Wm. Richard Dempsey

New Books: ‘Fletcher’s Lure: A Trilogy’
by Wm. Richard Dempsey, TWA member
How did Southerners recover from the tragic mistake of civil war? It was one family at a time. Their culture rejected, condemned, Confederate loyalists refused blame and immediately turned on former slaves as the cause of their misery and highly visible symbol of their defeat. But better ways were found to move beyond the shock of war and death. For the Jobe Hersey family of Hamilton County, Florida, dreams were laid aside. Crops had to be tended, livestock cared for, suffering endured. Youngest son Morgan Hersey grew quickly into a man. He met Ruby Miller. Decades passed, but at last the time came for old dreams to be fulfilled.

Book One: The Seventh Day, ISBN 1-4134-0655-6
Morgan Hersey measures himself by a hardy pioneer father and Irish grandfather, who risked ev­erything for their dreams.

Book Two:   Esau’s Child, ISBN 1-4134-0657-2
Youngest son Ben Hersey, hopes in vain to shield Mary from the anger loosed by World War I and by his era’s degraded human spirit. Third generation Stephen Hersey lives the half-century after the Second War in constant search for rules that make sense of the world and keep you safe.

Wm. Richard Dempsey is a well-known TWA member and literary figure among local writers. He is a historian and retired intelligence officer. He won the 2001 Seven Hills Short Story prize and second place in the 1997 Penumbra poetry contest. Richard published a collection of poems and meditations titled Dusted Horsemen in 2001. His novel Fletcher’s Lure took second prize for literary fiction in the 2004 Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Awards, and he has won awards from both Seven Hills and Penumbra writing contests.