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Betsy Ashton

 

Member profile details

First name
Betsy
Last name
Ashton
 

Personal information (200 word limit for Bio, please)

Pen Name
Betsy Ashton
 

Website and social media (please include "http://")

 

Chapter Information

VWC Chapter (if any)
Valley
 

Speakers' Bureau

Speaker Area(s) of Writing Expertise
  • Fiction (long form)
  • Publishing
 

Poems, Novels, Plays, or other Works

Work 1 - Title
Out of the Desert
Work 1 - Genre
(Fiction & Literature) Literature
Work 1 - Genre (Other)
Coming of Age
Work 1 - Cover
Work 1 - Website
www.betsy-ashton.com
Work 1 - Description
Four children grow up on the Mojave Desert in Southern California. When Todd, the oldest and main narrator, closes in on his 50th birthday, he wonders what happened to the little boy who wanted to be a spaceman. And a famous writer. His story anchors the book, eventually bringing him back to the desert to evaluate his life. Can he unlock the secrets of his youth to push him forward to the next stages of his life? Or will he decide his professional achievements are enough, even though his life isn't full satisfying? Can he reconnect with a special childhood friend to help him chart his path?
Work 2 - Title
Eyes Without A Face
Work 2 - Genre
(Fiction & Literature) Mystery & Crime
Work 2 - Genre (Other)
Suspense
Work 2 - Cover
Work 2 - Website
www.betsy-ashton.com
Work 2 - Description
When her sorority sisters are engaged in sex, drugs, and rock and roll, the unnamed narrator finds her true calling in life when she kills her first victim.

She doesn't have a neon sign stating, "Warning, Serial Killer," following her around, but she delights in the realization that her role as a killer separates her from the people around her.
Work 3 - Title
Unintended Consequences
Work 3 - Genre
(Fiction & Literature) Mystery & Crime
Work 3 - Cover
Work 3 - Website
www.betsy-ashton.com
Work 3 - Description
When Mad Max, a wealthy widow living in Manhattan, learns that her estranged daughter has been injured in an accident, she returns to Richmond, VA, to care for her. She thinks recovery will be brief. When her daughter is murdered, Mad Max finds herself raising her two grandchildren. Conflicts ensue.
Work 4 - Title
Uncharted Territory
Work 4 - Genre
(Fiction & Literature) Mystery & Crime
Work 4 - Cover
Work 4 - Website
www.betsy-ashton.com
Work 4 - Description
After the death of her daughter in the first book of the series, Maxine “Mad Max” Davies’ new role in life, full-time grandparent raising two grandchildren, takes her into post-Katrina Mississippi, nature’s newest wasteland. While she gets used to raising children again, she also learns to live in a region where most of life’s conveniences vanished in the storm and tidal surge. She must protect her grandchildren as well as help others in this new environment. Along the way, she encounters racism, murder, modern-day slavery and child abuse.
Work 5 - Title
Unsafe Haven
Work 5 - Genre
(Fiction & Literature) Mystery & Crime
Work 5 - Cover
Work 5 - Website
www.betsy-ashton.com
Work 5 - Description
Hospitals are supposed to be safe places. The one Maxine Davies finds herself in is anything but safe.

Mad Max hopes her vacation with her grandson in New Mexico will be relaxing and educational. When he breaks his leg on the first day, he is airlifted to a state-of-the-art Indian Health Services hospital for emergency treatment. Two days into his recovery, he falls ill from an unknown illness. Several children from the outlying community contract similar diseases. After some die, Mad Max thinks someone is deliberately infecting them with an unknown illness. Or illnesses, since symptoms do not point to a single diagnosis.
 

Additional Works - Add title, genre, URL, description, and publication year in free form text here.

Additional Works
“Midnight in the Church Of the Holy Grape,” 50 Shades of Cabernet, A Mysterious Anthology

“Friend Surfin,’” “Three Weeks,” and “He Sat Alone,” Voices from Smith Mountain Lake

“Three Weeks,” Candles of Hope: A Collection of Cancer Poetry

“You’re Never Too Old” and “Home Invasion,” Reflections of Smith Mountain Lake, 50th Anniversary Anthology

“396 Days,” “Stone of Hope, 2011,” and “Toad,” The Best of the Virginia Writers Club, Centennial Anthology, 1918-2018

“Raising Ben,” ENCORE: The Third Anthology of the Lake Writers
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