One summer day a few years ago, my son, who was probably in junior high, stuck his head in my office and said, “Dad, there’s a huge truck parked outside.” As I told him, it was a book delivery–as in a SHIPMENT of books. We had another delivery last week, with first printings of John Floyd’s The Barrens and Valerie Winn’s The Dance Between arriving together. After all the unpacking and organizing and sorting and filling of pre-orders was complete, I finally had a chance to take a close look. And oh my gosh, they look beautiful!
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| A work of art! |
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| Also a work of art! |
Both John and Valerie have a slew of exciting launch events lined up. Valerie kicks off at Lemuria in Jackson, Mississippi, at 5 p.m. on October 16 before racing back to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and an interview the following day on WLOX-TV’s 4 p.m. newscast. On October 18 she will sign at Pink Rooster Art Gallery in Ocean Springs, followed by a signing and reading at Pass Christian Books on Saturday, October 20! Below is Valerie with her father, John Balser, an exceptional photographer who decades ago took the black-and-white cover photo that graces the cover of The Dance Between. It was a wonderful father-daughter moment for Valerie to present this book to Mr. Balser!
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| The young girls in front of the house in the photo are Valerie and her sister! |
John will speak to the Bayou Writers Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on October 13, and he will have his usual Lemuria kickoff in Jackson on October 30. He has outstanding new stories in new issues of The Strand Magazine and Black Cat Mystery Magazine. The former is well-known in the industry, and this new issue of The Strand features a previously unreleased Ernest Hemingway story; the latter is a really neat mag that has come charging out of the gate with three outstanding issues–John has had a story in all three!
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| John’s story in BCMM is called “Diversions.” It’s great! |
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| My man John Floyd … and Ernest someone?? |
I’m really looking forward to a combination book talk/publishing seminar at Lorelei Books of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on Thursday, December 6 at 5:30 p.m. I’ll read from 40 Days and discuss the book, then “switch hats” and make a FREE presentation about the book business–what I’m looking for as a publisher, how one makes his/her best impression when querying, and what responsibilities the author will have once a publishing deal is in place. I hope you’ll come join us!
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| All I ask is that you refrain from throwing fruit and vegetables until the talk is complete! |
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| Molly May visiting Lorelei to promote My Crowning Achievement (Beating Cancer) |
Molly May will visit Fleet Feet Sports of Jackson’s Ridgeland location on October 17 at 7 p.m. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Molly gives a very powerful talk. This is a great venue for her, because Fleet Feet does a wonderful job of supporting women who’ve gone through breast cancer, and we’re excited about Molly being there and signing copies of her new book! And Amazon has it marked down below $9 right now! Grab one–or several!
Meanwhile, we’re getting closer to the launch of Janet Brown’s Deadly Visits! I absolutely love the cover as well as the tightly-written suspense thriller, and I know you will, too!
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| Spooky!!! |
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| Just as eye-catching a cover! |
Susan Cushman has a lot going on, including a Cherry Bomb panel at the Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge on November 10, and a seminar at Novel bookstore in Memphis where participants can choose either Cherry Bomb or Southern Writers on Writing as part of their registration fee!
Finally, if you haven’t done so already, take advantage of the bargain-basement price on some of our Dogwood Press downloads via Kindle. These five are $4.99 right now:
SUSAN CUSHMAN – Cherry Bomb
RANDY PIERCE – The Peter Bay
JOE LEE – 40 Days
JOHN M. FLOYD – Dreamland
VALERIE WINN – Forsaking Mimosa
Back to airing up the tires and gassing up the Bookmobile! For a full list of author signings, as well as contact information to get in touch with any of the Dogwood Press authors about a book talk, please visit www.dogwoodpress.com. Thanks very much for your time, and have a great day!