Peddler's Post has partnered with the "Citrus Writers of Florida" to bring you relatable short stories from local literary talent. Check out the members of the Citrus Writers of Florida below!
PJ Braley
Deciding that copy editing other writers’ manuscripts was not enough; PJ began writing her own stories. But it wasn’t until her imagination conjured up an alien assassin named Grant Gates that she had a real story to tell. When PJ isn’t writing about aliens negotiating the labyrinth of human love while trying to save the planet, you will find her sitting under the umbrella on the sundeck with her rescue corgi, Nymeria.
PJ, aka Paula, is the President of Citrus Writers of Florida ([email protected]).
Kathleen Small
K. L. Small joined Citrus Writers of Florida in 2023 and is delighted to share her writing with interested readers. She and her husband live on a horse ranch called Carousel Acres, with two horses, four barn cats, and assorted wildlife.
She writes for the young and the young at heart. Her published books include A Dress To Remember: A Fairy Tale, and The Brass Ring Series (The Magic Carousel and The Christmas Carousel). They are available on Amazon and wherever books are sold online.
She writes a monthly newsletter about life on Carousel Acres and her writing adventures. Subscribe by visiting her website
Mary Lu Scholl
Mary Lu wrote stories for fun and friends until she kissed the Blarney Stone. The books came tumbling out after that. She has written reluctance romance, horror and drama. But she found her niche in contemporary cozy mysteries. She abhors bad language, does not write explicit sex or gory blood and guts. Even in the mysteries, the real fun is in the characters; and that is where she excels. Making you laugh is the point. Contemporary stories center around two series.
Trailer Park Travails has Patty Decker, a reluctant resident of a retirement mobile home and RV Park in central Florida. She's just trying to get along (well, sort of trying) but neighbors keep dying. For some obscure reason, she always seems to be on the wrong side of the crime scene tape...
Nature Coast Calamities had Bernie Murphy. A handsome Irishman and a contemporary of Patty. He inherited a Sears House from 100 years ago with a big barn. His strong Gaelic heritage seems to bring out all things mythical in west-central Florida. The Irish Big Foot (Gruagach) Pu'ka, a leprechaun, and InverNessie - so far...
Available as a speaker - writing, publishing
Gary Kenworthy
Gary Kenworthy is a decorated Vietnam combat veteran who attended Purdue University. His writing career began when he penned an angry letter to a national trade magazine editor. That letter led to a monthly column in that publication and ran for years. Gary’s background and writing ability made him a perfect fit for heading the committee drafting installation standards and technical manuals within his industry.
After retirement and being married over 56 years to the same magnificent woman, his writing has morphed into a romance novel, “The Greatest Softball Game” (It’s not just about softball), under the pseudonym K G Wauthier. He’s also published in various other works, including, but not limited to, “Three Bridges to Paradise” by the Ozello Writers Guild and the numerous Anthologies by Citrus Writers.
Maxim Furek
Paranormal researcher Maxim Furek is a Hernando resident, Vietnam Veteran, and active Citrus Writers of Florida member. His rich background includes aspects of psychology, addictions, music journalism, and the supernatural. He has a master’s degree in communications from Bloomsburg University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Aquinas College. He has published six books and advocates for literacy in schools and the community.
The author was featured on Exploring the Bizarre, with the legendary Timothy Green Beckley, and on Art Bell’s Midnight in the Desert. He will discuss his new book, Flying Saucer Esoteric: The Altered States of Ufology, at the 2024 Orlando UFO Conference. For guest presentations, interested organizations can contact the author at [email protected] or through his website:
John Charles Miller
John Charles Miller is a groundwater geologist and writer of speculative fiction and collections of strange stories, publishing fourteen books. He resides with his wife, Mary, in Tampa, Florida, and part time in Hernando, Florida.
John is a member of Citrus Writers of Florida, Tampa Audubon, the Florida Native Plant Society, and a course leader for OLLI/USF.
He worked as a groundwater geologist for almost 40 years, in both the US and Latin America. He was one of the earliest Peace Corps Volunteers, serving under President John F. Kennedy from 1962 to 1964 in the Dominican Republic. He is fluent in Spanish.
His books, including a dual-language English/Spanish collection of short stories are available as eBooks and paperback
Amy Amdahl
Amy Amdahl is the owner and publisher of the Peddler's Post, Public Relations Director for the Citrus Writers of Florida, but also an aspiring published author. Her scattered brain is full of stories to tell. Amy loves to tell stories of her life and one day hopes to publish them.
For now, she is happy writing short stories in the Peddler's post and Poetry and short books for her loved ones.
Amy also dabbles in public speaking discussing the impacts of childhood poverty, sexual assault, addiction and domestic violence.
Elaine Kleid
Elaine T Kleid is an independent Author, Poet & Publisher of books & newsletters covering various genres & topics of conversation. Elaine has worked in both the legal publishing industry & the software maintenance industry (supporting the newspaper industry) in various administrative roles. Elaine shares her personal experiences in assisting the elderly, specifically those with Alzheimer's, & also shares recipes that helped her lose a lot of weight without exercising. Her favorite & most popular genre however, is poetry.
Sean Lavin
Autistic. Schizophrenic. Marine Veteran. Law School Graduate. Aspiring Author.
Caire Lane
Caire Lane was born and raised in Detroit Michigan, where she studied creative writing at Wayne State University and had the honor of editing the literary magazine, The Wayne Review.
She has been a school teacher, a social worker, and a real estate manager. She also had a thirty-eight year career in the futures industry as a commodity trading advisor and, most notably, as the owner of Investment Educators, where she taught technical analysis of stocks and commodities.
Her writing credits include stories in the last two Citrus Writers Anthologies. A short story, Halloween Party, was dramatized on the wildly popular No-Sleep Podcast out of Montreal. Her book, Choices, which incorporates the story below, is available through Amazon and the Citrus County Library System.
Dr. Charley Ferrer
Dr. Charley Ferrer is a world-renowned Clinical Sexologist and award-winning author and playwright. She has lectured throughout the US, Latin America and China on self-empowerment, sexual health, and breast cancer awareness. After being diagnosed with breast cancer, she established Cancer Tamer Foundation to provide education and empowerment to women with this disease. She is an accomplished television talk show host. She has produced three documentaries on living with breast cancer. Her play, Breast Cancer Diaries was an off-Broadway sensation and won the Regional award for Best Drama and placed second in the nation for Best Short Script. Dr. Charley is the creator and curator of the Breast Cancer Mermaid™ Art Project which was created to help open the door to breast cancer awareness, education, and body image acceptance. To discover more about Dr. Charley and her advocacy work on breast cancer and body love.
Dr. Charley has written multiple books on sexuality and living with breast cancer. She is currently writing a new book, Breast Cancer 101: What you should know but aren’t told.
Dr. Charley Ferrer is a highly sought after Empowerment Speaker and is available for Speaking Engagements.
Barbara Cairns
Barbara Cairns is a Connecticut Yankee who became interested in Florida’s history after retiring in 1999. A favorite quote of hers is “Our life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” Her special moments have happened wherever she has lived . . . in Hampton, CT; Seattle, WA; Goose Bay, Labrador; Bamberg, Germany; the former Canal Zone and Panama City, Panama.
Travels in many places have provided fodder for stories and articles in newspapers and magazines, online sites and in 4th grade readers, in addition to teacher manuals and student workbooks. Since retiring, she has published twelve books in a variety of genres to include picture books, middle grade and YA novels, adult fiction and historical fiction, set in Florida.
A former teacher and retired elementary school principal for Department of Defense Schools, she has volunteered at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park for over 20 years, Barbara also tutors preschoolers, getting them ready for kindergarten. “Once a teacher, always a teacher!”
MaryAnn Sciavillo-Lopez
MaryAnn lives in Citrus County with her husband, Felix, and her two dogs, Declan and Eddie, and her two birds, Chico and Tweety Bird. She enjoys writing fiction in various fantasy sub-genres.
Her novels in the An Unexpected Travel in Time trilogy are time-travel stories. Book 1 – Sail Again leaps you onto the Titanic. Book 2 - The Gateway’s Continuum, continues the characters’ tale in Manhattan. The completion of Book 3 will unveil the mystery of the bracelet and the characters' connection to each other.
MaryAnn has also published a collection of short stories she has written over the years, Echoes From Afar. Her work-in-progress is a Novella story of a bookstore ghost.
She is a member of the Citrus Writers group, Florida Writers Association, and Writers Alliance of Gainesville.
Royce Wilson
Following a 40+ year career in law enforcement forensics with the Tampa Police Department and Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, as well as teaching Criminal Forensics and Death Investigations at the University of North Georgia, Royce retired as the Director of Forensics at HCSO in 2021.
He now lives in Dunnellon and uses his forensic and crime scene experience on countless death scenes (including at least 6 serial killer investigations) to write gripping crime mysteries that are true page-turners.
After all, who doesn’t like a good mystery?
Donna Consiglio
Donna Consiglio is a humorist who spends more time writing about “not writing” than actually writing. She enjoys making graphics and memes that resonate with
writers. Donna also creates whimsical notebooks and merchandise for other authors. Her dream is to travel across the country with her family in an RV, so that
she can be inspired to NOT write in places other than her hometown. Look for her e-book I Love Writing, Not! which will be released July 2024.
John Kudlas
Dr. Kudlas is a retired biology and ecology educator and adventurer. He has received several educational and environmental awards, including Minnesota Teacher of the Year, Olmsted County Environmental Achievement Award, Mayo Clinic Science Teacher of the Year Award, Minnesota Teacher in Space finalist, and others. He has received several research fellowships and conducted many environmental and outdoor adventure and ecology workshops and published several magazine and newspaper articles and The Rock-climbing Teaching Guide. In addition to Turkey, he has technical climbed in several other countries including Alaska, Canada, Slovakia and Poland. He has mastered several Teton peaks, including the Grand Teton and Polly-Peak in Yosemite. Dr. Kudlas has traveled extensively in Europe, Russia, Slovakia, the Congo and other places. He is also an avid canoeist, having canoed and guided in several countries and led the Hayes River expedition to Hudson’s Bay and wrote A Hayes River Odyssey. He is presently working on his newest book, “ A Noah’s Ark Odyssey” about his experience searching for the Ark in Turkey with Col James Irwin, the lunar astronaut.
Harry Cooper
Born and raised in Chicago and the western suburbs, Harry Cooper joined the US Air Force right out of high school. After an honorable stint in the Air Force he went to college where he earned his BS in Business Administration and began his career in the Chicago area. Spent some years in into auto racing and then spent some time on a 30-foot sailing yacht this is where Harry became interested in the U-Bootwaffe. He eventually gave up work in corporate america and he began to intensively research the U-Boat portion of WW II and has become the world’s preeminent expert on the subject. Harry has wrote more than four dozen books, helped produce several television
productions and escorted dozens of history tours around the world – Europe, South America, Russia and China. As of early 2024, Harry has 62 books published with many more on the way. Harry is a active member of The Citrus Writers of Florida.
David K Giordano
David K Giordano is a Citrus County resident from Rochester, N.Y. He’s an avid scuba diver, and kayaker, and enjoys extreme adventure travel. David’s an active member of Citrus Writers and has had two of his short stories—Mirror at the Edge of Creation and The Hidden secrets of Manatee Island—published in their 2022 & 2023 Anthologies. He’s written two fiction novels: Keepers of the Conscience and Watcher of the Hidden Realms, both inspired by actual people, places, and events he discovered while traveling and diving throughout the western hemisphere. His third novel in the trilogy, Keepers of the Conscience: The Puppet Masters, World on Fire will be out soon. It chronicles our loss of freedom and the chilling events leading to the demise of our country and the world. But take heart, the story is a warning of possible future events and ends on a positive note with a climax that will thoroughly shock you and leave you spellbound for years
Michael Ditchfield
Michael Ditchfield was born in Ottawa, Canada. At the age of five, he moved to Citrus County, Florida. He enjoys writing strong female leads or supporting characters for his Young Adult Fantasy and Science fiction short stories. He has always had a fascination with the unknown, whether it be in outer space or finding a new version of yourself that you can explore. He became interested in writing around the age of eighteen, when he tried to write a script for Star Trek: TNG and realized he wrote a story. He has a published short story, “Discovery of the Deep,” in “The Citrus Writers of Florida 2022 Anthology: Adventures of the Nature Coast.” Another to be coming out later this year in “Spirits of The Nature Coast,” called “The Ardal Enchanted Forest.” He enjoys writing short stories that take place on distant worlds. Creating new worlds for his readers to explore. In his free time, he enjoys movies, mythology, ancient civilizations, documentaries, photography, reading, and taking walks to relax.
Beryl St. Jacques
Beryl St. Jacques is a great grandmother, loves kids and dogs, the ecology, horticulture, and agriculture, etc. Her favorite school subjects were English and nature studies, also writing composition stories. She always wanted to be a writer since childhood.