Meet the Reviewers
San Francisco Book Review has a staff of more than 100 book reviewers from around the country. Contact us if you’re interested in becoming a book reviewer.
Axie Barclay
Ax is a Michigan writer with a cow-habit. When she’s not milking cows, making disgruntled noises at what disgusting thing the heeler dogs dredge up, riding horses, or keeping the fence up around her small beef herd, she’s holed up reading a book or tapping out stories and articles on her laptop. She graduated with a B.S. degree in English, Journalism, and Anthropology from Central Michigan University. She’s usually hard at work on various works of fiction, poetry, nonfiction articles, and book reviews, and has begun to dabble in commercial writing as well. When she’s not working, she enjoys kicking back with her honey and friends at a campfire with some hardy-flavored beers, and she makes a mean mojito. Chat her up at barclayfarmsandlit.blogspot.com where she delves into literature and farming with a relish… and occasionally ketchup. Some of her articles can be found at www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/axbarclay. She’s also on twitter and facebook at www.twitter.com/axieb and www.facebook.com/axieb.
Robyn Oxborrow
I am a part-time freelance writer and editor based in Reno, NV. As a native Nevadan–first born and raised in Pahrump, then relocated to Reno to attend the University of Nevada, Reno–I find the desert both relaxing and a challenge at times since the weather can change quickly. I graduated in May 2009 with B.A. in English writing and minor in photography. During my last year at UNR, I lucky to have interned at the University Of Nevada Press and gain a wealth of knowledge about book publishing. I have a growing interest in working for print and online publishers, and greatly enjoy helping others to develop their ideas into a story or artwork.
In my free time, I enjoy writing, rock climbing, lounging by the Truckee River or Lake Tahoe when the weather permits, taking part in Reno’s interesting nightlife, and visiting San Diego or San Francisco when I can get the chance. Currently, I’ve been taking poetry workshops and learning web development.
You can find me at http://www.linkedin.com/in/roxborrow or www.roxborrow.com (under development).
Jennifer Melville
Jennifer Melville is a freelance writer currently living in sunny Jacksonville, Florida. She is a busy mother of four and the proud wife of a Navy helicopter pilot. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Maryland. She was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest but has traveled all over the United States since marrying her husband in 2004.
Jennifer’s work has appeared in multiple print and online publications, including Natural Awakenings Magazine, Women’s Digest, Jax4Kids Magazine, Jax Air News, and the San Francisco Chronicle. She has written book reviews for the Story Circle Network for several years and always has a new novel on her nightstand. Crime mysteries and historical romances are her all-time favorites. She is currently writing a Y.A. novel, as well as a historical romance.
Stacia Levy
Stacia Levy is a linguistics and ESL professor in California. She currently works at National University and University of the Pacific. Research interests include academic writing and second language learners. She has published two academic texts.
Her first love, however, is fiction, and she enjoys literary fiction, as well mysteries and romance. She has completed one romance novel, and is working on a mystery/crime novel about hate crime on a college campus. (Both the crime and campus are fictional, despite some readers’ concern to the contrary.) She recently won an honorable mention in the Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards for her short story, “Father.” She lives in Sacramento with her husband and daughter.
Jodi M. Webb
Jodi Webb was destined to be an enthusiastic reader. Her mother was an English teacher with a rec room with shelves of books whose idea of a good time was to take all the kids to the library. Like her mom, Jodi’s idea of a good time is taking her kids to the library where all the librarians know her by name. Speaking of names, she named her older daughter after a character in a book. Her other two kids have names with less literary roots. When she isn’t perusing the dusty library shelves, Jodi is busy writing something she hopes will someday sit on those shelves. As a writer, Jodi has hundreds of magazine articles to her credit as well as one book Pennsylvania Trivia. She keeps working on that historical novel that just won’t end! And in between she organizes blog tours for authors through WOW-Women on Writing and writes two blogs: Words by Webb and Schuylkill Matters. The last book store in Jodi’s county closed in early 2010. Their months long going-out-of-business sale was like the longest wake ever. Book lovers were constantly meeting at the store to buy ”Just one more book.” Now the nearest bookstore is 45 minutes away(Jodi timed it). So when she had the opportunity to review books, Jodi jumped at the chance. She missed that feeling of discovering a jewel unexpectedly on the bookstore shelves. Now she gets her fix via packages from the San Francisco/Sacramento Book Reviews.
George Erdosh
George is a culinary scientist, food writer, and certified cooking teacher with a strong science and research background (Ph.D., McGill University, Montreal). He is the author of 10 published food-related books: a six-book series for young readers Cooking Throughout American History and The African-American Kitchen; Start and Run a Catering Business (in its 4th edition, translated into five languages), Tried and True Recipes from a Caterer’s Kitchen and What Recipes Don’t Tell You, as well as numerous articles and magazines and newspapers.
Originally an exploration geologist, he switched career to be a high-end caterer, a business he ran for more than 10 years, before switching to food writing and running cooking classes.
Katie Cappello
A native of Phoenix, Arizona, and former resident of New Orleans, Katie Cappello currently resides in Walnut Grove, a small farming town in the Sacramento Delta. She graduated with an MFA in Poetry from Arizona State University, where she edited Hayden’s Ferry Review. Her poems can be found in journals, such as Burnside Review, Cave Wall, Crab Orchard Review, Fourteen Hills, and Los Angeles Review. Katie is the author of the poetry collection Perpetual Care (Elixir Press, 2009) and the chapbook A Classic Game of Murder (Dancing Girl Press, 2009). Katie is, in equal measure, a freelance wizard, reading fiend, and haphazard gardener. She blogs about literature and life on the farm at www.drowningthefield.blogspot.com.
Albert Riehle
Albert Riehle consented to step away from the blogosphere and write book reviews for us, but feels badly about using his powers for evil instead of good. Wracked with guilt over becoming a critic, he often cries himself to sleep at night wondering what his heroes Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi would think of him for joining the Dark Side. Only the fact that his opinions about books (and everything else for that matter) are always right give him any comfort. When he’s not reading and reviewing, Albert is usually found working as a Sales & Marketing Manager. He enjoys long, romantic walks on the beach, but not as much as he loves short, spiteful sprints on the water. His beloved hometown Chicago Cubs have broken his heart 35 times and counting. Albert has broken far fewer television sets after learning to surround himself with soft, squishy items when the Cubs game is on so that when he throws them, he does less damage. Most of his blogs are like Fight Club; the first rule is that you can’t talk about them—or where to find them—but he occasionally remembers to update his flagship blog at http://albertriehle.blogspot.com. Finally, he’d like you to know that no animals were harmed in the writing of this bio, but if a spider had wandered across the screen, he probably would have gone medieval on its ass.
Rachel Wallace
Rachel Wallace is a research assistant holding a Master’s degree in biology with a habit of moving every couple years. It would take all her fingers, and most of her toes, to count all the places she’s lived, but she currently resides in Davis, CA, with her husband, two dogs, and one overly inquisitive horse. Reading has been a lifelong hobby of Rachel’s, with no book safe from her wide-ranging interests. When not reading – which takes up most of her spare time – Rachel is writing, watching sports, traveling, debating the merits of various video games with the above-mentioned husband, or working with rescue horses.
Debbie Suzuki
Debbie Suzuki is a quality engineer working for Adobe Inc. In her free time, she loves to read and blog. Reading has always been a favorite past time since she was a small child. She would spend her afternoons at the library reading or spending time with the librarians. This pattern has continued as she worked in her high school and university library. In 2005, she earned her Master of Library Science from San Jose State University and hopes to one day work as a young adult librarian. Some of her favorite genres to read are historical and paranormal romances and young adult fiction. In 2008, she started her blog, Debbie’s World of Books, http://debbiesworldofbooks.com/. Stop by to check out book reviews, giveaways, author interviews and more.
Leslie Wolfson
In her first gig as a book reviewer for a city newspaper, Leslie Wolfson was a struggling freelance writer who dared to send the editor a bill for her reviews, and was promptly fired! This was back in the 80’s when she actually received $50 per review, which was pretty good money in those days. After giving up freelance writing for about twenty years, she is writing again on the side. (Working with high-risk teens as an English teacher is her day job.) Leslie has had many articles published in magazines and newsletters (most of them paid) and has also published six children’s plays (also paid.) But book reviewing is so darned fun, she’s been doing it for free over the last three years. To warm up, she wrote book reviews for both Children’s Literature and VOYA, where she occasionally saw her byline on Amazon.com. Leslie has moved on, and up, naturally, to Sacramento/San Francisco Book Review. Having been a writer since the age of six (she “wrote” her first poem at five) she is always working on something having to do with writing. Her current project is her Y.A. novel, which she hopes to finish first, and publish second.
Amanda Mitchell
Kidnapped by gypsies at an early age and subsequently abandoned by the gypsies, Amanda Mitchell spent her formative years moving cross-country, from Los Angeles, California, to southern Florida to northern Wisconsin. All of these moves taught her what was really important: clothes, toys, even siblings could be replaced once you moved into your new house, but nothing could take the place of a well-loved book. Amanda’s father blames his chronic back problems on the boxes of her books he personally carried up and down dozens of flights of stairs during Amanda’s childhood. All this reading eventually led to some writing, which eventually led to a weekly humor column for a regional Wisconsin newspaper. (To this day, no one’s really sure how that happened.) Amanda’s since given up the column, though she still writes from her new hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And she still reads. A lot. Her favorite books include Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and Christopher Moore’s Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. Amanda’s blog can be found at Non Skweeter
.
Heather Ortiz
My mother always told me that I’d been born to a group of traveling circus performers, but as the years went by and I found myself strangely uninterested in being shot out of a cannon, I began to suspect she might be pulling my leg. I did exhibit some carnival-like freakishness, however, when I began reading at age two, and by the time I was four, it was a common practice to amaze friends and visitors by handing me a newspaper and having me read it out loud. Then I’d make it disappear into thin air. When I was six,,I went to my school’s library and picked out my first ever “grown-up” book, The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. After a brief tussle with the librarian (that stately matron was fully convinced that that book was far above the abilities of a six-year-old) I managed to stun her with my incredible alliterative abilities and a few well-chosen naughty words. The librarian learned an important lesson about the dangers of trying to balk a well-read six-year-old, and I was allowed to take the book home. I almost didn’t bring it back. I was in love. My childhood was plagued with an infestation of stepmothers (three at the last count) and since the justice system has yet to add “annoying the hell out of me” to the list of offenses that are punishable by severe defenestration, the only place I could escape was into books. I’m almost positive I read the entire contents of my high school library in four short years. I even smuggled home Stephen King novels, although Stepmother #2 had expressly forbade them from coming into the house. College and on-campus living brought a respite and a huge new library to read my way through. Unfortunately, it also brought the bitter revelation that I was not cut out to be a novelist. Turns out that writing a novel isn’t all book signings and Oprah appearances and getting to work in your pajamas all day. Apparently one has to actually also write things down in a comprehensive and logical manner. Every day! I spent a week in a despondent funk that involved a lot of Alanis Morissette, a lot of cookie dough ice cream, and not a lot of showering. But, eventually, I got over it and resumed loving books with my trademark level of ferocious enjoyment. I grew up in New Mexico, terrorized South California for eight years and am now currently located in North Carolina working as an IT Program Planning Specialist. Life with my fiancée and our 60 lb Norwegian Elkhound named Loki includes watching a lot of movies (Loki loves musicals), creating my own line of snarky note cards for my Etsy shop, motorcycle rides in nice weather and books. Books, books and more books!
Lanine Bradley
Lanine has loved reading since she was a small child. Coming from a long-line of school teachers, she had little choice in the matter. Now, as an adult, she reads approximately one book a day. “Books have always served as my stress reliever. Any time I’m having a bad day, all I have to do is pick up a book. Twenty minutes later, I’m refreshed and ready to face the world.” A self-proclaimed bibliophile, she recently downsized her personal library from 600 books to her favorite 225. “I had to, we were running out of bookshelves,” she explained. In 2003, after graduating with a Bachelor’s in Strategic Management, Lanine swore never to set foot on campus again. She recently had to eat her words when she returned to California State University in 2008 to earn her MBA, double-majoring in Finance and Urban Land Development. She anticipates graduating in December of 2010. “Being on campus again as an older student is amazing. I feel I can better appreciate all university life has to offer, such as the awesome art shows or the wonderful guest speakers. I recently was able to catch Henry Rollins when he preformed spoken word on campus. It was amazing.” Last year she left corporate life to work as a property management coordinator for a small start up company and has never been happier. Lanine lives in Roseville, CA with her two teenagers, two cats, and a Chihuahua/terrier mix. When not working, studying, or manage her brood, she indulges in her passion for coffee, bookstores, movies, blogging, spending quality time with friends, and her dirty little secret–an addiction to reality TV shows. Working on her first novel, Lanine is hopeful to finish early next year.
Jordan Magill
A recovering political consultant, Jordan Magill is an alumnus of both the Squaw Valley and the Tin House writer’s conferences. In 2010, he will be disembarking to New York with his very understanding wife and their three children, where he has been offered a fellowship by NYU’s Creative Writing Program. Jordan’s first novel, Who Mourns for Saul?, a retelling of the rise and fall of the first king of Israel, is currently out for reading by publishers.
Kelli Christiansen
Kelli Christiansen launched bibliobibuli professional editorial services in 2007, putting 20 years of experience in publishing to work for individual authors and publishers on a variety of manuscripts as an editor, publishing consultant, and writer. Kelli began her publishing career in 1988 as a bookseller for B. Dalton (part of Barnes & Noble). She served as a journalist and city editor for a chain of community newspapers before becoming an acquisitions editor first at Publications International, Ltd./Consumer Guide and later at McGraw-Hill. Prior to launching bibliobibuli, Kelli was an executive editor at ABA Publishing (part of the American Bar Association). Kelli has worked on more than 200 books, including several that have won kudos from a number of publications, including The New York Times, Business Week, Barron’s, and Library Journal. Her clients include Amacom, Bloomberg Press, Kaplan Publishing, and Sourcebooks. Kelli works out of her home office in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
Sheli Ellsworth
Sheli Ellsworth is a free-lance writer and mother of two teenagers who lives in Thousand Oaks, CA. She has a master’s degree in psychology used mainly to annoy family and friends. Her writing has been published in the Pacific Daily News, the Ventura County Star, BackHome magazine, Auto Week, Zone4 and she also writes Dear Miss Betty-advice for those who need to be slapped for Spotlight on Recovery
.
Nicholas Evan Sarantakes
Nicholas Evan Sarantakes is a Bay Area native and a historian. He currently teaches strategy at the Naval War College. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, an M.A. from the University of Kentucky, and a B.A. from the University of Texas. He has written two books. His third Allies Against the Rising Sun: The United States, the British Nations, and the Defeat of Imperial Japan comes out in late 2009. He is currently finishing a fourth book on the 1980 Olympic boycott. He has published a number of articles that have appeared in outlets such as The Journal of Military History, and ESPN.com. He has won five writing awards for his article work, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Although trained as a historian, he has also worked as a journalist. He was a reporter and an editor for The Daily Texan, the student newspaper at the University of Texas. Since then, he was written for The Montgomery Advertiser, Austin American-Statesman, The Augusta Chronicle, and the Augusta Daily Metro. He is currently moving into the world of fiction with an effort to write a mystery novel. He reviews both fiction and non-fiction for the Sacramento Book Review. When he is not busy writing, he is trying to improve his modest snow skiing skills. He has skied in five states, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
Auey Santos
Auey Santos is a professional photographer, a voice actress, and a mom of two little boys. She was born in Indiana, but has lived in Boston, Welch WV, Tampa Bay FL, New York City, Chicago, and Pasig City. She now calls the East Bay her home. She is a very nice person and likes to smile a lot. Raised on a healthy dose of Judy Blume and Louisa May Alcott, Auey remembers smuggling books and a flashlight under the covers to continue her reading habit after lights out. The last time we looked, she has 12 books on her bedside table, which she reads on rotation as the mood strikes. Fortunately, she’s invested in a bedside lamp. She’s been wearing eyeglasses since she was 10 years old. Auey loves stories. And she likes to tell stories through her photos. Visit her photo-blog at http://www.aueysantos.com/.
D. Wayne Dworsky
Although he grew up in New Jersey, D. Wayne Dworsky was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1944. He recognized his love of nature at a very young age. In 1980, he graduated from Herbert H. Lehman College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree and launched his career in education in 1984 by teaching mathematics, which would span 21 years. Between 1983 and 1984, he achieved recognition in the Mohonk Preserve in the Shawangunks as a first-class rock climber, which led to his conquest of the Matterhorn in Zermat, Switzerland in 1985. From 1978 to 1985, he served as editor of the newsletter put out by the Spina Bifida Associatation of Greater New York. In 1987, he received his Master’s Degree from City College. In 2004, he retired from teaching and began to publish. He writes articles for American Chronicle | D. Wayne Dworsky. Publicity and praise of his fictional stories may be viewed at: http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/01591.htm. Additional information is available at his full Bio:
Joseph Arellano
Joseph Arellano is a newer member of the Sacramento Book Review team. He grew up not far from Sacramento in Stockton, where he received his B.A. in Communication Arts from the University of the Pacific (UOP). Joseph quit the Pacific debate team in order to thoroughly enjoy himself spinning records for KUOP-FM. He produced the weekly rock album reviews for the radio station and for the campus paper, The Pacifican. Joseph moved to Los Angeles for graduate school and somehow never learned to dislike the area (Southern California Book Review, anyone)? After completing law school, he pretty much decided that he wanted to do anything but boring legal work, and accepted an interesting job with a state agency. He quickly became entrenched in state service and has worked as a public servant – including teaching in the Criminal Justice Department at Sacramento State – for many, many moons. Joseph also expresses himself via his blog on which he focuses on books (yes), music (naturally), beer, running, health news, cats and other essentials. He plans to eventually start a new one, with just book and music news and reviews, which will be located at http://josephsreviews.wordpress.com. He’s also begun to try his hand at some pre-publication editing work for a technical publisher. He currently lives in Elk Grove with his wife Ruta and Norwegian Forest Cat, Munchy. He spends his time being confused about exactly what books he’s supposed to be reviewing, which tends to frustrate Heidi to no end. What is it Heidi says about supervising the team of reviewers? Oh, yeah: “It’s like herding cats!”
John Ottinger, III
John Ottinger III is passionate about science fiction and fantasy. A prolific reviewer, he has been posting reviews online and in print since 2004. More recently, he has become a regular contributor to Tor.com, as well as landing gigs reviewing for Publisher’s Weekly, Sacramento Book Review, The Fix, Fantasy Magazine, and the twitterzine Thaumatrope. In addition, he runs his own popular science fiction and fantasy blog, Grasping for the Wind (http://otter.covblogs.com), where he post reviews, interviews, free fiction, and news from the worlds of speculative fiction. John’s passion for fantasy began at a young age, when his father read him The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia before bed. From there, he graduated to reading work by David Eddings, Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, Orson Scott Card, Terry Pratchett, and George R. R. Martin. John is glad of the opportunity to review books, as it has brought his attention to many new an upcoming authors, as well as fostered interesting online friendships with fellow bloggers, authors, and publishing industry professionals. By day, John is a (not so) mild mannered financial analyst, working particularly with non-profits and churches looking to purchase real estate and construct buildings. When not working or reviewing, John enjoys watching crime dramas on television, playing with his miniature dachshund Darra, and helping out his local community through volunteer service.
Doreen Erhardt
Doreen was raised in the Santa Clara Valley, where she married in 1980. She embraced a successful fifteen-year career as a Project Planning Specialist and Supervisor at Ford Aerospace Communications Corporation (now known as Space Systems/Loral), until 1994, when she and her husband relocated to the beautiful Sierra Foothills of California-a goal they had worked towards since their introduction to Amador County in 1981. It is here that Doreen launched her second career as an artist and gallery owner. She discovered her passion for photography in 1981 when her husband bought her first SLR camera system for their first wedding anniversary. In 1990, she returned to college, studying both black & white and color photography, completing her education in 1994. Finally settling into their new life in Amador County, Doreen was invited to join the Left Bank Gallery in Jackson. From there, she become a co-owner in the Volcano Gallery, and two years later, opened her own gallery; The St. George Salon of Art in Volcano. For six years, she acted as curator; creating and executing group and solo art shows, creating and maintaining a global presence through the Internet and handling all aspects of one of the gold country’s more prominent galleries. The artist has received more than 50 awards for her art and photography, including being the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Art and Science of Photography in 2004. Doreen has collectors in the United States, China, Europe, Hong Kong and the U.K. Wishing to spend more time with her recently “retired” husband of 28 years and her camera, she left the gallery exhibition world in 2005. Since that time, Doreen has added to her website www.SalonOfArt.com many series and collections to her body of work. She offers many collections, sets and series that are well-matched for a large variety of markets. Doreen has created several mock-up product images which can be found throughout the website. Her focus in 2008/2009 is to find licensing opportunities in apparel, gift wrap, stationery, greetings card and home décor markets; to name a few. You can visit more of the artist’s work at her other shops. For great casual apparel for the family (including your pets) check out: http://www.cafepress.com/salonofart . For specialty items, such as; men’s designer ties and Ked’s shoes visit: http://www.zazzle.com/salonofart . For great greeting cards stop by: http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/salonofart. And for monthly updates on new art and product releases you can swing by http://www.squidoo.com/salonofartnews
Genny Heikka
Genny lives in California with her husband and two kids, where she balances writing with motherhood and loves both. She’s the author of two children’s books (A Trip to the Supermarket and Find the Sea Animals, to be published by Unibooks Education and Publication, Korea, 2010). She’s also an Assistant Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and edits a regular column in the North/Central California SCBWI newsletter, The Acorn. Two of Genny’s manuscripts have received awards, including her middle grade novel, Give and Take, which received Honorable Mention in the 2009 Sue Alexander Awards. In addition to her children’s writing, her work has been published in the book Kirtsy Takes a Bow: A Celebration of Women’s Favorites Online. You can find Genny writing at her blog, MyCup2Yours, and at places like Sacramento Parent Magazine, PluggedinParents, HybridMom, 5 Minutes for Faith, and MothersClick. Some of the things she loves? Coffee, chocolate (or actually any dessert), writing, reading, exercising, the smell of fresh cut grass, sunsets in Maui, hiking in Tahoe, dates with her husband in San Francisco, organic products, any movie or book that makes her cry, sushi, getting up early in the morning, candles, reading with her kids at night, and more coffee.
Megan Just
Megan Just has always been reading fanatic. As a child, she required weekly trips to the library where she would pick up a new armload of books. It’s hard to keep track of that many books and, thus, began Megan’s bad record of library fines that continues today. By mid-elementary school, Megan was animating her toys by writing stories about them, one key at a time, on her father’s old manual typewriter. Megan began reviewing books for the Sacramento Book Review in March. At the time, she was living just up the hill from Sacramento in South Lake Tahoe. Although Megan recently moved south to Redlands, California, she will continue to review books for SBR. She especially enjoys reviewing books by local authors and books that are so new they have not been released for sale yet. As a freelance writer, Megan writes for a variety of projects. She likes screenwriting and fiction writing best of all. She recently finished first drafts of two different books: one is a contemporary women’s novel, and the other, with some work and time, will be literary fiction. Megan hopes that someday her fellow SBR reviewers will be reading and analyzing her own books. You can read Megan’s Just Writing blog at www.meganjust.com.
Allena Tapia
Allena Tapia is a freelance writer, editor, mother and perpetual student. She was born and raised in 1980s Detroit. From an early age, she watched her mother climb out of the poverty of the Brightmoor barrio through books and education. By elementary school, Allena was picking up the novels assigned in her mother’s college classroom, and can still be completely lost in a book-much to the annoyance of her husband and two children. Allena developed a strong loyalty to Michigan State University when her family moved to the Lansing, Michigan area in order for her mother to complete her education. In high school, Allena discovered that other languages provided the same succor, and she eagerly took up Spanish. She eventually made her way to Michigan State University herself, majoring in English and Spanish. She recalls entire days lost in the third floor stacks at MSU’s library, and curious glances from clerks who would process out 20 books at a time for her. She began her word-oriented career editing and writing full time for both Michigan State and the local community college, but holds that the University classroom spoiled her. She much prefers to work on her own circadian rhythms, and pursue her own interests. She also enjoys prolonged travel to her husband’s family ranch in middle Mexico, where she can practice her Spanish and write quietly as her children manhandle farm animals and run wild in the village. Because of this, she has found her calling as a freelance writer and editor. She is the managing editor of a regional, bilingual social-justice oriented magazine, and has held contracts with the NYT- owned About.com, EBSCO, Thompson-Gale and M.E. Sharpe. Articles and book reviews have been printed in regional and national glossies, and much of her work focuses on Latino issues and culture. Allena regards words, linguistics, literature and language study as the “stuff of life.” Recommended reading includes “Love in the Time of Cholera” and Verbatim magazine. Her future includes completing her first novel, visiting the Alhambra in Spain, and someday retiring to Mexico with her beloved husband. She is available for freelance writing, editing and book reviewing through her company, GardenWall Publications: www.gardenwallpublications.com
.
Susan L. Roberts
I have a passion for children’s picture books and have a collection of more than 300. I’ll go into a library or books store, pull 15-20 off the shelf and spend a delightful hour reading and re-reading new titles and my favorites. It’s something about the simple, often nurturing, text and beautiful art. Whenever I’ve had a hectic day at work, I slip into bed with a few of my favorites, and life is good again. I live in Sacramento, California, have a degree in Business Administration and work in marketing. I love promotions, so writing children’s book reviews for Sacramento Book Review combines two of my passions.
Cathy Lim
Cathy Carmode Lim has been reviewing books for newspapers for more than 10 years. She was a book-page editor for two of those years, until her recent move to California’s Central Valley area. Her lifelong love of reading, along with her “professional-sounding” status as a book reviewer, has led a lot of friends and acquaintances to ask for advice on books to read or just to start up conversations about good reads. She has been able to be in a couple of book clubs and had even more opportunities to talk about books and enjoy the company. What fun – books, friends and even tasty snacks or scrumptious desserts! Cathy runs a website called Rated Reads (www.ratedreads.com) that not only provides reviews of recent books (young adult, middle reader and adult novels and nonfiction) but also gives ratings to the books based on content. Some readers find themselves frustrated on finding a popular book has a whole lot of bad language, vulgarity or sexual content (or on learning that their teen has picked up a book with that kind of material), so the site is a service to give extra information for those who like to “be warned.” It’s much like the ratings system for movies or television – and information is power. Cathy is a wife to a physical therapist and mother to four daughters, ages 13 down to 2. Books are in her office, living room and bedroom and in each of her daughters’ bedrooms. She has read with her girls every night since each was little – and still reads with the oldest at least once a week. It’s delightful time spent together. Cathy has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and works part-time now at the Visalia Times-Delta, laying out a weekly entertainment magazine (which naturally includes book pages). She is working on finding a publisher for a children’s book she has written and is next working on a young-adult book.
Andrea Rappaport
Andrea Rappaport’s passion for food and cooking was sparked early on. While most kids her age were making mud pies, Andrea found herself in the kitchen with her grandmother, who lovingly and patiently taught her to prepare the food of her Eastern European heritage. Andrea also received an early culinary education from her food -obsessed parents, who insisted on dragging her and her brother to every hot, new Los Angeles restaurant. In high school, she spent much of her free time cooking with friends and, at the age of sixteen, landed her first job at a gourmet food shop, where she was introduced to delights such as cheeses from around the world and pasta made from scratch. At eighteen, Andrea left home to attend college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and, while she majored in sociology, she found herself focusing more intently on creating exciting meals for her friends. In her senior year, it finally became clear that she should pursue a career in cooking. Encouraged by her parents to complete her degree and to get some hands-on restaurant experience before diving straight into cooking school, she took a job at a local restaurant where she found that she thrived on the pressures and excitement of restaurant life. In 1990, Andrea moved to New York to attend the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and it was during her stint there that she procured a six-month externship in Wolfgang Puck’s kitchen at Spago in Los Angeles. Upon completing her degree at the CIA, she returned to Los Angeles to cook at Spago and then left a year later to be part of the opening staff of Spago, Las Vegas. Andrea spent two years honing her craft and mastering every station in the Las Vegas restaurant, but eventually felt the need move on. The next stop on her culinary journey was in San Francisco, where she accepted the position as executive chef of the Italian restaurant Zinzino. In her six years as the chef there, Andrea received sparkling reviews from customers and food critics alike and was named a Rising Star Chef by the San Francisco Examiner. She was also invited to be a guest chef at the James Beard House in New York, one of the highest accolades an American chef can receive. Eventually, Andrea burned out on the frenetic restaurant lifestyle. She spent a year running her own catering business and then took a full-time job as the private chef for a family in the Silicon Valley, where she has remained for eight years. Today, she continues her work as a private chef and divides her time there with free-lance catering, teaching cooking to adults and children, and consulting. She is also a contributing writer for the website Chef2chef.com and writes cookbook reviews for Sacramento Book Review. Andrea spends her free time enjoying the many wonders of San Francisco, socializing with friends, and immersing herself in her cookbook collection which is more than 1200 titles strong.
Alyssa Feller
Alyssa Feller has recently returned to her hometown of Sacramento after earning a B.S. in English from BYU-Idaho. She’s loving the sunshine and not missing the cold, snowy weather at all! She now works as a freelance writer and proofreader while still finding time to do her own writing and blogging (mostly about books!). Alyssa grew up with a family of readers, and was rarely seen without a book. Weekly trips to the local library meant all the librarians recognized her and greeted her by name. Alyssa began reviewing books 4 years ago when her love of reading and writing about books led her to a volunteer position reviewing for a Young Adult book website. Alyssa loves writing for Sacramento Book Review because it gives her the opportunity to read her favorite type of books (Young Adult) and still discover some great new reads in other categories. When not reading or writing about books, Alyssa enjoys movies, musicals, and spending time with her family. When she’s lucky she also gets to take the occasional trip to her favorite place in the world: Disneyland. You can catch up with Alyssa at her blog: http://theshadyglade.blogspot.com
.
Holly Scudero
Holly Scudero has been a lover of books ever since learning to read as a child. That love continued through all of school, where she was consistently ahead of her grade level in reading, through high school and beyond; in college, she took numerous literature classes for fun, including one on Shakespeare and Bible stories. That love of books is deeply interconnected with a general love of the English language; a someday English major with an A.A. in Liberal Arts, Holly loves to write short stories and poems. In fact, a close friend of hers frequently asks her to tell her bizarrely crafted stories to fill spare time. Currently working for a financial services company in Sacramento, Holly lives in Woodland with her husband in their recently acquired house. Also living there is her cat, Freddy, a small monster who enjoys playing with his food and water and opens Holly’s dresser drawers when she is not home. Holly grew up in the Bay Area, where the majority of her family and some of her closest friends still reside. She volunteers every summer at Two Sentinels Girl Scout Camp and is a lifelong Girl Scout. Holly belongs to the Davis Women’s Book Club and absolutely loves her side job as a writer for the Sacramento Book Review. Holly has been a vegetarian since shortly after graduating high school. She absolutely loves to cook exciting vegetable dishes, and loves it even more when she can sneak vegetables into unexpected places, such as in cakes. Holly is a bit of a health nerd, actually. She’s also a bit of a comic book nerd, and a video game nerd. Well, Holly is kind of a nerd in general, and she wears the title proudly. She frequently attends comic book conventions and makes a journey to the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, every year. Her favorite genres have traditionally been popular fiction or fantasy, but lately she has been rediscovering a love for classic literature and has found that some chick lit isn’t all that bad. Her favorite books currently include The Jigsaw Woman and The Time Traveler’s Wife, as well as The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice & Fire series.
Amber K. Stott
Amber K. Stott joined the Sacramento Book Review as a freelance writer in March 2009. She also writes gardening tales, recipes, book and restaurant reviews on her blog AwakeAtTheWhisk.blogspot.com.
Amber’s award-winning writing has earned her several first-place honors from the Sacramento Public Relations Association. Currently, she serves as the head of fundraising and communications for Women’s Empowerment, a Sacramento-based nonprofit serving homeless women and children. She has raised more than $4 million for nonprofits including WEAVE and Freedom from Hunger, and serves on the board of the California Capital Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She also holds awards for nonprofit event planning.
Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Illinois, and from the same university, a Master’s degree in African Studies and Women’s Studies, Amber also received a Fulbright Hayes scholarship to study Zulu. She also speaks Danish, and was a Rotary Exchange Student to Denmark.
Raised by a librarian, Amber is often seen with a book in hand. As soon as she could reach the kitchen counter, she baked regularly with her grandma and bakery-owner aunt. She also picked fruit in the yard to make jam with her dad. Today, Amber tends to five raised garden beds with her husband in Sacramento, California, using crop rotation and organic methods. Her seasonal recipes draw inspiration from the ripe produce in her back yard. Her favorite books include Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl.
Alex C. Telander
Alex C. Telander was born in 1979 in Málaga, on the south coast of Spain, where he lived for the first nineteen years of his life, attending an English high school. He started writing with a vested interest at the age of fifteen with short stories for class and personal enjoyment. In his last few years in high school, he started his own newspaper, the St. Anthony’s Gazette, where he published some of his stories, as well as a wealth of other material that he mostly wrote for the paper. Attending Long Beach State, he majored in English: Creative Writing, which he earned a B.A., as well as a minor in history focused on medieval studies. While in college, he wrote for the independent, student-run newspaper, formerly the Long Beach Union, now the Union Weekly (http://www.asicsulb.org/unionweekly/), first as a staff writer, then as an editor, starting the Literature Page, where his book reviewing first began. In his last year at Long Beach State, he was Editor in Chief. Alex C. Telander is a very busy guy. He has been reviewing books for more than a decade and over the last few years for BookLoons.com and now also working for the great Sacramento Book Review. He also keeps his own website, www.alexctelander.com, updated every couple of months with his book reviews and other writings, including the “Stream of Consciousness” page. He is the creator and host of the unique book review and author interview podcast BookBanter (http://bookbanter.podbean.com), which has new episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month. He has already interviewed big authors like Brandon Sanderson, Amber Benson, Dan Simmons, and Bernard Cornwell, with many more interviews planned. You can check out BookBanter at: http://bookbanter.podbean.com, or search for it on iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=293685675). Check out his Facebook group or send an email to bookbanterpodcast@gmail.com to join the mailing list. Alex is currently working on what he hopes to be the last rewrite of his mystery/thriller novel, Nothing is an Accident, about a man who wakes up and doesn’t know who he is or where he is, or how he even got there. He is also working on a comic book series called 1066: a historical account of the Battle of Hastings. He has already completed a young adult fantasy novel, Kyra, with plans for many more books, including Wyrd, a historical fiction novel set in sixth century Britain. With what little time he has left, he spends it reading, reading, and more reading, watching TV, hanging out with friends, and watching his favorite baseball team, the San Francisco Giants, when he can. Go Giants!
Laura Friedkin
Laura Friedkin lives on the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington state. She and her husband relocated there last spring after her husband took a job as a network engineer for one of the local Indian tribes. Laura’s a graphic designer, with 20 years of experience, and has worked for printing firms as well as several businesses, doing packaging design for health and beauty aids, pharmaceutical and agricultural products, and sports nutrition supplements. Currently, she is doing volunteer work in her new small-town community and spending precious time with her aging parents, who retired from Illinois to the Peninsula 18 years ago. Laura is an avid reader and enjoys doing reviews for the Sacramento Book Review, which opens up her viewpoint to reading a wide variety of book genres. There’s a nice perk in getting to choose from a broad number of books, and insures her of a steady flow of books for her reading appetite! She’s been reading all her life and looks at it as a way to keep her imagination vivid and her thought process well oiled. It’s also a wonderful means of escape sometimes. Having spent numerous vacations on the Olympic Peninsula, there are a lot of places yet to explore, and it’s a far cry from living in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado, where she and her husband lived for 6 years. It’s been an interesting process, adjusting to small-town living, where the population is in the neighborhood of 25,000, after living in a populace of well over 500,000. The pace of life is much slower, the climate more agreeable, and the scenery, profound, with towering mountains and miles of beach to wander.
Meredith Greene
Meredith Greene is native Californian, novelist, and avid blogger. She has been married for 13 years, works from a home office, and spends much time with her four energetic children. In elementary school, she discovered Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and began reading classic literature in earnest. The urge to write soon after blossomed from an inkling to serious intent, and her passion for poetry and literature did not diminish into college. Now a writer for BelatorBooks.com, she has authored four fiction novels and is currently co-authoring a historically-accurate fiction series with her husband and fellow novelist Stephen Greene, starting with On the Way to America, a novel chronicling two immigrants coming to New York in early 1909. Seeking to further her professional experience in freelance writing, she began writing reviews for the Sacramento Book Review, and found the experience to be both informative and rewarding; she views such publications to be important venues in encouraging appreciation for the written word. Despite the veritable cloud of literature available, her favorite books remain The Count of Monte Cristo, Pride and Prejudice and My Family and Other Animals.
Mark Petruska
Mark Petruska is in love and wants the world to know it. The object of his affection? The Pacific Northwest, where he has lived for the past 15 years. Born in Hawaii, his father was in the Air Force, and the family moved often. Over the years, Mark has called many places home – Dayton, Ohio; Rapid City, South Dakota; San Jose, California – but his heart belongs to Vancouver, Washington, where he currently resides. Mark is also passionate about writing. In the 8th grade, he finished first in a short-story contest, and has been hooked on the written word ever since. When he turned 30, he decided to try his hand at novel writing, and has cranked out four books over the years; he is currently hard at work on #5. “My dream is to become a published author,” Mark says. “I’d love to walk into a bookstore someday, and pull a novel with my name on it from the shelf.” In the meantime, Mark is enjoying the experience of reviewing books for Sacramento Book Review. “It’s a win-win situation for me,” he says. “I love reading, and this has given me the chance to discover some promising new authors. Plus, it’s giving me some valuable publishing experience, which will hopefully help me out when it’s time to pitch my latest book. I’m excited to be a part of the whole process, and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Sacramento Book Review.” Mark is divorced, and shares custody of his two children, Jason and Danielle. His “day job” is a marketing coordinator for a pressure washer manufacturer in southwest Washington. Hobbies include cooking, photography, “mind-numbing reality television,” and hiking in the Columbia Gorge. omnivorously and is a dedicated outdoorsman. He lives in Menlo Park, in Northern California.
