Friday, July 22, 2016

Author Feature: D.R. Sanchez

Debra R. Sanchez has moved over thirty times...so far. She and her husband have three adult children, four grandchildren, as well as a cat and a dog. She leads and attends various writing groups in the Pittsburgh area and also hosts writing retreats. Her writing has won awards at writers conferences in various genres, including children’s stories, poetry, fantasy, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Several of her plays and monologues have been produced and published. Her other works have been published in literary magazines, newspapers, and anthologies.

Her bilingual children’s picture book And My Mother Cried/Y Mi Mama Lloró was awarded “Best Children’s Book of 2017” in The Author Zone (TAZ) awards. Her hybrid book for writers and readers, Prompted, Prodded, Published: How Writing Prompts Can Help All Writers was published in April 2017 and also won a TAZ award. Her play Pages (Páginas) was published in 2016 in both English and Spanish.

Find Debra's work on her Website



Thursday, July 21, 2016

Author Feature: Miles Gregory

Photo by the Author
Miles Gregory is an author of Amish fiction novels. They are both hilarious and a mystery.  He works tirelessly to help his friends in this make believe world. He suffers from a perpetual lack of sleep. But, he is spurred on by a constant supply of strong black coffee.  Miles Gregory's work, in this genre, has received rave reviews.

Find Miles at TheHiddenTreasure.net




Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Author Feature: Kevin Elliott

Kevin Elliott has been writing in various genres for ten years, especially in poetry and fiction. He has self-published several poetry books and a few online articles. Though he has been working on several larger writing projects, The WordCasters (2014) is his first published novel. He runs a small game development business on the side and currently works full-time as a Family Therapist.

Find him at CoseGames.com


Monday, July 18, 2016

Author Feature: William A. Wright and Dale Ann Edmiston

William A. Wright (Bill) and Dale Ann Edmiston (Brave Knight Writers) are a husband-and-wife writing team who live in Slippery Rock. Bill gets the ideas, discusses them with Dale, and writes up the draft; Dale then works on the content and line edits. Havasupai is not their only novel; a second (St. Croix) and third (Paper Alley) are completed and are in the editing process; and a short story (“Hitchers”) is awaiting expansion. They have won awards for flash fiction.

Most of Bill’s inspiration comes from life experience. Havasupai was inspired by his own solo excursion into the Havasupai region of the Grand Canyon, and his interaction with Native Americans. Both Bill and Dale are adventurers who have backpacked and motorcycled all over North America and Europe.

Follow Brave Knight at:
Google +
Blog
Havasupai on FaceBook
Amazon
 

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Author Feature: Stephen V. Ramey

Stephen's short fiction has been published in many places, from the Journal of Compressed Creative Arts and MicroLiterature to Daily Science Fiction. He is best known for his flash fiction, some of which has been gathered into his first collection, Glass Animals, from Pure Slush Books. He lives in beautiful New Castle, Pennsylvania with his wife and two reformed feral cats, Yoko and Ono. Find him at StephenVRamey.com while supplies last.


Glass Animals
Pure Slush Books

Glass Animals is one of those rare short story collections where every story is great. Stephen V Ramey takes the reader on wild adventures, with stories that are hilarious, poignant, and powerful. Ramey is a master of the short craft, and he pulls it off whether the story is a half-page or ten pages. Although the stories aren't strongly connected to each other, Ramey's pacing and prose makes this book addictive.: - Nathanial Tower, Edtior of Bartleby Snopes"

Triangulation: Last Contact (editor)
Parsek Ink

Within these pages, you'll discover the dust of Martian civilization, Rumpelstiltskin's true face, Roanoke’s fate, and much, much more. From marmots with computer problems to boll weevils on steroids, from mermaids to cyborgs. You want an endless party? No problem. How about a perfect dewdrop or a Saudi superhero? Lepers defending Jerusalem? Has your love interest eaten a pharaoh? You'll find it all in this impressive collection. 250 pages of speculative fiction! (27 originals, 1 reprint)

Triangulation: Morning After (editor)
Parsec Ink

Triangulation: Morning After is the 2012 edition of PARSEC Ink's internationally acclaimed anthology featuring 24 original short stories from up and coming authors in speculative fiction. What will your Morning After bring? Metamorphosis? A daunting moonwalk? Un-death? An end to eternal night? How about a squirrel in your shower, Jesus in the lobby, a meeting with Mr. Higgs? Green grass, a child of prophecy, Cthulu in your backyard, a menagerie of beasts, a sacred drum? It's all here, and more, in this thoughtful, touching, entertaining collection of 24 original short stories by today's up and coming writers. The long night since Last Contact is over, friends. Join us for the Morning After.

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Stephen will have his wife's books at the festival, as well, although she cannot attend this year:

Susan Urbanek Linville received her PhD in biology from the University of Dayton and has been writing science scripts for Indiana University's "A Moment of Science" PODcasts for several years. She has also written non-fiction books, children's fiction, newspaper and encyclopedia articles, newsletters and short fiction. She currently works part-time as Administrator for the Lawrence County Historical Society.

Books available at Festival:

In Hot Pursuit: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania
Pokeberry Press

The book includes stories about abolitionists and conductors who operated in Lawrence County during the years preceding the Civil War. It also highlights the Free-Black community, the importance of area ministers in rebuking slavery, and the county’s national participation in the fight against slavery.


A School For My Village
Viking Penguin Book Group

Can one person really make a difference in the world? Twesigye Jackson Kaguri overcame tremendous odds as he followed his dream to build a school for AIDS orphans in his village in Uganda. This is his unforgettable story. 



Author Feature: Ellen List

Ellen List grew up on a 250-acre farm. Unlike most writers, her childhood interests did not include reading and writing. Instead, she drove tractors and played football with the boys. Her dislike for reading and writing continued throughout high school, college and beyond.

When her own children were in college, Ellen signed up for a nine-month Bible study called Kerygma, which required a great deal of reading and writing. One day, the teacher read Ellen’s homework paper aloud. After class, an older gal approached asking, “Do you write?” The idea was laughable, but Ellen, quickly sobered when this woman stated, “My writers group meets this Thursday at 1:00. My house. Be there.”

And there, under the kind tutelage of Marcie and her Wordweavers, Ellen learned what she’d been missing all of her life. Writing.

Within six months, at the St. Davids Christian Writers Conference, Ellen won the prestigious Alma K. Weber award for the most promising upcoming writer. Within the next year, she had 26 articles published in both Christian and general markets.

In the sixteen years hence, her by-line has appeared in numerous venues including online, magazines, devotional books, and newspapers in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Colorado. One of her short stories is published in Miracles & Moments of Grace, Inspiring Stories of Survival.

This year, her speaking engagements included the entire 6th grade class in a local school system on the topic of writing.

Ellen’s children’s book, Shy Little Patty, started as a fun little summer project with two of her grandchildren, Kennedy and Mia List who, at nine years old, illustrated Shy Little Patty, which now has sales in four countries.

Ellen List and her husband, Daryl, live in West Middlesex, PA. They have two grown children: Amanda and Mike. Ellen enjoys playing handbells, coaching Cross Country and especially her four grandchildren, who were all born the same year. Triplets: Kennedy, Mia and Andrew, and Kaetie.

Author Feature: Ronald K. Myers

Whether American novelist Ronald K. Myers, is remembering the brutalities of being beaten when he could scarcely walk, being outweighed and outclassed in the boxing ring, or dying and coming back to life, his writing reveals things we could not have expected.  His varied life experiences are reflected in his writings.  When he’s not swimming, fishing, or at a writer’s meeting, he can be found in Sharon, Pennsylvania, reading and writing.

Before Double Dragon Publishing of Canada began publishing his novels, Myers had written numerous short stories and nine novels.  He claims finally getting published is a thirty year overnight success. His genres include:

Futuristic/SF novels:

Stay On the Blue Grass shows us why pig people must stay on the blue grass and allow the rat-tailed Pygmies to work their magic.

A powerful forewarning, The Orange Turn gives us a glimpse of what happens when pig people do not.

In Pygmy Wars a knee-high pie pygmy’s father is killed, the fluffy-tailed pie pygmy searches for a safe place to live, but cannibalism creates a disease that causes pygmies to go mad and eat every living thing.


Action/Adventure/Mystery:

In Dillinger’s Deception, Al Capone is supposed to be in prison, but he is in the Green Parrot Tavern arranging a deal with the FBI that includes John Dillinger.

Impossible Gold
is a masterpiece, where young meet old. Blondie and the trio from Dillinger’s Deception are a little older and a little wiser. But can they avoid car bombs, cross raging rapids of the Shenango River, or survive surroundings like the machine gun turret protected Jungle Inn Casino and win the battle for impossible gold?


Humorous/Historical Fiction/Horror:

Based on Myers’ childhood, I’m Gonna Cut Your Ears Off takes us under a pall of pollution.  Here, the lure of steel mills and alcohol have replaced God, and adolescents struggle to free themselves from, child molesters, gang members, crooked cops, and sickos who use puppies for baseballs.




Trade paperbacks and e-Books are available at:
Double Dragon Ebooks

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Author Feature: Robert D. Woodley

Robert D. Woodley was born and raised in The Bronx, New York along with a three-year childhood hiatus in Greenville, Pennsylvania, his mother's hometown. During his 6th grade at St. Michael School, he amazed his teacher with a short story composition. This spurred him to consider a writing career that included editing a newspaper and cruise book while serving aboard ship in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Besides his shipmates enjoying his writing, they also noted his baseball skills and knowledge. During his career as a mainframe computer operator, Robert returned to fiction writing to relax from the stress of that work. After spending a few years writing short stories, he ventured into writing novels with baseball as a backdrop to modern mainstream situations and characters. This work drew the praise and attention from famous Mercer County historical romance author, Sylvie Sommerfield, until her sudden passing in 1995. Robert moved with his family to Greenville in 1977. He and his wife, Debbie, have three grown sons. In recent years he successfully coached Little League teams to winning seasons and later served as an umpire.



Monday, June 27, 2016

Author Feature: Ann Antognoli

Ann Abraham Antognoli was born and raised in New Castle, Pennsylvania. The sixth child of Lebanese immigrants, she learned to love story-telling as a child because her parents always told stories to teach life lessons. She earned a Bachelor of Science in English from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in English from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. She taught high school English for over twenty-five years and lives with her husband David in New Castle, PA. She and her husband are the parents of Jason, Erin, and son-in-law, Andy.

High-minded literature lifts the world from darkness to light.

Find Ann on Facebook




Quotes from The Sunny Spaces:

“God gives us the right to love, and love obligates us to soar.” Ava Panetta

“Did you ever notice that the people who genuinely like who they are rarely cause others grief?” Jim O’Brien

“We all need second chances. God gave the world a rainbow after the flood.” Ava Panetta

“Smiling with warmth, the weathered woman stood and bowed. She reached out and clasped his hand and ran her fingers over the dog tags. He kept his eyes fixed on her and nodded as she spoke in a gentle but deliberate tone. She ended saying, “Di trong hòa bình.” (The war is over.)

Author Feature: Scott Schafer

Scott Schafer was born in 1979 and resides outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Since the age of five, he was very artistic, drawing different characters, and decided to take a chance at writing a children's book in 2001.

After researching self-publishing, he finally published his children's book in 2014. Although he grew a fondness for acting and writing sketch comedy, putting the book aside for so many years, the release of his book revived his ambitions for art, illustrating and writing.

Scott trademarked the IMAGINOGGIN logo for his children's books and will continue to write and illustrate books for many years to come.

His second children's book, THE DEViOUS MR. MISCHIEViOUS, was released in May 2016, and has been reviewed a Five Star Readers' Favorite.

Find Scott on his Website and on Facebook





Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Author Feature: Thom Thomas

 At age 59, it took Thom Thomas over two years to write “…give or take a pebble.” his sequel to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and another year to complete “…give or take a shilling.”  His vision is to write a four volume Krump Chronicles which will follow the Cratchit descendants from 1843 to present.  The premise is:  the ripples of a good deed performed in 1843 will reach shore in the early 21st century.

Thom was born in Central Pennsylvania in the house where his 93 year old mother still lives.  He studied Political Science at Indiana University of Pennsylvania before embarking on a thirty-five year journey through the world of manufacturing management.  He lived in New Castle when “…give or take a pebble.” was published.

His only other attempt to write a story was when he was in seventh grade at Purchase Line High School.  It was a spy novel entitled Sex the X (Sir Elbert Xenon the tenth). It was never finished.

Thom lives now in West Virginia.  He enjoys walking, yard work, and remodeling.

He is presently working on the third book in The Krump Chronicles.
His website is in progress.




Author Feature: Don Achenbach & Ammy Achenbach

Don Achenbach has wanted to be a writer since he was in the 3rd grade, but like many would-be authors, family and career obligations came first, and writing was pushed back to the back burner. When his daughters were young (and money to buy books was tight), he wrote a series of stories featuring a small boy with a vivid imagination named Oliver Toliver just to read to his girls. Years later, daughter Pam (Ammy) helped edit the books, and the Oliver Toliver series was formalized. Don has also written a business philosophy book called The Legend of Zaamtavia. He credits his Industrial Engineering background for adding focus and clarity to his writing. Don graduated from Thiel College and lives in Greenville, PA with his wife, Sue. They have two grown daughters and three young grandchildren.


Pamela “Ammy” Achenbach has published several short stories and essays as well as is the co-author of the Oliver Toliver children’s series. She currently is working on her dissertation on Doctor Who that will examine the role of generations of fandom in science fiction film. She has contributed essays to several anthologies, including Who Travels with the Doctor?: Essays on the Companions of Doctor Who and Time-Travel Television: The Past from the Present, the Future from the Past. In addition to writing, she teaches literature and writing classes at a local community college. Pamela graduated from Thiel College, has two Master’s Degrees from National University and is currently working on her PhD at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.



Find Ammy on Facebook


Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Author Feature: Anissa Clay

Anissa Clay is a sophomore vocal major at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland, PA. She lives with her mother, father, and sister in Findlay Twp. PA. When she's not reading or writing, Anissa enjoys singing, writing songs, as well as conducting the adult choir at her church.

Her debut novel for young adults, The God Conception, won the 2015 Emerging Author Award from TAZ, The Authors' Zone, (http://www.theauthorszone.com/) a Pittsburgh organization which showcases the works of aspiring authors. 

Website: AnissaClay.com