The 2015 Great Valley Bookfest Author List
Click Here to view 2015 Great Valley Bookfest Author Presenter Schedule!
Click Here to view 2015 GVBF Stage Map
(List subject to change)
R.M. Gilmore is a paranormal and mystery/suspense writer and creator of the occult bestselling series Dylan Hart Odyssey of the Occult.
R.M. resides in California with her family and a ton of pets. Laughing more than one person should be allowed, it is likely she will die laughing. R.M. prefers to think and live outside the box without the constraints of social stigma or the ideals of literary rules. That being said, she truly is not your mother’s author.
Christpher Allan Poe is an award-winning author and graphic artist from Los Angeles. He writes paranormal fiction with an emphasis on themes that shed light on social problems for women and children. A member of the International Thriller Writers and MWA, he travels the country speaking about the craft of writing to aspiring authors.
Michele Drier, born in Santa Cruz, is a fifth generation Californian. She’s lived and worked all over the state, calling both Southern and Northern California home. During her career in journalism—as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers—she won awards for producing investigative series. In addition to the San Jose Mercury-News, she was City Editor for the Lodi News-Sentinel, Executive Editor for the Manteca Bulletin and Assistant Metro Editor for the Modesto Bee. Her Amy Hobbes Newspaper mysteries are Edited for Death, (called riveting and much recommend by the Midwest Book Review), Labeled for Death, and Delta for Death. Her paranormal romance series, The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, won second place for best vampire series for 2014 by reviewers of the Paranormal Romance Guild. SNAP: The World Unfolds, SNAP: New Talent, Plague: A Love Story, DANUBE: A Tale of Murder, SNAP: Love for Blood, SNAP: Happily Ever After?, SNAP: White Nights, SNAP: All That Jazz (also awarded best vampire book for 2014) and SNAP: I, Vampire. She is the president of Capitol Crimes, the Sacramento chapter of Sisters in Crime, and president of the Guppy international online chapter. Visit her facebook page, facebook.com/AuthorMicheleDrier, or her Amazon author page, amazon.com/Michele-Drier
Sarah Jamila Stevenson is a writer, artist, editor, and graphic designer living in Modesto. She is the author of three YA novels: THE LATTE REBELLION (Flux, 2011), UNDERNEATH (Flux, 2013) and THE TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD (Flux, 2014). Her first novel for young adults, THE LATTE REBELLION, was a Scholastic Book Club pick as well as an IPPY Bronze Medalist in Multicultural Children’s Fiction. Her work has been featured on Capital Public Radio’s Insight and NPR’s Tell Me More with Michel Martin. She is also an active blogger; since 2005 she has been posting children’s literature reviews and information at Finding Wonderland (writingya.blogspot.com), a blog she shares with fellow young adult author Tanita S. Davis.
Hazel Dixon-Cooper is the author of the internationally best-selling Rotten Day astrology book series. Her latest book, Harness Astrology’s Bad Boy, discusses Pluto, the planet of transformation.
She speaks at conferences throughout the United States and leads writer and astrology workshops.
Paku was born and raised in a small town in central valley California. She is first generation Hmong American, and the eighth child of ten. Paku graduated from California State University, Stanislaus with a B.A. in Kinesiology. Although she highly enjoys fitness and nutrition, she also has a fondness for fashion design and storytelling. She often recites lines from her favorite books to anyone who’s willing to listen and is simply inspired by everything she encounters.
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Kristin Miller writes sweet and sassy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and paranormal romance of all varieties. Kristin has degrees in psychology, English, and education, and taught high school and middle school English before crossing over to a career in writing. She lives in Northern California with her alpha male husband and their two children. She loves chocolate way more than she should and the gym less. You can usually find her in the corner of a coffee shop, laptop in front of her and mocha in hand, using the guests around her as fuel for her next book.
John G. Bluck retired from NASA in 2008 as a public affairs officer. Previously, he was the Chief of Imaging Technology at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Before that, he worked at NASA Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, where he produced numerous NASA documentaries for television.
Earlier in his career he was a broadcast engineer for the ABC radio network at WMAL-AM/FM, Washington, D.C. At WMAL-TV (now WJLA-TV) in Washington, he was a news film cameraman who covered local and national news, crime, sports, and politics, including Watergate.
In 1976 he was named the National Press Photographer Association runner-up cameraman of the year in the Northeast. In addition, he was a member of the White House News Photographers’ Association.
During the Vietnam War he was an Army journalist at Ft. Lewis, Washington.
Marilyn Meredith is the author of over 35 published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Spirit Shapes from Mundania Press. Writing as F. M. Meredith, her latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel is Murder in the Worst Degree from Oak Tree Press. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, Three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. She’s taught writing for Writer’s Digest Schools, and at many conferences all over the country, including the Maui Writer’s Retreat. She lives in the Southern Sierra with her husband of many years, one dog, and too many cats.
Paula Treick DeBoard is a reader, writer, and all-around slave to the field of public education. Her short fiction has appeared in deCOMP, Cantaraville, Staccato Fiction, and The Sycamore Review, where her short story “Casualties” earned second place in the 2009 Wabash Prize for Fiction, judged by Tobias Wolff. She is the author of two novels, The Fragile World (2014) and The Mourning Hours (2013), which won the Niles Library Tournament of Books in 2014 and was a runner-up for the Housatonic Book Award. A third novel, The Drowning Girls, will publish in 2016. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing: Fiction from the University of Southern Maine. Since 2011, Paula has taught English part-time at San Joaquin-Delta Community College and Modesto Junior College. She was recently selected as an inaugural faculty member of Go Deep! A Yoga + Writing Retreat in the Sierra Nevadas. Paula lives in Modesto with her husband Will, two small dogs with surprisingly vicious barks, and the world’s least patient cat.
Robert O’Hanneson spent over twenty years selling amusement rides to carnivals and amusement parks worldwide. Now, he writes fulltime in California’s Central Valley. His novel, POSSUM BELLY QUEEN, is Dark Oak Mystery Contest’s 2010 winner and is currently available on Amazon and at B&N. He wrote BLOODY SOIL, which was partially read on Fresno’s NPR station. His article INSIDE THE SILOS OF DOOMSDAY, was part of Military History Magazine’s issue on the Cuban Missile Crisis. His work also appeared in Fresno Magazine. As board vice president of the Yosemite Writers Conference, he worked on planning of conferences, speaker acquisitions, and generated scholarship funds for high school and college students.
Rumor has it that Bonnie began telling stories at a very early age. Photos exist of the author toddling around the corner of the house covered in mud babbling about magic rabbits leading her through the garden. Her parents were amused, only adding fuel to the fire of her passion for writing. From then on, her active imagination continued to churn out plots and character sketches, always wondering how different people would behave in similar situations. People are endlessly fascinating and stories are everywhere. She loves exploring, rearranging and weaving her narratives throughout her characters’ lives. Bonnie lives in Northern California with her husband.
Anne Carol grew up reading, writing, and listening to English rock bands, obsessing over one in particular. Continuing her fascination with rock stars, she married a bass player and they now have two sons, also budding musicians. Besides reading, writing, and listening to music, she also loves traveling, going to dance class, watching teen dramas, and exploring social media websites. Anne lives in Northern California, where she enjoys wine and chocolate every night as she works on her next novel.
littlemissauthie.kaseythompsonbooks
Kasey Thompson is most known by all around her for her creative flare. From a young age, she took all the wonderful places and people in her head, and turned them into stories. She takes every situation she is in and tries to add her own *fantasy flare* to it. At the young age of sixteen, Kasey self-published her first book. A little less than a year later, she published her second book, both which are available on Amazon. When she isn’t writing, she is focusing on her schoolwork, or snuggled up with a good book.
Kara Lucas has been a social worker for over twenty years and currently works in adoption. She has her Masters in Social Work, and many of the characters in FINDING PONY have been inspired by some of the kids she’s worked with. When not writing, Kara loves to read and go hiking in the mountains. She lives in central California with her family.
Jennifer Ryan, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Hunted, McBride, and Montana Men series, writes romantic suspense and contemporary small-town romances.
Jennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. When she isn’t writing a book, she’s reading one. Her obsession with both is often revealed in the state of her home, and how late dinner is to the table. When she finally leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts them on paper.
Please visit her website at www.jennifer-ryan.com for information about upcoming releases.
Follow her on:
Twitter: @JenRyan_author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennifer-Ryan/520021168037391?ref=hl
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4693347.Jennifer_Ryan
T. J. Kline was raised competing in rodeos and Rodeo Queen competitions since the age of 14 and has thorough knowledge of the sport as well as the culture involved. She has written seven books for Avon including the Rodeo series and the Healing Harts series. She has also published a nonfiction health book and three inspirational fiction titles under the name Tina Klinesmith. In her spare time, she can be found laughing hysterically with her husband, children, and their menagerie of pets in Northern California or drinking far too many lattes while arguing with the characters in her head.
Award-winning author, Beth Barany has been making up fantasy and adventure stories all her life. She writes in two genres: young adult fantasy and magical contemporary romance. She loves creating magical tales of romance and adventure to transport readers to new worlds where anything is possible.
In her off hours, Beth enjoys capoeira, reading and watching movies, and traveling, with her husband, author and singer/song writer Ezra Barany.
Beth Barany lives in Oakland, California with her husband, two cats, and over 1,000 books.
When not writing or playing, Beth runs her own company helping novelists as a coach, consultant, and teacher to help them write, market, and publish their books.
Britt Nunes never expected to be a writer. Coming from a past where she always struggled academically, to the point where she was held back in grammar school, the idea of completing a novel was utterly intangible. But falling in love with reading was what ultimately helped her excel. She now considers herself a dork with an overactive imagination. Being that she is addicted to rich words, suspenseful stories, a touch of romance, and massive amounts of coffee, becoming a writer not just became possible, but enviable. Britt writes for young adults. The Etched Tales is her first series.
Gillian Bagwell is the author of three acclaimed historical novels: “The Darling Strumpet,” based on the life of Nell Gwynn, seventeenth-century actress and mistress of Charles II; “The September Queen,” the story of Jane Lane, who risked her life to help the young Charles II escape after the Battle of Worcester; and “Venus in Winter,” which covers the first forty years of the life of the formidable four-times widowed Tudor dynast Bess of Hardwick. Gillian lives in Berkeley, California, and is at work on her fourth novel.
Gillian began her professional life in theatre, first as an actress and later as a director and producer. She founded the Pasadena Shakespeare Company and ran it for ten years, producing thirty-seven critically acclaimed shows. She now puts her theatrical experience to use coaching writers on giving effective public readings. She also coaches writers, and offers all levels of editing, specializing in historical fiction and historical romance. You can follow Gillian on Twitter, @GillianBagwell, and visit her website, www.gillianbagwell.com, for links to her research blogs, articles, and more on her books and upcoming events.
An obsessive bookworm, Codi Gary likes to write sexy contemporary romances with humor, grand gestures, and blush-worthy moments. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading her favorite authors, squealing over her must-watch shows, and playing with her children. A Northern California native, she now lives in Idaho with her family.
Matthew Berlin is a seventeen-year old independent author who enjoys writing Action/Adventure and Fantasy novels. He began writing Embark, the first book in the Legends of Lustria series at 14, and self-published the completed novel at 16. Matt has just completed Prevalence, which is the second book in the series, and hopes to have it released by Christmas 2015. Matthew is also co-writing a book with a friend and fellow author. Matthew is very fond of fantasy, and was inspired to write Legends of Lustria after enjoying successful franchises such as The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and a variety of others. Writing allows Matt to take his imagination to the farthest limits. In his series, he attempts to captivate readers with vivid imagery in a world where the fantasy is reality. When Matthew isn’t writing, he enjoys competing with his Track and Field team, playing video games, hanging with his friends, and drawing.
Antoinette May’s third novel The Determined Heart: the Tale of Mary Shelley and Her Frankenstein will be published in September by the Lake Union Publishing Division of Amazon Press. Her first novel, Pilate’s Wife, published in 2007 by William Morrow, has been translated into 18 languages. The Sacred Well, her second novel, was chosen best novel of 2009 by the San Francisco Book Festival.
Antoinette’s non-fiction includes the New York Times best seller, Adventures of a Psychic, a biography of psychic Sylvia Brown. Antoinette was the 1999 recipient of La Pluma de Plata, an award conferred by the Mexican Government for the best travel article on their country.
Christina McKnight is a book lover turned writer. From a young age, her mother encouraged her to tell her own stories. She’s been writing ever since. Currently, she focuses on Historical Romance, Urban Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance.
Christina enjoys a quiet life in Northern California with her family, her wine, and lots of coffee. Oh, and her books…don’t forget her books! Most days she can be found writing, reading, or traveling the great state of California.
Steven Hammond is an author and artist from Clovis, California where he enjoys spending time with his wife and family. He fell into the world of scifi/fantasy at an early age, and credits the works of Irwin Allen, J.R.R. Tolkien, Syd Hoff, Gene Rodenberry, Berkeley Breathed, George Lucas, Frank Frazetta, and Tomoyuki Tanaka as the greatest influences of his writing career. He is currently at work on the next installment in The Rise of the Penguins Saga, as well as a variety of somewhat eclectic short-stories. When not slapping at the keyboard like an enraged Siamang, while his Buster Dog curiously looks on, he can be found at the studio performing similar actions with paint and brush, or working at the ballpark. He is forever grateful for each and every person who has taken the time to read his stories and hopes they will continue to enjoy his work. Information and exclusive content from The Rise of the Penguins Saga can be found at riseofthepenguins.net
Bonnie Hearn Hill wanted to write fiction about women’s and social issues, and when she accidentally fell into a six-book deal with one of the largest publishers in the world, she saw it as an opportunity to do just that. Fifteen novels later, her books cover topics ranging from women and weight issues, to sex and power, to ghosts, metaphorical and otherwise. Regardless of the genre, her focus is empowerment. A national conference speaker, she has mentored many writers and edited and co-authored books, including New York Times bestsellers. She has a monthly television book segment and, with Christopher Allan Poe, is the co-author of a book on writing fiction. A film based on one of her novels is in pre-production, and her new Kit Doyle series (IF ANYTHING SHOULD HAPPEN and GOODBYE FOREVER) will launch in the UK and the US in 2015.
“I love everything about writing,” she says, “even when I hate it.”
John Brantingham’s work has been featured on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac and in hundreds of magazines in the United States and the United Kingdom. His newest poetry collection, The Green of Sunset, is from Moon Tide Press. He is the writer-in-residence at the dA Center for the Arts, and he teaches at Mt. San Antonio College and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park.
Beth McMullen grew up in the East and now lives in Davis, California. She also writes under the name Elizabeth Maxwell. Her latest novel, Happily Ever After, has been published in ten languages.
Award-winning author, Meera Ekkanath Klein, deftly weaves her love of cooking and story-telling into an irresistible tale. My Mother’s Kitchen: A novel with recipes (2014, Homebound Publications) was selected as a Finalist in the 2015 Beverly Hills International Book Awards in the Multi-Cultural Fiction category. She was one of 40 authors at the celebrated 2015 Authors on the Move fundraiser for the Sacramento Library Foundation dinner and auction. She was featured on Capital Public Radio on April 2, 2015 and interviewed by host Beth Ruyak. She has participated in the Local Author Festival at the Sacramento Library and will be a presenter at the Great Valley Bookfest in October. A former newspaper reporter and columnist, Klein honed her writing skills in a busy newsroom. She mastered the art of Indian cooking in her own mother’s kitchen in the beautiful Blue Mountains or Nilgiris of south India.
Klein currently lives in northern California and is completing a sequel to My Mother’s Kitchen, as well as a YA book based on Indian legends and mythology.
Amanda Serrano lives under the sunny skies of Northern California. She began writing misspelled, dramatic, and twisted little tales before she was even in kindergarten. A Retro Pin Up girl in a former life, her writing has been featured in numerous Vintage lifestyle magazines, poetry anthologies and short story collections. Amanda was also a finalist in director Francis Ford Coppola’s (The Godfather) American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition. Her first novel, Flowers For Alcatraz, will be released in 2016. Amanda’s book of poetry, Drinking The Sun, my life in poems and prose, will be featured at this years festival, and she is donating all of the proceeds from her book sales to the Delta Humane Society in Stockton.
Maya the Story of a German War Bride is the life story of a German girl growing up in Germany during Hitler’s regime. She spent the night of her fifteenth birthday huddled in the basement with her family as her home town of Augsburg suffered its largest air raid of the war, during the coldest night of that year. Life was very interesting for the teenager after the war ended and the American troops entered the city, bringing with them the Big Band Sound. Five years after the war, she met and married an American soldier. Moving to America was just the beginning of many different experiences that awaited her. When the couple had four children, aged thirteen, twelve, nine, and six, they left the U.S. to embark on an eleven-month, once-in-a-lifetime trip to Africa, the Canary Islands, and Europe. Four years after their return to the U.S., they moved to California, where they remain to this day. Sadly, a few years later, tragedy struck the family. The book ends 60 years later on Maya’s 75th birthday. Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Raley’s.
Brad Herzog is the author of more than 30 books, including dozens of books for children and a trilogy of travel memoirs that the American Book Review has deemed “the new classics of American travel writing.” In 2014, he co-authored My Mantelpiece, the memoirs of the late civil rights icon Carolyn Goodman, mother of “Mississippi Burning” victim Andy Goodman. The book includes a foreword by Maya Angelou, her last words published during her lifetime. In 2015, he wrote The Presidents, an amazingly illustrated coffee table book about the first 43 commanders-in-chief. As a freelance magazine writer, Brad has been honored several times by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), including a Grand Gold Medal for best feature article of the year. As a speaker, he has presented a popular TEDx talk about “Catching Creative Ideas.” Finally, as a blogger, he posts periodic “rankings of everything literary”—from 98 words invented by Shakespeare to 19 science fiction predictions that came true (thewhynot100.blogspot.com).
Robert Dawson has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (2014), a Creative Work Fund grant (Haas Foundation), a Graham Foundation grant, a National Endowment For the Arts Fellowship, and a Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize. His publications include: The Public Library: A Photographic Essay (Princeton Architectural Press, 2014); Robert Dawson Photographs (Gallery MIN, 1988); The Great Central Valley: California’s Heartland (University of California Press, 1993); Farewell, Promised Land: Waking From the California Dream (University of California Press, 1999) and A Doubtful River (University of Nevada Press, 2000). He was founder and co-director of the collaborative photographic effort “The Water in the West Project.” Mr. Dawson’s photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Museum of American Art (Smithsonian Institution); the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; the Library of Congress; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is currently working with his wife Ellen Manchester on a photographic survey of literacy efforts in Stockton and the surrounding San Joaquin County. He is an Instructor of Photography at Stanford University. Dawson received a B.A. from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and an M.A. from San Francisco State University. To view examples of his work, please visit robertdawson.com.
After returning from a 40-day silent retreat in the Himalayan Mountains he authored, “Naked Before God,” Your True Self,” and “Mind-Body Illusions” published by Himalayan Path yoga magazine, YES Publishers. Richard has more than thirty-four years of sobriety and experience with mentors, novices, and yoga masters in the science of emotional mastery. Richard is the founder and current director of the Yoga Health Institute in Modesto, California.
amazon.com/Kristine-Setting-Clark
University of San Francisco graduate and author, Dr. Kristine Setting Clark was a long-time feature writer for the San Francisco 49ers’ and Dallas Cowboys’ Gameday Magazine. A gifted athlete in her own right, physical education teacher, wife, mother, and later, a high school administrator and college professor, Dr. Clark has never let anything stand in the way of her goals; not even a life threatening bout with Hodgkin’s Disease, blindness in both eyes for ten months, and the resulting partial blindness, at age 26. Her passion for life, her incredible optimism, and her drive to live life to the fullest has endeared her to her former students, friends and to those on whom she’s written, including her childhood football idol and close friend, Bob St. Clair of the San Francisco 49ers. Released in July 2014 is her latest book, The Fighting Donovans – A family history of world boxing champion and Hall of Fame boxer, Mike Donovan, world champion boxing referee and Boxing Hall of Fame referee Arthur Donovan, Sr. and former Baltimore Colt defensive tackle and Pro Football Hall of Fame member, Arthur Donovan, Jr. In the summer of 2015 her book on Football’s Fabulous Fifties – When Men Were Men and the Grass Was Still Real, will be released by St. Johann’s Press.
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Melissa Carson, a resident of Northern California has two young adult children: a son, Michael, a United States Army Veteran and a daughter, Cori, who has cerebral palsy. Melissa is a published poet and an active member of the National Transportation Defense Association, San Joaquin Valley Chapter. She is also a former member of the American Society of Military Comptrollers. She loves to travel on weekend getaways to the Ocean, advocating for children and young adults with special needs. Her book “Surviving Life through Faith Hope & Love” has and will continue to inspire and help parents and caregivers to never give up hope. Melissa has been a guest speaker to many events to advocate her book. She has received much positive response from the inspiration she offers to other parents. Her motto is: “Life is about Quality not Quantity”, so give to your child the Quality of life she/he requires rather than the Quantity. Her heritage is from Newfoundland, Canada and the United States.”Surviving Life Through Faith, Hope, and Love” has been accepted by Spring Arbor for distribution to Christian Bookstores. www.amazon.com/Surviving-Life-Through-Faith-Hope/
Bill Aron’s photographs have been exhibited in major museums and galleries throughout the United States and Israel, and have also appeared in a wide variety of publications. They are also found in numerous public and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Aron gained international recognition for his first book, From The Corners Of The Earth, which chronicles the Jewish communities of the former Soviet Union, Cuba, Jerusalem, New York and Los Angeles, and was published, with an introduction by Chaim Potok, by The Jewish Publication Society. Algonquin Books published a second volume, Shalom Y’all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South, with an introduction by Alfred Uhry. His most recent book, New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors, focuses on survivors who have not let their diagnosis prevent them from living their lives to the fullest; in many cases, the diagnosis has served as an impetus to better their lives. Aron lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons, where he is most likely the only photographer with a Ph.D. in sociology. A selection of his work can be seen on his web site, www.billaron.com. The Pucker Gallery in Boston represents him.
Denise P. Kalm is the Chief Innovator at Kalm Kreative, Inc., and a board-certified career coach with DPK Coaching. Her 30+ years in IT inform her work in both marketing and coaching. She is a published author in both the IT world and outside, and a frequently requested speaker. Her three books, Lifestorm (fiction), Career Savvy – Keeping & Transforming Your Job, and Tech Grief – Survive & Thrive Through Career Loss (with Linda Donovan) are available on all book and e-book sites. Her next book, “First Job Savvy,” will help people who are entering the work world more quickly and easily find jobs they can love.
Steve Jesus is a musician, author, and iOS developer from northern California. He has 18 years of experience under his belt playing the guitar and studying music. Through the years he has been involved with several different bands and even got a little radio airplay with the Joe Steele Band. On top of that he’s studied music at Delta College in Stockton and Sacramento State. As a former teacher he has always enjoyed sharing what he has learned with others. In 2013, he wrote his first book, Guitar Theory for Slackers. In 2015 he developed his first iPhone app called “Shred Monkey.”
Stacey Gustafson is an author, humor columnist, and blogger who has experienced the horrors of being trapped inside a pair of SPANX. Her blog, Are You Kidding Me? is based on her suburban family and everyday life. Her short stories have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul and seven books in the Not Your Mother’s Book series. Her work appears in Midlife Boulevard, Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, Pleasanton Patch, Lost in Suburbia, Better After 50, and on her daughter’s bulletin board.
She lives in California with her husband and two teenagers that provide an endless supply of inspiration. She writes about parenting and daily frustrations, like her dislike of the laundry, self-checkout lanes, public restrooms, Brussels sprouts, roundabouts, and being middle-aged. Her book, Are You Kidding Me? My Life With an Extremely Loud Family, Bathroom Calamities, and Crazy Relatives ranked #1 Amazon Best Seller in Parenting & Family Humor and Motherhood, available on Amazon and eBooks. Visit Stacey at StaceyGustafson.com or follow her on Twitter @RUKiddingStacey.
Mary Jo Gohlke is a retired librarian. She provided reference services and adult programming for the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library System for eight years. Previously a news writer and editor in the Bay Area and Eureka, she and her husband, Rich, reside in Stockton, and have two children and two grandchildren. Join Mary Jo Gohlke as she eloquently captures the stories of twenty-two triumphant and successful women who led a little river city into state prominence. Women played prominent roles during Stockton’s growth from gold rush tent city to California leader in transportation, agriculture and manufacturing. Heiresses reigned in the city’s nineteenth-century mansions. In the twentieth century, women fought for suffrage and helped start local colleges, run steamship lines, build food empires and break the school district’s color barrier. Writers like Sylvia Sun Minnick and Maxine Hong Kingston chronicled the town. Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers. Harriet Chalmers Adams caught the travel bug on walks with her father, and Dawn Mabalon rescued the history of the Filipino population.





Lynda Bulla grew up in southern California and has resided in a small farming community of Fresno County for over 50 years. She lives with her husband and many dogs on a ranch where the open fields have inspired her stories. Lynda worked for Fresno County Library at the Tranquillity Branch for over 10 years, she was a substitute teacher and is now a real estate broker and owner of Kerman Land Co., Inc. She has a B.A. in liberal studies from University of California, Fresno. It was during her return to college in 1980 that she discovered her love for writing. Lynda and her husband have 3 children and 7 grandchildren. Each of Lynda’s 7 books is dedicated to a grandchild. She calls her stories “dialog starters” as she hopes that adults and children will read them together and talk about the special message that the story holds.
The author, Naty Osa, was born in Segovia, Spain. She now makes her home in Chico, California. She has written three children’s picture books – all three illustrated by her son, Javier Dura. “Billy the Pig: the Stinkiest Cowboy in Town,” “Grandma’s Lost her Head,”–which is also available in Spanish, “La abuelita ha perdido la cabeza,” and “The Last Orchard.”
JENNIFER TORRES
Jennifer Torres is the author of “Finding the Music,” a bilingual picture book, inspired in part by the Stockton community, and published this spring by Lee & Low Books. Her middle-grade novel, “Stef Soto, Taco Queen,” is due out from Little, Brown in winter 2016. She works at University of the Pacific where she coordinates the Beyond Our Gates outreach initiative. Before joining Pacific, Jennifer worked as a reporter for The Record newspaper, covering education, diversity, children and families. Originally from Southern California, she has lived in Stockton for the past 10 years with her husband, David, and daughters Alice and Soledad.
John Paul Padilla was born in December 11, in Los Angeles, California. He was raised in several cities within the state, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and is currently residing in the Central Valley of California. He went to several schools throughout California and graduated from Turlock High School. Upon graduating, he continued his schooling at Cal State Stanislaus University with the intent of becoming an elementary school teacher to teach third graders! He currently works as an office administrator. He is active in the International Who’s Who in Poetry and is a Distinguished Member of the International Society of Poets. John has modeled, has been dancing for the past fifteen years, and has written and recorded songs for Nashville artists years ago. He has previously published Wings to Cross an Ocean, an inspirational poetry book that encourages personal growth and happiness. John Paul was inspired to write Johnny Big Ears, the Feel Good Friend based on his own childhood experiences with teasing and his time spent observing students while he was a para-professional in an elementary school. He has two book mascots, which accompany him to several events to help him educate and teach kids about bullying. Both of his books are now out in Spanish.
Raised by wolves just outside Los Angeles, Bruce Hale is the author of over 35 seriously funny books for kids. His popular series includes School for S.P.I.E.S., Clark the Shark, and the best selling Chet Gecko Mysteries. His book, The Malted Falcon, was an Edgar Award finalist, and his Snoring Beauty was one of the Oprah’s Recommended Reads for kids. A Fulbright Scholar in storytelling, Bruce is a popular speaker, both nationally & internationally.
DIANE STELLHORN
www.amazon.com/Diane-Stellhorn
After many horse-crazed years, my dreams came true. I bred, raised, trained (with professional help), rode for pleasure and showed Arabian horses for 40 years. I was a 4-H horse leader. Now, as a retired elementary teacher living with Multiple Sclerosis, my passion of horses is expressed by writing and sharing my book with other horse lovers. Zig, Zag and Zoom through the Horse Alphabet is available on Amazon.
PATRICIA NEWMAN
Patricia Newman writes for children curious about the fascinating, weird, and sometimes scary world around them. She is an award-winning author of several books and magazine articles, including PLASTIC, AHOY! INVESTIGATING THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH, a Green Earth Book Award winner, a Junior Library Guild Selection and one of Bank Street College’s Best Books of the Year; EBOLA: FEARS AND FACTS, a Junior Library Guild Selection; NUGGET ON THE FLIGHT DECK, a California Reading Association Eureka Honor Book; and JINGLE THE BRASS, a Junior Library Guild Selection that celebrates railroading lingo popular during the age of steam. Newman is a frequent speaker at schools, libraries and conferences and shares her passion for reading, writing, research, and learning new things. She lives in Northern California where she writes with her dog under her feet. Visit her at www.patriciamnewman.com.
I am a reading intervention teacher. I also support new teachers who are clearing their teaching credentials. I hold a Master’s Degree in Reading and Language Arts and a Reading Specialist Credential. My professional writing experience includes; How Far is Heaven? published by HBE Publishing, Remembering the California Missions: a Curriculum Guide, and it’s companion student workbook, published by Craven Street Books, phonics based and sight word based picture books created for use in my classroom, proposals for educational awards and grants, and professionally published personal memoirs about my family, profession, and friends. I am a member of SCBWI.
Jennie Chadwick has been writing seriously for about 5 years. It all started when she used to make up-funny stories for her two girls when they were little. As her girls got older they said she should write these silly stories down, for other kids. So one day she did! Her kids books are action/ adventure for 6 to 10 year olds. Jennie has received unique acknowledgements from bookstores and schools, where she held book signings. The kids always seem to gravitate to her silly readings! Jennie says, “I love watching and working with kids, they help me keep the silliness in my grown up life. Laughing and playing, that’s a kids job! My job is to write books that kids like and can relate to.” Jennie grew up and makes her home in Modesto, CA.
Michelle A.B. McKenzie is an attorney turned children’s author with a passion for children’s literacy. She is the author of Beavers’ Big Problem and Beavers’ Big Discovery, lighthearted and lively critter tales for young children and early readers up to age ten. Both stories are silly and entertaining vocabulary builders that focus on overcoming adversity. Beavers’ Big Problem is about what happens when the clopzip on the main gizmo breaks at the Far Away Land Ice Cream Factory. Beavers’ Big Discovery finds the critters of the Far Away Land preparing for the Great Rodent Festival. Full of vocabulary and zany fun, these books are sure to delight preschoolers, young readers (K-4) and parents alike. Find them on Amazon! Ms. McKenzie lives in rural San Joaquin County with her husband, son and their extended family of critters, including horses, cats, a dog and an action-packed dairy goat. Check out www.sillycritterstories.com, which features children’s puzzles, games, fun facts and reading comprehension tests to go with the books. You can also follow Mrs. McKenzie on Facebook at Silly Critter Stories for Kids.
VALERIE MURPHY
ValerieMurphyAmazon
Valerie Murphy has had a passion for storytelling since she was a little girl. Now a mother of three, she is the author of Children’s Book Of Poems Schmoems, The Gumshoes: A New Town, Oh Joy, which recently received an honorable mention from San Francisco Book Festival, and the newly completed second book in the series, The Gumshoes: Rogues Hollow Crossing. Valerie is currently working on her first young adult novel which she hopes will bring awareness to Cystic Fibrosis, her son was diagnosed with the devastating disease with in 2006.
Jeff Lyons
Jeff Lyons is a published author with more than 25 years’ experience in the film, television, and publishing industries as a writer, story development consultant, and editor. He is an instructor through Stanford University’s Online Writer’s Studio, and lectures through the UCLA Extension Writers Program,and is a regular presenter at leading writing and entertainment industry trade conferences. Jeff has written on the craft of storytelling for Writer’s Digest Magazine, Script Magazine, and The Writer Magazine. His book, Anatomy of a Premise Line: How to Master Premise and Story Development for Writing Success, is published through Focal Press and is the only book devoted solely to the topic of story and premise development for novelists, screenwriters, and creative nonfiction authors. He will be publishing his second book through Focal Press in 2016, Rapid Story Development: How to Use the Enneagram-Story Connection to Become a Master Storyteller. Visit him at www.jefflyonsbooks.com and follow him on Twitter @storygeeks.
Karen Slimick Arnpriester has released two new non-fiction books over the last year. Slimy is a children, teen, parent and teacher version of her real-life struggle with bullying. This short story shares the pain and devastation from five years of humiliation and isolation. The book also covers tools to survive bullying and how students can step up and make a difference in their schools. Karen hopes to have the fiction novel Leadbottom, inspired by Karen’s true story, ready to share at the Bookfest. The second non-fiction book is titled Miraculous Relationship. This is a collaboration of accounts of miraculous encounters with the Holy Spirit. Karen is also a Christian fiction author (Anessia’s Quest and Raider’s Vendetta) who writes about real-life conflict and struggles. Her stories do not sugar-coat the trials that humanity must endure, whether is it abuse, abandonment, addictions or the need to discover the purpose of life. Karen wants to challenge the reader to evaluate their beliefs and to consider what God means to them. Her stories are sprinkled with blessings from Heaven in the appearance of angels, miracles and God’s divine intent in the characters’ lives. Mrs. Arnpriester resides in Manteca, California, and is a wife, mother, grandmother and adoptive mother of her two daughters. While writing is her passion, she is also a graphic designer and designs her own covers.
Elisabeth is a freelance editor at Writing Refinery. Her favorite part about being an editor is helping authors achieve their dreams of being published. Whether they take a traditional track or decide to self-publish, she is excited to help authors present the best side of their story to the world. When she’s not editing, Elisabeth writes her own creative fiction, obsesses over all things British, and plays board games.
Amy Rogers, MD, PhD, is a Harvard-educated scientist, professor, author, and critic who switched from teaching university biology classes to reviewing, writing, and publishing science-themed thrillers. Her novels Petroplague (2011) and Reversion (2014) use real science and medicine to create plausible, frightening scenarios in the style of Michael Crichton. In 2014, she launched ScienceThrillers Media, an independent publishing company specializing in fiction and popular nonfiction with scientific, medical, or technical themes. A member of International Thriller Writers, Amy served as a judge for ITW’s 2015 Thriller Awards and was a panelist at ThrillerFest IX and X in New York. At home in Sacramento she is treasurer for Northern California Publishers and Authors. In addition, she runs the ScienceThrillers.com website and writes a “Science in the Neighborhood” column for Sacramento’s Inside Publications. Learn more at AmyRogers.com.
Kyrun’s earliest memories are of “drawing characters in his room with the TV blaring in the background.” As a young boy, Kyrun couldn’t stop drawing and creating. He was fascinated with everything from cartoons to sci-fi, fantasy and other geeky things, but comic books was and still is his main addiction. From the storytelling to the beautiful artwork, he knew he had to be a part of this world. With the help of his friends and family he formed a talented, but small group of artists and created Big Tree Comics. He wanted BTC to be more than just superheroes. he wanted to create quality and fun books that everyone can read.
Sacramento native Ricky Eaddy has been making his own comic strips for most of his life. His style is heavily influenced by the “Sunday Funny’s” he read as a youth. It wasn’t until later in life he decided to take his passion for comics to the next level and put out his own book. He joined Big Tree Comics in 2014 and immediately began developing “Whyte & Wong” a buddy cop, action-comedy about two San Francisco detectives. Ricky also does a Sunday webcomic called Vocabularious. It’s a single panel comic centered around an obscure word from the English language often how he feels that day. Ricky occasionally appears in the comic himself, along with his wife Shanall and their two children, Josiah and Jessalyn.
Elizabeth Sousa was born and raised in the Bay Area, but since 2008 has made a home in the Central Valley. She is an insurance agent by trade, a poet at heart, a Type One Diabetes advocate, and the mother of a 10-year-old super hero in the making. In 2010 she was humbled to compete in Modesto’s coveted annual poetry slam invitational. The III List 7, and was a regular at SLaM on RyE before it closed its doors in 2012. Elizabeth’s poetry has been published in Collected Whispers and More Than Soil, More Than Sky: The Modesto Poets.
Tama Brisbane (Info to come)
James Weaver is poet who has been published in two issues of Penumbra (2012 and 2015) and Collision: The Intersection of Poetry and Photography (2015). Some of his performances include performing at SlaM on RyE, Berkeley’s Poetry Slam and the Queen Bean of Modesto. He was also a judge at InkSlam in Los Angeles. He is currently working on his first chapbook.
Sage Curtis is currently an MFA candidate in poetry at University of San Francisco. Her work has been published in literary journals such as burntdistrict, 34th Parallel, Perceptions Magazine, Caesura, Garbanzo Literary Journal, Deep Water Journal and others. She spends her days as a content writer and her nights writing poetry (or living experiences to write about). Keep up with her work at sagedaniellecurtis.wordpress.com.
Patricia Wentzel has been writing poetry and prose for a year now. She has been published in Consumnes River Review, Neutrons Protons, The Light Ekphrastic, Petite Hound Press, Brevities, Poetry Now and Medusa’s Kitchen. She lives in Sacramento with her wife and teenaged twins, two cats and a dog. She is grateful to members of the Sacramento Poetry Center and the Women’s Wisdom Art poetry circle for their enthusiastic support.
Monika Rose, writing in the Mother Lode foothill region of Calaveras County, California, edits a Manzanita series of anthologies with a new anthology released in Nov 2014 called Wine, Cheese and Chocolate: A Taste of Literary Elegance from Manzanita Writers Press, a nonprofit literary publisher, which she founded, serving as director and editor. She teaches college English as adjunct at San Joaquin Delta College, with a Masters Degree in English, and lives in the foothills of Calaveras County where her husband operates a small cattle ranch. She has been published in Tule Review, Rattlesnake Review, Poetry Now, Mindprint Review, Squaw Valley Review, The Journal, Refrigerate After Opening, Mokehillion Review, Your Daily Poem, and Yosemite Poets, among other publications, with a collection of poems, River by the Glass, by GlenHill Publications. She is writing a humorous thriller based on voyeurism and surveillance and is working on a historical novel based on her parents’ WWII stories in Europe. Contact her at www.manzapress.com or at her web site www.monikarosewriter.com
Rhony Bhopla was born in London, and raised in Northern California. She is a writer, educator, and activist. Her poetry has been published in the Bay Area’s Tea Party Magazine, Medusa’s Kitchen, Tule Review, Poetry Now, Tiger’s Eye, Brevities, as well as Sacramento Voices 2015. Her recent feature includes a collaborative reading hosted by Davis Poet Laureate Andy Jones at the John Natsoulas Gallery, Sacramento Poetry Center, and the Nello Olivo Wine Cellar Poetry Series in Placerville. Rhony’s new chapbook, Ceremony, is a compilation of heritage-based poetry that makes vivid those things too small to be seen, yet too large that cannot be missed.
Cristina Sandoval is from Modesto, CA, where she has lived most her life, at times despondent, but always happy to have Mr. T’s Donuts right around the corner. Her passion for writing began at the age of 11, however her discovery of poetry, just one short year ago, is what ignited a renewal in that passion. She has been published in Penumbra, and The Snail Mail Review. She won first place for poetry in Modesto Junior College’s Celebration of the Humanities in 2015.
Also Available for Book Signing in Authors’ Alley
Abou-Gamin, Tony
Allen, Christopher
Ambau, Getty
Aron, Bill
Atherstone, Pam
Bagwell, Gillain
Berlin, Matthew
Big Tree Comics
Bluck, John
Brantingham, John
Brown, Shannon
Bulia, Lynda
Burger, Hans
Burwen, Mike
Carol, Anne
Carson, Melissa
Carpenter, Elena
Chadwick, Jennie
Champion, Linda
Compton, Joe
Coppinger, Godfrey
Dampier, Frances
Dampier, TJ
Davis, Gayle Taylor
Dawson, Robert
Dixon-Cooper, Hazel
Doll, Cherish A
Drier, Michele
Dunklee, Dan
Ehrenholm,Bryan
Forgey, Janelle
Franklin, Yvette
Gary, Codi
Gilmore, RM
Gohlke, Mary Jo
Gress Sceona
Gustafson, Stacey
Gorman, Kathy
Hale, Bruce
Halford, Randy
Hammond, Steven
Harris, Marietta
Haslem, Jacob
Hearn – Hill, Bonnie
Her, Paku
Herzog, Brad
Hill, Valerie
Hwang, Christine
Jesus, Steve
Kalm, Denise
Klein, Meera
Kline, TJ
Lee, Sandy
Lucas, Kara
Manzanita Press
May, Antoinette
Mc Kenzie, Michelle
Mc Knight, Christina
Mc Mullen, Beth
Meredith, Marilyn
Meyers, Gina
Miller, Kristin
Minnehan Jones, Maureen
Mitchell, Major
Moore, Karen
Moyer, Don
Murphy, Valerie
Newcorn, Claudia
Newman, Patricia
Nicole, Annalisa
Norry, Jay
Nunes, Britt
O’Hanneson, Robert
Osa, Naty
Padilla, John Paul
Parenti, Richard
Phelps, Bonnie
Poe, Christopher Allen
Presto, Anthony
Rallios, John
Reilly, Rebecca
Riddle, Clive
Ryan, Jennifer
Ryan, Karlene
Savage, Michele
Serrano, Amanda
Setting-Clark, Kristine
Severe, Annie
Sonntag, Steve
Stellhorn, Diane
Stevenson, Sarah
Thompson, Kasey
Torngren, Maya
Torres-Siders, Jennifer
Treick-DeBoard, Paula
Also Available for Book Signing in Authors’ Alley
Abou-Gamin, Tony
Allen, Christopher
Ambau, Getty
Aron, Bill
Atherstone, Pam
Bagwell, Gillain
Berlin, Matthew
Big Tree Comics
Bluck, John
Brantingham, John
Brown, Shannon
Bulia, Lynda
Burger, Hans
Burwen, Mike
Carol, Anne
Carpenter, Elena
Carson, Melissa
Chadwick, Jennie
Champion, Linda
Compton, Joe
Coppinger, Godfrey
Dampier, Frances
Dampier, TJ
Davis, Gayle Taylor
Dawson, Robert
Dixon-Cooper, Hazel
Doll, Cherish A
Drier, Michele
Dunklee, Dan
Ehrenholm, Bryan
Forgey, Janelle
Franklin, Yvette
Gary, Codi
Gilmore, RM
Gohlke, Mary Jo
Gress Sceona
Gustafson, Stacey
Gorman, Kathy
Hale, Bruce
Halford, Randy
Hammond, Steven
Harris, Marietta
Haslem, Jacob
Hearn – Hill, Bonnie
Her, Paku
Herzog, Brad
Hill, Valerie
Hwang, Christine
Jesus, Steve
Kalm, Denise
Klein, Meera
Kline, TJ
Lee, Sandy
Lucas, Kara
Manzanita Press
May, Antoinette
Mc Kenzie, Michelle
Mc Knight, Christina
Mc Mullen, Beth
Meredith, Marilyn
Meyers, Gina
Miller, Kristin
Minnehan Jones, Maureen
Mitchell, Major
Moore, Karen
Moyer, Don
Murphy, Valerie
Newcorn, Claudia
Newman, Patricia
Nicole, Annalisa
Norry, Jay
Nunes, Britt
O’Hanneson, Robert
Osa, Naty
Padilla, John Paul
Parenti, Richard
Phelps, Bonnie
Poe, Christopher Allen
Presto, Anthony
Rallios, John
Reilly, Rebecca
Riddle, Clive
Ryan, Jennifer
Ryan, Karlene
Savage, Michele
Serrano, Amanda
Setting-Clark, Kristine
Severe, Annie
Sonntag, Steve
Stellhorn, Diane
Stevenson, Sarah
Thompson, Kasey
Torngren, Maya
Torres-Siders, Jennifer
Treick-DeBoard, Paula