"The Boys from Castle" wins first runner-up for local author

By Gloria T. August

Local author

Gloria T. August has won her second award two years in a row from the Los Angeles Book Festival. This year, she became first runner-up in the Regional Literature category. August's book, "The Boys from Castle," is a fictional account of the Wild West that once existed in Boulder County.

The broad mixture of Boulder County residents includes but is not limited to First Nations Americans, Italian miners, a Mexican family who fled the Mexican Revolution, Irish and Japanese immigrants, German ranchers, Confederates and ex-slaves, and many others all reflecting the polyglot which was and is the American people. The tale moves quickly through a linear history of the characters and the ways and means with which they coped with one another and their new way of life. Often hilarious, the text underlies the difficulties and prejudices amongst the county's citizens -new and old.

August's unusual description "acts like a play, reads like a book" and truly does perform on both levels.

The script, which eventually became a book, was originally written for a contest sponsored by Turner-Classic Movies but re-written as a book. The notion for the book grew out of August's own research on the Italian miners in Colorado at the turn of the 20th century and her nearly 42 years in Colorado.

With two of her books, "Caprice" (young adult), and "Le Piccolo Cose di Italia," August writes about her experiences in Italy creating both non-fiction and fictional stories and accounts of Italy. In the book, "Travelin' South," August focuses on a memorable trip to Florida, the Caribbean, and the tale of three Scouts earning their Historical Trails Hikes badges in Colorado.

With this book, August has now published 17 books in her young adults series, and seven books for adults. Several of her titles are now available as e-publications. Her young adult and children's books continue under her own English Garden Talk Press. With "L'ibridismo nell'Inferno: traduzione, mostri, e il rapporto fra Virgilio e Dante," August has expanded into a new adult press The St. Carolyn Vineyard Press, named after a classmate who passed away in 2014. In 2015, August plans to expand into books-on-tape and Amazon movies as she continues to enlarge her vision of modern publication.

All of the contents of August's books are readable by all but the content may vary according to the age, inclination, and the age-appropriate intellectual interests of her readers.