Melanie Calvert Benton is a retired respiratory care practitioner who now works with her first loves, photography and writing. While running a successful photography business for years, she only recently turned to writing a novel through the urgings of her husband Western Fiction Writer W.R. Benton. Melanie’s photography has appeared on the covers of all four of Mister Benton’s "The Drum Series" and soon will be gracing her own books. Her first book, "A Southern Moon Rising," is at the publishers now and may be released in early 2008.
An avid outdoorswoman, she enjoys C. B. radio, deer hunting, fishing, camping, and of course, outdoor photography. She prefers the smell of wood smoke, the crackling of a fire late at night, and the serenity of nature, to a fast-paced life in a big city. Born and raised in Mississippi, most of it on a farm, she is a true Southern Belle.
She may be reached at:
· Her Photography website is: www.vipportraits.net
· Her Western site : www.melaniedcalvert.com
· Her Blog: www.myspace.com/ladyfox250
Her accomplishments include:
· Book cover artist for western - fiction writer W. R. Benton's "The Drum Series" http://www.wrbenton.net
· Member of the: Jackson Photographic Society,
· Member Mississippi Bridal Association,
· Member Southern Writers Group,
· Member Southern Humorist Writers Group
· Writer for Women Anglers & Hunters Too!
* Member of the Mississippi Wildlife Federation
· Member Mississippi Writers Guild.
· Associated with the Western Writers of America through W. R. Benton
· 10 year Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant www.maykay.com/mcalvert
· Published in the North American Hunting Club Cook Book "Prizes Of Autumn " for "Melanie's Venison Roast" Listed under: www.authorsden.com/melaniedcalvert
· Featured in 2006 & 2007 on WLBT's " Midday Mississippi " with host Wilson Stribling
· Featured in July 2006 and 2007 on "Listen To The Eagle" with host Paul Ott Carruth
· Recognized in the April 2007 issue of "Today’s Mississippi Woman" magazine for as an outstanding Mississippi woman
· Her photos published in "Mississippi Magazine's" September/ October 2006 issue along with Anne McKee's article "Author ! Author!"
· Her photography along with "The Drum Series" artwork endorsed by Mississippi State Senator Terry Burton. and Mississippi conservationist and television personality : Paul Ott Carruth.
