Truth Be Told

I moderated a panel of non-fiction writers on Tuesday, August 14^th for The Book Shack in Kingston, MA. It was entitled Truth Be Told. My guests were: 

Ted Burbank, Alberta Sequira,

Jim Coogan, Susan Trausch, and Joyce Keller Walsh.

Being strictly a writer of fiction, and in most cases, tales very loosely based in reality, I found myself a unique choice. To make it my own, I composed an introduction to celebrate this diverse group of driven writers and the power of their truth-telling pens. I have color coded the passages that refer to the certain writers in the piece. Please, look them up, buy their publications and celebrate their independent voices.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

A horde of oppressed hooligans break the law and discard crates of breakfast beverage into the sea unleashing the mightiest country the world has ever known.

A business and investment entrepreneur finds the muse that normally has him share business strategy now calls to him to pull away the shroud of mystery deep within Plymouth’s Burial Hill.

Yet another horde of the oppressed armed with cell phones, a mighty app and the taste of freedom birth a democratic state.

A woman finds that the strength of memoir is enough to free her from the shackles of generational predisposition and discovers the joys of unburdened living.

Another horde, ok, a gaggle, no, a couple of nerds in a garage string together a series of 0 and 1s with punch cards and a Frankenstein of machinery ushering in a new era of man.

A man with a life-long love affair with the land where he was raised discovers the healing properties of looking at the lighter side of life.

This time they were definitely a horde, men playing a boys game defy all odds with no exceptional talents bestowed on them from the Gods, free a state of optimists from a formidable curse.

A woman after caught in what appears to be the rudder-less future of retirement finds direction in following her heart and what has driven her from day one.

Yet another horde of talented youth fueled on pride and talent bind together peoples of diverse lands and philosophies for fleeting moments of pomp and circumstance based solely on a thousand life stories and the purity of ambition.

And an accomplished playwright/author writer unearths a murder that reads better than most mystery novels simply because it really happened.

And one man builds a device that gives the hordes of hordes the ability to document their world, inspire their world, even transcend their world and it never needs batteries or power save that of imagination, thank you Guttenberg.

Ladies and gentle, truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Theodore P. Burbank (Ted)

celebrates Plymouth’s pride and some of its hidden treasures.

Founder of Lighthouse Financial, a family business guru and publisher a several interactive tools to aid individuals through the quagmire of small business to retirement. Titles such as The Handbook of Business Valuations, Valuation and Sale of Small and Mid-size Companies, you get the picture, and then all of a sudden comes

 

Alberta Sequeira

four-time award winning author of three memoirs including Please, God, Not Two was nominated for the Editors Choice Award 2010 and appeared in the December 20, 2010 issue of Publishers Weekly.

Someone Stop This Merry-Go-Round; An Alcoholic Family in Crisis memoirs life as the wife of an alcoholic
Please God, Not Two; This Killer Called Alcoholism. A sequel the tells story of her daughter’s struggle with alcoholism and her consequent demise.
A Healing Heart; a Spiritual Renewal a heartfelt tale of her father, her family, and finding herself on a journey to Medjugorje. (2006)
Co-authored Loose Ends by Authors Without Borders (New Bedford) books for troops. 
In progress, a novel entitled The Rusty Years and editing stories of alcoholics and addicts and their views of various recovery programs for future publication.
Website:
www.albertasequeira.com
Blog: www.albertasequeira.wordpress.com

Jim Coogan
Here’s somebody who knows what to do with his retirement! After teaching Mr. Coogan has written;

Cape Cod Companion: The History and Mystery of Old Cape Cod in 1999.

Cape Cod Voyage: A Journey Through Cape Cod's History and Lore  In 2001.

Sail Away Ladies: Stories of Cape Cod Women in the Age of Sail in 2003.

Cape Cod Harvest: A Gathering in of Cape Cod Stories in 2007.

Interspersed between some of these were the children’s books.

Clarence: The Cranberry Who Couldn't Bounce in 2002.

I Saw A Sea Monster, Yes I Did! In 2004.

Priscilla the Amazing Pinkywink in 2008.

And most currently

Cape Odd: Strange and Unusual Stories About Cape Cod in 2010.

A collection of anecdotes and unusual stories about the Cape showcasing strange happenings and curious events--both natural and man-made.

Susan Trausch

Former, and that’s the operative word here, former award-winning Boston Globe columnist addresses facing the world of retirement head on in her memoir Groping Toward Whatever – or How I Learned to Retire (Sort Of).

 

Joyce Keller Walsh

Now we have someone who hails from the world of fiction to embark into the “just-the-facts-ma’am” world of non-fiction. How’s this for a dossier?

Author of The Pittsley Couty Chronicles trilogy.

(Juckets, Swamp Yankees, Bog Men)

Winterkill brought some histirical fact into the psychological mystery genre.

And most recently, (love the title) Strummin’ the Banjo Moon in 2012.

After all this and numerous stage plays as well she has just had published her first foray into non-fiction with

SLEUTH-blog an account of her real-time investigation of a cold-case murder in 1969 in Fall River, MA.

She is also a co-founder of Authors Without Borders along with Alberta Sequeira

 Look for her first blog in June, “Thoughts from a Country Road.”

Website: www.joycewalsh.com

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