Brenda Colbath, Author

Brenda Colbath, author of more than 20 books across genres like children’s stories, murder mysteries, and sci-fi, invites you to explore her life and journey.

She was born on a hot summer day in the tiny town of East Corinth, Maine, in a not-quite-tarred paper shack on a little plot of land, with her two older brothers. Her mom worked hard maintaining a garden large enough to feed her little family.   

One of her earliest memories of that time was when one minute she was falling off the big rough wood porch, and the next she was lying across the old rocking chair as her mom taped the long gash on her back together, resulting in a long ugly scar. Later the family moved to Dexter, where they rented half of a huge house for the huge price of $10 a month. It was located behind the main street stores on a short dirt street named Middlesex Ave. Honest!

To say Brenda was precocious would be selling her short, which many people have, in her lifetime. In those days most of the kids went barefoot all summer long; Brenda insisted her parents take her home to wash her feet before she would allow them to admit her to the country hospital for an appendectomy operation. The delay caused it to become acute. When she was released, she had fun scaring her friends with this horror story: “The doctor’s knife slipped and went right through me; here, look at my scars!” Pulling up her shirt for proof! She still has the scars, but doesn’t try to scare anyone, except in her books.

One of the not-so-much-fun things was the years of attending the 2-room country schoolhouse with four different age classes in one room, in Corinna Center (insert picture), until it was finally closed and students were bussed to the new school in town. To say the students were a little behind would be an understatement. Brenda eventually caught up and graduated from Corinna Union Academy, which sounds more impressive than High School and looked good on a resume.

The family bought a 15-acre farm that included a 100-year-old house, a large 2-story barn, a chicken coop, and a two-story building connecting the house with the barn, and featuring an outhouse. We actually had a Surry with a fringe on top, but no horse to pull it, but we loved it anyway. Lakes surrounded our little farm, and we became little fishers and fished summer and winter

The one-mile walk to the bus was tempered by a glass of ice-cold lemonade or hot chocolate, either before her 8-mile ride or before her walk home. This was courtesy of a sweet couple, Mr. and Mrs. Additon, who lived at the end of the road. Mrs. Additon, a retired school teacher, instilled a love of books and reading by lending lovely hardbacks from her extensive collection. Brenda learned the art of closing her ears to sound when reading for pleasure or studying! This sometimes got her into trouble. If you hand her a paper, do not expect her to hear what you are saying.

Her sophomore English teacher made a lasting impression on his students by standing quietly in front of the class on the first day and listening to the laughter and goofing around for several minutes before he dropped and partially slammed a large book onto the floor! “Now that I have your attention, from now on there will be no talking about anything other than English in this class!” His first project was Random Notes, 5 handwritten pages to be turned in every Friday. Brenda decided to have a little fun with him, so she wrote an unfinished story with “Continued next week.” He always asked, “What happens next?” Her answer was always, “You will have to wait until the next chapter!” He was the first person who said, “You should do something about your writing.

So she did:

Brenda practiced as a Realtor in Washington State for approximately 15 years, and received her Broker’s License. She learned the business from Title and Mortgage companies, because training was unheard of!  Many classes were taken at local Community Colleges. She sought that information because in the 70s women were neither wanted nor welcomed in the profession. When her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, she again decided to return to Real Estate and worked another 15 years. The Real Estate profession changed after the 2008 recession, and she turned to her first love: Writing Books! A lot more fun, and she had many fun characters, and some not-so-fun, to write about.

“Their names have been changed to protect the guilty.”

Selected Works:

    Sleep Travelers Series

Mystery & SCI FI

Young Adult and Children’s Books:

Ruby & Nolan’s Great Adventures in Space:

Her first book, “Murder on Lake Haverly,” is set in Arizona and explores the biographical origins of her history at that time. Many of the characters in her books are similar to the many Realtors, Brokers, and clients she worked with during her nearly 30 years in the Real Estate business. She laughingly says, “Their names have been changed to protect the guilty.”