Don Blacklock was real. He was one of my maternal uncles and the second youngest of six children in my mother’s family.
         From the time I was a youngster, he embodied the essence of a hero to me. At that time, he was physically large, but in that respect, I outgrew him. I could never, ever outgrow my fondness for him and to this day, many years after his death, I often wish that he were still here to share my life.
           Don was a unique individual. His desire and drive were unsurpassed to live life as it was in the eighteen hundred. He homesteaded raw land twice and each time it took its physical toll.
           This is a work of non- fiction based on a true character. I have the honor to tell the story.   

How can one girl have so much happen when all she is doing is going to college?Jennie, a pre-med sophomore, is selected to lead a student mission team to work at an orphanage in Africa. Who would guess she would find herself mixed up with terrorists, a drug cartel, the FBI? Or, on campus with her best friend’s rebellion over an abortion? Then there’s the pesky professor who seems to turn up everywhere she goes, no matter how hard she tries to get rid of him. And what of that professor who is love-sick from the first day he sees her? Will he risk his job trying to date a student? Out-of-Here has new meaning. . . .

An iPad and phone call turn the lives of Drs. Ben and Jennie Adkins and their two sons, Jake and Larry. Jake is in Afghanistan; Larry is a drop-out from Callegua University, his parents’ alma mater. Big choices have to be made. Internet-talented Larry takes off for California and coaxes his grandmother Joan to join him. This leads to a gang surrounded mission in Santa Ana, CA and an intriguing girl. Meanwhile his parents make a life change that brings them back to Callegua U. In a campus speech, Dr. Ben presents his dream for Higher Education in the 2020’s, reaching around the world. A reluctant faculty buys in, money flows from foundations, other colleges join, and Larry helps make the dream a reality. . .

    J. R. Nakken is an author whose work crosses several genres, from short stories to historical fiction and works for young adults. She lives on the Tulalip Indian Reservaton north of Seattle, Washington, with her soul mate and several felines.
   As a little girl, author J.R. Nakken was precocious, precognitive, left-handed and wall-eyed; her grandmother thought she was a witch. 
       In Confessions of a Martian Schoolgirl, Nakken shares a recounting of a period of twelve years when, almost four years old, her mother and new stepfather left her in Osceola, South Dakota (pop. 50,) and drove off with her little sister to begin their new life
      In this memoir, Nakken tells how she soon learned to retreat from the real world into books and fantasy, a beneficial lifesaving technique when she was reunited with her stepfather a little more than a year later.

PRAISE FOR MARTIAN SCHOOLGIRL

     Readers Digest Assn. is proud to present Reminisce Magazine's Grand Prize Winner in its inaugural Memoir Contest. Our judges found Confessions of a Martian Schoolgirl an easy read of an honest story, with fine detail of growing up in the 40s and 50s on the Midwest prairie. Humor abounds amidst dark moments in an entertaining coming-of-age tale.
....Courtenay Smith, Executive Editor, Readers Digest and Reminisce magazines

     Born of missionary parents in Japan, Donal Buchanan's has traveled widely throughout Europe and Asia. Among his many jobs was work for the CIA in the U.S., Japan, India, and Vietnam.
     He has published two mystery novels, a cartoon book on bridge, and two western novels. Another book on the adventures of Joshua Bean is in the works.
    He and his wife live in Danvers, Massachusetts.

THE NAMING OF JOSHUA BEAN

     Joshua Bean, the son of an itinerant gunsmith, is in his 14th year when the story opens.
     He and his father have been traveling together for two years (since Mrs. Bean passed away) and Joshua has learned everything his father could teach him about the gunsmithing trade. Then,just outside the small town of Broken Spring, South Dakota, his father is stricken with a heart attack and dies.
     Joshua is taken in hand by the Kaufmans, a kind local family who run a general store and bakery. Josh does his best to be helpful to them.
     Mr. and Mrs Kaufman are killed by robbers in Joshua's presence. Joshua, who escapes, then learns that there was more to their murders than at first appeared. A larger plot is in process.
     Joshua is now in danger and his adventures begin in earnest.
     In the course of the story he receives a number of nicknames. But it is through his friendship with one of the local Sioux who befriends him that he comes to realize his need to find his true identity—his own name that is the key to his inner being.

These poems and meditations reflect the struggles and the joys of living the faith. From sitting with a toad in search of a meal to reflections upon the mystery of God becoming flesh each piece is an examination of doubt and faith. The difficulties and the joys of being a minister during times of transition are explored with an open and honest heart and mind.
              The intent of the author is to take the reader on a journey from examining how we express our faith through the challenges we face and the struggles that often come from seriously grappling with them. We never reach our journey’s end but rather find it leads us to ever deepening issues of faith.
              After retiring as the Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church, Nashville, TN in January, 2005, he served as Interim Rector of St. Ann’s, East Nashville from 2006-2008; St. John’s, Tallahassee, 2010.; and presently Interim Rector of Church of the Resurrection, Franklin, Tennessee beginning in late 2013.
             He has served parishes in Florida and Georgia. He began his ministry in the panhandle of Florida with two missions in 1965.
             Dr. Abstein holds a B.A. from Florida State University, and a Masters and a Doctor of Ministry from the University of the South. 
             He and his wife, Roberta, have a son and daughter, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.  His interests include reading mysteries, golf, and travel.