Authors of Key West Publishing
Key West Publishing is comprised of independent authors who share their stories through the written word and visual art. Meet the team behind the publishing process and the creative minds keeping our bookshelves full.
Cayley Bernreuter
Owner
Cayley was born in Key West, Fla., and is a proud 8th-generation conch. She graduated from Florida International University in 2021 with her B.A. in Communications. Her background is in marketing in the tourism and real estate industries, where she has spent 10 years focusing on media production, copywriting and editing, brand recognition, and customer retention. Cayley joined Key West Publishing in 2024 as the Owner and looks forward to continuing her family’s legacy.
Bob Bernreuter
President & Author
Bob is a 6th-generation conch and grew up in Key West in the 50s and 60s. He lives in his hometown with his wife, Iris. They attended Florida State University together and graduated in 1968. Bob received a B.A. in Speech & Drama, with a minor in English. After college, Bob served 10 years of active duty as an instructor pilot in the U.S. Air Force. He completed three tours of duty, flying a KC-135, in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Bob has written stories for his children, grandchildren, and friends for three decades.
The Gift
Star of the Sea
Iris Bernreuter
Vice President
Iris was born in Detroit, Mich., but considers herself a Miami, Fla., girl because her family moved there when she was two years old. She graduated from Florida State University in 1968 with a B.S. in Education and later completed her Master's degree at Florida Keys Community College. Iris followed her husband, Bob, in the U.S. Air Force from Minot, ND, to Warner Robins, Ga. She retired from teaching elementary school and junior college in 2010. Iris stays busy with her church ministries and visiting her four children and 9 grandchildren.
Bob Wolz
Author
Robert J. Wolz's interest in American history began in his early teen years, and he began attending a Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War when he was 15.
He was inducted into membership shortly after his 16th birthday. He served every office in Philip Triem Camp #43, all offices in the Department of Ohio, except Department Secretary-Treasurer, and each office in the National Organization of the Sons, except Commander-in-Chief and National Secretary-Treasurer. He is Life Member #61 in the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. His eligibility is based upon the Civil War service of two great-grandfathers and several great-uncles.
He was a youthful Civil War re-enactor and enlisted in the 19th Ohio Regiment, SVR in 1963. Eventually, he served as the Quartermaster General and the Adjutant General at the National Military Department and the Sons of Veterans Reserve. In addition to the Sons of Union Veterans, he holds membership in the Sons of the American Revolution, the General Society of the War of 1812, and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
Grand Army Men
Grand Army Women
Chris Belland
Author
Chris Belland is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Historic Tours of America. Aside from four years at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance, he has spent his entire life in Miami and Key West. His penchent for history comes from three years as an exchange student in South America and trips to Europe during his college years.
Almost Havana Vol. I
Almost Havana Vol. II
Debbie Schultz
Author
Deborah (Debbie) Schultz is a Registered Dietician and Licensed Dietician-Nutritionist who enjoys the simplicity of country living with her family in Cambridge Springs, PA. Schultz received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology at Slippery Rock University with a minor in Gerontology and a Master of Science in Nutrition at Bastyr University's Didactic Program in Dietetics in Washington. As a wellness consultant, she believes that one should not counsel based solely on a symptom; rather, it is essential for true health to counsel based on the whole person. With over two decades of experience counseling and teaching people how to embrace healthy eating habits.
Simply Eat
Debra Harrison
Author
Debra Harrison is proud to be a stay-at-home mom and loving wife, living in Titusville, a small town in northwestern Pennsylvania. In her spare time, Harrison is a professional watercolor artist who has exhibited in many juried art shows and won numerous awards for her work.
Creatures in my Room
Erik Higgs Vinson
Author
Erik Higgs Vinson was born and raised in the small city of Key West, Fla. Erik attended Key West High School and the University of South Florida where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in English. His passion for the written word derives from his childhood when he found it to be the best way for him to communicate with others.
Lovely
Fred Belland
Author
Frederick W. Belland (1944-2022) was born at the Naval Hospital in Miami Beach, Florida. He spent his youth in rural Miami and the Florida Keys. After a tour with the Marines in Vietnam, Belland received a degree in Design and Literature from Florida State University. While writing his first novel, Fleshwound (Dove Paperback, New York), Belland worked with his brother Chris in renovating Old Town Key West. Belland’s second novel, The True Sea (Holt Rinehart & Winston, New York), is based upon the construction of the overseas railroad from Miami to Key West.
Subsequent works include over a dozen short stories printed in such publications as Tropic Magazine (The Miami Herald), The Tampa Tribune Literary Supplement, The Caribbean Writer, and Key West Review. Belland’s most recent story won first prize in the South Florida Writers’ Guild competition. A compulsive traveler, Belland has settled at last under an extinct volcano in Nicaragua with his four cats.
Almost Havana Vol. I
Almost Havana Vol. II
The True Sea
Peter Bacle
Author
Peter M. Bacle grew up in the world of Key West commercial fishing. As Key West developed into a major tourist destination, Peter fished for lobster and stone crab, cruised the Caribbean, survived numerous confrontations with drug smugglers, adapted to the influx of refugees from Cuba, and relaxed with family and friends on secluded islands and beaches. Pete's Key West may live in the shadow of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, but for native families, the schools, churches, ballfields, and surrounding sea are where they find their pleasures.
Peter Bacle's stories are now part of Key West's past, but Stock Island Lobster Company is little changed by time. The Bacle family still buys, sells, and catches lobster, and life continues today much as it has for the past 60 years.
Peter Bacle owns and operates Stock Island Lobster Company in Key West. It is the oldest fish house in the Florida Keys and the largest dockside producer of lobster in the state.
Trapped in Key West
Ruth Anne Dale
Author
Ruth Ann Dale was born and raised in eastern Pennsylvania, in the small town of Telford. After graduating from Souderton High School, she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Dale also took several other art and business courses at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA, and Lansdale Business School in Lansdale, PA.
Dale married and raised four daughters in Green Lane, PA, and had an embroidery business and gift shop called "The Blue Tiffany." She enjoyed creating embroidered gifts for her customers for 10 years. Dale also enjoyed writing poetry and children's stories, and even had a few of her works published in a local newspaper.
Love is a Daisy
Vaughn Garner
Author
Three years in the making, Spectacular Key West includes 74 stunning photographs. It is Garner's tribute to Key West, after living there for ten years. "Moving to Key West is one of the best decisions I have ever made, and the island city changed my outlook on life permanently. When I first arrived in this tropical paradise, sans suit and tie, my goal was to party and hang out at the beach. Little did I know that moving here would lead me to the pinnacle of my professional life. Key West taught me to slow down and appreciate the historic architecture and natural wonders surrounding me."
Spectacular Key West