Victoria Holt Abramson
The Adventures of Kirby: My Mom and I
Victoria Holt Abramson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Louisville in Kentucky. She enjoyed a successful career in real estate before finding her true passion of teaching third-graders. The mother of two grown boys, Timothy and Jacob, Vicky lives in Valencia, California. Now a retired elementary school teacher, she loves ballroom, swing, and Latin dance, gardening, cooking, hiking, traveling, watercolor painting, writing stories about growing up in her beloved hometown of Hopewell, Virginia, and of course, spoiling her precious Kirby-Boy.
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Kim Alberts
Simmy's New School
Kim Alberts was born in Bellevue, Washington, and graduated from Washington State University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Humanities and English. Kim enjoys working with many different cultures and spent 13 years living in Europe thriving as a global aerospace executive. One of Kim’s favorite activities is sharing her joy of running with kids. She has coached Girls on the Run and coaches cross country and track at the high school level. Kim currently lives in Bellevue, and her love of family, friends, animals, and nature inspires her artistic spirit.
S. M. Cabell
Hedgehog ABC's
From the time she was in grade school, S. M. Cabell knew she wanted to be a teacher. She attended Oregon State University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in education with a minor in science. The majority of her teaching career was spent working with children with dyslexia. Since her retirement, she enjoys traveling, photography, and relaxing at the beach. Ms. Cabell married her high school sweetheart, and they live in the Seattle area.
Aaron Cheney
Songwriting Step by Step
'cause i wanted to know
Aaron Cheney is an award-winning songwriter, a guitarist, an artist, and an author. His songs run the gamut from country to heavy metal and have been recorded by artists across the country. His teaching experience includes courses in songwriting, music history, and music psychology. Aaron currently plays guitar in a band and lives with his wife, Kathy, in the Seattle, Washington area.
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Joanne de Simone
The Metro Cats: Life in the Core of the Big Apple
The Peculiar Plight of Milicent Wryght
Mating Habits: Couples Guide A-Z
Inside Out Yoga
Songs From Under the El: Memories of Life in the Dark
Joanne de Simone was an author, dramatist, poet, and film historian. She hosted Notes & Notions from The Writing Desk at LTV-East Hampton Public Access Television. Joanne wrote twelve plays including her historical play Earthmen to be released as a short film in 2022, and her award-winning Norma Jeane, Enlightened, a fantasy about Marilyn Monroe in the afterlife. Various publications and film journals have featured Joanne’s work. Her film review column was published in the Fire Island News from 1998-2003. Joanne’s books include The Metro Cats: Life in the Core of The Big Apple , a children’s book, and The Peculiar Plight of Milicent Wryght, a young adult book, both urban tales set in Manhattan. She wrote Spills from a Quills, a collection of poetry and prose, and Lovers. Husbands. Stranger: A Baby Boomer’s Chronicle of Lust, Love and One-Night Stands under her pen name, L. L. Ferris. Joanne also penned Mating Habits Couples Guide a-z, Inside Out Yoga, co-authored with Sandra K, and her family's story in Songs From Under the El: Memories of Life in the Dark. She was a member of The Dramatist Guild, Shakespeare Guild, Drama Guild, English Speaking Union, Episcopal Actors Guild, and The American Academy of Poets, and launched a non-profit organization, St. Rita and Archangel Metatron Arts League. Joanne held a BA in Film, Literature, and Creative Writing, and lived on the east end of Long Island. She passed away in May 2022.
D. D. Glover
Strawberry Rose
Strawberry Rose and the Summer of Lights
D.D. Glover was born in upstate New York, but she has lived most of her life in the Pacific Northwest. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Washington.
D.D. currently lives with her musician husband among ancient apple trees on a lake in Idaho. It is the same property where she spent memorable summers with her grandparents as a child. She has three grown sons who, with their families, visit and enjoy the multi-generation tradition.
Strawberry Rose is her third book written for children and was inspired by her summer childhood memories. Her previous children’s books Apple Pie Time and Oh no! Where did Monkey go? were inspired by her children and grandchildren. When D.D. is not spending time with family and friends, she enjoys knitting, sewing, hiking, gardening, and dancing.
Patricia Eckley Guerin
Northwest Vignettes Volume One: Creative Nonfiction Stories by NW Writers
Northwest Vignettes Volume Two: Creative Nonfiction Stories by NW Writers
Patricia Eckley Guerin was born in Paso Robles in 1928 on the way to Los Angeles, California for her father’s new job on the aqueduct. When the Great Depression hit, he lost his job, and the family moved to a logging and farming town in southern Oregon to work the family ranch. She was her class valedictorian at Myrtle Point High School, and while attending Oregon State College, Pat worked on the school paper. After graduating, she taught at Taft High School in Lincoln City and, while raising three children, also spent time working as a school librarian in Coos Bay. In her later years, she liked to "mess with plants," read, and help people improve their reading skills. Pat lived in Astoria on the Oregon coast with her husband and a few cats until she passed away at age 90 in December 2018.
Sandra K
Inside Out Yoga
Certified hot yoga instructor, actress, and talk show host, Sandra’s love for life, family, the art of the yoga practice, appreciating the beauty of Mother Nature, the greater outdoors, and the value of freedom have inspired this book. Sandra has enjoyed teaching yoga privately, in groups, at places of worship, and on the beach. She loves to share the overwhelming mental and physical benefits of the yoga practice with all. Sandra has donated her time to the North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center that is devoted to restoring and strengthening the emotional well-being of children and their families. Following a long, successful career as an executive in the garment center, Sandra enjoyed marketing her products live on QVC National Television. She has developed a one-woman show series, Exit Strategy: An Evening with Sandra K, which has been performed at the Southampton Cultural Center. Sandra hosts Cafe with Sandra K on LTV-EH, East Hampton public access television station. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and is a resident of Water Mill, N.Y.
Vicky Nickelson
Nature's Touch: Basketry by Hand from Pine Needles and Gourds
Vicky Nickelsom has lived in the Pacific Northwest all her life. Vicky and her husband, Ron, reside in Kent, Washington and share their home with a little cocker spaniel named Betty Cocker and a big ol’ tomcat named Fat Chance. Even as a young girl, Vicky enjoyed the outdoors and still enjoys gathering just as much as designing and stitching a basket. On one special camping trip with her family, a Native American lady was camped next to them, and Vicky was amazed to see she was making baskets out of pine needles. The woman noticed her watching with interest and took Vicky under her wing and taught her the art of pine needle basketry. Vicky's baskets have won many awards, including the Grand Champion at the Puyallup Fair, and she's a member of the Northwest Basket Weavers Guild.
Melissa Eskue Ousley
THE SOLAS BEIR TRILOGY:
Sign of the Throne
The Rabbit and the Raven
The Sower Comes
Melissa Eskue Ousley is the award-winning author of The Solas Beir Trilogy, a young adult fantasy series. Her first book, Sign of the Throne, won a 2014 Eric Hoffer Book Award and a 2014 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award. The Sower Comes, book three in the trilogy, won a 2016 Eric Hoffer Book Award. Melissa lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family, a piranha, and their Kelpie, Gryphon. When she’s not writing, she can be found hiking, swimming, scuba diving, or walking along the beach, poking dead things with a stick. Before she became a writer, Melissa had a number of jobs that contributed to her education and enlightenment, ranging from a summer spent scraping road kill off a molten desert highway, to years of conducting social science research with an amazing team of educators at the University of Arizona.
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Howard Parsons
Tails from Colony Island Book One: Urban Mermaid
Howard T. Parsons was born in Petersburg, Virginia and attended school in nearby Hopewell. The eldest son of Lucile and Howard T. Parsons, Sr., he attended North Carolina College in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. Although his interests lay in Virology and Marine Biology, the need to earn a living led him to the field of Information Technology. During his stint with the Michie Company in Charlottesville, Virginia, he developed the TOOL programming language, and in 2008, he wrapped up a thirty-year career in legal publishing. Howard was last employed as a software engineer with the Dematic Corporation. After retiring, Howard lived in The Parsonage in Charlottesville, Virginia with his wife and two moggies in a long line of house cats. His interests included pipe collecting, Scottish Highland Games, railroads, and heraldry. Howard passed away in October 2020.
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Caitlyn M. Schmidt
Fun Down Under: Australia and New Zealand
Northwest Vignettes Volume One and Volume Two
Caitlyn M. Schmidt began travelling with her parents as an infant and has already visited six continents. During her college years, she participated in three Study Abroad trips to Australia/New Zealand, Japan, and Costa Rica. She graduated magna cum laude from Western Washington University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English with an Emphasis on Creative Writing. She enjoys photography, music, pottery, and cooking, and her love of traveling and learning about new cultures inspired her to write Fun Down Under. Caitlyn and her husband currently live in the Seattle, Washington area.
Gail B. Schwartz
Agamede, A Tale of Magic
Gail B. Schwartz’s interest in and experience with magic began in childhood, along with her many other talents. In addition to writing, she was also an outstanding singer and musician who played the piano, guitar, dumbek (an Arabic drum), and oud. Gail traveled widely (geographically, if not through time) while living and studying in Germany and in Israel. She spent twenty-two years in Los Angeles and then returned to her native Portland, Oregon. Ms. Schwartz died from cancer in 2009.
William W. Steidel
Whose Move: A Dragon's Tale
Mallory in the Forest of Lost Kites
Castle Haystack
In the window of a small, rustic gallery on the corner of First and Hemlock Street in the village of Cannon Beach, Oregon, the artist, William Steidel, can often be found. He sits behind a simple but ingenious swing-out easel, surrounded by a hodgepodge of artistic tools and paraphernalia. Here, Bill produces his particular brand of magic. He creates works of art, spins yarns, makes music, watches the passing parade of people, and delights in the view of the lush green mountains that lie in the distance. The passions of artistic philosophy emerged very early in Bill’s life on a small farm in Newburgh, New York. His work has progressed through the years from his time spent as a student at Columbia University, Pratt Institute, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Oregon, to his ensuing life experiences. Bill’s journey inspired him to open his first independent gallery and studio in Cannon Beach in the 1950s.
Sam Steidel
Mallory in the Forest of Lost Kites
...author bio coming soon
Jean Young
Charlie, the Dog Who Could Sing
Midlife Senior Moments at the Danville Center
Jean Young was born in Wenatchee, Washington, and lived most of her life in the Seattle area in the log home she and her husband built in the 1960s. A retired senior center director, Jean filled her time with volunteer work, reading, gardening, spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and international travel. Memorable trips she took included a year in Japan and a summer in Ghana teaching sewing at a high school. Jean passed away in September of 2016.