TAKIN’ THE STAGE

TAKIN' THE STAGE

I’m delighted at the huge response to Jacktown USA, the cool slice of Mississippi musical history I co-authored with my friend Kamel King that’s made quite a splash. We’ll be into a second printing of the book within two weeks, and we expect another sales surge around the annual Mississippi Book Festival, set for Saturday, September 13 at the state capital. Kamel and I will both serve as moderators for panel discussions that will include all of the blues and southern soul artists who are profiled in the book. My panel will be in the morning with Kamel’s in the afternoon, and a book signing will follow late that afternoon at Hal & Mal’s of Jackson before the after party concert.

Autographing books ahead of the Lemuria launch
An event which went very well
 

Exciting news to share: Three new Dogwood Press titles are coming in 2026! Watch for Valerie Winn’s long-awaited new novel, A Glaring Error, early in the year, with Scott Lenoir’s second Blake Weaver volume, The Reckoning ahead toward summer and my latest Oakdale thriller, Never Let Go next fall. All three of us are returning many important cast members from our previous works, which is great fun.

Scott with a new reader
 
Valerie with a new reader
 
As I’ve said often in this space, some books are what we call evergreens. They seem to take on a life of their own, sometimes selling even better a number of years after release than at the outset. Valerie’s debut, Forsaking Mimosa, and Candace Cox Wheeler’s Cradle in the Oak, are examples of steady sellers that continue to sell just as well as both ladies’ subsequent novels. That’s not a bad thing at all, as we’ve seen many recent purchasers of their work start with the debuts and wind up buying their books in order of publication. All signs point to Hal Kitchings’ wonderful Dog-Gone, It Hurts being a steady seller for quite a while. 
Hal signing his 30-day devotional
 
Candace reading from Sunset in the Sound
 
My old friend John Floyd keeps on keeping on. In addition to enjoying his weekly Sleuth Sayers Facebook column, which you can find every Saturday morning, John had a story in the May/June Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and has stories in the next issues of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Strand Magazine. His work will also grace the pages of Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and Crimeucopia in upcoming editions of those fine publications, and John’s latest story in Woman’s World was his mind-boggling 135th for them. Not only that, this is publication day for Double Crossing Van Dine, a “different” kind of detective anthology featuring John’s “Anna’s Story”.
 
Any collection of short fiction that includes John Floyd is worth your time
 
That’s everything! Thanks for your time. Please visit dogwoodpress.com to order signed first editions of most everything in our catalog. Have a great day!