Join us on October 5th from 2:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at the Downtown Gainesville Library for our 2023 local author fair! All of our author bios and their titles are listed below. 

2023 Local Author Fair- Meet the Authors

-Carol James

As an Air Force brat, the longest Carol James ever lived in one place was a year and a half. Maybe that’s why, when she and her husband bought their first home forty-two years ago, they stayed put. She lives in Lilburn, GA with her husband, Jim, and a perky Jack Russell Terrier, Zoe.

Loving intriguing stories with happy endings, she writes Redemptive Romance. She has had five full length novels and five Christmas novellas published. Her debut novel, Rescuing Faith, was an Amazon number-one best-seller. Visit her website to sign up for her newsletter and get a free short story: https://www.carol-james.com

When she’s not walking Zoe, Carol enjoys spending time with her husband, children, and grandchildren, as well as traveling. On Sundays, she loves serving in the production department at her church. And most days, in the late hours of the night, you’ll find her bringing her newest novel to life.

-Jill K Willis

Jill K. Willis is the author of The Demons Among Us, a young adult Christian speculative novel. It’s about two siblings who must overcome their inner demons to fight the very real ones who are holding their friends hostage.

Jill grew up in Atlanta and, after graduating from the University of Georgia, worked for a newspaper, a magazine publisher, and a large telecommunications corporation. When she became pregnant with her second child, she decided to start a public relations firm, which she ran from her basement until that child graduated high school. Then she turned to fiction.

In 2020, she won two writing awards for The Demons Among Us: The American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Contest-YA Category and the ACFW South Carolina Chapter’s First Page Novel Contest. She’s a founding member of the Storyteller Squad, a blog for parents of teens who love to read and write.

As a mom of two grown children and three godchildren, she knows the struggles teens encounter. She wants to point them to the love of God and the truth of His Word.

Jill volunteers at the Atlanta Airport’s USO, plays handbells at her church, and serves as her 86-year-old mother’s caregiver. She lives on Lake Lanier with her husband and a one-eyed cat. She’s currently working on the sequel to The Demons Among Us. Catch up with her at www.jillkwillis.com.

-Bobby Nash

Bobby Nash Author Bio:

Bobby Nash is not a man of action, a detective, or a hero, but he loves writing about characters who embody all those traits and more. Bobby is an award-winning author of novels, comic books, short stories, screenplays, and more. He is a member of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, International Thriller Writers, and Southeastern Writers Association. On occasion, he acts, appearing in movies and TV shows, usually standing behind or beside your favorite actor, but sometimes they even let him speak. From time to time, he puts pen to paper and doodles, usually on envelopes. For more information on Bobby Nash and his work, please visit him at www.bobbynash.com, www.ben-books.com, and across social media.

-Teryl Worster

Erich and Teryl Worster have been long time Gainesville business owners of The Spa on Green Street, in the Historic Dunlap House for over 17 years. They have three beautiful daughters, and two wonderful grandchildren who are now 2 years old.

In 2017 they purchased a small farm in Hall County and began a new life of caring for their two horses, Jack and Bella and adding other sweet animals to the mix along the way. In 2021, Erich and Teryl began to write a sweet story about self-acceptance with Milton, their mini donkey being the key character. Milton’s Ears is a magical story that was written after watching the various playful activities of these sweet barnyard friends.

Each animal will be featured in stories that will delight adults and children of all ages. Joon Makes His Bed is now in editing and will be available for purchase soon, with the next book written by Tica Palladine called Harmony’s Surprise, the third in the series right on its tail. (Pardon the pun) These barnyard adventures, beautifully illustrated by a local artist Kristine Ramsey, provide character building lessons of life and love to all who read them.

-Tom Flaim

Tom is a best-selling author who reaches multiple and diverse genres. His current project is a seven-book series for first readers, entitled The Adventures of Uno, the First Water Drop. The Christian book series follows Uno through the major stories of the Bible in an engaging, fun, and educational way. Little ones will be completely absorbed by this special, fun-loving water drop.

His most recent work is in the historical non-fiction military genre. THROUGH SACRIFICE: FREEDOM captures his father’s inspiring life in a novel that required decades of research, document translation and in-person interviews. It is a new and inspired take on the Greatest Generation – with a significant twist. From an Italian deserter that started a sabotage team, he grew into a decorated agent of both the US and Soviet governments.

His first book, THIRSTY FOR CHRIST, is the best-selling story of Water@Work, a ministry Tom founded to bring clean water to the rural poor in the developing world. This story chronicles the ever-changing landscape of developing an international ministry, including the thousands of mistakes made before becoming the largest provider of clean water in the Dominican Republic. It is considered a must-read for anyone looking to do nonprofit work internationally.

-Julie Clarke

Both born in Atlanta, Julie, and her husband Rick, are Civil War re-enactors, and also enjoy playing trivia. Julie published her first book in 2018 on Rick's ancestor, “Pauline D'Alvigny Campbell, Civil War Nurse”. Rick is currently writing a book on Pauline's father, Dr. D’Alvigny, who has a fascinating history as a surgeon from France. The genre is historical non-fiction. Julie's second book, “In Bird and Song, God Speaks”, published in 2022, is a spiritual memoir. Julie also sings, and includes QR codes of her singing some of the hymns mentioned throughout the book. Julie is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. They both belong to the Scribblers Christian Writers Club.

-Kathy Nichols

Katherine Nichols is the award-winning author of The Sometime Sister and the sequel, The Substitute Sister, family sagas with suspense, heart, and humor, as well as The Unreliables and Trust Issues. Her fifth novel, False Claims debuts next fall. Her female protagonists navigate dangerous, unfamiliar territory and come out with an unbreakable sense of self.

Over two years ago, Katherine and her all-female critique group went rogue and became Wild Women Who Write. These women encourage each other in their writing, but they don’t stop there. To reach a wider audience, they started Wild Women Who Write Take Flight, a podcast dedicated to giving authors a voice while providing advice and examples to other writers. They lead and participate in discussions about women and share their personal writing journeys.

Katherine is a vice president of The Atlanta Writers Club and serves on the board of Sisters in Crime Atlanta. When she isn’t spending time with her children and grandchildren or in a writing frenzy, she loves to read, walk, and travel. She lives in Lilburn, Georgia with her husband, two rescue dogs, and two rescue cats.

-Keith Guernsey

Mr. Keith D. Guernsey is retired after a forty year career in sales and sales management with several fortune 500 companies. He currently lives on Lake Lanier with his wife Susan and four-footed son Harley. Mr. Guernsey spent a good portion of his youth playing sports, active in both football and hockey. In 1995 Keith was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor (called an Acoustic Neuroma) and he underwent a ten-hour operation at the world-renowned Brigham and Women's hospital where it was successfully removed. While recovering, he met and married Susan. Together they faced his next challenge. In 1997 his neuroma returned. He was to undergo yet another, more complex, operation which resulted in a complete cure, however side effects of this second more invasive procedure caused prolonged inactivity and led to severe weight gain of over 100 lbs. Today Mr. Guernsey is very proud of the fact that he has been able to overcome his physical challenges, losing over one hundred and thirty-five pounds, and has found the time to write two successful books (“Confessions of a Beantown Sports Junkie and “Fathers and Sons-Sports and Life”). http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/archives/118140/

-Diane Rooks

Diane Rooks is a storyteller and author of Spinning Gold out of Straw: How Stories Heal and Unlocking Your Life’s Wisdom: Stories are the Keys. She has an M. Ed. in storytelling from East Tennessee State University. She works with NGMC hospice, The Compassionate Friends, bereaved children, and cancer support centers at Northside Hospital.

Diane is a certified bereavement facilitator and an inspirational speaker and seeks to help people deal with loss, illness and trauma through the use of stories. Her workshops and presentations are filled with stories from history, other cultures, and personal experiences. Diane is a native of Atlanta and lives with her husband in Cresswind on Lake Lanier.

-Morgan Swank

Morgan is a Georgia born and raised professional writer. She has written for multiple television programs including Saturday Night Live, American Horror Story, and TURN: Washington’s Spies. She is co-founder of Moonscar Productions, a television and commercial production house and has worked with many brands and companies like PayPal, Pokemon, Nickelodeon, SYFY, and more!

In 2020, Morgan released her first children’s book Mort. Since then, she has worked hard to use Mort to speak on animal protection and conservation in her native state of Georgia and across the world. She is currently working on her first young adult novel and second children’s book with her husband, expecting to be published and available to the public in the winter of 2024.

-Muriel Pritchett

When Georgia author Muriel Ellis Pritchett retired, her doctor told her to get a hobby. Her friends told her to write fiction about older women because they were tired of reading about 20-somethings searching online for the perfect man.

A former daily newspaper reporter, magazine writer/editor, regional playwright, and PR professional, Muriel is now the author of six books: four books in her Feisty Women's Fiction book series, one YA paranormal, and one MG adventure. Her books cover topics of interest to older women, such as second chance romance, divorce, back-stabbing office politics, falling for a rotten scoundrel, and studying art in Italy.

Awards for her writing include the Gold Literary Titan Book Award, the SCWW Carrie McCray Memorial Literary Award, the SWA Young Adult-Midgrade Award, the SWA Cappy Award for Humor, the SWA Vega Award for Speculative Short Fiction, and the SWA Hal Bernard Memorial Award for Novel.

Born and raised in the City of Atlanta, Muriel is a graduate of UGA, lived abroad six years in Japan and Germany, and loves art, Belgian chocolates, Mahjong, theatre, and anything Disney.

-Judy Weldon

Judy Welden, from Gainesville, GA, wears many hats: She's a singer/songwriter who has written, solely or with others, over 400 songs (recording over 100 of them); a Publisher who owned 2 record labels; an Inventor, who patented a unique bandana hat without an Attorney, and has now published her Memoir, titled An Unstoppable Survivor. Her memoir includes pictures and 90 song lyrics (20 of them included as part of her story and the rest at the end). Most all her recorded songs are on YouTube and a good place to start if you'd like to hear her music is checking out the 13 songs on the cover of her Memoir, which are some of her best, especially Come on Home, which was on Indie charts with major singers, when she toured Europe in 1998. You Are There For Me, written from sadness, when later released in 2006-2007, stayed at #1 on the online Roots Gospel Chart for nearly five months. Your Handprint on my Heart, mastered by 3-time Grammy winning producer, Phil York, was to be nominated by him for a Grammy in 2012, however he passed on before he had a chance to send to the Grammy team. Judy will be included with a full-page bio in the 2023 Marquis Who's Who annual book. Marquis Who's Who also included a full page bio of Judy in their Top Artists online: Judy Welden - Marquis Who's Who Top Artists . It’s

Judy's wish that those who read her Memoir (and hear her music) are inspired to follow their dreams and prays they find success, even if through adversity, as she did. http://www.judywelden.com

-Evelyn Asher

Evelyn Asher lives in a rural community in North Georgia, U.S.A. She captures imagined lives of people she sees walking down a crowded main thoroughfare in poetry. Evelyn is a member of The BARDS that meets monthly as part of Brenau University’s Lifelong Learning Institute. She published a collection of her poetry entitled “A Gypsy’s Tapestry: A Woman Observed. A Woman Observing.” in 2014. She also edited “A Bridge of Hope: A Collection of Poems and Testimonies for Caregivers.” Evelyn coaches persons in organizations to help them understand decisions from varying perspectives. She compares wordsmithing to tuning of a piano. Evelyn Asher lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her poetry reflects her compassionate nature, envisions lives of people walking down crowded thoroughfares or reveling in sacred environments. What She Carries, her second poetry collection of sharp perceptions brings sight, sighs, and beauty to the unseen. Evelyn captures the names of rivers and their locations in tiny notebooks she shares with her first great-grandgift praying future times together will find them making memories on a CustomSailing cruise in Greece with Captain Valerie Weingrad.

-Jameson Gregg

Jameson Gregg won 2015 Georgia Author of the Year for his debut book, Luck Be A Chicken, a comic novel. His second book, Uncorked & Off the Chain, Offbeat Ramblings of a Zany Comic, won the national Gold Medal in the 2022 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards. He has won numerous other writing awards, including the 2018 Georgia Bar Journal Annual Fiction Writing Competition. His works appear in literary anthologies, magazines, and newspapers.

Jameson practiced law for 20 years in Georgia’s Golden Isles and achieved the highest national ranking for lawyers before hanging up his wingtips to pursue his lifelong passion for writing. Offbeat college jobs influencing his worldview include Mississippi River tugboat deckhand, taxi driver, iceman in a chicken plant, and traveling circus promoter (trapeze artist he is not!).

A Mississippi native and graduate of Ole Miss and Mississippi College School of Law, he resides in the north Georgia mountains with his wife, Maureen.

-Dana Edwards

Dana Edwards, Ph.D. is a school counselor in one of the largest school systems in the Southeast. She has also been a high school teacher and school counselor educator at Georgia State University. Over the years, Dana has worked with many students and siblings of students with special needs, which inspired her to write Mae's story. Dana lives north of Atlanta with her husband and two dogs. Drive-Thru Miracle is her first middle grade novel. You can contact her at her website: https://www.danaedwardswrites.com/

-Eileen A. O’Hara

Eileen O’Hara often refers to herself as a displaced Yankee. She left her native northern New York State in the early 1970s, spent four years roughing it in the Colorado Rockies, then moved to southwest Virginia where she raised her two daughters. In 1989, she relocated to Florida’s west coast, moved to west Texas, returned to Florida, and now resides in Gainesville, Georgia. Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, Eileen owned a flower shop on a

Florida island and developed a writing consulting service called “Write for the Health of It.” She currently owns and operates a specialty food business her family developed over twenty years ago.

A winner of the 2023 Northeast Georgia Writers Contest, Eileen earned a B.A. in Creative Writing at Eckerd College and a M.A. in English at USF/Tampa. She is a member of the Northeast Georgia Literary Society, Northeast Georgia Writers Association, Tall Tales Writers, and the Gainesville Newcomers Writers. Journalism and scholarly papers comprise most of her past writing experience.

Islands of Women, Eileen’s debut novel of survival is set on a hurricane-ravaged Florida island in the early 1900s. She is working on a second novel, a family saga set in northern New York State in the 1950s. Both stories provide a testament to courage and resilience. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, painting, gardening, and relishing life with her husband and two rescue felines in the North Georgia Highlands.

-Sharon Gloger Friedman

Sharon Gloger Friedman is the author of Ashes, winner of the 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Historical Fiction, and the 2019 New Apple Summer E-book Award for Historical Fiction. In Freedom’s Light is her second historical novel. Her essays and articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, Woman’s World Magazine, Yahoo News, and Examiner.

-Marlene Ratledge Buchanan

Laughter is healing to our soul. My family and. I faced a number of tragedies and frightening experiences. Any one of which could have been my undoing. If I could find one little spark of humor in that tangle of tears I could make life better.

Humor is what keeps me going. Some say I am a southern humorist, who enjoys a little bit of the dark side of life, which is evident in my books. In any territory, I have found it is just easier to climb out of the potholes of life with a smile and a giggle.

After nearly 35 years of teaching and counseling adolescents and their parents, I retired only to begin writing the southern humor Hey Y’all column for the Gwinnett Citizen, an online newspaper. Anything Goes is my column for Inspiration for a Better World online magazine.

A native of Atlanta, I came to Gwinnett County to teach and there, I found my husband, Snell. After turning me down three times, we married 364 days after their first date. We have one child, James, who was deprived of oxygen at birth and suffers with some minor developmental issues because of it. He is special gift to all who know him.

In 2020, I received both the Georgia Independent Writer of the Year Award (GIAYA) and the Christian Women’s Writer Award for her Life is Hard. Soften It with Laughter. In 2021, I was awarded the GIAYA for A Place with a Past, a cozy mystery. For 2022, Ladies of All Nations (LOANI) presented me with both the Global Award for Courage and Women Who Make a Difference.

-Georgiana Fields

2019 winner of the Georgia Independent Author of the Year for Romance. Georgiana Fields was born in coastal North Carolina. She spent her summers along the Atlantic Coast, where she developed a love for the ocean, nature, and coastal ghost stories and legends. As a child, she enjoyed listening to her aunts tell and retell stories and myths surrounding New Bern, N.C., and other coastal towns.

Georgiana currently lives in North Georgia with her husband, two dogs, and two cats. While she loves nature, horseback riding, and scary movies, she spends most of her time writing paranormal romance and suspense, where strong women sometimes don't know their strength, but will always have a happily ever after.

-Ann Gainey

Ann Beckham Gainey taught in public and Christian schools after earning a bachelor’s in education from

Erskine College and a master’s in education from Clemson University. Over the years, she has shared her

faith as a conference and keynote speaker for numerous local and regional church ministry events. She

received recognition for her efforts to help others in Lanier Magazine as one of five inspirational figures

honored in 2005 and as “Business Woman of the Year” in 2006 from the American Business Woman’s

Association - Gainesville, Lanier Chapter. After serving 25 years as the executive director of Choices

Pregnancy Care Center, she is enjoying "refirement", her term for retirement, with her husban

children and grandchildren. She is currently writing a devotional book she hopes to release in the near

future.

To learn more, please visit https://www.annbgaineyauthor.com/.

-Dub Anderson

William, nicknamed “Dub,” was born in Athens GA. He received his degree in Journalism as well as his Masters in Marketing at the University of Georgia. Dub started his writing career at Vogue Magazine. He went from there to become a copywriter for several advertising agencies. Over the years, he founded three ad agencies of his own, positioned as Creative Director and Senior Writer.

Dub’s first book was The Wild Man From Sugar Creek, a biography of notorious Georgia governor Eugene Talmadge. It became one of the definitive histories of southern politics in the 1930’s.

His first novel, God’s Arm, was a historical fiction imagining Jesus as a man, searching for and finding His destiny. It was heavily researched as to what life in Jesus’s day was like, and how His ministry was partially formed by the harsh world of Roman rule.

Jesus at 65 is Dub’s second novel, placed in Atlanta in contemporary times. The premise finds two golfers searching for the meaning of life, as one of the men is dying. The main character goes on an urgent search to discover, in his mind, if Jesus was Christ or is this a life without purpose. His conclusion was life-changing.

All of his works are based on people’s lives in transitions, not of their making, but caused by larger events. How we react to forces we can’t control is a recurring theme.

-Laurie Hyatt

Laurie Hyatt, Ph.D., is the author of a memoir and two self-help books, Silent Decision: Awareness Out of Tragedy, Think Your Way to Happiness: Strategies for an Enjoyable, Meaningful Life, and Tools for Living: Taking Control of Your Life. Her second memoir titled Digging Deeper: Finding Myself on Hopi and Navajo Land, will be released later this year. She lives in Gainesville, Georgia, with her sweetheart, Larry, and black cat, Kiki

-Kalin Lancaster

As the author of His miracles my story, Kalin wanted everyone to know about how God brought her through many times and trials. To this day, She believes that her life’s purpose is to show others what God can do in their life and to inspire them to have faith in God. Kalin is currently living in Gainesville Georgia with her little Yorkshire Terrier Marlin Joseph. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, serving at her church, crafting or writing her entry for her Facebook blog page Faith in and out of Trials which she she posts every first of each month.

-Solace Freeman

Sollace, “Mike”, Freeman started his writing career late in life.
Sidelined from a busy volunteer life by COVID, he started his first novel in October 2016 when he was 76.
In his earlier careers, he was an Episcopal priest for forty years and a Naval Reserve Chaplain for thirty.
Right after retiring from the church, he became involved as a volunteer for an international, charitable NGO that sent Disaster Response Teams and relief supplies all over the world. During his seven years with ShelterBox, he made nineteen two and three-week deployments to nine countries.
Mike’s first book, “…if you can keep it.”, The Loss of a Vision, was published by Amazon in August 2020. It’s available in paperback and eBook.
He is currently working on a historical novel, Desert Fire, due out in early 2024
Mike, a southern boy, has lived in Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and Georgia. He took his B.A. degree from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky in 1962 and his M.Div. degree from Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia in 1965.
He’s an active member of the Northeast Georgia Writers, has recently joined the Atlanta Writers Club, and recently formed the area’s second Critique Group.
Mike has three children and seven grandchildren.
His other hobbies are photography, carpentry and flying.
He, his wife Pat and “Sassy-the-shih tzu” live in Gainesville. Georgia.

-James Palmer

James Palmer is an award-winning writer of science fiction and pulp adventure. His short fiction has appeared in The Expanding Universe volume 5, The Black Bat Returns, Blackthorn: Thunder on Mars, Mars McCoy, Space Ranger Volume 2, and Blaze Ward Presents: After the Fall, among others. James is the author of four novellas in the Shadow Council Archives shared universe for Falstaff Books, and wrote a one-hour audio adaptation of the late Jerry Pournelle's classic novel Exiles to Glory for The Atlanta Radio Theater Company. He is also the co-creator and editor of the popular shared world, alternate history kaiju anthologies Monster Earth, Betrayal on Monster Earth, and War for Monster Earth. His newest anthology project is League of Monsters. A recovering comic book addict, James lives in Northeast Georgia with his wife and daughter, three dogs, two cats, and a lot of books. For news of his shenanigans visit JamesPalmerBooks.net or follow him on Patreon.com/JamesPalmer.

-Loraine Haynie

Award winning author, Loraine Haynie writes Southern contemporary Christan Fiction from her home in Hoschton, Georgia. Her first three novels expose the challenges women face navigating the social mores of their era.
Her fourth book, Illusion of Consent, is the first in a three-book series devoted to uncovering the restrictive framework created for women in today’s workforce. It highlights the struggle and success strong women can have using talent, knowledge, determination and God, and contains a touch of suspense, including a murder.
Book five, Illusion of Control, continues that theme with a young female architect building her career in a firm that believes women should be paid less than men doing the same job.

-Claire Hertzler

Though this is her first published book (she has several manuscripts under her bed), Claire is uniquely qualified to write The High Sheriff of Greene as she grew up in the Wyatt culture of Greene County, GA. From over 30 oral interviews and numerous newspaper accounts, Claire has brought the legendary Wyatt alive again to those who knew him and for those who wished they had. The entire county became her cheerleaders in getting the stories in print. She has been invited for a re-appearance where she hopes to garner additional stories to publish an expanded edition. She is also currently wrestling with an unpublished manuscript about a bank fraud and other stories about real people.
Claire contributed two pieces “Backing into Letting Go” and “It Was Christmastime, and I Couldn’t Find Jesus,” in the Pens in the Piedmont anthology. She is a sometime blogger at: www.justclairefying.com and author of several freelance magazine articles.
Cooking, gardening, and fashion are among Claire’s interests. She holds degrees from Mercer University, Southwestern Seminary, and GA State University. She has professional experience in public education, Christian education, volunteer services administration, and non-profits.
Claire enjoys living in Decatur, GA with her husband, Eugene. She looks forward to the mornings they go for cappuccino at one of their favorite coffee shops in Decatur. For over ten years she walked to the Decatur Book Festival and was thrilled when her book debuted there.
Claire delights in the people she meets on her author’s journey.