Original Photo Art: Alwyn Cooper

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valerie van haltern

Valerie Van Haltern began her writing career at age 9, living on a south Georgia farm with her father's parents after her mother's death.

Her deaf grandfather, a plant pathologist for the Georgia Experiment Station, had acres and acres of farmland which she was fortunate enough to freely roam everyday after her chores and schoolwork --- She watched her grandfather researching and writing scientific papers and, for her entertainment, he wrote many fictional short stories about the adventures of rabbits and cats who lived in imaginary villages and inhabited the magical garden world and pecan orchard canopies of south Georgia.

She also watched the real life magic of his seeds and hybrids coming to life, his disease resistant plants budding on the huge laboratory that was the "back porch".  In the fields, she watched his apple, pecan, and peach seedlings grow and his many acres of vegetables. In the winter she watched from the old farm house icicles on his fence posts and row posts in the quiet of Georgia's icy winters.  On one of these long winter days, when the garden was quiet and she was reading one of his science books about rockets and outer space, he set an old manual typewriter in front of her in the art room on the north porch. He placed beside it a typing book her mother had had in college.  On the dresser beside her was the loving cup her mother had won for writing the best essay on Griffin, Georgia, for Spalding County High School.

She wrote a story then, pecking away at the keys slowly and sent it to her favorite magazine, JACK AND JILL and promptly received a rejection letter. It was a story about going into outer space and saving the planet from war.
 
Later on, in her adult life after living around the world, she returned to Griffin Georgia when her grandfather was ill and took a job as a radio DJ and news reporter for WKEU News. She covered fires to murders to county conspiracies - and the night her grandfather died, she returned to the radio station to write his obit for the news.

Later in Atlanta, she worked as a writer, producer and director for the  Centers for Disease Control of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She worked on various projects involving the World Health Organization concerning HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Lassa fever, Dengue, Guinea Worm as well as disease prevention and education.

Her poetry - 'Dream Starchild' was published by Sleeping Bear Press.
 
 Her short stories include the Louie O'Grille mystery series Published by Art Scene.
 
Her other works include books written about growing  up in the South, the change from old world south,  southern Georgia to cities such as Atlanta.

She has written widely on consciousness, dreams, visualization, ESP, remote viewing, spirituality, peace, universal oneness and being one with the purpose and realization of the soul's journey.  Her latest work entailing life in an abandoned village in France and other writings are based on her personal experiences with remote reviewing, dream
imaging and ESP.  

She currently resides in Florida, taking time to travel to research her novels.

She is interested in your comments and questions about Across the Phantom Divide.

Please e-mail her at:

Valerie