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| Rebecca
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| Judy
Light Ayyildiz
has an MALS and an MA in Creative Writing from Hollins University.
She has taught creative writing for more than 20 years. Her poetry
books SMUGGLED SEEDS
won "The Gusto Press Discovery Award" and MUD RIVER (Lintel)
was praised by William Packard and Fred Chappell. She co-authored
CREATIVE WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM and EASY IDEAS FOR BUSY TEACHERS
(Frank Schaffer) and THE WRITER'S EXPRESS
(T. S. Denison). She was an editor for Artemis
literary
magazine for 13 years. Her short stories, non-fiction, reviews, and
poetry have appeared in numerous literary journals, anthologies and
magazines. Her cross-cultural memoir NOTHING BUT TIME
was nominated for Best of the Year by the VA College Bookstores Assn. "Daughters
of
Ataturk" award recipient, Judy
gives speeches about Turkish
women and their culture. WIFE OF THE REVOLUTION is her first novel. Richard P Bowles Jr, MD was raised the eldest of four brothers in Liberty, Missouri near Kansas City. He was a scholar-athlete and attended William Jewell College there in Liberty. He played basketball. He eventually found his way to the state medical school in Columbia where he met Julia. They married then moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania during his residency years (Penn State). Returning to Missouri then, they took up residence in West Plains, in the Ozarks, in 1985. They have stayed there and he has had the same office ever since. He and "Judy" have had four remarkable children. It is of this enchanting rural community, his medical practice there, and his family that he writes. A native of Montreal, Canada, Jason Carter lived most of his life in the United States. For almost thirty years, California was where he called home; growing up and living in such areas as Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Long Beach, Lakewood, and parts of Orange County. In 2004, after spending several years in the Los Angeles music scene, fronting his band and touring high profile Hollywood clubs, Jason traded his guitar and microphone for pen and paper, focusing mostly on creating biography pages for the websites of the many local bands and musicians he’d performed with. The following year, Jason moved from Los Angeles. to Arizona and exchanged band biographies for full blown novels. After penning several books during his two years in the desert, Jason moved to Tennessee where he is currently residing. Frank Cavallo was born in New Jersey in 1972. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Film & Television at Boston University in 1994. After working for several years in film and video post-production in New York City, he left the business for law school. He earned a J.D. in 2000 at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and studied international law at St. Petersburg State University, Russia. He is a criminal defense attorney at the Cuyahoga County Public Defender Office, and lives in Lakewood, Ohio. THE LUCIFER MESSIAH is his first novel. Emily Cena is a retired 44-year-old lawyer who has a home in the U.S. Virgin Islands and in the mountains of North Carolina. She was a partner with the law firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City, Missouri until 1995 when she and her husband moved to the tiny tropical island of St. John. She attended William Jewell College on a full academic scholarship, majored in English Literature, and graduated magna cum laude in 1982. While in college she spent her sophomore year studying at St. Peter’s College, Oxford University, on an honors program. At Oxford she was stroke of the St. Peter’s Ladies Racing Eight and captain of the Oxford University Ladies Judo Team, as well as a member of the Law Society and the Oxford Union. She attended law school at the University of Virginia and the University of Kansas, where she graduated in 1986 and was a member of the Kansas Law Review. She joined Shook, Hardy & Bacon in 1986 and became the first female partner in the Corporate Finance division, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, hostile takeovers, and capital market finance. On St. John Ms. Cena has served as a member of the board of the Historical Society and the Friends of the St. John Library, and she and her husband crew on the legendary gaff-rigged sailboat Breath. Pamela Chillemi-Yeager holds a Master's in Social Work from Temple University. After fifteen years in the field of human services, she now devotes her time to writing about the human experience. Pam's suspense novel, THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS: Deadly Tattoo, first in a series of Mick Chirstmas mysteries, was released last fall by Terradan Works and is available at www.terradanworks.com or at Amazon.com. It is now going into its second printing. Her fiction has appeared in numerous independent press magazines such as Terminal Fright, Deathrealm, After Hours and Daughters of Nyx, edited by acclaimed fantasy writer Kim Antieau, as well as the Bram Stoker nominated CD "Personal Demons." She received an Honorable Mention in St. Martin's Press World's Best Fantasy & Horror, Volume VIII. After residing for twenty years in the heart of PA Dutch Country, Pam and her family recently relocated to beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina. Kramer, the family dog is in need of canine aerobics as he resembles a sausage with a head. A
graduate of the Benjamin S. Dutka was born, raised and still lives in Connecticut. He attended the University of Connecticut and received his Bachelor of Arts with a degree in Psychology in 2000. After graduation, he tested the generic “Office Space” situation, found it was not to his liking, and then decided to embark on the intimidating prospect of a writing career. He ultimately produced over 80 full-length articles for several local newspapers, ranging from news to entertainment features but due to the sad decline of print media, he was forced to move online. Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief of one of the Internet’s largest gaming websites, PSX Extreme, and also writes for the FOX/IGN-owned AskMen.com. He may be the only human alive who writes commentaries on literary classics…strictly for fun. Chris Ewing grew up in the foothills of Western Nebraska within sight of the Oregon Trail and this early background has influenced much of his writing. Now a computer specialist, Chris enjoys writing, history, religion, astronomy, making wine and genealogy. He is also the author of a humorous non-fiction book about parenting (AN OWNER'S GUIDE TO FATHERHOOD, by Promise Press/Barbour Publishing, 2000). Wendy Fiore grew up in Connecticut. Having attended three colleges in the Nutmeg State, she holds three degrees and certifications in education. She has taught elementary and middle school for seventeen years and presently is a Reading and Language Arts Consultant. Having traveled a great deal as a college athlete, she found that there is no place like home. Her love for New England and its majestic beauty, along with its quaint charm, comes through in her writing. She remains in Connecticut with her husband, David, and their three ever-moving yet delightfully loving children, her beloved Samoyeds, and two spoiled cats. Hugh Mannfield is an aerospace engineer living in the Pacific Northwest. He was raised in the in American west from Texas to Wyoming and points between during the era of moon landings and space shuttle launches. Hugh earned a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wyoming and after graduation he moved to the Pacific Northwest to follow a career in aerospace. Since then he has worked on several large military and commercial aircraft as well as parts of the space station. Hugh dabbled with writing in high school and college but began writing seriously while working with NASA, doing design descriptions and operation instructions for the space station. He couldn’t stop his imagination from leaping from the technology of today to the applications of tomorrow and started writing fiction on the side. Hugh continues to write while providing engineering services for commercial aviation. A long time student of the physical sciences, Hugh strives to bring science fact to science fiction and avoids the use of magical technology, believing that real science can be as exciting as fantasy technology. He enjoys life in the Northwest with his wife and two daughters and plans to continue the story he began in A PLACE TO BE FREE. Fran Metzman is a writer and was nominated for a Dzanc Books award, “Best of the Web” 2009 and has published twenty-four short stories in various literary journals as well as a novel. Most recently, she has had two stories published in Wilderness House Literary Review online, 5/3 and another printed 6/2. The publisher has committed to publishing her short story collection. In addition to invitations to speak on panels of various writing conferences (such as; Philadelphia Stories and Marymount Manhattan College), she has given workshops at various universities such as Temple University, Bryn Mawr College, Penn State, and many others. She presently teaches creative writing/memoir workshops at Temple University’s Adult School. At Rosemont College, she taught publishing skills to grad students. As a fiction editor for two literary journals, Schuylkill Valley Journal and The Wild River Review, she selects and edits the submissions. In the area of creative non-fiction, she writes articles for http://wildriverreview.com/metzman entitled, “The Age of Reasonable Doubt” which deals with mature dating/relationships and aspects of society that influences all relationships (sometimes tongue in cheek). Wayne Miller has been writing fiction literally since first learning the alphabet--though it took him a little while to perfect his craft and submit to his “calling.” He has worked a wide variety of jobs (dishwasher, bulldozer operator, fast food cook, machinist and corrections officer, among others) but found satisfaction in none. One year away from a degree in English Literature, he dropped out of college to begin work on his first novel, THE CHOSEN. When not busy writing, he also works as a Christian youth counselor. He is actively involved with Greenpeace, The Ocean Conservancy and Amnesty International. He is an honorary member of the Cherokee Nation, was born in the summer of 1971, and has lived his entire life on top of a mountain in northern Alabama. Tom Morgan has been a prominent figure in investments, advising countries, universities, churches and thousands of high-net-worth investors. His “Moneytalk” syndicated show is the second-longest running show of its type in the history of radio. He also syndicates a weekly column, performed in a TV “Moneytalk” on various PBS stations for five years and was published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons: MONEY MONEY MONEY. His work has appeared on the op-ed pages of the New York Times and Writer’s Digest Magazine and their collection on writing JUST OPEN A VEIN. He lives in upstate Julie G. Murphy has a B.A. in Communications from the University of Idaho with a school year in the Basque country in Spain. Her grandparents were immigrants to Idaho from northern Spain, the Basque Country. After college, she worked in Japan for two years for Kwassui Tandai, a women’s high school and Junior College, in Nagasaki, Japan teaching English as a foreign language. She learned about the h-bomb, the Japanese, and about sushi and met her husband there. He is an Irish national and at the time was a sea-going engineer with British Petroleum. After their marriage they lived in Ireland and she went to sea with him. Her first four-month voyage started in Rotterdam, sailing across the equator, through the Panama Canal and to Australia. Her first child was detected in Singapore, flown to America, and delivered in Ireland. Returning to America, she substitute taught and completed a M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction with Seton Hill University and a Certificate of Completion in short story writing with the LongRidgeWritersGroup. Julie raised three daughters, and all of them play the violin. Geoff Nelder, after teaching for 30 years is now a freelance writer and editor living in the UK. He won a commendation in the Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Competition. Geoff has won short story competitions at Café Doom, and won a Silver Award for thriller, HOT AIR at a Netherlands academy. It is being published in 2009. Geoff was the lead scriptwriter for an experimental Internet TV sitcom and is an editor for Adventure Books of Seattle, co-editing the science fiction print and ebook magazine, Escape Velocity. He had a humorous thriller, ESCAPING REALITY, published in 2005. EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEE, a science fiction won a Ton Ten Finalist award in the Predators & Editors readers poll in 2009. LEFT LUGGAGE, a science fiction trilogy, is ready to go, and XAGHRA'S REVENGE, a fantasy based on a real event on Gozo in 1551, is a work in progress. Geoff is a member of the British Science Fiction Association, the British Fantasy Society and the Society of Authors. Robert Jerome Porter, Jr. grew up in the small, Adirondack village of Gloversville, NY, a town with a rich history in the leather and glove manufacturing trades. He and his sister and two brothers were the first of their genealogy to attend college. Having been raised on blue collar traditions and values, Bob has incorporated those concepts in his new book, STUMP CITY CHRONICLES-- MEMOIR OF A BLUE COLLAR KID, a reflection of small town life in the 1950's and 60's which was influenced by the blessed trinity of school, church and tavern. STUMP CITY CHRONICLES is a follow up to his first book, ACROSS THE FIELDS OF YESTERDAY, a collaboration with his high school basketball coach and mentor, Jack Kobuskie, which was nominated for the "IPPY" Award from the Independent Publishers Assn. in the area of Best Autobiography or Memoir, and the Vanguard Award for Most Inspirational Book of 2005. Bob's small town background is a stark contrast to that of his wife, Susan, who he met on a blind date in Philadelphia. They have two grown children, and just became grandparents for the first time. Bob has spent the last thirty-five years as a financial advisor, and has spent the last fifteen years serving on both local and state boards for his professional organizations. He and Sue have also raised 12 retrievers as guide dogs for the blind. John J. Reiner was born and raised in Return
to Active Projects Page
Steve
Rosner
was born and raised in New York City and holds an MA in psychology, but
his career has included a broad spectrum of adventures from
VP on
Wall Street to driving a taxi. In 1974, he co-authored prototype
software for Fire Control and Monitoring Systems for high-rise office
buildings, while in 1999 he was involved in making computer systems Y2K
compliant. Steve has published short stories including, Through Your Thick Skull,
for Duke
University's Literary Magazine, The Bishop's
House Review,
as well as written various articles about computers, financial
management, and Wall Street. He has authored an
unpublished
novel and a play, and in 2002, Steve produced, directed, and
acted in Grandmother
Tales,
four One-Act comic plays by his father Nathan. A resident of Iowa in
2003-2004 he authored, A Guide To
Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities in Iowa–The
first comprehensive educational guide for those with advisory or
decision making authority in the MHDD Arena. Steve lives in Brooklyn,
New York, with his wife Audrey, and is managing the care of his 100
year old father, Nathan, and 94 year old mother, Lillian, whom with
God’s help will celebrate their 75th Anniversary in July,
2010.
Return
to Active Projects PageDr.
David Ryback is
associate editor of the Journal
of Humanistic Psychology and
has been book critic for a
number of magazines. He is on the editorial board of Georgia Psychologist,
and has been book columnist for Speaker,
the magazine of the National Speakers Association, with a distribution
of over 5,000 to the most influential speakers across the globe. One of
his very well received presentations enacts scenes from his book, SUCH SWEET THUNDER,
and is accompanied by his performance of the "Moonlight
Sonata." Another talk for writers reveals the most creative
and
effective ways to write and structure successful books. He
has
also written a brief article on how to construct a query letter to an
agent, "The Magic Focus That'll Get You an
Agent."
Ed
Teja is a musician, novelist,
poet, and a sailor. He lived
on a boat in the Caribbean (mostly Venezuela) for nine years with his
artist wife, Dagny Sellorin, and JoSahn ("Good Morning" in Cantonese)
the wonder dog. His first novel THE LEGEND OF RON AÑEJO
(NovelBooks, Inc),
published in 2003, told the humorous story of the world's best
Caribbean boat bum. They have also worked and lived in Hong Kong and
the US. Since 1995 Teja has written satire about boating and sailors
for CARRIBBEAN COMPASS, a monthly publication for people who live on
boats and sail up and down the Caribbean islands—or wish they
did. He has published poetry in "Capper’s," "Ellery Queen's
Mystery Magazine," "ART:MAG," "Whistling Shade," "Japanophile," and
many other magazines, as well as appearing on many online publications.
He has reviewed books for The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong,
Midwest Review of Books, and recently published a fictional review of a
nonexistent book of formal poetry in the journal "Whistling Shade." His
short stories and articles have been in publications ranging from
"Galaxy," "Galileo," "Science Fiction Times" and "Doppelganger" to "New
England Business," and "BYTE" magazine. He is also the author of five
technical books and the HeathKit Voice Synthesis course. To support his
writing habit, he has produced two blues CDs and performs anywhere they
will pay enough to make it worthwhile showing up. TV Ontario featured
him in September of 2001 and in May 2003 he opened the acoustic day at
the Silver City Blues Festival. He currently works and lives on a small
Cay in The Bahamas.Dr. Ryback is the author of over 60 professional articles and innumerable book reviews in such publications as Psychology Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Creative Loafing, AHP Perspective, Business to Businessmagazine among others. He has been a professor at the University of Maryland (Overseas Division), the University of West Georgia, Georgia State University and Emory University. He earned his B.Sc. with Honors in Psychology at McGill University, his M.S. at San Diego State, and his Ph.D. at the University of Hawaii. He is the author of DREAMS THAT COME TRUE (Doubleday, 1988), LOOK 10 YEARS YOUNGER/LIVE 10 YEARS LONGER (Prentice Hall, 1995), PUTTING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE TO WORK (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998), and co-author OF PSYCHOLOGY OF CHAMPIONS (Praeger, 2008). On a regular basis, Dr. Ryback performs on the piano for special occasions. His favorite piece is Beethoven’s "Moonlight Sonata." A play he wrote, based on the life of Beethoven—"The Triumph of Passion"—was produced a few years ago in Atlanta and at North Highlands University in New Mexico. Dr. Ryback also offers selections of his Beethoven book as dramatic presentations to various groups.He’s been a keynote presenter to such groups as the Federal National Mortgage Association in Washington, DC; RTM in Atlanta, Ga.; MontCap in Montreal, Canada; a number of educational organizations; and others. As well, he has spoken to industrial and educational groups in Montreal, Canada; Monterrey, Mexico; Valencia, Spain; Nuremberg, Germany; Livorno, Italy; Oslo, Norway; Tel Aviv, Israel; Bangkok, Thailand; and Tokyo, Japan. A year ago, he made a presentation on platform excellence to the annual convention of the National Speakers Association in San Diego. Stephen Tobias grew up on the Lower East Side of New York and attended Seward Park High School where he was expected to follow in the long literary tradition of his vibrant city. Oddly his journey was suspended, and he graduated from Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Tobias has had a long, diverse career as a family practice physician and specialist in addictive diseases. After a long hiatus he has returned to writing and has found that a lifetime spent talking and listening to patients from all backgrounds and walks of life has provided him with the insights and experiences he lacked as a younger man. Robert VanDeventer started writing at Duke, in the class that produced Mac Hyman, William Styron, Reynolds Price, and Anne Tyler. After college he went to New York to write questions for quiz shows, speeches for three governors and several corporate CEOs, and articles on governmental projects. He probably wrote more words on planning and building the World Trade Center than anybody else. When Bob finally withdrew from the New York scene, he got an itch for cars – especially auto auctions – and used the experience for the novel now on the market called WHO IS MISTER I? He also published three novels with “niche” publishers including a novelized memoir of experiences during his youth, when he appeared on radio and television. Now he has on the market a second major novel – CONS FROM THE ROCK – not from experience. It’s about Alcatraz – escape and intrigue on the Rock and in Washington. What really happened in 1962 has never been told before. Bob lives in Virginia, working on what he calls a double whammy. B. J. Vaughn taught art history and painting for years before tackling her first novel. Now working on her fourth, she is thrilled to have discovered another creative outlet in writing. Extensive travel, a love of history, and a lifetime of reading provide ample inspiration for fictional plots and likeable characters. The Civil War era is a period of particular interest for her, and with the upcoming sesquicentennial, a timely one. Her first published novel, MUDDY WATERS ( Whitmore, 2010), and the new novel, BLUE WATERS, along with the manuscript she is working on are all set in this period in North Carolina. As a child growing up in the area, many evenings would find her at her grandfather's knee as he related stories from family history, stories that have germinated into stories of her own. |
©
Copyright
2006-2012,
Rebecca S. Pratt
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