This Life and the Fireworks

About the Book

The author calls the 52 vignettes “cupcakes” and invites the reader to travel along vicariously with her as she recounts incidents beginning with her childhood and going into adulthood. No fiction needed here, for her life does fill the description her mother coined –“ this life and the fireworks.” 

She was born in Pomeroy, Ohio, a river town with mythical energy fed by the author’s extraordinary ancestors. Descriptions of her saintly Grandmother’s rise above tragedy to hold her family together and rich descriptions of her aunts and uncles encompass the charm and drama of life in the German- speaking neighborhood, Monkey Run. Her father, “Poppa Moose,” takes a position with the Dupont factory in Belle, West Virginia.  There as a baby she and her mother Edith Mae and four years later her brother Scotty adjust to living cheek to cheek with a fiery chemical factory on the Kanawha River.

Later her mother is diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, changing this writer’s life dramatically that leads to her being unofficially adopted by sophiscated neighbors across the street. The culture of individualism by her godparents makes this writer comfortable as a non-conformist. The role reversal of being mother to her mother, divorcee, birth, death, disappointment and adventures are all handled with the author’s invincible spirit that continues to transform her daily life.

About the Author

Salvador Dali remembers being in the womb.  This author remembers falling from a bed when she was three months old.  She has a unique gift for recounting, with passion and authenticity, events that have shaped her life since childhood.  This Life and the Fireworks is by a woman who already has led more lives than a cat.  She calls her short stories “cupcakes.”  Each story stands on its own -- read a few at a time or devour them if you like. Indulge yourself at your own pace.  The cupcakes were originally read by the author as performance pieces for Wild Woman Writing, a writing and performance group in Columbus, Ohio, and have led by popular demand to this first volume.

The author is a docent at the Columbus Museum of Art and the Wexner Center of the Ohio State University.  She also has written plays and children’s stories and performs with Wild Women Writing.  Her first job was with the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., during the time of the Cuban missile crisis.  For 27 years Carole served as a project director at the Mershon Center at the Ohio State University.  There, she directed a program on the study of American foreign policy sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) in New York City called Great Decisions.  She also served on the FPA Board for many years.

The author’s vivid recollections make This Life and the Fireworks ignite each page.  She also enjoys writing poetry inspired by great works of art and personal revelations. She continues to write cupcakes with the assistance of her Bengal cat, Miss Kitty,  but always allows time to chase rainbows -- not for the pot of gold but for the adventure!