...read all about them...then read their books, articles, and stories!
As a child Donna Alvis created imaginary friends named Enya and Haylove. Lacking a brother, she dubbed the family cat her 'Fuzzy Brother.' In history class, while others snoozed, she wondered about the people way back when, how they lived, what their everyday lives were like. She still does that and then throws a little crime into their lives, as her forte is historical mystery. Her WIP, Spies, Lies, and French Fries, is set during the years of World War Two.
Tennessee writer Mary Ann Artrip has published three novels. Her first, Remember Me with Love was published in 1994 and won the publisher's Golden Book Award for mystery/suspense. It will be re-issued mid-2007 in a new edition. Her second, Moonshadows, came out in mid-2005 and her IPPY award-winning third novel, Surrey Square debuted in July 2006. Her books are available online from Amazon, Appalachianaga.myshopify.com, and other online bookstores. Mary Ann invites visitors to her website - Mary Ann Artrip
Janice Willis Barnett not only is a freelance writer and columnist for her hometown newspaper but has published articles and essays in such venues as Southern Arts Journal and Encyclopedia of Appalachia. Her essays have aired on Public Radio's Inside Appalachia. Currently Janice, whose roots in Unicoi County, TN go back to the late 1700's, is working on an oral history project for the town of Unicoi.
Arthur D. Bond, Ph. D., is a native of northern California with academic training in chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, Davis and the University of Oregon Medical School. His eighteen years of teaching at college and university resulted in three National Institute of Health research fellowships and four National Laboratories research fellowships, which led to numerous publications in scientific journals. He was director of analytic research with an international pharmaceutical company. He has taken classes in wood turning and blacksmithing at the John Campbell Folk School, and has published two previous short stories.
A.W. "Maggie" Bond painted since childhood, won state and local awards from the age of nine. She has won national and international awards since, with works in the Library of Congress in D.C. She is a juiried member in local, state, national and international professional arts associations. Attending John Campbell Fok School renewed her long-time interest in poetry; she is writing seriosly again. Her works have been published in several venues and read in many locations.
Patrick Bone took his writing seriously after he retired from his work as a parole officer with the State of Colorado. His first short story was published in Bruce Coville's Book of Monsters." He is also the author of Bloody Mary, Aliens of Transylvania County, and A Melungeon Winter. He is very near to finishing requirements for his doctorate.
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Jimmie O'Dell Carroll was born in Coalwood, WV in 1942 and graduated from Big Creek High School. A character in the movie October Sky is based on him. He attended the University of Maryland while stationed in Spangdahlem, Germany and graduated from Colorado State University in 1969. Since 1970, he has worked for State Farm Insurance. He has been involved in Scouting as a Cubmaster and a Scoutmaster with wood badge training.
William Walton (Bill) Cobbs II was born in the twenties in Southwest Virginia. He was a bodyguard to General Eisenhower in WW II. He has been a writer all of his life, publishing or coediting 170 books, including 43 children's books, and several thousand news columns and articles. He is presently a columnist for Media General newspapers. He holds several advanced degrees.
Adda Leah Davis is a retired schoolteacher, mother, grandmother and the author of six books. Her latest book, Lucinda's Mountain, was published in mid-2007. She also published the Golden Harvest Creations series of Primary school texts and workbooks and is owner of the Golden Harvest Creations bookstore.
Darrell Fleming, author of Family, Friends And War Heroes, Reflections From World War II, is a member of Lost State Writers Guild. He grew up in Clintwood, Dickenson County, Virginia. Graduated from Union College with majors in English and History/Political Science and from The University of Virginia with a Master of Education Degree in Secondary Administration. After serving in the United States Army, he began teaching English in Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax, Virginia where he taught at the secondary level for nine years and served as an assistant principal and principal for 16 years. He completed his career as Coordinator of Human Resources for Fairfax County Public Schools before retiring in 1988. Darrell and his wife, Kathy, moved to Blountville, Tennessee in 1994. He enjoys reading, writing, traveling, golfing and fishing. Family, Friends And War Heroes was published in September, 2005 and may be reviewed at www.darrellfleming.com.
Hazel Rash Fleming was born and raised in Washington County, Virginia. One of eleven children born to a sharecropper. She had never considered being a writer until after retiring from the Federal Government in 1995. She has had two short stories published in Good Old Days Magazine, two poems published in Echoes and Images at Northeast State Community College. Her first novel, The Pink Irish Rose, was released by Parkway Publishers in April 2006. The novel is available through Parkway Publishers, John F. Blair Publishers, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and local book stores. She is a member of Lost State Writers' Guild of Northeast Tennessee and Writers' Network at Northeast State Community College. Hazel and her husband, Jerry, currently live in Blountville, TN.
Born in Nottingham, England, David Gouldthorp appears to have lived out of a suitcase for most of his life, having tallied 41 permanent addresses over the years. His eye for detail is evident. Raised before the era of television, David developed his storytelling capabilities at the knee of his Grandfather, a magnificent yarn spinner and teller of tall tales as the family gathered around the hearth after supper. Against The Heavens’ Ink, his collection of stories, poems and observations was published in 2006.
Stan Grocki, a native of Brooklyn, NY, was a member of the 14th Brooklyn Regiment from 1944 to 1948 and has been a re-enactor with Company "C" of that regiment since 1988. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War as an aerial photographer aboard the U.S.S. Coral Sea CVA43 from 1950 to 1954. Stan now lives in Johnson City and is a member of the U.S.S. Coral Sea CVA43 Association, the National Association of Naval Photography, the Lost State Writers Guild, the Appalachian Authors Guild, and the Civil War Roundtable of Kingsport, TN.
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Warren Meredith Harris is a native of Virginia. His poems have appeared in several publications in both the United States and Britain, and one of his dramatic works has been performed on public radio in New York City. He is Professor of English at Southwest Virginia Community College and edits The Clinch Mountain Review, a literary review of regional writing.
Janice Hornburg is a native Texan who has lived in Jonesborough, TN since 1993. The recipient of a Bachelor of Arts degree from Houston Baptist College, Janice works as a Clinical Research Associate, a job involved in the FDA approvel of new drugs that takes her to research sites nationwide. Janice has written poetry and prose for her own enjoyment since childhood. She looks forward to retirement and being able to devote more time to serious wrtiing. She belongs to the North Carolina Writers Network, the Tennessee Writers Alliance, the Appalachian Writers Association, and teh North Carolina Poetry Society. A poem of hers was featured in the March poetry issue of SouthLit.com, and she has finished a novel.
Bill Ivey, a native of Richmond, Virginia, with his wife Jerry, a native of Bristol, Virginia, currently resides in Bristol. Bill has published poetry in the Canadian journal Open Minds Quarterly, in the Clinch Mountain Review, and in A! Magazine. Bill did not write his first poem until age 32, his next four at 38, and then no more until 59.
Jerry Ivey is a native of Southwest Virginia. She is new to writing and this is her first non-fiction piece. After a thirty-one year exile, she and her husband have returned to her childhood home. Jerry has a B.A. from Emory & Henry College.
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Carol Jackson, Tennessee writer, has written two children's books, Georgie the Gifted Giraffe and Adventures of Little Jacky Bear. She is chairperson of the Lost State Writers Guild, a member of the Appalachian Poets and Writers, and a member of the Bristol Art Guild. Carol worked with elementary school children for twenty-seven years before retiring. She plans to write more prose and poetry, paint a masterpiece, and enjoy the Arts events in Northeast Tennessee.
Steven James is a critically acclaimed author and award winning storyteller whose stories and articles have appeared in more than eighty different magazines. Since 2000 he has written more than twenty books and taught at writing conferences in the United States, Canada and India. He has recently launched a new series of thrillers, The Bowers Files. The first book, The Pawn, will be released on September 1, 2007. Publisher's Weekly called it "Riveting... A gripping plot and brisk pacing." To view the video trailer on YouTube go to - http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Mary Ellen Kelley was born in Perry County, Kentucky and graduated from Whitesburg High School and Cumberland College. She is a retired Social Services employee and is currently a very active volunteer with AARP of Virginia. She is married to Larry Wayne and has two sons, Jason and Jonah, and one grandson, Lucas.
Phillip Kestner is a local Presbyterian pastor and part-time adjunct humanities instructor at Northeast State Community College. He is published as co-illustrator of a Christian education series on the New Testament and numerous book reviews for the Chief of Navy Chaplains periodical.
Donnia Kestner is an ophthalmic nurse, Red Cross volunteer, Methodist voluntary missionary to Hispanic countries and lay speaker. She makes doll clothes and baskets as an avocation. Her hobbies in addition to the above are reading murder mystery novels and watching forensics.
Nada Myers Kirby was born in Townsend, Tennessee, and has had two articles about the place published in The Good Old Days magazine. She is now writing a book, Pastimes and Play-Pretties, in the Smokies in the '30s. She has been published in The Christian Response, and the anthology, A Gathering of Flowers, and in Kingsport Times-News. Her latest publication is a book on prayer. She won first place in a flash fiction contest in ByLine Magazine, and first place in poetry contest of the The National League of American Pen Women. She and husband, Jim, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, live in Kingsport.
Jane Lake now lives in East Tennessee, but has lived in Louisiana, Kentucky, and most recently Memphis. She and her husband like to spend summers camping in Wisconsin near her daughter. Jane has completed a fantasy children's book, ready to submit, and also writes poetry.
DJ Mathews has been a freelance writer for a number of years and has written has written for newspapers and publications such as Virginia Wildlife and the Appalachian Quarterly for over 20 years. She is the author of Let's Run Our Schools Together 1999, which can be found at www.buybooksontheweb.com. Originally from New York, she lives with her family in Castlewood, VA, where she is completing her first mystery novel.
Henry McCarthy was born in Johnson City, TN. His father was from Boston and his mother from the mountains of western North Carolina (Greasy Creek). He earned his bachelor's degree from East Tennessee State University, master's from the University of Kentucky, and his doctorate from the University of Tennessee. Henry, a world traveler and the author of one book and numerous education articles, has been a professor and assistant dean at Appalachian State University for thirty years. He ahs twice received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine for outstanding service to the state of North Carolina. His poems have appeared in the Journal of Expressive Arts and Clinch Mountain Review. He is a member of the Appalachian Center for Poets and Writers and the Winston-Salem Writers Association.
Joe Richard Morgan left the western North Carolina mountains to serve in the United States Marine Corps during and after the Korean conflict. A teacher who has taught language, literature and writing for over forty years, Joe is the author of Potato Branch: Sketches of Mountain Memories, published by Bright Mountain Books of Asheville, NC in 1992. His second book is Into The Chilling Water, October 2007, published by Ridgetop Books, a subsidiary of Bright Mountain Books whose website is: http://www.brightmountainbooks.com. He received his Ph.D. in English Literature from Stafford University in London, United Kingdom. He may be reached via email at these addresses: jrmorgan@madison.main.nc.us and jmorgan@davtv.com. Note that the second has no 'r' after 'j'.
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Sylvia Nickels is a Georgia native who lives in East Tennessee with her husband and a Chihuahua named Rosebud. Retired from the local telephone company, she is an officer in the local chapter of a national telephony retiree organization. Her fantasy and mystery stories have been published in Communities and Futures Mystery Anthology Magazines, and in ezines such as Bewildering Stories, Orchard Press Mysteries, Shadowkeep, Judas, and Writers Ezine. Sylvia's short story,The Perfect Wife, is currently an Amazon Short, now available for sale and download. She has finished one mystery novel, set in East TN, and is working on a sequel. In her spare time she creates and maintains websites, her own - Ramblin Scribe - and one for her writing group, Lost State Writers Guild.
Delilah O'Haynes is Professor of English at Concord University in Athens, WV, where she teaches Creative Writing. A coal miner's daughter from Clintwood, VA, Delilah's first book, The Character of Mountains, a collection of poetry and photography, was released in August 2006 and has been nominated for the Appalachian Book of the Year award. The book is available at Appalachian Authors Guild & Associates.
Eleanor H. Pendergraft is a native of Durham, NC. She received a BBA in Trust Management from Campbell University, NC in 1983. She has six children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Currently retired, she lives in Johnson City, TN and writes, paints and designs and builds furniture.
Geraldine Russo Porter has a BA in English from Empire State College (SUNY) and an M.B.A. from Syracuse University. Gerry worked from 1975-8 as a journalist in the U. S. Army. Having written poems in her high school and college years, Gerry recently returned to writing poetry and hopes to publish a collection of her works in the near future. Gerry currently resides in Johnson City, TN but considers Rochester, NY her home.
David Ramsey is an Appalachian photographer and native who makes his home high in the Unaka Mountains of Unicoi County, Tennessee. In addition to exhibiting his acclaimed work regionally, he frequently photographs and writes for a variety of magazines and publications, teaches outdoor photography, is a public speaker and regularly uses his powerful images of the Appalachian landscape to assist in the preservation and protection of the mountains he loves.
Michelle A. Ratliff was always making up stories, sometimes illustrating them in homemade books. In high school she wrote for the school paper, a local teen magazine, and edited her yearbook. When she later had two boys she again wrote, making up fanciful stories for their amusement. Some of their favorite memories hark back to this happy creative collaboration. She only seriously began to write since moving to Virginia. She credits the classes of the COA, the Lost State Writers Guild, and Arts Depot Appalachian Writers and Poets for encouragement and wonderful friendships.
C. A. Rose (see a rose) is the pen name and maiden name of Rose Klix. She has compiled three chapbooks of poetry illustrated with her photographs and written plays, children's stories, fiction, nonfiction and journalism. Using her mother's technique, she published three "How-to" books on quilting. She earned a BA in English from Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, SD and BS in Business from Excelsior College in Albany, NY. She retired after more than 20 years of civil service, including procurement positions with two military branches and three DC agencies. Her retirement ambition since moving to Tennessee has been to write, write, write, but she has learned there are still only 24 hours in a day.
Michael Samerdyke is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He has lived in far southwest Virginia for thirteen years. His nonfiction has appeared in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Military History Magazine and Bristol Herald Courier. He is a graduate of the Odyssey Writers Workshop and won the 2000 Lonesome Pine Short Story Contest.
Tammy Robinson Smith published her first novel, Emmybeth Speaks (Mountain Girl Press) in 2005. The first chapter was awarded second place in the adult short story category of the 2003 Virginia Highlands Festival. After a number of years as a broadcast reporter and public relations professional, she founded Mountain Girl Press in 2005. In 2006, she published and wrote the lead story for Zinnia Tales, a collection of short stories about Appalachian women by thirteen Appalachian women writers. She lives with her family in Bristol, VA and belongs to the Lost State Writers Guild, the Appalachian Authors Guild and is a participating artisan of 'round the Mountain. Her contact address is publisher@mountaingirlpress.com.
Linda Sorrell lives on a small farm near Johnson City, Tennessee. There she gives guitar, piano, and accordion lessons. She enjoys her organic gardens and nature as much as her cats, dogs and horses. She enjoys writing about and for her family. She has written articles for newspapers and music education magazines.
James D. Susong was born in a log cabin on his grandparents' farm in Cocke County, TN. His writing is influenced by his grandmother, a wonderful storyteller, drawing on stories told her by her father and grandfather who had come from Scotland. Educated at Indiana University, James has published The First Winter, a book based on his grandmother's stories. He has over 25 such stories and they have been used in The Annie Oakley Foundation news letters, the read across America reading program, the Oklahoma Public School System in Northern Oklahoma and The Hamblen County School System here in Tennessee. He also has a book A Flicker of Light about farm life in the Tennessee Valley in the late 1800's. James and his wife, Lucy Jane Hudgens Susong, have 2 children and 4 Grandchildren, who can pass along these treasured stories now. Grandson Alexander has taken to writing and at age 13 is a published author. James belongs to the Annie Oakley Foundation and helps present the annual Annie Oakley Days in Greenville, Ohio every year.
David Tarnoff enjoys writing, photography, graphic arts, and web design. Much of his publishing success has been in the area of technical non-fiction, having authored nine articles and one textbook and co-authored three textbooks. David lives in Northeast Tennessee with his wife and their son.
Anne Tipton was born in Tipton Hill, North Carolina. An educator and instructional materials designer, she acquired an MA degree in Early Childhood Education from East Tennesssee State University. Later, she studied programmed instruction at New Mexico State University. She's designed language arts for the NEA's Project Life filmstrips and computer related instruction for beginning reading for Montgomery County, Maryland, Public Schools. She has also directed adult literacy in Abingdon, Virginia, through a Bell Atlantic-American Library Association grant.
Cobus Van der Merwe is married to Reta Rood. They have three sons, one daughter and seven grandchildren. He is a native of South Africa , a descendant of 1652 Dutch Settlers to the Cape Of Good Hope, and is an American citizen having immigrated to the USA in 1983. He is an electrical engineer, a viticulturalist, does jail ministering and is an inventor recognized by Who's Who of American Inventors and Who's Who World Wide.
Gary Varner was born in a coal camp at McRoberts, KY and raised in the small coal mining town of Pound, VA. After graduating from East Tennessee State College in 1962, he was drafted into the U. S. Army. He spent seven years in the Army, attending Officer Candidate School to become an officer, Flight Training School to become an Army aviator and then served as a reconnaissance and combat support pilot for one year in the Go Cong province of Vietnam. He worked in healthcare administration in Johnson City, TN for twenty-eight years and served as Executive Director of the Johnson City Area United Way for two years. He is now retired and plays gold, writes books, tells stories and enjoys his family. Gary's book, Let Me Tell You a Story is available in print and audio format.
Joel R. Waldron, Sr. is a graduate of Bristol University in Kingsport, Tennessee. He is a full time pastor and has been in the minstry for over forty years. He has pastored several churches, done evangelistic work, and is active in missionary work and radio. He has written poetry and has written for newspaper and magazines. He ahs been a contributor to a book. He has written several plays.
Muriel Kagan Zager is the author of four novels: Bystander, based on a murder committed during a feud in Jerusalem; The Faithful, nominated for a National Book Award, exploring fundamentalist, extremist concepts; and Death of a Pilgrim dealing with the Bethlehem murder of a pilgrim. Her newest book, Murder on the Mount of Olives, was released in August 2006. Muriel Kagan Zager also writes a monthly column for Highlands Publications, Inc. about the Middle East.