During a conversation about six months ago with John Evans, owner of Lemuria Books, he handed me a Mississippi Book Festival bookmark and said to make sure Dogwood Press was involved in the event. All publishers of any size, I’m sure, are approached by folks who claim that their forthcoming event will be big and bad and attract everyone east of the Rockies.
But John was right — the first annual Mississippi Book Festival attracted over 2,500 book and literature lovers and had standing-room-only crowds for the panel discussions. In addition to John Grisham and Greg Iles and Governor Haley Barbour, there were many authors and an absolute throng of nice folks who made a day of it on the grounds of the Mississippi Capitol.
We were proud to be there — Randy Pierce, John Floyd, Valerie Winn, and I spent nearly all of August 22 visiting with nice folks who bought books and felt great about being part of event that yet again showed off what we in Mississippi have that very few other states do: a WHOLE LOT of really good writers. Next year’s event is scheduled for August 20. We can’t wait!
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| John, Randy, Valerie and me … that’s author John Hailman and author Charlie Spillers visiting with us. Nice folks! And I promise Randy isn’t yelling at them! |
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| The banner drew quite a bit of attention, especially when the wind gusted and blew it over!
John Floyd has had a really nice year … sales of Fifty Mysteries have been very good, and his excellent suspense story, “Molly’s Plan,” will be included in the 2015 Best American Mystery Stories, which will be released in October and is edited by Otto Penzler. “Molly’s Plan” has been mentioned in national book reviews by Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews; both pretty much call it a must-read. Additionally, John has a story in the upcoming Mississippi Noir collection, which will be edited by author Tom Franklin. And his next collection of stories, Dreamland, will be published by Dogwood Press in 2016. I have connections … I’ve read it … and it’s really, really good!
I’m also excited about the new Randy Pierce novel, The Peter Bay. It will be released in March 2016, and at that time we’ll also roll out a paperback edition of Randy’s out-of-print debut novel, Pain Forgiven. Since The Peter Bay is a sequel to Pain Unforgiven, you’ll want to pick up both!
Valerie Winn is also hard at work on her followup novel to Forsaking Mimosa. Watch for it in late 2016 … it will be worth the wait!
Upcoming appearances: I will visit the Magee Public Library in Simpson County, Mississippi on Saturday, September 19 for Crazy Day, and Randy is all set to speak to the Friends of the Aberdeen Library at noon next Wednesday, September 16. We’re busy setting up November/December appearances at Mississippi Books A Million stores and a number of other spots, and we look forward to seeing you!
Most of the Dogwood Press catalog is available for download to your Amazon Kindle:
JOHN M. FLOYD – Fifty Mysteries
JOHN M. FLOYD – Deception
JOHN M. FLOYD – Clockwork
VALERIE WINN – Forsaking Mimosa
RANDY PIERCE – Magnolia Mud
JOE LEE – Director’s Cut
JOE LEE – Last Chance Texaco
JOE LEE – The Long Road Home
JOE LEE – The Magnolia Triangle
JOHN LEE – The Legend of Roger (perfect for your middle school student!)
Download a book today (and be reading in about a minute), or order a signed copy or two from the Dogwood Press website, which you’ll find at www.dogwoodpress.com. Thanks for your time, and have a great day!
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