The Harsh and The Heart Authors

José A. Alcántara is a former math teacher who recently converted to poetry and to working in one of the few remaining small town, independent bookstores. His poems have appeared in Four & Twenty, Sugar Mule and twenty20 Journal. He lives in Western Colorado with his wife and child.

Diana M. Amadeo, award winning author, sports a bit of pride in having 450 publications with her byline in books, anthologies, magazines and newspapers. Yet, she humbly, persistently, tweaks and rewrites her thousand or so rejections with eternal hope that they may yet see the light of day.

C.B. Anderson was the longtime gardener for the PBS television series, The Victory Garden. Hundreds of his poems have appeared in scores of print and electronic journals out of North America, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and India. He lives, eats and breathes in eastern Massachusetts.

Olivia Arieti, daughter of a US Army veteran, high school English teacher, lives in Italy with her family. Her plays were published by Brooklyn Publishers, Desert Road Publishing, and JAC Publishing in the United States and Lazy Bee Scripts in the United Kingdom. Her poems appeared in Women In Judaism, The Wanderlust Review, Poetica Magazine, Eye On Life, VWA: Poems For Haiti, and Cliterature; her short stories in The Smoking Poet, Enchanted Conversations, and Pill Hill Press Anthology.
Sara Barnard is a 29-year-old Army wife and mother of four terrific children. She earned her BA in History from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in 2006 and she enjoys writing historical fiction. Sara has pieces published in other anthologies and is currently in the final stages of completing her first novel. Sara and her family, which includes three dogs and two cats, have called Texas, Italy, and Colorado home. They currently reside in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In addition to reading and writing, Sara enjoys baking with her children and exploring the beautiful and historic hills of Oklahoma with her family.

Ann Marie Byrd’s work appears in Flashlight Memories, America in WWII, flashquake, and numerous other publications and journals. She has a yet-to-be-published manuscript brimming with memories of women who served in the newly created Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps / Women’s Army Corps during World War II. A Pushcart nominee and editorial assistant with Fiction Fix, www.fictionfix.net, she resides in Jacksonville, Florida, with her husband and son.

Madonna Dries Christensen is Editor of Doorways Memoirs; a columnist for Extra Innings; and Contributing Editor to Yesterday’s Magazette and Writer’s Magazette. She’s the author of Swinging Sisters; Masquerade – The Swindler Who Conned J. Edgar Hoover; The Quiet Warrior; and she compiled and edited Dolls Remembered and Toys Remembered. The books are available on Amazon or through any major bookstore. All royalties are donated to her chosen organizations. (Photo: Madonna on right, her sister Shirley on left.)

Patsy Collins lives on the south coast of England. Her stories and poems have been published in a range of United Kingdom and Australian magazines including Woman’s Weekly, Candis, Woman’s Day and My Weekly. She’d like you to visit her blog – Patsy-Collins.blogspot.com.

Angelo Dalpiaz is a retired police detective. He served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. Born and raised in New York City, he now lives with his wife of 42 years on the east coast of central Florida. He has a passion for writing about his life experiences, as well as fictional stories. His stories of war, police investigations, and love are waiting to be discovered.

Barbara Darnall, the daughter of a high school English teacher and a West Texas lawyer and rancher, has been surrounded by words all her life and grew up telling stories and writing scripts for her playmates to perform. She graduated from Baylor University with B.A. and M.A. degrees in drama, and taught at the college level for several years. Currently president of Abilene Writers Guild, she writes poetry, articles, and personal narratives, and has written and directed numerous short dramas for her church. She has copyedited one book and several manuscripts, and has published stories and poems in five previous Silver Boomer Books anthologies. As a tax consultant for more than thirty years, she particularly enjoys the letter-writing contests she occasionally gets into with the IRS!

Debbie Day is married to Grumpy, also known as “Mr. Bill.” Together they have four children – Jeremy Day, Angela Majkowski, Amanda Rusher, and the Marine, Michael Spivey. They also have six grandchildren, ranging from age six to fifteen. Debbie received a B.A. in Behavioral Science from Hardin-Simmons University, majoring in Social Work and Speech Pathology. While working full-time for Adult Protective Services, she received an M.S. in Social Work from University of Texas at Arlington after three long years of commuting. Debbie enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, gardening and cans many foods she grows, along with volunteering for her local Mental Health Association and Salvation Army. Faith in God keeps Debbie strong in challenging times. She is a very active member of Liberty Baptist Church where she teaches Wee Church, works in the nursery, sings in the choir, ladies ensemble and occasionally a solo.

Mary Deal is the author of four suspense/thriller novels, is an Eric Hoffer Book Award winner and Pushcart Prize nominee. Upcoming are two sequels to her award winning novel, and an eBook of tips for authors. She also writes short stories and poetry from her island home in Kapa`a, Hawaii. Her website, WriteAnyGenre.com, is a valuable resource for writers.

Craig Douglas has been writing since his school days, entertaining friends in the school yard with his stories. He is currently a Sergeant in the British Army and has served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. Craig has published works in the Radgepacket series and is working to publish an eBook this summer. He is also editing hisAfghanistan Diary to prepare for next year when he can release it. He lives with his wife in northern Germany and together they have a son and a daughter. Please look for Craig’s new book, A scattering of Ashes. Tales from the Frontline. England to Afghanistan.

June Rose Dowis reads, writes and resides in Shreveport, Louisiana. As a church librarian, she is in constant contact with the world of words. Her essays have been published in Birds and Blooms, Byline and Appleseeds magazines. After a year-long stint as a freelance writer for a local publication, she is currently plunging into the world of poetry. Her poetry has appeared in This Path and From the Porch Swing from Silver Boomer Books.Terri Elders, LCSW, lives near Colville, Washington, with two dogs and three cats. A public member of the Washington State Medical Commission, she received the 2006 UCLA Alumni Community Service Award for her work with Peace Corps. Her stories have appeared in over thirty anthologies, including multiple volumes of the Chicken Soup for the Soul, A Cup of Comfort, Thin Threads, Literary Cottage and Patchwork Path series. She blogs atATouchofTarragon.blogspot.com, can be friended on Facebook and contacted at telders@hotmail.com.

Sharon Ellison is a native Texan. During years of singing, playing piano and directing church choirs, she has written and directed several Christian plays. She puts her BBA in Management to use as a physician’s office manager, and found another creative outlet by joining the Abilene Writers Guild. She has won several contests and has been published inProceedings and Nostalgia magazines and in the Silver Boomer Books anthologies This Path, From the Porch Swing, andFlashlight Memories. Sharon and her husband, Sterling, enjoy being Gramma and Grampa while their son and daughter-in-love raise the grandchildren.

Joanne Faries, originally from the Philadelphia area, lives in Texas with her husband Ray. Published inDoorknobs & Bodypaint, Off the Coast, Orange Room Review, and River Poets Journal, she also has stories and poems inShine magazine, A Long Story Short, Up the Staircase, From the Porch Swing, Flashlight Memories and Freckles to Wrinkles. Joanne is the film critic for the Little Paper of San Saba. She blogs at Word-Splash-JoanneFaries.blogspot.com.

Jayne Jaudon Ferrer is the author of four books of poetry that focus on family life, including the now classic A New Mother’s Prayers, which has remained in print for twenty years. An award-winning copywriter and freelance journalist earlier in her writing career, Ferrer is a native Floridian who now lives in Greenville, South Carolina. She speaks frequently at women’s and book events and her work has appeared in hundreds of publications ranging from Boca Raton Magazine to Christian Parenting Today. Learn more about her at www.JayneJaudonFerrer.com.

Pat Foldvary is having fun in retirement exploring the worlds of poetry and creative writing, choral singing and volunteering at the zoo. Nature and animals inspire much of her work. Her poetry has been published in the Wisconsin Poet’s Calendar and she is a contributor to The Sun magazine. She was guest writer in the book Anabaptists in Minnesota: Amish, Mennonites and Hutterites by Richard Lee Dawley. She loves being part of the active lives of her son, two daughters and three grandchildren.

Rick Fowler is currently in his 33rd year of teaching high school English in a small community in Northwest Michigan. In addition to his teaching career he has also been a freelance writer for the past twenty years with articles printed in a variety of magazines including Teaching Tolerance, Fly Fishing, The Front Porch, and a host of regional outdoor magazines. He and his wife Sue have two college-aged kids who are pursuing education degrees themselves.

Franco is a semi-retired scientist / biologist, a USAF veteran, and a former, longtime resident of New York State’s lower Hudson Valley. Currently residing in Phoenix, Arizona, he has also lived in Texas, California, and North Carolina. He is the hopeful author of a debut work of literary science fiction / fantasy for which he is pursuing publishers.

Joyce Frohn has been a professional writer for years. She has been published in Grit, Clarkesworld and Writer’s Digest. Her eight-year-old daughter envies the amount of time her mother spends on the computer. Joyce is married to a wonderful man. She would like to thank her imaginary friends for sticking around long enough for her to write their stories down.

Michael E. Gaston grew up as an Army brat. He was adopted in Germany at a young age by a US military family. G. K. Gaston, his adoptive father, retired from the Army after twenty-six years. “Heart In A Can,” dedicated to his memory and years of service, was a winner in Abilene Writers Guild 2010 contest and claimed the 2010 Clem Battye Award for fiction. Learn more about Michael and view more of his work at michaelegaston.writersresidence.com.

Ginny Greene keeps busy in her pursuit of the written word, but even her leisure time is a busman’s holiday of reading. Bluepenciling her way through life, Ginny has written newsletters and written for newspapers, served terms in Abilene Writers Guild as President and newsletter editor, and most recently became a founding partner in the homegrown Abilene publishing company, Silver Boomer Books. She loves seeing her love of books and language taking root in three more generations of her family tree. Ginny’s book Song of County Roads was joyfully flung to the world in 2009.

Alice King Greenwood, who calls West Texas her home, has been writing poetry, stories, articles, and music since taking early retirement from school teaching 25 years ago. She draws her material from multifaceted personal experiences in travel, community involvement, and, most importantly, life with her large family of five children, twelve grands, and eleven great-grands. Her writings have won numerous awards nationally, statewide, and locally, and have appeared in more than four dozen publications.

Aleta Hacker lives on a hilltop south of Abilene, Texas, where she reads books, quilts, tends her roses and writes the occasional poem. Growing up as an Army brat, she has a particular affinity for the military and those who serve their country. Her poem is for her son, who served fifteen months in the wild eastern mountains of Afghanistan.

Becky Haigler is an editor/partner in Silver Boomer Books and thanks her partners for an exciting ride after retiring from 24 years of teaching Spanish in Texas public schools. While living in Shreveport, Louisiana, she participated in several creative groups including the Artists’ Roster of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council and was elected to two terms as president of the Shreveport Writers Club. Now living in St. Louis, Haigler looks forward to participating in the writing community and to expanding the footprint of Silver Boomer Books.

Sheila M. Hanrahan received a B.A. with High Distinction in English from the University of Iowa, where she was a member of the Undergraduate Fiction Writers’ Workshop. She received her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Her short story “Anything That Sticks” won first prize in the Wisconsin People & Ideas 2010 Short Story Contest from the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters.

Kevin Heaton writes in South Carolina. His work has appeared in over 80 print and online journals. His latest chapbook, Kevin Heaton – Breaking Ground, is published by MLM-The Quiet Press. He is a listed poet atwww.KansasPoets.com and has a website at KevinHeatonPoetry.webstarts.com.

Justo G. Herrera was born in Havana, Cuba in 1953. He went to Spain in1968 and then entered the United States as a political refugee. He lived in New York City where he graduated Magna Cum Laude from Lehman College and studied Spanish Literature for his M.A. In 1980 he went on a boat to Cuba and rescued his parents in the Mariel exodus. Since 1998 he lives in St. Louis with his wife and children. Mr. Herrera is a member of the St. Louis Writers Guild and the winner of their Third Annual Throwdown. He writes short stories, poetry, and recently finished a middle grade novel entitled Drought, Rain. Mr. Herrera has retired from teaching high school and college Spanish and runs his own translation service.

Wynne Huddleston is a music teacher, a member of the Mississippi Poetry Society and a board member of the Mississippi Writers Guild. Her poetry has been or will be published in Birmingham Arts Journal, Stymie Magazine, Southern Women’s Review, The Mom Egg, Thema, Gemini Magazine, From the Porch Swing, The New Fairy Tales, Enchanted Conversation, Raven Chronicles, Halfway Down the Stairs, Camroc Press Review, The Shine Journal, WestWard Quarterly, Victorian Violet Press, Cherry Blossom Review, and others. Ms. Huddleston is the First Place Winner of the 2010 Grandmother Earth National Contest for Environmental Poetry. For more info please see WynneHuddleston.word-press.com.

Edward Jones is about yay high, with a strong affinity towards mildly sour candies. If it were up to him the world would be a better place, and Applebee’s would have more options on their 2-for-20 deals. As it stands, his only choice is a plate of riblets with a side of fries and a large Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew depending on his mood. He can never remember what his girlfriend gets.

James Keane resides in northern New Jersey with his wife and son and a shrinking menagerie of merry pets. He earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English 100 years ago at Georgetown University, and has made his living in business-to-business advertising and public relations for the past thirty years. His poems have appeared in the Silver Boomer Books anthology Freckles to Wrinkles, the Ragged Sky Press anthology Eating Her Wedding Dress: A Collection of Clothing Poems, Oak Bend Review, Gold Dust, The Chimaera, Still Crazy, Tipton Poetry Journal, and Mississippi Crow.

Mary Krauss is pleased to be a part of this anthology. Her poetry has previously appeared in Silver Boomers(2008) and From the Porch Swing (2010). She is retired from many years of middle school teaching and is happy to live out Wisconsin winters writing and remembering.

Larry Lefkowitz served in the American and Israeli armed forces. His stories, poetry and humor have appeared in many publications in the United States, Israel and Britain. He is currently looking for a publisher for his novel manuscript Lieberman, chapters of which have been published online and in print. The novel concerns a literary critic, his assistant and the critic’s wife who, following the critic’s death, requests the assistant to finish an uncompleted novel left by the critic. A very literary novel. Blog: larry-antiblog.blogspot.com.

A. Lincoln was the sixteenth President of the United States of America. Donald Long retired from the Army as infantry officer and pilot. He later retired from federal government service. He writes primarily for family, friends and his own pleasure based on personal feelings and those he observes in others, painful or happy. His careers allowed him to visit, serve in or work in 26 countries including Vietnam and many European countries. He is a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network West and participates in public readings with the group. He is married with six children and eight grandchildren scattered from Georgia to Florida.

Joe Massingham was born in the United Kingdom but has lived the second half of his life in Australia. His major employment has been as a Navy officer and university student, from first degree to Ph.D, tutor, lecturer and Master of Wright College, University of New England, New South Wales. He has run his own writing and editing business but retired early because of cancer and heart problems and now spends time waiting to see medical practitioners, writing poetry and prose and smelling the roses. He has had work published in Australia, United Kingdom, Eire, United States, New Zealand and India.

Janice Medin graduated from Ohio University with a Master’s in English with Emphasis in Creative Writing. She has had two books published: Remembering the Truth (Temenos Publishing Co., 2006) and Communion of Voices (Big Table Publishing, 2009). She has had poems published in several journals and recently one poem was nominated for Best of the Net. Before 2009, her work appeared with the name Janice Tatter; since then publications have used her married name, Janice Medin.

Sharon Lask Munson grew up in Detroit, Michigan. After thirty years of teaching overseas and in Alaska, she is retired and lives in Eugene, Oregon. She has poems in Poetica Magazine, Punkin Digest, Windfall, Verseweaves, Earth’s Daughter, Thema, Drash: Northwest Mosaic, Goose River Press, This Path, From the Porch Swing, and many others. Her chapbook, Stillness Settles Down the Lane, was published in Summer, 2010, by Uttered Chaos Press. It is now in its second printing.

Sheryl L. Nelms is from Marysville, Kansas. She graduated from South Dakota State University in Family Relations and Child Development. She has had over 5,000 articles, stories and poems published, including fourteen individual collections of her poems. She is the fiction/nonfiction editor of The Pen Woman Magazine, the National League of American Pen Women publication. Sheryl’s collection Bluebonnets, Boots and Buffalo Bones is published by Laughing Cactus Press.

Judy Nickles is a retired teacher with three novels published by the Wild Rose Press and a fourth recently contracted by Champagne Books. She has been published in several print anthologies and both print and online magazines. She enjoys traveling and genealogical research.

Linda O’Connell is a published multi-genre writer and teacher. Most people realize the sacrifices that soldiers make; few realize the sacrifices their spouses make. Linda and her best friend memorialized in “Army Wives” have maintained a forty-year long-distance friendship. They both left a little piece of their hearts in Delta Junction, Alaska. See Linda’s blog at www.lindaoconnell.blogspot.com.

Katie O’Sullivan is a Houston author who writes poetry, flash fiction, essays and memoirs which have been published in numerous magazines, anthologies and on-line journals some of which are Ascent Aspirations, Damazine, Noble Generation ll, The Caper Literary Journal, Texas Poetry Calendar 2005, 2007, 2010, Houston Women’s Magazine. She has also had a play produced by Fan Factory Theater, Houston.

Carl Palmer, nominee for the Micro Award and three Pushcart Prizes, from Old Mill Road in Ridgeway, Virginia, now lives in Univer-sity Place, Washington, without wristwatch, cell phone or alarm clock. Long Weekends Forever.

Rose Perante was written many stories in her head and has finally decided to put them on paper. Growing up in Boston and travelling worldwide has given her a plethora of experiences to chose from. Her motto is, “Every day is a new adventure.” Her first published story appeared in DoorwayMemoirs in January 2011.

Maggi Perkins is married to Sgt. Aaron Perkins of the 82nd Airborne, the same unit his brother Andrew belonged to when he was killed in Iraq in 2007. Their children have lived through three overseas deployments by their father since he enlisted in 2006.

Marian M. Poe, a native of Dallas, Texas, and her Air Force husband celebrated their first wedding anniversary in the French village of Sissy while their neighbor played a trumpet solo in front of the wood-burning kitchen stove. Numerous churches and cardboard boxes later, they arrived at Barksdale Air Force Base and Haughton, Louisiana. TS Rhodes is a lifelong student of folklore, who finds magic in the everyday and deeply appreciates the wide variety of humans on this planet. She loves regional accent and personal anecdotes, writes constantly, and eavesdrops without shame. The story of the Hessian soldier is the story of her family.

Brandon Robers currently lives in Washington, D.C., where he works for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice. He is a former Non-Commissioned Officer in the United States Army where he served in Germany and Iraq. He is a 2011 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. From 2009 to 2011, he served as a staff member and editor on the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics and has several non-fiction credits.

Lt. Col. Robert B. Robeson, U.S. Army (Ret.) is a retired United States Army officer/aviator (lieutenant colonel) who served 19 years in Army Aviation and a total of 27 and a half years of military service on three continents. As a medical evacuation pilot in Vietnam (1969-1970), seven of his helicopters were shot up by enemy fire, two were shot down and he successfully evacuated 2,533 patients. As a writer, he’s been published over 750 times in 260 publications in 130 countries, This includes the Reader’s Digest, Positive Living, Official Karate, Vietnam Combat, Executive Female and Newsday, among others. He’s also been a newspaper managing editor and columnist.

Barbara B. Rollins, a 23-year judge in Abilene, Texas, finds herself working lots harder in “retirement” than ever before as a fulltime writer, editor, and publisher with Silver Boomer Books. Her children’s books include a novel,Syncopated Summer, and a forensic series: Fingerprint Evidence, Ballistics, Cause of Death, and Blood Evidence. Her 2009 book, A Time for Verse – Poetic Ponderings on Ecclesiastes, published by the Eagle Wings Press imprint of Silver Boomer Books is joined in 2011 by A Cloud of Witnesses – Two Big Books and Us written with OAStepper. Barbara is a past president of Abilene Writers Guild and former Area Governor in Toastmasters International. Her husband, three dogs, two sons and daughters-in-law, and twin grandsons fill her life.

Sioux Roslawski is third-grade teacher, the mother of two and the grandmother of a five-year old girl named Riley. In her spare time Sioux is a freelance writer, a blogger (siouxspage.blogspot.com), and a rescuer of Golden Retrievers.

Peg Russell retired to a log cabin in the mountains. There her husband Mike became active in the Marine Corps League, which brought the Viet Nam Moving Wall to Murphy, North Carolina, where she was one of many volunteers. Locally she has led classes in mythology and Canterbury Tales at OASIS, is an active NetWest Writers and Murphy Library Writers Workshop participant, and is a Victim Advocate for the Sheriff’s Department.

Bobbye Samson is a West Texas judge who vents by spilling out poems and essays. Her work appeared inSilver Boomers, a collection of prose and poetry by and about baby boomers and in Flashlight Memories.

Jerome J. Schmitt, an Iowa author, had his first poem published while serving in the military. “The Infantry” was printed in 1945’s Our Army. He married nurse Josephine Bluel in 1950. Together they raised ten children and now have eighteen grandchildren and four great grandchildren. After becoming a master welder and dabbling in real estate, Mr. Schmitt retired and lives with Josephine in Ankeny, Iowa.

Dave Schofield is currently completing his Masters Degree in Creative Writing at The University of Bolton in England. He enjoys writing poetry and prose, taking photographs and making art. Follow his blog athttp://ManchestersArtisticSon.com.

Tom Sheehan served with the 31st Infantry Regiment, Korea, 1951. He has been retired for twenty years, has written thirteen books, has fifteen Pushcart nominations, and the Georges Simenon Fiction Award. He is included in Dzanc Best of the Web Anthology for 2009, nominated for 2010 and 2011. He has 220 cowboy short stories on Rope and Wire Magazine and has appeared in Rosebud Magazine (4), Ocean Magazine (7) and Troubadour 21(+160) among many publications. His work also appears in the anthologies Home of the Brave, Stories in Uniform and Milspeak Anthology: Warriors, Veterans, Family and Friends Writing the Military Experience.

Jeffrey T. Spinazzola, formerly an attorney, has recently traded law for fiction and poetry. His previous publications include the story “Newpord,” published in Silver Boomer Books’ From the Porch Swing, an untitled piece of fiction in Marisa Murgatroyd’s limited edition art book, Wandering Boston (1998-2000), and a poem, “Crows Walking,” as part of Diane Samuels’ Lines of Sight (2006). He is a graduate of Brown University and New York University School of Law.

Pat St. Pierre is a freelance writer of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. She writes for both adults and children. She has won several awards in poetry and was a nominee for the PEN-New England/L.L. Winship award for 2010 for her chapbook Theater of Life published by Finishing Line Press. Her work has been published by Lutheran Parenting, US Kids, County Kids, Flutter Poetry, Boston Literary, The Writer’s World, Joyful, The Shine Journal, etc. She is also an amateur photographer. Her photos have been on the covers and included in various places, such as: Pond Ripples, Ken*Again, Ramshackle Review, The Front Porch, Amaanthine Muses, The Camel Saloon, etc. Her blog is pstpierre.wordpress.com.

Janine Surmick is a poet living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her poetry appears in Alehouse Press’s Poetry on Tap 2009, in the Shady Side Review, and in her chapbook, Tesoro: Reflections on Puerto Rico, published by BunnyPop! Press. When she’s not shopping for shoes, she’s curled up with her cat reading on their front porch swing in the city.

Nola Whirlow writes poems and prose as a hobby and she is an avid reader. She is a retired school teacher who enjoyed thirty years of teaching children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities how to read. She enjoys doing volunteer work, cooking and corresponding with her friends and family. She lives in San Angelo, Texas, with her two dogs and five cats.