LARRY L. EVANS Larry grew up during the Happy Days era in the blue collar town of Pontiac MI. He was raised in a loving family of two brothers and two sisters and Mom was a stay-at-home mom, as moms were in the fifties. Dad was a fireman. Like most young men in the area he went directly to work in a local automotive factory after high school. In the mid sixties he was drafted into the Army and spent two tours in Viet Nam. Upon return to civilian life Larry went back to work at the factory, bought a new GTO and regularly prowled Woodward Avenue. He did attend college for a short time until his job and life took precedence and he found his niche in the tool and die world. Eventually he went back to school intending to finish his engineering degree and became a tooling engineer for General Motors. Once again, work and life took hold and forty years later he is still working on that degree, but not very hard. A few years after the Army, Larry met his wife, Jann. Raised a couple of kids and had a very happy thirty-plus years together. Jann recently passed, but will forever be his love and remain in his thoughts and heart. NEXT EXIT, MAPLE VALLEY When Ron Burke’s wish came true, he had more money then he knew what to do with, until it came to him . . . even the hardest working Americans sometimes needed help. He set forth crossing the country in his motor home finding people and places that not only needed a helping hand, but each other. Maple Valley, a small western Tennessee town was in trouble. The town lost its largest employer - Martin Luggage - to Washington politics and corporate greed. The company saw NAFTA as a way to increase its bottom line at the expense of the town with the Federal Government’s blessing. Ron Burke rolled into town with a thought that maybe, just maybe, the town was ripe for renovation. Working magic that can come only with unlimited resources and mounds of money, Mr. Burke stood Maple Valley on its ear. “Next Exit Maple Valley” is the American dream without boundaries. NEXT EXIT, WATERS Waters was a has-been boom town on the verge of becoming just another ghost town in the Nevada desert. The fountain the town was famous for had gone dry some twenty years hence. When Ron Burke rolled into Waters, he found a reason to save the little burg, the residents themselves - a savvy cafe owner and a group of over-the-hill Reno showgirls with an odd assortment of newcomers, a mysterious government project, and a few mad scientists for good measure. A spunky bunch determined to put Waters, Nevada back on the map. AMAZON SHORTS: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK Using her home as a fortress and setting all convention aside, a middle aged housewife rebels and reverts back to her 1960's desire to become a nudist. A whimsical tale written just for fun, no dramatic agenda or underscored meanings, just a whimsical tale, no more, no less. THE LIST Murder takes a voyage. A clandestine meeting sets the stage for a murderous trek across the Atlantic. An agent with the unsolicited help of a bloodthirsty novice must eliminate everyone on his list before the ship docks in Europe. The piece was a challenge by fellow WOW authors to write a short story using ten specified words. THE BALLAD OF BROTHER JIMMY A Southern Revival Minister keeps his faith after losing what he loved most, only to be rewarded with the most precious gift a man could receive. Running into a young girl with his car leads Jimmy Smith to find his calling as a tent preacher in the Deep South. After years of preaching the gospel, he meets a lost love only to lose her once again to an unknown fate. He comes to terms with his loss, but hangs on to his faith and his one true love for decades, until one fateful afternoon when he discovers the truth of her disappearance. Herbie the pooch and his master, Larry, reside in southeast Michigan. http://www.freewebs.com/larryjann/ __________________________________________________________ To purchase books on this website, please click on any of the following: AMAZON BOOKS AMAZON BOOKS (UK) BARNES & NOBLE WALDENBOOKS