About the book
This collection of poetry and prose.  Anything relating traveling or places you would like to go or have been.
Samples of included works:

JoAnna Arnold lives in Americus, Georgia, with her husband and three children. She is a teacher of French and Spanish at a local high school. In addition, she serves as an adjunct professor of French at South Georgia State University. JoAnna regularly travels with her family and students throughout Europe and Latin America. Although she believes that teaching high school is an incomparable mission field, she continues to nurture an insatiable love for Jubilee, Haiti.

~B~

Patricia Barkman, a winter wearying driveway owner, spent January on St Augustine Beach, joining Indiana University of Pennsylvania college roommate, Celia. Celia opened a world of friendship, of writing, of encouragement, of the southern way of life and OMP. My Chocolate Lover is Patricia’s next book. There been only two. The first Lieber. Now if her chocolate lover would only come clean. Otherwise, it’s into the fondue pot for him in her third book.

Frederick W. Bassett is a retired academic who lives with his wife Peg in Greenwood, South Carolina. He enjoys writing poetry and fiction, reading widely, and watching the grandchildren grow up. Fred is the author of four books of poetry and two novels. His poems have appeared in more than one hundred publications.

Marcie Behm-Bultz is a population scientist who lives in Aiken, SC. Thanks to the military and her enjoyment of travel, she has lived or spent the night in, forty-nine states and over sixty countries – often with a journal in her hand. Marcie has been published in social and behavioral science journals.

Staci Lynn Bell, a Chicago native, attended University of Wisconsin, Madison. She relocated to South Florida, gaining popularity as a 25 year radio and television personality. Her poetry and prose have been published in Wolf Warriors II, The National Wolfwatcher Coalition Charity Anthology, Wild Goose Poetry Review and 234 Journal. She is a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network and Ridgeline Literary Alliance. She lives with her two dogs in Hayesville, NC.

Joann Bishop is presently working on her poems and doing volunteer work sitting with an elderly lady reading poetry and the Bible to her. She also has been doing Bible study with notes when called upon at the Christian Academy Praise and Worship House she attends. She enjoys watching the antics of her pets on a daily basis when she stays at home. Joann visited Mount Vernon in the 60s. She lives in Jacksonville, NC.

Polly Brody’s publishing credits include: Spoon River Poetry Review, The Midwest Quarterly, Potomac Review, Zone 3, Poetpourri, Connecticut River Review. She’s authored five books: Other Nations, The Burning Bush, At the Flower's Lip, Stirring Shadows; and Lore. At the Flower’s Lip was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Polly has placed first and second in national competitions. She was chosen twice for its Winchell Award by the CT Poetry Society. Polly lives in Southbury, CT.

Rachel Bronnum lives in Lawrenceville, GA. and Highlands, NC. Her work has appeared in several Old Mountain Press and other anthologies. While she has experienced mountains in the US and abroad, she maintains that Whiteside is magnificent and unique.

~C~

Nancy Hall Cody’s publishing credits include When We’re Together, Looking for Santa, A Funny Thing, Into the Coastal Sun, Field Mules and Buttermilk Cornbread, The Clay County Progress Newspaper, Clay County Heritage Vols. 1 & 2 and Hearthstones of Home Vols. 1 & 2. Nancy lives with her husband in Hayesville, Clay County, NC.

Vicki Collins teaches English at the University of South Carolina Aiken but plans to return to Appalachia upon retirement. One of her latest publications appears in The Southern Poetry Anthology: North Carolina. Her current research is a manuscript about characters in

Appalachian literature and film.

R L Crowe also known as Robin Crowe Haase publishing credits include O.M.P. They Stood Alone and various news articles. She can be reached on social media under robin-writes66 or at www.robinwrites66.wordpress.com . Just starting back into writing, she hopes to finish a book she is working on in the near future.

Thomas Rain Crowe is a prize-winning poet and author of thirty books, including the multi-award winning book of nonfiction Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods (Univ. of Georgia Press, 2005); The Laugharne Poems, and the classic contemporary Celtic language anthology Writing the Wind: A Celtic Resurgence. As an editor, he has worked with Beatitude Magazine, Katuah Journal and the Asheville Poetry Review. He is founder and publisher of New Native Press. His literary archives have been purchased by the Duke University Special Collections Library. He lives in the Tuckasegee community of rural western North Carolina.

~D~

Tom Davis’s publishing credits include Poets Forum, The Carolina Runner, Triathlon Today, Georgia Athlete, The Fayetteville Observer’s Saturday Extra, A Loving Voice Vol. I and II, Special Warfare., and Winston-Salem Writers’ POETRY IN PLAIN SIGHT program for May 2013 (poetry month). He’s authored the following books: The Life and Times of Rip Jackson; A children’s coloring book, Pickaberry Pig, The Patrol Order; and an action adventure novel, The R-complex. Tom lives in Webster, NC.

Nancy Dillingham is the author of ten books of poetry and short stories and, with her co-editor Celia Miles, has edited four anthologies of WNC women writers. Her recent work is a volume of poetry entitled Horizons and a fictionalized memoir, Buried Lives: Memoir of a Survivor, both available on Kindle.

Peter Dome is a well published Poet and writer Drawing inspiration From life and nature. Lives Sheffield/Nottingham England.

~F~

Dena M. Ferrari is a regular contributor to OMP, her poetry is featured in Westchester Community College of NY Phoenix (1975);. Writers Alliance Poets World-Wide anthologies has dozens of her published works. Dena’s own books, Poems From the Hearth (2010) ;Come Closer My Dearies (2013) and her newest book Charmed Times Three (2015), shows diversified writing styles, leaving a Living Legacy for her grandchildren. She and her husband, Peter live in Vass, NC.

Ann Fogelman, a writer of memories in prose and poetry, was born in Reading, PA. Her work has appeared in The Noble Generation, That Thing You Do, Pets Across America, Texas Poetry Calendar, Boundless, OMP Anthologies and school publications. Ann is a member of Bay Area Writers League, Gulf Coast Poets, Poetry Society of Texas and Osher Lifetime Learning Institute at UTMB, Galveston. Ann lives in Friendswood, TX.

Joanne Kennedy Frazer is a retired social justice educator. Penning poetry has become the passion of her third stage of life. Three of her poems have been turned into a song cycle by composer C.M. Fuentes. Her poetry appears in Old Mountain Press’ anthologies, Into the Coastal Sun and They Stood Alone, as well as Raindrop Press’ Poetic Portions 2015 anthology. Frazer lives in Durham, NC.

~G~

Christian George attends school at Appalachian State University. His hometown is Indian Trail, NC. His work has been previously published in the Old Mountain Press anthologies A Funny Thing

and Into The Coastal Sun. He has also been published in the American Library of Poetry anthology. While obtaining his degree in English, Christian plans to continue writing and working to be published.

James Gibson, Northville, Michigan, combined his experiences in the American West and his fascination with Native American culture to write the five novels of the Anasazi Quest series, available at www.PentacleSPresS.com  as well as The Last Ride, a traditional western set outside Tucson, Arizona. Anasazi Princess and Anasazi Journey are now available as Kindle books on www.Amazon.com .

BJ Gillum has written and self-published six novels including Alabama Rising, Best Seller List, Forget Me Not, King of The Kudzu, Darwin's War and The Reluctant Terrorist. He is a member of The Author's Guild of TN. BJ lives with his wife of 55 years in Rockwood, TN.

Marian Gowan is author of Notes from the Trunk, published by Old Mountain Press. Her work has appeared in several Old Mountain Press anthologies and regional publications. Most recently, she contributed to It’s All Relative: Tales from the Tree, edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham. She retired to the NC mountains from western NY in 2001. (mariangowan1@bellsouth.net)

Bob Grove earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Kent State University and his Master of Science in Teaching at Florida Atlantic University. A teacher for 17 years, he was also an ABC-TV public affairs director and the founder and publisher of Monitoring Times magazine. Now a prose critique facilitator for the North Carolina Writers Network, he has published 17 books and hundreds of articles in sixteen national magazines.

~H~

Kerri Mai Habben lives in Raleigh, NC. A graduate of Peace College and North Carolina State University, her work has appeared in literary journals, The News and Observer, and is regularly included in publications throughout the United States and Canada. Kerri has a manuscript of creative non-fiction essays she is working to publish.

Melissa Hager, a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, co-leads Art of Poetry at the Hickory Museum of Art as well as co-edits The Alexander Muse teen literary magazine. Her work has been published in Old Mountain Press anthologies, Bloodshot Journal of Contemporary Culture, The Lyricist, and Wild Goose Poetry Review among other publications. "Miss Mel" is a children’s librarian who lives in Taylorsville, NC.

Karen Hammond lives in Falls Church, VA with her husband David Daniels. She has been writing for her children and grandchildren for many years. This story is a piece of her yet to be published memoir, Summer in South Dakota.

MaXine Carey Harker and husband Berkley, have lived 60+ years in the little one-stop-light town of Grifton, NC, reared 5 children who have produced grandchildren and great grandchildren in far-flung places. Published in national, state, and local publications, she prefers non-fiction, sonnets, and haiku. She’s taught Writing for Publication for 35+ years at 2 Community Colleges, now Rec Center in New Bern. MaXine is 86 – her doctor tells her she is 68.

SFC Joseph Haymore is one of many retired military writers in the Fayetteville, NC area. He is a past president of the Writers' Ink Guild and remains active with that group. Examples of his poetry and prose can be found in Elite Magazine, several anthologies from Old Mountain Press, and two self-published books.

Bob Hewett is 82 years of age and writes poems, short stories, humor and satire along with accounts of his father’s story telling skill. Hewett has been named poet of the month on three online writing groups and poet of the year on another. He has published 3 children books. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies. You can read some of Hewett’s writings on his hubpage:

roberthewettsr.hubpages.com . (No www or http)

~J~

Beverly Johnston writes every once in a while when she can’t help it. Recently, she has been avoiding calling attention to herself in Lewisville, NC.

Neil Joiner is a native and longtime resident of rural Georgia. He and his wife Jane have triplets who are 37 years old. Neil spent 35 years in banking, most as President of an independent bank. He recently published an illustrated patriotic poem, "What America Is", through Old Mountain Press. Neil and Jane live two miles outside Vienna, GA, which has the only traffic light in Dooly County.

David Jones, DD, LLD, is from Hartsville, S.C.; presently living in Henrietta, NC. David is a newspaper columnist, has a radio broadcast, and has self-published five books which can be read for free on his website at www.buzzwrites.com . You can also email him at cdavidjones316@gmail.com

~K~

K. D. Kennedy Jr. has published four (4) books of poetry, short stories, and essays: Our Place In Time, Waiting Out In The Yard, For Rhyme Of Reason, and Progenitors: A Kennedy Genealogy. He has also published works in over twenty anthologies and periodicals. He has served as Chairman of the following: The Board of Trustees of Barton College, the North Carolina Board of Ethics, the North Carolina Theater, and the Building Committee of the Duke Power Performing Arts Center.

Nita Hallford Killebrew enjoys traveling as much as she enjoys staying at home in Lilburn, GA. Her three trips to Italy have simply wet her palate to return again. She is happy to have been published in four OMP anthologies and continues to edit a newsletter for educators and serve as a national judge for school lit. magazines. She thanks her writing friends Rachel and Mary Louise for their support.

Jo Koster continues to teach literature and writing at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, which serves as a cover to her role as minion to her cats Max, Neville, and whichever ferals she’s trying to tame at the moment. She needs to spend more time writing.

~L~

Blanche L. Ledford is a seventh-generational native of Clay County, NC. Her work has appeared in many Old Mountain Press anthologies and journals. She won first place in the Cherokee County Senior Silver Art’s Contest. Her book, Planting by the Signs, received the Paul Green Award from NC Society of Historians.

Brenda Kay Ledford resides in Hayesville, NC. Her work has appeared in all of the Old Mountain Press anthologies and many publications including Chicken Soup for the Soul, Country Extra, Appalachian Heritage, and other journals. Aldrich Press published her poetry book, Crepe Roses, that received the 2015 Paul Green Award from NC Society of Historians. She co-authored the story, Five Brothers in the Civil War, with Barbara Wright, published by the NC Civil War Museum.

K. A. Lewis is living her dream of being a writer. A painter and photographer, she graduated from the Corcoran School of Art in 1986, and has worked in the jewelry business and in custom framing. She has written science fiction, fantasy, and poetry since 2010. Katy and her husband live with four demanding cats in a small book-stuffed house in Falls Church, VA.

Mike Lythgoe lives in Aiken, SC. He is a retired Air Force officer with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing & Literature from Bennington College. His chapbook, BRASS, won the Poetry Society of SC prize in 2006. His Collection, HOLY WEEK, is available as an ebook from Barnes & Noble. Lythgoe’s poems appear in Windhover, Petigru Review, Rockhurst Review, Christianity & Lit. He is President of SCWriters Workshop.

~M~

David Treadway Manning lives with his wife Doris in Cary, NC, and has work in a variety of publications, most recently the collection Soledad (Main Street Rag, 2014). Dave hosts the Friday Noon Poets of Chapel Hill.

Kathy Merlino is the author of www.Kathysretirementblog.com , a blog about her perspective and thoughts on the emotional side of retirement. She is one of the most thought- provoking and influential writers on non-financial retirement topics. Kathy believes retirement is a journey, not a destination. She lives in South Carolina with her husband and six cats on her hobby farm. She has written for both online and print magazines on the subject of retirement.

Halle Meyer is a Cleveland native who is mad stupid crazy about her three kids, and treats her 5 pound pooch like her 4th. She is an advocate for the homeless, thinks her niece with Down Syndrome is the coolest chick and believes that most people are good most of the time. She was a successful entrepreneur who was noted for her business writing. Halle lives in Raleigh, NC.

Celia Hooper Miles, a Jackson County native, lives, writes, edits and travels from Asheville. Her work is available in regional book stores, on amazon, kindle, and her first novel (Mattie’s Girl: An Appalachian Childhood) on audible books. Her latest novel, a mystery, is set around a grist mill: The Body at Wrapp’s Mill. With Nancy Dillingham she has edited four western North Carolina women’s anthologies. www.celiamiles.com

~N~

T John Nelson manages computers for a living and loves to write in his spare time. He lives a quiet life in Sanford, NC.

~O~

Beverly Ohler loves to write, though her life has been focused on the theater, teaching, designing, producing festivals, creating art in one form or another. Growing up in the Northeast, her adult life has primarily been spent on the campus of Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC, where she is a member of the Theater Department. She’s written four books, edited and/or designed others, has stories in many magazines and publications. Bev lives in Black Mountain.

Pamolu Oldham is a writer and visual artist living in Fayetteville, NC. Most recently she presented a documentary on CLYDE JONES in Chandigarh, India. She has been awarded a NEA Fellowship, NC Artist Fellowship in Fiction, and a residency at Yaddo. Her visual work has been exhibited at the NC Museum of Art and others.

Karen O’Leary is a writer and editor from West Fargo, ND. She has published poetry, short stories, and articles in a variety of venues including, Frogpond, A Hundred Gourds, Haiku Pix, Sharpening the Green Pencil 2014, Now This: Contemporary Poems of Beginnings, Renewals and Firsts, Creative Inspirations, and Poems of the World. She currently edits an online poetry journal called Whispers. It is found on the web site www.whispersinthewind333.blogspot.com

Martha O’Quinn is a regular contributor to OMP anthologies, as well as other regional anthologies and publications. She writes poetry and non-fiction with an emphasis on family stories and personal experience. Martha and her husband live in Hendersonville, NC and recently welcomed their second great-grandchild into the family

~P~

Margaret L Parrish poems have appeared in Mountain High, Poem, Bay Leaves, Poets for Peace and other publications. She lives in Raleigh, NC.

Nancy Posey recently moved to the Nashville area after more than 20 years in North Carolina, the "Writingest State." She helped organize the first annual Fall Face-to-Face in the Foothills Poetry Festival in Hickory, NC, and was recently named Poetic Asides co-Poet Laureate with her poet-friend Jane Shlensky. She can’t wait to find "her people"– poets and writers--in Middle TN.

Michael Potts’ works include two volumes of poetry, numerous poems in literary magazines, and two novels, End of Summer and Unpardonable Sin, with another, Obedience, forthcoming from WordCrafts Press. Also forthcoming from WordCrafts Press is a new illustrated edition of his award-winning chapbook, From Field to Thicket. He lives with his wife, Karen, and their three cats, Frodo, Pippin, and Rosie, in Coats, North Carolina.

~R~

Mary Ricketson is published in Wild Good Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Red Fox Run, They Stood Alone, It’s All Relative, and her books, I Hear the River Call My Name and Hanging Dog Creek. She won first prize in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest national poetry contest. She is a mental health counselor, lives on a farm in Murphy NC.

Dwight Roth is a retired elementary school teacher of 29 years, who grew up in the mountains of Southwestern Pennsylvania. He enjoys writing, poetry, painting, and music. He enjoys participating in the Indian Trail Cultural Arts poetry group and has works published in Tea and Poetry blog spot, Common Ground Magazine, and recent OMP Anthologies. He self-published four memoirs and two books of poetry. He and his wife Ruth live near Monroe, NC.

~S~

Dr. Lynn Veach Sadler lives in Burlington. A former college president, she has published 5+ books and 72 articles, edited 22 books/proceedings and 3 national journals, and writes a newspaper column on history. In creative writing, she has published 10 poetry chapbooks and 4 full-length collections, 100+ short stories, 4 novels, a novella, and 2 short story collections and written 41 plays. As a Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet 2013-2015, she mentored student and adult poets.

Marian Kaplun Shapiro is the author of a professional book, Second Childhood, a poetry book, Players In The Dream, Dreamers In The Play, and two chapbooks: Your Third Wish; and The End Of The World, Announced On Wednesday. A Quaker and psychologist, her poetry often embeds the topics of peace and love. A resident of Lexington, she is a five-time Senior Poet Laureate of Massachusetts. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2012.

Jane Shlensky, a veteran teacher and musician, holds an MFA from UNC-Greensboro. Her recent poetry has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, including Writer’s Digest, KAKALAK, Southern Poetry Anthology: NC, and Poetry Market 2015. She is co-editor of a forthcoming anthology of narrative poetry for book clubs, The Well-Versed Reader. Her chapbook Barefoot on Gravel is available from Finishing Line Press.

Rishan Singh is a prize-winning South African poet, a biologist, and a writer. His poetry has been published in numerous journals and books, and he has also written fiction and short stories. His poetry has been published both in South Africa and overseas (including the United States of America). He is the recipient of a poetry prize of the Indian Government. The poem presented, here, has been written to suit the theme of the anthology (and therefore, it isn’t entirely true when read as it is).

Sybil Austin Skakle’s publishing credits include poetry: Searchings-rocks revelations rainbows, Loves and Lives of Living and Loving, and three memoirs Confessions of an Outer Banks Filly, Valley of the Shadow, and What Came Next. Her work appears in numerous anthologies. Sybil lives in Chapel Hill, NC.

Wendy Sheridan Stephens lives in Transylvania County, NC, another of her magical places. She is passionate about inner and outer journeys and writes about both. Her work has appeared in various anthologies, including They Stood Alone and It’s All Relative, Tales From The Tree.

Shelby Stephenson is Poet Laureate of NC. His recent book is Elegies for Small Game from Press 53. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of the English Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina-Pembroke, after serving as editor of Pembroke Magazine from 1979 until his retirement in 2010. He lives at the home place, where he was born, near McGee's Crossroads, about ten miles north of Benson, NC.

Susan Snowden (Hendersonville, NC) is an award-winning writer whose stories and poems have appeared in national and international anthologies and literary journals. Her novel Southern Fried Lies was published by Archer Hill and won a 2013 IPPY Award for best fiction in the Southeast. Her story collection A Closet Full of Masks was published in 2015.

Caren Stuart is a joyfully arts-obsessed, award-winning poet /wordsmith/artist/maker whose artsy craftsy creations populate www.convolutednotions.etsy.com  and whose writings appear online, in bronze as part of Jim Gallucci’s Gates of Sorrow 9/11 Memorial Sculpture, and in print in numerous publications including two 2015 anthologies of NC art and writing: Vision and Voice and Kakalak 2015. A lifelong NC native, she currently lives with husband and son in the wilds of Chatham County between Pittsboro and Sanford.

~T~

Barbara Tate is an award winning artist and writer. Her work has appeared in StoryTeller, Santa Fe Literary Review, Modern Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, Magnolia Quarterly and Whispers, among others. She is a member of the Gulf Coast Writers Assoc., Haiku Society of America and United Haiku & Tanka Society. She resides in Winchester, TN.

~V~

Phibby Venable lives in Abingdon, Virginia, and has authored six collections of poetry, a novel, and a book of short stories. She works in animal rescue & community service. Her work has appeared in the Appalachian Journal, Southern Ocean Review, and various national & international magazines. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize.

~W~

Charles F. "Hawk" Weyant and his wife Johanna live in Fayetteville, NC, where he has been a member of Writers Ink Guild for thirty years. His poems and stories have appeared in more than two dozen books and he read on Public Radio for ten years. His autobiographical book An Odyssey In Broken Rhythms And Ragged Lines was nominated for a Pushcart Award. He is also a decorated, battle-scarred, veteran of three Vietnam tours.

Stella Ward Whitlock is a writer, retired teacher, widow of a Presbyterian minister, mother of four, and grandmother of seven. Her articles, essays, poems, and short stories have appeared in various publications. Currently living at Glenaire, a retirement community in Cary, NC, Stella enjoys traveling, reading, writing, playing bridge, and spending time with her family.

Glenda S. Wilkins grew up on a North Carolina tobacco farm, and believed she'd never live beyond the county line. Decades later, she moved with her husband to Europe for a dozen years. Her poems have been published in Europe, Great Britain, & North America. Thus far, she appreciates several poetry awards. She lives on an air strip, Winterville, NC.

Barbara Ledford Wright, is a frequent contributor to OMP anthology series including They Stood Alone. Others published: Muscadine Lines: A Southern Journal, Express Yourself 101 Vol 2 For Your Eyes Only, Kaleidoscope, Fireflies and June Bugs, Yesterdays Magazette, Carolina Country, Field Mules and Buttermilk Cornbread. Co-authored, Five Brothers in the Civil War, with Brenda Kay Ledford., NC Civil War Museum, Pub., Fayetteville, NC. Barbara lives in Shelby, NC.

As a child for C. Pleasants York of Sanford, a delight of every year was planning a family vacation with her father, Frank Stearns – writing off for pamphlets, peering at maps, studying guidebooks. As an adult, she and her husband, Guy, have served as group leaders and chaperones for numerous student groups and have visited 26 countries. This summer the Yorks and their daughter, Emily, will add a new one – Costa Rica.

Laura Younger is a happy transplant to North Carolina – "the writingest state" - from Michigan via Colorado, Maryland, Germany and the UK. After years of itinerant living as a military family member, she is thrilled to live in a place that values literary tradition. While not new to writing poetry, this is her first published poem.