Fred Hale of St. John writes book on passage

Fred Hale of St. John with his recently-published book, “Through a Passage in Time,” the story of a college professor whose soul has gone through a transference portal in a two-dimensional world.

Fred Hale, a resident of St. John for two years, does not know how he came up with the story line for his book, “Through a Passage in Time,” but deemed it an interesting process. His publisher called it “a hard story to write.”

“It was just something that came to mind,” said Hale, who was born in Wilbur.

Hale said the writing process was almost surreal.

“I would write a chapter out, and all of a sudden, something identical would come up on the news,” he said. “The same character names I had come up with would come up on the news in identical stories.”

“Through a Passage in Time” is a short story about a retired college professor living in the present day. Hale said the book spans the course of 250 years, with the present day and a time period in the 1700s.

“It's set in two dimensions, 250 years apart,” he explained.

The back cover of the book reads, “The professor believes his soul has traveled through a transference portal from the 1700s to the present time. A former student joins him on his adventure, leading him to a hypnotist who helps the professor search his past life.”

“It's based on a college professor's life, what he feels. Things keep popping up to him, and he asks, 'Why is the happening? What's going on?'” Hale described.

Hale said he did not want to give away too much of the book.

“How he gets there and what happens now, you'll have to read the book,” he said.

The book has been an instant hit with his family, friends and others who have read it.

“People are already asking for a sequel,” said Hale.

The book, which took seven-and-a-half years to write, is available in an eBook format through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is available as a hardback book through http://www.rosedogbookstore.com. RoseDog Books is the book publisher.

Hale's writing experience began in high school in a journalism and literature class when the class was assigned to write and illustrate a story. His talent was in writing, while a friend of his had a talent for illustrating. They approached their teacher to ask if they could complete the assignment together. She gave permission, with one catch.

“She doubled up our load,” said Hale. “She wanted one story a week for one month.”

This was not a problem for Hale.

“I already had the stories written. I left the rest up to him (the illustrator),” he said. “He was fantastic. That started a lot of stuff.”

Their teacher soon passed the stories onto the elementary school, where they were read to a class.

“They loved them. They wanted more,” said Hale. “I liked doing it. They were wanting one a week, and that was my sophomore year. It carried through the rest of my high school years.”

A 1969 graduate of Coulee Dam High School, Hale then went to college and eventually received a master's degree in horticulture. He put writing on hold for a bit, but eventually started writing poems, which proved to be a success.

Some of his poems were published in West Virginia and San Francisco, and some even were displayed in Washington D.C., at the American Writers Guild.

“I never knew that. All of a sudden I got some letters from people I knew saying they loved these poems,” said Hale.

One of his poems received a great amount of attention.

“It was heartfelt, what was going on in my life,” he said. “One was so good that Hallmark wanted to buy it, but I'm not going to do it. It was a short Valentine's poem.”

One thing that got him back into writing was writing a story poem for his children.

“I wrote a story for my kids and just read it to them at home,” said Hale. “They loved it. They were always curious of how I was coming up with these things.”

He wrote a Halloween poem titled “Dockville Castle” which was published in the Spokesman Review and Seattle Times, among other newspapers.

“It was requested from so many people,” he said. “I started getting phone calls like crazy on that thing. It just started going around.”

Hale said that in addition to people requesting more poems, sequels and even his children's stories, they are also seeking another story.

“Another thing people are really after me for is to write a biography of myself and the group in Davenport I was part of,” he said.

The group called themselves the Whistling Midgets, and sponsored by United Airlines, performed in many places across the nation. Hale was a member of the group when he resided in Davenport.

They simulated the whistling with painted stomachs.

Hale said the group performed from 1971 to 2008.

“I'm the only original one who stayed with it from start to end,” he said. “There's a ton of things people want me to write. That story, a lot of people in Lincoln County really want that out. I've started that. I'm doing that on mini cassette tapes, and I've written a very short history on that.”

Hale also said he has all the film, recordings and equipment from the group, and he wants to donate it to the Lincoln County museum.

As for his current book, he plans to eventually do a book signing and talk about the book at the Colfax Library.