Text Box: Biography:  Just stuff you really don’t need to know, but have to hear anyway!

Text Box: R.C. Shivers Jr. was born just a few short miles from the Atlantic Ocean on the south shore of Long Island.  The beach and the east coast seasoned his mind and creativity.  The waves and the dunes shaped his soul.  But the cold weather and short summer months left him longing for more than sitting atop a lifeguard stand in the winter months just making music with his childhood friend.  The south was calling.  R.C. traveled to South Carolina and found a home in Charleston in the late ‘90’s.  A career in the medical field and the sands and palms of the South Carolina low country seemed as natural as the cliffs and rocks of the Long Island Sound.  Something else called though.  Everywhere he looked the Lowcountry filled his vision with history and the ocean.  Sitting on the sands of beaches like Folly, Edisto, Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms, lowcountry stories flowed from locals to his ears and filtered quickly to his pen.     Salty air, a gift for words and inspiration from the unique coastal scenery quickly changed a hobby of writing to a need to tell stories.  The first of which became the novel Peninsula!    Peninsula! was inspired by Charleston’s one of a kind history.  The capitol of the south and the heart of true southern culture and hospitality, a walk or carriage ride around the Charleston peninsula is a walk throughout the early history of the United States, and a unique visit with the ghosts of people who made Charleston what it was in the early days and what it has become today.  From The Dock Street Theatre to Rainbow Row to the Old Slave Mart, to The Battery.  Everywhere he looked, R.C. saw a story.    Peninsula! is the story of a young ten year old slave, who stands up for what is right, but in a twist of fate she is punished by the same slave magic that she and her mother would use to help other slaves.  Trapped for 150 years, finally a hope of freedom arrives in two unlikely people.  A young man from Connecticut, and a College of Charleston graduate student from Detroit.  Both Will and Libby were running from something when they left home, but what they find in Charleston was that they are both running  to something as well.   Will was running from a childhood that had shattered his family.  Libby was searching for the stability that had left her life when her father was brutally murdered.  What they find in Charleston will not only bring these two people together to find strength in each other, but will also solve a mystery that has festered for 150 years,   Peninsula! is a finished work that is being marketed to agents and publishers. Most recently, Peninsula! Won a semi finalist nod for the ‘Novel” category of the prestigious William Faulkner– William Wisdom  2007 Creative Writing Competition.  Inquiries about Peninsula! Can be directed to contact@rcshivers.com.   Most recently R.C. has ventured into books for children and young adults.  Check back here soon for a taste of  “The Secret of the Message in the Bottle”.  This book was written for middle grade people.  It  was inspired by the coast of Hilton Head Island and Edisto Island, South Carolina.  A desire to be a parent with his wife Vicki, created  a story of what their child would be like.  “The Secret of the Message in the Bottle” is a story about Maddie and her dog Mook and a magical bottle they find on Edisto Beach after a violent summer storm.  Travel with Maddie and Mook as the bottle takes them to mysterious and tropical islands all around the world, teaching them about lives, cultures and historical events  that were only words on a page. Now the stories have come to life.   Shortly after starting this book R.C and his wife Vicki adopted a pound puppy they named Mook.  Shockingly, and only by chance, the real Mook fits the exact description of the dog R.C. had written about.  Now R.C. his wife  eagerly await the opportunity to welcome the real Maddie into their lives.    R.C. and his wife now make their home on a small lake in South Carolina.  The name of the town and the street names are taken from the pacific islands and fit with the Parrothead lifestyle they both enjoy.  His wife, Vicki, is an accomplished photographer,  www.islanddreamerphotography.com R.C. has enjoyed many endeavors in life including auto racing, commercial fishing, and playing bass and vocals in a beach music band called “SkyKing and the Mystics”.  Charleston introduced him to beach music and “Trop Rock”.  Vicki took that little introduction and introduced him to the music of Jimmy Buffett.  Now, both members of the Sandlapper Parrothead Club, they live up to the motto “Party With A Purpose” and give back to the community with their fellow Parrotheads, trying to leave the world a better place than they had found it, all the while enjoying great music and great friends.  On any given day you may find both R.C. and his wife, as well their fellow Parrotheads participating in an activity to help the “Alzheimers Association”, the “Make A Wish Foundation”, or just trying to do something for the school children on their favorite tiny Carribean island, which they will keep secret for now.   So, now that you know a little about R.C., sit back in your favorite spot.  Take a sip of  your favorite boat drink…...or his (“The PainKiller”)  and enjoy a taste of the novel that was awarded semi finalist in the 2007 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, and submerse yourself in a world that only R.C. Shivers Jr. could have created.   STRAP ON YOUR SEATBELTS!!!!!!!

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Text Box: 2007 Novel Category Semi Finalist The William Faulkner—William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition

Text Box: LATEST TITLES:                                    Fiction:                                              Peninsula!                                                        Middle Grade Fiction:                                             The Magic Of The Message In The Bottle!

R.C. Shivers