Month: October 2020

What better way to learn about an author than from her own words?

I was born in Marion, Ohio and have lived here most of my life. I spent several years at Ohio University earning an English degree and a teaching certificate in high school Language Arts. After a couple of years of subbing, I took a caseworker position with the county welfare office and moved to the child support where I worked for five years. Through part-time tutoring jobs I found a teaching position with Pleasant Local Schools. I have taught high school language arts for 24 years and directed and produced the fall play productions for 22 years.

Reading and writing have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I had always wanted to write mystery novels, because that is the genre that holds the most appeal to me. Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown were a big part of my reading life as a kid. 

As an adult, I have grown to appreciate Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming, After years of teaching an appreciation for reading and writing, and earning a master’s degree in Literacy and Technology, I decided to see if I could reach another goal I had set for myself – write a novel.

In 2018, I self-published Turn the Page. I then started work on a suspense novel which I published in 2020, Taking Care of Grace. This novel is the first in the Camden Falls series and features Jack Phillips, a former cop who has come back to his hometown to teach at the local university. His contacts at the local police department use him as a consultant. He also has a couple of potential love interests in his future.

Book two in the series is underway. Characters from the first novel will be featured as well as other citizens of Camden Falls.

The aspect of mystery writing that I love is piecing together the puzzle that will drive the story. The biggest struggle for me is finding the time to write.

Ric Black suffers from an overactive imagination. He remembers looking forward to Show and Tell in elementary school; it gave him his opportunity to tell tall tales — and with vigor. Once he’d tell a story, the truth would often get jumbled in the process, such that the actual facts could become lost. This didn’t bother him too much; after all, the story was the main event. Truth became a matter of personal taste, and a teacher once interrupted his story: “Now, Ric, it didn’t really happen that way, did it?” to which he gave an emphatic, “Yes, it did.” She looked at him with less favor ever since.

Ric’s passion for storytelling remained a constant throughout his life. After graduating from medical school and completing training in two different medical specialties, the urge to entertain persisted. When his children were younger, bedtime stories were nightly events; few people showed up at those events, but they were popular. Bedtime stories morphed into written ones and a fantasy adventure novel got its first start. Then he wrote several children’s picture book stories. Later, he searched his ancestral roots and wrote a family history. He also wrote a fictional account of a child who had brain cancer, inspired by one of his own patients. He’s now working on his third novel with plans for more.

Throughout Ric’s life adventure has been a driving motivation. He’s tried his hand in skydiving, scuba diving, mountaineering and marathon running. His flair for high-wire adventure in natural settings often supplies inspiration for telling new stories. Ric now lives with his family in Ohio and practices as a child psychiatrist. He is board certified in child and adult psychiatry and enjoys his work, but when he’s not doctoring you’ll see him writing. His background as a psychiatrist and diverse experiences bring life and vitality to his writing. See if you don’t find yourself drawn into his stories.

Author Spotlight: Kandy Williams

We all know somebody who effortlessly juggles a daily schedule that would have the rest of us jabbering like Lady Macbeth within a week. Kandy Williams is one of those people. Also known as “Mercedes King” (her author nom de plume), and who knows what other aliases, Kandy Williams is, to put it succinctly, a force of nature.

With a degree in criminology from Capital University, she endures the spastic fortunes of the Chicago Cubs, extensive travels to New York City (often to research her favorite subjects, i.e., John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis or Marilyn Monroe), and the responsibilities of being a founding and current board member of Buckeye Crime Writers (all the way back to when we were Sisters In Crime of Columbus Ohio, a.k.a. SICCO). She’s also a 2016 and 2017 finalist for the Killer Nashville/Claymore Award, and she’s that person who will march right up to you at one of our monthly meetings, stranger or no, and within five minutes have you talking like you’ve known her since the second grade. 

Finally, Kandy also writes a crazy amount of books. Both self-published and traditionally published, her work includes a short story in the recent collection Columbus Noir (by Akashic Books), the upcoming release Grave Secrets (self-published) and Plantation Nation (by Astraea Press). More books are on the way, including a four-book series set to launch in 2021. For more info about Kandy and her work, go to mercedesking.com.

Susan Bradley spent her childhood in South Texas, about ten miles from the U.S.-Mexican border. As a child, she spent the summers in Mexico with her grandparents and extended family. Inspired by Nancy Drew, Susan frequently created mysteries that her siblings and cousins could solve during these vacations.

She began writing young adult mystery novels featuring strong Latina characters and is committed to creating and celebrating diverse characters. Her books, Unraveled and Uncovered, were published by Evernight Teen while she was completing her Master in Fine Arts: Writing for Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Her class curriculum exposed her to additional genres, and she now also enjoys writing horror as well.

Susan loves to travel with her daughter. They’ve set the goal of traveling to all seven continents and enjoy learning about the people and cultures around the world. They live in Columbus, Ohio with their two miniature schnauzers, Bolt and Lexi.

You can find her on www.sxbradley.com or https://www.instagram.com/sxbradley_author