BookTalk Season 1

Hope Irvin Marston

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Hope Irvin Marston is the author of thirty children’s books, including My Little Books Series of wildlife stories with more than 128,000 copies in print. Two of her titles were shortlisted for the 2006 Charlotte Award.  My Little Book of Bald Eagles received the 2010 Next Generation INDIE Book Award for Best Children’s/Juvenile Non-Fiction. Eye on the Iditarod: Aisling’s Quest, isher biography of an eleven-year-old girl who, though born legally blind, has a goal of someday running the Alaskan Iditarod Race.

Sackets Harbor Powder Monkey: The War of 1812 received the Adirondack Center for Writing’s Best Children’s Book Award in 2012.  The novel story has been adapted as a stage play by local playwright Craig Thornton. It will be premiered this fall by the students of Sackets Harbor School.

Dave Shampine

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Born and raised in Carthage, son of Clyde and Leona Shampine.
Grad 1966 Carthage Augustinian Academy.
AA degree, JCC, 1968
BA degree, SUNY Brockport, 1971
Watertown Daily Times, June 1971 to March 1, 2012; majority of career dedicated to crime reporting, up to day of retirement. History column "Times Gone By" made its debut Feb. 1, 1998. Ran for approximately 125 stories.

Married Lucille A. Collier of Harrisville, Sept. 15, 1972. She died April 11, 2012, at home, age 62.
Two sons, Scott, Clayton, and Steve, Los Angeles. 

Bibliography:
Remembering New York’s North Country; Tales of Times Gone By  … 2009
Colorful Characters of Northern New York; Northern Lights …  2010
The North Country Murder of Irene Izak … 2010
New York’s North Country and the Civil War … 2012
The Jefferson County Egan Murders; Nightmare on New Year’s Eve 1964 … 2014

Ellen Marie Wiseman

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Ellen Marie Wiseman was born and raised in Three Mile Bay, a tiny hamlet in Northern New York. Ellen lives on the shores of Lake Ontario with her husband, two spoiled Shih-Tzus, and a rescued yellow lab. She is the internationally published author of two novels from Kensington, THE PLUM TREE (January 2013) and WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND, (January 2014). THE PLUM TREE received five-star reviews from Publishers Weekly and Jewish Book World, and became a #1 Historical Fiction Bestseller on Amazon. THE PLUM TREE and WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND received five-star reviews from New York Journal of Books and were named Top Picks in RT Book Review Magazine. WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND spent eight months on the Kindle Top Ten Bestseller list for Psychological Thrillers. Ellen loves to cook, travel, garden, go to the Drive-Ins, and spend time with her children and grandchildren. She is currently working on a third novel which follows a young woman as she battles strikers and corrupt mine bosses to bring justice to underage coal miners in an early 20th-century Pennsylvania mining town. The novel will be leased in 2015. Ellen would love to have you join her on Facebook or sign up for her newsletter on www.ellenmariewiseman.com

Kris Fletcher

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Kris Fletcher has been to five of the seven continents, can speak about a dozen words in Russian, and can fold a fitted sheet without swearing (though not always on the first try). She holds a Master’s degree in Child and Family Studies which she puts to work every day in her dual careers of raising children and writing fiction. She is an adoption advocate, a semi-recovered volunteer, and the proud possessor of Harrison Ford’s autograph on an article she wrote about him.
Kris grew up in southern Ontario, went to school in Nova Scotia, married a man from Maine, and now lives in central New York. She shares her home (fondly known as Casa Chaos) with her husband, an ever-changing number of their kids, and the occasional grand-hamster. Her greatest hope is that dust bunnies never develop intelligence.

Gayle Callen

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USA Today Bestselling author Gayle Callen writes historical romances for Avon Books. Her twenty-first novel, Redemption of the Duke, was published in May 2014. 

Gayle’s novels have won the Holt Medallion, the Laurel Wreath Award, the Booksellers’ Best Award, and finaled in the National Readers Choice Awards. She was a nominee for RT Book Reviews Magazine’s Reviewers’ Choice Award. Her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She also writes the “Valentine Valley” contemporary series as Emma Cane.

Gayle resides in central New York with her husband. Now that her three children are grown, she has time to read, sing, and delve too deeply into historical research. A past President of the Central New York Romance Writers, she is also a member of Romance Writers of America and Novelists Inc. Visit her website at www.gaylecallen.com


Glenn Pearsall

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Author-historian who has lived year round in the Adirondacks since 1964. Former trustee for 9 years, Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake. Life member of the Warren County Historical Society and member, Johnsburg Historical Society.

  • Mr. Pearsall’s first book, Echoes in These Mountains: Historic Sites and Stories Disappearing in Johnsburg, an Adirondack Community (Pyramid Press, 2008) was a commercial success and received a Letter of Commendation from the 35 county Upstate New York Historical Society (spring 2009).
  • Echoes in These Mountains included the first documented evidence that famed Civil War photographer Mathew Brady was born in Johnsburg in the Adirondacks. The local historical society used this documentation to erect a historical marker near Brady’s family homestead. The Glens Falls Post Star wrote an article on Pearsall’s Brady research and the story was picked up by the Associated Press and re-published in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the New York Daily News and newspapers across the country.
  • Over 40 articles written and published on historic topics in the Adirondacks in the past 5 years.
  • B.A. in English, State University of New York at Oswego (June 1971)
  • In 2000, Glenn and his wife Carol created the Glenn and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation “dedicated to improving the quality of life for year round residents of the Adirondack Park.

When not pursuing his passion for history and philanthropy, Mr. Pearsall is a Senior Portfolio Manager for a wealth management team in Glens Falls, NY.

Holly Gaskin

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Holly Gaskin grew up on Long Island, NY, where she developed an interest in writing at an early age. Her influences are as diverse as Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Dr. Seuss.

Holly moved to Watertown, NY in 2001, in pursuit of a career in broadcasting. She has worked for local country and rock radio stations. She has been the recipient of the prestigious NYS Broadcasters Award on four occasions, as one half of a popular Morning Show team.

Holly’s published titles are: A Little Company (2007), Tricked (2009) and Finding My Father: A Search For the Truth in the Face of Alzheimer’s (2011). While she started out writing in the thriller/ suspense genre, Holly’s next effort will be an "early chapter book" for very young readers!

Juliane B. Flora

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Juliane B. Flora is an author with a deep appreciation for nature. As a child, she spent summers on New York’s Fire Island, fueling her interest in the natural environment. She began her writing career while a student at Goddard College in Vermont, and it was there that she began working on her Haas series. She views the study of nature as an opportunity to further explore the world of science, making it not only more accessible to younger students but entertaining as well.