Ron Hutchison began writing fiction full time at the age of 66 after a long career in journalism and public relations. Hutchison hitchhiked across America during the time between his graduation from high school in 1958 and beginning college three years later. He worked in Colorado steel mill, a Nevada cattle ranch, a Chicago food-processing plant, and a New York bowling alley were he set pins. Hutchison graduated from the University of Missouri in 1967 with a degree in journalism. He later worked as a reporter, editor, and columnist at newspapers in Texas, California, and Missouri. He was employed by a major oil company as a public relations executive, and later operated his own public relations agency. He created the board game Sixth Sense in 2003. Ron lives in Joplin, Missouri, and enjoys golf and hiking.
NOVELS BY RON HUTCHISON
Voices of the Locusts:From his deathbed, 81-year-old Jack O’Brien reveals to his grandson the existence of a long-forgotten story he wrote as a teenager years earlier while living in Japan. The 16-year-old grandson finds the story in an old footlocker in his grandfather’s attic, and spends days pouring over the real-life account. Set at a U.S. military base in rural Japan in 1948, and playing out against a backdrop of swirling post-War social change, Jack’s Voices of the Locusts tells the story of three families—one black, one white, one Asian. The story also recounts Jack’s love for a Japanese girl, Fujiko Kobaysi, who has been promised in marriage by her parents to an older man. Told in vivid and sometimes haunting detail, Jack and Fujiko are frustrated in their romantic quest by story characters coming to terms (often violently) with the emotional scars of World War II. (This novel contains language that might be offensive to some readers, and is recommended for mature young adults.)
Santa Fe Crazy: Santa Fe Crazy tells the story of Howard Spoon. Fed up with life in Decatur, Illinois, Howard divorces his wife, sells his dental practice, and moves to Santa Fe, New Mexico to marry a rich widow. Howard knows Santa Fe is overrun with rich widows--he read it in a magazine. With help from George Bad Toe, a full-time entrepreneur and part-time scam artist, Howard meets Charlie Malpin, a wealthy Santa Fe heiress. What Howard discovers about Charlie--and ultimately himself--throws his satirical world into a tailspin.
REVIEW BY "A CUSTOMER": Santa Fe Crazy had me laughing out loud - on a plane. The people around me thought I was nuts. Sorry, it's just that this hapless dentist is atypical in every sense of the word. So are the people he meets. Nothing in this book is predictable, especially the ending. Don't try to guess. Just read it and laugh.
Latitude 38: Diego Sanchez and his wife Adriana are deeply in love. Their world is shattered when Adriana is diagnosed with terminal cancer. After gut-wrenching deliberation, they opt for doctor-assisted suicide.Wee problem. Crippled by ninety years of blistering partisan debate over the questions of euthanasia, gun control, capital punishment, school prayer, and same-sex marriages--and fearing total anarchy after the bloody Pro-Choice riots a year earlier--the United States is now two separate republics. The border between them is closed. Diego and Adriana must flee across the dangerous border.
REVIEW BY JEFF GRAUBART: I started reading Latitude 38 early this afternoon. Now, late in the evening, I've finished, and save a 30 minute dinner break, I couldn't stop reading. Hutchison proves himself a master of action and suspense.
NOVELS BY CHRISTOPHER CLOUD:
A Boy Called Duct Tape: Pablo Perez is a 12-year-old kid without much going for him. His classmates have dubbed him "Duct Tape" because his tattered discount-store sneakers are held together with...you guessed it, duct tape. He can't escape the bullying. Pablo's luck changes after he finds a $20 gold coin while swimming with his sister in a river near his home. Pablo later buys a $1 treasure map at the county fair. The map shows the route to the "lost treasure" of the notorious outlaw Jesse James. Pablo can't help but wonder: Is there a link between the map and the gold coin? Pablo is determined to find out. (The Second Edition retitled 'Andy Sweet and the $20 Gold Piece' published by Austin MaCauley Publishers Ltd. available Winter 2016-17)
REVIEW BY COZYWITHABOOK: I just finished reading A Boy Called Duct Tape by Christopher Cloud and could not wait to tell others about it. I would encourage upper elementary and middle grade kids to read this. The book keep my interest as an adult, I smiled, giggled and wondered what was next.
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