Wally Wood is a full-time writer and editor. An Old Man on Skis, his sixth book of fiction, is a novel, Once Again, The Curtain Rises his fourth book, is a novel of intergenerational relationships and conflict, told from the perspective of an octogenarian former soap opera legend turned community theater impresario. Celeste Allerton is a wealthy widow, an 85-year-old soap star retired to artsy Western Massachusetts and dabbling in summer theater. When she learns that the local high school is dropping its drama program, she decides to bankroll a new theater company with the drama teacher as director. Her one immutable demand: the initial production must be “East Lynne,” a Victorian melodrama in which she will have the lead.

Wally obtained an MA in creative writing from the City College of New York and a BA in philosophy from Columbia University. He has independently published three novels (Getting Oriented, A Novel About Japan; The Girl in the Photo; Death in a Family Business) and, as a ghostwriter, he has commercially published 23 business books.

He is a regular reviewer for Reeds.com, and maintains a blog (www.mysteriesofwriting.blogspot.com) and a Facebook presence. He is translating a third book of Japanese short stories into English to build his reading proficiency. He has been a volunteer writing teacher in state and federal prisons for more than twenty years.