Ohio ReBoot: Author and Reviewer, Wendi Zwaduk

My name is Wendi Zwaduk and I am a lifelong resident of Ohio. Kinda like the John Mellencamp song, “Small Town” (even though it’s written about another state) fits me well. I was born in a small town and I live in a small town. I’ve often told people there’s not a whole lot in Ohio save for corn and soy bean fields. I’m stretching the truth a little. There is actually a lot in Ohio.

I grew up in a small house on a plain avenue in Ohio. I had friends, lots of room to run, and my imagination to keep me company. I’d like to think it was all the time spent sitting in Mom’s Lilac bushes, creating scenarios for my Barbie dolls that helped to cultivate my love of storytelling. I wanted them all to have happily-ever-afters. Who wouldn’t? I didn’t start writing until after college, but I’m glad I started putting my stories onto the computer screen. It’s been a fun release and a great way to meet people who also love to tell stories. Check out my novel, “Right Where I Need to Be”. It’s set in Ohio farmland. Also a one of my favorite stories. I work for the Long and Short Reviews and love being there. Check them out, too.http://www.longandshortreviews.com/LASR/index.htm

But enough about me. Let’s talk about Ohio!!One of my all time favorite places to go in Ohio has got to be in Cleveland. You got it, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. I love going there and seeing the clothes that belonged to John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, original lyrics written by the Beach Boys...It’s a blast.  http://rockhall.com/
Want something a little more spooky? I got some great resources from this location. The Mansfield Reformatory. Never heard of it? You’ve probably seen it. Have you seen “The Shawshank Redemption” with Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins? Then you’ve seen Mancy. It’s a prison that’s over a hundred years old. There are ghost tours, ghosts, and lots of history there. If you dare to go after dark. You can see where they shot parts of the movie and even the tunnel where Tim Robbins escaped. Think it looks more like Dracula’s castle? You wouldn’t be far off. Come check it out. http://www.mrps.org/

Spooky not your thing? That’s fine. We have the Wright Patterson Air Force base down in Dayton. While you’re there, you can check out the National Air Force Museum. I love looking at the gigantic planes and wondering how they get those things into the air.http://www.wpafb.af.mil/index.asp

And then if you’d like to slow down a little, there’s the Ohio Wine Country. It’s not really one particular place, but Ohio is known for its ice wine. Great on ice cream. Hang out in the Northeastern corner of Ohio, in the Lake and Ashtabula county regions and you can take guided tours. It’s a lot of fun. http://www.touring-ohio.com/ohio-wines.html

I’m sure there are plenty more places in Ohio for you to check out. We’ve got Cedar Point and the sky-high roller coasters, The Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati zoos. We have the Mid-Ohio Indy course. There’s lots to do in Ohio. And for more about me and my work, plus I’ve got a full page on my site devoted to FREE reads, visit my websitehttp://www.wendizwaduk.com/ 

I also run a blog http://wendizwaduk.blogspot.com/ There you’ll find Flirty Fridays and great book trailers for my novels plus links to sites I love and events where you’ll find me. 

2013 Alaska Reboot with Sean Thomas

Alaska’s been my home since on and off since 1955.  I grew up mostly in Eagle River.

In minutes, one can drive north or south of there and be surrounded by pristine wilderness with clear unpolluted lakes, rivers and creeks loaded with fish and green forests flush with wild game.

The state is rich in history, minerals and oil, diverse native cultures and lots of mystery—missing planes, missing people and very few roads.  

This wilderness is great inspiration for Mystery novels as there are many places to hide a body.

In truth, Alaska has had several serial killers. One was baker and businessman Robert Hansen who kidnapped prostitutes, held themcaptive, tortured and sexually assaulted them, then took them to the Alaskan bush to hunt them down.  Nicholas Cage came to Alaska this last fall and filmed a movie, Frozen Ground, based on Robert Hansen.  It’ll be out later this year.

My writing experience started in grade school. I spent more time reading novels instead of concentrating on my schoolwork. My favorite authors were Jack London and Edgar Rice Burroughs.  In the seventh grade, I wrote my first story based on a plane crashing in the wilderness.  My teacher liked it so much she had me read it in front of the class.  I was so embarrassed it killed my inspiration to write paving the way for high school where I excelled scholastically.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAByFUI9B2Q&feature=youtu.be

I attended Alaska Methodist University, majoring in chemistry with a minor in mathematics. 

At the University of Idaho graduate school, I went into organic chemistry and enrolled in ROTC for the deferment.  ROTC leadership requested I take over as the editor of the Vandal Review, a ROTC newspaper.  It was there I met and married the love of my life, Doris.  We’ve been married for 40

years.  We have one son, Robert, who is a computer genius working for the Alaska Railroad.  My son built and maintains my website.

I seriously start writing again in 1990.  

At that time, I was records/copy machine manager for the Army in Alaska and wrote an article on copy machine management.  It was accepted and published in their International Quarterly.  

The writing bug bit me but I really wanted to write fiction.  I picked a writing partner, a former coworker of Aleut heritage.  She wrote children’s books while I wrote a science fiction detective novel.  We joined a local writer’s group that met weekly.  After a couple meetings, my partner quit.  She said the members were the meanest, most vindictive people she’d ever met and quit writing.  I continued on with the group, accepting their harsh criticism.  I found with all the editing on other

member’s works, there was little time for my own novel. I enrolled in creative writing courses, improved on my style and eventually moved forward.

 

I took a screen-writing course at the University of Alaska Anchorage taught by Kim Rich. Through her course, I finally understood how stories were put together following the Greek tradition.  By then, I had four books in the hopper and my Alaska State Trooper mystery novels, Dark Project, Dark Soul and Dark Gold, were published.  My third mystery, actually more a horror novel, Dark Shaman, was published in 2003. Whiskey Creek Press, my current publisher, picked these four novels for conversion to e-format.  Since these were my earlier works, I revised, streamlined and punched up the prose and dialog before submission. 

I had been diagnosed and was living with congestive heart failure with atrial fibrillation and was on a handful of medicines that on any given day had a 14% chance of killing me.  My congestive heart failure reversed itself, but the irregular heartbeat remained. Complications arose resulting in surgery where I was on the operating table for nine hours, and during that time the doctors cardioverted me eight times—that’s being hit by the electrical paddles 16 times—stopping and starting my heart.

As a result of the cardioversions, I lost eight months of short-term memory and my ability to write.

After I had gotten my energy back, when I looked down at the computer screen, it looked like Sergeant Snorkel from Beatle Bailey cussing.  I couldn’t string sentences together.  It took three years to get back my writing abilities. 

In 2006, I retired. Around that time, I started to have a reoccurring dream about a Roman Legion expedition to Qin (China) that had been blown off course, went up the Yukon and merged with Athabascans. I had to get the story down on paper to stop the nightmares. So Robert Sable, my Alaska State Trooper, emerged again in a new, different mystery novel, Lost Legion. 

Other Robert Sable Mystery novels quickly followed: you can see the long list on my sitewww.seanethomas.com  There you’ll find all my work including the many award winners with synopsis. 

My next release, The Frozen Treasure, will be out from Whiskey Creek Press in June 2013.

 I am currently working on a new novel in the series with the working title, Blood on the Moon--a multi-millionaire has upped the winner’s prize for this year’s Iditarod race to $5 million.  Last year’s champion is the first to die along with all his dogs.

Stalker, Alaska Dutchman and Deadly Rites were submitted to Alaska Professional Communicators contest.  Alaskan Dutchman--the Official Second Place Winner and all three novels received rave reviews by the judges!  

North Dakota Library System

For North Dakota, I usually have a hard time filling that state.  Not sure why because I know there’s writers and readers up there.  My great grandmother’s family was in North Dakota at some point.  I know this because I own a couple things from there, a book and a plate, and her name and the city where she lived at the time are written on those. 

Still, I have a hard time filling North Dakota so here’s a call out for next year to anyone wishing to occupy this spot.

Lack of a volunteer that knows something more about the state than I do gives me the opportunity to promote another library system and, as luck would have it, North Dakota Library System has an event coming up that benefits those who would normally be on the cusp of the digital age and might need a little help getting the hang of electronic systems.  

You can find more about that here: http://engagedpatrons.org/EventsExtended.cfm?SiteID=9851&EventID=340947&PK=

Summer Summit Workshop

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2018’s Summer Summit meeting offers a delightful blend of high-quality programming and lively discussions with your peers. All are welcome, but do note that the first hour will be relevant only to public library administrators. We are happy to announce that we’re partnering with AARP for an afternoon workshop on providing technology training to older adults.

Link to the Library’s homepage here: http://www.library.nd.gov/index.html

They’ve got loads of information and services plus, as I’ve been promoting occasionally this year, a virtual check-out option. 

With the changes caused by electronic communications and shopping and, well, everything,  I’m glad most libraries are getting into the virtual world but also, its great to hear classes and event are still being coordinated in the physical buildings. No matter how much people move the electronic direction, they will always need that face to face.

(All info downloaded from http://www.library.nd.gov/index.html)

Randy Rawls of North Carolina:

Randy Rawls of North Carolina was to be the guest blogger here today—I’ll update this once he sends his post until then, please take a minute to check out the work done by his publicist, P.J. Nunn:

https://bookbrowsing.wordpress.com/about/

PJ Nunn is owner and founder of BreakThrough Promotions, a PR firm that specializes in authors and books of all kinds. She has  a Masters degree in psychology and serves as a consultant in the field of law enforcement. Her day job is in the book industry.

http://www.breakthroughpromotions.net/

BreakThrough Promotions was founded in 1998-rapidly grew to be internationally recognized and reps authors of all genres.  P.J. Nunn has developed contacts around the globe and works to help clients achieve their goals determining a strategy that works best for each. 

Here’s a bit of promo P.J. Nunn agency sent about Randy Rawls of North Carolina:

Randy Rawls was born and reared in Williamston, North Carolina, a small town in the northeastern part of the state. From there, he says he inherited a sense of responsibility, a belief in fair play, and a love of country. As a career US Army officer, he had the opportunity to learn, travel, teach, and hone talents inherited from his parents. Following retirement, he worked in other ventures for the US Government. Every job has in some way been fun. Even the dark days of Vietnam had their light moments, and he cherishes the camaraderie that was an integral part of survival in that hostile world.

Today, he has short stories in several anthologies, and a growing list of novels to his credit. As a prolific reader, the reads across several genres and takes that into his writing. He has written mysteries, thrillers, an historical, and two fantasy/mystery/thrillers featuring a Santa Elf. The count is now at fourteen and growing. He is a regular contributor to Happy Homicides, a twice annual anthology of cozy short stories. He also has a series of short stories featuring a cattle-herding burro. Wherever his imagination will take him, he follows.

www.randyrawls.com

https://www.facebook.com/randy.rawls.315