7 authors drop by South Butler Community Library for Q&A session
SAXONBURG — Seven local authors dropped by South Butler Community Library in Saxonburg on Wednesday night, April 26, to sell copies of their books, preview their future books and answer questions from aspiring writers.
It was the first Gathering of Authors event of the year for the library.
“We started it only because we thought it would be nice to have all these authors together,” said Linda Davis, who kick-started the event. “Since COVID, we haven’t done too many.”
All seven authors are represented by Word Association Publishers, a self-publishing house based in Tarentum, Allegheny County.
The works of the authors ran the gamut of genres, from self-help guides to cookbooks to historical nonfiction to speculative religious drama. Leading off was Dr. Wayne J. DeCroo, promoting his most recent book, “Stock Option Trading for Beginners A-Z.”
“I really want to share this with people … how to turn a little bit of money into a big amount of money,” said DeCroo, whose regular profession is as a dentist in Pittsburgh. “And you can do that with option trading.”
Next was former Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Valley News Dispatch writer George Guido, who promoted two of his books, both of which deal with the history of Western Pennsylvania. The first book he presented was “Alle-Kiski Sports History,” which, as the name suggests, tells the stories of more than 100 years of sports in and around Pittsburgh.
One section of the book focuses on the early history of Knoch High School’s football program. As told in his book, the early years for Knoch were not exactly smooth sailing.
“The practice field was only 90 yards long, so they really couldn’t get much of a practice in. And they didn’t have goal posts, so they couldn’t practice their kicking,” Guido said. “Plus, they didn’t have a home stadium, so they had to play all their games on the road.”
After Guido came Robert Cameron “Cam” Malcolm IV, a retired pastor who went on to write the two “Divine Christmas Ghost Story” books — the second of which was released in August. According to Malcolm, the series is planned to reach six books.
“Every book I write, I want to teach something,” Malcolm said. “This ghost story has a moral point to it … because it’s a faith-based book. There’s a little bit of Bible in it.”
Malcolm has also written “Mary Magdalene: New Testament Eve,” which offers new insight on Mary Magdalene’s role in the Bible.
Malcolm was followed by John and Sukey Jamison, formerly owners of Jamison Farm in Latrobe, and prominent figures in the “farm-to-table” movement. The Jamisons were on hand to promote their book, “Coyotes in the Pasture & Wolves at the Door,” the story of how they managed to sustain their business for decades. The book also features some of their recipes.
Next was Judy Brown Vettori, who is soon to release her debut book, “Off the Beaten Path,” a travelogue of her adventures on a road trip through America’s “flyover country.”
“My friend and I decided to drive through the area and stop at every roadside attraction we could find,” Vettori said. “We stopped at every ball of string, Volkswagen spider, tire caterpillar, alien water tower, tree in the middle of the road.
“We talked to the locals, and we learned the history. We learned in a lot of cases … why these things were out there through these roadside stops. We experienced how inventive and creative and amazing America is.”
Finishing things off was the emcee for the evening, C. William Davis III, who is most well-known for his “Clive Aliston” trilogy of books. The series currently consists of “The Forever Man,” “Tail of the Scorpion” and “The Ticket Master.”
The second book, in particular, released mere months before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, gained attention from an unexpected source, as “Tail of the Scorpion” dealt in themes of a terrorist attack bringing the United States to its knees. While the book was released in 2008, well after the attacks, the manuscript was written in the mid-1960s while Davis was in school.
“I have a friend who was the head of the FBI in Pittsburgh,” Davis said. “When he read this book, he called me up and he said, ‘Bill, where did you get the idea of what these terrorists did?’”
Davis is working on the fourth book in the series, “Lady Lethal,” which is a stand-alone entry in the series while still taking place in the same continuity. He also teased the possibility of a potential Hollywood film adaptation of the Clive Aliston series, saying that he personally reached out to Tom Berenger (star of “Major League” and “Gettysburg”) for the starring role should it come to pass.
If a film does get made, Davis intends to have it shot along Main Street in Saxonburg.
“Is it a maybe? Sure is. Is it a could be? Sure is. So all we can do is push for it,” Davis said.
