What started out as an independent study project turned into a labor of love for GVSU senior English major Bill Heitzelman.
Heitzelman recently completed a thematic collection of stories that focus on the effects of war or battle on the lives of the characters. One story, Beach Party takes place in Cuba during the 1980s and is actually based on an incident he saw while he was serving in the Navy.
The U.S. government was urging Haitians out of Haiti and when their boats landed in Cuba, explains Heitzelman, we were ordered to push them back into the water. It seemed as though we were military instruments of screwed up federal policy.
Bill is the best fiction writer I have ever had as a student, says Bob Mayberry, GVSU English professor and faculty sponsor of the project. He is affable, gracious, and always looking for good suggestions. His fiction is a real joy to read: subtle, graceful, and quick moving. He is a far better fiction writer than I am; I just wish I could help him more in his search for a publisher.
The desired goal of the project for professor and student is to publish the stories, either individually in literary journals or popular magazines, or to publish the book of stories. If he can get a break, explains Mayberry. His stories will get published without a doubt.
Heitzelman who will be graduated this weekend, would like to write for a magazine and keep submitting his work for publication. This project was a lot of fun. Bob Mayberry was absolutely helpful.
