Cindy Vallar Author, Editor, & Pirate Chronicler P. O. Box 425, Keller, TX  76244-0425

Born and raised in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, I spent my formative years reading books and writing poetry. While in college, I saw a movie based on the life of Jean Laffite, a gentleman pirate who helped Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Intrigued by the mysterious, I researched then started to write a novel about Laffite. Graduation, career, and marriage put that manuscript on a shelf where it remained until I began working as a school librarian for seriously emotionally challenged teenagers. I returned to writing to relieve the stress inherent in working in special education facilities. During a boring staff meeting, I wrote about a caped figure who crossed the Scottish Highlands during a fiercesome storm. After twelve years and numerous revisions, that kernel of an idea blossomed into my debut historical novel, The Scottish Thistle. I'm currently working to complete that pirate novel started many years ago while researching another novel set in the Dust Bowl of Texas during the Great Depression.

During my senior year of college, one of Mom's friends introduced me to a young man who attended my high school seven years before I did. Not only had we lived on the same street as children, but he also delivered our newspaper, his mother taught my Sunday school class, and I went to school with his youngest brother. Tom and I married a year later. We celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary by moving from Maryland to Kansas.

I never know when new adventures will arrive on my doorstep. Soon after we vacationed in Austin, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, Texas in 2002, Tom's company offered him a transfer to the Fort Worth area. Little did we know then the trek we would take to reach our new home. Instead of moving directly from Kansas to Texas, we drove to Maryland a week after the 2003 snow storm hit the East Coast. Shortly before our twenty-fourth wedding anniversary, we headed to Texas. In May we moved into our new home, which includes a library to house my collection of over 1,000 books.

Having retired from library work, I pursue my dream. My passion for research and a desire to make history more interesting inspires me to write historical novels intertwined with love stories. Amber Quill Press re-released The Scottish Thistle, my first novel, in November 2006, and Dark Oak Press and Media released a pirate anthology that includes my second short story, "Rumble the Dragon," in 2014. Since February 2000, I have written a monthly maritime history column entitled Pirates and Privateers. For fourteen years, I wrote "The Red Pencil," an editing column for the Historical Novel Society's Historical Novels Review. I still review books for them, as well as Pirates and Privateers. I am also a freelance editor, as well as an online workshop instructor.

My mother fondly refers to my three younger sisters and me as her “Little Women.” I hold a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Towson University and a Master’s Degree in Library Science from the University of Maryland. I love to read. My favorite authors include Stuart Woods, Clive Cussler, Leon Uris, Nigel Tranter, James L. Nelson, Steve Berry, LaVyrle Spencer, James Boschert, Louis L'Amour, and Patrick Taylor. When I'm not reading or writing, I like to do jigsaw and crossword puzzles, and collect Teddy bears, foreign dolls, and Kachinas. I enjoy listening to Celtic and bagpipe music, instrumental jazz, country music, and music from the seventies. I also love to listen to old time radio shows. My particular favorites are The Shadow, Gunsmoke, Dragnet, Broadway Is My Beat, Tales of the Texas Rangers, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

My Interviews & Thoughts on Writing

My Memberships

Gunpowder and Gold Interview September 2021 Backstory Author Interview Swinburne University, Australia, June 2018 Latino Role Models Success Armando Sanchez, February 2017 Under the Crossbones Phil Johnson, August 2015 Pirates and Privateers Fraternizing with Fran, 9 July 2014 The Scottish Thistle: Inspiration and Passion My Story, My Way, 16 April 2014 Q&A with Cindy Vallar Disquieting Visions, 4 March 2014 A Tall Ship, a Star, and Plunder: An Interview with Cindy Vallar Krogfiction, 23 February 2014 Dragons, Vikings, and Misfits Savvy Authors, 20 January 2014 Author Interview Morgen Bailey's Writing Blog, 6 February 2013 Special Guest: Cindy Vallar, author of The Scottish Thistle The Chanta Rand Radio Show, 5 April 2011 Interview with Author Cindy Vallar (Part I and Part II) Favorite Pastimes, 13-14 February 2007 Interview with a Pirate Lady Seascapes #1, March 2003 Historical Author Spotlight Sime-Gen, 20 May 2002 Interview with Cindy Vallar Fiction Factor, 2002