Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

First Posted: 4/23/2015

Author Bill Kinney was born and raised in West Nanticoke. Though he left in the ‘70s after taking a job in New Jersey, he proves the adage that home is where the heart is.

On Saturday, April 25, the Plymouth Township Fire and Rescue Company is throwing its annual Spring Fling Dinner Dance. Kinney is returning home to attend the fling, during which he will be promoting his novel, “Center Mass.”

Kinney is now retired and maintains a home in West Nanticoke, although his primary residence is at the Jersey Shore. He’ll be at the fling to sign copies of “Center Mass,” which will be sold that evening, he said the focus of the evening should be the fire company.

“The fire company is [now in] the very first school that I ever went to,” Kinney said. “I went to first grade there and over the course of time, they transitioned that school into a company of volunteer firemen.”

The building is the centerpiece of the town. “They have a great facility there,” Kinney said, “The volunteers worked their fingers to the bone to make it better and better. It’s all volunteer. Sometimes in modern America, we lose sight about what community really is. These people don’t get paid. They work extremely hard to maintain equipment, to be trained in the equipment. They really are out there trying to make your lives safe.”

Since it’s a volunteer company, much of their funding comes from events like the Spring Fling, held in the company’s ballroom. The evening starts with an all you can eat spaghetti dinner at 5:30 p.m. (take out is available from 4 to 5 p.m.). This includes a side salad, roll with butter, one soft drink (except with takeover) and one dessert.

During the evening, there will be a cash bar and entertainment from 5:30 to 10 p.m. There will be a DJ, raffle prizes and 50/50s. Kinney jokes that he is the star of the show.

“I’m only kidding,” he laughs. “I’ve donated prizes. I have a metal detector business at the Jersey Shore so [I donated] some metal detectors and some “Center Mass” promotional sweatshirts.”

Kinney plans to sign and sell copies of his novel and promotional materials like sweatshirts and T-shirts during the dinner. “[This is] a pretty important event for them. My idea was to get exposure for the book as well as help raise funding for the Plymouth Township volunteer fire and rescue squad. All the proceeds from the book signing, whether it’s sales of the books or the promotional materials, will be donated to the fire company.”

This is fitting given that “Center Mass” was inspired by West Nanticoke, where the book takes place.

“It’s about a family of cops,” Kinney previews. “It starts with a violent assault on a store manager’s home in South Jersey and to protect himself and his family, they gravitate to a place that they know that ends up being West Nanticoke.

Locals will recognize elements of the Wyoming Valley in the novel.

“The second half of the story is set in [the] town. [The characters] know the woods and the mountains and Harvey’s Creek and Route 29. The guys sit down and drink Gibbons beer.”

Kinney describes “Center Mass” as “a story about good and evil. It’s a story about tragedy and it’s a story about retribution.”

While West Nanticoke inspired the setting, Kinney’s archetypal hero, Bill Nash, was inspired by Mitch Rapp, the main character of Vince Flynn’s CIA novels as well as the Jack Reacher books by Lee Childs.

He wants the focus of the Spring Fling to be on the volunteers who give their time to protect the people of Plymouth Township. “There are members of that company that have been involved for their entire lives and they really do good stuff. There are several families that are third generation and fourth generation families in that fire company. Who knows how many lives they helped save over the course of time. Just to know you’re protected by them is pretty noteworthy.”

Center Mass is the first of a trilogy and Kinney is already making plans to team up with the town library when the sequel comes out this fall. In the meantime, catch him on Saturday evening while enjoying spaghetti courtesy of Plymouth Township’s volunteer fire and rescue company.