Fedora AMIS--The Big Picture
Like Jemima McBustle, Fedora lives in St. Louis—though not in the St. Louis of 1897—except in her mind, that is. She devoured books as a child and teenager—one a day during the summers. In college she earned a double major in English and Speech (BA, BS Ed., M Ed.) and still loves both.
Her teaching career left her little time to read anything for fun. Two news magazines a week along with technical journals and two daily newspapers was the limit. Teaching offered her the means to study and re-study the great works of great American authors—and gave her a close-up view of bureaucratic turf-protection and departmental gang warfare. She has won numerous awards including Outstanding Teacher of Speech in Missouri, membership in three halls of fame—state and national speech organizations and her own high school alma mater.
Fedora did find time for a little non-fiction writing—educational articles for newspapers and magazines as well as books on speaking and logic for the National Federation of High School Activity Associations and the Alan Company.
Fedora won the Mayhaven Prize for Fiction for her Victorian Whodunit Jack the Ripper in St. Louis (ISBN: 13-978-193227828-6). It poses the question, “Did the real Jack the Ripper die in St. Louis in 1903?” To answer, Fedora tells the story of seventeen-year-old Jemima McBustle. Despite her family’s disapproval, she follows Nellie Bly ‘s example. She yearns to become the next great female stunt reporter. Her first story leads her to the shady doings of a mad doctor, a man who modern researchers now suspect was Jack the Ripper. Can a proper young lady survive the attention of a sociopathic butcher?
Fedora lives in suburban St. Louis where she often dons corsets and hoop skirts to perform as genuine historical figures and as imagined characters from the Nineteenth century. Fedora enjoys travel despite the fact that flying in airplanes isn’t fun anymore. She has visited Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand, Mexico, Australia, the Bahamas, France, Ireland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Spain, Gibraltar, Greece and every state in the Union.
She has one son, Skimmer, who partners Fedora in writing science fiction and fantasy.
