Former arms broker, Dan Lorti, author of The Avignon Legacy, on Different Strokes for Different Folks Blog Talk Radio with David Clarke

Published by Argus Publishing Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authordavidclarke/2015/11/02/former-arms-broker-dan-lorti-is-now-an-author-and-takes-call-from-you

Brown Condor group requests Gulfport building for aviation museum

http://www.sunherald.com/news/article42322638.html

Cromwell’s Folly, the first of Fite’s dark murder mystery series, hits the shelves

By Katherine Cobb

For The Spirit

CHARLES TOWN — Award winning writer and poet Ginny Fite’s first novel in a series of three dark murder mysteries set in Jefferson County was published last week by Black Opal Books. Cromwell’s Folly is available in traditional bookselling outlets as well as in e-book format.

In Cromwell’s Folly, all that remains of the handsome womanizing Ben Cromwell are a head in a dumpster and a pinky finger bearing an emerald and diamond ring. Detective Sam Lagarde of the West Virginia State Police is assigned the case, doggedly following leads until he stumbles upon five women who all have one thing in common: the victim.

Lagarde is the likable Charles Town detective for all three books in the series. The second, No Good Deed Left Undone, is being prepared for publication and Fite is at work on the third, Lying, Cheating & Occasionally. She decided to cap it at three since Lagarde will reach retirement age in the third novel, and she has other projects in the works.

Fite, now retired, spent her entire career crafting words, both as a reporter and in the communications field, including serving as press secretary for a member of Congress and deputy press secretary for the State of Maryland Governor’s Office (where she was the first female to serve in that role). Not to mention, she also has degrees from Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University.

“I’ve always written — little illustrated stories when I was very young, longer stories and some dreadful poems as a teenager, better and better poems when I was working full time in communications,” she said. “I always fell a little in love with the musicians I interviewed for arts beat columns in newspapers and magazines. The pianist Leon Fleisher swept me off my feet in two hours and is likely the inspiration for a character in another novel I’m working on now. But reporting is very different from fiction. While there may be built-in conflict, you have to follow the leads to find and tell the truth. I loved writing stories about eccentric people who went off to work with Mother Teresa or left their full-time job to raise sheep in Jefferson, Maryland.”

Fite previously self-published two poem collections, Throwing Caution and The Pearl Fisher as well as a non-fiction effort, I Should Be Dead by Now (And Other Postmenopausal Lamentations) and the fictional short story collection, What Goes Around.

Her novels — so far — tend towards the dark side. “My husband used to roll his eyes and tell me I had a very active imagination. But everyone has a motive and some of those motives come from the dark side,” said Fite. “There is evil in the world.”

The first “longish” short story she wrote at age 17 was “fairly dark, maybe very dark — not horror dark but dark in the way that humans are, with tumultuous emotions, confused thought patterns, bad decisions, dangerous actions and even worse outcomes. I do believe — as the title of my book of short stories echoes — what goes around comes around,” she added.

That said, she discovered writing Cromwell’s Folly how hard it was to kill someone in cold blood. “The victim had to be really bad before I could knock him off. After that, it was easier to kill off other characters in the heat of the moment,” she said.

In terms of her current mystery series, she said Sam Lagarde came up with the idea of her vs. the other way around. “He planted himself firmly in my brain and wouldn’t let go,” said Fite. “He is perhaps my more rational side, but really, I never met him before he showed up that afternoon and told me the story about Ben Cromwell and his lady friends.”

Her reporting background did teach her a lot about the justice system, which may have created her inner stirrings to write about murder. She recalled this story in particular: “One winter, a man was found dead on the quiet street of a suburban Maryland neighborhood. His face was crushed in. It was freezing out; he wasn’t wearing a jacket. As the story unraveled, it became clear that he had been chased from the VFW (where he’d been bartending), through the streets, and was allegedly beaten to death. There were many witnesses willing to talk about the altercation in the bar. His family was heartbroken and furious. We followed that story through many twists and turns, including a bizarre report from the medical examiner which claimed that he died because after running, he stopped, lit a cigarette, inhaled and had a heart attack, falling on his face on the asphalt. In the end, the state’s attorney failed to get an indictment against the perpetrators.”

Although Fite lived in Maryland for many years, she now lives in the Eastern Panhandle and felt it was the perfect setting for her series. “I travel these roads every day,” she said. “I am a great watcher of people. I read the paper. There are thousands of images implanted in my brain. Why go to Katmandu when I’ve got an entire universe right in front of my eyes? If I need a setting for some action, I can refer to all the pictures in my mind.”

Retirement has freed her up to write to her heart’s content, and it truly has been a healing and fulfilling activity that she enthusiastically pursues from her corner of paradise.

“I love the freedom to invent my own world with its own rules. I love words, one word after another. I love entire sentences. Paragraphs. Pages. I even love editing,” she said. “I love that there are other people living right here in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle whose minds are bent like mine, who work with words as if they were clay or paint or paper, shaping and turning them until a new object emerges that can stand on its own.”

Fite is represented by the Loiacono Literary Agency. Black Opal Books is in the process of publishing the second book in the series. Fite has an upcoming book signing on October 16 at Four Seasons Books in Shepherdstown at 7 p.m. She is also reading at Artober on October 11 at 3 p.m. at Happy Retreat in Charles Town and participating in the Scarborough Lecture Series on November 12 at 7 p.m. at 301 N. King Street in Shepherdstown. Updates can be found online at ginnyfite.com or her author page on Facebook.

Cromwell’s Folly published by Black Opal Books

• Shepherdstown Chronicle

http://www.shepherdstownchronicle.com/page/content.detail/id/513624/Cromwell-s-Folly-published-by-Black-Opal-Books.html

Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, author of Please Say Kaddish For Me, and Diane Yates, author of Pathways of the Heart, are having a book signing on November 14^th @ the Daniel Boone Regional Library Local Author Open House in Columbia, Missouri, from 10am-1pm.

Published by Argus Publishing   Published by Argus Publishing

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency

Nothing says Christmas like a BLIZZARD in Atlanta!

For those who live in or near Atlanta, you’ll have two chances to meet Southeastern Writers Association Vice President and author of EYEWALL, PLAGUE, SUPERCELL and BLIZZARD, Buzz Bernard. Pick up an autographed copy (or copies, if you’ve got a long Christmas list. J

Local Authors Event

Saturday, November 21, 1 – 3 p.m.

Barnes & Noble

The Forum on Peachtree Parkway

5141 Peachtree Pkwy

Norcross, GA 30092
(770) 209-4244

Atlanta Writers Day, sponsored by Gwinnett Library

Saturday, December 5, 1 – 3 p.m.

Barnes & Noble

The Forum on Peachtree Parkway

5141 Peachtree Pkwy

Norcross, GA 30092
(770) 209-4244

BLIZZARD

Everyone laughs at what southerners call a “snowstorm.”  A half-inch of the white stuff, and Atlanta panics.

No one’s laughing this time.

A freakish combination of weather elements surpasses even the experts’ predictions. Suddenly much of the upper South is covered in several feet of snow. There’s never been a storm like this in the region before. Never in recorded history.

For Atlanta executive J.C. Riggins, the storm is only one of the killers he’ll have to face.

In a desperate bid to save his job, his company, and quite possibly his young son’s life, Riggins must transport a defense contract to North Carolina. The deadline can’t be missed. With airports and roads closed, Riggins sets out in an SUV through a stunned countryside where no one can help him if trouble happens. Which it does, the moment a dangerous criminal joins him for the ride.

Buzz Bernard www.buzzbernard.com Published by BelleBooks www.bellebooks.com Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency www.llallc.net

Johnnie Bernhard, author of A Good Girl, attended the October 31st Faulkner for All event at the historic Monteleone Hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Recognizing winners of the 2015 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, one of America’s most prestigious literary soirées, Bernhard’s A Good Girl placed in the top 10 novels. http://wordsandmusic.org/2015-finalists/ In attendance were publishing editors, literary agents, and writers from across the country.

The Hotel Monteleone has long been a favorite haunt of distinguished Southern authors, such as Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, and William Faulkner. It was designated an official literary landmark in 1999 by the Friends of the Library Association.

Johnnie Bernhard is represented by Jeanie Loiacono of Loiacono Literary Agency, www.llallc.net  A Good Girl is currently available for acquisition. A Good Girl book trailer

Theodore Roosevelt – Please Say Kaddish For Me by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

“Kishinev?” His smile faded. “Then you are…Jewish?”

“What if I am? This is a free country.”

“It was a travesty, a dastardly travesty.” He shook his head.

His blue eyes, moist and caring behind his spectacles, put her at ease. She showed him the scar on her hand. Trying to recount her history in her new language proved a challenge, but he seemed to understand for his gaze never wavered except to wipe away a stray tear.

When she finished he pressed his handkerchief into her hand.

~~Taken from Please Say Kaddish for Me by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Although pogroms against the Jews in Eastern Europe’s Pale of Settlement were nothing new, the one that took place in Kishinev April 19-20, 1903 was the first to receive international recognition. President Theodore Roosevelt called it a “dreadful outrage upon the Jews.”

Jews in the United States put together a massive petition protesting the slaughter. Jewish leaders convinced the President to present it to Czar Nicholas II.

In an attempt to pressure the Czar for reform, the petition was sent to the American chargé in St. Petersburg. He refused to accept.

In Please Say Kaddish for Me and From Silt and Ashes Havah experiences the President’s compassion first hand.

www.rochellewordart.com  Rochell’s Art and Blogs

Published by Argus Publishing 

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency

Argus Publishing acquires Caroline Giammanco’s Bank Notes: The True Story of the Boonie Hat Bandit!

Caroline and Keith Giammanco

In this true story, the St. Louis area is gripped by a spree of twelve bank robberies that leave local and federal authorities baffled. Dubbed the ‘Boonie Hat Bandit’, this criminal methodically robs banks in broad daylight leaving everyone to wonder, Who is this man?  Law enforcement is scrambling, and the robberies make national news.

In September 2008, the suspect is apprehended and the world finds out his shocking identity: Donald Keith Giammanco, a quiet, middle-class, single father of twin daughters. The big mystery remains: How and why would he enter a life of crime? In spite of requests to tell his story, Keith Giammanco refuses to give insights into his motivations for years…until now.

Written by the woman he falls in love with while in prison, Bank Notes delves into the thoughts and motivations of a notorious bank robber who is anything but the typical criminal.

Caroline Giammanco grew up on a farm in the Ozarks of Missouri.  After graduating from high school, she moved to Tucson, Arizona where she attended the University of Arizona.  Her Bachelor’s degree is in Political Science with an English minor.  Caroline has taught public school for over twenty years in New Mexico, Arizona, and Missouri.  She is currently the English department chair of a southern Missouri high school.  Caroline is the mother of two sons, Rick and Kevin, both military veterans. www.booniehatbandit.com  Boonie Hat Bandit media

Published by Argus Publishing www.a-argusbooks.com (release 2016)

Represented by Jeanie Loiacono, Loiacono Literary Agency www.llallc.net

Jeanne Charters, author of Shanty Gold, interviews with David Clarke on Different Strokes for Different Folks Blog Talk Radio 

Published by Rogue Phoenix Press  www.jeannecharters.com

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency