|
Click below for information about each book in the series with book club discussion questions.
Click on the map to see Jade's maps from all four books.
|
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
| AN ARMCHAIR EXPLORER |
 |
I have been an armchair explorer ever since I first
picked up a book of missionary tales. I grew up with Elsa the
lioness in "Born Free" and read the semi-autobiographical stories of
African bush pilot Beryl Markham and explorers and
cinematographers Osa and Martin Johnson.
I graduated into museum
collector Roy Chapman Andrews whose exploits became the basis for
Indiana Jones, Amazon explorer Col. Fawcett, African coffee farmer
Isak Dinesen, and finally Peter Capstick, a modern big game
hunter. Unfortunately, like Jimmy Stewart in "It's
A Wonderful Life", an
actual explorer's life
eluded me, so I studied wildlife biology in college and took part
time jobs as a zookeeper. It was the closest to getting into the
wild that I could get in the mid-west.
Most people read fiction to live
vicariously in another world. I'm
creating that world for myself and for all those other armchair
detectives, explorers, and adventurers.
|
 |
|
BACKGROUND
 I grew up in Greensburg, Indiana, where
my interests generally revolved around the outdoors or animals. I
attended Purdue University, worked part time at the local zoo,
then became a laboratory technician at the University after graduation. Since that
latter job did not involve either the outdoors or animals, I
migrated to Kansas and received a masters degree
in wildlife ecology.
From there I worked for Kansas Department of
Wildlife and Parks in their Pratt museum, then as a research assistant
on the Konza Prairie at Kansas State University. I also taught as
a Biology instructor at Kansas State University. Later, after my husband and I
moved, I earned a Master’s in Education in order to pursue a
teaching career and taught middle and high school science.
When I began writing, I targeted
the children's magazine market and then branched into the adult
market. For examples of those works, visit my "other
writing" web page. I also was a part-time temporary instructor of biology at Pittsburg State, teaching a non-major biology class.
I am a member of the Mystery Writer's of America,
the Joplin Writer’s Guild (past President and
Secretary), and the Missouri Writer’s Guild. I am a charter member of the southeast Kansas
Chapter of Women in the Outdoors.
|
 |
I am also a member of the National Sisters in Crime (SInC) and Border Crimes Chapter of Sisters in Crime (vice-president). The chapter meets at I Love A Mystery in Mission, KS and has members from both KS and MO (hence the chapter name).
Photo: officers of the Border Crimes chapter: Nancy Pickard (Pres.), Suzanne Arruda (V.P.), Cami Litchfield (Treasurer), and Diana Reese (Secretary). |
|
SPEAKING
I am happy to speak to groups about writing, the Jade book series, and her historical time period. I can also do workshops for writers. See the Contact page for more
information.
Anchorage, Alaska (for Bouchercon 2007)
|
|
