Sue Partenheimer, writer
After a forty-three year successful career as a medical technologist at the Altoona Hospital laboratory, Sue enters the world of fiction writing with a big wave of powerful stories about little marine conservationists who are busy taking care of the ocean and of each other. Sue currently lives in Pennsylvania with her furry friends, both domestic and wild, who are a constant source of tales and inspiration. She continues to write and share new stories with the Altoona Writers Guild..
In this video, Sue shares how the sea creatures from The Castor Oil Rig Tales have helped her stay creative during the 2020 pandemic.
Jessica Kendall-Bar, illustrator
Jessica is currently a PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at UC Santa Cruz, where she studies the neurobiology of marine mammals. At the interface of science and art, her illustrations include not only accurate details of the story’s characters but also show their deep feelings and expressions. Jessica’s work creatively communicates with diverse readers her message to love, appreciate, and protect the underwater world.
Melina-Elina Bondokova, illustrator
After completing her degree in Animation in Sofia, Bulgaria, Melina-Elina has illustrated numerous books and comics in her native Bulgaria and abroad.. Her impressive portfolio also includes variety of short animated movies with a participation in several European film festivals.. She is one of the founders of the Pavilion Creative studio.
Michael Bourgo, writer
Michael started out to be a history teacher but ended up spending 34 years at IBM in sales and customer service. He began writing as a casual hobby some thirty years ago, but since retirement it has become a vocation that he pursues on a daily basis.
Michael has worked with us on several projects. He published his first audio book "A to Z Animal Antics," a collection of poetry for children. Also, as a three-time winner of the Pennsylvania state Grand Prize poetry contest, Michael was invited to further share his passion for poetry in an experimental anthology for which he not only reviewed and guided the English translation but generously contributed to the collection as well.. More of Michael's work can be found at: http://theseasonsandotherpoems.blogspot.com
Rada Alexandrova, writer-contributor
Rada Alexandrova brings to our team the experiences of a millennial newcomer to the U.S. and stories from her childhood of mysteries, prophecies, and Eastern European tales.
Brock Pronko, writer
Robert Brock brings over two decades of experience as a journalist, three years of teaching courses on human space exploration for the NASA Space Grant Consortium, and lifelong battle scars from loves lost to bear on his first novel.
Mitka Angelova, writer
Mitka has worked as a science teacher, a scientist in the field of applied nuclear physics, and as a university instructor in Sofia, Bulgaria. Throughout her career, Mittie has passionately involved her students in fun learning activities.
Until recently Mittie was involved in consulting for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences of Bulgaria. At age of 88, she lives in Sofia and enjoys playing with her great-grandchildren.
Angel Dimitrov, designer
Angel brings book and manual designing experience. He uses licensed models from Daz3D Marketplace to create many of our book characters.
Chris Snee, voice actor
Chris has been behind a microphone in some capacity since 2000, starting in radio and later working his way into audiobooks and the world of commercial and corporate voiceover. He has narrated dozens of books ranging from memoirs to non-fiction to young adult and children's literature. When he's not recording, he's reading to his sons, taking in a sporting event, or enjoying all that the outdoors have to offer in the Pacific Northwest. You can see what Chris has been up to lately at: http://chrissnee.net
Gabrielle Del Pozzo Finkel, artist
Gabrielle shares her life-long passion for drawing, coloring, and creating unique designs. A Brooklyn native, Gabrielle has traveled the world as a daughter of a travel agent and has had a career in travel and hospitality which has taken her around the country.
The simple pleasure of drawing has helped Gabrielle become mindful and calm in a chaotic world! As a result, her collection of drawings grew bigger, and we were fortunate to have thousands to choose from for this coloring book.
Gabrielle continues to travel the world and draw and plans to share more exciting original designs. Stay tuned!
Joshua S. Smith, editor
Joshua holds a Ph.D. in English from the Pennsylvania State University, where he specialized in early modern drama and object-oriented ontology. During his time there, he also began editing on the side, and he has been taking on projects ever since. His love of the language, for finding the right word and the proper rhythm of a sentence, has led him to edit pieces from dissertation chapters to Trauma-Informed Schools (a 2019 book published by Springer) to the rules of a Belgian boardgame.
Joshua has been working with us since early 2019. He can be reached at: