Richard Gartee—available for readings or as a speaker
Meet me at the following events:
Orgone Gizmo + the Ragtime Dudes series now in audio books! Click here.Some days that involves more than crafting a new story. For instance, I spent a month in early 2025 preparing audio book editions of my Ragtime Dude series (humorous novels about three New York dandies).
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At the same time, I was finalizing and proofreading my latest nonfiction book, Quest for Lancelot’s Arthur. Illustrated with over ninety color photos, the book describes my tour of historic sites in Britain attributed to King Arthur for my novels, Lancelot’s Grail and Lancelot’s Disciple.
In January of the same year, I taught a writers’ workshop for which I wrote Indy Publishing Without Pulling Your Hair Out. All that in just the first half of 2025. Whew!
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Two books a year was becoming my routine. I kicked off 2024 with the release of Atlantis Obsession in paperback and Kindle, and followed that in May by publishing my eighth novel, Orgone Gizmo. Watch a video interview where I discuss the story’s origin.
The preceding year, I worked hard to finish a hardcover coffee-table book on the fifty-year history of Gainesville’s iconic Hippodrome Theatre in time for their fiftieth anniversary. The Hippodrome Theatre First Fifty Years, published in May 2023, culminated a massive four-year-long project which had experienced numerous delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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While dutifully following mandated “stay-at-home” orders and waiting to access the Hippodrome’s archives, I managed to write and publish a new novel every year of the pandemic. In May 2020, it was Ragtime Dudes Meet a Paris Flapper, a sequel to Ragtime Dudes in a Thin Place. Both novels won literary awards. Then, in 2021, I wrote a prequel, Ragtime Dudes at the World’s Fair, which completed the trilogy. My writing remained productive, and 2022 saw the publication of my sixth novel, Atlantis Dying, a story about climate change.
I chose creative writing as a profession right out of college, but after being a broke poet for a decade, I entered a twenty-year career directing the design of medical software and helped produce two of the preeminent practice management and electronic health records systems. Along the way, I became an expert in the field and wrote two college textbooks—one a bestseller. I left the software company, became a full-time author, and wrote six more textbooks. Four of which also became bestsellers. The textbooks are out of print now, but if you’d like to read more about them and my work in electronic health records, click here.
Between textbooks, I turned my attention back to creative writing. I tried to write stage plays and then published my first novel and several collections of poetry. Since then, I have written seven more novels and a biography, Skating on Skim Ice.
I started writing poetry even before college and have had over 300 poems published in literary journals and chapbooks; plus six volumes of my collected poems. I became a regular contributor to Ann Arbor Review: International Journal of Poetry. My fifth collection of poetry, Arbor Encore, put into book form the complete catalog of my poems published in that esteemed journal.
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How did I go from poetry to computer programming, from textbooks to novels? For me balancing the left-brain / right-brain is not that difficult. I find all of it a swim in the creative flow.
Author previewing book at the Hippodrome 50th Anniversary event
Author at Small Press Book Fair, Dania Beach, FL. View a short Instagram video clip taken at the book fair by poet Suzzette Dawes. Note: you must unmute the video.
Videos from author readings and discussions about my books may be found on the book’s detail pages. The list below provides quick access to those videos.
Three-part video of author reading from Ragtime Dudes in a Thin Place at the Millhopper Library in Gainesville, FL. Watch now...
Author reading from Ragtime Dudes Meet a Paris Flapper via Zoom from Gainesville, FL. Watch now...
Skating on Skim Ice
Video of author at library reading reveals the story behind the book title. Watch now...
Author interviewed about Orgone Gizmo on Jolene’s Books & Writers Talk Podcast. Watch now...
Author reading two poems from Arbor Encore at the Matheson Museum. Watch now...
Author discussing Hippodrome’s influence on downtown Gainesville at the Matheson Museum. Watch now...
Author on the Ilene Silverman Show discussing The Hippodrome First Fifty Years. Watch now...
Author at the Sunshine State Book Festival; includes a reading from Ragtime Dudes Meet a Paris Flapper. Watch now...
Romance Under the Kingdom – new novel
She dances on the castle stage. He plays theme park characters. It’s the happiest place on earth, but can they find their happy-ever-after?
Like most authors, I enjoy reading as well as writing. My interests span a variety of genres. I belong to a local book club through which I've read books I would not have discovered otherwise. I am also a member of Goodreads, and you can follow me there. Here are covers of the last forty books I've read. Note: clicking any of these sends you to my review of the book on the Goodreads site. Use your browser back button to return to this page.
