Gayle Leeson
With bookstores closed and online delivery of paper books delayed, several regional authors have their books available for download within seconds from your local library or your favorite eBook retailer on the Internet.
The second annual Highlands Writers Fair scheduled for April was postponed. Here is a list of a few of the authors selected for the event along with their books that can be downloaded, borrowed from a local library or purchased locally or online.
Donna Akers: Donna Akers relishes making local history come alive for her readers through her 10 books of historic images, ghost stories, legends, oral histories and newspaper articles. With a heritage stretching back nine generations in Washington County, Virginia, she became motivated to present history in a visual way and to use legends and ghost stories to draw in readers of all ages and backgrounds.
Her fiction and non-fiction have been published in regional magazines and won state awards, and she was a featured author at the Virginia Festival of the Book. Her humorous essays on mountain life have been featured on WNCW in Spindale, North Carolina.
Akers earned a B.A. in anthropology (James Madison University) and a Masters in Planning and Historic Preservation (University of Virginia) and has found her calling in preserving and teaching regional history through her writing. Her various jobs have included archeologist, museum docent, urban planner, environmental planner for HQ Air Force at the Pentagon, town planner and adjunct instructor at Appalachian State University. She lives in the mountains of North Carolina with her two young sons.
“Abingdon (Images of Modern America)”: According to legend, in about 1760, Daniel Boone first named this hinterlands settlement “Wolf Hills.” Incorporated in 1778, the town of Abingdon became the leading trade, business and legal center for Southwest Virginia from the late 1700s to mid-1800s. With a key location along the Great Wagon Road, the community blossomed during the 19th and 20th centuries due to trade, railroad commerce, banking, industry and its natural resources, such as timber and salt from nearby Saltville. However, from the 1960s to 1980s, the downtown lost several historic landmarks to fire and demolition. Businesses began to move to outlying shopping centers, and small, locally owned businesses were replaced by national chain stores. Railroad traffic decreased and no longer moved goods and passengers. Previously the locus for commerce, transportation and entertainment, the historic downtown area transitioned to an arts and tourist destination and to a unique crossroads service area with government centers, restaurants, specialty stores, offices, banks and hotels.
“Washington County Revisited”: A companion to “Images of America: Washington County,” this book, “Washington County Revisited,” depicts more of the area’s rich history. In an attempt to thoroughly cover this county in Virginia, “Washington County Revisited” explores the history of settlements that were once major community centers, including Lodi, Blackwell’s Chapel, Rich Valley, Lindell, Bethel, Taylor’s Valley, Hayter’s Gap, Clinchburg and Alvarado. Learn even more of the fascinating history surrounding the railroad towns of Damascus, Glade Spring and Meadowview. Officially formed in 1776 from Fincastle County, the county was named for General George Washington, who was then serving as commander in chief of the Continental Army. Washington County holds the distinction of being the first geographical region to be named for the first U.S. president. With more than 200 images, “Washington County Revisited” provides a unique visit to this rural region that once served as a gateway to the West along the Great Wagon Road and saw thousands of settlers and goods pass through to uncharted lands.
eBook: Amazon Kindle
Paper Books: local retailers, online retailers or local libraries
Victoria A. Fletcher: Victoria A. Fletcher has lived her entire life in Damascus, Virginia. She attended Virginia Intermont College receiving her B.A. in education. She later attended Tusculum College and received her M.A. in education.She taught in the Washington County Virginia Schools for 30 years before retiring. She served as the church secretary for First Baptist Church in Damascus from August 2010 to August 2018. Now pursuing a career as a publisher, with her headquarters at the Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator in Abingdon, Fletcher helps other authors realize their dream of publishing their own book.Her interests include writing, reading, Bible study, computers, music, board games and puzzle books.Fletcher began writing whenshe was 13 years old when she began writing poetry.Several of her poems appear in poetry anthologies.Her first book. “The Bible Tells Me So: Old Testament Bible Stories for Children,” won the Xulon PressChoice Award for Children’s Bible Story Books.
“Behind the Veil”: “Behind the Veil” describes 30 women of the Bible in a “guess who” format. The book is a wonderful guide for testing your knowledge of Biblical women.
eBook: Amazon Kindle
Paper Books: local retailers, on-line retailers or local libraries
Linda Hudson Hoagland: Linda Hudson Hoagland has won acclaim for her mystery novels that include the recent “Dangerous Shadow,” “Snooping Can Be Scary,” “Snooping Can Be Uncomfortable,” “Onward & Upward,” “Missing Sammy,” “An Unjust Court” and “Snooping Can Helpful - Sometimes.” She is also the author of works of nonfiction, three collections of short writings along with three volumes of poems. Hoagland has won numerous awards for her work, including first place for the Pearl S. Buck Award for Social Change and the Sherwood Anderson Short Story Contest. Her work has appeared in many anthologies.
“Dangerous Shadow”: While sitting at a table making an effort to sell the books she has written, Ellen encounters an old high school friend who turns Ellen’s life upside down. As a widow, she longs for companionship, friendship, not a lasting love, because she had already lived through that until he died. Ellen’s schoolmate from 50 years earlier had the wrong idea when he stood before her book-laden table. She wonders how she will deal with a persistent man who is demanding her attention. Then Marie Eddleston enters Ellen’s life and she has two major problems in front of her. She is faced with death several times and she doesn’t know why it is happening.
eBook: Amazon Kindle
Paper Books: local retailers, online retailers or local libraries
Edison Jennings: Edison Jennings studied for and received a BA while serving in the Navy. After separating from the Navy, he briefly worked as a substitute teacher, but on the advice of a friend he applied to the Warren Wilson Program for Writers. Upon completing the program, he began teaching at Virginia Intermont College where he remained until its closure. He currently works as a classroom aide and bus driver/monitor for Head Start. His poetry has appeared in several journals and anthologies. He is the author of three chapbooks, “Reckoning,” “A Letter to Greta” and “Small Measures.”
Small Measures www.wildleakpress.com
A Letter to Greta www.planbpress.com
Reckoning www.jacarpress.com
Gayle Leeson: Gayle Leeson is a pseudonym for Gayle Trent. She has also written as Amanda Lee. She is currently writing the Kinsey Falls chick-lit/women’s fiction series, the Down South Cafe cozy mystery series and the Ghostly Fashionista cozy mystery series. Her book “Killer Wedding Cake” won the Bronze Medal in the 20th Anniversary IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards) Awards. She lives in Southwest Virginia with her family and enjoys hearing from readers.
“Perils and Lace”: A murderer outwitting a quirky flapper ghost? Seams unlikely. Budding retro fashion designer and entrepreneur Amanda Tucker is thrilled about making costumes for Winter Garden High School’s production of “Beauty and the Beast.” But when the play’s director Sandra Kelly is poisoned, Amanda realizes there’s a murderer in their midst. She’s determined to keep herself and the students safe, so when her ghostly fashionista friend Max suggests they investigate, Amanda rolls up her sleeves and prepares to follow the deadly pattern.
eBook: Amazon Kindle
Paper Books: local retailers, on-line retailers or local libraries
Greg Lilly: Greg Lilly grew up in Bristol, Virginia, then lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. The rich storytelling tradition of the South captivated him, and he began writing. Moving to Sedona, Arizona, Lilly chronicled the high desert characters — past and present — in his books. Lilly relocated to Williamsburg, Virginia, where he wrote and edited a regional magazine and served on the Williamsburg Area Arts Commission. Today, he lives and writes in Abingdon, Virginia. He is the author of the “Tales of the Abingdon Wolves” series for the Virginia Highlands Festival.
“Stray”: Taliesin MacGuire promises his grandmother he will discover why his father left 30 years ago and never returned to his family. Finn MacGuire was the seventh son of a seventh son, and the legend of shapeshifter followed him throughout his life in Southwest Virginia.
Was Finn the good son? The unfaithful husband? The doting father? The charming uncle? The spoiled brother? The wolf or the lamb? Tal finds few people have fond memories of his father and fewer want to talk. Finn left a backwash of heartbreak, but no physical clues to his disappearance. Time sweeps away memories and paper trails. With the help of his cousin, Dr. Brigid MacGuire, and a woman dredging her own past, Cliodhna Fitz-Adams, Tal searches for answers to set his grandmother’s – and his – mind at ease about Finn’s disappearance.
Echoes from Irish lore, the Lost Colony, and the Virginia witch trials weave strains of an ancient melody as Tal discovers that time silences the past and nonconformity is a howl in the night.
eBook: Amazon Kindle
Paper Books: local retailers, on-line retailers or local libraries
Bunny Medeiros: Bunny Medeiros lives in Abingdon, Virginia. “Walking to Wijiji...My Journey Overcoming Loneliness” is her latest book. Her first book, “Friendliest Town on the Trail,” lovingly pays tribute to the town of Damascus where she lived for 12 years.
“Walking to Wijiji ... My Journey Overcoming Loneliness”: Bunny Medeiros has published her second book, sharing her story that began in the Portuguese neighborhood of a Massachusetts textile town.She believes everyone has a story, and it is when we share them we resonate and connect with one another. Creating a tapestry woven from paths she had crossed, bits and pieces of stories belonging to friends and family are seamlessly woven in, and she colorfully interlaces historical events that have influenced her life.She came to recognize lonelinesshas been a frequent visitor to her and has used traveling to fill voids in her life. Carrying the reader along to the many places that have drawn her and energized her spirit, she tries to bring clarity to the distinction between being social and feeling lonely. One reader described that the author “covers ground both literally and figuratively as she deals with life, change, travel, and the ups and downs we all must face.”
Paper Books: local retailers, online retailers or local libraries
Suzanne Samples: Suzanne Samples is a writer and college professor at Appalachian State University. Her memoir “Frontal Matter: Glue Gone Wild” details her sudden diagnosis with terminal brain cancer (glioblastoma multiforme) at 36. Partly written while hospitalized for a month in January of 2018, “Frontal Matter” showcases short pieces of writing that describe Suzanne’s brain surgery, diagnosis, treatment and the never-ending process of recovery. “Frontal Matter” received a coveted starred review from Kirkus Reviews and was subsequently named a Best Indie Book of 2019 by Kirkus.
“Frontal Matter: Glue Gone Wild”: A fun, funny, and heartbreakingly real memoir of a woman’s fight against terminal brain cancer. The writing is honest, charming, and full of cuss words.
eBook: Amazon
Paper Books: local retailers, online retailers or local libraries
