways in a Small Plane, was born in the cotton mill town of Sycamore, Alabama. She attended Jacksonville State University in Alabama before transferring to Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Mathematics.
McClinton has worked at a number of jobs where she has gained valuable experiences for her writing. She taught Algebra in junior high schools before she switched to computer programming. Most of her career has been spent as a software engineer for NASA, the Army and Newport News Shipbuilding.
McClinton fell in love with flying and spent a year at the Garner Airport in Windsor, Virginia, learning how to fly sailplanes and crew for the Tidewater Soaring Society. She soloed in a Schweizer 2-33. She has been part owner of a Cessna 150 and a Cessna Cutlass 172-RG. She has been active in several aviation organizations, including the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society. McClinton and her husband have put more than 300,000 miles on their Cessna, traveling to remote places like Alaska and exotic places like the Caribbean.
In addition to the nonfiction book, Lyrical Aviators (published by Whistling Swan Press in 2000), McClinton has written several articles and poems in flying magazines. "Blue Water to Baja Mar" was published in Plane & Pilot and Air Race Classic 2002 was published in the International Women Pilots magazine. She is a poet as well as a writer and is a member of The Poetry Society of Virginia. Some of her poems were published in The Poetry Society of Virginia 80th Anniversary Anthology of Poems.
McClinton and her husband find a lot of material for her writing when they island hop in the Caribbean and fly the harrowing passes of Alaska. She lives in Cape Coral, Florida, with her husband.
Dick Miller
Dick Miller was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. A Lutheran minister for 38 years, he served as Pastor of congregations in Connecticut and New Jersey, and Senior Pastor of a large multi-staffed church in Florida before retiring in 2001. Dick has made presentations on book-related topics to students, church groups, seniors and civic organizations, and is available for speaking engagements.
This is his first published work of historical fiction. Dick lives in Florida with his wife, Donna. He has two sons, one in North Carolina and the other in Florida. Dick and Donna have six grandchildren. Dick has published his first book - The Boxcar Kid --- Get Free Sample and More Data at
Jan Nieman
After teaching second graders, raising five children, and supervising a Social Security office, I fell into owning a mobile pet grooming business. Instead of dealing with humans, I acquired new skills such as trimming hair to disguise a dog’s missing eye and crawling under vans to detect which hose was spewing green fluid. Upon retiring, I tried to purge my nightmares about that quirky career by writing about it. I joined GCWA, and with its guidance, terrific speakers, and workshops, I wrote my creative nonfiction, humorous tale, Going to the Dogs; Confessions of a Mobile Pet Groomer. New Chapter Publisher’s Editor-in-Chief, Chris Angermann, and our own Grammar Granny, Martha Jeffers, guided me through the maze of content and grammar editing.
Look for it in October 2010.
Contact Jan @ nieman.jan7@gmail.com
Jan's blog is www.authorjannieman.blogspot.com
Patrick Parker
My bio: well, to start, this is my first novel. I've had experience writing technical reports and scientific articles in my former life as a pharmaceutical researcher, and after I retired I wanted to try something else, and out came Ben's Tale. One of my passions is early Americana, and I wanted to explore a possible ancestral linkage to Benedict Arnold. This provided the germ of an idea which I developed into a full blown story.
The more I read about Arnold, the more I got interested in seeing if I could stitch together something that would show him in a more sympathetic light. I always felt he got a raw deal when I first learned about his contribution to the revolution and how his fellow compatriots looked so shallowly upon him. Until B.A. fled to the British side, Washington and many of the higher-ups held him in high regard, but there were too many others who did not. And then there was the burning question, to me, of where did he go when the fighting stopped? I think the book answers that question, and others too.
I moved to Florida in 1980--half my time here in the Naples area and half in Key West. I worked in pharmacy research & development since I graduated from the University of Michigan in the mid-60s until I moved south. In Florida I worked in retail pharmacy with a smattering of hospital and nursing home work in between. I retired in 2006 and maintained a summer place in Washington County, New York, until recently. Much of the action in Ben's Tale takes place in this part of upstate New York, which is an area I know very well.
Bill Phelps
Born in Norwalk, Ct in 1954 and lived there until 1964. Moved to Warwick, Rhode Island until he graduated from High School. Served in the United States Air Force from 1973-1993. He's been around the world a couple of times and has lived in Germany, Turkey, Thailand, the Philippine Islands and other fun places like Omaha.
Bill has mined his experiences as a former intelligence analyst and foreign operative during his twenty years in the military to create prose and poetry that speaks with sensitivity to aspects unique to veterans of the Viet Nam era. He is currently working on some fiction pieces derived from his military and intelligence experience. Not your usual spy stuff, but the dangerous, unglamorous, brutal and essentially pointless power politics of the 70’s and 80’s. They will encompass three novels
Maynard Poland
Maynard D. Poland, a retired physician and avid sailor who has published sailing adventures in addition to medical articles, teaches Medical Terminology and Anatomy & Physiology at Edison College in Ft. Myers. He is a member of the Gulf Coast Writers Association of Southwest Florida and writes a column on creative nonfiction for GCWA at www.gulfwriters.org.
In August, he self-published a book through BookSurge, a division of Amazon.com. The book, On Wings of Trust, is the memoir (as told to him) of a female pilot, a work of creative non-fiction. The writing and publishing included consideration of aspects of libel, including consultation with a libel attorney and purchase of libel insurance. Check out more about that book at amazon.com
This memoir is the true story of Carole Leigh's struggle to become a Navy, then a commercial pilot. Along the way, Carole overcame severe gender bias, faced bogus threats of court-martial, and endured imposition of needlessly dangerous pilot training maneuvers. Among her Navy adventures are anecdotes about physical fitness and wilderness training, tracking Russian submarines, fatal episodes involving fellow pilots, and surviving an attempted kidnapping into white slavery in Dakar, Senegal. Also included is an incident when Carole was Captain of a commercial aircraft that had two emergencies, threatening the lives of 114 passengers and crew. She subsequently discovered neglected maintenance as the cause, a betrayal of the trust pilots must have in the maintenance of their aircraft. Her story is a tale of challenge and adventure that will interest and entertain anyone who has been on an airplane.
Steve Ruediger
Steve Ruediger, 67, is a retired newspaper reporter and stockbroker. He has worked at The Miami Herald, the Tampa Tribune, the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, and the Fort Myers News-Press. He has a BA in international relations from American University in Washington, D.C. and wrote for Congressional Quarterly. He is a member of Mensa, the high IQ society. Contacting Steve Ruediger: e-mail: sruediger@aol.com; cellphone: 239-443-9008; mailing address: 5670 Riverside Dr., Cape Coral, Fl. 33904.
Steve Ruediger is currently rewriting his two novels. First drafts of both novels were completed. Steve would rather wait to submit for publication then take the chance of publishing something mediocre. For more information on the novels go to Steve’s website at www.stevetheauthor.com
Jane Kennedy Sutton
For years, moving around the globe with my husband and daughter, I considered myself a 'professional tourist.' While living in Taiwan, Korea, England, the Netherlands, Italy, and Saudi Arabia, I had the chance to explore many other places. Now that I’m back in the states, I'm an occasional tourist and full time writer.
I’ve had several articles published in the AWAR Forum magazine in Rome. I’ve won a short story contest and received an honorable mention for best first chapter of a novel.
ArcheBooks published my first novel, The Ride. It was released 2008 and is available from the publisher, ArcheBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other internet markets. Local bookstores will be able to order it if you don't see it on their shelves by providing them with ISBN-10: 1-59507-193-8 or ISBN-13: 978-159507-193-4 numbers.
Please visit my blog, janekennedysutton.blogspot.com, my web site, janesutton.com, or read my short story at www.authorsden.com/janesutton.
You can contact me at janekennedysutton@gmail.com
Joyce Voet
Joyce Voet is a retired teacher and librarian from Holland, Michigan, who writes for fun while spending six months in Florida each year and participating in a writing group called "Wordsmiths" at Siesta Bay R.V. Resort on Summerlin Road in Ft. Myers. She was a poetry contest winner in the 2007 writing contest for GCWA.
Paula Watson
Paula Watson is a freelance writer and native Floridian. She has 24 years experience researching, writing, and editing in a variety of industries – airline, banking, education, engineering, financial services, insurance, mortgage, non profit, real estate, retirement services, securities and the stock market.
Since August 2004, she has provided creative and technical writing services exclusively through her company PWCTW, INC. Writing services include articles, biographies, blogs, database manuals, grant applications, grant letters, historical research, human interest stories, marketing materials, newsletters, operational procedures, style guides, training manuals, user software manuals, white papers and other documents on a project-by-project basis.
She has also written with and without a byline for Shell Point Life magazine since June 2008. Articles published with her byline include Discovering the Calusa (June 2010), chillin': Keeping Shell Point Cool and Bug Busters: Mosquito Control in Lee County (July 2009), Managing Medications (May 2009) and The City of Fort Myers and A Passion for Music & Medicine (February 2009).
Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams, professional storyteller and writer, is a retired educator who has spent 35 years as a high school teacher of English and also of mathematics. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Queens College and a Master of Education degree from Columbia University. She has been a member of the Fort Myers Toastmasters for the past eight years where she has earned the Advanced Toastmasters Silver Award specializing in the Storytelling and Entertaining Speaker categories. She was the club’s Toastmaster of the Year for 2006-2007. She is a member of the Florida Speakers Association, where she received the New Member of the Year Award for 2005-2006. She is a member of the Tamiami Tale Tellers of Fort Myers and the Gulf Coast Writers Association. She is a member of the board of the Florida Storytellers Association and was recently nominated for the 2010 Literary Artist of the Year award by the Lee County Alliance for the Arts.
Mary Lou also wears another hat as a nutrition lecturer and writer. She has lectured extensively in this field and writes a nutrition column for four local newspapers.
In addition to all of this, Mary Lou has illistrated a new Children's book, Silly Sally, written by Marilyn Lane Hurley.
You can contact Mary Lou @ mwfortmyers@aol.com
See her website @ www.story-theartre.com