Wordcraft

Arkansas author honored for work

2011-12-20T14:40:00.001-06:00

by
Karen Jordan

     HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE -
Author Elizabeth Carroll Foster, an Arkansas native and member of the Hot Springs Village Writers' Club, was honored by the Military Writers of America in their Dispatches publication as Author of the Month of December for her memoir, "Follow Me: The Life and Adventures of a Military Family."
     The National Association of Professional Women, 2010-2011, also featured Foster as "Woman of the Year."
     Foster, a journalist and newspaper editor before turning to fiction, has also written a novel, "Southern Winds A' Changing." Her latest book, "Musings, Mutterings, and Aw Shucks: Collection of Short Stories, Essays and Features," will be available in January for local book signings.
     MWSA Dispatch reviewer Charlene Rubush recommends Foster's memoir. "Her story will resonate with many who have lived a life in the military ... It is a testament to the bravery and courage of the distaff side of military life, and a validation of their many sacrifices," Rubush said.
     Foster set her novel "Southern Winds" at a time when racial tensions were alive in the South, the lives of two women - one a school teacher and one an African-American sharecropper- become forever entwined."
     "Musings, Mutterings, and Aw Shucks," a collection of fictional short stories, non-fiction essays, and features, highlight eclectic characters, embellish true experiences, and illustrate unconditional love, disappointment, and friendship. Some stories share poignant, as well as occasionally witty, instances that allow readers to reminisce about holidays past, sympathize with middle-aged women who become unwittingly caught up on the cusp of the Women's Liberation Movement.
     One story allows readers to empathize with young single mothers, another to love a golden retriever just as he loves his master. The stories are a glimpse into both imaginary and real-life worlds that share a perspective on life, love and the pursuit of happiness.
                                                       Hot Springs Sentinel-Record and arkansaswriters.com,
The article was also sent to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Trilakes, and Hot Springs Village Voice.
View Karen Jordan's websites: http://blog.karenjordan.net and http://karenswave.wordpress.com

Make It A Writing Year

2011-07-09T15:35:00.001-05:00

New Book Out This Year

      The manuscript for my 2011 book, Musings, Mutterings, and Ah Shucks, is in the hands of the publisher. This book is a collection of more than thirty short stories and embellished stories based on real people, animals and events.

       Some titles are: Devil's Gonna Get'cha
                                 Dodd Tells about Daddy Joe's Death
                                 A Figment of Guilt
                                 Sparse Bounty
                                 Femmes on the Cusp
                                 Hosting the Wedding
                                 Stash the Kids, Honey

        The expect date for publication is January 2012.

                                                                     Elizabeth

2010 Book Published

2011-07-09T15:30:00.001-05:00

Memoir, Follow Me: The Life and Adventures of a Military Family, published in February 2010, is available at iUniverse, amazon.com and barnesnoble.com.
   The book contains a military wife's stories over 25 years of following my Army officer from pillar to post with four kids and a dog. The early years meant two-to-three moves a year. During my hudbsnd's career, there were many temporary duty separations--his year in Korea and two year-long Vietnam tours.
    We lived 2 years in Karachi, Pakistan--Jan. 1959-60. A week of R&R (rest and relaxation) in India had us touring New Dehli, the Taj Mahal, and many other historic sites. The family returned to the States via two ocean liners, the Italian ship, Victoria, and the USS Independence. After port stops in Aden, Yemen, and Nice, France, we arrived in Naples for 5 days in Italy. We toured the Amalfi Drive, walked through Pompeii, and traveled by train to Rome, where we visited the Vatican, the Catacombs, the Coliseum, ... Back in Naples, we boarded the second liner and ported in Genoa, then on to New York.
   Perhaps the most difficult military assignment for me was my husband's strenuous 9-month-long stint at the Navy Test Pilot School, Patuxent, Maryland, in 1961. John was the first Army officer to complete the Navy course.
    Following TPS and another year with the Navy in Maryland, my husband was sent to the Army Test Activities Center on Edwards Air Force Base, California, for 4-and-a-half years. He completed his unusual career with the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C., retiring in 1975.
   Follow Me relates the many stories of our military journey. Some of our adventures were funny, some weren't so funny, but we regard the military stint as a good life.

Southern Winds A' Changing by Elizabeth Foster

2011-07-09T15:29:00.000-05:00

   Allise, a young Quaker school marm from Pennsylvania, confronts racism, religion and provincialism in the South. She never manages to break the social barrier--in fact, she is ostracized in the small fictional town of Deer Point, Arkansas, because of her tolerance for African Americans, her Quaker beliefs and simply because she wasn't born and raised in Deer Point. Though a Quaker, she attends church with her husband, Quent.
   She marries handsome Quentin DeWitt, a farmer and the town's favorite native son. Because of his mood swings, today we might call Quent bi-polar. Peter is born to the couple, and five years later, Allise and Quent have a daughter, Cleesy.
   Quent rapes 16-year-old Maizee Colson on the night Allise gives birth to their first child, Peter. Maizee is the daughter of one of the DeWitt's black tenant sharecroppers. She gives birth to Nate, the son of Quent.
   Quent and his brother, Sam, farm Daddy Joe's large river plantation. Daddy Joe frequents Vickery. a mulatto, and dies nude as a baby bird in her house. In 1937, a flood wastes the cotton crop. As the Great Depression hovers over them, Allise slowly learns about the sharecropping system and has verbal run-ins with her racially biased husband and others about their intolerant attitudes. Quent and Sam, inherit Daddy Joe's large plantation. Quent dreams of stunt airplane flying and hates farming, while Sam is a son of the soil.
   Quent volunteers in WWII marines and is killed on Guadalcanal. Shortly thereafter, Sam declares his love for Allise, who graciously explains her sisterly love for him. Sam enlists to fill Quent's military shoes and to remove himself from Allise, the object of his affection. He marries a French nurse who finds small town South unnbearable and returns to France. Allise helps Sam cope with his devastation, and he marries his high school sweetheart.
   Allise takes Maizee and Nate under her wings, causing conflicts with her children and the townsfolk of Deer Point. Maizee finds happiness in caring for the DeWitt children and Miz Allie, who returns to teaching. After enduring arrest and a trial for stabbing a black man, Maizee finally marries Hatch.
   After a long courtship, Allise finds happiness in a second marriage to Dro McClure, but she is estranged from her children.
   Nate serves during the Korean War, returns and graduates Morehouse College. During the Civil Rights Movement, he, a college professor, is beaten into a coma on a Freedom Ride. He regains consciousness but cannot speak until Miz Allie is no longer a part of his life.
   Peter's highest ambition is to operate the meat market inherited from Daddy Joe. He marries Jill, who is as racially biased as himself. Cleesy, a drug-using flower child, is killed in an auto accident in California.
   Allise crowning achievement is the education of Nate and her white students, some of whom overcome their racial attitudes.

Available at iUniverse.com
Amazon.com
Barnesandnoble.com

Events

2011-07-09T13:00:00.002-05:00

     Other than preparing the collection of short stories for publication, I attended the Maumelle Writers' Conference, Maumelle, Arkansas, and won two first place monetary awards for two short stories titled: The Cooked Goose, and The Devil's Gonna Get'Cha.
     I have spoken to book clubs, church groups and civic organizations, had book signings--several on cruise ships--attended two Authors' Showcases in Bentonville, Arkansas, was recognized at the Annual Authors' Reception in Maryland and have attended annual Hemingway Creative Writers' Retreats, annual Arkansas Writers Conferences and White County Creative Writers' Conferences.
     My novel, memoir and collection of stories are available from me (hteb963@suddenlink.net), from iUniverse.com, amazon.com, barnesnoble.com, and other online locations, The Trolley Bookstore in Rogers, Arkansas, Company's Comin' in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, and That Bookstore in Blytheville, Arkansas.