Showing posts with label Egrets to the Flames. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egrets to the Flames. Show all posts

Sunday, June 1, 2008

An Award and a Story by Peg Russell


The Award:
Great news from Oceanview!
We are pleased to announce that four Oceanview titles are among the winners of the 2008 National Indie Excellence Awards, a prestigious national awards program recognizing excellence in independent publishing.
Among this year’s winners are:
Stuff to Die For by Don Bruns – Winner, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Category
Egrets to the Flames by Barbara Anton – Winner, General Fiction Category
The Castro Gene by Todd Buchholz – Award-winning Finalist, Mystery/ Suspense/Thriller Category
Ladykiller by Lawrence Light and Meredith Anthony –Award-winning Finalist, Mystery/Suspense/ Thriller Category
When we founded Oceanview in 2005, we endeavored to create a tradition of excellence in independent publishing and we are both humbled and proud to have four of our titles among the winners of the 2008 National Indie Excellence Awards.
Congratulations to all of this year’s winners! Oceanview Publishing Where great books are always on the horizon


And now the story:
Barbara Anton was one of my writing group, the Hotsies. She had written a novel, and sent it around, but it got nowhere. One reply said there was no market for a book about sugar cane growing in the Everglades. She put it in a drawer and left it there.
Barbara wrote many published articles, her plays were performed off, off Broadway, she, who had no college degree, was teaching writing at USF New College.
When we would mention her novel, she shrugged it off, declaring she wasn't going to work on it any more.
Another writer mentioned Barbara's novel to her publisher, who requested a copy and over a lunch, Barbara signed the contract.
Then our editor Hotsie told Barbara that she must see a doctor, she looked terrible. Pancreatic cancer took her within a month of the diagnosis. She died with two Hotsies holding her hand and stroking her hair.
Her memorial service was at Florida Studio Theatre, and included actors readings and Hotsie singing the song she wrote, Proud to be an American.
Barbara's novel was published after her death.






Peg Russell is a member of Netwest and lives in Murphy, NC. Before she came to the mountains she was an active member of the Sarasota Fiction Writers, the Hotsies writing group, Selby Poets, and led a Summer Light Verse Workshop every year.
She was commissioned to write a booklet for the Sarasota Historical Society, Dreamers of Our Past, and she co-authored a Beginning Genealogy booklet for Selby Public Library. Her poetry and light verse have been published in the Florida English Journal, Robert Wallace's Light Years, The Tampa Tribune, and the DogGone Good Times. Her features and interviews have been published in the The Sarasota Herald Tribune, Peppertree Literary Magazine, and the Cherokee Scout. Reminisce Magazine bought one of her articles. Her one act play, Kate Howe, had a public reading during the Fogarty Cafe Summer Festival, and her short play, Star Spangled Duo, was a winner in the Florida Studio Theatre Summer Shorts contest. Now a full time resident of Murphy, she is active in Richard Argo's Prose Critique Group and Friends of Murphy Library Writers Workshop.