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Stephen and Mary Weller live in Texas. They enjoy spending time in bookstores, participating in fan conventions, and attending concerts. They have three sons and one daughter.

Stephen and Mary enjoy travel and volunteering with the community. In 2018, they traveled to Puerto Rico to help repair roofs damaged during Hurrican Maria. They still give free talks to MHA Performance Improvement classes that talk about lessons learned from both the Progressive Machine and The Progressive Hospital.

Stephen & Mary Weller’s books

They self-published their first book, The Progressive Machine: Before We Called It Lean, in December 2019. Soon after, they were picked up by Warren Publishing. In July, 2021, they published the second edition of their The Progressive Machine: Before We Called It Lean, along with a new book, The Progressive Hospital: A Lean Hope. 

Whereas the first book was a nonfiction, The Progressive Hospital was written as an educational thriller. In that book, they drew on lessons learned from working with over fifty hospitals on their surgical programs across the Americas. These first two books became required reading for at least one Masters of Health Administration college program. 

In 2022, the Progressive Hospital was translated to Spanish, earning a #1 new release rating from Amazon. 

The success of The Progressive Hospital as a fictional story convinced Stephen and Mary to finish a book that they began in October 2005; a Young Adult Science Fantasy novel. This bold move would mix fantasy and science fiction to create a unique story. Seventeen years later, in January 2023, Kantara | The Traveler was published, followed by the sequel, Kantara | The Captain in 2024. 

 

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  “Twist, turn, and bend the truth. Now it’s fiction.”

Fred Berri was born in the Bronx (Arthur Avenue), New York. After many years, his family moved to Yonkers, where he finished High School. After graduating, he relocated back to the Bronx with his mother and brother to Arthur Avenue, an area called Little Italy in the section known as Fordham.

Berri married his high school sweetheart, Louisa, and raised their children together. During his career, he has held many jobs and owned many businesses, one of which employed over 100 individuals. Freed graduated from Columbia State University with an online business degree.

Fred ended his long career as a Financial Specialist for one of the world’s largest banking institutes. Fred has also done public speaking and has appeared in TV commercials, including voiceovers. In his career, he volunteered to teach  Junior Achievement within the Florida public school district. In addition, he headed a volunteer group: Reading to Children, grades K to 3.

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Kathy is a semi-retired elementary school teacher, author, publisher, and speaker. She says – I’m writing to plant seeds through story. As a parent and former teacher, I understand the value of character education. My hope and prayer is that children and teens will enjoy my adventures and the growth of the characters, while identifying with some of their struggles.

If you’re looking for good, clean, classic books with traditional values, you’re in the right place.

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Alfredo Botello is a screenwriter who has worked on projects ranging from the indie Sundance Global Short La Revolucion De Iguodala to the studio tent pole Fast and Furious 9. He is a Fulbright Fellow in architecture and a Nicholl Fellow in screenwriting. In addition to screenplays, he has written for The San Francisco Examiner Magazine, Metropolis, Diablo, Surface, The Utne Reader, Style, The East Bay Express, and The Monthly. Alfredo also co-owns a dive bar in downtown Oakland, Radio Bar, and at home, he dotes on his two Corgis, George and Dotty, and his two kitties, Lester and Bella Kitty.

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Wytisha Williams-Merrill is a Mental Health Counselor/ LPC born in Louisiana. She is also a disabled United States Army Veteran and transformational speaker. She coined the word MindEmpowerment, inspired by the understanding that every challenge begins and ends with the mind.

She created the character M.E. who is a white eagle with a crown and cape that represents her brand which signifies a person soaring above the obstacles that were meant to destroy any person. The crown signifies being a conqueror of adversity and the cape represents being a superhero to oneself. Wytisha knows that you must empower, equip, and properly nurture the mind to defeat any challenge.

She is also the small business owner of WLW Restoring and Healing Hearts. She has diverse experience, ranging from serving in the military to community counseling, serving as a counselor in the Florida school system, and working in the Florida justice system as a Substance Abuse Therapist. She aims to inspire everyone regardless of race, nationality, socioeconomic status, or creed because she believes all have one common challenge: maintaining a positive mindset throughout life’s journey.

She applied what she calls the three W’s to overcome most of her adversities. She did not know that the abuse, trauma, and her own personal journey with the judicial system would birth her first book, “HE WOULDN’T LET ME DIE”!

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Gloria Mindock is the founding editor and Publisher of Červená Barva Press. She is the author of Grief Touched the Sky at Night (Forthcoming from Glass Lyre Press, 2023), ASH (Glass Lyre Press, 2021), I wish Francisco Franco Would Love Me (Nixes Mate Books, 2018), Whiteness of Bone (Glass Lyre Press, 2016), La Portile Raiului (Ars Longa Press, Romania, 2010) translated into the Romanian by Flavia Cosma, Nothing Divine Here, (U Šoku Štampa., 2010), and Blood Soaked Dresses (Ibbetson, 2007).

Gloria is the author, with her father, Jack Mindock and her sister, Kellis Anna Dryer of the children’s book Little Brown Mouse. She also is the author of three chapbooks, Doppelganger (S. Press, 1992), Oh Angel (U Šoku Štampa, 2005), and Pleasure Trout (Muddy River Poetry Review Books, 2013).

Ash, was translated into Serbian by Milutin Durickovic and published by Alma Press in Belgrade in 2022. Ash, published by Glass Lyre Press, won the International Impact Award, the NYC Big Book Award, the Firebird Speak Up Talk Radio Award, The Pacific Book Award, the International Award- The Princess, Noble Poetry Skills, Art Club of Ragkonik in Smederevo, Serbia, a Distinguished Favorite for the Independent Book Award, and the Bronze Medal from the North American Book Awards. Ash was a finalist for the Feathered Quill Book Award, and received two honorable mentions from The Royal Dragonfly Award and The San Francisco Book Festival.

​Other awards include the Allen Ginsburg Award for Community Service by the Newton Publishing center, the Ibbetson Lifetime Achievement Award, the 5th and 40th Moon Prize from Writing in a Women’s Voice, numerous Pushcart nominations, a St. Botolph Award nomination, and 3 citations for Cervena Barva Press as an editor/publisher from the MA House of Representatives, and a fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council distributed by the Somerville Arts Council.

Gloria’s work recently has appeared in Gargoyle, The James Dickey Review, 10 x 10, Ibbetson, Growth: Journal of Literature, Culture, & Art (Macedonia), Veritas Review, POÉMAME: revista abierta de poesie, (Spain) and others. Gloria was the Poet Laureate in Somerville, MA in 2017 & 2018.

Gloria is retired as a Clinical Director and Counselor in Addictions and now freelances teaching poetry workshops, editing manuscripts of poetry and fiction for writers, and producing video book trailers.





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