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Dick
Claassen Author
BIO:
Dick Claassen began putting his ideas to paper as a young child,
but it wasn't until 1975 that he finally had his first major piece
published. The feature magazine article written for The Iowan
titled, Build Your Own Dulcimer, launched his free-lance career.
It was only a few short years ago that Dick began to break away
from factual writing in order to write novels. Dick wanted to
accomplish two things in his novel writing. He wanted to write
about aliens, and he wanted to write about them in a realistic
way. Dick drew inspiration from authors like Whitley Strieber
and Dr. John E. Mack, both men giants in the field of research
in alien abduction. Dick collaborated with his coauthor, Diane
Drury, whose editorial experience helped craft his story ideas.
One year later, ta'Sara's Gift
was ready for publication. They have since gone on to write two
more novels, Zeta's Child,
and The Healers, which round
out The Dark Ships Trilogy. Dick has gone on to write three
shorter novels: Shadow
of Love, Love Signs,
Plugged-In Souls, and Night
Beasts. He has also written several novels: The
Raphael Experience, plus Country
Priestess, and it's sequel, Silver Seed. He has also
written an instruction book called, Celebrate
the Native American Flute, as well as a HyperStudio sign language
instruction package titled, Serious
Signing. Dick has studied writing at the University of Iowa
Writer's Workshop. What does Dick do in his spare time? Forget
spare time! He's co-running Awe-Struck E-Books with Kathryn Struck!
Kathryn
D. Struck has a Bachelors Degree in Theatre and a Masters
Degree in Twentieth Century English and American Writing and Literature.
She has been a teacher of high school speech, drama and English
for twenty-four years. She is the Technical Director of Theatre
at her high school, and is in charge of designing all scenery
costumes, sound, make-up, and lighting for the school's successful
dramatics program. Before she went into teaching, she worked as
a professional actress for The Old Creamery Theatre Company, a
regional theatre company. Her work with scripts gave her an ear
for dialogue, and a sense of pace. "When I was on stage, I was
the pace-setter," she said. "I was the actress that could keep
the scene moving. That drive is absolutely essential in fiction
writing." In addition to teaching and 'teching' shows, she also
acts as the school 'Scribe', writing documents to communicate
her school's educational philosophy and unique programs to parents,
students, and the community. She gives educational presentations
to professionals each year as well. Coming on-board in 1995, Kathryn
coauthored with Dick Claassen The Dark Ships Trilogy under the
name, Diane Drury. She had been wanting to try her hand at fiction
writing beyond poetry and short pieces. Initially she acted as
the series editor, but soon became a co-pilot. "Dick has the stories;
he's a wonderful story-teller. I have the red pen," she admits.
Nonetheless, through her association with Dick, she has started
several projects of her own: a novel on psychometry, and a collection
of pieces by and about wives of Vietnam veterans. Kathryn has
free-lanced for W.C. Brown Publishers and studied writing at the
University of Iowa. She has recently been published in Little
Read Writers' Hood, an on-line magazine.
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