Lost State Writers Guild

inkwell
leaflower
mountains
Present and past Lost State Writers Guild members have produced a wide array of fiction, poetry and art. Look for their work at booksignings, online and even art and craft shows! Some members have their own websites and their works may be ordered direct from them.

alvis

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.

artrip

A several time contributor of short mysteries to Woman's World Tennessee writer Mary Ann Artrip has published four novels and a volume of her short stories, Parsnips and Princes. Her latest novel is Rooney Boone, released in 2014. Her first, Remember Me with Love was published in 1994 and won the publisher's Golden Book Award for mystery/suspense. She has since re-issued it with a new cover. Her second, Moonshadows, came out in mid-2005 and her IPPY award-winning third novel, Surrey Square debuted in July 2006. Mary Ann's books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores as well as her website. Visitors to Mary Ann's website may also read excerpts from all her books.

boggs

Jenny Stallard Boggs authored "Gotta Write That Down" after a sister said to her "We could write a book every bit as good as Loretta Lynn's Coal Miners Daughter. Jenny couldn't get this out of her mind. Her book tells of how her parents, both orphaned, met, fell in love, tried to have a normal life in spite of many ups and downs. Jenny was the middle of seven children and says she got into the most trouble. The book is a true account of lives well lived by heer parents and how they overcame many obstacles. She is a member of a clan which migrated in 1779 to Scott County, VA from Culpeper, VA. Jenny may be reached at virginiaboggs@btes.tv. She also invites her friends to visit her Facebook page.

abond

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.

bone

Patrick Bone took his writing seriously after he retired from 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 after which he took time off from writing to earn a doctoral degree. He is now in process of publishing a thriller based on his experiences as a lawman.

byars

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calloway

Brenda C. Calloway is a lifelong resident of East Tennessee. Her book, America's First Western Frontier: East Tennessee, came about as a result of a series of articles she wrote for the Johnson City Press on the history of the Cherokees and early settlers in the immediate area. This is a narrative of the first “Old West”—the land just beyond the crest of the Appalachian Mountains—and the many “firsts” that occurred there. Second in the series, her Trek of the Ancient Spirits she has skillfully interwoven historical fact with historical fiction, myths, and legends. Thus, these spirits from the past.

carroll

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.

churchwell

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collier

Jim Collier received his B.S. Degree from Indiana State University of Pennsylvania and his Master's Degree from Syracuse University. Jim completed all requirements for his Ph.D. except the completion of the Doctoral Dissertation from the University of Maryland. He completed a tour of duty with the Army and then began an eighteen year career in teaching. He spent the next twenty-three years in the aerospace industry with McDonnell Douglas and the Boeing Company. His last five years in this phase of his career were spent working with the Space Shuttle and International Space Station at the Boeing facilities at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Jim is now retired and has become a prolific writer of exceptional poetry.

daddio

Monica Daddio has recently joined Lost State Writers Guild. Monica moved to the Tri-Cities area from New Jersey to relax and write. She joined Lost State and another local writing group to connect with other writers and put her efforts into promoting her work.

davis

Adda Leah Davis is a retired schoolteacher, mother, grandmother and the author of six books. Her book, Lucinda's Mountain, was published in mid-2007. She has since written and published two sequels, Jason's Journey and The Beckoning Hills, available from the usual sources and her website. Addie's first works were Caleb's Song and Here I Am Again, Lord as well as Golden Harvest Creations a series of Primary school texts and workbooks.

dobkins

Jo Allison is the pen name for Linda Dobkins, award-winning author of the Julia Nye Mystery Series of historical ficion novels. She lives in Bristol, Virginia and related short stories. The novels are set in 1910s St. Louis and highlight a bold heroine fighting the issues and prejudices of the day. The third book in the series, Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl, was judged Best Self-Published Novel by the James River Writers (Virginia)in 2016. Allison drives family and librarians crazy with the depth of her research on the city and on the time period but delights readers who like their mysteries historical. She maintains a web page that highlights the setting at 1910-stlouis-by-jallison.com. For more information, see joallisonauthor.com and oldunderwoodpublish.com.

donley

Judy Donley is the President of the National League of American Pen Women, Watauga Branch (Arts, Literature & Music Association) and a member of the Watauga Valley Art League. An artist, she works primarily in oils. Judy is part of the Leadership Committee of Lost State Writers Guild and Editor of its newsletter, handed out at meetings. She joined the Guild to be inspired and learn lessons from other writers. Her email address is donleytreasures@gmail.com. Judy is writing a memoir of her experience living in Guam, Alaska, Maryland and various countries as Scotland, Egypt, Germany, Norway, & China, which she has not titled yet. Her husband was a spy in the Navy and this memoir weaves some of the situations in which they found themselves. An example she tells is a story of flying from Saipan to Guam 150 miles over open ocean, (she has a pilot's licence), the engine started coughing and she whispered to her husband that they might have to ditch the aircraft. He told her they couldn't ditch for the ships they could see below were all spy ships.

donnelly

Moving Target: A Youngblood Story, Keith Donnelly's eighth book, has been released by Hummingbird Books. Keith's Donald Youngblood Mystery Series published by John F. Blair, Publisher, who have now closed their doors, include Three Days Dead, Three Devils Dancing, Three Deadly Drops, Three Dragons Doomed, Three Daggers Dripping. PI Donald Youngblood's first case, Three Deuces Down, was published in 2008 by New South Books in Montgomery, Alabama. Three Divers Deep, the seventh and most recent Donald Youngblood Mystery was released in 2017 also by Hummingbird Books. Born and raised in Johnson City, TN, Keith was graduated from Science Hill High School and earned a degree in Economics from ETSU. He spent many years in New York City working with publishers to support a family, which left little time to pursue his long-time desire to write. After moving back to Tennessee, he got the idea for his first novel. All the Donald Youngblood Mysteries and Moving Target may be purchased online at Amazon. They are also available on the author's website donaldyoungbloodmysteries.com and select bookstores nationwide. All books are now available on Nook and Kindle.

dykes

Pete Dykes has published a small local newspaper since 1971, dedicated to God, country and reader, called The Daily News in Kingsport, TN. Files from its original inception The Post (weekly), and as years went by the renamed Kingsport Post, then Post-News and finally the Daily News are archived on the website. From the archive page, News stories, names, advertisements, editorials, comics...they're all here for you to enjoy - thanks to the technical folks at GOOGLE. Also a writer Pete Dykes has published a collection of his columns, Pug Potters Journal and more recently his Haunted Kingsport was published by The History Press.

fisher

Nancy Fisher has published a book of poetry, Flame Dancer, which came out in July, 2011. She also wrote Vision at Delphi, which was reprinted this year by Little Creek Books-Jan/Carol Publishing. Visit Nancy's website here.

fleming

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. He published Family, Friends And War Heroes in September, 2005, which may be reviewed and purchased at his website.

fleming

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. Hazel's first novel, The Pink Irish Rose, has been re-released by Jan-Carol publishing and a sequel will soon follow. She is a member of Lost State Writers' Guild, Appalachian Authors Guild and Writers' Network at Northeast State Community College. Hazel lives with her daughter near Abingdon, VA.

fletcher

Victoria (Vicki) Fletcher has lived her entire life in Damascus, Virginia. She attended Virginia Intermont College where she received her B.A. in Education. She later attended Tusculum College and earned an M.A. in Education. She was a teacher in the Washington County Virginia Schools for 30 years before retiring. She now works as the church secretary for First Baptist Church in Damascus, Virginia. She has worked in the Children 2 Department (grades 3-5), taught the 5th and 6th graders in VBS, and directed the Children’s Choir for more than 30 years.
Her interests include writing (of course), reading, Bible study, computers, music, board games, and puzzle books. She began writing poetry when she was 13 years old. Several of her poems have been published in poetry anthologies. She hopes her her Bible stories and poetry books will be a source of enjoyment for many children through the years.

fox

Elizabeth Fox has been writing for most of her life, though not for public review. She wrote and performed in Stop, the Lady Is a Doc, loosely based on the TV series, MASH, while a student at Sevier Middle School. In college she stretched her acting wings and starred in Joan of Arc, To Burn a Witch and Plaza Suite. Raising her son became her top priority after his birth, though she did some commercial writing for an online company. She has recently begun work again on a thriller novel.

freeman

(to be added)