Richard Skorupski
Flyover County
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The deteriorating economic and social climate in the eastern seaboard had Bill and June in a tailspin. Urged on by a business deal with a former acquaintance they decided to look for a better life. The family moves to a tiny town on the high plains in rural South Dakota.
This story is about the family and how they interact with the people. As you read, you see them learn the culture and the climate of their new home town. The story is a light-hearted tale of culture shock and humor.
The book is intended to get you to smile. It is broken down into easy reading chapters. Most can stand alone as a short story yet the whole thing strings together into a novel about a family in transition from city to country.
Flyover County has been called, "A nice book about nice people." It is an escape book. Curl up on your favorite chair and travel with me to a place in Flyover County. Escape with me to Helen, South Dakota and the Weber family. Read along as the hard shell of city living is softened by nice people and honest values.
THE FLYOVER COUNTY SERIES
The Flyover County series tells the story of Middle America. The rural Midwestern lifestyle is far different from urban suburban or even rural coastal areas. People here have a different way of looking at life.
Many of these people are fourth-generation decedents of the original pioneers who opened up the west. They share a common heritage, a heritage of hard work and adverse conditions. From the great blizzards of the eighteen hundreds to the great black blizzards of the dust bowl, these people worked, lived, and loved through triumph and strategy.
The Flyover County series is my attempt to show the results of that heritage.
All books available in e-book or print
The Fred Weber Story
A Flyover County Novel
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It is the last three months of Fred Weber's Navy Career. Because of his training and specialty in the Navy, the only place to find work was with Navy contractors and the NSA. He had no home, no wife, no children, and no particular desire to continue working in the spook business. Faced with decisions about what to do with the rest of his life, he descends on the home of his big brother, Bill.
Bill had recently moved with his family from suburban Baltimore to a tiny town in South Dakota named Helen. Fred had never experienced the flavor of small-town America and decided to use some of his remaining leave time to see what his brother found.
What he uncovered in Helen South Dakota would change his life forever.
Tom and Sarah - The Beginning
A Flyover County Story
Tom and Sarah had it made. He was a major player in a world-class construction company, she was a purchaser for a large department store chain. VP of purchasing was just around the corner. They had two children and a wonderful house in the suburbs. They were on the A list in the social arena. Then the economy turned. Tom's company went broke, Sarah was downsized out of her job.
The world around them couldn't look any bleaker. Then Tom received word about the death of his grandfather. What happened next would turn the family upside down.
First in Series!
The Frank Stanbauer Story
At ninety-seven years young, Frank Stanbauer is the oldest person in Helen South Dakota. Frank has lived a full life, from working with his father during the depression and drought of the dirty thirties, to walking through Europe with General George Paton in World War Two.
Through recollection and flashbacks, Frank tells and relives the major events in his life, from the birth of his three children to the untimely death of his wife, Rose.
Travel with Frank back to the days of the Tin Lizzy and illegal booze. Laugh with him as he recalls the train trips to the big city. Cry with him as he remembers the times when tragedy struck. Frank is an example of growing up and growing old in America. I hope you find it as fun to read as it was to write.
River Of Destiny
Life
Happens
Raised on a rural farm, Justin is itching to get off the farm and on to big city life. His goal is to be a lawyer. Natalie grew up in the very small town of Helen, SD. She wants what her mother had. To be a stay at home married mom with three or more children. Though they had been together since the eighth grade, their goals were too incompatible.
The story starts with Justin leaving home for Drexel University in inner-city Philadelphia. I follow these two characters as life occurs to them. Circumstances change and the River of Destiny turns.
The book is strong on family values, rural values, and has some romance (rated G).
Whiteout! And Other Stories
12
Delightful Stories!
Whiteout! And Other Stories is a collection of short (and not so short) stories written to amuse and delight the reader. There are 12 stories in all. Whiteout is a story about a blizzard set in about 1925. I based it on the records of the great blizzard of 1880. The Preacher and The New Beginning are set in the early days of Dakota Territory. Other stories Like the Casket, Threshing, and The Letter are from a time when the horse and wagon was the family car. The others are later in South Dakota’s time line. All my stories are true to the flavor of rural South Dakota and are sure to bring a smile.
Christian Fiction
t
Sadie's Way
Ripped from her suburban New Jersey life by witness protection agents, seventeen-year-old Sarina suffers the loss of her mother, her little brother. It’s her father’s fault. Now the two of them have to move across the country to a new home and a new fake life.
Glenn, by pointing out a possible money-laundering scheme to his bosses, not only loses his job. He loses his wife and son to murder. The warning says, “Be careful who you talk to.”
Can Glenn survive? Can he learn to understand his teenage daughter’s feelings?
Can Sarina learn to love (or even like) the dad who had spent most of his time at work? Can she get over how her father ruined her life?
The two change their appearance and receive new names and identities. They are set down near the very small town of Helen, South Dakota where they can be safe (or can they?)
Amber Waves
New
Release!
Amber Waves is story about a custom harvest crew working the wheat belt from Texas to North Dakota in 1977.
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Roger Dolton is a drifter, moving from one temporary job to the next. He has a goal. Buy cropland and rent it to farmers. He has no roots. He has no family, no ties. Just a goal. Buy enough land to retire and live off the rent.
Karen has a goal. To take over her father's custom harvesting business. She's taking a year break before entering college to work one full wheat harvest circuit.
When Roger answers an ad to work the harvest with the crew, life gets complicated for them both.
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It’s 1930. Delia has lost her husband and is about to lose her farm. Worse yet, she may have to give her only son to her sister to raise.
Peter, feeling the blow of the death of his wife, looks for a way to raise his two daughters. Worse, the stock market crash has stopped production at the tire plant where he worked. He lost his job in the layoff.
Peter was the brother of Delia’s husband, Paul. Seeing no gain in staying in Akron, Peter writes Delia proposing they combine their families in a marriage of convenience.
Delia accepts, and the story begins with Delia meeting the train and her soon-to-be husband.
Can they work together to raise two girls and one boy who have never met? Can their marriage of convenience become a second chance for them both?