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The two Denison University English professors both published books this year, marking important firsts in their careers.

Boyle's first scholarly book, "Masculinity in Vietnam War Narratives," came out in August while Combe's first science fiction novel, "2084," was released Tuesday.

The couple hadn't planned on such close release dates, Boyle said.

"It's such a coincidence, we really hadn't given it a lot of thought," she said. "But it just seems right at this point."

In a way, books were what brought Boyle and Combe together. They met as English majors at Davidson College in North Carolina.

After their marriage in 1979, the couple spent four years in Germany where Boyle served as a tactical intelligence office in the Army and Combe played semi-professional basketball. They then moved to England as Combe worked on his doctorate at Oxford.

In 1991, Combe began teaching at Denison. Boyle taught English at Ohio State University-Newark and Denison before earning her doctorate in English at Ohio State.

Now, both are professors at Denison with offices just down the hall from each other. Their daughters, Hannah and Olivia, are students at Oberlin College and their son, Clayton, is working as a filmmaker in New York City.

Combe and Boyle each spent several years working on their books -- however, they are written for different audiences.

Boyle has written several academic articles, but "Masculinity in Vietnam War Narratives" is her first book. It takes an academic look at how masculinity is represented in books and movies about the Vietnam War.

"It's interesting to me how (Americans) get persuaded to go to war and appeals to masculinity are an important part of how that happens," Boyle said.

Combe's "2084," which is inspired by George Orwell's "1984," is set in a world where a single mega-corporation controls the population. Although he has written several books and articles, "2084" is his first novel.

Combe found inspiration for the book in modern political and economic events.

"I think science fiction is an important genre, it shows us what humans do a lot -- they let technology get ahead of common sense and morality," he said. "The book is a warning that things could soon be like this if we are not careful.

Although Boyle prefers to write in her office and Combe does most of his work at home, both help each other during the writing process.

"Brenda is my ultimate reader," Combe said. "If she nods and says 'This makes sense,' I trust that it does. She is the one reader I will trust with an absolute judgment."

"It works the same for me," Boyle added. "He understands how to follow arguments and whether arguments are making sense. He'll be frank."

Now that their books are finished, the couple is looking forward to the trip to Rome they will take this summer to celebrate their 30th anniversary. They also are excited to be writing their first book together.

Boyle and Combe will be collaborating on a book about monsters and masculinity in popular films. They will each analyze several movies such as "King Kong" and "V for Vendetta" and work together on an introduction and conclusion.

They hope to finish the book by next fall.

"We've been working together for a long time and this is natural for us," Boyle said.

"Compared to raising kids, writing a book is easy," Combe said with a laugh.

Anna Sudar can be reached at (740) 328-8544 or asudar@newarkadvocate.com.

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