Virginia Tech Magazine
Virginia Tech

BOOKS  by alumni, faculty, and staff
  fiction
  poetry   children's/teen   featured author
Books by Virginia Tech alumni
  
Guidelines for book submissions
Nonfiction
Faculty and staff

James Robertson, Alumni Distinguished Professor of History, "Untold Civil War: Exploring the Human Side of War," historical, National Geographic Books.

Alumni

   • Critical/Reference

Janis Ericson (family and child development '99), "I Know I Need to Change, But How? A Guide to Taking Control of Your Life and Work," iUniverse.

William Fox (mechanical engineering '65), "Downtown Newport News," historical, Arcadia Publishing.

John Hildebrand (civil engineering '50), "The Life and Times of John Brown Baldwin, 1820-73, a Chronicle of Virginia's Struggle with Slavery, Secession, Civil War, and Reconstruction," Lot's Wife Publishing Company.

Douglas O. Hubbell (chemical engineering '66, M.S. '66), "Managing for Profits: How to Increase and Maintain Profitability," CreateSpace.

David K. Jones (physical education '78), "10 Demandments of Creativity: How To Turn Your Kid's Creative Juice Loose!," International Flip Society.

Jimmy Page (health and physical education '89, M.S. '95), et al., "Wisdom Walks," inspiration/ devotional, Summerside Press.

Neil F. Payne (M.S. wildlife '64), "Wildlife Delights and Dilemmas, Newfoundland and Labrador," DRC Publishing.

Scott Rowan (English '91), et al., "The Urban Cyclist's Survival Guide," Triumph Books.

Mike Waddell (management '80, M.B.A. '84), "Perform at Your Best: By Getting Your Head in the Game," self-improvement, CreateSpace.

   Biography/Memoir

Michael Abraham (mechanical engineering '76), "Harmonic Highways: Motorcycling Virginia's Crooked Road," memoir, Pocahontas Press.

James E. Dalmas (electrical engineering '59), "The du Pont Family and the Street Railway Industry," historical, Jack L. Shagena Jr.

Bryan Steverson (metallurgical engineering '65), "Amazing Baseball Heroes, Inspirational Negro League Stories," Tennessee Valley Publishing.

Thomas T. Wiatt (civil engineering technology '80), "That Was Jamaica: My Adventures in Negril," memoir, travel, PublishAmerica.

Fiction

Jim Crowgey (electrical engineering '60), "Forever Eagles," novel, Southern life, Trafford Publishing.

Lisa Norris (forestry and wildlife '79), "Women Who Sleep With Animals," short stories, Stephen F. Austin University Press.

Tom Somma (M.S. biochemistry and nutrition '71), "Midori and the 1,000 Stitch Belt," novel, Imperialistic Japanese Army, WWII era, Outskirts Publishing.

Poetry

Lynda Allen (communication '89), "Illumine," Peace Evolutions LLC.

Portia Y. Bookhart (Ed.D. curriculum and instruction '99), et al., "Black Man, I Choose You," Infinity.

Children's/Teen

Jaclyn Gotch (psychology '01), et al., "The Itty Bitty Guide to Trees: A Children's Identification Guide to Trees of the Inland Northwest," Inkwater Press.

Featured Author
Frankie Y. Bailey
"Forty Acres and a Soggy Grave" by Frankie Y. Bailey (psychology '74)

"Forty Acres and a Soggy Grave"
Frankie Y. Bailey (psychology '74)
A faculty member in the School of Criminal Justice at the University at Albany-SUNY, Frankie Y. Bailey (psychology '74) specializes in crime and mass media/popular culture and crime history. Bailey's books include "African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study" (2008), for which she received the International Mystery Readers' Macavity Award; "Wicked Danville: Liquor and Lawlessness in a Southside Virginia City" (2011); and "Forty Acres and a Soggy Grave" (2011), the fifth mystery featuring fictional crime historian Lizzie Stuart. Bailey is now at work on a police procedural novel set in 2019. The 2011-12 president of Sisters in Crime, an international organization for female writers of crime fiction, Bailey is also a past executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America. The following is a brief excerpt from Bailey's latest book, "Forty Acres and a Soggy Grave" (Silver Dagger Mysteries):

Friday, Sept. 10, Eastern Shore of Virginia

All I needed to do was get through this weekend without making Quinn's friends wonder what on earth he saw in me. All I needed to do was charm their socks off.

But first I needed to get him to tell me what was wrong. Preferably before we were in the midst of the weekend gathering of his old West Point buddies.

I replaced the cap of my yellow highlighter, closed the guidebook to "off the beaten track" Eastern Shore that I had been trying to read, and twisted in my seat to face Quinn.

John Quinn. As enigmatic as 007 in his dark glasses that shielded his eyes from both the late afternoon sun and me.

He should have been driving an Aston Martin instead of my Ford Focus.

"We need to talk," I said.

"About what?"

"About whatever's been bothering you. If there's a problem with our relationship, I'd like you to tell me."

"Our relationship is fine as far as I'm concerned."

"Then what's wrong? And don't say 'nothing' like you did the last two times I asked."

"You may not have considered this, Lizabeth, but not everything requires discussion."

"Are you saying you want me to ignore the fact that you've been restless and preoccupied for the past week?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying."

"In a good relationship --"

"Lizabeth, I'm not in the habit of sharing the odds and ends of my life. After years of being a cop and not taking my work home --"

"I know about that, Quinn. I learned about that in those policing classes I took back in grad school. I know about cops not taking home what happens on the job." I reached for my water bottle and unscrewed the top. "But we're not talking about your work. And you aren't a cop anymore."

*Reprinted with the author's permission.

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Winter 2011-12
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