Linda L. Rigsbee

Author and Artisan

13 May 2024

LEGACY of a Griffin

During WWII, Dad was in the 233rd Engineers Unit, serving in the pacific. That unit called themselves the Griffins. A griffin is a mythical creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. It is the symbol of wisdom, justice and … revenge. It guarded treasure and priceless possessions. During the war, the men thought of it as guarding their country and freedom.

Dad was a griffin all his life. He was not revengeful, but he was certainly wise, protective and an inspiration to many people. He was a gentleman in name and in nature. He believed in people and he inspired them to believe in themselves.

Dad often said he would rather make something than buy it. His actions spoke louder than his words. He made tractors, horse-drawn buggies, engines musical instruments and many more things from scratch. His attention to detail assured quality and he never charged what it was worth. He only had a 5th grade education and never learned to read well, but he never stopped learning or creating. He even taught himself to play the guitar and violin.

After Mom died, Dad had a knee replacement. He was in his 80’s and having a difficult time. I had recently lost my job of 30 years and was on severance, which gave me the opportunity to be with him. To distract him from his agony, I initiated conversation about family, war years and things he had done.

I didn’t open a can of worms. I opened a smorgasbord. It didn’t take me long to realize there was enough to write a book about and, other than immediate family, few people knew about it. I thought they should, so we started writing his biography.

LEGACY of a Griffin is more than a tribute to my father. It is the story of a man who started with nothing and built his life into something others wanted to emulate. This rags-to-riches story isn’t about money. It’s about something we all can do, not only for the good of others, but for ourselves as well.

LEGACY of a Griffin is available in eBook, paperback and hardcover. It is in full color (except for the old B&W pictures) and contains many old pictures – some taken during WWII.

Discover all the places it can be found and in what formats by using my website: https://www.deartales.com/legacy

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05 May 2024
1 Comment

Witch Way To Go

Author Interview with Caroline Giammanco

Caroline Giammanco’s book “Witch Way to Go” is a collection of short stories that will keep you wondering during the read and pondering afterward. It amazes me that, no matter how many of her stories I read, I’m almost always surprised by the ending. Her writing style draws me in from the beginning and keeps me entertained to the end. She is a prolific writer with an incredible talent for presenting surprise endings.

Caroline has this to say about her inspiration for her book: Witch Way to Go: Twisted Paths Into the Night, Book 4 of the Into the Night series.

“I grew up as a fan of The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and my family always enjoyed discussing the “what ifs” of the universe. I have fun writing these science fiction and paranormal short stories, and I want them to be as much fun for my readers as they are for me.”

Caroline Giammanco Author

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Caroline Giammanco is an author and high school English teacher. She grew up in Douglas County, Missouri and moved to Arizona to attend the University of Arizona where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with an English minor. She lives on her farm in southern Missouri and is married to the love of her life, Keith Giammanco. She has two sons, two stepdaughters, and three adorable grandchildren.

Caroline’s first works dealt with the non-fiction/true crime world of the Missouri Department of Corrections. Her most recent works have been a series of science fiction and paranormal short story collections known as the Into the Night series. She also writes westerns and draws on the places she lived in the West when writing those.

Discover more about Caroline Giammanco at her Amazon author website:

For information on where to buy her featured book, click on the link below.

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05 May 2024

Kayla, The Landlord Slayer

One thing nice about being a writer is that you can take a bad life experience and make it a good one. That’s what I did with “Kayla, the Landlord Slayer.”

You hear a lot of stories about bad landlords. We had the opportunity to change that when we were unable to sell our house and decided to rent it. Only we knew nothing about being landlords. In fact, we never had a bad landlord – probably partly because we were good tenants. I left some things out of a general contract because I thought they were unfair or unnecessary. Oops.

So, I decided to write a book, using our experience, but changing the characters and situation and making it a good outcome.

Kayla has the opportunity to purchase a duplex at a price she can afford. What she doesn’t have is any experience or the wisdom to listen to the warnings of others.

Her friend has a draconian landlord and she decides to rent the other side of the duplex to her, getting her and her daughter out of a bad situation. She winds up turning to the draconian landlord to help her out of the same situation he had.

You can read the first chapter on my website:

https://www.deartales.com/kayla

(scroll to the bottom – “sample read.”)

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29 Apr 2024

Standoff At Apache Butte

This western book took first place in the Missouri Writer’s Guild contest in 2017. I actually started “Standoff at Apache Butte” in 2002, but set it aside and didn’t pick it back up to work on until 2012. I didn’t finish it for several more years and published it in 2018. Sometimes I lose interest in something and set it aside. Sometimes life gets in the way. But I did finish it, and that’s what counts, right?

I always like to throw a little history into my westerns and I try to make them as authentic as possible. Most books start with a two-word question: “What if…” Certainly that is true with this one. Native Americans fought each other and immigrants fought the Native Americans, but what if there was a situation where it benefitted them to work together? Well, that has happened, but this isn’t a true story.

For more information about this book, where it can be found, free reads and more reader reviews, visit my website at:

https://www.deartales.com/standoff

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22 Apr 2024

Romancing the Tree Hugger

As I listened to someone with a strong accent one day, I thought some of the words they used sounded like they were uneducated. In fact, I knew this person was well educated. That made me think of the people who don’t have a good education. We shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, should we?

All that thinking erupted in a book – “Romancing the Tree Hugger.” I’ve had people tell me that the title wouldn’t go over well because the term “Tree Hugger” was negative. That kind of fit in with the story idea, so I decided to stick with it.

Some areas of Arkansas and other states are still pretty remote. Some people live off the land. They have no electricity and must haul water from a nearby water source. They heat with wood and think in a different way. There are people who respect them for their lifestyle and values, and some who take advantage of them, thinking they are ignorant and therefore gullible.

Barrett Monroe is pretending to be something he isn’t, while chastising Mary Jo for sounding like a what she is. Their relationship starts off rocky, but they soon learn to like and respect each other for who they are. Their antics are amusing at times and inspiring at others.

I took the cover picture for this book in White Rock Wildlife Management Area, Arkansas one fall and felt like it was the perfect picture. I recently redesigned it because the title was difficult to read.

Romancing the Tree Hugger is available in eBook, paperback or hard cover. It will be available at the Elkins Library to check out in May of 2024. You can read the first chapter online at: https://www.deartales.com/treehugger to see if you might like it, or purchase through Amazon, D2D digital or Smashwords. Reader comments are also available on this page.

Linda Louise Rigsbee

Author & Artisan

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14 Apr 2024
1 Comment

Savage Wilderness

Savage Wilderness is my most popular book in the western/frontier genre, with sales in Europe, Australia and all over the United States. It is a novella set in the 1800’s near Sibley, Missouri. Equal parts adventure and mystery with a pinch of history, it is a page-turner. This is the first book I wrote using multiple viewpoints.

Rachel and Ralph become separated from each other after their homestead is attacked by Indians and burned to the ground. They escape using a tunnel they dug for this possibility, but escape is a relative word. Each must walk, run or crawl the 25 miles to Ft. Osage. Ralph has been injured during the battle and Rachel just gave birth. Their individual struggles are addressed alternately.

I first home-published this book in August of 2000 with a cover picture I designed in MS Paint program using a regular wheel mouse. I published it through Amazon in August of 2014 using a cover I designed with photos I took in White Rock Wildlife Management area. It is available in eBook, paperback and hardcover.

I have often said that reviews don’t have to be long to be effective. I received this review on Savage Wilderness and it made my day.

“Just as good as Ralph Cotton or Louis L’amour.”

For more information about this book, where it can be found, free reads and more reader reviews, visit my website at:

https://www.deartales.com/savagewilderness

Posted in WHY Blog
07 Apr 2024
1 Comment

Journals of a Caregiver

After I lost my job of 30 years due to downsizing, I found a job working with seniors at Home Instead. I would go to their house and help them so that they were able to stay in their homes instead of going to a nursing home. I have always loved older people and I loved that job. I worked there for five years before I quit to take care of my husband in our home. Good training, I guess.

I eventually wrote a book about the tragedy with my husband “Another Mountain,” but tried to stay positive at the time. One way I did that was by writing this humorous booklet about identifying the possible signs that someone might make a good caregiver. I used a lot of humor, but the book does provide some interesting observations.

This entire book can be read free online at my website:

https://www.deartales.com/journals-book

No membership or information is required to read these short stories, poems and articles advertising-free online. Links are provided to places they can be purchased and to more information about the book.

Posted in WHY Blog
01 Apr 2024
2 Comments

Moonlight Can Be Murder by Blanche Day Manos

Blanche weaves a tapestry of Victorian homes, small-town culture and sleuthing women in her intriguing murder mystery, “Moonlight Can Be Murder.” Blanche has a writing style that drew me in from the first page. I didn’t get my housework done, but I did complete the book in a day…and half the night. I couldn’t put it down.

Blanche has this to say about her book:

The Ned McNeil moonlight books begin with Nettie Elizabeth McNeil returning to her hometown of Ednalee, looking forward to a reunion with her only living relative, her Uncle Javin. The reunion fails to happen and Ned, as her friends call her, discovers that she is involved in a web of lies and mysteries that have their origin in a murder that happened decades ago. Moonlight Can Be Murder indeed.

In this first book in the series, Ned falls heir to her uncle’s old, two-storied house which is a treasured part of her hometown’s history. Ned discovers that the house and her innocent-appearing hometown hold a few secrets of their own which Ned is determined to reveal.

Who is Blanche Day Manos?

In my previous life, I was a kindergarten teacher, part-time writer of feature stories for a newspaper, and writer of stories and poems for children’s and Christian magazines. Now, I live in Arkansas near my family. In between writing books, I enjoy painting and playing the piano.

What Inspired Blanche to write this book?

When working for my hometown newspaper, I often wrote stories about the old houses in town. Each house had a story to tell. When I see old houses, I always wonder about the family or families who lived in them and I think, “What if…”

I enjoy writing clean mysteries that have middle-aged women protagonists who have a tendency to become involved in strange and mysterious happenings in their hometowns.

Moonlight Can Be Murder is the first book in the Ned McNeil cozy mystery series, with three more to follow.

Where can we discover more about author Blanche Day Manos?

Investigate my cozy mysteries at Amazon and Pen-L Publishing

www.Pen-L.com/Manos.php

https://rb.gy/c3mlth

https://www.facebook.com/blanche.manos

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Posted in Other Authors
25 Mar 2024

Something Old, Something New

“Something Old, Something New” is book number 2 in the Carmen & Alex series, but it is an interquel, written after book 3. Many people expressed the desire to read about the wedding, so I wrote “Something Old, Something New.” I resumed the series after that with “For Better or worse”, book 5. So, the order I wrote them was 1,3,2 & 5.

Each of the books in the Carmen & Alex series has a title that is part of an old saying: 1) Once Bitten, Twice Shy 2) Something Old, Something New 3) The Darkest Hour 4) For Better or Worse 5) A Change of Hearts 6) To Thine Own Self 7) An Ounce of Prevention.

The main character, Carmen, is a change-of-life baby – an only child brought up by aging and conservative parents with old-fashioned ideas.

I started this series in 1996, so you will notice not only outdated ideas, but technology as well. For instance; in 1996, the flip phone was just becoming popular. You didn’t get on the internet with it because…internet wasn’t available the way it is now. You used a computer and often had a dial-up connection. Alex has money for the best, but the best isn’t what you would expect today, and he is rather conservative as well.

I had one reader get upset with me and tell me the mother could not come back and get the baby after adoption. The reader said I should do my research before I wrote such things. Actually, we adopted a child in 1980, so we were familiar with the laws at the time. In Arkansas, a mother had 6 months to change her mind after giving up a child for adoption.

I wrote book 1 in 1996 and book 7 in 2015; 7 books in 9 years. “Something Old, Something New” is the only book in the series for which I purchased a cover picture. All the other covers were from my pictures. All but two of the cover pictures were taken in Arkansas. The setting for all the books begin in Arkansas, my home state.

All of the Carmen & Alex series are now available in eBook, paperback and hardcover at Amazon and in eBook at Smashwords and D2D. If you would like to read more about this book, visit my website: https://www.deartales.com/2sosn where you will find a complete description, reader comments, links to places to purchase it as well as the full prologue and first chapter to read free online.

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17 Mar 2024

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

I started this series in 1996. It was supposed to be one book, but every time I completed a book, I would think of another scenario and have to see what they would do.

I raised goats in the mid to late 1980’s and even wrote a monthly newsletter about goats; “Goat Udderings Newsletter.” When I wrote “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” someone asked me if it was about me. No.

The character, Carmen, was actually inspired by a country neighbor who was rumored to have been acquired by her husband. The story was that he traded some land for her. If all the stories were true, she was basically his slave.

I wondered what kind of childhood a person might have lived to accept such a deal. She stayed with him until he grew old and died. I don’t know how many years. I met her in the 60s when I was a teen. Young women were just beginning to protest discrimination in the work place. She was a grandma at that time.

I didn’t want my stories to be negative, though. I wanted my main characters to be strong and independent. I decided on a young woman who was an only child of aging conservative and religious parents. Some areas in Arkansas are still pretty backward, and I was familiar with the stigma attached to raising goats in the area at the time. I blended all those together and came up with my main character, Carmen.

Carmen has inherited 80 acres in Arkansas when her parents died and has started a goat dairy. Her roommate’s brother comes to visit them. He is a socialite and she is backward, shy and in a depressed mood. They are attracted to each other from the start, but Carmen is fighting it. What could they possibly have in common? Love finds a way, right?

“Once Bitten, Twice Shy is available in eBook, paperback and hardcover through Amazon. Ebook copies can be obtained through Smashwords and D2D. For more information about this book and others, as well as links to where they can be purchased, reader comments and a sample read, visit my website at https://www.deartales.com/1obts

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