Local authors to hold signing event at MindFair Books

OBERLIN – Six members of the Northern Ohio Authors Guild will be holding a book signing on Saturday, March 25 from noon to 4PM at MindFair Books in Oberlin.

Joel Rudinger, of Huron; Alexi Penehal, of Kelleys Island; Emilia Rosa, of Huron; Wendy Fedan, of Amherst; PJ Grondin, of Sandusky; and Richard Norgard, of Port Clinton; will be the featured authors at the event.

Below are provided descriptions of each of the featured authors:

Joel Rudinger is a retired professor at BGSU-Firelands where he taught creative writing, folklore, storytelling, and American literature. He is author of four collections of poetry, an illustrated folktale book, and a memoir/novel on his four-year adventure in early Alaska. He is a Rotarian and a former poet laureate of Huron, OH, where he is currently lives and writes. His books are sold on Amazon.

– Sedna: Goddess of the Sea. Beautiful young Sedna is sacrificed and gives her life’s blood to create the animals of the seas.  An emotional retelling of an ancient Alaska-Canadian Inuit creation-myth. Fully illustrated with dramatic black images. Ages 9 to 109.

– Lost and Found in Alaska. Alaska became the 49th State in 1959. Joel Rudinger’s memoir records his four-year adventure in the young State from 1960 to 1964. Sample events: laying track on the Alaska Railroad; getting bodily swept into and washing down a rushing river; becoming a hunting guide in the Alaska Range; alone on a highway hitchhiking on Christmas eve in Fairbanks, in the dark of night, in minus 80 degrees temperature; hitchhiking down the ALCAN highway with his Alaska-native girlfriend; writing a melodrama; and surviving the famous 1964 Good Friday earthquake.

Alexi Panehal is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development for over 35 years. She was born and raised on the west side of Cleveland. She earned an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and graduate degrees from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the National Defense University, National War College. 

– The Island in Winter is her first book. In it Alexi discusses the various aspects of island life, from the quirky to the cantankerous, the generous to the genial, and everything in between. She comments on the aspects of summer life, when the island is inundated with fair weather visitors and residents, as well as the stark seclusion the winter months can bring. A great book for people interested in life on one of Lake Erie’s very special islands.

Emilia Rosa spent her childhood in Rio de Janeiro. She has always been fascinated with words and studied French, Spanish and Italian. Rosa worked in international trade shows in a multilingual capacity, and as a fashion model in Brazil, Italy, and the US. Before turning to fiction, she had poetry published, and won a library poetry contest. Her love of history and knowledge of Rio de Janeiro, decided the timeframe and setting of her first novel, which was taken to the sequel. She is doing research and starting the third sequel, which will now take readers to the south of Brazil. Her books are sold at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM, etc.  

– Finding Cristina. In 1920s Rio de Janeiro young Cristina grapples with bills and an ailing mother after her father’s death. A mystery related to her past—of which she was unaware—will emerge. But before that, much will happen: jealousies, unrequited love, a singular duel, a riotous attempted kidnapping. And Cristina’s real story is only revealed at the very end of the novel.

– Finding Cristina: A New Life. Now married and living in the United States, Cristina travels to Rio de Janeiro with her husband and son. Since their arrival on the ship, her husband finds himself the victim of inexplicable accidents. In Rio, after a few days of blissful vacation, Cristina’s husband disappears without trace. In the quest to unveil the mystery of the disappearance the tension in the story is lightened up by a few comical incidents. Will Cristina and her husband be reunited?

Wendy Fedan is a full-time freelance illustrator and award-winning author of teen and picture books. She lives in Amherst, Ohio working from home studio. She collaborates with other authors to illustrate their books as well and has her own self-publishing biz called Create-a-Way Design & Publishing, LLC. Visit her website for information: cawpublishing.com.

PJ Grondin , a US Navy submarine veteran, is the author of eight suspense novels. His most recent release, Flash Drive, features Peden Savage, a former FBI agent and Private Investigator. Savage is recruited by his former FBI supervisor to assist in the investigation of the murder of a prominent U. S. Senator. You will find this book hard to put down. For more details about his books: pjgrondin.com.

– The McKinney Brothers Suspense Series: A Lifetime of Vengeance, A Lifetime of Deception, A Lifetime of Exposure, A Lifetime of Terror, A Lifetime of Betrayal.

– The Peden Savage Suspense Series: Drug Wars, Flash Drive.

– Under the Blood Tree. The fears of four young men are realized when the shrinking water level of Cypress Lake yields a dark secret, hidden under the lake’s surface for sixteen years.

R.J. Norgard has worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer, US Army Intelligence Officer, and private investigator. His twenty-one years in Alaska form the basis for the characters and settings in Sidney Reed novels and infuse them with authenticity. His hobbies are sailing, tennis, and participating in volunteer project in his hometown in northern Ohio. An avid amateur historian, he is the author of Lights at the Portage: A History of the Port Clinton Light Station, 1833-1952. He is also working on his nonfiction opus, HEART OF TEAK: The Life and Times of the Sailing Ship Success. He is currently working on WINTER KILL, the third novel in the Sidney Reed Trilogy. Website: rjnorgard.com.

– Trophy Kill. Private investigator Sidney Reed hasn’t been the same since the tragic death of his wife, Molly. Sharing a rundown apartment above an Anchorage, Alaska coffee shop with a cat named Priscilla, he dulls his bitter memories with cheap beer and sarcasm. When he’s offered a bundle of cash for a simple surveillance job, Sidney sees a chance to finally put the broken pieces of his life back together. But the job turns deadly, and he’ll have to sort through the clues to solve this case—and confront his own demons in the process.

– Road Kill pits Sidney Reed against a classic murder mystery, set around an unyielding winter in Anchorage, Alaska. Reeling from the loss of his wife, he is barely able to get through each day. He’s hired to help the defense of Rudy Skinner, facing trial on a charge of murdering an indigenous man with a snowplow. A tip about the identity of the actual killer leaves Reed facing double crosses, meth dealers, wannabe actresses, crooked cops, an ambitious district attorney, plus an array of friends concerned by his ongoing mental health struggles.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay

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