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Erie
Times News Announces Publication and Open House for LOL-LOVE
ONLINE
Authors enjoy novel Internet collaboration,
By Gwen
Albers
CORRY — Richard Pelc and Leah Kochanowitz have little in common.
Living
6,000 miles apart on separate continents, they do however
share an interest in the Holocaust. That interest brought
them together online, and they've since collaborated by e-mail
to co-author a book that ironically has nothing to do with
Nazi Germany's attempt to destroy Europe's Jews.
But distance
wasn't the biggest obstacle to completing the book, said Pelc,
who's celebrating the novel's release in an open house at
his home this Sunday.
"The
hardest part was coming up with an ending," he said.
Pelc retired
in June from a 34-year career teaching English in the Corry
Area School District. He also taught a unit on the Holocaust.
Kochanowitz,
a 47-year-old mother of eight living on Israel's West Bank,
had relatives among the millions who suffered and died in
the Holocaust. Pelc learned more about their experiences online.
He also
learned they both wanted to write a book.
After
five years of exchanged e-mails, the duo's 479-page "LOL
— Love Online" has been finished and released. "LOL,"
or laugh out loud, is the story of two lonely singles who
meet and fall in love in an Internet chat room.
"I
have read it, and I thought it was fun," said Nan Mick,
chairman of the language arts department at Corry Area High
School. "I worked with Dick for a number of years and
know how hard he worked on it. It was an unusual writing process."
Pelc,
a 56-year-old husband and father of two sons, wrote a chapter
at a time and e-mailed it to Kochanowitz to edit — and vice
versa.
"It
was a lot of fun," said Kochanowitz, from her home in
Karnei Shomron Israel, where she lives with her husband and
their children, ages 8 to 23.
In their
book, Cranston, Pa., English teacher Michael Hargest misses
his ex-wife and two sons. Loneliness and frustration with
his job take a toll on him physically and emotionally until
he meets Toronto widow Talia Horton online.
"They
live far away from each other and have a series of differences
to overcome," Pelc said. "It's a love story of them
overcoming their problems to get together. It ends happily."
Pelc and
Kochanowitz, like their characters, have met. Kochanowitz
is a native of Rochester, N.Y., and grew up in Brooklyn before
marrying and moving to Israel. Pelc met her when she returned
for separate visits to family in New York and Chicago. Kochanowitz
has also been to Pelc's home at 18470 King Road, outside Corry,
twice.
Unlike
their characters, the authors' relationship is strictly business.
Pelc's wife, Clymer Central School art teacher Linda Pelc,
designed the book's cover. The image is of a man and woman
back to back inside a heart.
"It
symbolizes their love," said Linda Pelc.
In the
background is a computer and a hand on a mouse.
The paperback
"LOL — Love Online" is available for $22.95 from
its printer, Publish America, Frederick, Md. Appropriately,
it's also available online, at barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.
The e-mails
between Corry and the West Bank, meanwhile, are continuing.
Pelc and Kochanowitz are well into writing their second book.
Tentatively titled "Guilty Until Proven Innocent,"
it's the story of a young teacher nearly destroyed by accusations
that he had an affair with a student.
"It
is a most unusual writing experience," said Pelc.
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