Published Authors G and H
Below is a listing of all the Northeast Florida published authors we can find or have been told about with the last names beginning with the letters G and H. If you are a published northeast Florida author and your name isn’t listed please use our Contact Us form and let us know. We would be happy to add you.
Richard Gartee (Historical Fiction/Poetry/Non-Fiction)
Gainesville, FL
Alachua County
Website: http://www.gartee.com/index.html
Amazon Profile Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001IR1J7M
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1797664.Richard_Gartee
Richard Gartee is a Gainesville poet, novelist, and full-time author who spent over twenty years in software design before turning to fiction. His first novel, Lancelot’s Grail, explores self-awareness and enlightenment through an Arthurian-age story, and its sequel, Lancelot’s Disciple, continues the quest along the Silk Road. His Ragtime Dudes series, following three New York dandies from the 1904 World’s Fair through the Roaring Twenties, has twice won the Royal Palm Literary Award for fiction humor. Beyond fiction, he has published six collections of poetry, a biography, a history of Gainesville’s Hippodrome Theatre, and seven college textbooks on electronic health records that became standards in the field. He is a member of the Writers Alliance of Gainesville, the Florida Writers Association, and the Florida Literary Arts Coalition, and remains a regular presence at the Sunshine State Book Festival.
Fiction
Ragtime Dudes at the World’s Fair
Ragtime Dudes in a Thin Place (Royal Palm Literary Award, Fiction Humor)
Ragtime Dudes Meet a Paris Flapper (Royal Palm Literary Award, Fiction Humor)
Poetry
Non-Fiction
The Hippodrome Theatre First Fifty Years
L.J. Gastineau (YA/Fantasy/Horror)
St. Augustine, FL
St. Johns County
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ljgastineau
Amazon Profile: https://www.amazon.com/LJ-Gastineau/e/B007OJVLLC/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
Publishing Website: http://trinitygateways.net/
Buy the Books: https://mkt.com/trinitygateways
L.J. Gastineau is a St. Augustine young adult author and University of Central Florida graduate whose Crystal Garden Saga reimagines classic fairy tales as a four-book fantasy series, each volume tied to one of the elements and a familiar heroine. She is one of three founding authors behind TrinityGateways.net, and her short horror story “Doll’s House” has appeared in two anthologies, Dark Things II and Shadows of the Mind, the latter of which she also co-edited.
The Crystal Garden Saga
Frozen Reflection – May 2012
Quaking Tower – Book 2 – Nov 2012
Gusty Proposals – Book 3 – Oct 2013
Drowned Voice – Book 4
Shadows of the Mind (A Horror Anthology) (Co-Edited with Doris Ross and Tricia Sparks) – Originally published 2012, re-released March 2014
Tim Gilmore (Historical Non-Fiction/Poetry/Fiction)
Jacksonville, FL
Duval County
Website: https://jaxpsychogeo.com/
Amazon Profile Page: https://www.amazon.com/Tim-Gilmore/e/B00908FHS8
Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.gilmore.543
Tim Gilmore is a Jacksonville native, Ph.D., and longtime professor at Florida State College at Jacksonville, where he was named 2018 Distinguished Faculty Award winner and the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville’s Literary Artist of the Year. He is the creator of JaxPsychoGeo, a sprawling project of narrative nonfiction that has told more than 800 strange and historic stories from his hometown, and the founder of the JaxbyJax literary arts festival, built on the theme of “Jacksonville Writers Writing Jacksonville.” His true-crime and Southern Gothic books, including Stalking Ottis Toole and Devil in the Baptist Church, have been adapted for the stage at FSCJ, and JaxPsychoGeo has drawn coverage from the Miami Herald, the Washington Post, and the New Yorker.
Flights of Crows: Poems, 2002-2006 – June 2006
Horoscopes for Goblins: Poems, 2006-2009 – Aug 2012
Ghost Compost: Strange Little Stories – Jan 2013
This Kind of City: Ghost Stories and Psychological Landscapes – April 2013
Doors in the Light and the Water: The Life and Collected Works of Empty Boat – July 2013
Stalking Ottis Toole: A Southern Gothic – July 2013
The Ocean Highway at Night – April 2014
In Search of Eartha White, Storehouse for the People – Sept 2014
The Mad Atlas of Virginia King – Sept 2015
Devil in the Baptist Church: Bob Gray’s Unholy Trinity – July 2016
The Book of Isaiah – September 2017
Goat Island Hermit: The State of Florida vs. Rollians Christopher – August 2018
Cindi Handley Goodeaux (Poetry/Children’s Fiction)
Jacksonville, FL
Duval County
Email: chgoodeaux@gmail.com
Website for Fans: https://writecute.com/
Facebook Public Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/WriteCuteStories
Instagram Writers Page: https://www.instagram.com/WriteCute_Stories
TikTok Author Page: https://www.tiktok.com/@author_cindi
Amazon Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cindi-Handley-Goodeaux/author/B00Q1LVXNK
Goodreads Author: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9885771.Cindi_Handley_Goodeaux
Cindi Handley Goodeaux is a Jacksonville children’s author who writes under the brand WriteCute Stories, drawing on her past life as a professional clown named Giggle Blossom to bring warmth and gentle humor to young readers. Her Princess Jellibean Adventures series follows a rainbow-hued calico cat through stories about reading, friendship, and helping others find their way home. Beyond the series, she has written half a dozen stand-alone picture books and the poetry collection Swimming in My Soul. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and a professional member of the Cat Writers Association, and currently serves as Vice Chair of her employer’s disability affinity group.
Princess Jellibean Adventures
The Adventures of Princess Jellibean (Book 1) – November 2018
Mama’s Map (Book 2) – August 2019
When Cats Fly (Book 3) – February 2020
Art of Friendship (Book 4) – August 2021
Other Children’s Books
Grandpa Moon – August 2019
Bunky and Lulu: Find Their Place – November 2020
Ishkabibble Unafraid – May 2021
Kai the Loneliest Palm Tree – March 2022
Fish Patty – November 2022
The Silly Summer Activity Book – June 2023
Poetry
Swimming in My Soul: A Collection of Poetry – November 2014
L.J. Green, pen name of Jolene MacFadden (Historical/Steampunk/Mystery Romance)
Live Oak, FL
Suwannee County
Website: https://ljgreenauthor.com
Email: jolene@ljgreenauthor.com
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/LillianJGreenAuthor
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AuthorLJGreen
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23094591.L_J_Green
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/l-j-green
Amazon Author Profile Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/ljgreen
Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author.LJGreen/
Series Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MisadventuresJanieAndDiane
Threads: https://threads.net/@authorljgreen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorljgreen/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorljgreen
Lemon8: https://www.lemon8-app.com/@authorljgree
LinkTree: https://ljgreenauthor.my.canva.site/
L.J. Green is the pen name of Jolene MacFadden, founder of the North Florida Writers Tour and owner of Southern Dragon Publishing in Live Oak. Writing under the Lillian Jade Green name, she publishes historical and steampunk-flavored mystery romance, including the long-running Pinevale Valley series and stand-alone historical romances set in Cuba and the Caribbean trade routes. She is currently reworking her “Adventures of Janie and Diane” series, with an additional historical romance piece forthcoming in a First Coast Romance Writers anthology before summer 2026, and is developing a nonfiction title on author marketing.
A Widow’s Dilemma in Cuba – January 2024
Where Trade Winds Meet – December 2024
Pinevale Intrigue (Book 11 in Pinevale Valley Series) – October 2025
Teri Youmans Grimm (Poetry)
Jacksonville, FL
Duval County
Poets & Writers Directory: https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/teri_youmans_grimm
Teri Youmans Grimm is a fourth-generation Floridian poet who lives on a spit of land near the Intracoastal Waterway in Jacksonville. She holds a BFA in poetry from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and an MFA from Vermont College, and teaches in the low-residency MFA program at the University of Nebraska. Her second collection, Becoming Lyla Dore, weaves persona poems around a fictional silent film star to recreate Jacksonville’s brief reign as the world’s winter film capital in the 1910s, a follow-up to her debut collection Dirt Eaters. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Indiana Review, The Rumpus, and Green Mountains Review, among others.
Homegrown in Florida (2012) as a contributor
Dirt Eaters (Contemporary Poetry Series) – 2004
Becoming Lyla Dore – 2016
Jill Handler Grens (Children’s Books)
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
St. Johns County
Website: http://www.jillgrens-bigbangbooks.com/
Amazon Profile Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jill-Grens/e/B00V8CZJCI
Jill Handler Grens is a Ponte Vedra Beach children’s author whose Big Bang Books imprint has produced a small, distinctive catalog of picture books with playful, character-driven titles. Her stand-alone stories, including Zippy the Caterpillar and the Big Race and Stinky Pete and the Yoga Retreat, favor whimsical animal protagonists and light comic touches aimed at early readers.
Zippy the Caterpillar and the Big Race – Mar 2015
Misty’s Mysterious Itch – Mar 2016
Stinky Pete and the Yoga Retreat – April 2016
The Bird Dog and the Bird – Sept 2016
Grump the Ump (Only available for purchase from the author’s website)
Nancy Haddock (Cozy Mysteries/Paranormal Romance)
St. Augustine, FL
St. Johns County
Website: http://nancyhaddock.com/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Nancy-Haddock/e/B001JSHCCG/
Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nancykhaddock
Nancy Haddock is a national bestselling author who, after careers as a speech pathologist and high school teacher, settled in St. Augustine and made the city the backdrop for her own fiction. Published by Berkley (Penguin Random House), her Oldest City Vampire trilogy follows a 200-year-old vampire tour guide through the Ancient City’s real history and haunted streets, while her Silver Six Crafting Mysteries, also from Berkley, are set in southwest Arkansas. She reads and writes across genres but favors stories that braid together mystery, history, and romance.
Oldest City Vampire Series
La Vida Vampire – 2008
Last Vampire Standing – 2009
Always the Vampire – 2011
Silver Six Mystery Series
Basket Case – 2015
Paint the Town Dead – 2016
A Crime of Poison – 2017
Jay Hamilton (Non-Fiction)
Worthington Springs, FL
Union County
Website: http://www.cpubfl.com
Facebook Publishing Page: https://facebook.com/cpubfl/
Amazon Profile Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jay-Hamilton/e/B019YMFUV8
Jay Hamilton is a Worthington Springs nonfiction author and the founder of Crossroads Publishing of Florida, a small press based in his own Union County hometown. His practical guides cover everything from car-buying strategy to entrepreneurship to home solar power, reflecting a consistent interest in giving everyday readers usable, plain-spoken financial and civic advice.
How to Buy a Car Without Losing Your Shirt – 2015
Exerting Influence: A Political Primer for Millennials, Even Those Too Young to Vote – 2016
The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Grow Your Business, Increase Sales, and Expand Your Brand! – 2016
Solar Energy On A Shoestring Budget – 2018
Jane Hartenstein (Historical Fiction/Non-Fiction)
St. Augustine, FL
St. Johns County
Website: http://www.janehartenstein.com
Jane Hartenstein is a St. Augustine author of historical fiction whose two novels, published several years apart, draw on the Ancient City’s long, layered past. Voices and its follow-up A Witch’s Voice both reflect a writer interested in giving narrative voice to history’s quieter, often overlooked figures.
Voices – 2011
A Witch’s Voice – 2014
Karen G. Harvey (Non-Fiction/History)
St. Augustine, FL
St. Johns County
Karen Harvey is one of St. Augustine’s most established local historians, a resident of the Ancient City since 1978 and author of nine books spanning more than four decades of writing about the nation’s oldest city. Her landmark St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Pictorial History traces more than 450 years of local history from Ponce de León’s arrival through the Flagler era, and her St. Augustine Enters the Twenty-First Century won the Florida Writers Association’s Royal Palm Literary Award for nonfiction history in 2010. A former arts and entertainment editor for the local newspaper, she now works as a historic interpreter, offers dramatic presentations on historic St. Augustine women, and has appeared on the History Channel and the Discovery Channel.
Alexandria. A Pictorial History – 1977 (Co-Author with Ross Stansfield Harvey)
St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Pictorial History – May 1980
America’s First City: St. Augustine’s Historic Neighborhoods – Jan 1997
Oldest Ghosts: St. Augustine Haunts – Jan 2001
Daring Daughters: St. Augustine’s Feisty Females, 1565-2000 – Jul 2002
Five Women, Five Stories: St. Augustine Women – available only on her website (drawn from Daring Daughters)
Florida’s First Presbyterians – available only on her website
Legends and Tales: Anecdotal Histories of St. Augustine, Florida (American Chronicles) – Jan 2005 – Volumes I and II
Constance Hastings (Christian Non-Fiction)
Jacksonville, FL
Duval County
Website: https://www.constancehastings.com/
Substack: https://jesustrouble.substack.com/
Email: constance.hastings@constancehastings.com
Facebook Author Profile: https://www.facebook.com/constance.hastings.9
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheTroublewithJesus
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Constance-Hastings/author/B0CQ31SLKP
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/constance-hastings-0969a7136/
Constance Hastings splits her time between Wilmington, Delaware and Duval County, Florida, and brings a counselor’s ear and a former educator’s clarity to questions of faith. Raised outside organized religion but educated in a Christian school, she built careers as a teacher and as a mental health counselor before her debut book, The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away, grew out of a presentation she gave to a group of women wrestling with their own questions about Christianity. The book is built around what she calls the voice of doubt, an internal challenger that interrupts and argues rather than being silenced, and she continues the conversation on her weekly Substack and blog of the same name. She is ordained as a Deacon in the Methodist Church and was profiled in the North Florida Writers Tour’s author spotlight series.
The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away – 2024
William “Bill” Hatfield (Sci-Fi/Fantasy/LGBTQ Mystery)
Gainesville, FL
Alachua County
Email: williamhatfield999@gmail.com
Personal Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/bill.hatfield.167
Amazon Profile Page: https://www.amazon.com/William-Hatfield/e/B00ILVUVNQ
William “Bill” Hatfield is a Gainesville author and musician who moved to Florida for musical engagements and stayed to write science fiction and mystery. His Fists of Earth trilogy is a fast-moving first-contact adventure series, while his TNT series brings humor and warmth to an LGBTQ mystery franchise set among the gay community of Key West. He has worked for years at Barnes & Noble at Santa Fe College, giving him a bookseller’s-eye view of the local market alongside his own shelf of titles.
Fists of Earth Series
Captive Audience Book 1 – 2011, originally published 2004
Duel Roles Book 2 – 2010
Tough Crowd Book 3 – 2015
TNT Series (LGBTQ Mystery)
Menu for Murder Book 1 – 2012
Blown Choices Book 2 – 2016
Bare Soles Book 3 – 2017
Cheating Deaths Book 4 – 2019
Key Notes – Short Story – 2012
Joan Hecht (Non-Fiction)
Jacksonville, FL
Duval County
Amazon Profile Page: https://www.amazon.com/Joan-Hecht/e/B001K8S2HY/
Her Foundation Page: http://www.allianceforthelostboys.com/
Facebook Page for Foundation: https://www.facebook.com/Alliance-for-the-Lost-Boys-of-Sudan-109913379028875/
Joan Hecht is a Jacksonville humanitarian and author whose 2005 book The Journey of the Lost Boys chronicles the thousand-mile trek of Sudanese refugee children fleeing civil war, told through her own relationship with the young men who settled in her hometown and call her “Mama Joan.” The book earned Hecht the title of 2005 Author of the Year from the Promoting Outstanding Writers organization, with a perfect score from every judge in the education category. In 2004 she founded the Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan, a Jacksonville-based nonprofit that funds clinics, schools, and clean water projects in South Sudan while supporting refugees resettled in the United States, work that has earned her honors including a Florida “Points of Light” award and recognition from Bank of America. A former touring backup singer for the Johnny Van Zant Band, she has spent more than two decades speaking nationally on the Lost Boys’ behalf.
- Dale Herring (Fiction)
Cross City, FL
Dixie County
Email: hdherring@att.net
Real Estate Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Hdherring.kw
Personal Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HDALEHERRING
- Dale Herring is a Cross City author and real estate professional whose novel Bowlegs Town reflects his deep roots in Dixie County. The book isn’t sold through Amazon but can be found at several area library systems, making Herring one of the more locally rooted, off-the-grid voices in our Dixie County coverage.
Bowlegs Town – 2017 (not available on Amazon; available at Dixie, Gilchrist, Suwannee, and Jena Tech Center libraries)
Helen D. Hill (Christian Fiction/Mystery)
Lake City, FL
Columbia County
Personal Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/helen.hill5057
Email: dannyandhelen@att.net
Helen D. Hill is a Lake City author whose Forest Hills series brings Christian fiction and small-town mystery together across six novels published between 2012 and 2017. Hill has spoken of her mother Martha’s own early writing, two short stories from the 1970s published by Mac Fadden Publishers, as part of the storytelling legacy that shaped her own path into fiction.
Searching for Holy Ground – 2008
Forest Hills Series
Manny’s Gift – 2012
The Crossroads of Forest Hills – 2012
Harvest Time: In Forest Hills – 2013
Christmas at Forest Hills – 2013
Revenge at Forest Hills – 2016
Mystery at Warden Lake – 2016
A Detour – 2017
Patty Howell (Romance)
Welborn, FL
Suwannee County
Personal Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/patty.howell.98
Patty Howell is a Welborn-based romance writer whose long history of anthology work spans nearly a decade, from her first contribution in 2006 to titles released as late as 2014. Rather than publishing solo novels, Howell has built her body of work almost entirely through Christian and seasonal romance anthologies, contributing short fiction alongside dozens of other authors across more than a dozen collections.
Contributor to the Following Anthologies
No Law Against Love – 2006
Christmas Wishes: A Christmas Anthology – 2006
Blue Moon Enchantment – 2006
Romance Upon A Midnight Clear: A Christmas Anthology – 2007
No Law Against Love 2 – 2008
Flames of Gold: A Christian Anthology – 2008
On A Cold Winter’s Night – 2009
The Heart of Christmas – 2013
Christmas Blessings: A Christian Anthology – 2014
Muses In the Moonlight (Once In A Blue Moon series) – May 2006
The Patient Gift – Oct 2006
Entertaining Angels – Oct 2008
No Laughing Matter – Sept 2012
Noah’s Arch – Nov 2013
Heartfelt – Nov 2013
The Christmas Conflict – Nov 2013
Love, Lies, & Laughter: A Christian Anthology – 2014
Street Manners – Feb 2014
Shoes in the Bible and Walking with God – March 2014
The Blessing of Forgiveness – Oct 2014
Karen Hudgins (Romance/Mystery/Suspense/History)
Jacksonville, FL
Duval County
Website: http://www.karenhudgins.com/
Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karen.hudgins
Karen Hudgins is a Jacksonville author whose romance and suspense novels span more than fifteen years, from One Night With Zorro in 2002 through Midnight With Maverick in 2017. Her titles move comfortably between contemporary romance and history-tinged suspense, building a steady catalog without locking into a single series.
One Night With Zorro – 2002
Next Year’s Promise – April 2004
Tonight With Tarzan – April 2008
Best Man – Jan 2011
When Hearts Speak – July 2013
Secrets of the Heart – Nov 2017
Midnight With Maverick – Dec 2017
J.D. Hunter, co-authored with Bruce Thomason (Suspense/Mystery/Women’s Fiction)
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
St. Johns County
Shared Website: https://brucethomason.com/about/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/J-D-Hunter/author/B077BBGVSL
J.D. Hunter is the writing partner and co-author of Ponte Vedra Beach novelist Bruce Thomason, a retired police chief whose 45-year law enforcement career in Texas, Ohio, and Florida, including 21 years as Jacksonville Beach’s police chief, underpins his Detective Clay Randall thriller series. Hunter served as Thomason’s content editor on the earlier solo Clay Randall novels before stepping forward as co-author on The Domino Event, the fourth book in the series. The partnership reflects two strong creative voices sharing the same fictional world.
The Domino Event (No. 4) (Co-Authored with Bruce Thomason) – Nov 2017
A Season of Forgiveness – 2020
Rodney L. Hurst, Sr. (Non-Fiction/History)
Jacksonville, FL
Duval County
Website/Blog: rodneyhurst.com (still active and updated)
Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rodney.hurst1
Rodney L. Hurst, Sr. is a Jacksonville civil rights icon, Black historian, and U.S. Air Force veteran whose first book, It Was Never About a Hot Dog and a Coke®!, recounts his firsthand experience as the sixteen-year-old president of the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP during the 1960 sit-ins and the violent Ax Handle Saturday that followed. His four books and decades of public speaking have made him the city’s most authoritative living voice on its civil rights history, work recognized with the Jacksonville Branch NAACP’s Willye F. Dennis Award, the OneJax Silver Medallion Humanitarian Award, and a chapter devoted to him in the Scholastic title Ten True Tales: Young Civil Rights Heroes. He served two terms on the Jacksonville City Council and continues to speak at commemorations of Ax Handle Saturday each August.
Unless WE Tell It . . . It Never Gets Told! – Dec 2015
