The Novel is Released!- And Signing Event

It's out folks! The publishers worked night and day to make it happen, overcame the last-minute glitches, and as of yesterday, my first novel, "A Memory of Grief" is now publicly available an an ebook on Smashwords! Print version to follow in about a month.

Wow- the goal I've been working for for years has happened. And the new adventure has just begun.

It was really special to announce the book at our group talk/signing/reading for the Fungi anthology yesterday, at A Novel Cafe in Tewksbury. We had pro author David Daniel and editor/author Pierre Comtois, as well as a number of other authors with stories in the anthology!

Many signings resemble an afternoon at the mortuary, with two people wandering past and not buying, but this one was the opposite- quite the busily fun, gala event! Had dozens of people showing up- friends, family, co-workers and customers. We couldn't get to the reading for quite some time, because we were so busy signing copies of Fungi and my book.

Uh, how do you sign an ebook, Dale? Cleverly. We produced a CD with a PDF version, which included a coupon code for the Smashwords ebook. Then I signed the CD label (where we left space), and folks got to keep a souvenir, read the book, and still download it to their e-reader of choice.

When the buying/signing frenzy slowed (Fungi sold out!), we were able to move everyone to the spacious and lovely cafe area for a reading. Dave Daniel played emcee, introduced our string of authors, and I got to publicly read "Locust Time," my lead-off story in the Fungi anthology. Then Josh Shapiro, another Fungi contributor, did a mesmerizing reading of a Dave Daniel story from his recent "Coffin Dust" collection.

The staff at A Novel Cafe were gracious and well-pleased (and somewhat surprised) with the turnout. This is a terrific store, one everyone in the area should check out and patronize. Bookstores have it tough these days, so when you find a good one, help them out!

Meet some very nice new people, and was supported by many others. I've got a long list of people to thank, so I'll post that, with all the details, on my website, along with photos from the event.

Just want to say, it was quite a ride.

And sorry to say, folks, but it's a sure sign of that May 21st apocalypse... Just kidding. I hope...