About
I was born in 1950 in Bradford, Pennsylvania. After graduating in 1972 from Mansfield University with a BS in English, I've worked in factories, taught high school English, and run a successful house painting business. I'm also a freelance writer, and my short stories, poetry, and articles have appeared in over 490 magazines in the U.S., England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Romania, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia. I've published eleven poetry collections, two audio books of horror verse, three volumes of short stories, seven Civil War novels and two French and Indian War novels. In my spare time I enjoy photography, trout fishing, deer hunting, and Civil War reenacting. I belong to the Company I Bucktail unit of of McKean County in Pennsylvania.
Size Zero (Visage Book 1)
Description
<p style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><strong>"A somber, disturbing mystery fused with a scathing look at the fashion industry. </strong><strong>Mangin writes in a confident, razor-edged style."</strong><strong> - Kirkus Reviews</strong></p><p style="margin:-4px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><strong>Condom dresses and space helmets have debuted on fashion runways.</strong></p><p style="margin:-4px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;">A dead body becomes the trend when a coat made of human skin saunters down fashion's biggest stage. The body is identified as Annabelle Leigh, the teenager who famously disappeared over a decade ago from her boyfriend's New York City mansion.</p><p style="margin:-4px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;">This new evidence casts suspicion back on the former boyfriend, Cecil LeClaire. Now a monk, he is forced to return to his dark and absurd childhood home to clear his name. He teams up with Ava Germaine, a renegade ex-model. And together, they investigate the depraved and lawless modeling industry behind Cecil's family fortune.</p><p style="margin:-4px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;">They find erotic canes, pet rats living in crystal castles, and dresses made of crushed butterfly wings. But Cecil finds more truth in the luxury goods than in the people themselves. Everyone he meets seems to be wearing a person-suit. Terrified of showing their true selves, the glitterati put on flamboyant public personas to make money and friends. Can Cecil find truth in a world built on lies?</p><p style="margin:-4px 0px 0px;padding:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><strong>In high fashion modeling, selling bodies is organized crime.</strong></p>
Story Behind The Book
THIS ENCHANTED LAND grew out of the "Evil Love" story that appeared in my horror collection TERROR TIME (Infinity Publishing, 2009). So many readers loved the tale that I figured I'd expand it into a novel. Canadian editor and author, G. W. Thomas was especially supportive. I enlisted author Fiona Ingram to help me write THIS ENCHANTED LAND and artist David Cox to illustrate it. Their help was invaluable!
Reviews
When I read THIS ENCHANTED LAND I was nose-to-nose with the same problem I've had with earlier Bill Robertson books, and I've read more than a dozen of them. Like his other writings, the action is well-crafted, intensely vivid, and fast paced. This story propelled me through the pages at breakneck speed, from one adventure to the next, leaving me with my tongue hanging out like a happy beagle after a rabbit chase. As I read, I did not come to like Dane Wulfdin, the hero of this time travel to Viking days, but I <em>became</em> Dane Wulfdin. The chronic problem? This tale, like Robertson's others, is too soon over, and the wait for his next book will be excruciating.<br /><br />Dan Day, Marketing Executive<br />Boonsboro, MD<br /><br /><br />David Cox's wonderful illustrations bring the magical words of this book to life as you stare into them and imagine being one of the characters described. Filled with love, despair, destruction, betrayal, and truth, this is a creative, magical work of literature to enjoy.<br /><br />Dane ventures through a land filled with such enchanted beings as ogres, witches, dragons, and magic. . .Can he survive the test of will through his journey, or will he forever be damned to this enchanted land?<br /><br />Michelle Lichtenfels<br />ReviewTheBook.com 12/16/2010
