J.J. Strang Writer's Society
Issue No. 6
September, 2002
Our membership continues to grow. As you can see from the list above of members to whom this 6th issue has been sent, we now have 21 members. Some interesting bios and news follows. Bill Olson
Rebecca Carlson rcarlson
cc.vccs.edu writes, “Currently I have been trying to put together information on Strang's five wives. I am waiting on info. re: a person named Milo Quaife who did interviews (I believe) with one of the wives, and the other wives children. Other than that I am a college English Instructor at a small college in Fredericksburg, VA – we moved here from Detroit MI where my husband worked (and is currently still) for General Motors. I am originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan. My husband is from Minneapolis, MN. I look forward to learning and contributing to this group."
Gerald Cooper g.coopertriton.net writes: “My name is Gerald Cooper. I was born 70 years ago in Holland, Michigan and still leave in Holland, having retired 18 years ago. I discovered King Strang in 1969 during my first visit to Beaver Island. Since that time my wife and I have visited the island 23 times, staying for a few days to as many as nineteen. We have just returned home after a 13 day visit over the fourth of July. During this time I had an enjoyable meeting and discussion with Bill Cashman who suggested I become a member of the Strang Writers Club.
“I have written 9 novels, one novella and seven children's stories of which one is entitled, Precious Child and King Strang's Rock. Precious Child stories are fairy tales except for the one just mentioned which is a modern adventure. Beaver Island is visited in three of my novels, playing a major role in one. I write for the pleasure of creating and self-publish a limited number for my family and friends.
Professor Robert Beasecker of Grand Valley University, in 1998, published Michigan in the Novel, 1816-1996, An Annotated Bibliography, and included three of my novels, Fox Island, Fox Island 2187, Safari Home and a children's story, Santa Visits the Cooper Lodge. When he publishes his addendum, he intends to include the Precious Child story plus my novel entitled, Truckin'.
As a hobby I collect Michigan Books, specializing in islands of the Great lakes with emphasis on Lake Michigan.
At present I have no plans to write about Strang."
Carolyn Lewis sunwritepentel.net writes: “I am reading a slim volume of true stories, A Child of the Sea by Elizabeth Whitney Williams. It's written in a quaint archaic style, but interestingly has a fiction writer's point of view, as she relates from the perspective of herself as a child and writes only what the child could have known, which certainly adds some tension to the story.
“The bookstore is on hold for the moment, as I have applied for a Michigan ArtServe grant to do a photography book project on preservation and literacy. I drive by these old abandoned farmhouses every time I go into town, and started taking pictures of them, and there it began. Even if I do not receive the grant, the application requires laying out an entire year's plan for the work, month by month, and community service as well, which I think I will do. It also required me to come into contact with 4 regional publishers – sleeping bear press, arbutus press, wayne state university press, and a small press in Minnesota to help me work out the budget details, but also allowed me to find out who the local publishers were so that I might pitch the book to them. So I have led myself into this project and done some photo shoots already, of the preservation of farmhouses which I pose people reading in front of for the literacy part, the farmhouses being the preservation part. So one thing has led to another and here I am taking photoediting courses online, something i had never planned on, and learning how to wrap text on a page around a photograph on the computer.
“Well, life certainly is full of interesting corners to come round, isn't it?
“Hope you all are well up there and that you will pass on news of yourselves
in the newsletter.”
Jeannie Hanson (from Minneapolis area), jkhlitaol.com “To Bill and all the Strang-gang: My name is Jeannie Hanson and I'm glad that I'm the newest member of the group! Publishing is my field and I've written quite a few books–all for the general public and all nonfiction. I've been to Beaver Island a couple of times (we have a place in the Harbor Springs area) and there became interested in Strang. I've found a publisher who has approved my outline and is awaiting a sample chapter. To do it, I went to the National Archives in Chicago to read the court record of the trial, to the extent to which it exists. My book is about his era as much as it is about his life--so I'm reading pretty much history already. I hope to get to the island in early July. “
John Quinn quinnhope.edu has sent several pictures taken in the Voree area and has kindly permitted me to include them in our newsletter.