Scribes Valley 2019 Where Tales Grip

Meet the authors:

***First Place***
For years JoDean succumbed to the field of medicine. Still a physician and teacher, she has now dedicated herself to a career in writing. JoDean's work has appeared in such publications as The Sun Magazine, Inscape, Printers Row Journal, The Rappahannock Review, and Inscape. She is a Pushcart nominee and has been awarded the Grand Prize for Prose in The Maine Review's Rocky Coast Contest. JoDean is working on two books. She currently lives in the Bitterroot Valley with her dogs and horses, and her extremely patient husband, Ben.

JODEAN NICOLETTE

THE RIDE

***Second Place***
Phillip Frey's history includes professional actor, produced screenwriter and writer/director of three short films, one of which showed at the New York Film Festival. He is now devoted only to writing prose. The books "Dangerous Times" and "Hym and Hur" were his first published works of fiction. He currently has the privilege of having short stories appearing in various literary journals and anthologies.
www.amazon.com/author/phillipfrey

PHILLIP FREY

OLD HAT

***Third Place***
William E Burleson's short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies to date, including The New Guard and American Fiction 14 and 16. He is now working on a novel, Ahnwee Days, the story of a small town that has seen better days and the mayor who tries to save it. Burleson also has published extensively in non-fiction, most notably his book, Bi America (Haworth Press, 2005), as well as for the Hennepin History Magazine and numerous other publications. Burleson is also the founder of Flexible Press, whose recent work includes the novel Under Ground and the anthologies Home and Lake Street Days. For examples of past work and more information, visit www.williamburleson.com.

WILLIAM E. BURLESON

WHEN THE MOON GETS IN THE WAY OF THE SUN

Anna-Claire McGrath is a second-year MFA student at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her flash fiction has been published in no. 2 magazine and Dear Damsels. This is her first full-length story publication.

ANNE-CLAIRE MCGRATH

THE PROFESSOR

Leslie Muzingo grew up in Iowa but relocated to the Deep South long ago. She was a finalist last year in the Scribes Valley 'Beyond the Norm' anthology, and is thrilled to be a finalist again this year. Leslie has stories included in both the first and second Two Sisters Writing and Publishing Anthologies and also has been published by Darkhouse Books, Mother's Milk Books, Pink Panther Magazine, Curating Alexandria: Welcome to Alexandria, Literary Mama, among others. Leslie lives in Mobile, Alabama, during the winter and Prince Edward Island, Canada, in the summer. She is working on a novel.

LESLIE MUZINGO

COUNTING FLOWERS

Denise P. Kalm, BCC, has been reinventing herself her entire life, beginning her career in genetics, years in various roles in IT and then training as a personal/executive coach at John F. Kennedy University and as a creativity coach by Eric Maisel. Retirement is her next reinvention; she created Retirement Savvy – Designing Your Next Great Adventure to help others (and herself) design a retirement of their dreams. This is her fifth book. The other works are; a novel, Lifestorm, Career Savvy – Keeping & Transforming Your Job, Tech Grief – Survive and Thrive Through Career Losses (with Linda Donovan) and First Job Savvy – Find a Job, Start Your Career all available on all major sites as paperbacks and e-books. She also writes articles, blogs and short stories. Web sites: www.dpkcoaching.com and www.denisekalm.com. Social media accounts: @denisekalm and www.linkedin.com/in/denisekalm

DENISE P. KALM

SUBMISSION

Virginia Amis is a lawyer and a writer, who spends her days in a courtroom and her nights and weekends writing fiction. A transplant from Pittsburgh to the Pacific Northwest, she writes in that setting, bringing nature and characters to life through her stories. She has written two fiction novels and has a third in progress. Her short stories have been published in Reminisce Extra, Perspectives Magazine, Scribes Valley Anthology 2019, Beyond the Norm, and 101words.com.

VIRGINIA M. AMIS

TURTLE TREE

Artist/author, Nancy Canyon, MFA, creates in a vintage art studio/gallery in Historic Fairhaven, Bellingham, WA. Her paintings, photographs, poems, and prose are widely published: True Stories II, Raven Chronicles, Water~Stone Review, Fourth Genre, Floating Bridge Review, Clover: A Literary Rag, Bellingham Review, Cirque, Nature's Healing Spirit, and more. Her novel, Celia's Heaven, is forthcoming from Penchant Press, 2020. Nancy works as a writing coach for The Narrative Project. Additionally, she teaches writing and the illustrated journal for Chuckanut Writers in Bellingham, WA. She has written a memoir manuscript detailing two summers spent as a fire lookout attendant in the Clearwater National Forest in the early 70s. She is married with three grown children, a cat and a dog. She loves to dance and laugh with her friends, and to spend time in nature. See more at www.nancycanyon.com

NANCY CANYON

HOLY SPIRIT DELIVERS

Born and raised in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, Theresa attended the University of Washington, received a B.A. in English, and spent the next twenty-plus years teaching middle school language arts, drama, and social studies before retiring "early." The author of over thirty novels, Theresa enjoys painting, reading and traveling with her retried engineer husband. She currently resides in South Carolina.
http://www.booksbytheresajgarrido.com
http://www.amazon.com/author/theresagarrido
http://www.goodreads.com/tjgarrido

THERESA JENNER GARRIDO

AN ABEYANCE

Born while traveling on the road in Raton, New Mexico, April 4th, 1932. My dad was a road builder or "Grading Contractor" as his business card identified him. Consequently, my early schooling was a series of one room country school houses scattered amongst the states of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Texas.
In 1938 the Great Depression closed down our company and the sheriff auctioned all our trucks, steam shovels and bull dozer tractors. Dad hopped a freight train for California while Mom and I hitch-hiked to Denver to live with her sister. Later we joined the great migration to California.
WWII gave the Robinson family a few years of prosperity as we started a chicken ranch to take advantage of meat shortages caused by the war-time economy. The war ended and we went bankrupt causing the Robinsons to scatter. I followed the harvests and traveled to Idaho to work in the mines but I was too young so I worked odd jobs until I was seventeen and could join the military. While in basic training the Korean War broke out and I soon found myself in Korea.
Discharged from the military I went to work in Los Angeles, married, and raised a family.
I retired in 1987 and moved to my wife's hometown where I have been working at the craft of writing stories. My fictional stories of Archie Cleebo based on my growing up experiences have gotten good reviews and have been published by a woman who lives in Ireland. My hope is to put all my short stories together and publish a book entitled "Archie Cleebo."

BILL FRANK ROBINSON

PEE JA

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. A product of twelve years of Catholic school and three years at Columbia, I took a rather long time to "find myself." Once having been "found," I've spent the past twenty-six years as the Office Manager of a small tax accounting firm. I enjoy doing crossword puzzles and cooking, but I warn against doing both simultaneously.
I have self-published eleven chapbooks of short stories in the last seven years. It is always my aim to write densely-packed prose conveying ambiguity, metaphor, and multi-layered meaning. That is what I enjoy reading, so that is what I enjoy writing.
I have a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from SUNY, Empire State College. I live in a small apartment, along with about a dozen large house plants, three blocks from the New York City limits. I find foliage to be soothing, and I am a big admirer of oxygen.

JOSEPH J. SALERNO

SERVED COLD

Ronna Lynn Edelstein, who earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Northwestern University, is a part-time teacher at the University of Pittsburgh English Department’s Writing Center. Her works of fiction and non-fiction have appeared in DreamquestOne (first place), Scribes Valley publishing (twelve consecutive years, including first, second, and third place, as well as honorable mention), First Line Anthology, Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine (online and print), Seasons of Caring, The Jet Fuel Review, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and The Washington Post. Ronna spends her free time reading, ushering at local theatres, and taking daily naps.

RONNA L. EDELSTEIN

THE MONSTER WITHIN

Frank DiPalermo is a scholarship MFA candidate in fiction at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. His short fiction has appeared in HIS, an anthology of short fiction by queer men, as well as the literary journals SLOW TRAINS and BETWEEN THE SHEETS. His essay, "A True State of Grace" (unfortunately re-titled DIVER DAN by the editor) was broadcast as commentary on the American Public Radio show, LIVING ON EARTH. He is a frequent contributor to SO SAY WE ALL, San Diego's curated storytelling showcase (think THE MOTH, not Dr. Seuss). One of his stories was developed into the award-winning short film, KATHY. He is currently at work on SINGING IN TONGUES, his second novel.
Please note: Frank's story will not appear in the Scribes Valley anthology.

FRANK DIPALERMO

THE FRIENDSHIP GALLERY

Bear Kosik started his fourth career as a writer in June 2014. Five of his short plays premiered in NYC festivals in 2016-17 and a full-length was performed as part of NY Summerfest 2018. He has (co)authored four novels and a book on democracy that explains how he predicted Donald Trump’s victory over a year before the election. His fiction, poetry, photo art, and essays have been published by Third Flatiron Press, River & South Review, Calliope, Windmill (Hofstra University), Weasel Press, opednews.com, and others. His screenplays and television scripts have garnered over fifteen laurels in competitions since 2016.

BEAR KOSIK

ONE WAY

Lynn C. Miller's fourth novel THE UNMASKING appears in fall 2020 from the University of New Mexico Press. The Day After Death, her previous novel, was named a 2017 Lambda Literary Award finalist. Short plays and stories have appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Hawaii Review, Phoebe, Text and Performance Quarterly, The MacGuffin, Apple Valley Review, and Chautauqua Journal. She's been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She taught writing and performance at USC and the University of Texas at Austin. Co-author of Find Your Story, Write Your Memoir and editor of the literary journal bosque, she lives in Albuquerque. www.lynncmiller.com

LYNN C. MILLER

IS IT REALLY YOU?

Through college, Michelle spent her free time bartending and waiting tables. After completing her graduate degree at Cleveland State University, Michelle relocated to Phoenix to teach college-level English and literature courses. Today Michelle has found a new calling as a mother to her precious daughter.
Michelle's realistic fiction is inspired by her diverse experiences and the spirited people she has encountered along the way. She takes pride in being introspective and looking for the common humanity we all share, regardless of where we come from – the little things that connect us and have the power to inspire kindness and understanding.
"Pearl" is Michelle's most recent attempt to experiment with an unreliable narrator - show the reader a speaker who doesn't realize she is a victim, by default, in a fashion inspired by Nabokov's Lolita.
Michelle is honored to once again be published by Scribes Valley Publishing.
Michelle would like to thank her husband for his love and support.

MICHELLE WOTOWIEC

PEARL

Steve Putnam lives in Western Massachusetts, in ancestral shadows of farmers, carpenters, and ice dealers. He has worked as a laborer, G.M. mechanic, framing carpenter. Last gig as a copier tech, he worked in schools, prisons, hospitals, and a scrap yard or two. Putnam also guest starred as copier repairman under the corporate florescence of a large life insurance company. He often paddles marathon canoes, solo or tandem with wife, Cynthia.
His non-fiction book, Nature’s Ritalin for the Marathon Mind, was published by Upper Access. His novel Academy of Reality, and work in- progress, School of Agriculture, both made finalist lists in the 2019 Faulkner-Wisdom Competition in New Orleans. Short fiction pieces have appeared in Whiskey Island Magazine, Carbon Culture Review online. “Seltzer Can on a Blue Tractor Painted Orange” appeared in the 2018 Scribes Valley Publishing’s annual anthology. Included in the Scribes Valley 2019 anthology is “Lone Strangers Strawberry Patched," an excerpt from Putnam’s novel-in-progress.

STEVE PUTNAM

LONE STRANGERS STRAWBERRY PATCHED

WHERE TALES GRIP

Your Imagination...Captured

Meet the authors: