Press Club Members in Print: Conlee and Fox Publish Latest Books

by Gayle Lynn Falkenthal

All that Chuck Fox and Roger Conlee's latest books have in common is that they're written by two of the Press Club's favorite longtime members and former ³ink-stained wretches.²

Fox's latest is titled That Dear Land, a book of Irish inspired poetry. It's due out appropriately enough around St. Patrick's Day. In his foreward to the book, Fox writes, ³The following poems are an attempt to convey the breadth and depth of what it means to be an Irish-AmericanŠ the intent is to convey the rich heritage that all Americans of Irish descent bring to the melting pot and to make an attempt to show others that we are perhaps, more alike than we may think.²

That Dear Land is divided into two ³books.² The first is ³No Surrender;² the second is ³From Glen to Glen and Down The Mountainside.²

Roger Conlee's novel is set in a very different world, a world that doesn't exist - or does it? CounterClockwise is Conlee's take on what today's world might be like if World War II had come to the shores of California.

Conlee says, "I've always been fascinated by a couple of big questions: Would World War II have played out differently if the Japanese had attacked California after Pearl Harbor, and, is time travel possible? I decided to explore both of those conjectures in Counterclockwise. As to the second question, hey, the great theoretical physicist Michio Kaku says, 'If some day someone knocks on your door and claims to be your great-great-great granddaughter, don't turn her away. She just might be'."

Both books are available through Amazon.com and local bookstores. Conlee will sign books on Saturday, March 10 and Saturday, April 14 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Hazard Center. Fox has book signings ³in the works.²

Posted March 2007