Authors & Writers

SCWA is home to many authors and writers. Below are links to member's websites.

•Lynnette Baum - is a creative, multi-talented freelance writer with superb communication skills and a solid background in marketing collateral. A friendly team player, her many faceted career includes writing everything from tag lines to TV commercials - marketing videos to ghostwriting projects. Exceptionally skilled at researching and writing press releases, articles, newsletters, brochures, ads, marketing bios and ghosting novels, she has also won national awards (Gold & Silver Microphone Awards) for successful radio campaigns. Trusted by prestigious California companies, Lynnette adds a creative spin to sound marketing strategies. Contact Information: 24-Hour Voicemail: 949-725-7849. E-mail: therightwriter@cox.net.

•Victory Crayne - Victory Page for Fiction Writers. Having difficulty getting someone to review chapters of your novel, someone who will give you professional-level feedback? Visit www.crayne.com

•Stacia Deutsch - the co-author of the Blast to the Past series for 7-10 year olds. The first book Lincoln's Legacy explores what the world would look like if Abraham Lincoln quit. Disney's Dream and Bell's Breakthrough will follow in spring and fall 2005.

•Bert Millspaugh - The Deadly Seeker:Humanoid from the Planet Venus. From AuthorHouse—"In the 1970’s, a Soviet Union space probe brought back a living Venusian child. Now, the Venusians want it back. They send a deadly seeker, a tall humanoid creature, to find and retrieve the infant, but a navigational error lands the spacecraft in Montana where the seeker goes on a killing spree of both men and livestock. Mike Jenner, Idaho rancher and ex-Army Officer, is determined to destroy the seeker after finding a hired hand hideously killed and then the merciless death of his girlfriend’s father."

Bert Millspaugh served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean war and worked in the aerospace industry for many years. His military and electronics background aided him in writing the novel. To purchase Deadly Seeker, or for more information about the novel and author, visit Millspaugh's website at www.deadlyseeker.com. Or go directly to the publisher's website.

The Mystical Vortex -- Gateway to Another Dimension From Authorhouse

Neanna Miller drives into the sleepy red-rock artist community of Sedona to meet her treasure-hunting boyfriend only to be caught in the tentacles of a blue-robed cult seeking a way into another dimension. They claim she is the Chosen One that will give them the power to reach beyond this time. She is soon involved with believers of crystal healing, psychic meditation, and medicinal properties of mystical vortex sites. With the help of her archeologist friend and a Yavapai Indian, they discover the meaning of the revolving images glowing in the vortexes. The novel combines the suspense of an unraveling mystery with the action of a science-fiction thriller. The most recent in a series of narrow escapes and fruitless explorations finds a skeptical Neanna Miller and an ambitious Michael Adams giving romance and adventure one last fling. Using an old map, they set course across the desert of Arizona on a journey that eventually reveals Neanna as the "Chosen One." She alone has the power to overcome an evil cult who is harboring ancient, mystical secrets from another dimension in the desolate southwest. Rising to the call, Neanna meets her destiny, prevailing over the cult by finding inner spiritual peace and thereby harnessing the power of her newly discovered identity.

"A thoroughly engrossing story -- almost constant suspense -- with enough variation in the pacing to bring the action scenes home effectively," Roy King, President, Southern California Writer's Assn (SCWA).

SCWA member Bert Millspaugh walked and hiked the red rock hills and canyons of Arizona. He stood on the recognized vortex sites, walked the meditation trails, and visited shops specializing in healing crystals. He also visited the cliff dwellings sites where ancient Indians mysteriously disappeared. Millspaugh lives in Southern California. Following retirement, he traveled the United States with his wife, Barbara, in their motorhome. Presently, he is writing a sequel to The Deadly Seeker.  

•Connie Nanasy - Love and Betrayal in Texas: A Novel About a Trusting Woman, Her Lovers, Children, Controlling Parents and Their Devastating Secrets (Tafford Publishing) was published in January 2004.

Nanasy is a long-time member of SCWA. Roamin' Around Planet Earth, a travel adventure book based on travels in 60 countries, was published in 1998. She is also author of Growing Up in East Texas (her memoirs) and Life, Laughs, and Love.

Love and Betrayal in Texas is also available at amazon.com, Borders Books online, and Barnes & Noble online.

•Alan Nayes - author of two novels Gargoyles and The Unnatural released in hardcover by Tor/Forge. The paperback release of Gargoyles was in January of 2006.

•Kathy Porter - Kathy Porter grew up in Endicott, NY the birthplace of IBM and only a short distance away from where one of her favorite TV series creator, Rod Serling was raised. Kathy's lifelong interest in Science Fiction ignited when her father, a science teacher, showed her craters on the moon and taught her the constellations. She grew up watching science fiction movies and TV shows. Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles" was her first delve into a science fiction novel and she has been hooked ever since.

"I think I was born telling stories," Kathy explained during a recent interview. "As second to the oldest of seven children, the girls all slept in one bedroom. I loved making up bedtime stories, with an eerie edge to and frightening my sisters. Things about fairies, leprechauns, and aliens even back then."

In September of 1961 reports of Barney and Betty Hill's alien abduction claims took the media by storm. Kathy has been fascinated by their story of science fiction turned reality and "are we alone" ever since.

"Earth's Ultimate Conflict concept initially came to me in a dream that lingered in my mind for hours. Finally I told my husband about it over coffee and explained to him that if it were a book I would love to read it.
He said 'if you want to read it you have to write it'. With his encouragement and support Earth's Ultimate Conflict came to fruition."

Earth's Ultimate Conflict is the first novel in Kathy Porter's Gray Guardians Series. Escape From Nuur, the second in the series will be released next year.

www.grayguardians.com

• Darlene Quinn - Darlene Quinn is an author and journalist from Long Beach, California.
Webs of Power, the first novel of her series, was the Winner of the 2009 National Indie Excellence Award for Fiction and a Finalist for the National Best Book Award for General Fiction.  The sequel, Twisted Webs, will be released in September 2010, and she is currently working on the prequel, Irreversible Webs.
Quinn’s first published novel, which she titled Sizzling Cold Case, was a somewhat unusual collaboration as well as labor of love for her dear friend, Buddy Ebsen, who passed away on July 5, 2003, at the age of 95. Ebsen’s work-in-progress was a Barnaby Jones novel, which at his widow’s request, Quinn was thrilled to complete. Quinn says she  felt as if Buddy was right beside her and would have approved of the creative license his widow allowed her in completing Sizzling Cold Case, which was published in January of 2007.
In addition, she has published articles in both “Inskeeping World” and “Savvy Magazine” highlighting the business knowledge she gained during her time as Corporate Training Director for the Bullock's Department Stores and as Director of Personnel/Organization Development for Bullocks Wilshire (West Coast Divisions of the former Federated Department store conglomerate)
As part of a nine-member management team for the Bullocks Wilshire Specialty Department Store Division, Darlene Quinn has the insider's perspective on the rise and fall of major department stores. Her soon to be released sequel, Twisted Webs, continues the saga of corporate greed and raw human struggles with characters we have come to know and love.
Quinn became interested in storytelling at an early age but did not begin writing until her adult life. Prior to being an author, Quinn was a teacher in the public school system, a self-improvement and modeling instructor, a private contractor for various department stores (Bullock's/Robinson's) and hospitals. She has two children, John and Jodie, six wonderful grandchildren, and happily lives with her husband and greatest supporter, Jack, a restorer of valuable art, in Long Beach, California.

•Pamela Rocke - writer, marketing consultant, publisher, and web designer. Rocke designed this website and served as webmaster. She also publishes the club's monthly newsletter, Writers News. She started her own publishing business in 2004, and published her first book in October of the same year. Her book, Behind the Scenes: Managing a Trade Show Without Losing Your Mind (Cave Cat Press, October 2004), is available on amazon.com. Or visit her publishing company's website at www.cavecatpress.com.