About Lona Manning

Joseph Allen

Nancy hugs her attorney

    I started out as a true crime writer. I authored several investigative pieces about notable American crimes, such as: the murder of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the Lindbergh kidnapping, the 1920 Wall Street bombing, and the satanic ritual moral panic of the 90's which led to a spate of wrongful convictions across the country. 
    Some of the wrongfully convicted people I wrote about are out of prison; some are still in prison for crimes that never happened. These articles have been cited in numerous books and have been used in secondary school and university courses.
     On February 25, 2022: Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen, the co-defendant in one of the cases I wrote about, were finally declared innocent  thanks to the hard work of the Ohio Innocence Project. Sadly, some other innocent people from the satanic panic era remain in prison.

Fiction writing
​    I was very surprised when a story started writing itself in my head in the spring of 2016. I had always said I didn't have a fictional bone in my body! But I was a lifelong Jane Austen fan, and had always wondered if I could write in 18th-century style. So, even though I was busily and happily teaching English as a Second Language at a vocational college in Shandong Province, China, I started writing it down. A Contrary Wind was the result.   Go here for more information about my books.  

Non-fiction writing.
     I research and write about whatever grabs my interest. Currently I'm focussing on Jane Austen and the novels of the long 18th century. ​My other avocation is researching and exposing frauds and hoaxes.  I uncovered the ways a prominent provincial politician had embellished his biography, a story that led to the collapse of his bid for political party leadership. Some of my research into the many biographical falsehoods of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter appeared in the online magazine Quillette.
       Click here for a list of my academic articles and other research articles

 My background
    I was born in South Korea a few years after the Korean War. My parents served as missionaries in Seoul.  My father taught library science at Yonsei University. And--being from the South, he also taught his students how to do the Virginia Reel.  My mother fostered Korean war orphan babies in addition to raising her own children in a country that was struggling to recover from four decades of Japanese occupation and the devastating civil war that has left the country divided to this day.
   When my parents moved back to the United States, they became active in the civil rights movement and protesting against the Vietnam War. (I've visited Vietnam twice, my thoughts here). Our home was filled with books and magazines and stimulating conversation.
   Our family moved to Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, in 1967. By then we numbered six kids. 
    ​I put myself through university, earning scholarships and working at a number of part time jobs. Over the years, I've been a legal secretary and a market researcher, but chiefly I worked in non-profit administration. ​   
   My husband Ross and I raised two sons; one is now a computer programmer and the other ​works as a researcher for the provincial government. ​ I live in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.

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Clean Sweep
​     After six years as the executive director for the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate in my hometown, it was time to start a new chapter in my life and make a clean sweep.
     When I worked at a private ESL college, it was a privilege to watch the owners/teachers, Moni and Susan, at work in the classroom. The example they set was a big factor in my decision to return to school and obtain my TESL certificate at Okanagan College. Since then, I've had the pleasure of teaching English to all age groups and proficiency levels in a wide variety of settings.

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 My China adventure
     I spent four very rewarding years in Shandong Province, China, teaching English, travelling around, and meeting wonderful people. I'm so grateful that life threw me this twist--and my husband came along for the ride as well. 
​     There's a lot more about my life in China on my blog.

Feel free to get in touch with me below. No worries, you will not be placed on a mailing list!

​"I've learned
that people will forget what you said,
​people will forget what you did,
​but people will never forget
how you made them feel."       
                                              -- Maya Angelou

Me and my hubby

Article about me, "Late Bloomer" in Inspired 55+ Magazine, July, 2018​

"Meet the Author" Dissect Designs website October 2018

In Korea with a childhood friend

My father's article in The Atlantic in  1961: "I Invited Negroes to My Home"

Dad at a civil rights meeting

Four years in China

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Andrew Knowles of Regency History talked with me about doing research and writing in Regency-era idioms.

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