Coal Cracker's Son

About the Book

Coal Cracker's Son is a novel that focuses upon young Joey Gobol and his Polish family when they lived in Nanticoke, a small coal-mining town in northeast Pennsylvania during the Great Depression. Although certain scenarios are fictitious and/or embellished, the story documents Joey's triumphs over adversities at home and as a sailor on a destroyer escort in pursuit of German submarines in World War II. The author cites the futility and intrinsic dangers synonymous with the coal mining industry. His narration also captures the lifestyle, spirit and resiliency of Polish immigrants and their families.

About the Author

In 1954, Gene Gomolka was assigned to a mapping project in Saudi Arabia, where he encountered a Bedouin tribe in the vast Rub al Khali desert. He was invited to join in their evening meal and as a token of appreciation, he offered the chieftain a small-bore rifle. In return, he received a saluki hound, one of the fastest dogs on earth. This is just one example of the exploits in the adventurous life of the author who, like the Bedouins, is an incorrigible nomad. His professional careers include surveying, cartography, journalism, and a franchised fund-raising business. And now, as a retired senior citizen, he writes and publishes songs as a hobby. A long-time free-lance writer of hundreds of factual, humorous and satirical articles, he faced a new challenge with Coal Cracker’s Son, his first novel. During his tenure as a sportswriter with the Delaware County Daily Times, his columns won first-place recognition twice in Keystone Press Awards contests sponsored by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers’ Association. A self-taught musician, he plays the keyboard and piano for his own enjoyment and for residents of nursing and retirement homes. He also strums the banjo with various Florida, Pennsylvania, and Delaware jazz and string bands. His songs include “A Very Important Personality,” “A Bucket of Love,” “The Yvonne Polka,” and “Red Hats and Purple Dresses.” The songs are copyrighted and marketed through Hometown Band Music, his Florida publishing firm. It has been fifty-three years since he traded gifts with the hospitable Bedouin chieftain. The saluki hound has been succeeded by a series of pets, including a miniature schnauzer named Mitzi who currently rules the roost. He and his wife Cecilia, the parents of six children, live in Naples, Florida and West Chester, Pennsylvania.