Alicia Anthony
Alicia Anthony’s first novels were illegible scribbles on the back of her truck driver father’s logbook trip tickets. Having graduated from scribbles to laptop, she now pens novels of suspense in the quiet of the wee morning hours. A full-time elementary school Literacy Specialist for her alma mater, Alicia hopes to pass on her passion for books and writing to the students she teaches.
A two-time Golden Heart® finalist and Silver Quill Award winner, Alicia finds her inspiration in exploring the dark, dusty corners of the human experience. Alicia is a graduate of Spalding University’s School of Creative & Professional Writing (MFA), Ashland University (M.Ed.) and THE Ohio State University (BA). Go Bucks! She lives in rural Ohio with her husband, daughter, two dogs, three horses, a plethora of both visiting and resident barn cats, and some feral raccoons who have worn out their welcome.
When she’s not writing or teaching, Alicia loves to travel and experience new places. Connect with her online at https://AliciaAnthonyBooks.com.
Trudy Brandenburg
Trudy Brandenburg loves to kayak, bird-watch, write, read, and make personalized greeting cards. Over the past twenty-five years, she has kayaked on dozens of rivers and lakes throughout the country, in addition to the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico. Her passions flowed together to create The Emma Haines Kayak Mystery Series. Four books are currently in the series. Click here to learn more about the series.
She enjoys speaking at writing events, book clubs, organizational meetings, and teaching her popular class “Creating Fictional Characters.”
The Emma Haines Kayak Mystery Series and author interview were featured on VoiceCorp, a reading service based in Columbus, Ohio. VoiceCorp provides audio broadcasting for people who are blind or have other conditions that prevent them from reading standard print.
Trudy’s writing has also appeared in newspapers and magazines, including The Columbus Dispatch, My Scioto Valley Magazine sponsored by the Chillicothe Gazette, Quirk’s Marketing Research Review, The Consultant, published by the Association of Consulting Foresters, various online publications, poetry books, Holistic Discoveries magazine, and in newsletters.
If she’s not kayaking, bird-watching, writing, reading or creating her designer “Trudle” greeting cards, she may be enjoying a walk through Clintonville, Ohio, or hanging out along Lake Erie near Marblehead, Ohio. Or she could be doing research for the Fortune 100 insurance company, where she’s worked for the past thirty years.
Cynthia Kumanchik
Cynthia Kumanchik is a former public relations and marketing professional who now writes young adult and women’s fiction. Her six books cover mystery, paranormal, thriller, and science fiction genres.
She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Independent Business Publishers Association, Ohio Writers’ Association, and Buckeye Crime Writers. Cynthia also reviews books for NetGalley.
Having recently moved from Southern California, Cynthia now resides in German Village, a neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. You can connect with her online at http://cynthiakumanchik.com or https://www.instagram.com/ckumanchik.
Mary Mars
Mary Mars began writing in 2018 during a debilitating illness. Only able to move from elbows to fingertips without excruciating pain, she wrote 22 hours every day for months. Her first thriller, Black & White, took only ten days to write. Soon after, she completed four more novels.
Feeling better that fall, she wrote Pink & Blue during the school year and five more books the following summer. (Full book list below.) Book 13, Rust & Steel, will be published this summer, 2023.
Proceeds from the Melody Winters Saga help provide replacement pianos for six central Ohio recreation centers where Mary has been teaching piano and other instrumental lessons for 20 years. Mary also teaches classes on writing and publishing.
Website: marymars.com
The Melody Winters Saga: Black & White, Red, White & Blue, Silver & Gold, Green & Blue, Scarlet & Gray, Pink & Blue, Orange & Black, Blue & Gray, Red & Green, Khaki & Bone, Purple, Green & Gold, Brown, Tan & Green, Rust & Steel, Gold & Blue, Ebony & Ivory
Nonfiction: The Year of the Fortune Cookie, World Record Writer, Piano Teacher, The Home School, Lazy Wife Pie
Lynda Rees
Lynda is a multi-award-winning storyteller and Kentucky horse farmer. Born in the Appalachian Mountains the daughter of a coal miner and part-Cherokee Indian, Lynda grew up in northern Kentucky when Newport prospered as a gambling and sin mecca under the Cleveland Mob, which influences her writing. Her fascination with history’s effect on today’s lives works its way into her written pages. Having traveled the world working with heads of industries, foreign governments, and business leaders during a corporate career in marketing and global transportation, this free-spirited adventurer with workaholic tendencies follows her passion for writing. She won awards for debut novels in two genres. Gold Lust Conspiracy was a RITA finalist, and the romantic suspense novel Parsley, Sage, Rose, Mary & Wine, book one of The Bloodline Series, is set in Kentucky horse country, as are most of Lynda’s books. The latter is followed by books 2-10. Imaginarium finalist Operation Second Chance is among her other major works. Lynda’s middle-grade children’s books, Freckle Face & Blondie and The Thinking Tree, are co-authored with her granddaughter Harley Nelson. Lynda has also published several non-fiction books and children’s picture books including picture book NO FEAR and the workbook No Fear Learning & Activity Book. Check out Lynda’s works. There are many more on the shelves. Lynda’s latest series launching in summer of 2022 sports three books so far, Hart’s Girls, Heart of the Matter, and Magnolia Blossoms, Reggie Chronicles 1-3. They can be found at https://amzn.to/3NqasgX. When not plotting murder, Lynda is globe-trotting, fishing and enjoying the great outdoors with family and friends. Lynda hopes you enjoy her stories and you become life-long friends. Stay in touch!
Dan Stout
Dan Stout lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he writes noir with a twist of magic and a disco chaser. A novelist and game writer, his prize-winning fiction draws on travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller.
Dan’s stories have appeared in publications such as The Saturday Evening Post, Nature, and Nightmare Magazine. His most recent novel, Titan Song, is the third volume in The Carter Archives from DAW Books. You can stay in touch through the Campfire mailing list or your social media site of choice.
Ray Wenck
Ray Wenck taught elementary school for 36 years and was also the chef/owner of DeSimone’s Italian Restaurant for more than 25 years. After retiring, he became a lead cook for Hollywood Casinos and then the kitchen manager for the Toledo Mud Hens AAA baseball team. Now he spends most of his time writing, doing book tours, and meeting old and new fans and friends around the country.
Ray is the author of sixty-two novels, including the Amazon Top 20 post-apocalyptic, Random Survival series, the military sci-fi Random Survival spinoff, The Road, the paranormal thriller, Reclamation, the mystery/suspense Danny Roth series, the hard-hitting Bridgett Conroy suspense series, and the ever popular choose your own adventure, Pick-A-Path: Apocalypse. A list of his other novels can be viewed at raywenck.com.
His hobbies include reading, hiking, cooking, baseball, and playing the harmonica with any band brave enough to allow him to sit in.
You can find his books on your favorite online sites.
You can reach Ray or sign up for his newsletter at raywenck.com or authorraywenck on Facebook
In Memoriam
Karen Harper
Karen Harper was a lifelong Ohioan who has been published in suspense and historical fiction since 1982 with over 50 novels in print as well as many foreign editions. A former high school and university English teacher (OSU), she is the winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Her current releases are THE SOUTH SHORES Series, set in Naples, Florida and the Caribbean with a forensic psychology heroine (published by Mira Books). Her most recent HarperCollins historical novels include THE ROYAL NANNY, THE IT GIRLS and AMERICAN DUCHESS, all featuring real British women who made contributions to their eras.
Carolyn Melvin
Carolyn Melvin moved to Columbus after graduating from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, with a new husband, a 1974 orange Chevrolet Vega, a mattress and $350 cash. Her first job in Columbus was working as a clerk for a collection attorney, and her first major accomplishment as a new college grad with a French major was arranging for the repossession and sale of a three year-old Cadillac outside a Columbus bar where she netted $14,000 for the client. After that, she progressed to teaching French I – IV and Freshman English at Wherle High School, which is now the site of the Columbus Fire Training Academy. She taught for three years and then attended the Ohio State law school full time, graduating in 1980. She practiced law for almost thirty years and currently lives with her husband and one very spoiled cat, dividing her time between Buckeye Lake and Naples, FL.
Carolyn was one of the founding members of BCW (formerly known as Sisters in Crime of Columbus, Ohio) and was a member since 2008, serving on the Board and in all the officer capacities at one time or another.
Jim Sabin
Jim Sabin, age 49, of Canal Winchester, died peacefully on Friday, January 27, 2023, at the OSU Wexner Medical Center after a two-year courageous battle against cancer.
Jim was born April 24, 1973, in Oregon, Ohio, to Jeanne (Faylor) Sparks and James Sabin. He graduated from Whitmer High School in 1991 and then attended Ohio University, Athens, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Journalism, graduating in 1995. He worked in newspaper journalism for decades, both reporting on various local beats and editing local newspapers. In 2017, he returned to his alma mater, Ohio University, to work in Media Relations.
Jim was an avid reader and a talented writer, and this writing talent was no more obvious than when documenting his battle against cancer. Music was also one of his passions, and going to concerts with friends or his sons gave him great joy. He loved sports, particularly baseball and his Detroit Tigers – a love he passed on to his younger son, Alex, and shared with the children he coached over the past few years. Family time was important to Jim. He was so proud of his sons, and devoted to his wife, whom he described as his rock. He was a caring, generous, and kind husband and father.
Jim was our treasurer and webmaster.
Hey, members!
Are you a member of Buckeye Crime Writers? Then share your bio and web page (if you have one) with us! Whether you’re an aspiring author or a published author, it’s important to us to include as many of you as possible in this space. After all, we are all here to help each other in our journeys to published authorhood (is that a thing? Let’s make it a thing.). And all of us – no matter how many books we might have published – can use a helping hand!
To submit your bios and photos, email us at buckeyecrimewriters@gmail.com. And keep writing!