Book Festival weekend this year was even more spectacular than last year (despite the heat and humidity)! Big name authors (headlined by Meg Gardiner, Michael Hurd, Dan Rather, Tom Hanks, Olga Campos-Benz, Jennifer Ziegler, and many others) from across the country were featured. It was an honor to volunteer at the booth of the Writers […]

Poems explore nature in both its grandeur and anomalies, locations that offer contentment or anxiety, historical events and their cast of characters, plus unusual experiences. PARTIAL CONTENTS: Colossal Cosmos / When Time Inverted / Michigan Winter / The Black Snake at Standing Rock / Wanted! A Rational Explanation / Self-Absorbed and Device Obsessed / What […]

A mix of humor and poignant drama, this collection of short stories touches on myriad facets of human achievement and folly. Childhood innocence, benign mischief, prudent trepidation, uncommon heroism, complex family dynamics, and the art of making crucial decisions are all portrayed with wit and candor. Real and fictional characters come together to shed new […]

Our granddaughter, Mira Naomi, is 6 months old today! When she sits on my lap and I read to her, she often does not take her eyes off of the book for twenty minutes. Apparently, she already has a longer attention span than some of my former college students. If I sound like an obnoxious […]

Mira Naomi Simmons was born on January 24, 2017. The proud parents are our daughter Kate and her husband Todd. The ecstatic grandparents are Margo and Joe Pluta. As you can see from the photos, Mira is a beautiful happy healthy alert child and she is now at home with her very happy parents.

The poems will explore varied themes: fantasies ranging from time travel to the endless quest for happiness, nature in both its grandeur and anomalies, what passes for progress, legacies of the famous and infamous, locations that offer contentment or anxiety, and a retrospective on meaningful experiences. Some poems will examine historical events and their cast […]

Published by Distant Echo Press, 2017 Available from Amazon.com Carefully selected from over 100 published short stories, this collection offers readers a sample of the written work produced during the career of a talented yet often overlooked author. An astute blend of solemnity and humor, specific topics include unique views on major historical events, small […]

Strolling Through an Orchard Distant Echo Press 2016 Available from Amazon.com A casual walk through an orchard of diverse fruit trees may be an apt metaphor for life’s unpredictable journey. Within this collection of over 100 poems, readers glimpse the beauty of nature along with sometimes harsh lessons of history and unintended effects of technology. […]

Over 100 of my previously unpublished poems have been assembled for this book. Topics covered will include memorable places, key moments in history, and personal reflections on life’s ups and downs. The places described are geographically diverse as are the events in U. S. and world history.

Malvern Books, 613 W. 29th St., Austin, TX 78705 Mar 10 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm. Join us for the fifteenth event in our Novel Night series, a monthly celebration of all things prose! Here’s how it works: two published authors will read from their books and there’ll be an audience Q & A. Also worth […]