Present and past Lost State Writers Guild members (cont'd - pg 2).
Born in 1956 and raised in Southwestern Virginia, Tom Fugate became an avid reader soon after learning to read. While reading espionage (James Bond and others), science fiction and anything else he could get his hands on his imagination led him to daydream about the characters and situations he read in those books. He began to write his first espionage novel while in high school in Gate City, Virginia.The character of Lee Thomas came into being while he was a student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (better known to most people as Virginia Tech). He completed his first manuscript in the mid 1980's on a typewriter. This novel was called "Spy Dreams" and has now been published. "Sand Trap" is a second novel, but not a sequel, about Lee Thomas who is the protagonist of "Spy Dreams". He has worked in radio and television. He has been involved in working with computers since the late 1980's and has put his knowledge to good use in the area of digital publishing. He is also a member of the Appalachian Authors Guild.
Stan Grocki, a native of Brooklyn, NY, was a member of the 14th Brooklyn Regiment from 1944 to 1948 and has been a re-enactor with Company "C" of that regiment since 1988. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War as an aerial photographer aboard the U.S.S. Coral Sea CVA43 from 1950 to 1954. Stan now lives in Johnson City and is a member of the U.S.S. Coral Sea CVA43 Association, the National Association of Naval Photography, the Lost State Writers Guild and the Civil War Roundtable of Kingsport, TN.
Warren Meredith Harris is a native of Virginia. His poems have appeared in several publications in both the United States and Britain, and one of his dramatic works has been performed on public radio in New York City. He is Professor of English at Southwest Virginia Community College and edits The Clinch Mountain Review, a literary review of regional writing.
Linda Hoagland was recently tapped by Bluefield (W. Virginia) State College to serve a five year term on the Advisory Board of the college's Humanities Degree Program. The Humanities faculty will seek her advice periodically to ensure the relevance and vitality of the Humanities Degree Program. Linda has published many novels, such as An Awfully Lonely Place, The Little Old Lady Next Door, The Backwards House and Death by Computer. Snooping Can Be Dangerous, JanCarol Publishing, and Crooked Road Stalker, Publish America, are two more of her titles. She is adding to her collection of short stories constantly, with many essays, short stories, and poems published. A widow, Linda has two sons, and recently retired from Tazewell County Schools. Most of Linda's books are mystery/fiction and available through the publishers as well as the author.
Phyllis Hooper is a native Tennessean. She is presently employed as a librarian for a regional library but has worked as a features writer for a regional newspaper and writes Christian nonfiction.
A native Texan, Janice Hornburg has lived in Jonesborough, TN since 1993. Her poetry chapbook, Perspectiveswas recently released by Finishing Line Press. The recipient of a Bachelor of Arts degree from Houston Baptist College, Janice has worked as a Clinical Research Associate, a job involved in the FDA approvel of new drugs that has taken her to research sites nationwide. Janice has written poetry and prose for her own enjoyment since childhood. She looks forward to retirement and being able to devote more time to serious wrtiing. She belongs to the North Carolina Writers Network, the Tennessee Writers Alliance, the Appalachian Writers Association, and the North Carolina Poetry Society. A poem of hers was featured in the March poetry issue of SouthLit.com, and she has finished a novel.
Jerry Ivey is a native of Southwest Virginia. She earned a B.A from emory and Henry College. After a thirty-one year exile, she and her husband, Bill, returned to her childhood home. Since Bill's death she spends time traveling. Jerry has a B.A. from Emory & Henry College. Her nonfiction essay was published in the first Lost State Voices anthology and she produced with collaboration from Marlene Simpson a compilation of Bills's poetry and nonfiction.
Carol Jackson, Tennessee writer, has written two children's books, Georgie the Gifted Giraffe and Adventures of Little Jacky Bear. In addition she has recently published "Devlin ----- and Other Stories," a collection of her short YA stories. After serving as Director of Lost State Writers Guild for twelve years, Carol recently handed oveer day-to-day operations a member of the Appalachian Poets and Writers, and a member of the Bristol Art Guild. Carol worked with elementary school children for twenty-seven years before retiring. She plans to write more prose and poetry, paint a masterpiece, and enjoy the Arts events in Northeast Tennessee.
Critically acclaimed author Steven James has published more than twenty-five books, including the bestselling thriller series The Patrick Bowers Files. Publishers Weekly calls him a “master storyteller at the peak of his game.” Suspense Magazine says, “He sets the new standard in suspense writing.” Each novel has received wide critical acclaim from reviewers, bloggers, and the general public. The Queen, number five of the eight book series, was published August, 2011. The first in a new stand alone series is set for release in 2012.
J. C. Jenkins, a Long Island, NY native, was graduated from Long Island University with a degree in sociology and SUNY Stony Brook with an MSW. He retired in 2007 after nearly forty years in the criminal justice industry. When he moved with his wife, Kathryn, to Tennessee, the region seemed so demographically different that it seemed a passport should have been required. They have now settled in, take courses at ETSU and enjoy exploring the area. This is his first appearance in Lost State Voices.
Mary Ellen Kelley was born in Perry County, Kentucky and graduated from Whitesburg High School and Cumberland College. She is a retired Social Services employee and is currently a very active volunteer with AARP of Virginia. She is married to Larry Wayne and has two sons, Jason and Jonah, and one grandson, Lucas.
Born in Tallahassee, Florida, Saundra Kelley is a 7th generation Florida Cracker. When she moved to the mountains of Tennessee, she found the place where the soul soars. She now lives in Jonesborough, Storytelling Capital of the World, with her miniature poodle Geoffrey. Kelley’s art combines writing with the ancient tradition of spoken word. A professional storyteller with a master’s degree in the performance art from East Tennessee State University, she travels America’s highways and back roads sharing her love of that which makes us really human – our stories. The author of three books, The Day the Mirror Cried: a Collection of Poetry and Short Stories, Danger in Blackwater Swamp, and Southern Appalachian Storytellers: Interviews with Sixteen Keepers of the Oral Tradition, Kelley has recorded one CD, Legends of the Wild: Tales of North Florida. She is currently authoring a time travel mystery, a romance novella, and another collection of short stories.
Saundra's workshops include The Story Arc, Build a Better Guild, The Perfect Emcee, Use of Vocal Expression in Performance, Back to the Basics in Storytelling, From Oral Performance to the Written Page/From the Written Page to Performance.
Phillip Kestner is a local Presbyterian pastor and part-time adjunct humanities instructor at Northeast State Community College. He is published as co-illustrator of a Christian education series on the New Testament and numerous book reviews for the Chief of Navy Chaplains periodical.
Donnia Kestner is an ophthalmic nurse, Red Cross volunteer, Methodist voluntary missionary to Hispanic countries and lay speaker. She makes doll clothes and baskets as an avocation. Her hobbies in addition to the above are reading murder mystery novels and watching forensics.
Louise Kennedy Kilgore is a long-time member of Lost State Writers Guild and a member of its Leadership Committee. Born in Dickenson County, VA, she grew up in southwest Virginia but traveled around the country for fifteen years as a military wife. Words from the Heart is her recently published memoir of heart- warming stories, with a little sadness as most have, that tell of her well-lived life.
Nada Myers Kirby was born in Townsend, Tennessee, and has had two articles about the place published in The Good Old Days magazine. She is now writing a book, Pastimes and Play-Pretties, in the Smokies in the '30s. She has been published in The Christian Response, and the anthology, A Gathering of Flowers, and in Kingsport Times-News. Her latest publication is a book on prayer. She won first place in a flash fiction contest in ByLine Magazine, and first place in poetry contest of the The National League of American Pen Women. She and husband, Jim, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, live in Kingsport.
Rose Klix missed all her friends and writing contacts in the Tri-Cities when she briefly moved to her hometown of Rapid City, SD and then to Knoxville, TN before returning to us. She says, "There's just no better place to live than here in the Tri-Cities. Johnson City has improved my health, my creativity, and provided me wonderful long-lasting friendships." She still enjoys our milder winters with her avid golfer husband. After writing regulations as a procurement analyst for her federal government career, Rose pledged to devote her time to more creative writing in her retirement. God, My Greatest Love is a collection of her religiously inspired poems. Her Pastiche of Poetry collection appears in a two-volume set of the poetry she wrote over a 50-year span and includes many award-winning and previously published poems. She is a member of Lost State Writers Guild, and has been a member of the Appalachian Authors Guild. She is the founder of the Poetry Society of Tennessee Northeast branch (PST-NE) and the current president. Besides her poetry chapbook - Eat, Diet, Repeat, Rose has published a short story collection My Short and Long-Stemmed Stories. Her Past Lives Before Now book reports and analyses her 23 known past lives discovered through regressions. "I found that those with all four types of love were the most successful persons." For her mother's Pioneer Quilt Shop, Rose had written three quilting how-to books in the 1970s. She recently republished her mother's special pattern book Folk Art Sampler Quilt.
Her website is RoseKlix.com.
Since retiring, Betty Koffman has published several op-ed pieces for area newspapers, personal essays in two anthologies, and a travel article for Back Home in Kentucky. She has written a young adult mystery which resides in a drawer; an adult mystery in its third revision; two chapters of a new YA mystery; and stacks of unpublished material. In her spare time, she enjoys bicycling, genealogy, reading Civil War history and good mysteries. A native of Kentucky, Betty lives with her husband and two cats in northeast Tennessee.
Patricia Ann Ledford grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee. An early career in politics evolved into managing marketing campaigns for major clients and ultimately into working on film projects and producing television programming. As Tennessee’s first film commissioner, she is especially proud of recruiting the film The River to the Kingsport area, which resulted in the creation of Laurel Run Park in Hawkins County. More information regarding her film/tv career is available on IMDB.com. After 40 years of writing professionally for a diverse range of political, corporate, and non-profit entities in Nashville and Chattanooga, she finally achieved a life-time goal of writing stories of her own creation. Strings - The Story of Hope, is her first novel. She divides her time between writing in her North Carolina hideaway and enjoying family, friends, and cultural activities in Kingsport and Chattanooga.
