NEWS & EVENTS
11/10/2022 BUCKS SHORT FICTION CONTEST
I was delighted that my short story Motel Oklahoma was awarded first prize. The story follows a hostage situation in which the barricaded hostage-taker has a very unusual request
11/9/2019 AUTHOR EXPO
For any of you who missed us at Bucks County Book Festival, Hector and I will be at the Author Expo at the Quakertown Library on Saturday, November 9th, along with dozens of other LOCAL authors. It was fun last year and I expect we'll have fun this year. Stop by and say hello to Hector and me. (If you don't remember, Hector is my cast-iron crow)
For specifics follow the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/events/956225888066199/
BUCKS COUNTY BOOK FESTIVAL '19
We had a beautiful day for the annual Bucks County Book Festival. Hector and I introduced my new short story collection Peace, Love, and a '59 Plymouth to the world -- or, at least, the 4,000 people who attended the festival. The collection follows a young man in his cross-country road trip to San Francisco in 1967, the Summer of Love.
My friends from the Bucks County Writers Group introduced Creaky Stairs, an anthology of 29 scary stories by 10 of us in the Group. Two weeks from Halloween, everyone seemed to be ready to indulge in terrifying stories.
It's available on Amazon and from my Amazon Author's Page
Which line stood out from all the others in the book?
"Taking risks to find your place in life is key to growing up — or not growing up."
This is an amazing story of boyhood innocence lost in the process of coming of age. The story chronicles the rather mundane life of a boy named Patrick Meecham, growing up in New Hampshire, as he navigates the treacherous waters preceding manhood.
Praise for Puckerbrush
The author skillfully divides the story into three main sections to parallel the stages a boy goes through in his journey toward becoming a man. In the stage of “Awareness,” 12-year-old Patrick takes his first step toward manhood when hunting with his father and uncle, he kills his first deer. I was struck by the ritualism involved in this event when his uncle wiped some blood from the deer on Patrick’s face, as though the very act of killing is inherent in the DNA of men.
“Inspiration” comes in the form of discovering a treasure chest in his grandmother’s attic that reveals forbidden secrets from her past and gains him insight into her true identity and his family’s heritage.
“Reality” hits the reader hard and fast as Patrick struggles with physical and mental war wounds from his traumatic experiences of fighting in Vietnam. Trying to come to terms with the horrors he endured during his service, he returns home an angry and hardened man.
For the most part, a riveting read to the bitter end!