Raymona Marie Anderson

A seasoned writer who left journalism behind, Raymona Marie Anderson concocts tales inspired by piviotal times in her long life. Her characters grow from observing human foibles. A tour of Yucatan's Maya archaeological sites with a group of anthropologists produced a travel story and inspired the novel, Two Hearts in Time. Imagination served up Sonrisa, who deciphers hieroglyphic writing. Her 19th century adventure is steeped in Mayan cultural history and spiced with romance that befits the steamy jungle setting.

The author's few scenes onstage with a traveling medicine show in the 1940s, later created Maggie, a failing actress back home in search of redemption. Motivated by national soul-searching around President John Kennedy's assassination, her quest plays out in Bitter Pills and Deadly Potions. The small town setting serves up quirky characters privy to secrets that Maggie unearths at her peril.

A Woman to Reckon With came to life while the author managed a weekly newspaper in the Texas Panhandle. The multi-layered story of love vs ambition, delivered along with hard facts for folks who like abundant and affordable food, took years to wrestle into submission. Myra Gantt, the two men she loves, and one she defies, grew from Anderson's conversations with conservationists in the region dubbed America's Breadbasket. The Ogallala aquifer, primary water source for cities, farms and industry, continues in decline. The problem draws wide media attention today. Myra represents irrigators in the post-WW II period who refused to hear cautions against wasting the precious resource. She is light and dark, but never boring.

Anderson grew up in the Oklahoma Panhandle where she and her rancher husband raised two sons. They and their families are her joy. Widowed, she now lives in Northwest Arkansas where she writes, and finds folks as friendly as those she left back in Oklahoma.