Go to www.eldrwrtr.com and read about the author and the books.

 "The North Point Boys." Price $24.00 includes tax. Dave Baker returns from Guard duty to find his wife and stepdaughter murdered. The police and sheriffs departments join forces. They identify a primary subject, but by chance the real killer is apprehended, tried and found guilty. The defense finds trial errors that  allow a re-trial. Dave's friends enact a plan and on the day the killer is to be moved for re-trial a shot rings out and the killer is dead.

 "The Libra Trust." This fictional novel tells the story of triplet sisters, Margaret, Melissa and Molly Morgan. Their story recounts their coming of age, their loves, heartaches and murder. Molly marries Rob Norton. Eight years of marriage is trumped by six years of abuse. Molly's sisters and parents try to help. One night Rob goes too far.

Crush and Other Love Poems for Girls, $12.95 (tax included). Crush is a book of poetry aimed specifically for girls age 10 through 18 divided into four chapters to reflect four stages of relationships:  The Crush, The Relationship, The Goodbye and Closure.  It is written simply and honestly exploring the good and bad of romantic relationships while providing an uplifting and wholesome message. Jodie runs her own business, Jodie Toohey Information Innovations providing freelance paralegal and writing services through two divisions of that business, Paralegal Innovations and Writing Innovations, respectively.

Connie Wilson reviewed film and books for the Quad City Times for 15 years, wrote humor columns and also conducted interviews for the Moline Dispatch. She has written 7 books, 3 to be released this year. She worked full time as an educational writer from 1985 to 1987 for Performance Learning Systems, Inc., of Emerson, NJ. (Project T.E.A.C.H.)  She was English Department Chair at Silvis Junior High School for 18 years.  Connie has taught composition and literature classes at all 6 area colleges. She founded the Sylvan Learning Center in 1987 and the Prometric Testing Center in 1995.

 Named Content Producer of the Year for the half-million member Top 50 blog Associated Content (www.associatedcontent,com) in January, 2009, she has written for 5 newspapers and now writes for 6 blogs, including her own (www.weeklywilson.com). She covered the 2004 and 2008 Presidential elections for Associated Content as a member of the press. She has  interviewed  writers such as Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. William F. Nolan,, David Morrell, Anne Perry, Frederik Pohl, Joe Hill (son of Stephen King), and John Irving.

 

A University of Iowa graduate (MS + 30) with degrees in English, Journalism and Education, Connie is completing a trilogy of ghost stories set along Route 66 (www.GhostlyTalesofRoute66.com) .  She has also authored a collection of humorous essays (Both Sides Now), a collaborative sci-fi thriller with local author Mike McCarty (www.OutofTimetheNovel.com) and a collection of noir stories, Hellfire & Damnation, released  February 12^th (Sam’s Dot Publishing).

 

www.HellfireandDamnationthebook.com)
Hellfire & Damnation - $10.95

William F. Nolan's ("Logan's Run") Introduction to the book:

 "Let me start right off by saying that Connie Wilson presents what I call "matter-of-fact" horror.  she writes solid, declarative sentences rife with dark undertones.  No fancy description for Connie.  No sentimental musings.  No soft emotionalism.  Just hard-edged documentary-style storytelling.  Jolting objective sentences made all the more disturbing by their cool directness.  Frankly---and I consider myself well-read in the shock genre---I have never encountered a style such as she displays here, in story after story.  Connie Wilson's dark talent is unique, and readers will stagger away from her icy tales, stunned and groggy."

Connie will be available on March 13 at 1 p.m. at the Davenport Barnes and Noble to sign and sell Hellfire & Damnation.
 

For trailers of Connie’s  recent books, see:  Out of Time (www.outoftimethenovel.com),  Hellfire & Damnation (www.HellfireandDamnationtheBook,com) and the ghost book trilogy, Ghostly Tales of Route 66 (Vols, I, II and III) (www.GhostlyTalesofRoute66.com). Her next book, It Came from the ‘70s: Classic Cinema of the ‘70s is a collection of her Quad City Times movie reviews (1970-1979), with 76 photos, major cast and trivia, to be released soon.

For more information, see www.ConnieCWilson.com.

Anna E. Shammas

 

Anna E. Shammas is a very young author with a passion to write. At the age of 5, she wrote her first story, Very Snowy, which was recently published by AuthorHouse. Very Snowy was a sensational story about a little girl named Anna who loved Christmas, snow, ice skating, hot chocolate and, above all, Teddy bears.

In winter 2008, Anna became the youngest author to join the Midwest Writing Center after being invited for book signing and reading from her first book. She was featured on local TV and newspapers across the Quad-Cities, where she resides with her mother, father and two brothers.

Very Snowy - $5 (tax included)

The Star That is an Angel - $5 (tax included)

Imagine! - $6 (tax included)

The Fan That Does Not Stop Turning - $5 (tax included)

Picture Day - $6 (tax included)
 

 Anna’s writings took another leap forward with three additional stories at the age of 6: The Star That is An Angel, Imagine!, and The Fan That Does Not Stop Turning. These stories display the rich imagination, poetry and story-telling abilities that Anna possesses at this very young age. Likely to be the most prolific writer at the age of 6 with 4 published children’s  books, Anna is a proof that age is not a hindrance to imagination, creativity and talent.

Her fifth book Picture Day was published May 2008 at the age of 7. Picture Day looks at that special day at school when your photograph is taken.  Moments that will be remembered and shared with family and friends.

 My Great Family Vacation is Anna’s book at the age of 8 and is currently in print.

 Anna’s book has been illustrated by local and international illustrators including Lynne Majetic, Carla Castagno and Vic Guiza, award winning illustrator, who illustrated the Simpsons’ and several Disney characters.

Nicolle Schippers

An Airman's Deadly Affair
Price $18.95

 

Senior Airman Teresa Conklin had it all – beauty, intelligence, and zealous ambition.  As a young cop stationed at Winburg Air Base in Germany, Conklin seized the opportunity to further her career in the United States Air Force.  But two bullets end her life, and the ensuing investigation unearths a disturbingly complex web of deceit and betrayal.

Major Emma Lohrs, an attorney with the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG), is assigned to the case.  The details surrounding Conklin’s murder create a twisted scenario, especially since Conklin was on duty in the well-secured base armory when she was killed.  But Lohrs soon uncovers a number of bizarre clues about the victim and the chief suspects, two of whom are well-respected, decorated leaders on base.

To complicate matters, Lohrs also has to deal with Special Agent Eric Myers, an egotistical military agent whose contempt for the JAG attorney is only too evident.  Forced to work together, Lohrs and Myers discover Conklin’s involvement in a love triangle, infidelity, and blackmail.  But senior officials block their every move in a desperate attempt to hide the appalling truth.

With the situation growing deadlier by the minute, Lohrs and Myers must put their hostile feelings aside long enough to solve the murder before someone else ends up dead.

Nicolle Lorber Schippers, a 1990 graduate of Eddyville High School in Iowa, decided to write a fictional novel loosely based on her experience as an officer in the United States Air Force – where she served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps for over five years.  As a JAG, Schippers was stationed in California and Germany and spent countless hours in the courtroom as both a prosecutor and defense counsel.  She is currently a corporate attorney for an Iowa and German based legal insurance company and lives with her husband and three children outside of Adel, Iowa.

Hell Gate of the Mississippi, the Effie Afton Trial and Abraham Lincoln’s Role in It documents one of the most important events in the early history of the Upper Mississippi River Valley and in the professional life of Abraham Lincoln. On May 6, 1856, the steamboat Effie Afton crashed into a pier of the first bridge thrown across the Mississippi River between Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa. The bridge impacted the economic and social fabric of the river culture and the entire country before the Civil War. The outcome of the trial would determine whether the southern steamboat would survive the new technology offered by the northern railroads. The litigation that followed often has been called one of Abraham Lincoln’s Top Ten trials.

The book not only covers the courtroom drama held in Chicago’s Saloon Building the next year, it details the events that made the case a cause celebre throughout the United States and Europe. Because of the unprecedented media coverage leading up to it, the case became a major battle in the economic war fought between river men and women, centered in St. Louis, and the railroad financiers, headquartered in Chicago and New York, who owned the bridge. Abraham Lincoln, a defense attorney for the railroad, found himself in his first highly volatile trial.

cost: $19.95 

Dollars and Sense for Writers: This is a plain-talk look at the business side of writing.  This manual will help established and future writers know what they don’t know about the industry.  It provides tools and tips to help writers survive and thrive within the rapidly changing world of publishing.  $14.95

Horse Power: A Kyle Shannon Mystery:  Temp worker Kyle Shannon is plagued by more than a messy office at Bright Hope Equestrian Center.  As the police investigate human remains found behind the barn, Kyle isn’t so sure the bones belong to a missing farmhand who was dealing drugs.  After she stumbles over some evidence and lands in the hospital, Kyle knows one thing for sure: there’s a murderer our there who isn’t horsing around.  $15.95

Defective Goods: A Kyle Shannon Mystery: Driving to a new temporary assignment, Kyle Shannon spills her coffee . . . and is stained by murder.  In the customer service department of Drip Not Paint Company, Kyle’s routine becomes anything but when her home is burglarized and key documents disappear. What she discovers is that, in a family business, greed has no boundaries...her co-workers aren't who they seem to be...and even the best quality control can't guarantee her safety. $16.95

Greased Wheels: A Kyle Shannon Mystery: While on a temp assignment at Choice Manufacturing, Kyle learns that some people will do anything to get what they want, even if what they want already belongs to someone else.  When a county politician turns up dead in a forest preserve and a tragic fire clears the way for a major construction project, Kyle must examine what she thinks she knows about the people she calls her friends. $16.95

Websites:

www.dollarsandsense4writers.com

www.lindamickey.com

Blogs:       
www.lindamickey.blogspot.com

www.blog.dollarsandsense4writers.com

Linda Mickey was so mad at her boss, she killed him.  On paper.  That first late night at the keyboard took her from mystery reader to mystery writer. 

Like her protagonist Kyle Shannon, Linda Mickey was employed by a staffing agency.  After a twelve-year career in which she saw everything from knife-toting secretaries to drunken vice presidents, Mickey had plenty of motive to write a mystery series featuring a temporary office worker.  She is currently works as the office manager of a small accounting firm, dividing her time between tax returns and murder.

Linda Mickey conducts workshops and seminars, sharing her love of writing and her knowledge of the business world.  Now that her new non-fiction book, Dollars and Sense for Writers is completed, she is working on the fourth Kyle Shannon adventure. 

Janet Clark

Bio: Janet Clark has worked as a professional writer for nine years. She has had more than 400 articles published. Her work has appeared in The Iowan, Iowa Gardening, Radish Magazine, Friends Journal,The Des Moines Register, Today Magazine, Fort Dodge Business Review,The Messenger, Garden Guides.com and CareerApple.com. She has also written a novel, Blind Faith. Clark has received several awards from the Iowa Press Women for her work. She serves on the National Board of Directors for PAVE (Paving the Way, Victim Empowerment) and as a leader for SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests). Her Website is http://www.janeteclark.com/

 

Traegonia: The Sunbow Prophecy

The Sunbow Prophecy is the first in an upcoming series of Traegonia Books.

The Sunbow Prophecy is a story of a young boy who is fatefully drawn into the world of Traegons, the protectors of the Earth. Now the three young friends must risk everything to bring hope to a hopeless situation, a home to those at risk of losing theirs, and a voice to creatures who cannot speak for themselves.

Do you believe?
www.WorldofTraegonia.com  

 Ask for a copy of Kent’s book,

A teacher, coach, middle school principal and powerful speaker, Kent Stock is also the man who coached the Norway baseball team during their now-famous final season. As depicted in the 2007 film, The Final Season, the nationally recognized Norway baseball team came together under then first-year head baseball coach Stock to defy the odds and win Norway’s 20^th state title in what would become the team’s final season before merging with a bigger, neighboring school district. This experience and the motivation he used to guide Norway in their final season, has given him the insight to develop leaders in organizations across the country.

Heading for Home:  My Journey from Little League to Hollywood.   $15.00

Two strikes. Two outs. Nobody on base.

That's the situation the Norway, Iowa, baseball team found itself in during the 1991 Class 1A state championship game. They were one strike away from losing their final game in their final season. The next year, Norway would merge with a larger school district, and the tiny town's amazing baseball heritage would fade into history.

The unlikely coach during this final season was Kent Stock, who had grown up as a baseball-loving youth in Ankeny. A chance meeting with Jim Van Scoyoc, the legendary coach who had led Norway to 12 of its 19 state baseball titles, led Stock to Norway to be Van Scoyoc's assistant. The team was turned over to Stock the next year when Van Scoyoc left to coach in the Detroit Tigers organization.

People who witnessed the end of that 1991 state title game still can't believe what happened. The story was so inspiring that Hollywood came calling, and retold the story of Norway's baseball team in the heartwarming 2007 movie, “The Final Season.”

Sean Astin, the star of “Rudy” and “The Lord of the Rings” triology, played Stock in the movie, which was filmed mostly in Cedar Rapids and Norway.

And now Kent Stock has written a book to describe his front-row seat during that final season and the making of the movie. But it's a much larger story. It's about family, about faith being tested and affirmed, and about the idea that if you never give up, incredible things can happen.

It's an inspiring story about a remarkable life.
www.kentstock.com.  

Dean Klinkenberg
 

Dean Klinkenberg currently lives in St. Louis but feels like the Quad Cities are a second home. He blogs at www.TravelPassages.com where he chronicles the journey and highlights standout sites along the Mississippi River. He also maintains a website of travel information for the Mississippi Valley at www.MississippiValleyTraveler.com.

The Mississippi Valley Traveler is a new series of travel guides offering comprehensive coverage of the Mississippi River Valley. Dean Klinkenberg drove over 50,000 miles in three years traveling along the Upper Mississippi River, visiting attractions, chatting with residents in bars and diners to learn about river towns and how people pass the time when they’re not fishing, and wondering why it is so hard to find green lettuce in the middle of the nation’s breadbasket.

The first two volumes in the series are now available: the Quad Cities Travel Guide covers eight communities that border the Mississippi plus Arsenal Island. The Lansing to LeClaire Travel Guide covers 47 towns and cities along 170 miles of the Great River Road north of the Quad Cities, including McGregor/Marquette, Guttenberg, Dubuque, Bellevue, and Clinton, Iowa; Fulton and Galena, Illinois; and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Independently researched and produced, the pocket-friendly books highlight local and regional history, as well as sights, restaurants, and accommodations that exist outside of the world mass marketing, with a preference for places that won’t strain a budget.

The series will eventually cover the entire Mississippi River Valley from the Headwaters to the Gulf (if the fries and pie don’t do him in first). Work on the next book, which will cover both banks of the Mississippi River from Hastings, Minnesota to Lansing, Iowa, began in February.

Sylvia Shults

 www.sylviashults.com

 

Sylvia Shults has worked as a librarian, Bookmobile driver, flower seller, dancer, and art model. Her hobbies include wild food foraging, baking, making wines and cordials, and gardening. She is hopelessly addicted to classical music and reading. She is the author of several books, two of which were recent National Best Books Finalists (The Dreamwatcher and Timeless Embrace). She firmly believes that there is no such thing as too many projects, and is currently at work on her next novel. She lives in Illinois with her  husband, two furry German Shepherd daughters, and a whole bunch of books.

Borrowed Flesh ($12) -- 

A woman weighed down with the secrets of her past meets the young girl who will teach her to love again. But something inhuman is watching them both...

Being laid off sucks. But now Claire has the time to do her friend Darlene a favor. Darlene’s kid, Melody, has been coming home with some wild stories about the Catholic grade school she attends. And when Melody goes missing, Claire knows she needs to be the one to find her.

 The demon Araknagoth knows all of Claire’s secrets. It knows her weaknesses. And it knows about her desperate search for Melody.

Ghosts of the Illinois River ($10) --

"From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night, the Good Lord deliver us." There are plenty of shivery bumps in the night to be found along the Illinois River. The river has seen centuries of history come and go, and has witnessed its share of mystery and dark deeds. Sylvia Shults is your guide down the longest river in Illinois. Come and meet the Ghosts of the Illinois River.

The Dreamwatcher ($12) -- 

It all started when they moved…

Ryan Alldred knew that moving would be hard.  He had no idea.

He didn’t know about the ghosts.

He didn’t know about the bloody dreams that would terrorize his twin sister Stephanie.

And he didn’t know about the butcher knife. . .

But he’s going to find out.

Andrea Jones

 

I am a native Iowan.  I was born and raised in Davenport, IA along with my older sister and younger brother.  I was graduated from High School in 1974 and directly afterwards attended AIC (vocational school), completing a course in secretarial/clerical.  Upon completion, I became employed at Metropolitan Insurance and thereafter, Hartford Insurance.  As the company was laying off its personnel, I went back to AIC and received a diploma in Medical Office Specialist.  Shortly thereafter I became employed at the old St. Lukes Hospital.  One of the girls I worked with became a very dear friend and convinced me to go on a blind date.  Little did I know that this blind date would one day lead into finding my very best friend and soul mate.  We were both in our mid thirties when we were wed.  It was a marriage filled with love and understanding.  I never thought I would find anyone like him.  We were married for little over nine years before Ed became desperately ill.  I lost the love of my life December of 2002...almost one year from the date of his diagnosis. 

Ed's Courageous Fight To Survive Leukemia is a non-fictional , biographical account of Ed's battle with Acute Myelongenous Leukemia.  This book is full of many instances of showing strength, love, faith, companionship, hope, and, unfortunately, grief. 

A good description of Ed is that he was known to be a loving, soft spoken and humble soul whose actions spoke louder than words.  He had a deep rooted faith in God, was a loving son, brother, husband and friend.  There was a quality about him that people were just drawn to him.  He was always eager to help anyone out, before being asked and was a very diligent worker and admired by the people he worked with as well.

Lawrence Santoro has been writing darkly fantastic tales since he was five. As associate producer of the syndicated comedy/mystery series, "Hyde & Seeke," Larry wrote, directed and supervised production. In 2001 the Horror Writers Association nominated his novella “God Screamed and Screamed, Then I Ate Him” for a Bram Stoker Award. In 2002, his audio adaptation of Gene Wolfe's "The Tree Is My Hat" won him his second Stoker nod. The production featured best-selling author Neil Gaiman.

His Stoker-recommended "Catching" received Honorable Mention in Ellen Datlow’s 17th Annual “Year's Best Fantasy and Horror” anthology in 2003. "So Many Tiny Mouths" was cited in the anthology’s 18th edition. “Just North of Nowhere,” is his first novel. His novella, “At Angels Sixteen” appeared in 2008 in “A Dark and Deadly Valley.” His short novel, “Lord Dickens’s Declaration,” was released in both print and audio versions in England in 2010. Larry lives in Chicago, is married to the love of his life and is working on a new novel, “The Bright Dreams of Children.” A collection of his stories will be on the stands in late spring of 2010. 

Website:  http://www.SantoroReads.com/

Blog:  http://blufftoninthedriftless.blogspot.com/

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