Anna Rich

Biography

Anna Rich is a native New Yorker and though fairly snobbish about it, she was stunned to learn that the entire country could watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV. She is yet perplexed as to why her immediate family, Father, Mother and Sister, have up and moved below the Mason Dixon line! They still seem happy to hear from her and telephone often. Whatever siren calls they heard, Anna did not hear them.

She has another family now, Harry and Otto, also native New Yorkers, who for physiological reasons are not inclined to go where it is very hot. They all move in a tight knot, like Keystone Cops with a routine akin to that estimable and rarely seen New Yorker, the Beaver—treading their paths between home, school, work, church and the grocery store.

Anna’s idea of a good time is at home, the front door closed behind her and hours to spend on any number of “Home Entertainments” such as designing knitted sweaters and hats, fitting garments on Looshilala, her dress form, sewing and of course, Painting; with Public Radio playing on three or four radios throughout the house so when she moves from one room to the next she can still hear those Fresh Air interviews. Oh, and plenty of people out there owing her money. That’s the linchpin keeping the whole scenario happy.

Anna likes near everybody if taken one at a time. Anna is fairly content to BE almost anywhere as long as she does not have to GO there or think about GOING. Consequently, Anna almost never thinks to travel. Anna drew early in life and well enough so that her mother encouraged her. It never occurred to her to do anything else, no matter how often a teaching career was dangled at the end of a sharp stick, every holiday paid and two months off in the summer notwithstanding. When her son was born, Anna promised her mother she would NOT encourage him to draw.

Serials

Future Times Past: The Eagles’ Tale

It’s the distant future. The People recall when nations vanished because of war and nature’s devastation. They also recall and celebrate the Eagles—mysterious aliens who visit and help rebuild civilization. Now the Eagles return but their arrival is ominous. Fourteen-year-old Rainera sets out to confront them. What will she discover: the past, the future, or a terrible fate?.

Spanish translation available.

The Shadow of My Father's Hand: A Boy's Civil War Journal

It’s 1864 and the Civil War is still raging. This haunting personal war story, conveyed through a poignant narrative poem, is at once a story of family, of friendship, of the horrors of war—and of one boy’s struggle to survive and grow up.