Stillwater

Stillwater will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps lead you to look at rocks, maps, volcanoes, and yourself in a different way. The story includes geology field experiences and adventures, field mapping, lots of hard science, romance, sex, and spirituality. Annie is a woman of passion for her career as a geologist and professor, her students, her family, and her faith. She finds her worldview, spirituality, and morality challenged as she struggles with an extramarital relationship with her one true love, Sean. Together they share a love of volcanoes and each other but must deal with the social and religious boundaries established for them in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Annie's experiences with systemic sexism in geology and academia will be recognized and appreciated by women and men of all ages, as her character blazes a trail for other women to follow.
The reader will be intrigued by the main character's romance, but also by the camaraderie of the characters and by the worlds they inhabit: their families, their workplaces, their hang-outs, and the sub-worlds of academia and field geology. You will be drawn into the love story that is woven into the tapestry of science, nature, and spirituality.

"As you glance into the Stillwater, you see a reflection of Annie and Sean that is embedded in your mind through the entire book. ...Stillwater runs deep and cold through the valley and along the cliffs and becomes an everlasting waterfall." Jerry H. Moore

This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Sarah Anne (Annie) Moore. She was the inspiration for the main character and the writing of this novel. She taught me everything I know about hard work, pride in a job well done, the spirit of adventure, and how to be a kind person in a cruel world. She modeled strength of character and courage in hard times. C.D. Phillips

"You only fail if you don't try. Can't never could do anything."
Annie Moore C. D. (Dianne) Phillips, is "Full" professor of Science and Mathematics at Northwest Arkansas Community College, in Bentonville, Arkansas, where for sixteen years she has been teaching geology, honors geology, environmental geology, astronomy, physical science, and undergraduate design and technology in STEM. Before that, she was an adjunct professor and lecturer in Physics and Geology at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and Fort Smith, AR.
Her life-experience, including her roles as wife, mother, grandmother, scientist, field geologist, science communicator, mentor, and educator have provided the knowledge base for her writing of this novel. She has written and published several articles in her field of study and has participated in and supervised geology field trips for over thirty years.
A very important factor reflected in this book is her involvement in the community where she promotes social justice, women's issues, and an awareness of needed educational reform for equal status of other women in the Sciences. Her strong belief system and well-developed survival skills are expressed in the adventures and experiences of the characters of her book. Over and over again the inspiration she receives from her students reinforces her will to achieve her goals, for this inspiration is the means by which her dreams soon become her reality. Stillwater is only the first installment of this series, with more to come.