Photo courtesy of Ron Singerton
Idyllwild local Ron Singerton has been sharing his enthusiasm for history and art his entire life.
After graduating from California State University, Long Beach and serving in the U.S. Army, Singerton spent his 30-year teaching career sharing his passion for history and art with middle and high school-aged students.
When Singerton first started teaching in Los Angeles, he quickly realized many students were at a much lower reading level.
“I wrote a series of about 30 easy-reading plays that were accepted by the Los Angeles Board of Education as a supplementary material for middle school students,” Singerton said. “They enjoyed it because they could understand it.”
That was Singerton’s first writing experience and it kicked off his excitement for the craft.
Singerton has many talents in the arts including painting, crafting bronze, stonework, glass and ceramics. For eight years, Singerton and his wife, Darla, owned Singerton Fine Art Gallery in Idyllwild, displaying his work to the masses.
Singerton had always been interested in writing. Pen met paper once again, but this time in the form of novels.
“I always wanted to be a writer,” Singerton confessed. “I got curious about ancient history, even though I never taught it. I taught a relatively modern history. So, I started writing about it [ancient history].”
Singerton has written and published three novels so far with a fourth set to be released in late March or early April this year. His fifth novel recently went to the publisher on Feb. 23.
His earliest novels “Villa of Deceit” and the sequel “The Silk and the Sword” were based in ancient Rome and the Silk Road — a network of trade routes — during the first century B.C.
His third novel “A Cherry Blossom in Winter” is set during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. The novel, a love story during military conflict, won first place Goethe Award for 2017 by Chanticleer, a book review company.
The sequel to “A Cherry Blossom in Winter” is “A Blossom in the Ashes,” and takes place during World War II and follows the same family that was introduced in “A Cherry Blossom in Winter.”
“A Blossom in the Ashes” will be available by late March or early April.
“Les Refuse’!” is Singerton’s fifth novel and is currently being reviewed by Penmore Press. It is expected that the novel will be available for purchase by the end of 2020.
Based in the late 1800s in Paris, France, the novel captures a love story between an artist and his attempts to save a woman he loves as the Franco-Prussian War erupts.
“It’s compelling,” Singerton said when asked what it is about writing that he enjoys so much. “It’s a challenge and it’s exciting to do the research. It’s a lot of invention, but when you’re doing a historical novel, it has to be right. That’s one reason we have editors, to make sure we don’t make big mistakes.”
With almost five novels under his belt, his next goal is to write a script.
“I want to see it on the big screen,” Singerton said.
All of Singerton’s books can be found on Amazon.
