Speakers R – Z

Frederick Ramsay — Dr. Frederick Ramsay was born in Baltimore. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University and received his doctorate from the University of Illinois.  After a stint in the Army, he joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, School of Medicine. During this time he also pursued studies in theology and in 1971 was ordained an Episcopal priest. He is now retired from full-time ministry and writes fiction. His first novel, Artscape, was published by Poisoned Pen Press and launched July, 2004. Since that time he has published fourteen books. His books range in genre from historical (The Jerusalem Mysteries) to Africa, to police procedurals set in the Shenandoah Valley (The Ike Schwartz Mysteries.) In addition his Impulse was named One of the Best 100 Books of the Year in 2006. He is an iconographer, an accomplished public speaker and once hosted a television spot, Prognosis, on WMAR-TV, Baltimore and can be seen on occasion on Channel 22 (Cox) as a sometime panelist.

Sharman Burson Ramsey is an Alabama native and graduate of the University of Alabama where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. She later earned her MSE at Troy University.  Ramsey is a former teacher, adjunct professor and freelance writer with articles and short stories published in scholarly and literary journals and lifestyle magazines. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, the Florida Historical Society, Alabama Historical Society, the Georgia Historical Society, and several genealogical societies. Ramsey will be on an American History Panel at the Historical Novel Society conference, is a member of the Faculty for the Chautauqua Society and will be a presenter at several book festivals in the coming year, including the South Carolina Book Festival, the Southern Kentucky Book Festival, and the Amelia Island Book Festival. Ramsey’s avid fascination with genealogy inspired her website, Southern-style.com, a Southern culture website that includes Genealogy, History, Recipes, Southern Wedding, the Southern Monet Garden, and Southern Manners and Etiquette, with 6,000 to 8,000 unique visitors monthly. She is also a former radio talk show host.She is now a novelist and public speaker. Through her genealogical research, Ramsey discovered her Native American heritage which led to the writing of Swimming with Serpents, her debut novel, the first in the Serpents series family saga. Nest of Vipers, the first sequel to Swimming with Serpents, is scheduled for release in 2013. It follows Red Sticks who survived the Battle of Horseshoe Bend into the First Seminole War. The discovery of a Mayan connection to the Native American ancestry through a Tribal DNA test has led to the novel Déjà Vu All Over Again yet to be committed.Ramsey is a native Alabamian who now splits her time between Dothan, Alabama, and Panama City, Florida, with her attorney husband of 43 years and their standard poodle Gracie. They have three children, two granddaughters and two grandsons with the tie breaker on the way.

Lev Raphael is the author of Rosedale in Love: A Gilded Age Novel and twenty-three other books in genres from memoir to mystery to Jane Austen mash-up. Rosedale in Love re-imagines Edith Wharton’s classic The House of Mirth from the viewpoint of one of Lily Bart’s despised suitors. Laurie R. King hailed Rosedale in Love as “richly textured and darkly witty.” Widely anthologized in the U.S. and England, Lev has done hundreds of talks and readings from his work on three different continents. His fiction and non-fiction have been translated into a dozen languages and his current and future literary papers have been purchased by Michigan State University’s Special Archives. Lev’s fiction and creative non-fiction are taught at colleges and universities across North–which means he’s become homework. He escaped academia in 1988 to write and review full-time and never looked back. Lev has been the resident book reviewer for two NPR stations in Michigan as well as having his own public radio talk show where he interviewed Salman Rushdie, Erica Jong, Julian Barnes and many other authors.  He’s also been a radio producer and DJ, as well as reviewing for the Washington Post and the Detroit Free Press among other publications.  He currently blogs about books and culture for The Huffington Post and his web site is www.levraphael.com. Follow him on Twitter at  @LevRaphael and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/levraphael.

Heather Rieseck is the creator and blogger at The Maiden’s Court (www.themaidenscourt.blogspot.com) It was created while a senior in college in 2009 as a creative outlet and as a way to be able to discuss her favorite genre with like-minded others (and to give her poor boyfriend a break from listening to “Tudor this, Tudor that”).  While reading the books on her bookshelf and exploring the historical world around them, she never dreamed that an author would actually read her blog or that she would ever be pitched an opportunity to review a book. It all took off from there! Four years later, Heather currently balances her time between a full time government job (with a two hour commute round trip), working on her Masters degree in History (concentrating on the Ancients and Classics), and still finding time to read and blog.  When she isn’t doing one of those things she likes to travel to historical sites or just around town, take photographs, cook, play video games, and hang out with family and friends. Heather grew up in a rural Connecticut town, however for the last 3 years has traded in rural Connecticut for rural Massachusetts where she lives with her longtime boyfriend and two crazy cats.

Judith Rock has been professional dancer, police officer, professor, playwright and actress. Doctoral research in France led to her Charles du Luc historical mystery series (Berkley/Penguin), set in 1680′s Paris.  Charles, ex-soldier turned Jesuit, teaches Latin rhetoric and helps produce the student ballets at the Paris Jesuit school.  With Paris’s first police chief, he regularly finds himself trying to bring justice–and compassion–to a changing and dangerous city. The series includes The Rhetoric of Death (2010), The Eloquence of Blood (2011), A Plague of Lies (2012), and an e-novella, Pernelle’s Escape.  Last spring Judith spoke about the novels at The American Library in Paris and at Louis le Grand, Charles’s school, now France’s star lycée (secondary school). Louis le Grand has invited her back to speak at its 450^th anniversary Symposium this May, about old Louis le Grand’s Jesuit ballets and the Charles du Luc books, which bring that history to life.

Julie Rose is an author of unique historic and contemporary fiction with a particular interest in the intersection of the spiritual and secular, the supernatural and the everyday, the past and the present, and the deep, instinctual draw of the land. Oleanna, short-listed for finalists in the 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom literary competition, is her second novel.  The Pilgrim Glass, a finalist in the 2005 Faulkner-Wisdom and semi-finalist in the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards, was published in 2010. Her short fiction has been published in speculative fiction magazines Behind the Wainscot, Serendipity, and Hugo-nominated Expanded Horizons. She is the current co-chair of the Historical Novel Society – Northern California chapter and former reviewer for the Historical Novels Review. She lives in the Bay Area and enjoys reading, following the San Francisco Giants, watching episodes of Doctor Who, and enjoying the amazing natural beauty of Northern California.

Vicky Alvear Shecter is the author of the award-winning young adult historical fiction novel, Cleopatra’s Moon, named one of the best books of 2012 by the Center for Children’s Literature.  Her next young adult historical novel, set in Pompeii, will be released in 2014. She also writes historical nonfiction, including, Anubis Speaks! A Guide to the Afterlife by the Egyptian God of the Dead (October, 2013), Cleopatra Rules! The Amazing Life of the Original Teen Queen (2010) and Alexander the Great Rocks the World (2006), named as one of the “25 Books all Georgia Children Should Read” by the Georgia Center for the Book. She is also a docent at the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Antiquities at Emory University.

Mary Sharratt is an American writer who lives in the Pendle region of Lancashire, Northern England, the setting for her acclaimed 2010 novel, Daughters of the Witching Hill, which recasts the Pendle Witches of 1612 in their historical context as cunning folk and healers. Previously she lived for twelve years in Germany. This, along with her interest in sacred music and herbal medicine, inspired her to write her most recent novel, Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen, which explores the dramatic life of the 12th century Benedictine abbess, composer, polymath, and powerfrau. Winner of the 2005 WILLA Literary Award and a Minnesota Book Award Finalist, Mary has also written the acclaimed historical novels Summit Avenue (Coffee House 2000), The Real Minerva (Houghton Mifflin 2004), The Vanishing Point (Houghton Mifflin 2006), and co-edited the subversive fiction anthology Bitch Lit (Crocus Books 2006), which celebrates female anti-heroes—strong women who break all the rules. Her short fiction has been published in Twin Cities Noir (Akashic Books 2006). Mary writes regular articles for Historical Novels Review and Solander. Her articles and essays have recently appeared in Publisher’s Weekly, Huffington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. She was also selected by NPR to write a round up of the Best Historical Novels of 2012.

Anne Easter Smith’s love of medieval English history began during her childhood in England, where she grew up with London on her doorstep. Her five-book contract with Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone Books is a series about the York family during the Wars of the Roses. Anne’s third book, The King’s Grace won the Romantic Times Best Historical Biography award in 2009 and her fourth, Queen By Right was nominated in the 2012 Best Historical Fiction category also by Romantic Times. The recently published Royal Mistress is the final book in the York saga and tells the story of Edward IV’s “merriest” mistress, Jane Shore. Anne has lived for 43 years in US, on both coasts, but now lives in Newburyport, MA with her husband, Scott. When not writing, Anne is usually found acting or directing on her local stage.

Susan Spann is the author of Claws of the Cat (St. Martin’s/Minotaur, July 2013), the first installment in the Shinobi Mysteries featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori. Susan is also a practicing California attorney with over ten years’ experience in intellectual property, publishing and contract law. Find her online at http://www.susanspann.com or @SusanSpann

Vickie Sutton, MPA, PhD, JD, is a professor of Law and Environmental Toxicology (the study of poisons) at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. She is director of the Center for Biodefense, Law and Public Policy and directs the Environmental Toxicology joint degree program.  She has authored non-fiction books on biotechnology, nanotechnology and articles on toxicology.  Her fiction writing is influenced by law, toxics and biological weapons. Her most recent work is a story of a young Lithuanian woman in 1511 whose life goal changes to become a physician when her family died from the plague.  She travels to the University of Padua in Italy to enroll in medical school where she falls in love with her med school classmate who turns out to be an altruistic highwayman.  Together they fight an unusual plague which threatens to bring Padua to defeat by the Vatican in the Italian Wars.  “Captured by a Highwayman” was a finalist in the Golden Acorn historical romance category, last year.

Deborah Swift used to work in the theatre and at the BBC as a set and costume designer, and has worked on productions as diverse as Shakespeare and Science Fiction. Later she took a post as a lecturer in theatre history and art history at the University of Manchester, working with undergraduates and supervising their academic research. She studied for an MA in Creative Writing in 2007, and now divides her time between writing and teaching. Her first book The Lady’s Slipper was shortlisted for the Impress Prize and published by the controversial imprint Macmillan New Writing, which allowed un-agented open submissions. The novel was subsequently published by St Martin’s Press in the US. Since then she has published The Gilded Lily and her new novel, A Divided Inheritance, will be released in 2013 (both Pan Macmillan). She lives near the Lake District National Park in England, in a historic village of 17^th century houses – all quaint chimneys and mullioned windows. She is passionate about nature and enjoys exploring the varied landscape where she lives – the lakes, the mountains and the coast.

V.E. (Eva) Ulett – A long time resident of California, V.E. Ulett is an avid reader as well as writer of historical fiction. V.E. is a member of the National Books Critics Circle and an active member and reviewer for the Historical Novel Society. Eighteenth and nineteenth century journals and letters inspired the writing of CAPTAIN BLACKWELL’S PRIZE. The sequel takes Captain Blackwell and Mercedes to the far side of the world, on a new personal, and cultural adventure.

 

Emily Clark Victorson is the co-founder and publisher of Allium Press of Chicago. Prior to starting the press she worked as a librarian, historian, and book designer. Allium Press was founded in 2009 as a small, independent press to publish literary fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, thrillers, and young adult fiction, all with a Chicago connection. The press will release its tenth book in June 2013, a thriller partly set in the 1930s. Other historical titles include the Emily Cabot Mysteries series by Frances McNamara, and the young adult novel Her Mother’s Secret by Barbara Garland Polikoff, all set in 1890s Chicago; and the historical novel Beautiful Dreamer by Joan Naper, set in Chicago at the turn-of-the-century. All Allium Press books are published both in print form and as ebooks.

Kris Waldherr is an author, illustrator, and designer whose art has been exhibited in the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She is the acclaimed author of many books including DOOMED QUEENS (Broadway Doubleday), THE LOVER’S PATH, and THE BOOK OF GODDESSES (Abrams Books). The New Yorker praised DOOMED QUEENS as “utterly satisfying,” and  THE LOVER’S PATH was called “a feast—a full-color picture book for adults that tells a wrenching story of eternal love” by NPR Books. Waldherr’s upcoming publications include THE LILY MAID, a novel set in the art world of Victorian England.

Barry Webb has an MA in Ancient History, and MA in Near Eastern Studies, has taught history, worked as a translator for various government agencies, and has studied Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, Akkadian, and a smattering of other ancient Near Eastern languages.  He has published nonfiction in the Ancient Warfare magazine, and has completed the first volume of a trilogy based on Nabu Na’id, the last king of Babylon, and a prequel to the trilogy based on Adad Guppi, the last king of Babylon’s mother.  He is also working on a multi-era Michener-type epic on Arabia, and a modern thriller that draws upon ancient Near Eastern history, religion, and language.  His ancient history-related websites include:  www.lastkingofbabylon.com www.highpriestessofthecrescentmoon.com and www.biblebabel.net

Heather Webb is the author of BECOMING JOSEPHINE, her debut historical coming 2014 from Plume/Penguin. Heather grew up a military brat and naturally became obsessed with travel, culture, and languages. She put her degrees to good use teaching high school French for nearly a decade before turning to full time writing and editing. As a freelance editor, Heather spends oodles of time helping writers find their voice and hone their skills–something she adores. She may often be found Twittering helpful links, sharing writing advice and author interviews on her blog Between the Sheets, or teaching Novel Writing in her community. Another favorite haunt is RomanceUniversity.org, where she contributes to the Editor’s Posts. When not writing, Heather flexes her foodie skills and chases her young children. You may even catch her gobbling the odd bonbon.

Ann Weisgarber is the author of The Promise and The Personal History of Rachel DuPree.  She was nominated for England’s 2009 Orange Prize and for the 2009 Orange Award for New Writers.  In the United States, she won the Stephen Turner Award for New Fiction and the Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction.  She was shortlisted for the Ohioana Book Award and was a Barnes and Noble Discover New Writer.  The film rights for The Personal History of Rachel DuPree have been optioned by actress Viola Davis. Ann was born and raised in Kettering, Ohio. She is a graduate of Wright State University in Dayton and the University of Houston.  She lives in Sugar Land, Texas, and is working on her next novel that takes place in Utah during 1888.  Ann is a judge for the Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction.

Alana White’s fascination with the Italian Renaissance led to her first short historical mystery fiction, then to the full-length novel, The Sign of the Weeping Virgin (Five Star, December 2012).  Set in Renaissance Florence, The Sign of the Weeping Virgin features real-life lawyer Guid’Antonio Vespucci and his adventurous young nephew, Amerigo Vespucci, as they investigate crime in fifteenth-century Florence at the time of the Medicis.  Alana’s book reviews appear regularly in Renaissance Magazine and the Historical Novels Review.  A member of the Historical Novel Society, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and the Author’s Guild, she resides in Nashville, TN, where she is currently writing her second Guid’Antonio Vespucci mystery.  Visit Alana at www.alanawhite.com.

Steve Wiegenstein is an academic scholar of utopian movements, a published fiction writer, and a fifth-generation native of the Ozarks, who currently lives in Columbia, Missouri. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, he published Ozark Review, a literary journal, while working as a newspaper reporter. He has written a considerable amount of short fiction, which has been published in Southern Humanities Review, Louisiana Literature, Nebraska Review, Oxford Magazine, and others. He is also a dedicated promoter of writing in Missouri, currently serving as president of the Missouri Writers’ Guild. Slant of Light, his debut novel, was published in April 2012 and was recently named the runner-up for the 2012 Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction. Slant of Light‘s first chapter was also the winner of the “Novels – First Chapter” category in the Green River Writers 2008 competition and was a semifinalist in the William Van Wert Fiction Competition.

Suzy Witten’s career spans twenty years in the entertainment industry: as a filmmaker, screenwriter, story analyst, and editor for film and television. A graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, she was nominated for a Women In Film filmmaking award, and was a Walt Disney Studios Fellowship finalist for her story of the Salem witch hunt of 1692. She is in the process of finishing a new book, and also works intermittently as a writer, researcher, and liaison during disasters for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). She resides in Los Angeles. Her first novel, The Afflicted Girls, won the 2010 Independent Publisher (IPPY) silver medal for historical fiction.