Voices From The Pandemic

Gold Mom’s Choice Award
Indie Book Award – Finalist Best Covid-19 Pandemic
Bronze Medal Readers’ Favorite
Finalist International Book Awards – Best Anthology
Winner – New England Book Festival – Best Anthology

Winner – San Francisco Book Festival 
New York Book Festival Honorable Mention

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Voices from the Pandemic —a collection of memoirs from healthcare workers, educators, people who have experienced loss, writers and entertainers without audiences, and a special group, sixth graders, all trying to understand Covid-19 and how it affects their lives.

$16.95

Gold Mom's Choice Award
Indie Book Award - Finalist Best Covid-19 Pandemic
Bronze Medal Readers' Favorite - Nonfiction Anthology
Finalist International Book Awards - Best Anthology
Winner - New England Book Festival - Best Anthology

Winner - San Francisco Book Festival - Best Anthology
New York Book Festival Honorable Mention

2020 brought about a change in everyone's lives. This change had no specific target, much like the wind, the corona virus – Covid-19, swept across our nation like a swarm of locusts that affected every facet of our society. Quarantine, job loss, schools and stores closed, and people lived in fear of what the future held.

We have tried to capture voices from the Pandemic — healthcare workers, educators, people who have experienced loss, writers and entertainers without audiences, and a special group, sixth graders trying to understand, why? None of these voices know what the future holds. We don’t either, but we have tried to document where we are now. From deep sorrow to confusion and yes, even humor, the stories in this anthology capture a glimpse of society and how we coped—and perhaps will help us better understand what this trying period has meant to so many of us.

Contributors

Don Helin
Robert Furey
Marie McGowan
Joe Coleman
Jennifer Diamond
Janet Cincotta
Rick Robinson
Frank Pandora
Dick Vieth
Connie Cousins
Lisa McCombs
Suzanne Alexander
Don Stansberry
Edwin Daryl Michael
Donna Leiss
Krystian Leonard
Lynn Salsi
Dennis Hetzel
Stacie Haas
Ellen Still
Joyce Nissley
Warren Clark
Lew Dobbins
Dreama Denver
Dr. Sabrina Runyon

Student Writers
Rilee Ruggles
Colson Manko
Dayton Wilson
Tyler Cole
Lilly Moats
Bella Miller
Garrett Haymond
Jullian Conn

Cover

Paperback

ISBN

9781951556433

Other Details

Anthology

Pages

128

Size

6 x 9

Year Published

2020

Author

Dreama Denver, Joe Coleman, Dennis Hetzel, Don Helin, Don Stansberry, F. T. Pandora, Krystian Leonard, Lew Dobbins, Lisa A. McCombs, Lynn Salsi, Rick Robinson, Sabrina Runyon, Suzanne Alexander

1 review for Voices From The Pandemic

  1. Randy B. Lichtman for Readers’ Favorite

    As I write this review in January 2021, we continue to experience the terrible circumstances brought to us by the pandemic, COVID-19. In spite of our individual differences, so many similarities are brought to light in the powerful anthology of memoir articles contained in Voices from the Pandemic, compiled by Headline Books and edited by Don Helin. The book contains a variety of authors with different professional backgrounds including health care professionals, entertainers, teachers, writers, administrators, and so many more. In addition, the writings of seven student authors who are currently experiencing school online in 6th grade are just as important, as these experiences will be memorable in their future educational experiences.

    So many common experiences are here, such as working from home, entertainers not able to work, students and teachers working online, people unable to get simple grocery items such as toilet paper, health challenges, loneliness, experiencing and viewing the death of patients, and families not being able to be with their loved ones as they lose their lives from Covid-19. These are only a sample of the issues expressed so personally and sensitively throughout the book in diverse voices. They remind us that we are not alone and that others are going through some of the same challenges we are—and some are having very different ones. Together the book paints a tapestry of life in the Covid-19 world from different people, perceptions, professions, ages, and backgrounds. Many of the writers have published articles, short stories, and books while many are expressing their personal experiences to help themselves cope and understand their own situations in this collection of memoirs.

    After the pandemic ends and life becomes more “normalized”, these memoirs will become even more valuable as we look back and see what we lived through, how we survived, and how we have been impacted in a post-pandemic world. Pandemic history is still being written at the time of this publication. Voices from the Pandemic, compiled by Headline Books, and edited by Don Hein stands as a testimony to the courage of ordinary people as they survive one of the most challenging times in their lives. I continue to be very moved as I reflect on stories I read from this remarkable anthology. There are so many personal and sensitive stories that make this volume a monument to all who have lived through this extremely challenging time for all of us. An excellent book to remind us of how we are surviving during this unique time in our lives and the resilience that will bring us into the next stage of our lives.”

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About the Authors

Dreama Denver is an actress and international multi-award-winning author of Four Bears in a Box, Back to the Beach, Zen and Now, and Gilligan’s Dreams, detailing her 30-year marriage to Bob Denver, star of that iconic television series “Gilligan’s Island. The two met when they were cast opposite one another in a theater production, and toured the country for many years performing together. She is a Mom’s Choice Award Honoree and a Next Generation Indie Book Award Recipient. An author and speaker, Dreama keeps Bob’s legacy alive via her work with The Denver Foundation, supporting special needs children and U.S. veterans.  Visit www.dreamadenver.com to learn more.

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As a journalist and media executive, Dennis Hetzel has won numerous awards for writing, industry leadership and community service, including the 2003 Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for leadership in coverage of race and diversity issues. Since 2010, he has been president and executive director of the Ohio News Media Association in Columbus, Ohio, and president of the Ohio Coalition for Open Government.​

He began his career as a weekly newspaper sports editor in the Chicago suburbs and has been a reporter, editor, general manager and publisher at newspapers including the Madison, Wis., Capital Times, the Cincinnati Enquirer and the York, Pa., Daily Record, where he was editor and publisher for 13 years. Under his leadership, the York paper won national awards from the Scripps Howard Foundation in public service journalism and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He also has taught journalism at Penn State and Temple universities.​

Hetzel grew up in the Chicago area and inherited his lifelong affection for and frustration with the Cubs from his late father. He has a degree in political science and a minor in journalism from Western Illinois University, where he met his wife, Cheryl, a school psychologist and guidance counselor. They have three grown children and a home they love in Holden Beach, North Carolina, where he does much of his writing. He welcomes opportunities to do manuscript editing and critiques.

Season of Lies is Dennis Hetzel’s second novel, following the award-winning Killing the Curse in which events precede those that unfold in the latest novel.​

Hetzel also plays guitar and bass in an acoustic trio, “Phil’s Five & Dime,” which includes fellow author Rick Robinson on mandolin. He’s still hoping “this guitar thing” works out when he grows up.

Zoom Into Books Presentations

Not Fake News! Weaving facts into fiction and why it’s so important for thrillers that work. Available on Zoom Into Books YouTube Channel – Click HERE 

  A thriller writer’s search for his birth parents. How Dennis Hetzel solved a lifelong puzzle and what he learned that can help others. – Available HERE on Zoom Into Books YouTube Channel


About the Author 

During his time in the military, Don Helin served at a number of stateside posts as well as overseas in Vietnam and Germany. He is the author of seven thrillers that draw from his military experience, including three tours in the Pentagon. He writes for TheBurg, a community magazine based in Harrisburg.

Don is the editor of the new anthology, VOICES FROM THE PANDEMIC. 2020 has brought changes in everyone’s life. Read the memoirs of healthcare workers, educators, writers and entertainers, people who have experienced loss, and a special group — elementary school students — to better understand what this period has meant to all of us.

His novel, Secret Assault, was selected as the Best Suspense/Thriller at the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. His novel, Long Walk Home, won a Five Star review at Readers Favorite Awards and his latest novel, Roof of the World, was a finalist in the 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

You can reach Don at: www.donhelin.com

 

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Coming Soon to Zoom Into Books YouTube Channel

  • Travel Writing for fun and Profit  
  • During these troubled days, consider documenting your story in a memoir. 
  • The importance of believable villains. 
  • Newspapers, Magazines or Television:  Stories ripped from the headlines. 
  • Flawed or Too Perfect.  
  • First Sentence, first page, first chapter.  Watch HERE
  • Point of View and Dialogue.  Who’s telling the story and what are they saying?
  • Passport to Panic  Watch Here
  • Memoir Workshop – Research and Story Structure in the New Normal
  •  Memoir Workshop – First Sentence, first page, first chapter. How to hook your reader?
  • Memoir Workshop – How to Develop Believable Characters and Interesting setting.
  • Memoir Workshop – Point of View and Dialogue. Who’s telling the story and what are they saying?

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International Award-winning author, Don Stansberry, is a native West Virginian and an elementary school teacher. He is the author newly released Isle of Shadows, and his children’s books–which he also illustrated, Koko & Stoney Mom’s Choice Award and Crusty, named a Finalist in the USA News Best Book Awards. Don is the author of Secret Blood, a multi-award-winning book that took top honors for best spiritual fiction at the London Book Festival. It was named a Winner at the Indie Book Awards at a reception at The Plaza in New York City during Book Expo America. His second novel, Vulture Bend, is a riveting good vs. evil award-winning story. Don is also part of the Headline Kids School Show Program and does workshops at conferences. He has been a public school teacher since 1984 and has always had an interest in writing. He was the head coach for the Parkersburg High Girls’ Basketball team for 16 years and retired from this position with four state championships.

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Coming Soon to Zoom Into Books YouTube Channel

Discussion and Reading – Secret Blood and Vulture Bend
Inky & the Missing Gold and Inky, Ogleebee & the Witches 
Children’s Book – Crusty 


Award winning author, F. T. Pandora, was the Chief Legal Officer of the multihospital healthcare system, OhioHealth, for over 25 years. He is also the former Chair of the Community Shelter Board in Columbus which raises money for and grants budget funds to the homeless shelters in and around Franklin County. He was also the former vice chair of the Franklin County Hospital Commission and the Chair of the Dublin, Ohio Board of Zoning Appeals. He was named multiple times by Cincinnati Magazine as a top 100 Lawyer in Ohio and received the Business First Lifetime Achievement Award as an attorney in 2011. He and his wife, Catherine, currently divide their time between their granddaughters, Ellie and Livia, and traveling in Europe. His first book, middle grade mystery Revenge, won Honorable Mention at the Florida Book Festival.


 

2021 Diana Award Recipient

President and Founder of Shining S.C.A.R.S.
Author & Motivational Speaker
Miss West Virginia Collegiate America 2015
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Krystian experienced first-hand the trials and self-esteem issues associated with visible scars beginning at age 4. Healing with visible scars left her feeling damaged and ashamed. She found the strength she needed to overcome her self-image and entered her first beauty pageant at the age of 14. Krystian began to volunteer in her community and searched for a platform she could resonate with. She wanted to choose a platform that she could be passionate about, and thus Shining S.C.A.R.S. was born. Through her healing campaign for Shining S.C.A.R.S. Krystian has used her personal experience and pain as a way to reach out to others, helping them to feel PROUD of their imperfections knowing that those scars and the stories of those scars helped shape the person they have developed into.

Krystian has shared her vision and mission for Shining S.C.A.R.S. at TEDx Boca Raton, Contagious Optimism Live and Next Gen Summit. She works to gather funding to provide her book Shining Scars, to children’s recovering centers treating patients relating to burns, cleft palate, spina bifida and cancer recovery. Her book was awarded the Mom’s Choice Award – Silver in 2013. By creating a positive and character building organization it is Krystian’s goal to build an informative community aiding in the healing process.

Krystian traveled to New York in 2013 for Book Expo America, where she met David Mezzapple, which led her to the Contagious Optimism Family, and co-author of 10 Habits of Truly Optimistic People. Krystian is currently an anti-bullying speaker for ICubed Agency, and is scheduled as one of the speakers on The Rise Above Tour 2016.

Modeling is another passion of Krystian’s, she has been featured in local commercials and gained modeling jobs nationwide, for designers as Rachel Allen and Fernando Wong.

Looking to the future, Krystian is interested in continuing to write and publish children’s books, and is studying Broadcast Journalism at West Virginia University.

Krystian has been featured in the following:

WV Living Magazine Winter Edition 2013 ‘Scars To Prove It’

Photo Op: America’s Got Talent Winner; Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., Best Selling Autobiography

Who I Am: American Scar Stories, by Jenny Cutler Lopez, Indie Recon Best Nonfiction Howey Award

10 Habits of Truly Optimistic People, by David Mezzapple

Contagious Optimism Live Speaker April 4, 2014

TEDx Boca Raton speaker May 9, 2014

Next Gen Summit speaker August 2, 2015

Krystian has received the following awards:

Miss Morgantown’s Outstanding Teen – 2012

Miss Southern WVOT – 2013

Miss Northern WVOT – 2014

Duke of Edinburgh, Bronze and Silver

Miss West Virginia Collegiate America 2015

2015 Next Gen Humanitarian Award, Austin Texas

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Lew Dobbins’ 47 year broadcasting career began with an early audition in 1963, his freshman year of high school, announcing the death of a United States President. The West Virginia native openly writes of what would be compared today as the primitive days of broadcasting.

A recounting of an illustrious career in country music, radio and TV, Lew Dobbins writes a personal history of country music and engages the reader with personal and professional stories of our country’s greatest stars.

Read about his development of an on-air character and phrases on his radio program that have become that of West Virginia legendary folklore. The business of news radio and TV, the interviews with internationally known personalities from Herb Morrison, the man who described “The Hindenburg Disaster” on worldwide radio, basketball legend Meadowlark Lemon, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, and many more. The who’s who of country music tell Lew their most private thoughts in the greatest conversations ever recorded in the history of country music.

The words are all factual, the stories are all true from stars such as Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, George Straight, Charlie Daniels, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty and so many more.

In 2008, Lew received the “ultimate thank you” from his peers, when he was inducted into the West Virginia Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He joined fellow inductees such as: Don Knotts, David Selby, Tom T. Hall, Little Jimmy Dickens, Soupy Sales, Peter Marshall and many more individuals of national prominence.

Take a seat and join Lew on his wild ride as the on air light is “on” and it’s showtime Behind the Microphone

 


Award-winning author and veteran teacher of thirty-three years, Lisa A. McCombs had a front-row seat for adolescent angst until multiple sclerosis entered the picture and ended her beloved career as a public school teacher. Now Lisa communicates with her preferred age group through realistic fiction that covers speaks to the youth of today, yesterday, and tomorrow.

Lisa’s YA titles include Abby, Raspberry Beret, and Opening Pandora’s Box. The Church of Go series is Lisa’s current project that includes award-winning Bombs Bursting in Air and Praise Petals. Her book awards include a Mom’s Choice Award, Gold Readers’ Favorite International Book Award, Gold Literary Classics Award, and a Next Generation Indie Book Award.

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Watch HEREI Have MS. What’s Your Super Power? Lisa McCombs reads from her common sense guide to living with multiple sclerosis

Bombs Bursting in Air: Recognizing our country’s military veterans


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Lynn Salsi, author of 19 books, is the recipient of many writing awards, including an American Library Association Notable Book Award and Historian of the Year. In 2009 she was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for The Life and Times of Ray Hicks, Keeper of the Jack Tales. Other awards include the North Carolina Historian of the Year, the Jacqueline Lougheed World Understanding Lecturer (International Alpha Delta Kappa), an American Library Association Notable Book Award, eight Willie Parker Peace History Book Awards, a Stars and Flags gold medal, and a gold medal from the Military Writers Society of America. Lynn is known for retelling ancient tales of America’s first settlers and for her travels to 18 countries to study global stories. 

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Hurricane: Jamar’s Story – Watch HERE

The Appalachian Jack Tales – Watch Here

Jack and The Giants – Watch Here

 


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With over three decades in law and politics, Rick Robinson’s award winning political thrillers are as current as today’s headlines.

Robinson was named 2016 Independent Author of the Year at The Florida Book Festival for Alligator Alley and 2013 Independent Author of the Year with the Grand Prize for Alligator Alley at the Great Southeast Book Festival. For the work on his previous novel, Writ of Mandamus, he garnered the Grand Prize at the London Book Festival and Manifest Destiny won Grand Prize at the DIY Book Festival plus eight additional national and international awards, including Best Fiction at the Paris and New York Book Festivals. It was named one of the year’s best thrillers by USA Book News.

As a conservative humorist, 48 percent of Americans think Rick’s work is devoid of any journalistic value whatsoever — let alone humor. Of the remaining 52 percent, half of them think his columns are serious. Yet, the remaining group helped make his collection of columns, titled Strange Bedfellow, premiere at No. 1 on Amazon’s Top Seller List of political humor.

Find Rick’s political and pop culture columns on Rare, the Daily Caller, the River City News, NKY Magazine,  Northern Kentucky Tribune and KYForward.

“Everybody has one book in them, and I spent 30 years writing the wrong one.” Rick Robinson

 

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10 Tips for Writing Novels – Watch here on YouTube

The Stories Behind the Books! Watch HERE


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A native of Mingo County, WV, Dr. Sabrina Runyon has been an educator for 27 years, and also taught adult basic education and college science courses. She was a principal for eight years and currently Mingo County’s PK-8 director, Title I and Title III director, County events coordinator, and is the lead for a host of other services.

Married with two sons, she worked to get her master’s degree from Salem International University, while working full time at Tug Valley High School and part time at Southern WV Community and Technical College. Dr. Runyon finished her doctoral studies in August of 2016, from Phoenix University. Her first book, Sabrina’s Book, came about as an introductory poem to her fellow doctoral classmates in her first year of residency.

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Suzanne Alexander has been a docent for the Huntington Museum of Art for over ten years as well as an outreach teacher for their Museum Making Connections program. Throughout her career as an elementary school librarian, language arts teacher, children’s librarian in a public library, and book columnist, Suzanne has shared her love of reading and art. She currently writes stories and articles for children and young adults, and is a member of the West Virginia Writers, Inc. and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. In her free time, Suzanne enjoys traveling which often creates inspiration for her writing.

Author Photo courtesy of Toby Werthammer

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Tip of the Tale  Coming Soon!