Mister B is a retired WWII, and cold war stress physicist for Martin Company, Lockheed Martin, NASA, and the Department of Defense.
Co-Author, Lynn Byk is a pen name. Her past writing resume includes being a Denver music critic, a paralegal, and a poet. Writing with an edge of cynicism with a soft middle of one part sadness, two-parts curiosity, she chronicles how it came to be that Mister B's power to entice by goodwill, facts, and figures becomes a love language. BYK is honored to be the Readers' Favorite Silver Medalist recipient in the category of Christian Living (2018). She is a compassionate and entertaining storyteller as well as a diligent investigator.
"Byk fully constructs Mr. B, from the Rhode Island coastal awe in his voice to his penchant for mustard on peeled egg. In these small, perfectly executed moments, Byk brings her fascinating family to life for readers with warm and genuinely funny wit..." - KIRKUS REVIEW
Reviewed by Arya Fomonyuy for Readers' Favorite...
"Living with a 98-Year-Old Rocket Scientist: Mister B by Lynn Byk is a memoir that reads like nothing I have read in a long while. It is well-crafted, with details that capture the very essence of the day-to-day life of a 98-year-old rocket scientist, his son, Paul, and his daughter-in-law, Lynn. Written in the form of journal entries, the memoir draws readers into the narrator's perspective and follows the story closely. The memoir features moments of history in Mister B's scientific work, and his contribution to WWII and the Cold War initiatives. When the couple decides to move into Mister B's house, they are unaware that an exciting chapter is opening in their lives. Now, the old man is just happy to have people to share his home, but no argument or trick could convince him to allow any renovations to take place in the house. It's the place he's occupied with his late wife and he just won't allow any changes to it.
"Mister B is told in a humorous, endearing tone that will arrest the reader's attention right off the bat, a rollicking ride, and a hilarious story that looks at the beauty of living with an elderly man who has seen many things and who has been at the heart of history. The humor is terrific and the author's handling of family dynamics is one of the fortes of this narrative. Coupled with witticism and realistic dialogues, this makes for a great read. I was pulled into the story from the very beginning and couldn't get distracted as I read through the entire book. Yes, it is gripping, and the humanity of Mister B is so wonderfully explored. It is rare to find a memoir that reads like fiction, but this one does. It's an exciting read!"
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As a guest blogger or facilitator, Lynn Byk presents amicably and with an edgy wide-eyed intellect from having traveled throughout Southern Africa, Ireland, and Haiti during difficult years of unrest and cultural-economic dissension. BYK enjoys being interviewed for podcasts and radio.
"Wow! What an amazing, delightful book! Lynn Byk, Mr. B's daughter-in-law, has written a fabulous memoir! A first-class example of a man from the Greatest Generation. We see most of a century of tremendous mechanical and technological changes through the eyes of - literally - a rocket scientist." - MamaCat
In the 1990s, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Composition from Colorado Christian University. She managed a Berean Bookstore department and earned a paralegal certificate before moving into the cross-generational, multi-cultural situation from which she takes this memoir. In 2013, the author and 98-year-old Mister B are thrown into an unlikely companionship. This is her video channel with Mister B. Become a subscriber! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7WlUhXc4-HSwww6H9VdxgbNMxWeF-Zhq
Byk facilitates a writer's group, which has developed several burgeoning authors. She is a key figure of the Golden Writers Conference, an organized mentoring group. Although her prose has been published by a variety of magazines, her memoir, Mister B, is her first book for mass trade.
Making special appearances for presentations on behalf of Capture Books, or on the subject of caring for your elderly loved ones, and to writers groups, LYNN BYK offers timely humor and wisdom for adult children taking care of parents and grandparents. Book club questions included in Mister B highlight her insight gained from living with the family at a necessary stage in life. Please feel free to contact her via Facebook or Twitter. To stay up to date with events on the homefront, check out her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011387307974&fref=ts
Mister Joseph Byk (pen name) retired aerospace engineer speaks to her from the legacy of his own Polish past and his scientific experience, as he must now lean on her for help. He is the self-made man he aimed to become, having pulled himself up from the rope-tied, baggy-pants poverty of Polish immigrants in Rhode Island to become a designer on the engineering team of the space shuttle Gemini, a stress engineer for battleships, for man-rated space capsules, and for the likes of Google Earth.
The ol' man reveals how his hard-won Ph.D., in 1938, from the University of Alabama, became his springboard out of poverty. Mister B's voice carries readers through a very funny juxtaposition of energies training the companions to heel at life's new gait.
Byk writes with the uncanny wit of Polish immigrant voice and modern blue-class voice, in conflict by two generations, in a daily embrace. She honors the Rhode Island rocket scientist's rise from poverty. In doing so informs younger generations of a choice of lifestyle and Mister B's reasons for living.
Lynn Byk continues to live in the Colorado Rockies with her husband, her dog, and her father-in-law.
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Twitter: @Lynn_Byk_Author
