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, click HERE to submit your information. We’ll add you to the list!
OUR AUTHORS
Ellen Aubry
Ellen Aubry is the author of “Rough Water” California Writers’ Club Literary Review Magazine, “A Suitable Place” and “Hardship Duty” in the anthology Beyond the Window, and “My Soul’s Gone Away”, RumbleFish Press.com’s story of the day on November 18, 2017. Her story “Hardship Duty” won honorable mention. She has a new story “Loud and Clear” coming out in the California Writers’ Club Tri-Valley Branch 2018 Anthology in December of 2018.
Ellen is an MA Candidate at the University of Denver in their Professional Creative Writing Program with an emphasis on fiction writing.
- Website
- Stolen Identity, Andrew Benzie Books, 2015
- Unfinished Business, Andrew Benzie Books, 2018
Barbara Bentley
Websites: dancewiththedevil.com, barbarabentley.net
- Facebook page
- The Little Book of Success: Turn Your Dreams Into Reality With Four Simple Steps, Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- A Dance with the Devil: A True Story of Marriage to a Psychopath, Berkley Trade (November 2008)
- Latest Award (2010): Passion, Second Place, Gundlach-Bundschu Winery poetry contest
Susan Berman
- Website
- Member of Writers on the Journey (Cheryl Spanos, David George, Jill Hedgecock, Fran Cain, Melanie Denman Cervenka, Susan Berman, Elisabeth Tuck), Musings on Creative Writing and the Path to Publication
- Maracaibo Oil Brat: Book One, Andrew Benzie Books (2013)
- Ode to Obesity, My Word Wizard (2013).
- Latest award (2011): Bad News About Our First Maracaibo Christmas, Finalist, Women’s Memoir Contest
J. D. (Jerry) Blair
Jerry “J.D.” Blair was born and raised in Taft, California in the Southern San Joaquin Valley. He graduated from Taft Junior College and attended San Jose State with majors in drama and communications.
His earliest writing efforts were focused on commercial and news copy for his first job as a radio disk jockey. After a stint in the service he began a 30 year career in journalism and television production as a Writer/Producer for NBC in San Francisco and later with the PBS outlet in Sacramento. He was nominated twice for Emmy Awards in writing and producing documentaries and in 1998 was a awarded a Chris Award at the Columbus Film and Video Festival and was recipient of a Telly Award in 1999 for writing and producing the statewide program “California Heartland”. He was granted a Knight Journalism Fellowship at UC Berkeley for media coverage of urban development.
Since leaving television his focus has been on writing one-act plays, short fiction, essays and poetry. His stories and poetry are targeted at literary magazines and competitions. His work has appeared in Writers’ Journal, Third Wednesday, Carve Magazine, Pearl, California Quarterly, Conium Review and Commonline Journal. His prose and poetry won or placed in competitions with Writer Advice, Orchid Literary Review, Fog City Review and Writers’ Journal. His one-act play “Vincent” was produced as a staged reading with the Ross Valley Players of Marin County California in May 2009. He has published three eBooks and was presented with awards for excellence in writing at the 2008 Santa Barbara Writers Conference. Blair says his goal is to shoot for the moon and place a story or poem in The New Yorker.
Jerry names Raymond Carver, Ethan Canin and Woody Allen as three writers who have inspired him in navigating the tricky waters of short fiction.
- 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
- Blog: Communicate2Go
- The Communication Problem Solver: Simple Tools and Techniques for Busy Managers, AMACOM Books (2010)
- Latest Award (2009): The Communication Problem Solver: Simple Tools and Techniques for Busy Managers, The CEO Refresher (website)—Best Books of 2009
Nanette Cooper-McGuinness
- Website: Nanette McGuinness, soprano
- Blog: Music and Words on the Roa
- Geronimo Stilton Graphic Novels #16: Lights, Camera, Stilton, Papercutz, 2015
- Sherlock, Lupin & Me #4: Cathedral of Fear, Capstone, 2015
George 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 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.
Melanie Denman
- Website
- Visiting the Sins, Word Association Publishers, 2013
- Latest Award (2014): Bronze IPPY for Regional Southern Fiction from Independent Publisher Book Awards for the novel, Visiting 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 Evans
Internationally recognized, Interpersonal Communications Specialist, Patricia Evans, is the bestselling author of five books, including The Verbally Abusive Relationship, Verbal Abuse Survivors Speak Out, Controlling People, The Verbally Abusive Man: Can He Change? and Victory Over Verbal Abuse. She has single-handedly brought the subject of verbal abuse to the forefront of American consciousness. Newsweek commended her first powerful book on the subject as “A groundbreaking new book.” Evans has spoken on the devastating effect of this secret form of control on more than two hundred radio programs, and seventeen national television shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show. She has consulted to thousands of people and presented in talks and workshops throughout the US, Canada, Madrid and in five cities in Australia. Patricia lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and can be reached via her website at www.VerbalAbuse.com
- Website: Patricia Evans; The Verbal Abuse Site
- The Verbally Abusive Relationship: How to Recognize it and How to Respond, Adams Media; 3 edition (2010)
- Controlling People: How to Recognize, Understand, and Deal with People Who Try To Control You, Adams Media, 3rd ed. (2003)
Linda Force
- The Influence of Causal Attribution on Work Exhaustion and Turnover Intention of Traditional Discipline Engineers in the United States (2008)
Lynn Fulton
Lynn Fulton is the author of She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein, illustrated by Felicita Sala. This children’s picture book, published by Alfred A. Knopf, is based on Mary Shelley’s own account of how the idea for Frankenstein came to her in a “waking dream” one stormy night in 1816.
Lynn is a California native who grew up loving books and wanting to write them, but never actually finished anything until she learned to type. Her keyboard skills led to one PhD dissertation and three novels for adults. She has worked as a college instructor, insurance investigator, seventh-grade English teacher, and writing tutor.
Lynn lives in Martinez with her husband and son, and enjoys painting and drawing as well as writing.
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.
- What Is Life? What Is Happiness? (Book 1 of Trilogy), Know How Skills (2015)
- A Person Is a Product of Time, Place, and Circumstances (Book 2 of Trilogy), Know How Skills (2015)
Al Garrotto
- Blog: “The Wisdom of Les Miserables”:
In Search of Practical Wisdom for Daily Living - The Soul of Art (nonfiction, Create Space, October 2016)
- There’s More: A Novella of Life and Afterlife, CreateSpace (Septembr, 2014)
- The Wisdom of Les Miserables: Lessons from the Heart of Jean Valjean, lulu.com (July 23, 2011)
- Website
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 Gincauskas
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.
B. Lynn Goodwin
- Blog: Writer Advice
- Talent, Eternal Press, November 2015
- You Want Me to Do What?: Journaling for Caregivers, Tate Publishing, 2008
- Bookclub called The Joys of Journaling; numerous short pieces on Caregiver Village
- Blog: How to Get a Winning Verdict in Your Personal Life
- Getting a Winning Verdict in My Personal Life: A Trial Lawyer Finds His Soul, Pavior Publishing, 2007
Jill Hedgecock
- Website
- Rhino in the Room, Goshawk Press, 2018
- Short Story, Rhino-cide, appeared in the anthology Africa vs. Asia, 2018
- 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, 2018
- CWC Distinguished Service Award, 2014
Neva Hodges
Phyllis Houseman
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.
Judith Ingram
- Website
- Facebook author page
- Amazon author page
-
Moonseed Trilogy, Vinspire Publishing: Bridge to the Past (book 1), 2013; Borrowed Promises (book 2), 2014 Into the Mist (book 3), 2015
- A Devotional Walk with Forgiveness, Vinspire Publishing, 2011
- Latest Award: Cicero Speechwriting Award, 2015
Denise Kalm
- Website: DPK Coaching
- Career Savvy: Keeping and Transforming Your Job, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012
- First Job Savvy: Find a Job, Start Your Career, 2015
- Tech Grief—Survive & Thrive Through Career Losses, 2015
Ken Kerkhoff
- Website
- Paper Boat: Discovering India with a Master Storyteller, Andrew Benzie Books, 2015
Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff
- Website: Lizbooks; Blog: Reading, Writing, and Elizabeth
- The Missing Kennedy, Bancroft Press, 2015
- Jackson and Bud’s Bumpy Ride: America’s First Crosscountry Automobile Trip, Millbrook Press, 2009
Dennis Koller
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.
Joanna Kraus
- Website
- A Night of Tamales and Roses, Shenanigan Books, 1st ed., 2007
- Tall Boy’s Journey, Carolrhoda Books, 1993
- Latest award (2005): Secrets , First Place, Play, Marilyn Hall Awards for Youth Theatre, Beverly Hills Theatre Guild
Chloe Laube
- Website
- Dream On, Dancing Queen, Andrew Benzie Books, 2015
Lani Longshore
- Blog
- Death by Chenille (with Ann Anastasio), Smashwords, 2011
- Website
- Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever: A Novel, Kelso Books, 2009 (also: optioned for the big screen)
John Marvin
- Website
- Second Opinion: The Dual Existences of Don Ed Turner, 2013
- The Stained Glass Door, A Novel in Fragments, 2013
Lenore McKnight
- Eating Disorders: A Treatment Workbook for Patients, Therapists, and Families, Andrew Benzie Books, 2016
Camille Minichino
- Website
- Madness in Miniature (as Margaret Grace), Perseverance Press, 2014
-
The Quotient of Murder (as Ada Madison), Berkley, 2013
Jeffrey 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.
Lee Paulson
- Roly’s Relic: The Cross of Baal (as Jon Cory), CreateSpace, 2013
- “The Otherside Alliance,” in Tales of Fortannis: A Bard’s Eye View, an anthology edited by Michael Ventrella, Double Dragon, 201
- A Plague of Scoundrels (as Jon Cory), Komenar Publishing, 2008
- Latest award (2008): A Plague of Scoundrels (as Jon Cory), Honorable Mention, London Book Festival
Jil Plummer
- Website
- Amber Dust, Andrew Benzie Books, 2014
- Remember to Remember, Andrew Benzie Books, 2016
Leslie Rupley
- Website, Facebook page, Goodreads page, Youtube channel, Amazon Author page
- Remembering Childhood: Workbook Your Way to a Finished Memoir, Dameliam Books, 2016
- Beyond the Silk Mills, Dameliam Books 2014
- Website
- Women’s Health. Complexities and Differences, Ohio State University Press, 1997
- The Women’s Health Movement: Feminist Alternatives to Medical Control, Praeger Publishers, 1978
Pearl Atkins Schwartz
- Box Camera Chronicles: Stories of the 20th Century, iUniverse, 2005
Aline Soules
- My Creative World
- Evening Sun: A Widow’s Journey, Andrew Benzie Books, 2014
- Meditation on Woman, Anaphora Literary Press, 2011
- Latest award (2010): “Apart,” poem nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Dec., 2010, by Qarttsiluni
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
Christine Sunderland
- Website and Blog; OakTara (all author proceeds given to charity)
- The Magdalene Mystery, 2013
- Hana-Lani, OakTara, 2010
- Latest awards (2013): Honorable mentions in the New England Book Festival and the London Book Festival (scroll to “General Fiction”) and first place, adult fiction, in the Feathered Quill Books Awards Program for books published in 2013, all for The Magdalene Mystery.
Ann G. Thomas
- Web page, The Parenting Clinic
- The Women We Become: Myths, Folktales, and Stories About Growing Older, Volcano Press, 2004
- “Charles Edward Cunningham,” in Storied Crossings: Award-winning Short Stories, Scribes Valley Publishing Company, 1st ed., 2004
- Latest award (2010): “Angela,” in Calliope 2010, Second Place Winner
Christine Tomerson
- Website
- Krysia: A Polish Girl’s Stolen Childhood During World War II, Chicago Review Press (2017)
- Latest Award : Junior Library Guild Selection
Sally Tubach
- German Voices: Memories of Life During Hitler’s Third Reich (with Frederic C. Tubach), University of California Press, 1st ed., 2011; ISBN-10: 0520269640, ISBN-13: 978-0520269644
- An Uncommon Friendship: From Opposite Sides of the Holocaust (with Bernat Rosner, Frederic C. Tubach), University of California Press, 2nd ed., 2010
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.
- Twitter: @CathyTurneyLafs
- Blog: www.CathyTurneyWrites.com
- Email: Cathy@CathyTurney.com
Sarah Wilson
- The Day We Danced in Underpants, Tricycle Press, 1st ed., 2008
- Love and Kisses, Candlewick, Reprint ed., 2005
Frances Bries Wojnar
- Web Page
- Magdalena’s Conflict, Xlibris Corporation, 2006
- Eliza, An Iowa Pioneer, Xlibris Corporation, 2005