About Russ Schneider

Biography
Resume (from 1999)

Biography

Russ Schneider was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He taught composition at the University of Florida for many years, after receiving a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Florida and an undergraduate degree from Kalamazoo college.

Throughout his life he spent his summers in Little Point Sable, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. He spent several childhood years in Puerto Rico and later lived and studied in Strasbourg, France.

In Michigan he absorbed the beauty and unshakeable presence of the lake, the trees, and the backroads. In later years, Russ transplanted his affinity for the out of doors to north central Florida, where he lived immersed in his writing or tramping in the woods in the "swamps" and forests near Gainesville, Florida.

He was an accomplished classical pianist, and played many hours in his swamp-side piano pavilion for the local wildlife.

He studied the Russo-German War for years before undertaking his books, teaching himself German to be able to expand his research. Madness Without End (fiction) was published in 1994, Demyansk (fiction) in 1995, and Gotterdammerrung 1945: Germany's Last Stand in the East (non-fiction) in 1998. Neue Paradies Verlag, his publishing company, operated from 1994 through his death in January 2000.

In his years in the woods he accumulated an enormous body of writing, still being edited.

Resume from 1999

Education
1982-1985
MA, English/Creative Writing
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

1975-1979
BA, English
Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Professional Experience
1997-1999
Contract Writer, Eastern Front Warfield Books
Was contracted by this company to write a translation of a post-war German novel from the German, as well as to write a purely historical work about a particular engagement of the final months of World War Two. This book, Gotterdammerung 1945, proved so successful that all 1,500 copies sold out, and a second printing was issued by the Military Book Club, a subsidiary of Doubleday, and is still in print.

1991-1999
Managing Editor/Owner, NPV Publishing Company
Wrote and published two works of historical fiction (short story collections) about the Eastern Front in World War Two. These books sold out and proved very popular among aficionados of the period.

1985-1991
Instructor of English, University of Florida Office of Instructional Resources Writing Lab
Taught classes in basic English Composition to freshmen who needed remedial help before enrolling in the university’s standard required English classes; tutored any students enrolled in the university who came to the Writing Lab for assistance with writing assignments.

1983-1985
Teaching Assistant, University of Florida
Taught English 1101, the standard English composition course required of all freshmen.

Languages
French (conversational)
German (read and write)

Publications
Madness Without End
NPV Publishing, 1994 (short story collection)

Demyansk
NPV Publishing, 1995 (short story collection)

Gotterdammerung 1945—Germany’s Last Stand in the East
Eastern Front Books, 1998 (nonfiction)

Reprints of Madness Without End and Demyansk, Shelf Books, Halifax, England, pending

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