By Jean Graham
If writers still used manual typewriters, there would be a steady clickety-clack, clickety-clack, DING! throughout the Garden State. If they were still using electric typewriters, New Jersey would hum from Stokes State Forest to Wildwood Crest.
Computers being virtually silent, there is barely auditory evidence of this. But rest assured that local writers are producing a bumper crop of books, and their content is as diverse as the state itself. Self-help books. Journals. History books. Nature guides. Poetry and humor, and short-story collections. Fiction for young adults and fiction for not-so-young adults.
Although the following books that have poured into The Star-Ledger’s office over the past year by New Jersey writers is impressive, it is by no means complete; homegrown writers are constantly adding to the list. Herewith, a mere sampling.
Marianne Fasbender Previty of Oak Ridge has collected 24 years of her holiday letters in “The Last Box” (Dog Ear Publishing). Tyris E. Henry III of Linden journals his vivid dreams in ”My Midnight Therapist” (Author House).
“From One to Ninety-One: A Life” (University of Orange Bridgebuilder Press) is West Orange residnet Maggie Thompson’s memoir of her biracial family. Gina Hiester writes about her bucolic southern New Jersey childhood in “Navy Lane” (RoseDog Books), and Trenton-based Anna Gres offers a harrowing account of her youth in “We Survived the Horrors of World War II” (Vantage Press). Short Hills’ Ada Feyerick remembers the ’60s from abroad in “The Sixties: An American Family in Europe” (Academia Books); George B. Kirsch explores lifelong friendships in “Six Guys from Hackensack: Coming of Age in the Real New Jersey” (Infinity Publishing); 9/11 widow Susan Rescorla (with David Sandler) pays tribute to husband Rick in “Touched by a Hero” (Richard C. Rescorla Memorial); and, in “A Bend in the Road” (KFR Communications), Karen Kelly Boyce delivers a bittersweet breast cancer chronicle.
Marlboro native Michael S. Adelberg looks at the American Revolution in “Monmouth County: The Theatre of Spoil and Destruction” (History Press), while the Civil War is the subject of “True Jersey Blues” (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press) by Hunterdon County history columnist Dominick Mazzagetti. Peter T. Lubrecht explores the Union Army’s Hussar-like cavalry unit in “New Jersey Butterfly Boys in the Civil War” (History Press).
New Jersey black families who advanced 20th century civil rights are showcased in Walter D. Greason’s “The Path to Freedom” (History Press).
Joseph G. Bilby, James M. Madden and Harry Ziegler tell intriguing tales in “Hidden History of New Jersey” (History Press). Ann Alvarez focuses on local history in “East Brunswick and its Mayors 1860-2010” (East Brunswick Historical Society).
Poetry is practiced by former Star-Ledger editorial writer Stanley E. Terrell (Sanjulo) in “Brickettes: Tales and Poems from New Ark” (Xlibris) and Milford’s Ed Caffrey in “Accessible Verses” (iUniverse). Lebanon photographer Rolf Margenau merges flowers and Elizabethan poetry in “Pistils & Poetry” (Frogworks Publishing). H.A. Bellamy and Joan Shaw provide room to record special moments in “Love is When ... True to Life Verses and Family Poems to Enjoy” (LDM Publishing). Short-story collections include “Swap Meet: An Anthology” (Publish America) by J.D. Bryce of Whiting, and Siyali’s “Short Stories from USA and India” (RoseDog Books).
Morristown’s Judith Hugg finds God in unlikely places in “To See the Sky: Vignettes of Grace” (Tate Publishing). Elizabeth’s Sally Page Hughes recounts finding solace as a widow in “The Secret Place” (Kindred Spirit Press).
Rutgers University chaplains Arthur Lee Young III, Rayan G. Risha and Joseph M. Schwall explore spiritual awakening in “Who Is Godfrey Tribe?” (EtteN Publishing), and Manasquan’s Charles Brady pays tribute to his late wife, Carmie, in “I Will Live. My Children Need Me” (Charles Brady).
Advice from educators includes Maureen Baldwin’s “Colleges at a Glance: A Concise Country-Wide College Search Guide for Average Students” (Maureen Baldwin) and Andrew Aloysius McCabe’s “The Gifted One: The Journey Begins” (Balboa Press).
“So You Want to Be a Landlord: Tales from the Crypt” (djv murphy), by High Bridge’s DJV Murphy, examines the pitfalls of managing rental properties.
And Midland Park’s Les and Sue Fox find masterpieces in unlikely places in “The Art Hunters Handbook: How To Buy Art for $5 and Sell It for $1,000,000” (West Highland Fine Art & Publishing).
CPA Thomas Corley tells how to improve your finances in “Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals” (Langdon Street Press), and Red Bank’s Chris Ruisi tells how to maximize your potential in “Step Up and Play Big” (Advantage Media Group).
Liz DiMarco Weinmann empowers women over 40 in “Get DARE (Drive, Advance, Rule, Express) From Here!” (Liz DiMarco Weinmann); and Morris County’s Laura O’Reilly provides diet and exercise motivation in “Get Fit To Go” (Unlimited Publishing).
Former prisoner and current Newark community activist Rickey Samad Danzey delivers a short but powerful message to young people in “Caution: A Message to Our Youth, Our Future” (Ambitious Publishing).
Cape May’s Pete Dunne provides a naturalist’s perspective in “Arctic Autumn: A Journey to Season’s Edge” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), while Rutgers professor Richard G. Lathrop Jr. edits “The Highlands: Critical Resources, Treasured Landscapes” (Rutgers University Press). “The Birds of New Jersey: Status and Distribution” (Princeton University Press) by William J. Boyle Jr. is a must-have birder’s resource, and animal navigation is explored in “Nature’s Compass” (Princeton University Press), by James L. Gould and Carol Grant Gould.
Richard Muti and Charles Buckley portray an infamous New Jersey killer in “The Charmer: The True Story of Robert Reldan — Rapist, Murderer and Millionaire — and the Women Who Fell Victim to His Allure” (TitleTown Publishing).
Other nonfiction includes Bill Levy’s “Beyond the Beach: The Wit and Wisdom of Nevil Shute” (BLS Publishers); Bordentown resident Scott Bartz’s “The Tylenol Mafia: Marketing, Murder, and Johnson & Johnson” (New Light Publishing); and South Orange resident Regine Dubono’s “Fever of Unknown Origin” (Regine Dubono). LARP subculture is explored by Edison’s Lizzie Stark in “Leaving Mundania: Inside the Transformative World of Live Action Role Playing Games” (Chicago Review Press).
Kathy Cecala’s “The Hounds of Nemhain” (Kathy Cecala) is the second title in her Foreigners Isle saga. Bayonne in the 17th century is the setting for “The Little Peninsula” (Mazo Publishers) by Ruth Dran, while Tinton Falls’ Carol H. Behrman tracks the 20th century civil rights movement in New Jersey in “Freedom Passage” (Aerodale Press).
High school wrestling is the backdrop for Jersey City resident Alfred C. Martino’s “Perfected by Girls” (Coles Street Publishing), and a bedtime routine of a working mom and her child is recounted in Rosanne L. Kurstedt’s “And I Thought About You” (Mascot Books), illustrated by Lisa Carletta-Vieites; and Union City’s Kay Miller tells (and illustrates) the little-known history of “Jews of the Wild West” (Paint Horse Press).
Mary S. Ryzuk’s “The Fires Within” (iUniverse) is based on 1988’s devastating forest fire in Yellowstone National Park. Hillsborough’s Janet R. Stafford offers a fictionalized account of the Underground Railroad in New Jersey in “Saint Maggie” (Squeaking Pips Press), while Rockaway resident Jack Enright’s “Return of the Ancient Mariners” (Jack Enright) is set in Ice Age America.
Present-day Newark, with flashbacks to the ’60s and ’70s, is the locale of West Orange resident William Michael Barbee’s “Clipped Wings, They Do Fly” (William Michael Barbee). The Korean War is the setting for Joanne Monte’s “The Day to Eternity” (Word Association Publishers) and Rolf Margenau’s “Public Information” (Frogworks Publishing), while Iraq is the setting for Princeton resident Benjamin Buchholz’s “One Hundred and One Nights” (Little, Brown).
This genre includes Mountainside psychic Linda Lauren’s “Hostage in Time” (Linda Lauren), A.M. Boyle’s “Sentry’s Past: Veil of Darkness” (Wolf Pirate Project) and Wes Grant’s illustrated novel “Break” (Xlibris).
Melinda Leigh’s “She Can Run” (Montlake Romance), Jersey Shore native Gene Ritchings’ “Winter in a Summer Town” (Unincorporated Books), Elizabeth M. Decker’s “The Mystery of Belle Jardin” (Elizabeth M. Decker), Boonton resident R.O. Palmer’s “Spider Web” (R.O. Palmer), and William Westhoven’s “One-Hit Willie” (William Westhoven) will keep readers turning pages.
Lake Hiawatha’s Charles Daniel Bel Tempo offers action-packed romance in “Foxes” (Charles Daniel Bel Tempo), and Morganville’s Joey LaChow creates suspense in “Spades” (Tate Publishing).
For uplifiting stories, there’s Lilian Duval’s “You Never Know” (Wheatmark, Inc.) and Hackettstown author Maryann McFadden’s “The Book Lover” (Three Women Press).
Jean Graham is a freelance writer from Brookside.