Welcome, RD. When did
you become interested in writing?
I have been writing for most of my life, but I think the
most pivotal moment in my young adult life was writing about the loss of my
grandfather when I was in high school. That was a hard task for me to do and frankly
it was the most uplifting. It was a tragedy in my life that happened to me when
I was 7 years old, but the impact was so great that it shaped my very soul
beyond any other experience. From that point on, I felt that having heart,
emotion, and a story to tell created the foundation for reaching others who
would read my work.
I lost my mother when
I was 7 years old, and it has affected the rest of my life, so I understand. Tell
my readers a little about yourself, so they can get to know you.
I am an American farm boy raised in the last foothold of Rural
New York. There I was raised by parents, but influenced heavily by my grandparents
who lived through the other side of the woods in the great forest that centered
our neighborhood. There my grandmother told tales of once living legends whose
stories spanned my family over 7 generations. While she toiled away in her
country kitchen, she wove tales around family history all while baking and
cooking while she spoke. She was the greatest woman I have ever met in my time
on this planet and for some reason the Lord matched us together and with that,
one of the longest friendships of my life took place. Along with her sister, my
Great Aunt Dorothy, the three of us would garage sale on the weekends, share
stories, and seek advice from one another all mastering the great river of this
chaotic world.
What kind of books do
your like to read?
I personally enjoy fantasy books especially the works of L.
Frank Baum who wrote the Oz series. Such a fantastic imagination that I believe
set the stage for other authors works. I relate to Baum as he too was a
traveling salesman, a broke businessman, and faced much tragedy in his life. His
humble way about him and his never-ending drive to never fail was an inspiration
to me. Aside from fantasy, I am huge reader of science journals and business magazines.
I enjoy reading success stories, but also enjoy reading why a business failed.
I believe life lessons are something that you research, not something that is
easily handed to you.
Your books don’t fit
into a regular genre. Please tell us what they are and why you wrote them.
It’s a funny thing when people look at my books the first
thing they say is “So it’s stories from your grandmother and recipes? Weird, I
will take two sets.” I always laugh at that line because I have had it happen
to me a number of times while traveling across the country with the series. The
genre closely relates to folktales and more importantly American Folktales. I
say that as in American Culture, we have so few folktales of our own for our
society is a “Throw it out” society. We hold nothing for long, take buildings
down and throw a plaque up if something historic happened there. Our stories
are handled the same way, most of us half listen to our older generations and
because of that, stories are lost and taken with them to the grave. Donbridge,
my series, has an inspirational message of American preservation which
traverses generations and brings everyone back into their own grandmother’s
kitchen and gives the feeling of home which is lost to many. The stories and
characters are heartwarming and yet enduring. People relate to the stories and
because of that they have been a popular addition to most readers’ libraries. A
funny little fact that the youngest reader of the Donbridge Series was 9 years
old and eldest reader was 96.
Please share a page
or two with my readers.
Taken from Donbridge:
The Ring of Lazarus, Book 1 in the Donbridge Series.
Grandmother stood at the gold-flecked Formica countertop,
chopping onions and then scraping them across the old cutting board, adding the
pieces to the contents of a giant cast-iron pot. The pot had been bubbling a long
time, probably since before her daughter had dropped the three grandchildren off
on the way to the diner. In their world, overnight snowfall meant the joy of closed
school, but for her it simply meant a longer drive to her job as a waitress
with a detour to stash the children at grandparents’ house for the day.
“I don’t like chili!” Jasper hissed behind Grandmamma’s
back. “She makes us eat it every time!”
“That’s because it’s cold out, silly,” Michael shot back,
defending his saintly grandmother.
“Then why is it called ‘chilly?’ Huh? If it’s so cold, we
should be eating ‘warmy!’” Jasper stuck out his tongue and it took all Michael’s
strength not to knock him backwards in his chair.
Grandmamma already had to break up a fight between the boys
over who got to pour the cereal, and she’d spent half an hour getting chewing
gum out of little Mary’s hair. Mary had howled like she was being ripped
bald-headed. Michael didn’t think Grandmamma could take much more.
“You’ll eat it if you know what’s good for you,” Michael
whispered, shoving his balled up fist against his palm.
“But Michael! She puts weird stuff in it!” Jasper whimpered,
looking towards the stove. Michael made a face at him and took a menacing step
in his direction, but Jasper countered by protesting, “I saw her! She put some
brown stuff in it!”
“That’s the peanut butter,” Grandmamma said without turning
around. Both boys jumped. “I’ve always put peanut butter in my chili.”
“Really?” Michael asked, struggling to remember if he’d ever
tasted it in all the years she’d been warming them up with her special snow day
chili. “Why would you do that?”
“Well, it’s all we had for a while when I was a girl back in
Donbridge. It came in tins stamped ‘non-perishable’ on the side. It kept us
alive and strong when meat was scarce, especially during the war.”
“Where’s Donbridge?” Jasper asked quietly. Grandmamma lay
her wooden spoon on the stove and walked to the dinette table, wiping her hands
on her apron. She smiled and looked out the window to where the snow was still
falling in giant puffs.
“I’ll tell you all about it while you work,” she said. She
produced a bowl of potatoes and two rattly metal peelers from the counter. She
sat, pulled up a bowl of carrots and a knife for herself and began to peel as
she talked.
Tell us where my
readers can obtain copies of your books.
You can head to www.Donbridgeseries.com
and there you can learn more about the Donbridge series, purchase our products
as well as our books.
Are there other
places you can be found on the Internet?
Donbridge books are available on Amazon, however, Donbridgeseries.com
has the books for a cheaper price, signed and free shipping.
Thank you, RD, for
sharing these books with my blog readers and me.
Readers, leave a comment for a chance
to win a free copy of the first 3 books. You must follow these instructions
to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or
territory or country if outside North America .
(Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)
Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the
number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of
eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any
pertaining local/federal/international laws.
The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this
blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will
have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.
If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Feedblitz, Facebook,
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15 comments:
These books sound very interesting to me. Thank you for sharing a new author to me. Blessings from WV.
These books sound delightful. I have wonderful memories of my paternal grandmother and even though she died when I was twelve, there are so many that we shared. I often think how much I would have learned if we'd had more time!
Connie from Kentucky
cps1950(at)gmail(dot)com
These books sound interesting. I have plans to write a fictional account of my mother's life growing up during the depression.
Connie from Texas
These sounds like books not to miss!
Melanie Backus, TX
These sound like great reads. Would love to read and review these books in print format.
It was great learning about you and your books.
OH I Hope I get a chance to ask you more questions like:
Who influenced you the most to write?
Who mentored you with Writing?
Did you ever meet an author before writing professionally?
Where do you get your inspirations for characters, settings, heroines and heroes and do you use animals in your books and/or on your book covers?
I met Maya Angelou when I was in college a long time ago. That was for a class believe it or not. I still can hear her saying NEVER GIVE UP.
OH I HOPE I WIN.
Crystal Stewart from Pennsylvania in the USA
Crystal
Your books sound memorable, unforgettable and captivating. Family novels are real treasures. I enjoyed learning about your life and your writing.
From NM.
Enter me in your awesome giveaway!!
Conway SC.
Thank you Lucy. Look forward to signing some books for you. Please visit the website, donbridgeseries.com
I have to say it was a most memorable time for me as well. When she died I was heartbroken, I still am, however I thank God for giving me as much Time with her as I had.
That is absolutely wonderful. Stick to it and make it happen my Grandmother would say.
They are fun family stories and the fact that children and adults enjoy them makes them all the more worthwhile. The recipes at the backs of the books are a bonus on to themselves.
Thank you for writing to me. My mentor and influencer was Dr. Maurice Kenny of New York. He was a poet laureate there. The landscapes and characters were based off of the people I knew and grew up with and the landscapes were based upon the Hudson Valley, a very beautiful place. I have always enjoyed animals living on a farm but I drew inspiration from rare animals that would happen their way into New York, moose, panthers, elk. I have a mystical creature called a Panderlaub which is on cover 4. Great questions Crystal.
Thank you so very much for your kind comments. I hope you have an opportunity to read my books.
I believe you are entered. Hope you have a chance to read my books.
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