Key West The Newspaper

The Mountains Shall Depart by Robert E. Holzhei has been published by Book Baby & Smith Publishing Companies that distribute throughout the United States and Europe.

Writing was a lifelong dream for Holzhei and the words kept nudging at him. The first story was written at Cedarville, Michigan, and was published.

“Two authors had an influence as my writing style developed. The book begins being told from the perspective of a young boy growing up in the mid 1940’s, much like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Suddenly the style changes and the story line shocks and impacts the reader unexpectedly. It is straight forward prose, much like the style of Ernest Hemingway,” stated Holzhei who studied the author’s works.

“The words are my mistress. They arrive unexpectedly, often in the middle of the night and demand expression. The first sentence begins with a caress, and my mistress urges me to follow her, within reach, yet so far away. I am happy when I sit down to write. It’s like looking forward to something for a very long time and once I experienced it, I knew it would all be there for me tomorrow,” stated Holzhei.

Holzhei is the author of 427 published outdoor/travel stories in a variety of publications throughout the U.S. and has previously self-published two books: Canadian Fly-In Fishing Adventure Featuring Campfire Stories from Northern Michigan and Alaskan Spirit Journey.  The Alaskan book features a cedar book mark since the first published story was written at Cedarville, Michigan.  It also has a wooden birch cover made out of birch and has a wire binding.

Holzhei & his wife have vacationed in the Manistee, Traverse City, Ludington areas for the past number of years, as well as traveling in the Upper Peninsula.  The past winters have been spent in the Florida Keys where the novella was finished.

Holzhei will be spending time on a speaking/book tour in Northern Michigan this summer.  He also presents sessions at the annual Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW) conference each September on working with media, new member sessions, and this fall a session on the emerging self-publishing industry.

He has won a variety of national awards including the First Place in the Best of Best Newspaper Category-Third Place in the Open Category, three AGLOW presidential awards for service, a third place from the Michigan Outdoor Writers Assoc. He also was instrumental in beginning a summer journalism workshop for high school students at Michigan State University which began with 40 students and now draws over 500 journalists not only from Michigan, but throughout the United States.

Holzhei has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in writing, minor in psychology and a M.A. in Education with post-graduate studies.  Following 37 years teaching high school English & creative writing classes, he continues to chase the muse-his mistress where the words await expression.

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The Mountains Shall Depart by Robert E. Holzhei has been published and the final editing was completed in the FL Keys at Venture Out Resort-Cudjoe Key  Information, signed & numbered copies are available from the author & Holzhei will be in the FL Keys during March of 2018 speaking on self-publishing & the novella. [email protected]   

Robert E. Holzhei
WIlderness Outpost Books
3601 Avery
St. Johns, Michigan 48879

$ 24.30 including S & H