Clare Thompson-Ostrander received first prize from “Glimmer Train” for her story “The Manual for Waitresses Everywhere.”

Northern Essex faculty members were not only busy in the classroom last semester, they kept themselves busy pursuing their own personal writing projects, several of which have been recognized and published by specialty publications.

English professor and resident vampire authority Thomas Greene’s science fiction short story, “Another Man’s Treasure”,  received a first-place award in Analog Magazine‘s AnLab best, short-story award for 2014 (It tied for first place with Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s story “Snapshots”). The AnLab award is an award in which all the magazine’s readers are eligible to vote for their favorite work in the magazine that year.  The short story category has the toughest competition because of the large number of eligible stories.

In addition, Green’s short story “The Narrative of More” was published in the July/August 2015 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. This issue of Analog is currently available at better newsstands.

Dr. Greene, who received his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and his doctorate in English from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, specializes in Victorian Literature and Cultural Studies. A Salem resident, Greene also works part time as a ghost tour guide.

Fellow English professor Clare Thompson-Ostrander of Amesbury recently received first prize from “Glimmer Train” for her story “The Manual for Waitresses Everywhere”. This is her first, national publication.

Thompson-Ostrander’s story will be published in issue 97 of Glimmer Train. Here is an excerpt from her award-winning story…

“You’re bound to date a line cook, and Mr. King didn’t have any tips for writing a love story, but I can tell you what I know. Loving a line cook is like bumping into a wall. It happens fast and always leaves a mark.”

Thompson-Ostrander has a strong philosophy on the art of writing.

“I’m a full-time writing professor…I teach my students good writing is less about talent and more about work. It’s discipline, grit, and writing every day. I do my best to teach by example, so I write every day, too.”

Jenny Fielding, coordinator of the Lawrence Campus Library, published a chapter in an American Library Association publication.

Thompson-Ostrander began working at Northern Essex in 1999 as a tutor in the writing center. She worked as an adjunct faculty member teaching Basic Writing, Composition I and II. She became a full-time faculty member in 2007. She is currently the coordinator of the College Success Seminar.

She earned a Bachelor of Art in English and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Suffolk University and a Master of Art in English Literature from the University of New Hampshire.

Jenny Fielding, coordinator of the Lawrence Campus Library, is also enjoying some literary success. She has just published a chapter in the new book Teaching Information Literacy Threshold Concepts: Lesson Plans for Librarians, by the American Library Association. This book is a collection of detailed, ready-to-use, and easily adaptable lessons designed by instruction librarians to promote critical thinking and engage learning. It provides teaching librarians with ideas on how to help students understand and be transformed by information literacy concepts.

Fielding holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Master of Library Science from Southern Connecticut State University.

Northern Essex’s music department coordinator Kenneth Langer, jumped disciplines and wrote and published his first science fiction novel, “Of Eternal Light”. The 334-page novel was published by Astor Press.

Dr. Langer of Maynard received a Ph.D. in music theory and composition from Kent State University, a Master’s in Music from Radford University and a bachelor’s of music education from Kent State University.

Amazon describes his novel…”Though it does not feel like it, the people of Kevutia live on a world smaller than they realize. When an investigator is murdered inside the lab of one of the capital’s research corps, Detective Exi is sent in to investigate. With the recent loss of her long time friend and partner, Exi puts the new recruit right into the middle of a mystery. The pursuit for answers leads them to discover that the small world they live in is not at all what it seems and the only people that can save them from its destruction have never been seen or heard from except in fairy tales and folk songs. Exi and her new partner soon realize it is up to them to find the answers.”