Tag: Author

Dorinda Nicholson

Dorinda Nicholson_websmallDorinda Nicholson debuted in hula at age three dancing with her mother in Waikiki. When she was six years old, she and her father watched from their front yard as Japanese torpedo bombers flew so low over their house, she could see the pilots’ goggles.

Nicholson’s first book, Pearl Harbor Child, tells the story of the bombing of Pearl Harbor through the eyes of a child. An award-winning author, she believes it is her mission to write World War II stories for both students and adults to bring history to life.

Her day job to support her writing was as a Marriage and Family Therapist. Now retired, she tries to live within her means and travel beyond them.

Nicholson has been featured in People Magazine, NBC News, and most recently, was interviewed on the CBS Sunday Morning News Show sharing her story of the bombing of Pearl Harbor through the eyes of a child.

She is also a disaster mental health volunteer for the American Red Cross working mostly Yellow Ribbon Events for veterans being deployed or recently returned home.

Nicholson says she is the mother of 4 boys, and grandmother to 13 grandchildren and would love to be in a cage in a dive to see sharks up close.

Website is www.pearlharborchild.com

BOOKS:

Pearl Harbor Child – Pearl Harbor from Attack to Peace

Pearl Harbor Warriors – The Bugler, the Pilot, the Friendship

            Mark Twain List, IRA best N-F, American Library Association Best DVD

            Hawaii’s First simultaneous read aloud book – to over 10,000 5th graders

Remember WWII – Kids Who Survived Tell Their Stories – Social Studies List

The School the Aztec Eagles Built – A Tribute to Mexico’s Air Fighters

             October 2016 – Starred Kirkus review

C. A. (Candy) Simonson – “Loves Journey Home”

 

C. A. (Candy) SimonsonC.A. (Candy) Simonson has always had a love for words. She started writing stories as a child and even won a contest for writing in the third grade. Her first published piece was at age 17.

She is an award winning author, editor, and writer of fiction and nonfiction short stories, articles, and books. She has over 200 publications nationally in anthologies, newspapers, magazines, and other tabloids. She has been the editor of a monthly newsletter for five companies over the years, is a frequent contributor to many local newspapers, and had a monthly column in a national magazine.

“Love’s Journey Home” is an young adult adventure/romance based on true events. The second book in the series, “Love Looks Back,” is a mystery. She has been published in several anthologies, and Plans are in the works for more short stories and perhaps another novel or two. She lives in the Ozarks of Missouri, and besides writing, she enjoys crafting, painting, and fishing.

 

Love’s Journey Home will be available for sale at the festival. Its sequel, Love Looks Back, will be available for order. Release date on sequel is April 30. Both can be purchased at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble, or at Candy’s website, http://casimonson.wordpress.com

Available in Kindle format or print copy.

Love’s Journey Home – Young Adult Romance/Adventure

Abandoned at 10, separated from brothers and sisters, Frankie was left to find his way back home. When ​a farmer and his wife took him in, he thought he found a home. Finding his two younger brothers brought hope for a happy reunion, until one brother, then the other were taken from him again. Believing he was being sold to a stranger, Frankie stowed away on a train to escape his fate. Will the longings in his heart ever be fulfilled?

Love’s Journey Home tells the story of a young boy who must fight the battles of his mind and struggle between right and wrong. As Frankie reveals experiences from his troubled past, he learns about life and love as he grows from a boy to a man. He finally lands at a place where he thinks his past is behind him until he meets Anne. Anne changes everything, and digs up something deep inside Frank that has been buried way too long. Love’s Journey Home is a message of redemption and hope in the midst of despair.

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Love Looks Back – Young Adult Cozy Mystery

Frank finds the courage to return to his hometown to make peace with his past and settle old scores. When he stops at the old barn where the children once took refuge, he finds chilling evidence of things gone wrong. Behind the barn is an unexpected grave with the note, “Found him. Buried him.” What really happened in that barn, and who is in the ground? Frank must unite with his siblings and follow the clues to find answers to many disturbing questions. He ends up finding much more than he expected.

2015 ~ Ella Dickey Literacy Award

2015 ~ Ella Dickey Literacy Award

Thursday, April 23 at 4:30 PM

Marshfield Assembly of God 

*Will also have local authors signing books

Sally Tippett Rains

Sally Tippett RainsSally Tippett Rains is the author of 11 books including the award winning The Making of a Masterpiece,The Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind, and producer of a documentary based on the book–which aired on HEC- Higher Education Channel and won a Telly Award. She is co-owner of StLSportsPage.com with her author/sports writer husband, Rob Rains, bringing her back to her sports roots at KMOX Radio– writing and producing for Bob Costas and Jack Buck. Sally Rains worked in radio sports for five years, switching to book writing and charity work while raising their two sons B.J. and Mike Rains. She is also the volunteer Executive Director of Rainbows for Kids, a 501 (c)(3) charity for families of children with cancer, started and run by her family. She attended the University of Missouri- Columbia and graduated from Webster University in St. Louis with a degree in Media/Communications. In 1992, Sally Rains was on the board for the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. and put on a reception at the U.S. Capitol attended by two U.S. Congressmen, to honor the Missouri Cherry Blossom Princess, who, coincidentally, was from Marshfield, MO that year.

Dreama Denver ~ “Gilligan’s Dreams”

Dreama DenverActress, writer, radio station owner and personality Dreama Denver met her husband of almost 30 years, television icon Bob Denver (Gilligan of Gilligan’s Island, Maynard G. Krebs of Dobie Gillis), when she was cast as his love interest in the Woody Allen play, “Play It Again, Sam”. After marrying the popular television personality, Dreama continued her acting career, appearing in a Gilligan’s Island reunion movie with Bob, co-starring with him in a TV pilot titled “Scamps” and touring the U.S. and Canada successfully and happily with her husband for over a decade.

The birth of the Denver’s son Colin, diagnosed with severe autism, changed everything for Bob and Dreama, who retired from show business and moved back to West Virginia to devote the next two decades to Colin’s full time care. During this time, the pair also founded The Denver Foundation, which honors their son and is dedicated to assisting special needs children and their families.

“The Denver Foundation and Little Buddy Radio, a nonprofit radio station owned and operated by the Foundation, were Bob’s last and most important legacies,” Dreama says, “and making these two entities as successful as possible became my mission after Bob passed away. His desire to give back to West Virginia was huge. He loved this area, considered himself an adopted West Virginian and was a tireless ambassador for the state. Regardless of how important and far reaching his television legacy was, and is, his love for our son and his desire to help other families like ours trumped even that.”

Since Bob’s death, Dreama has discovered new passions and new directions in which to take the foundation. Founding Always Free Honor Flight, WV’s first Honor Flight program, honoring WV veterans with free trips to Washington, DC to visit the memorials built to honor their service is especially close to Dreama’s heart. Leading the effort to have John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads” adopted, successfully and unanimously, as an official WV state song ranks as one of the proudest days of her life, rivaled only by being chosen one of West Virginia’s Wonder Women by WV Focus magazine. The American Legion Riley-Vest Post #9 honored Dreama with their Outstanding Citizen Award in 2014 and this past January, the Princeton Mercer County Chamber of Commerce chose her as Citizen of the Year. In March, Dreama will be honored once again with the Sons of the American Revolution’s Outstanding Female Citizen of the Year.

Dreama’s recently published memoir, Gilligan’s Dreams, recounting her almost 30 year marriage to Bob, is her love letter to Bob and her gift to Bob’s fans. In detailing the Denver’s journey through autism with their son and Bob’s courage during the last 6 months of his life, Dreama allows Bob’s fans a personal glimpse of the man behind the iconic television characters he created.

“Bob would be proud,” Dreama says. “The life I had known for close to thirty years changed dramatically when Bob passed away, but I came to understand that honoring his memory meant living a full and happy life, carrying on the work we started with a heart as big as his.”

Morgan Brittany ~ Disney Panel Moderator

Morgan BrittanyFollowing bio and picture taken from photographer Alan Mercer’s blog. 

Morgan Brittany is one of the most beautiful film and television actresses of all time. She is best known for her role in the 1980‘s prime time soap opera ‘Dallas,’ where she portrayed Katherine Wentworth. It’s hard to forget those penetrating blue eyes and her striking dark hair. … 

Some people may not know that Morgan, under her birth name, Suzanne Cupito, began her career as a child in 1960 in an episode of the original ’Twilight Zone’ series. She then appeared in a fourth season episode and most famously in the fifth season episode ‘Caesar and Me,’ one of the most popular of all the series. She discusses these parts in interviews for the ‘Twilight Zone Definitive Edition’ DVDs.

She appears in the 1962 film ‘Gypsy’ as “Baby” June. Although uncredited, she is in the birthday party scene in the 1963 Hitchcock movie ‘The Birds.’ In 1964 she filmed an episode of ‘Daniel Boone’ portraying a young mute girl. She appears in a 1967 episode of ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ as “Mary Alice Carter”, whom Opie Taylor asks out for his first date. She is also in the 1968 film, ‘Yours, Mine and Ours’ along side Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda.

After her successful career as a child actress, Morgan, at the age of 18, appeared with Gene Kelly in his Las Vegas show ‘Gene Kelly’s Wonderful World of Girls.’ After that, she moved to New York City where she became a model with the Ford Modeling Agency. She appeared in a multitude of national commercials and print ads including a 3 year stint as the “Ultra-Brite toothpaste” girl, L’Oreal cosmetics, Ford, Levi’s, Camay soap and many more. 

In 1974 she was hired by the Japanese cosmetics company Kanebo to be the “face” of their product “Ireine”. Morgan moved to Tokyo and represented that company for two years. In 1976 she returned to the United States and restarted her acting career. Also in 1976 Morgan portrayed Vivien Leigh in the biopic ‘Gable and Lombard.’ That was followed by numerous movies of the week and shows such as ‘The Initiation of Sarah’ with Kay Lenz, ‘The Amazing Howard Hughes’ with Tommy Lee Jones, and ‘LBJ, The Early Years’ with Randy Quaid.

Her brief appearance as Vivien Leigh again, is the climax of the made-for-TV movie Moviola: The Scarlett O’Hara War (1980). Because of that pivotal moment, she came to the attention of the producers of ‘Dallas’ who were searching for a new character to play the sister of Pamela Ewing.

Morgan first appeared on ‘Dallas’ during the 1981-1982 season in a recurring role which continued for several seasons. In 1985, she returned for a brief cameo appearance in that season’s finale. Thus, in 1987, Morgan made another brief return to the show in which Katherine came to visit Pam in the hospital after a car accident. This was Morgan’s last appearance on ‘Dallas.’

In 1984, Morgan Brittany starred in her own short-lived ABC drama series, ‘Glitter,’ as “Kate Simpson”, a reporter at an entertainment magazine. She has also guest starred on a number of other prime time shows, such as ‘Married….With Children,’ ‘The Dukes Of Hazzard,’ ‘Murder, She Wrote,’ and ‘Melrose Place,’ and has the distinction of appearing on ‘The Love Boat’ seven times. She also appeared with Bob Hope on two of his television specials for NBC.

In 2002, Morgan had roles in the film, ‘The Biggest Fan,’ and ‘Mothers and Daughters.’ She also had a guest appearance on the television series’Son Of The Beach.’ in 2002. She also appears in the 2007 film ‘Americanizing Shelley.’ Morgan appears in the 2010 docu-drama ‘a Minute.’ The documentary features cancer survivors. She is currently a frequent guest on the Fox News Networks, ‘Hannity’ show where she is a member of the “Great American Panel”. Morgan travels extensively, fund-raising and bringing awareness to issues that affect the military and American values.

She is also an advocate for child actors in Hollywood and along with former child star Paul Peterson, brought attention to the film ‘Hounddog’ starring Dakota Fanning. Morgan returned to her musical roots in the 30th anniversary tour of ‘Mame’ in 1997 where she played the title role. She followed that with tours of “The Sound of Music’ as Maria, and ‘Crazy For You.’

Morgan is the mother of actress Katie Gill and musician/stuntman Cody Gill. She met her husband, stuntman Jack Gill, when she did a guest appearance on the ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ show.

 

H. Alan Day ~ “The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs”

H. Alan Day          If it’s possible to say that someone can be born a cowboy, then Alan Day was born one. He and his sister Sandra Day O’Connor were part of the third generation to grow up on the 200,00-acre Lazy B cattle ranch that straddled the high deserts of southern Arizona and New Mexico. The ranching and cowboy lifestyle appealed to him so much that after graduating from the University of Arizona, he returned to manage the Lazy B for the next 40 years. During his career, he received numerous awards for his dedicated stewardship of the land.  In the 1980’s, Alan purchased a cattle ranch in Nebraska, followed by a ranch in South Dakota called Mustang Meadow Ranch that became the first government sponsored sanctuary for unadoptable wild horses. He was the first rancher to develop and successfully use a herd modification-training program for cattle and wild mustangs. He relates his heartfelt adventures with the horses and government in his award-winning memoir The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs, co-authored with Lynn Wiese Sneyd. Booklist has called it an “instant classic.”

            Alan’s first book was the New York Times best-selling memoir, Lazy B, which he co-authored with Justice O’Connor. In it, they tell the story of the Day family and of growing up on the harsh yet beautiful southwestern cattle ranch.

            Now a retired rancher, Alan divides his time between Tucson and Pinetop, Arizona. Through genealogy tracing, his daughter recently discovered that the Day family is related to Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

Lynn Wiese Sneyd ~ “The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs”

Lynn Wiese SneydLynn Wiese Sneyd is professional writer and owner of LWS Literary Services in Tucson. She coordinates national, regional and local publicity campaigns for authors, crafts query letters and book proposals, ghostwrites, and edits.

She is the author of Holistic Parenting and the co-author of Healthy Solutions, which received the Arizona Book Award for best health and wellness book. Lynn’s articles, essays and poetry have appeared in various publications around the country. Most recently she co-authored the award-winning  memoir, The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs with H. Alan Day.

She now lives in Tucson, Arizona, but is a Midwesterner at heart, having lived for many years in Wisconsin. You can visit her at www.lwsliteraryservices.com.

Tasha Dunagan ~ “Copy Mocker’s Song”

Tasha DunaganTasha Dunagan, author of “Copy Mocker’s Song,” grew up in Oklahoma and has worked for two newspapers as a photographer and reporter. In the late 1990’s, she also contributed stories and photos to “Birds and Blooms” magazine, as one of two field editors for Oklahoma. Tasha has lived in rural Missouri for the last 15 years, where she and her husband have raised two children. In 2009, she completed the “Writing for Children and Teenagers” course with the Institute of Children’s Literature. In addition to being a writer, she is currently a stay-at-home mom and library volunteer.

Tasha Dunagan will be among the local authors signing books at the Ella Dickey Literacy Awards on Thursday, April 23 at 4:30 PM at Marshfield Assembly of God.