Rhode Island Authors

This book has grown out of a query from my grandson, Mark T. Holden, who was asked to bring a veteran to his elementary school to honor Veterans Day in November 2012. He asked his mother if he had a veteran that he could bring to school. His mother explained that there were many veterans on both sides of his family. His grandfather, Robert Poteete lived in Georgia, too far away to come to school in Rhode Island. His great grandfather, Edward L. Caughey, who had died, served in the Navy. Mark was very disappointed and felt left out. I asked if he could take photos of his great grandfather or grandfather or some memento such as a medal from the Spanish American War to school and would that count? The answer was: No. That answer started me on this project of researching and writing about the veterans in the Caughey family. This project also led me to ask my Caughey cousins to write about their fathers, daughters and sons who have served as sailors and soldiers over the years. What began as "my" project to help my grandson has become "our" project for the edification of all our grandchildren and perhaps, someday, their grandchildren.

 

Physician, public-health leader, fiction writer and journalist Michael Fine's latest,   and superb, book, The Bull and Other Stories, displays his already celebrated  mix of  empathy tempered by an almost clinical realism; close observation of his characters' emotional, psychological, physiological  and socio-economic circumstances, and their often contradictory values, all informed by his intimate study  of American  society and his acceptance of the ambiguities of  memory.

 

His portrayal of his characters' hopes,  fears and confusions displays his deep understanding of how so many of us -- especially those marginalized by poverty, illness and bigotry -- live today. But Dr. Fine also impressed me with his acute observation of nature, be it forests, fields, flowers,  the weather or non-human animals.

And there's plenty of suspense! Will the beast charge, will the tree fall on the forester, will the crazy woman stab her captives, will  somebody shoot, will the demonstration turn dangerous? (There are some potential movies in this book....)

 

Dr. Fine is a major writer.

-- Robert Whitcomb, president, The Boston Guardian, columnist for GoLocal24.com and former financial editor of the International Herald Tribune.

 

Michael Fine’s world is not fair but it is full.  His characters are not beautiful but they have dignity. In this rich collection of stories we meet immigrants and youth, elderly and laborers - all grappling with life as it is; full of societal conflicts, pressing pain, small graces, fleeting wonder and occasional hope. To read about them is to read about us.
-- Chris Koller  President The Milbank  Memorial Fund

 The short story may be the most difficult of all fictional genres. In The Bull and Other Stories, Michael Fine, already a writer of great distinction, demonstrates he is a master. From first sentence to last, this collection is a rare delight.
 -- G Wayne Miller, Author and Providence Journal reporter

"The Bull and other stories, Rhythmic with a jazz cadence, poignant ,timely and timeless, vivid detail but above all Michael Fine is a storyteller and a damn good one at that."
-- Bert Crenca, Artist, Founder of AS220 

“Michael Fine’s short stories rivet our readers in his monthly Sunday morning columns. We can imagine them sitting there with their morning coffee pondering the obvious and the not so obvious life dramas that Michael writes that capture you from the beginning, to the very end.”
—Nancy Thomas, President of Tapestry Communications; Co-Founder and Editor  RINewsToday.com

Who sang the first song? Imagine living in a time, 30,000 years ago, when there was no music. People grunted and animals howled. Then someone made up a melody based on the sounds of nature and shared it with all the jungle's people and animals. Singing together not only brought them joy but also provided them with a peaceful way to communicate. On the surface this is a simple story about Yala, a girl who liked to sing, but the underlying message is that it's possible to live peacefully if we listen to one another. And we shouldn't underestimate the power of music to heal and bond us. Imagine a world where all people are embraced and all animals are respected. Each of us can strive to make our world a safer and friendlier place.

Peter and David Wilson are two adventurous, adolescent brothers, who make a fantastic discovery in the nearby forest. One afternoon in late June, they stumble upon a huge mysterious cavern protected from the elements for centuries. Using dreams and deciphering riddles, they travel through underground passageways to meet the maker of their dreams. Through a series of strange and supernatural encounters, Peter and David must rely on resourcefulness, perseverance, and love to lead them to an opportunity they could never have imagined and make a decision that will change their lives forever.

"They Heard the Bugle's Call: Pawtucket and the Vietnam War," tells the story of 21 former city residents from this Rhode Island community who were killed in that unpopular conflict. This book, virtually an oral history of a tragic era in American life, focuses on how family members dealt with the loss of a father, son, brother or husband over the years. The mission of the book is to honor and remember these heroes one more time in their hometown, nearly 50 years after the war took them away from their loved ones. The book begins with the story of Pawtucket's first casualty, Marine Corps Lance Corporal Antonio Maciminio, age 20, who died on May 21, 1966 near Da Nang. Maciminio, whose wife Cathy was four months pregnant at the time, had only been in country two months but he had written letters home, telling his family that "this is a crazy, mixed-up war and the way they are fighting it, it's going to last a long time." Pawtucket lost another Marine - 21-year-old Ronald Pierce - in September 1966. Three more of the city's soldiers died in 1967, beginning with Army Specialist Fourth Class Normand Plante, 20, who wrote an "If I die" poem to his parents that spoke of hearing the bugle's call to war. Plante ended his poem by asking his parents not to cry for him. "Be proud of me. My work is done." The shocking reality of war hit the city hard on Oct. 14, 1967 when Marine Corps First Lt. Charles Yaghoobian, 23, died at Con Thien Combat Base on his fourth day in country. Five weeks later, Army Specialist Fourth Class Raymond Michalopoulos, 21, was killed in the Battle of Dak To, on the infamous Hill 875, which became known as "Hamburger Hill" after the month-long fighting finally ended. As the city suffered more and more losses over the next four years, the sounds of military funerals echoed beyond cemetery boundaries and out into the community. The bugler's rendition of Taps and the accompanying 21-gun salutes became all too familiar and painful for citizens to endure. After the funerals ended, families were left alone to deal with their grief. Parents never recovered from the loss of their son. Brothers and sisters tried to go on with their lives, always remembering that young soldier whose image had been frozen in time, forever young. Widows faced heartbreaking challenges. Three of these Pawtucket widows gave birth to children who would never know their father except through pictures and family recollections. "They Heard the Bugle's Call" is a story that played out all over America during the Vietnam War. Here is one community's perspective on the Vietnam War, as told by the families and friends of these young men who died while serving their country. The second edition of this book includes a new final chapter detailing an emotional ceremony on May 21, 2016 that brought 13 of the 21 families together from all over the country to remember their soldier and to share in a healing process that may never end.

'Tinkered Treasures' is a how-to craft book that demonstrates how everyday mundane items can be transformed into charming and unique items. Elyse Major has created over 35 projects, all of them can be adapted to your own tastes. With a simple colour or pattern change you can create items to suit any style or home.

There are so many stories that I have to share that are a result of my upbringing, my home, schools I attended and my Catholic faith that the only way to do them justice is to continue the remainder of the book in vignettes. These stories are a compilation of moments, days, weeks and years of feelings. These feelings exude a range of happy, sad, bittersweet, tender, determined and loving - all parts of me that show a person who refused to give in to the negative side of life. My positive attitude has always prevailed.

I will attempt to categorize my stories into ones that refer to my family, my love of travel, my passion for dance and teaching dance, my naïve nature, my business sense and all the people I met as a result. ENJOY!!!

Without realizing it, many of us have forgotten the joy of expressing ourselves through movement and dance. In this story, Annie and Arthur remind us that we can all rekindle that joy. Annie finds a new dancing partner when she smashes into Arthur one day at school. He introduces her to a new style of dancing and with his help and the help of her friends, she discovers that she can dance and move in ways she never imagined. Annie and Arthur ask other school children to join in the fun of movement and dance. Now Annie includes new steps whereever she goes, dancing around the house, at school, and down the street.

This story supports children's development through music and movement, and helps parents remember when they danced as children. It encourages us to rekindle the creative side of ourselves through our innate love of music and dance. Annie's dancing affects her whole brain structure. Known as whole brain learning, movement helps to make connections between the right side or rational part of the brain and the left side of the brain which is concerned with creative activity.

Selected short fiction, nonfiction, poetry & prose from The Association of Rhode Island Authors: Lenore M. Rheaume, Steven R. Porter, Al Bettencourt, Jimmy Gyasi Boateng, Helen Burke, Paul F. Caranci, R.N. Chevalier, Kathy Clark, Jane F. Collen, JEssica M. Collette, Norman Desmarais, Leo C. Frisk, Jr. L.A. Jacob, Debbie Kaiman Tillinghast, Deborah Katz, Lawrence J. Krips, Susan Letendre, Frances L. O'Donnell, Christie O'Neil Harrison, Joanne Perella, Mark Perry, Joni Pfeiffer-Moser, Dawn M. Porter, Victor C. Rudowski, Edward Taylor, Tom Trabulsi, Barbara Ann Whitman and Bruce Wilcox.

Where the white walls meet the equally white ceiling there are rows of blinding light bulbs stretching all the way down the hall for as far as I can see. Behind me, the bulbs crackle and pop, darkening the distance I've traveled. Desperate to stay ahead of the expanding blackness that is rapidly approaching me, I continue to run. I turn my head to catch a brief glance at the following obscurity. The quick peek costs me my coordination. Tripping over my own feet, I land in the arms of a blinding bright figure.

Eleven students and two teachers want to relive the year before the tragedy that killed them and try to change what happened. Right after they die, they arrive in Sojourn, a natural satellite located in a transitional space between their homes in Green Hills, Maine, and the First Heaven. If they stay in Sojourn, their bodies will vanish gradually, but they will reclaim them for special Earth-bound missions. While they are in Sojourn, five embodied Spirits conduct a tense courtroom trial in which they challenge the conflicting testimonies of the students about the events that precipitated the tragedy. This trial generates the background stories of the leading characters, as well as the abrasive exchanges between each of the Five Spirits and the students who are fighting to regain their lives on Earth. These stories include a student's wrongfully accusing a friend of causing a car accident that nearly killed six people; a jealous girl's dangerous plot against her rival for the love of a daring athlete; a popular group's spreading scandalous lies about a sometimes-rebellious youth and driving him into madness and crime; a Neo-Nazi's plot against a hundred students; a high school gang's attack upon an innocent girl; and a devious girl's attempt to thwart the school tragedy that she had devised. After the trial reveals the merits and wrongdoings of the group, the students and their teachers await the verdict that will decide their fates. If they are allowed to return to Earth, they must confront three perilous encounters that will determine whether they can alter their wrongdoing, prevent the tragedy that killed them, and win back the lives that they have lost.

VANISHING BY DEGREES is a Young Adult/Adult Fiction Crossover. Teens from ages 13-19 and Adults from ages 20 through 95 will be drawn to the novel.

Surviving family horror is one thing. Having the courage and determination to reveal it is another. DJ Brava, romance novelist extraordinaire, has the courage. She has the determination. She has friends covering her back. But when unearthing one family secret leads to another and another... can she survive the fallout? Some family members beg her to wait until they're dead. Has one of them gone too far in a misguided effort to protect someone -- or something? This is an engaging page-turner for anyone who loves a good family drama full of secrets and intrigue. It has the social consciousness of a Picoult, the wit and tongue of Evanovich, the resonance of Sue Miller, and the female bonding of "Thelma and Louise" -- without the drive off the cliff! Structured as a memoir within a novel, readers move through the main character's history of childhood trauma and healing. But it is her actions in the present that propel the story through a series of compelling revelations affecting numerous characters in unforeseen ways. The dialogue is crisp and the humor rich. Emotional connections are profound, and the topic is one that touches the lives of millions.

Wandering Across America chronicles the 2015 Great American Road Trip of Kathy and Larry Grimaldi. The journey fulfilled a lifelong dream of driving cross country and exploring familiar landmarks, as well as some out-of-theway stops along the trail. Kathy was the Academic Department Manager for Anthropology Brown University. She retired from her 28-year career at Brown in 2014. Larry was Chief of Program Development for communications projects at the Rhode Island Division of Elderly Affairs. He wrote the Taking Charge columns for the Providence Journal and the Seniors Ask column that appeared regularly in many of the state's daily and weekly newspapers. Larry retired after 40 years of state service in 2015. When they are not travelling, they live in North Providence, Rhode Island.

From David Orsini, the highly praised author of SCHEMES, DISGUISES, & TRAPS; THE WOMAN WHO LOVED TOO WELL; THE GHOST LOVERS; and VANISHING BY DEGREES comes another compelling novel--THE WEAVER OF PLOTS.

A woman shoots the lover who has betrayed her. A man rejects his infant son and lives to regret it. A woman's revenge, yoked as it is to her love/hate confusion, makes her its prisoner. These are some of the episodes that propel THE WEAVER OF PLOTS.

THE WEAVER OF PLOTS is a fast-paced novel with suspense, thriller, literary, and romantic elements. Spanning twenty-five years (1950-1975), the novel traces the causes and the aftermath of a woman's retaliation against the lover who has spurned her. The story inhabits the world of the urbane, super rich: fashionable Manhattan restaurants, elegant New York City apartments, New England beachside compounds, ornate estates, and mountaintop hideaways. It is a luxurious and cinematic backdrop that is colored and stained by competitive gamesmanship, sexual transgressions, and destructive intrigues.

The central character of the novel is Charlotte Scott, a privileged young woman who devises a plot to steal Noah Blake away from her best friend, Olivia Tanner. At first, it seems like a simple love triangle, but this complex narrative quickly draws the reader into multiple sub-plots that parallel and intersect the original triangle--including Charlotte's violent act of revenge against the lover who abandons her, as well as her unconventional relationship with two other men and her second act of revenge years later against Noah Blake.

THE WEAVER OF PLOTS addresses the ongoing conversation involving a woman's right to defend herself against callous and abusive men by portraying these men in an unflattering light. At the same time, the novel portrays Charlotte as a complicated and ambivalent character. As self-aware as she is manipulative and devious, Charlotte eventually finds that her acts of revenge--pushed too far--are recoiling upon her.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner unites three of her most beloved characters--Detective D. D. Warren, Flora Dane, and Kimberly Quincy--in a twisty new thriller, as they investigate a mysterious murder from the past...which points to a dangerous and chilling present-day crime.

FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy and Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren have built a task force to follow the digital bread crumbs left behind by deceased serial kidnapper Jacob Ness. When a disturbing piece of evidence is discovered in the hills of Georgia, they bring Flora Dane and true-crime savant Keith Edgar to a small town where something seems to be deeply wrong. What at first looks like a Gothic eeriness soon hardens into something much more sinister...and they discover that for all the evil Jacob committed while alive, his worst secret is still to be revealed. Quincy and DD must summon their considerable skills and experience to crack the most disturbing case of their careers--and Flora must face her own past directly in the hope of saving others.

The stock market crashes, threatening to bring Plymouth's secret magical "Wise" families down with it. When Bill and Millie's precognitive Uncle Finn threatens to usurp their father and take control of all the Wise families, the twins realize they must stop him. Bill's telepathic powers and ambition aren't enough to outmaneuver his uncle, even with help from his sister and their similarly powered friends. Uncle Finn has an alliance with the Irish Mob up in Boston. Bill needs connections and there's only one place to do that in this town. The Plymouth Supper Club hides hooch and rumrunners like a backdrop covers warehouse walls on Poverty Row. Bill is ready to jump in with both feet but Millie wants out of this town, not a piece of its action. Can they wise up together or will the prospect of criminal life drive their friends and family apart?

The year is 1912. Elizabeth Crowne is the first woman ever to study at Saint Luke's Medical Academy, but she yearns for something more. When she receives a mysterious invitation, Elizabeth enters a macabre new world-of levitating killers, imaginary palaces, and a swordsman impervious to death.Based on the hit podcast series, "The Woman in the Sky" collects the first three Elizabeth Crowne stories, linked into a single thrilling novel. Follow Elizabeth to the misty Berkshires, to English opium dens, and to the sun-scorched hills of Spain, as she metamorphoses from precocious student to globe-trotting investigator. "The Woman in the Sky" is vintage Elizabeth Crowne-and an uncanny coming-of-age story.