from Arlington, Virginia

Barbara Kanninen is a writer, educator and parent living in Arlington, Virginia.  She has written several books for children including A Story With Pictures (Holiday House 2007), Jake's Lemonade Stand (Kaeden Books 2007) and Circle Rolls (Henry Holt and Co. forthcoming).   Barbara also has a number of short stories and poems published in children’s magazines such as Highlights for Children, Ladybug and Fun For Kidz.  For fun, Barbara sings in a Falls Church-based choral group called Choralis and coaches elementary Odyssey of the Mind. 

                                from Virginia

Mark Kearney wrote his first novel, "Twisted Obsession", in the evenings while balancing his role as co-founder and President of the Book ‘Em Foundation, his job as the crime prevention officer in the Waynesboro Police Department and his most important job in his life to date of being a father, role model and husband to his family.

Kearney believes he is in this world to help create a better place for everyone by promoting literacy through Book ‘Em and his literacy programs. So, he still scratches his head at times when he thinks on the chilling, spine tingling novel he wrote that will send shivers down the stoutest spines. How did he come to create a character that is downright evil?

"Twisted Obsession" is a thrilling novel that will take you places where you do not want to go. That is the joy of reading fiction. Your mind can experience something via the pages of a book and not have the need to experience it in real life. There is also an undertone in the book… a message if you will. We need to take care of our fellow humans. Watch over each other. We are all in this world together, so let’s all do our part to make it a better place.

Kearney will be signing early release, limited edition copies of “Twisted Obsession” at Book ‘Em. The official release is set for December 2007.

So, try to attend Book ‘Em to meet all of the authors who are traveling here from across the country and across the ocean. Book ‘Em is here to help the community help itself.

               from Williamsburg, Virginia

Jean C. Keating is a writer, speaker and columnist. Her fourth book received the 2006 Virginia Press Award. Her third book was nominated for a Pulitzer as well as being one of four national finalists for the coveted Merril award by Dog Writer’s Association of America. Her second book was a national finalist for DWAA’s best dog fiction of 2001.  She holds degrees in mathematics, physics and information systems. Named Virginia’s Outstanding Young Woman of the Year in 1970 for civic as well as professional efforts as an aerospace engineer with NASA, she authored more than 50 scientific and educational administrative reports during her years with NASA and subsequent service as head of research for Virginia’s Higher Education Council. She began a third career in 1999 as a fiction writer and frequently travels with her canine sidekick, a 5-pound Papillon named Puff.

                     
                   from Stuarts Draft, Virginia

Would you like to change the world you live in? You can if you will allow the God of the Bible to reveal to you His plans for your life. If you then surrender to that plan, YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR WORLD.

The uniqueness that God has placed upon this author does not lie in the talents or the ability of a man. His message is a clear and simple declaration of what the Bible says. No specialized doctrines that tend to divide and confuse, but a simple and plain presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The continuity and integrity of this author in over thirty-six years of ministry is the result of staying in the middle and mainstream of what God is bringing to pass this harvest generation. And from the mouths of many friends worldwide, "Tim Kelton is one of a kind in God's creation," an "individual marked by the grace of God" and "a unique anointing in declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

                    from Charlottesville, Virginia

All of Pamela's books will be available at Book 'Em 2007.

from St. Petersburg, Florida & Bridgewater, Va

Possessed Mentalities is designated as both Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice by the publisher. The author has been given a Top Performance award by the publisher. Kleier has signed books with great success in many different sites within five states and Washington, D.C.
Please see www.maxenekleier.com for more information and to read some media articles about Possessed Mentalities
Possessed Mentalities, bottom line, was written for everyone wishing to read about joyfully surviving traumas and making intelligent decisions. Possessed Mentalities, because of the inclusion of some extremely heart-wrenching events, was very difficult for the author to write.
One major reason for writing Possessed Mentalities was because of requests made by many people that believed the experiences of the author uniquely qualified her to speak credibly to many current issues of concern. Therefore, the book’s scope is not limited to mental health issues as might be suspected from its title.
The book was written to conversationally ask each individual reader,” If you are fortunate enough to own your mentality, how do you use this fortunate personal possession?”

                   from Head Waters, Virginia

I began writing for radio while in college (American University) in the early 1950s.  For the next 40 years I wrote exclusively for film and TV, primarily educational and informational films.  There are more than 700 films with my name on them, ranging from agriculture to religion, art to industry, medicine and more.  I retired to a mountain farm in Highland County in 1992, and began concentrating on fiction about six years ago. This is my first novel.

Accidents of Time and Place explores the making and undoing of a hero.  In Korea the protagonist, Hector Collin, reacts to a dangerous situation in a way that makes him a hero. Later, as a successful author, he makes his reputation writing about his fellow soldiers. It is a time in which an unpopular war and politicians concerned only with re-election threaten the very core of America.  Hector finds  himself threatened with blacklisting by a powerful senator, out to make a name for himself.  Throughout his life, Hector has simply followed where life has led.  Now he must take charge of his life, and by so doing illustrates the real meaning of "hero."

                         from Longwood, Florida

My passion for books made me an avid reader and collector until I finally had time to pursue my life-long dream of writing for a universal audience. Teaching middle and high school students filled in anything I might have missed in raising five children while following my husband as he pursued a Navy career. Living in diverse places as South Carolina, metro-Chicago, California and the island of Guam, as well as visiting on the Continent and South America has provided a fertile medium for ideas. Middle graders benefit from my love of mystery and adventure and focus on current environmental issues.

I earned my BS degree at the University of Minnesota, and then reentered college life with our second daughter to graduate with a Masters degree from San Diego State University. Give Me Five, the first in a series starring twelve-year-old Jordy, was published in 2000. It is a fast-paced, environmentally themed mystery with Jordy and friends experiencing the trials and successes inherent in rescuing Lake Apopka from slow death. Cherry Point followed in 2002 highlighting the damage done by exotic species introduced into the Chesapeake Bay. Wolf Sense (2007) is my most recent title. While spending a summer in rural Minnesota, Jordy adopts an orphaned wolf-dog mix pup and vice versa. He faces fear, prejudice, and outright hatred as he attempts to integrate Nola into urban life. The resulting compromise brings the story to an emotional conclusion.

Group presentations to my credit include several opportunities to address elementary students during fall “Teach In” at our local schools, two sessions with Orange County Correctional Center juveniles, and invitations to speak to private school classes.

                      from Pasadena, California

Upon arriving in LA, Serpico is immediately taken to LAPD headquarters and meets his partner, Doc, who is in charge of the K-9 narcotics unit. He and Doc eventually become one of the division's most successful teams. Then early one morning, while on a drug bust, something goes terribly wrong. Serpico is shot in the line of duty as he saves Doc's life.

Serpico Wolfgang Krugel lives in Pasadena, California with his two brothers and sisters, all working K-9s. After the amputation of his front leg and shoulder, he not only recovered, but now runs two miles every other day, trains at least once a week and has become an inspiration to his fellow K-9 officers. The K-9 Chronicles is his first book.

Serpico and his Dad, Alan Louis Krugel. will be paw-o-graphing The K-9 Chronicles at Book 'Em.

      
                          from Browntown, Virginia

Tom Lacombe, author of Light Ruck: Vietnam 1969, grew up in and around D.C. He was drafted in 1968, and served as an infantryman with the Fourth Infantry Division. Tom married his wife, Jean, in 1971. They moved to the rural mountain village of Browntown, Virginia in 1978. Tom and Jean have been running a historic country store in Browntown since 1987, and raise Christmas trees and steers on their small farm.Their daughter is a dispatcher for the Warren County, Sheriff’s Department. Their son and daughter-in-law are school teachers in Front Royal, Va., and have a two-year-old daughter.

Light Ruck: Vietnam 1969, tells the story of Tom’s one year tour in Southeast Asia. In the years following our pullout, not many people were interested in hearing about Vietnam, so Tom took up a new hobby, writing. Tom spent years writing his story so as to have a record of his experiences, and so that some day interested parties could know what his war was like. The image of Vietnam Vets was tarnished to many.  Through Light Ruck Tom hopes to open the eyes of some to the honorable service that he saw while in combat.

Tom is honored to have been a featured author at the WV Book Faire in 2006, and for Light Ruck having been chosen as a Virginia Festival of the Book Selection in 2005.

                        from Baltimore, Maryland

Paul was born in Bristol, Connecticut and grew up in Los Alamos and Santa Fe, New Mexico. A graduate of Regis University in Denver, he holds an MA in History and an MLS in Archival Studies from the University of Maryland. He is currently hard at work on his second novel, as well as conducting research on a non-fiction historical project -- about airships, of course.

                       from Hampton, Virginia

Monique Lamont was born and raised in San Diego, CA and now currently resides in Virginia with her loving husband and two wonderful children. She loves to travel, read and write. She holds degrees in both education and counseling. She has always enjoyed working with people. She has served proudly in the Air Force for over eleven years. Currently, she is pursing her M.A. in English and Professional Writing. Fondly, she holds a membership with Chesapeake Romance Writers.

In her stories she loves taking the impossible and making it possible, sensual and believable in a story. She has been writing since sixteen and working toward perfecting her skill ever since. In 2003, she published her first book while living in Europe Merger for Life. Since then she has won the publisher’s award for her second book Double Take. She went on to publish Healing Hearts, Freedom’s Quest (Merlicious II) and Fire and Desire and Passion’s Blood (Vegas Bites Back). Stay on the look out, because there are many more to come. Visit Monique at her blogsite: http://moniquelamont.blogspot.com

She loves to hear from her readers: rmancn_u@yahoo.com

                     from Richmond, Virginia

                          from Staunton, Virginia

Albert Leichter has been writing since 1973, and operates ClockTower Publications (CTP), which publishes his works as well as that of other writers. ClockTower Publications has published ten books, mostly in the music field and local Augusta County history. Recent CTP publications include: Staunton Treasures – Past & Present: Connect-The-Dot; Augusta County, Staunton, & Waynesboro Find-A-Word Puzzles; and Houses of Worship Augusta County, Staunton, & Waynesboro, Virginia Find-A-Word Puzzles books.

                     from Staunton, Virginia

                             from Virginia

                      from Pelham, New Hampshire

Julie MacShane is currently a magazine editor living in southern New Hampshire with her husband. She received her masters degree in writing and literature from Rivier College, Nashua, NH. She has written articles and stories for quarterlies, monthlies, weeklies, and dailies. She has received three editing awards from the ASBPE. Her two books tell the story of new firefighter Bette Maguire, who in Soot and Sweat on Flesh must battle prejudice to prove herself to her close-knit, all-male team in NH, and then in Torch battle an arsonist who is trying to make her quit the job she loves. The third and final book of the series, On Fire, will be out in late 2007.

                     
                        from Powhatan, Virginia
                              New York Times
                       Best-Selling Author &
                         USA Today Top Fifty

Cathy Maxwell's checkered career includes stints as manager of a New England watch factory, a news broadcaster in Dodge City, Kansas, and six years as a naval officer.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee and raised in Olathe, Kansas, Cathy has been writing since 1991, authoring sixteen historical romance novels. Her books routinely appear on the USA TODAY "Top Fifty" list and the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list. Her latest title is THE PRICE OF INDISCRETION released from Avon Books August 2005.
Cathy enjoys lecturing about writing and was profiled in the 1996 edition of WRITER'S DIGEST'S ROMANCE SOURCE BOOK. One of the highlights of her career has been her participation in the Smithsonian Associates sponsored weekend seminars on writing. She lives in beautiful Powhatan, Virginia.

                          from Strasburg, Virginia

Marcy McCann writes in various forms including an online column Adventures along Route 11, a collection of observations about her travels along Virginia’s historic corridor. Currently the Fair Manager of the Shenandoah County Fair in Woodstock, Virginia, Marcy spends her spare time restoring a 200 year old brick Federal home in neighboring Strasburg. The first in her series of children’s books geared to bridging gaps in families undergoing change highlights the positive side of belonging to a stepfamily.  
Chelsea’s Tree features a tree planting adventure, activities, maps, stickers and photo album to aid in fostering a healthier understanding of how a child fits into their particular stepfamily.  Chelsea’s Tree comes with a soft handle and photo album section so a child feels ownership of his or her family photos.  The non-custodial, extended family and those living at a distance now take on a clearer place within the family structure. She is  committed to developing this series of resources for families undergoing change.

                         from Cape Charles, Virginia

Judi McCoy has been writing romance for over twelve years.  She leads the Romantic Times aspiring authors’ course at their yearly convention, and has mentored new writers both online and in person, in private and in group situations.  She’s also given numerous chapter workshops on a variety of writing topics. 

Her first book, I Dream of You, won Waldenbook's Best-selling Debut Romance of 2001.  Since then, her novels have consistently garnered four stars from Romantic Times Book Club and numerous online review sites.  She belongs to RWA, CRW, NTRW, NJRW, RWI of Tulsa, WRW, MRW, and the Greater Dallas Writers Association.  Her May 2003 release, Heaven in Your Eyes, won Fallen Angel Review's Best Contemporary. 

Along with a writing career, she has twenty-five plus years experience as a women’s gymnastics judge.  Judi currently resides on Virginia's peaceful eastern shore with her husband and three small dogs, Rudy, Buckley, and Belle.  She keeps busy by tending her garden, raising orchids, and writing her next novel.

                       from Williamsburg, Virginia

                                  from Virginia

                                    from Virginia

Stephen Mirabella is a poet, artist, teacher, writer, historian, and musician. He’s written 

songs, short stories, poetry, articles and a novel. Stephen teaches at St. Anne’s-Belfield

School in Charlottesville, VA where his volume, Imagine the Middle Ages, is the

standard textbook for medieval studies. He received first prize for poetry and second 

prize for fiction in the 2007 competition sponsored by the Blue Ridge Chapter of the 

Virginia Writers Club. Three of his poems appear in the 2007 Blue Ridge Anthology 

from Cedar Creek Press. Mirabella’s 2003 book, Barry Woods Johnston: Art of 

Enduring Value from Candel Publishing, evaluates and catalogs the artist’s work. Relief 

Sculpture, a survey of the history of relief sculpture with major works and techniques, 

and Ivan Mestrovic appear in Fitzroy Dearborn’s 2004 Encyclopedia of Sculpture. He

has written for American Arts Quarterly, Sculpture Review, and other periodicals.

Stephen Mirabella was elected 2004 Visiting Scholar of medieval and renaissance history

at the American Academy in Rome. He received back-to-back artist fellowships from the 

New York Foundation for the Arts in 1994 and 1995.  He and his wife Sigrid relocated

from Long Island to Amherst, VA later the same year.

“In poetry, I may adopt thoughts or attitudes far different from my own, sometimes
imagining fictional characters who express an emotion or philosophy otherwise foreign to me.
I have written from the perspectives of a woman, a monk, a martyr, a recluse, a pope, other 
historical figures, and myself. Some find this confusing, others find it rewarding. It’s what keeps 
me interested.”

                     from Broadway, Virginia

The Humorous side of Virginia Game Warden, Frank G Mundy, comes to light in many fascinating but true stories. One generally hears TALES from either the hunter or fisherman of the one that got away, but one never hears about the one who got away or tried to get away from the “OLE GAME WARDEN.” Warden Mundy’s collection of stories have been relived and complied into two books to bring about a little humor from one of the many dangerous law enforcement agencies in the United States. Read, laugh and enjoy the many stories that take place in the heart of the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

                        from Earlysville, VA              

                 from Harrisonburg, Virginia

Fourteen year-old Karl Baumann flees the Ruhr coal mines in 1938 to become a cabin boy on a North Sea fishing trawler. He joins Adolf Hitler’s Kriegsmarine at age seventeen and volunteers for the vaunted submarine service, his only opportunity to return to sea. Trained as a U-boat gunner, he sails into the Battle of the Atlantic aboard U-953, code-named Kater (Tomcat), and experiences the extremes of persistent boredom and abject terror characteristic of World War II submarine warfare. His war patrols take him to convoy lanes in the open Atlantic and along the North African coast, into the Bay of Biscay’s U-boat killing zone, and the nearly impenetrable English Channel
to attack the Normandy invasion fleet.

Severely wounded, Karl Baumann is forced to remain hospitalized in the besieged French port of Brest after U-953 becomes one of the last U-boats to escape the surrounded city. Captured by American GIs, he is transported to the United States and confined in prisoner of war camps in rural Virginia, where he is not a model prisoner by American standards. He is compelled to provide manual labor for civilian employers, among them Mennonite farmers, and his life is transformed by the farmers’ pacifist beliefs. He vows to return to Virginia someday to live as a free man, but first must endure captivity at the Attichy prison camp in France and repatriation to his devastated and destitute homeland.

The Longest Patrol is Karl Baumann’s story, told in great detail within the context of the wartime events that surrounded him. Fully researched, an extensive group of primary source materials—including U-953’s daily war diary and interviews with Baumann, fellow U-boat crewmen, former combatants, and his American captors and  benefactors—paint a vivid and enduring picture of the wartime exploits of one of the few survivors from the German submarine service. This story defies stereotypes and provides fresh insight into Germany’s fateful U-boat campaign as well as the U.S. Army’s unprecedented and successful prisoner of war program.

Gregory L. Owen is a lifelong resident of Rockingham County, Virginia, and a graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, from which he received a BA degree in History, Summa Cum Laude with Distinction in History.  During his academic studies he was named a George C. Marshall Scholar by the George C. Marshall Foundation at Virginia Military Institute. He also is the author of an unpublished work, Wehrmacht Autumns, German Prisoners of War in the Plains District of Rockingham County, Virginia During World War II.

The author has visited numerous World War II battlefields and historic sites in England and Central Europe during eight overseas excursions. Among his many research activities he has "done stick time" from the co-pilot's seat of a B-17G Flying Fortress. Through all his hands-on efforts he has sought to better understand the war's impact upon the world and upon those who experienced the most significant event of the twentieth century.

Gregory Owen and Karl Baumann will both be present at Book ‘Em with copies of The Longest Patrol available.