BOOKSHELF
New Reads by Local Writers by Cheryl Keyser
Timeless Melody( Katrina Shelley, 2012) by Katrina Shelley
Time travel is a wonderful idea. Imagine being able to move back into history with the simple touch of an object. This is what our heroine, Lyric, discovers by surprise as she leaves her historic home in Sharpsburg in 2012 and finds herself in the same building with occupants from 1862. Here she meets a widower who becomes the focus of her life, the two of them moving back and forth between the century and a half that parts them. The key question is which life will she and her now husband chose? Katrina has done a number of children’ s books, some illustrated by her young daughter.“ I have always wanted to write, and I was going to start a historical romance but married and had three children.” Finally tired of rejection letters, she tried self-publishing and has produced four books for her Treasured Love series, with two more to come, and two contemporary romance titles in the Forever Fan series. Another volume in the paranormal series,“ Embraced,” has been picked up by a German publisher.
Available at Turn the Page Bookstore in Boonsboro, www. amazon. com and www. createspace. com.
The Shade Place
( Black Oak Publications, 2010)
by Philip K. Edwards
Everyone who has owned an old house wants to know its history, and who its occupants were. In“ The Shade Place,” Evans digs into the past of his refurbished home in a small Pennsylvania town and uncovers a mystery. Delving into the past of this house, once owned by the Shade family, he reaches a better understanding of the people among whom he has chosen to live. His investigations take him from the tales of residents to the nation’ s capital. Written in chapters alternating between the time of the Shade family to the present, the suspense builds. Phillip based his novel on his experiences rehabbing a country home in the same area.“ The fire in the novel matches a fire that occurred on an Easter Sunday when the mountain where my wife and I now live burned down the outbuildings on the farm we bought.” Using characters from his previously published short stories saved him some writing time.“ It was more a matter of presenting the mystery in a plausible way.” He is now working on a novel about his mother.
Available at www. amazon. com and www. barnesandnoble. com.
Creature Features
( High Peaks Publishing, 2012) by Tim Rowland
Here comes Tim again— or, rather, here comes his menagerie, with plenty of animals whose adventures with their humans brightens one’ s day. All the favorites are here: Opie, the Bouvier de Flandres and Hannah the English bulldog, the geese and chickens, cows Cleopatra and Heifertiti,“ the lower animals” such as alpacas and goats, and of course, there is Juliet, the cat. Tim writes that animals are“ superior to humans,” but what else could he say as one of the only two Homo sapiens surrounded by animals. The book is comprised of columns he has written for the Herald-Mail, and they are as fresh as when they were first published. Tim has an ideal work: a book combining his love of the outdoors and history. Right now he claims not to have one in the works, but for someone who produces a book a year, keep an eye on this spot as one may be coming.
Available at Turn the Page Bookstore in Boonsboro, Four Seasons in Shepherdstown, Animal Health Clinic in Funkstown, Dogs are Us in Williamsport, www. amazon. com, and www. timrowland. com.
Middletown Valley
( Arcadia Press, 2012) by Robert P. Savitt
Many people pass through Middletown and the surrounding communities while traveling between Hagerstown and Frederick. But reading this volume makes one want to stop and linger. Bob explores several small towns in the valley, drawing the reader into an earlier way of life characterized by churchgoing, picnics by the waterfall, and parades with local bands. As he notes of Burkittsville, nearly the entire downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and“ the village could be cast as a Hollywood set for a nostalgic historical movie.” Bob and his wife, Babs, who helped him with this book, moved to the Middletown Valley about 18 years ago.“ We found an old, pre-Civil War cabin which we patched up and moved to for good. We loved the scenery, the culture, and the history.”( They joined just about every historical society.)“ The best part of this book was that we were able to earn the trust of people who welcomed us into their homes.”
Available at Turn the Page Bookstore in Boonsboro, by emailing middletownvalley @ aol. com, at www. amazon. com and www. arcadiapublishing. com.
Books may be available at additional locations. Local authors may submit information about their recently published books to: staceyc @ ridgerunnerpublishing. com or mail to: Hagerstown Magazine, P. O. Box 2415, Hagerstown, MD 21741-2415.
Hagerstown: The Best of Life in Washington County & Beyond May / June 2013 119