Sandra Gurvis (www.sandragurvis.com) is the author of seventeen commercially published books and hundreds of magazine articles. Her titles include DAY TRIPS FROM COLUMBUS, 3rd ed.; OHIO CURIOSITIES, 2nd ed.; CAREERS FOR NONCONFORMISTS, which was a selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club; AMERICA’S STRANGEST MUSEUMS, 2nd ed.; and more. Along having her books featured on radio, television, and in newspapers and magazines, her biography, PARIS HILTON (ABC-CLIO, 2011) has been translated into Chinese. Her newest nonfiction title is 111 PLACES IN COLUMBUS THAT YOU MUST NOT MISS (Emons, 2019) along with the more recent MYTHS AND MYSTERIES OF OHIO (Globe Pequot), her second novel, COUNTRY CLUB WIVES (Hydra), and a collection of essays and shorter works, CONFESSIONS OF A CRAZY CAT LADY AND OTHER POSSIBLY DEMENTED MEANDERINGS (Hydra). COUNTRY CLUB WIVES has also been optioned as a television series by Insight Productions out of Toronto, Canada.
A major aspect of her work had been on the Vietnam protests and their aftereffects. Her nonfiction title, WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWER CHILDREN GONE? (University Press of Mississippi) delves into all facets of the Vietnam era, from tracking the student protest and conservative movements to comparing the controversy surrounding Vietnam and the Middle East. Her novel, THE PIPE DREAMERS (Olmstead, reissued 2019 by Hydra) is a fictional exploration of the late ’60s/early 70s, mostly set in the small college town of Hampton, Ohio. She has also written on this topic for the VVA Veteran, Ohio State Alumni Magazine, People, and many other publications. More information can be found on www.booksaboutthe60s.com.
Other bylines and credits include People, YM, Entertainment Weekly, Fiction Writer, Woman’s World, Parenting, The World and I, Coast to Coast, USA Weekend, Chicago Tribune, as well as travel articles, promotional materials, and advertorials. She lectures frequently on writing, the ’60s, and her books.
Along with being selected for residencies and fellowships at the Mary Anderson Center in Mt. St. Francis, Indiana; the Vermont Writers Studio in Johnston; and receiving grants from the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) and the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas as well as certification from the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) Sandra is a longtime member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). She lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Sex. Money. Murder. Drama. Housewives…And homeless animals! All run amok in the affluent suburb of New Wellington!
Tish McLean has been left high and dry, both financially and emotionally, by Brian, her husband of over 20 years. To make matters worse, Brian is about to marry the social chameleon Susan, Tish’s one close unattached friend. As Tish struggles to realize her dream of opening a shelter for homeless animals—and her love with a very married veterinarian who has big problems of his own—she strips away the cubic zirconium studded underbelly of country club society. What she finds may shock you—and make you laugh!
Like Kent State in the late 1960s, Hayes University was in a sleepy Ohio college town. Julia Brandon, an innocent sorority girl, was in for an awakening, both emotionally and physically. Trouble begins when she tries to bail her radical roommate out of jail and escalates as she becomes increasingly involved with the protest movement, which erupts in violence, death, and destruction. She falls irrevocably in love with handsome, carefree, soon-to-be drafted Win.
Fifteen years later, trapped in an arid life, Julia catches a glimpse of a man whom she believes to be Win. She embarks upon a journey that leads her to the brink of devastation. Can she accept the truth about what happened so long ago without destroying herself and those she loves?
Although it’s been some 50 years since the apex of the Vietnam protests, this reissue of The Pipe Dreamers is more relevant now than ever. Given today’s political, social and economic divisiveness, it serves as a reminder that, as the saying goes, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
CONFESSIONS OF A CRAZY CAT LADY
From Hairballs to Hair Straightening . . . Women face certain challenges when they reach, um, a certain age, and who doesn’t enjoy a funny cat story? With essays, really bad poetry, and ridiculous photos of the author and her cats (as well as some unsuspecting family members), “Confessions of a Crazy Cat Lady . . . And Othe Possibly Demented Meanderings” offers the best of both worlds. Topics cover the full gamut of two- and four-legged dilemmas—divorced and dating after many years of marriage, purse envy, weight loss and gain, body image (human) and escape attempts, euthanasia, and rock-swallowing (critter), among other subjects. Culled from a massive literary database (aka the rather demented mind of author Sandra Gurvis), some writings appeared in publications such as Columbus Monthly, I Love Cats, and the anthology CAT’S MEOW, while others are completely original. This book is a must-read for cat ladies, aspiring cat ladies, and/or people who love cats and/or women. It can also serve as a precautionary guide for those wishing to avoid cat ladydom. But like potato chips and sometimes felines themselves—the stories may be hard to stop reading after just one!