“Publication” Class Notes

Paul E. Stroble (Grad ’91) has published a poetry chapbook, “Backyard Darwin,” and a full-length poetry book, Walking Lorton Bluff, both with Finishing Line Press. He is adjunct faculty at Webster University and Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. 

Nelson D. Neal (Educ ’85) published a biography about Hemsley Winfield, the first African American modern dancer. Winfield was a contemporary of the pioneers of modern dance, he founded, directed, choreographed, and danced with his company The New Negro Art Theatre Dance Group from 1931 through 1933. He was the first African American to be contracted by the Metropolitan Opera when he danced the role of the Congo Witch Doctor in The Emperor Jones in 1933. The book describes Winfield’s life and career as an actor, director, dancer, choreographer, and teacher until his untimely death at the age of 26 in 1934. Dr. Neal is the authority on Hemsley Winfield and this is book is the culmination of his 28 years of research. His previous publication, in 2018, was an annotated bibliography about Hemsley Winfield with 511 annotated sources.

Duncan Clarke (Grad ’70) published a novel, A Little Rebellion Is a Good Thing: Troubles at Traymore College. It is a fictionalized account of his year (1969-1970) as an associate professor of political science at Radford College, then a public women’s college. Among other things, that time saw successful lawsuits against the college and its repressive president which eventually led to the removal of the longest-serving college president in the Old Dominion, coeducation and the founding of Radford University, and restoration of long-denied academic freedoms and civil liberties for faculty and students.

Mark Andrew Bradley (Law ’83) will publish his second book, Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America, in October 2020. Publishers Weekly calls it “a page-turning study of the 1969 triple murder of union leader Joseph Yablonski and his wife and daughter, and the crime’s impact on the United MIne Workers of America and organized labor in general… The result is both a juicy true crime story and a tribute to the power of effective labor movements.” 

Rachel Vanderhill (Grad ’09), chair of Wofford College’s Department of Government & International Affairs, has published the book Autocracy and Resistance in the Internet Age. The book examines how social media is both aiding and undermining autocratic regimes in the Middle East, North Africa, and the former Soviet republics. Her previous books include Promoting Authoritarianism Abroad and The International Dimensions of Authoritarian Persistence: Lessons from Post-Soviet States (co-edited with Michael Aleprete Jr.). 

Judith Baroody (Grad ’85 CM) published Casablanca Blue: Tales of Revenge, Romance and Riches on Amazon. The 10 short stories are set in locations around the world, including the University of Virginia, the Farmington Country Club, Paris, Casablanca, Santiago, and Hollywood. Baroody previously published a textbook, Media Access and the Military, now in its fifth edition, and contributed a chapter to Quills to Tweets: How America Communicates about War and Revolution. She retired from the Foreign Service after 33 years and lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, Dr. Richard Krueger.  

Laura Paskus (Col ’96) will publish her new book, At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate in September 2020. A longtime journalist, Paskus works for NM PBS, hosting and producing a monthly program, “Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present and Future,” and working on a year-long investigation into the U.S. military’s contamination of groundwater in the state. 

Blake R. Silver (Grad ’16, ’17) published The Cost of Inclusion: How Student Conformity Leads to Inequality on College Campuses. Young people are told that college is a place where they will “find themselves” by engaging with diversity and making friendships that will last a lifetime. This vision of an inclusive, diverse social experience is a fundamental part of the image colleges sell potential students. But what really happens when students arrive on campus and enter this new social world? The Cost of Inclusion delves into this rich moment to explore the ways students seek out a sense of belonging and the sacrifices they make to fit in.

Victor Deupi (Arch ’86 CM), published a new book, Emilio Sanchez in New York and Latin America. The book focuses on the life and artistic activities of Emilio Sanchez (1921–1999) in New York, and Latin America in the 1940s and 1950s. More specifically, the book examines Sanchez within the wider context of mid-century Cuban artists, and cross-cultural exchange between New York, Cuba, and the Caribbean. The book reflects on why Sanchez chose to be a mobile observer of the American and Caribbean vernacular at a time when such an approach seemed at odds with the mainstream avant-garde. This book will be of interest to scholars in modern art, Caribbean studies, architectural history, and Latin American and Hispanic studies.

Christopher Russell (Engr ’15) published his first epic fantasy novel, Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth, with Morgan James Publishing. Steampunk meets sword and sorcery meets military thriller in this gripping tale with layered characters, deep world-building, and a lurking cosmic conflict that will upend everything the people of Lozaria know and cherish. Read on for the full teaser, then look for the novel online and in-stores everywhere on Sept. 22, 2020. 

Full Teaser:

A world consumed by war . . .

When two blades clash, the third will fall, and the fate of all will be jeopardized. To save Lozaria, the failures of the past must be atoned for by a new generation of heroes. The time has come for mortals to cast off sight and, in doing so, truly come to see . . .

Victory is never absolute.
 

            Seven centuries ago, the forces of order won the Illyriite War on the plains of Har’muth.  Darmatus and Rabban Aurelian slew their elder brother, Sarcon, the despotic architect of the conflict, then sacrificed themselves to banish the cataclysmic vortex opened with his dying breath. The first advent of the Oblivion Well was thwarted. Even without their vanished gods, the seven races of Lozaria proved themselves capable of safeguarding their world. 
            Or so the story goes. 
            The year is now 697 A.B.H (After the Battle of Har’muth). Though war itself remains much the same, the weapons with which it is waged have evolved. Airships bearing powerful cannons ply the skies, reducing the influence of mages and their spells. Long range communication has brought far flung regions of Lozaria closer than ever before. At the center of this technological revolution are the three Terran states of Darmatia, Rabban, and Sarconia, who have fought a near ceaseless campaign of 700 years in an attempt to best each other. The roots of their enmity lie buried beneath the wasteland of Har’muth, a place all three nations consider best forgotten. 
                However, an ancient power sealed within Har’muth has not forgotten them, and the descendants of those who fought on that field must now take a stand to rectify the mistakes of the past. 

“Rebirth is the beginning of a story that has all the potential to go far and fly very high.​” ~Author and Blogger Abel Montero

“Like Tolkien’s classic ‘Lord of the Rings’ series, Christopher Russell creates a complex, epic fantasy and world which is rich in detail, strong characterization, and a heroic quest that leads a myriad of players into uncharted waters .” ~D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

David Stanford Burr (Col ’77, Grad ’81 CM) recently published Ledger Domain, his debut full-length collection of poems, an autobiography with a license in legerdemain. Burr is the author of The Poet’s Notebook: Inspiration, Techniques, and Advice on Craft as well as editor of seven hardcover, poetry-themed anthologies. He is a managing editor at St. Martin’s/Macmillan, one of the “Big Five” trade book publishers, currently in his 35th year, and for 24 years, as adjunct associate professor, he taught courses in book publishing as well as poetry writing workshops at New York University’s School of Professional Studies, Center for Applied Liberal Arts. He is compiling a second collection of poems, and a third focuses on the British infantry mired in the trenches on the Western Front during the Great War. David and his wife, Joan, live in Maplewood, New Jersey, with their daughter, Lauren, a newly degreed engineer.

NB: author photo credit: ©Creighton: Courtesy of NYU Photo Bureau

John Attanasio’s (Col ’76 L/M) book, Politics and Capital: Auctioning the American Dream was the subject of an article published on Forbes.com on April 29, 2020.

The article by Lawrence Carrel, Rising Income Inequality is Direct Result of Campaign Finance Cases, concerned the relationship between the campaign-finance cases, the enormous rise in U.S. income inequality, and the coronavirus crisis. 

Oxford University Press also interviewed Attanasio about the themes of the book in a 25-minute Soundcloud podcast. It has over 3100 listens.

John M. Millar (Darden ’72 L/M), a Vietnam veteran, will publish his first novel on Sept. 30, 2020. Spanning 200 years of American military history, The Wars Among the Paines, is an epic historical fictions that tells the complex story of a family defined by war, accounting in vivid detail its toll in blood, treasure, and emotional turmoil. Nearly 50 years in the making, The Wars Among the Paines illustrates how the consequences of America’s foreign wars escape the boundaries of the front lines, and ripple through generations of families, friends, politics, and the lives of we the people.

Bill Venema (Law ’81 CM) recently published his second novel, Dawn in Dallas.

Set in the late 1980s, the book follows the journey of Robert E. Clark, the protagonist from Death in Panama, as he leaves the Army JAG Corps and embarks on a career in private law practice. He secures a position at Underwood & Crockett, a prestigious law firm in Dallas, Texas, even though his young daughter and ex-wife reside in Pemberton, Georgia, the small town where he grew up. 

Things get complicated when Robert receives disturbing news from home at the same time he is confronted with unethical behavior by one of the senior partners in the firm.  The challenges of his new career and his responsibilities as a father pull him in opposite directions, and he doesn’t always make the right decision. 

Dawn in Dallas has its share of plot twists and interesting characters and along the way reveals some of the darker secrets of life inside a large law firm and the serious deficiencies of the court system.

Currently, Bill is Of Counsel in the Austin office of Jackson Walker LLP. He and his wife live in Georgetown, Texas.

Jeff Drifmeyer (Grad ’74, ’80) published a thriller novel, When Pigs Flu, under the pen name Jake McKenzie. The thriller novel, Drifmeyer writes, “reads eerily like evening news” in its discussion of the possible role of research labs and wet markets in a real pandemic risk. His work of narrated non-fiction, Civil War Comes Home, explores historic origins of BLM.

Judy Dearlove (Grad ’75) published Play On!, her first novel, last November. The book has been named a finalist for the INDIES Book of the Year award; was featured in Shelf Unbound’s Summer issue recommended reading list; and was the focus of Dearlove’s interview in Allison Kirkland’s Creatives in Conversation series.

Play On!, a stand-up-and-cheer tale of epic rivalry and deep friendship, has been lauded as “the funniest book . . . in years” (Frank McNair), and “a brisk and joyful first novel by a wise woman” (Georgann Eubanks). It is available in paperback and as an e-book for Kindle and other devices. Check with your favorite bookstore, RCWMS Publications, Amazon, or Smashwords.

B. Michael Antler (Com ’06) will publish his first book, Josephus: A Novel, on Sept. 29, 2020. Available on Kindle, audiobook, hardcover, and paperback, Josephus brings the First Roman-Jewish War and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. back to life nearly 2,000 years later. Based on Josephus’ own writings and written for a 21st Century audience, this epic comes packed with thirty original illustrations, original songs, dances, prayers and psalms, and historically accurate quotations. 

Tim Lough (Engr ’72, ’84 L/M) published his first book, Misadventures of the Nockizeemi Kid. According to one review, reading this book is no misadventure. In fact, the reader will be enthralled with the adventures, exploits, and occasional snowballs landing badly of the Nockizeemi Kid. What a refreshing and entertaining view of life from the eyes of an inquisitive and active boy growing up during the ’50s and ’60s in Richmond, Virginia, and eventually surviving childhood and UVA. A delightful read!

Betty Phipps Roberts (Nurs ’53) has published her third book, In the Shadow of the Bridge. The historical novel answers the question, “Why were we so unprepared for Pearl Harbor?” Covering the year 1941, it is accurate right down to the price of eggs. and quotes Roosevelt, Churchill, Lindbergh and others. The book will be presented in the New York World Book Fair—if and when it is held.