Review Team

I’m Abigail, and I’m a big book lover who is interested in all genres.

Ann McCauley is the author of three novels: Pressure Cooker Christmas, Willow Lane, Book 1, Mother Love, Willow Lane, Book 2, and Runaway Grandma. Ann loves to read, write and review books. She writes a monthly blog and is busy working on her next Willow Lane novel. Ann is an RN, and has a Masters in creative writing.  For more info, click www.annmccauley.com.

B. Lynn Goodwin owns Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com. She’s written Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62 (memoir), Talent (YA) and You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers (self-help). Never Too Late and Talent are multiple award-winners. Shorter works have appeared in Hip Mama, The Sun, Dramatics Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Purple Clover, and Flashquake. She is a reviewer and teacher at Story Circle Network. She lives east of Berkeley and west of the San Joaquin Valley with her husband and their highly intelligent terrier.

Ever since she learned to read, Barbara Heming has been a voracious reader. For her a snow day was a gift of time to journey into the worlds sandwiched between the covers of a book. She pursued a Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literature which opened doors into literature of other cultures. After moving to a remote canyon in northern New Mexico, she turned her attention to her lifelong dream of writing fiction and has now completed a number of short stories and her first novel. Death Wins the Crown was published in 2011. A second novel is in progress. She also gives tours at Georgia O’Keeffe’s Home And Studio in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

D Ferrara has been an active writer and ghost writer for more years than she cares to admit. Articles, essays and short stories are her continuing obsession; inclusion in publications, including The Main Street Anthology — Crossing Lines, East Meets West American Writers Review, Storytellers Magazine, The Broadkill Review, MacGuffin Press, Crack the Spine, Green Prints, Amarillo Bay, The Penmen Review, At the Inkwell, and RIMS Magazine has fed this mania. As editor of the American Writers Review, she gets to see wonderful new work regularly. Her script, Arvin Lindemeyer Takes Canarsie, won the Oil Valley Film Festival, was a Selected Screenplay (Finalist) in the Hollywood Blvd. Film Festival and a Top Finalist in the ASU Screenwriting Contest. Her play, “Favor,” won the New Jersey ACT award for Outstanding Production of an Original Play, while “Sister Edith’s Mission” and “Business Class” were produced at the Malibu Repertory Company’s One Act Play Festival. Three of her full-length film scripts have been optioned. Her paintings – watercolor on Yupo – have been hung in group shows, and included in several journals.

She received her M.A. in Creative Writing, where it joined her J.D., L.l.M. and B.A, amid the clutter of her office.

Denise was the Internal Communications Coordinator of a global engineering corporation in Atlanta, GA for 14 years, then the Communications Coordinator/Editor for a residential community on Hilton Head Island, SC for 13 years. She freelance edits publications (for clients in the U.S., Austria, and Finland), websites, novels, and anything with the written word. Denise’s heart is drawn to horses and the West, and is a member of the Western Writers of America. She recently moved back to Atlanta and works with a local magazine.

Diane Stanton is a retired teacher currently luxuriating in having time to read, write and play with her dogs. She lives with her family in Virginia.

I am the everyday woman. I am one, like many others, who has led a life of love and loss. I was always a creative type. Drawing, reading, writing and later painting was how I expressed myself. My personal life went through tumultuous times on several levels. The deepest one was life altering. It took me to a very dark place where I remained for a long time. It changed me. I like to believe for the better. It led me to pick up a pen again after many years. She now lives in Chicago with her two cats, where the four seasons can be challenging but also inspirational.

Dorothy Rice is the award-winning author of two memoirs, GRAY IS THE NEW BLACK (Otis Books, 2019) and THE RELUCTANT ARTIST (Shanti Arts, 2015) and the editor of an anthology: TWENTY TWENTY 43 Stories From a Year Like no Other (A Stories on Stage Sacramento Anthology). Rice earned an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside at 60. She is the Managing Editor for Under the Gum Tree and is a freelance developmental editor and writing coach. www.dorothyriceauthor.com

Eileen Harrison Sanchez is now retired after a forty-year career in education. She started as a teacher and ended as a district administrator. She has been writing part time for eight years with a writers group in Summit, NJ. Eileen is a member of the Historical Novel Society, Philadelphia Stories Writers Community, Goodreads American Historical Novels Group and several online writers groups. A reader, a writer, and a perennial—a person with a no-age mindset—she considers family and friends to be the most important parts of her life, followed by traveling and bird watching from her gazebo.

Learn more at www.eileensanchez.com and connect with Eileen on Facebook @eileensanchezwriter, Twitter @EileenHSanchez, and Instagram @eileensanchezwriter.

I’ve been writing novels since I was four years old, although I was sidetracked for a few decades by journalism. In addition to my award-winning nonfiction books, I was an editor or regular contributor for the New York Times, BusinessWeek, Fortune, and more. But I never abandoned my true love: My second novel, I Meant to Tell You (Stephen Austin State University Press), is short-listed for the SCN Sarton Award and has won several other awards.

I am Italian by birth, but English is my elective language when it comes to writing and reading.
It is the language that opens up my imagination.
After living in Scotland for years, I relocated in the Italian countryside, where I teach and write contentedly.

Jana van Niekerk is a nurse with a degree in psychological counselling who lives in Namibia. She’s also a wife of 22 years and mother of two teenage girls, an author, and devotee to what lies just beyond the horizon of real life. Lady Jane is the author of two Afrikaans novel as well as an English one, Bittersweet Dance of Love. Websites: https://ladyjanebooks.com/ and http://www.janavanniekerk.com/.

A former medical technologist, freelance writer and editor, high school science teacher and community college English adjunct professor, Janice Airhart’s memoir, Mother of My Invention, was published in 2022. Her essays have been published in Real Women Write (2019 and 2021), Concho River Review, The Sun, The Science Teacher, and more. She is currently seeking publication of her second memoir, Subject to Change: What Teaching Teen Moms Taught Me, about her midlife career teaching science to pregnant and parenting teen girls. See janiceairhart.com for more.

Janilyn Kocher is a Professor of History and Political Science in central Illinois. She has adored books her entire life. Books, history, and travel are her passions. In her free time she is a book reviewer for Edelweiss and NetGalley. She also has a book blog on Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/booksreadbyprairiegirl/.

Susan Jaeschke Kendrick (Jazz) is an Austin, Texas poet and memoirist. A former member of the SCN Board of Directors, Jazz has led an SCN Internet Chapter poetry circle since 2003. Her work appears in festival anthologies and Story Circle publications. In 2002, Jazz published Significance, a memoir (mostly poems) spanning growing up and 33 career years with a high-tech company. Jazz is drawn to accessible poetry with a twist of mystery and relevance to living mindfully. Photography, SoulCollage®, labyrinths, nature, and travel arouse her muse. She pairs resulting poems with her photography on her blog.

Judith Helburn has been involved with Sage-ing® since 1994. She is currently Editor of the SG Communicator and member of the Outreach Committee for the international Sage-ing Guild. Past national Sage-ing activities include Training Coordinator and member of the Coordinating Circle. Judith works with seniors in several other programs in Austin, Texas, including the Older Women’s Legacy (OWL)-Circle memoir program of Story Circle Network.

She served on the SCN board for 10 years and became the first president after our mentor Susan Wittig Albert stepped down from her presidency. She facilitates a SCN writing group and writes book reviews for Story Circle’s website. Judith’s two children, their spouses and grandchildren live near-by. She has been called the “weird” grandmother and is flattered. She and her husband travel often and are under the domination of three cats.

Judith Helburn specializes in reviewing books about Elders.

Judy is the author of three mystery series—Kelly O’Connell Mysteries, Blue Plate Café mysteries, and Oak Grove Mysteries. The next Oak Grove Mystery, Pigface and The Perfect Dog, is scheduled for September 2017 release. In a long career, she has written fiction and nonfiction for adults and young adults, primarily about women in the American West, and garnered several awards. Judy retired as director of TCU Press, a position she held for 23 years. She is a member of SCN; a member of Sisters in Crime and the SinC subgroup, the Guppies; and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the Texas Literary Hall of fame. She edits her neighborhood newspaper and welcomes her fifth-grade grandson every school day. A single mother of four and grandmother of seven, she lives in Fort Worth with her lively Bordoodle puppy, Sophie. Visit her blog and her website.

Judy Gruen is the author of several humor books and the memoir, The Skeptic and the Rabbi: Falling in Love with Faith. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Aish.com, and many other media outlets. She is also a non-fiction book editor and writing coach. www.judygruen.com.

Katherine Itacy is the author of Relentless: From National Champion to Physically Disabled Activist (July 28, 2020, E.L. Marker). After medically retiring from practicing law, Katherine wrote her memoir, Relentless (which is available now in paperback and e-book formats on Amazon), and started “The Phunky Diabetic Podcast” (which is available to stream on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and YouTube). She is also on the board of directors for the Rhode Island ACLU, an advocate for the Rare Disease Legislative Advocates (RDLA), a patient advisor for the All of Us Patient & Family Advisory Council (PFAC), a volunteer for the Beyond Type One organization, and enjoys blogging about social justice and disability issues. 

My books cover life’s little and not-so-little challenges including relocation, natural disaster, changing marital status, and the tragedies and triumphs of the people we call the Pilgrims. I blog regularly to promote good people doing great things and publish articles and books when I can. Published books: Married & Mobile, A Ready Hope, 40-Day Journey with Kathleen Norris, Asunder, Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures and Mary Brewster’s Love Life: Matriarch of the Mayflower. More information at HowWiseThen.com. 

I am a retired social studies teacher with 33 years of classroom teaching experience followed by ten years of substitute/tutoring at a local elementary school. Although born in West Virginia, I have spent most of my life in Texas. I have been married for 53 years, am the mother of two wonderful adult children who are both public school teachers, and the grandmother of one grandson. I am a dog lover with two shih-tzus who have currently “rescued” me. I am an avid reader, averaging 100-120 books per year, and I love books with strong women characters, historical fiction, history, and big, fat books.

I share an empty nest with my retired scientist husband in Bucks County, PA. As a long time member of Story Circle Network, I have benefited greatly over the years. I’ve facilitated an e-circle, written book reviews, and was one of the editors of the Kitchen Table Stories anthology. I have taken online classes, served on the board, was a contributing editor of Story Circle Journal, and have been one of the judges for the annual memoir contest.

I write feature stories and collaborate on a mental health column for the Bucks County Herald and write a column on local women writers for the Bucks County Women’s Journal. I also teach memoir workshops throughout the Philadelphia area. My work has appeared in publications as diverse as the Christian Science Monitor, the Philadelphia Inquirer, gravel, Massage, and The Quilter. My memoir, Off Kilter: A Woman’s Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, and Her Polish Heritage was published in 2008 by Pearlsong Press. You can read about it here. My as yet unpublished novel, Where the Stork Flies, is a finalist for the 2015 Eludia Award. If you’d like to know more about me and read my blog, please visit my website.

Martha Meacham has a home nestled in motts of live oak and clumps of junipers on a piece of hardscrabble land southwest of Austin. The Texas Hill Country reminds her of the rolling ridges of upstate New York where she grew up before leaving for college in Mexico.

With a backpack and Swiss army knife in her pocket, she traversed mountain ridges and deep dolinas throughout Mexico and Guatemala in her youth. That journey landed her in Austin working in higher education. Today she works to build bonds between dog and humans through training and fun activities like K9 Nose Work. Learn more on her website.

Martha first joined Story Circle Network at the Lifelines Retreat in 2007. Soon afterwards, she served as Vice President on the Board. A favorite pastime is reviewing “books by, for and about women” as part of the Book Review team.

I am a poet, writer, and writing mentor living on the traditional lands of the Snuneymuxw First Nation in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Since 1997, I have been offering women’s writing circles and have found it an honour and a delight to witness women awakening to the fullness of their stories from life. I have written two writing guides: Writing Home: A Whole Life Practice (Flying Mermaids Studio) and Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey (iajw.org). My full-length book of poetry is Fishing for Mermaids (Leaf Press) and my recent chapbook of poetry is called Mending (house of appleton). I very much appreciate being on the Story Circle review team and having the opportunity to share reviews with other women.  www.maryannmoore.ca

I have found so many ways to nurture my reader’s/writer’s soul in SCN since joining in 2001. As I found deeper levels of my own story by reading other women’s stories, my segue into writing book reviews was a natural. I am honored to be part of the editorial team for our outstanding SCN Book Review site and hope you visit it often. The reviews are so excellent and the books reviewed are both current and the best from today’s indie women authors.

Mary Potter Kenyon graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a BA in Psychology and is a certified grief counselor. In May she will begin working as a program director for a spirituality center. Mary is widely published in newspapers, magazines, and anthologies. She is the author of six books, including the award-winning Refined By Fire: A Journey of Grief and Grace, and Expressive Writing for Healing journal. She is currently under contract for a book on creativity to be released in 2019. Her essay on the connection between creativity and grief was published in the January/February 2013 issue of “Poets & Writer’s” magazine. Mary is a popular public speaker and writing workshop instructor. Learn more on Mary’s website.

Pat Bean is a retired journalist who traveled the country for nine years in a small RV with her canine companion, Maggie. She currently resides in Tucson, Arizona. Her book, Travels with Maggie, was published in September, 2017. The book is about a six-month journey through 23 states and Canada on her way to Acadia National Park in Maine. Pat is on the Board of Directors for SCN, and was named SCN’s blogger of the year for 2015. She enjoys reading, walking her dog Pepper, birding, photography, and art. She won first place in Story Circle Network’s recent Hot Flash writing contest for her flash-fiction, “The Heart of a Dog.” Her interviews with Sarton winners are featured in the SCN Journal and on the SCBR website. Visit her blog.

Paula Robertson, aka Paula Shaffer, has a BS in English/Journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. After spending years as a technical writer for various companies, she is retired from the corporate world and spends her free time pursuing her passion for writing poetry and prose. She is the author of Absent Mother, a published memoir about growing up in foster care, and is currently working on a sequel. She resides in Orange County, California with her husband, son and a very confused dog named Taco.

Reviewer

S.M. Stevens began writing fiction during back-to-back health crises: a shattered pelvis and ovarian cancer. Her adult fiction includes The Wallace House of Pain, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades and, coming in 2023, Beautiful and Terrible Things. She has also written for children and young adults. Her short stories have appeared in Smoky Quartz and Monadnock Underground. Her essays have appeared in The Boston Sunday Globe, Bay State Parent, and Guitar and Bass magazine among others. When not writing, she markets solar energy companies. www.AuthorSMStevens.com.

Former teacher, International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program coordinator, and director of a Law Humanities Magnet program, Shawn currently lives in Austin, Texas. She is a reviewer for Story Circle Network and has contributed her time and efforts to Impact Austin as well as People Against Child Trafficking. She enjoys spending time with family, reading and reviewing books, gardening, biking, sailing, quilting, cooking and writing. She says, “Nothing is more thrilling than finding a good read and thinking about for whom and how it might be explored in an educational setting.” Books, like boats, can take a reader to interesting shores. Speaking of shores, Shawn can be found exploring the northern coast of Michigan aboard her thirty year old sail boat, HMS Juicy Fruit each summer.

Reviewer

Susan J. Tweit is a plant biologist and the award-winning author of thirteen books (including her latest memoir, Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying, which won the Sarton Award in memoir and was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award), numerous magazine articles, and newspaper columns. Subscribe to her popular Practicing Terraphilia newsletter on Substack (https://practicingterraphilia.substack.com) and explore her books on her website (http://susanjtweit.com).

Susan Schoch is a Colorado member of the Story Circle team. Specializing in personal history, she is the author of The Clay Connection, a study of ceramic artists Jim and Nan McKinnell, for the American Museum of Ceramic Art. Susan is a committed member of Story Circle Network, and the editor of the annual SCN anthology, Real Women Write, as well as a regular reviewer for SCBR. She says, “Every year, women write fine new books, and I’m glad for the opportunity to read and share some of the best of them, and to support the work of small and independent presses. Working with the remarkable women of SCBR is a wonderful bonus, and I find inspiration in the books and reviews they bring to light. SCBR is a powerful resource for women’s writing. I’m honored to be a part of its good work.”

Tracie Nichols, M.A. is a poet exploring human and wild nature through words, making sense of a world that feels both intriguing and often overwhelming. She regularly contributes to KindOverMatter.com and Journey of the Heart: Women’s Spiritual Poetry Project. So far, her work has appeared in three anthologies of women’s poetry. Tracie lives under rustling trees in southeastern Pennsylvania with her husband, a very determined ginger tabby cat, Strider, and, for an unexpected moment, her three adult children.

I live in my favorite city, Houston, Texas where I write, volunteer at the Museum of Fine Arts, enjoy all the fun a city offers. For years in both Texas and Georgia I wrote about food and memories in a weekly column “Stirring up memories.” That remains my writing interest. Since 2000 when I joined Story Circle I’ve been a contributing editor to the Story Circle Journal and a member of the board. In 2005, I became president for a two-year term. I particularly relish writing book reviews. I’m delighted to have become a SuperNova Reviewer. Reviewing has made me both a more careful reader, as I seek to capture the essence of a book, and a more adventuresome one, as I enjoy the fun of sharing a new experience and books I might not otherwise have chosen.