Catherine Greenfeder

Meet Ted Delgrosso, Short Story and Science Fiction Author

By • December 19, 2023


     I had the pleasure of meeting Ted Delgrosso, when I joined the fiction writing critique group of the Write Group of Montclair.

Ted Delgrosso is a published author of short fiction and an active member

of the Write Group.

 

 

 

 

 

Why did you become a writer?

I responded to storytelling as a child growing up. My grandfather would entertain us with stories. As a member of the Boy Scouts of America, I was one of the storytellers in my troop. Growing up, when I met people, I would ask them to tell me their stories. After my service in the United States Navy in the Seventies, I got more interested in writing down my short stories.

Why do you write science fiction?

Science fiction allows me to stretch my imagination in ways no other genre can. Speculations on where the human race is headed, what technologies could evolve or be discovered, and what the future conflicts may be are just a part of it. Sci-fi can take you anywhere.

 

What inspired you to write your books?

The reaction that I received when telling my stories inspired me. I noticed the eyes of the audience when I told my stories, and that helped me later when writing my stories.

My desire is to entertain my readers. Ideas inspire me. Some of my stories are based on events in my life, and I add a twist to them.

How did you first get published?

My wife had suggested that I polish up my stories and send them out. So, I had a number of ideas for a manuscript. My first book is a collection of 25 short stories. Thirteen of them are contemporary fiction and twelve of them are science fiction. Page Publishing published my first book, Ted’s Tales. It’s available as an e-book, print book, and audio book on Amazon, and is in paperback and e-book with Barnes & Noble. Amazon Publishing On-line is my partner in publishing my second book, Ted’s Tales Two, which will be available as an e-book, hard cover, and paperback book.

What are you working on now?

I’m focusing on short stories, and they’re at various stages of development. I’m looking to delve into the marketing of my books by interviews, social media, and book fairs.

Can you describe your writing process?

I keep a pen and pad next to my bed. I may wake up during the night and write down my ideas. It could be a dream. When I get an idea, I write it down, put it together, and put it in my “idea” notebook. If it is an idea that I can use, I then work on it later.

As a short story writer, there is diversity in terms of storytelling. I’m not locked into a few main characters, as is the case of a novel.

Once I write the first draft, it becomes a project. The hard work of revision and fact checking begins.

What advice would you give aspiring authors?

Writing is rewriting. Once you write the rough draft, you need to go back, look at it again, substitute words to make it better, and be open to advice from other writers.

It’s also important to make a budget ahead of time. Create a separate bank account for your writing, and set limits on how much you will spend on your writing. Manage your money to invest in your writing.

What writing organizations do you belong to?

I belong to the Montclair Write Group and through that group, I belong to several subgroups. I am in the fiction writing critique group and the free write group. The free write group uses writing prompts which forces you to write something under time pressure. After so much time, you’re asked to share what you wrote with the group.

I also subscribe to Writer’s Digest magazine. I like to watch movies, and I pay attention to how things are structured in their stories.

Have any well-known authors inspired you?

Along with some of the classic authors, I have been inspired by the writings of Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clark, Stephen King, J.R. Tolkien, Michael Crichton, and Stephen Hunter.

What books have inspired you?

Books which have inspired me include 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, Ben Bova’s series on colonizing the planets, Ray Bradbury’s short story collections, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and more recently, anything written by Steven King and Stephen Hunter.

Do you have a favorite genre? If so, what is it and why?

Yes, my favorite genre is science fiction. I also like good drama fiction. I enjoy The Twilight Zone stories and The Outer Limits which have something with a twist.

Where are your books available?

Ted Tales,Book 1, is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble in paperback, Kindle, and audio book. Ted Tales Two is available on Kindle, as well as, in hardcover and paperback on Amazon. It will soon be available at Barnes and Noble. 

To learn more about Ted Delgrosso, you can visit his website. by clicking on this link for the author.

Ted Delgrosso

By • December 12, 2023

I Believe in Angels

By Cathy Greenfeder

Where did my fondness for angels come from? Partly from my early years at a parochial school where the nuns taught about them and I saw the statues of angels in the church. I had also received pictures of guardian angels on prayer cards and learned the prayer to guardian angels along with the “Our Father” and “Hail Mary”.

As a child inflicted with severe bronchial asthma where each breath took tremendous effort, I held those prayer cards like a beloved teddy bear close to my chest as I lay beneath a pile of blankets inhaling the scent of Vicks vapor rub steamed into the air in the dead of winter.

Once, perhaps in a state of delirium from the medication I’d been given, I imagined my guardian angel standing by my bedpost, glowing and smiling down at me.

“Hello,” I managed to say. She smiled in response, and that somehow filled me with relief and aided my recovery better than the medications given to me at the time.

As a parochial school student you had to be at church every Sunday and holy day of obligation. You had to be with your class, and attendance was taken. Unlike some other children I knew back then, I enjoyed going. I found it comforting. Once  I attended twice. My mother asked, “Why are you going back to church?”

“I forgot to take her?”

“Who?”

“My guardian angel! I forgot to take her. So, I’m going back with her to church.”

“Can’t she fly there?” 

I didn’t laugh because to me the guardian angel and all the angels were real sources of protection and perhaps to a lonely child that I had been then, a companion who’d never leave me. I used to picture my guardian angel, dressed in long white robes and glittering wings, walking with me and guarding me wherever I went in our Manhattan neighborhood.

In the second grade Christmas pageant at my parochial school I played the role of the archangel who announced the birth of Jesus to the Wise Men. It didn’t matter if Gabriel was considered male, I wore a pink costume. My mother made it from a soft, pink fabric. She also made my wings from foil covered wire hangers and used silver tinsel to make my halo.

The fact that my mother who worked hard all day made my costume meant a lot to me, as was being part of the school Christmas pageant.

Later in life, I had experiences which enhanced my belief in the angels.

A near drowning at Davy’s Lake, a man-made lake in New Jersey, when I was about ten was one. I didn’t know how to swim, so I tried to stay close to the shoreline. However, I grew bold and ventured out further. A voice warned me not to step too far out, and when my foot felt a slippery dip in the ground, I managed to move back to the shallows.

As an adult, I remember driving home late one night. I’d been about to change lanes, but I heard a voice telling me to wait. I did. At that moment, a car whose driver was doing well above the speed limit passed me in the lane I would have entered.

There have been other times. Some may call it coincidence. Some may call it intuition. I call it the work of angels.

This inspired my reading and my research, and subsequently my writing of my first published book Angels Among Us, where a psychic artist encounters her guardian angel who saves her from danger and helps her heal from a broken heart.

I’m grateful for my own guardian angels. I believe we might have more than one. I do believe that in these times especially, our angels are here to work with us, to guide us, and to listen to us, and as messengers to intercede on our behalf.

Prayer to Your Guardian Angel

Angel of God, my guardian dear,

to whom God’s love commits me here,

ever this day be at my side,

to light and guard, to rule and guide.

Amen.

Halloween: Pumpkins and Ghost Stories

By • October 16, 2023

Last month I traveled to Maine to visit relatives and do a little hiking.  While there I stopped at a gardening shop which sold souvenirs, local produce including maple syrup, blackberry and blueberry jams, and pumpkins. So, I walked about looking for the best pumpkin to bring home. I found a nice, round one with a strong stem. Thus, I bought my first pumpkin of the season before heading back to New Jersey.

Then I volunteered at a thrift store and food pantry in Montclair, New Jersey.

Hundreds of pumpkins in all sizes amassed together on the lawn outside the church. Proceeds from their sale were to help provide services for Navajo. So, I bought another pumpkin, another medium sized one with a nice, round head for carving and lighting up.

I prefer to go to those pick-your-own pumpkins and apples places, but I took the easier route by buying off the lawn.  

 

 

Why are pumpkins used on Halloween?

Long ago in Ireland, people took turnips or other root vegetables, hollowed them out, and carved hideous faces on them to frighten away evil spirits. When Irish immigrants came to America in the early 1800’s, they used pumpkins to create jack-o-lanterns. The name Jack came from an Irish folktale about a stingy man named Jack. The tradition of carving faces on pumpkins, or painting them was born.

Where did Halloween come from?

Halloween, itself, has its roots in the ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain which marked the end of the harvest season in Ireland. Bonfires were lit, and people dressed in costumes. Today, Samhain is still celebrated all over Ireland. Some of the rituals associated with it include dancing, feasting, taking nature walks, and building altars to honor one’s ancestors.

How come ghosts are associated with Halloween?

There is an ancient belief that the veil between the living and those who have gone to spirit, is thinnest during Halloween. It is also felt that this is a good time for divination, or fortune telling. Halloween is “All Hallow’s Eve”, the day before the Christian remembrance and holy day of obligation of All Saint’s Day, which is November 1. In Mexico, the celebration of The Day of the Dead or El Dia del Muerto, is November 1 to November 2, which are recognized as All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day in Christian beliefs. Tales about ghosts have been around for thousands of years and have come from all parts of the world.

I have had a few paranormal experiences, which are experiences which are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. I stayed overnight at a haunted inn in Sweden. Although nothing very unusual happened, there were some strange occurrences, like water dripping from a faucet at odd times and what seemed like a shadow passing the doorway. The room had witnessed the tragic suicide of a young man who’d been jilted a century earlier by a former inn owner’s daughter. During an overnight stay years ago at the Parador de Carmona, a lovely and ancient castle near Seville, Spain. A gust of wind blew in despite the windows being shut, and I thought that I heard sounds of an army charging outside the castle walls. Vivid imagination? Maybe or maybe not. I’ve spoken to people who claim to have had similar experiences and have sensed the presence of departed loved ones or had premonitions which later happened.

Ghosts are considered to be the soul or the spirit of a human or a non-human animal, who has died but has not gone to an eternal rest. In 2018, a yearly survey asking people in the United States about their belief in the paranormal, found that 58 percent of those polled believed in “haunted places”. In addition, “one in five people in another survey conducted by Pew Research Center, in Washington, D.C., said that “they’ve seen or been in the presence of a ghost”.

A Kiss Out of Time book coverMy young adult books, A Kiss Out of Time and the sequel A Dance Out of Time features ghosts, a fortune teller, and a psychic teenager who tries to help troubled ghosts cross over to the Other Side and find eternal peace. 

So, do you have a favorite Halloween tradition? Do you believe in ghosts? Write a comment, and let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

In the spirit of Halloween, I will be treating the first three who respond with an appropriate comment to a copy of each of these books. 

Thank you. — Cathy G.

Meet the Author

Catherine Greenfeder

Catherine Greenfeder

Romance Novelist

My Books

Wildflowers

Angels Among Us

Sacred Fires

A Kiss Out of Time, a Georginas Ghost Story

A Dance Out of Time, a Georginas Ghost Story

© 2025 Catherine Greenfeder.  All Right Reserved.