Three Things You Might Not Expect on Your First Day of Publication

Strange Appetites is Launched!

You can purchase a paperback or kindle version on Amazon HERE today, and an audible version should be available shortly.

Startling, lyrical, and tender, Strange Appetites shines a light on loneliness in magical and mythical ways. Reality is bent but beautiful in these intricately carved stories, and the author’s varietal, passionate and subtle tone shifts fall on the ear with astonishing rightness.

Red Penguin Books Editor

It has been rewarding and — yes—strange— to see my first book-length work go up for sale. I have been writing since the age of seven, 50 years! A spelling tutor was assigned to me in first grade because I had learned to read and write in Germany. There’s a story about macabre German readers circa 1969 in Strange Appetites. The tutor was trying to explain the concept of vowels, and I was totally confused. Finally, she said, “Why don’t you write a story?

The news that I could write a story was a thrilling revelation. I’d spent years listening to my mother read to us at night, and the idea that I could change the endings filled me with light. But the road to publication took me through many a labyrinth. Most of these stories were published online all over the country, and a hand bound version won the Adirondack Center for Writing’s People’s Choice Award in 2015.

Free Download of Audio Story, “The Opal Maker,” Winner

Three you might not expect on your first day of publication:

There have been several fittingly strange occurrences on the very last leg of this journey: like how Amazon autocorrects my name to LAKE, and then the book doesn’t show up. Algorithm killer right there. I haven’t been able to change that… so you have to search my last name and the title to get there.

Another amusing event was when my first search result placed my book next to a plastic yodeling pickle. Who knew such things existed. It was, again, fittingly strange. Sadly, that pickle is not in my book. Maybe next time!

With every twist of the journey, there’s something new to learn and/or buy. I’m trying to do more of the former and less of the latter. You know how everyone talks about being a bestseller? Turns out there’s a way to game the system on Amazon by picking the right categories. How which category is the most advantageous depends on who you have to beat in that category, how many sales a day that category makes, and something else… I started to space out after the seventh paragraph and the purchase icon.

The Northshire Bookstore is hosting a books signing for me on Thursday, December 9th from 5:30-6:30 and I’m planning a Book Launch Bash. Details TBA. Of course everyone I ever laid eyes on is invited.

Thank you for supporting me on this journey.