I’ve decided to format and put some books up on Amazon. I’ve re-released Never Alone and posted the other books in that Series (Strange Courage [#2], Second Chances [#3], and Grandfather’s Way [#5]). I’m still working on Promises Kept, which is book #4. This set began as a stand-alone adventure story and evolved into a family saga, the Forgotten Virtues series. If you like family oriented outdoorsy stuff with a positive spiritual message, you might want to check these out.
I wrote Virginia to fulfill two objectives. First, I never wrote anything in first person except non-fiction stuff. Second, I wanted to see if I could write a mainstream book like a romance novel but from a different perspective than most. Virginia is a romance written from a man’s perspective for women who often bemoan that they don’t know how men think. Gray Jarvis is a former football star and successful young engineer, but he is not overly experienced with women. He often says the wrong thing without meaning any malice, but he wants nothing more than to win the heart of an impoverished country girl from West Virginia, who has become the surrogate mother of her younger siblings. Because of this, she is accustomed to making decisions, and she is in complete control of the situation. Her reluctance to build a relationship with this man who seemingly has it all frustrates Gray to no end. Virginia feels that helping those in need supersedes any personal wants she might have, and Gray cannot understand that. Still, his passion for her won’t allow him to walk away.
All these titles are available on Amazon as paperbacks for $7.95 each.
I grew up in Old Town Maine and got a B.S. at the University of Maine in Plant Sciences/ minor in Botany. From there I moved to West Virginia and earned a M.S. in Agronomy at WVU. I also met my wife there. She grew up in rural WV as the daughter of tenant farmers who raised cattle and hogs. Their lifestyle at times was one of subsistence and I learned a lot from them. I've always been a foraging buff, but combining my formal botanical knowledge with their practical 'Foxfire-type' background opened up my eyes a little more.
I recently retired from teaching high school agriculture after 25 years teaching with my wife. Until recently I wrote a weekly nature/foraging column for the local paper (dailyadvance.com). I also have written several Christian nature/adventure novels that can be purchased on Amazon in paperback and in Kindle format. One is a five book family saga I call the 'Forgotten Virtues' series. In the first book, Never Alone, a young boy comes of age after his father dies in a plane crash, and he has to make it alone. The second book, Strange Courage, takes Carl from his High School graduation to his recovery from a nasty divorce. The third book, Second Chances, takes Carl from his ex-wife's death and the custody of his son to his heroic death at age 59. The fourth book, Promises Kept, depicts how his grandchildren react and adjust to his death (this one is not yet published). In the final book, Grandfather's Way, his youngest and most timid granddaughter emerges from the shadow of her overachieving family and accomplishes more in four months than most do in a lifetime. I use many foraging references with a lot of the plants I profile in these articles in those books. I also wrote a romance novel titled Virginia, set in rural West Virginia in the early 1980s. It is available on Amazon and is a different type of romance from a man's perspective.
tedmanzer 