California Writers Club, Mt Diablo Branch

Welcome to CWC Mt. Diablo Branch!

This page lists our members who have published material. Authors are listed in alphabetical order by surname.  Viewers will find links to members’ websites/blogs and latest publications.

*NOTICE* Profiles can now include an author bio, author photo, and more book covers. If you are a current member and want to update your profile, or if you are a new member (Active status) or newly published author, submit your information to us here. We’ll add you to the list!

OUR AUTHORS

Ellen Aubry

Ellen Aubry is a former technical writer pursuing a career in fiction. She has a short story in the 2016 issue of the California Writers Club Literary Review and two stories in the May 2017 edition of the Las Positas College Literary Anthology. One of the stories for the Anthology, Hardship Duty, received an Honorable Mention.
Her latest story, My Soul’s Gone Away, will appear as RumbleFish Press’ story of the day on Saturday, November 18, at https://www.rumblefishpress.com/daily. After Saturday, it can be accessed at the same link – just click on Literary in the heading and then Past. The last several days’ worth of stories will appear.

Michael BanisterMichael Banister Author

 

Barbara Bentley

 

Susan Berman

 

J. D. (Jerry) Blaircover

  • Janus: Private Eyes, BookBaby, 2016
  • Latest Award (2010): Be My Carlotta, Honorable Mention, Short Story Contest, Carpe Articulum Literary Review

 

 

Fran Cain

  • Founding member of Writers on the Journey critique group
  • What to Know Before You Store Patient Credit Card Numbers, Western Pennsylvania Healthcare News, Issue No. 1, 2013
  • WiFi: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly (Southern California Physician, January 2012)

Nannette Rundle Carroll

 

Nanette Cooper-McGuinnessSLM4GS 16

 

George CramerGeorge Cramer

George Cramer began his investigative career in local law enforcement. He has over forty year’s investigative experience and is certified as Professional Certified Investigator (PCI), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Professional Investigator (CPI), and Certified Fraud Specialist (CFS). He is a licensed Private Investigator in California and Arizona.
He left the corporate environment as head of Global Investigations, Safety & Security for the Palm, Inc. Division of Hewlett-Packard. He has specialized in Standards of Business Conduct; undercover operations; insurance and corporate fraud; crimes against business; and the protection of intellectual property.
George has conducted thousands of successful investigations throughout the Americas and Asia. He is recognized as an expert in the area of Interviewing and Interrogation. He has presented numerous seminars on that subject including ASIS International and High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA) international conferences.
George has been published in numerous online and printed anthologies. He was the editor-in-chief for Impressions, the Las Positas College 2015 anthology. He is currently working on two writing projects: a mystery novel spanning four decades and a memoir.
George has lived in Dublin, California with his wife Cathy for thirty years. They have three adult children.

Maya Mitra DasMaya Das

Maya Mitra Das is a physician, poet, and performer of the Indian classical dance Bharatnatyam. Her poetry has appeared in Tuesday’s Poetry, edited by Jerry Ball, two narrative poems have been anthologized in What’s in a Name, edited by Elaine Starkman, and she has also authored several scientific publications. Her fiction has appeared in Tremors: Short Fiction by California Writers and in her full-length collection of short stories, Silhouettes of Time.Rhythms Primeval coverSilhouettes of Time

 

 

Melanie DenmanVisiting_the_Sins

 

Marlene Dotterer

Marlene Dotterer has an itchy soul. That sounds like a good character trait for a fantasy/adventure book, but in real life it just means she’s always starting a new project, usually before the previous project is finished.
This may be why her four books are written in three genres. Or why she earned a degree in geology, then worked in nuclear waste before starting a business as a personal chef, and then taught natural childbirth classes.
There’s just always something else to do. This may or may not be the reason Marlene volunteered to take over duties as Mt. Diablo Branch membership chair and eventually, president.
Marlene joined CWC in 2009, when she had just finished her first novel – a time travel/historical fiction account of Thomas Andrews, the builder of the Titanic. As of this week, Marlene writes science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal romance, with four books available online at all major retailers. She is still working on novels 5 – 8, but has no immediate plans to add a new genre to her repertoire. She keeps the option open though, just in case.
Marlene lives in Pleasant Hill with her husband, who has recently retired. This means they spend lots of time traveling up and down the west coast and points inland, to visit their six children, eleven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Her motto is, “If one door closes and another one doesn’t open, break a window.”

Contact info and Books

Website 
Worlds Apart, Time Travel Journals (2-part series), Moon Over Donamorgh

Latest Award (2014):  Big Al’s Books & Pals Reader’s Choice Nominee for The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder

      

Patricia Evansverbally_abusive_relationshipcontrolling_people

 

Linda Forcelinda-force

  • The Influence of Causal Attribution on Work Exhaustion and Turnover Intention of Traditional Discipline Engineers in the United States (2008)

 

 

Alla Gakuba

Alla P. Gakuba, BSCE, MAS, PhD, is a Russian-born published author, engineer, and innovator.

 Alla was born in the former Soviet Union. Fate propelled her to work in 4 countries: the Soviet Union, Rwanda, Tanzania, and the United States; in 3 languages: Russian, French, and English; and under 2 radical systems: socialism and capitalism.
She received her BSCE from Odessa Civil Engineering University in the Soviet Union; she earned her master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; and she received her PhD from George Washington University, Washington, DC.

Some of Alla’s contributions to engineering, health care, and women:
* She designed alone, one person, a 10-span bridge with 4 ramps, I-95, in downtown Baltimore, over the Patapsco River.
* She found the solution, and then designed 3.5 miles of the Baltimore subway aerial structure which is considered to be the most challenging engineering design.
* She was the 1st woman to receive a PhD in the Management of Science, Technology, and Innovations field.
* Her dissertation is considered to be in the top 5% among 250-300 dissertations written in the last 15 years.
* In health care, Alla P. Gakuba created several innovations. One of her innovations sparked an entirely new industry. It created hundreds of thousands of new jobs. As it grew, it started bringing millions, and then $120-$140 billions, of dollars yearly in new revenue to many companies.

  • Find Alla’s 3 nonfiction books and 60 nonfiction short stories on Amazon.

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David George

  • Blog: Writers on the Journey (Cheryl Spanos, David George, Jack Russ, Jill Hedgecock, Susan Berman), Musings on Creative Writing and the Path to Publication
  • Latest award (2009): Frog Song, Short Story, First Place, San Francisco & Peninsula Branch, California Writers Club contest

Aurelia GincauskasAurelia Author

Aurelia Gincauskas was born in Kempten, a war torn German town. She emigrated, as a child with her Lithuanian parents, to East Chicago, Indiana. There she was raised between two cultures–American and Lithuanian.
She received her bachelor’s degree from University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois where she met her future husband. Four years later she earned a medical doctor’s degree from Indiana School of Medicine, Indianapolis. Later she became board certified in Family Medicine. After living for many years in Urbana, Illinois and Orange County, California, she and her husband eventually settled in Walnut Creek for the past 25 years where she continued her medical profession.
She has been an active competitor in tennis and an avid mountain hiker not only in California but also in mountainous places in Europe.
After her retirement three years ago, she has turned her attention to writing. Since many images of her childhood in Germany and memories of stories narrated by her mother about the WWII tragic experiences kept surfacing, she decided to place all those fragments of memories together like a puzzle, before they faded away. From those fragments a picture emerged and a memoir was written.
“The Scattered Autumn Leaves” was published last year (2017). She is now writing a fiction romance book. The story will touch important issues that face our veterans today as they continue to suffer consequences of war and PTSD.The Scattered Autumn Leaves

 

 

 

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J. Gary Gwilliamgetting_a_winning_verdict

 

 


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Jill Hedgecock

  • Website
  • Short Story, The Plot in Question, CWC Literary Review, 2017
  • Personal Essay, Round, CWC Literary Review, 2016
  • Short Story Broken, appeared in the anthology: West Winds Centennial, California Writers Club, 2010
  • Bookends monthly book review (Diablo Gazette): 2016-present
  • Latest award: Lost Cause, Second Place, Short Story Contest, CWC Inland Empire Branch, 2010
  • CWC Distinguished Service Award, 2014

 

Neva Hodges

Phyllis HousemanPhyllis Houseman author

Curiosity and an admiration of Renaissance goals has helped guide Phyllis Houseman through life. It may explain why she has been a student of the sciences, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador, a High School teacher, a team manager of a software security firm, and a writer who has published award-winning romance books.
Phyllis was born in Detroit, MI. She earned a B.S. in Biology and Physical Sciences at the University of Michigan, and following two years in Ecuador, completed a Master’s in Science Education at Wayne State University. She then married Jack (whom she met when they were both eight), had a daughter and son, and taught for many years in Detroit and California. After adding a concentration in Computer Science to her resume, Phyllis went to work in the computer industry. Rounding out her desire to live up to Renaissance ideals, she has also written several contemporary novels.Callback to our YesterdayThe Verdict is LoveThese is a Season

 

 

Judith IngramDevotionalWalkForgivenessIntotheMist 500x750

Denise Kalm51LkbGB+M3L._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_career_savvy

Ken KerkhoffPaper Boat Cover

 

 

Elizabeth Koehler-PentacoffPowerpoint talk projector file Version 2-002the-missing-kennedy-668x1030

 

Dennis KollerDennis Koller Author

After many years as a senior level marketing administrator at California colleges and universities, Dennis Koller began his career as a full-time writer in 2013. He published his mystery-thriller “Kissed By The Snow” in the fall of 2014. In May of 2016, his political mystery-thriller, “The Oath”, was released in hard-copy. “The Oath” was honored to win the prestigious 2016 BAIPA Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Military Writers Society of America silver medal for Mystery/Thriller. Koller’s newest political mystery-thriller, “The Custer Conspiracy”, was published in October of 2016. In January of 2017, it received the great honor of being reviewed by Publishers Weekly.
Mr. Koller holds an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and a graduate degree in Business Administration, both from Saint Mary’s College of California. He is published by Pen Books and lives in Pleasant Hill.The Custer ConspiracyThe OathKissed by the Snow

 

 

Joanna Krausnight_tamales_roses

 

Chloe Laube41AbmvAvjNL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_

 

Lani Longshoredeath_by_chenille

 

 

Judith MarshallHusbands Larger 300 dpi. jpg

 

 

John Marvin316XTbqXi7L._SX309_BO1,204,203,200_41KyU1ygE2L._SX320_BO1,204,203,200_

 

 

Lenore McKnightEating Disorders book cover

 

Camille Minichino

madness_in_miniaturequotient_of_murder

 

 

Jeffrey Mark PaullJeffrey Mark Paull

Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He earned his BS in Chemistry and Master of Science in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Pittsburgh, and his MPH and Doctorate of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Paull’s career as an environmental toxicologist and scientific expert in the field of occupational and environmental health spans over thirty years (1976 – 2008).
Since that time, Dr. Paull has devoted himself to his passion for Jewish genealogical research and writing. His first book, entitled: “A Noble Heritage: The History and Legacy of the Polonsky and Paull Family in America,” traces his family’s ancestry over a millennium of history, and discovers their lost rabbinical heritage tracing back to Rashi (1040–1105). His book was recently featured on the PBS website, “Finding your Roots, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.”
Dr. Paull is very active in the field of genetic genealogy, and has published numerous pioneering autosomal and Y-DNA studies in which he has identified the unique genetic signature of some of Eastern Europe’s most renowned tzaddiks, rabbinical lineages, and dynasties.
In addition to his Jewish genealogical research studies, Dr. Paull is conducting pioneering Y-DNA research studies of America’s Founding Fathers. The first of these published Y-DNA studies focuses on the descendants of John Hart, the thirteenth signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Dr. Paull’s many genealogy-related book chapters, research articles, and publications have surpassed 20,000 views, placing him in the top one percent of all researchers on Academia.edu.

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Jil PlummerfrontAD BookCoverFront

 

 

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Pearl Atkins Schwartzbox_camera_chronicles

 

 

 

Aline Soules

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Cheryl Spanos

  • Website: Writers on the Journey
  • “Counting,” short story, Beyond Centauri, October 2010
  • “Bones in the Cellar,” short story, Hunger Mountain, Spring 2010
  • Latest award (2008): Tougher than Dragon Hide, Children’s Fiction (Middle Grade Novel); Runner-Up, San Francisco Writers Conference Contest; Two Honorable Mentions, 77th Annual Writers Digest Writing Competition for Bones in the Cellar, and Pote Tha Fthasoume? (Are We There Yet?), both in the mainstream/literary short story category

 

Bill Stong

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Ann G. Thomasthe_women_we_become

Christine Tomerson51f3e2bz+qL._SX315_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

 

Sally Tubachuncommon_friendshipTubach_GermanREV-w-g

Cathy Turney

Cathy Turney is the author of Get 10,000+ Twitter Followers—Easily, Quickly, Ethically, available on Amazon. Her humorous tell-all about the real estate sales industry, Laugh Your Way to Real Estate Sales Success, won the American Business Association Stevie Award for Best Business Book of the Year in 2015. She is a contributor to Huffington Post.tales_of_a_codependent_pet_owner

 

Sarah Wilsonlove_and_kisses

 

 

Frances Bries Wojnareliza_an_iowa_pioneermagdalenas_conflict

 

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