A Tale of Three Books

You are invited to a book launch party for three new books on Tuesday, December 9 at the Texas A&M-Commerce Alumni Center from five p. m. to whenever. Hope you can come. Details can be found here.
 

Books will be discounted for the event and there will be refreshments, prizes, good conversation, maybe a song or two (Brad Davis, Grammy-winner and current finalist for Best Bluegrass Album for his A Bluegrass Tribute to George Jones has said he will make every effort to make the event and maybe sing a song or two). 

Q: Why three books?

A: It just happened that way. Not planned.

Rails to a River is my sixth novel. It was finished more than two years ago at the time of the signing for Go Down Looking.  I remember feeling pretty smug about that. I shouldn’t have. It took two additional years of revision and editing. It has had at least six titles, two different beginnings and three different endings.  

This book introduces Tee Jessup. As is my custom (because I can’t seem to do otherwise), I wrote about things I know—but I am not Tee Jessup. It’s not that I’m afraid of research; it’s just that I like to know a lot about what I’m researching. Little nuances can best be described if I have experienced similar occurrences, been to the places; or known people similar to the characters I write about.

There are some disturbing scenes in the first half of this book and in the climax—scenes that I did not experience, but have read about. There is more fiction here than in any or my prior novels.

Firstborn Son is my seventh novel. It was written online as a serial book—a chapter a week for the better part of a year—and was called Borrowed to the Bone. Many readers expressed frustration with reading a chapter a week and wanted the book in print. So here it is.

I had never written a serial novel before and had to title it before I started writing it. Although I like the original title, it no longer fits the completed novel. This book is different than any previous ones with different characters and a completely new family. Many of you will be curious about the characters. Ask me after you have read it.  

A River of Stories . . . it’s been quite a ride is my first story collection. I guess a more apt description would be stories, thoughts, presentations, eulogies, and more, but that would be too long. I wrote a little about the sea changes of life—what thoughts and feelings come to us as we hit certain age milestones and the changes that happen to us when we lose a close friend or relative.

During one of these sea changes, I wondered aloud, “If I were to write my final book, what would it be?” This is it. (I hope it’s not my final book, but it’s something I am proud to leave behind.

Some of the stories have been published in various mediums before, but this is the first time in print for most and the first time to be seen by readers, even family.

I kept it a secret because I was filled with doubt about whether I should be so revealing. I reached down deep to write about things I feel deeply about, memories I cherish—personal relationships, family, friends, animal companions.

I began this book with a story I wanted to write for years without realizing it. It has never been published anywhere. When I pulled together all the writings that meant the most to me, they inspired me to tell the new stories.  When I put it all together, the book was over six hundred pages. Paring it down sort of hurt, but it had to be done.

This book is written not only for family, but for those readers who have stuck with me from the beginning or came along late and read most of my stuff. I poured it out on the page—even venturing into my personal journey of faith, something I would never have dared to write about when I was younger.

There are also a few stories of cowboys, ranches and horses, checking off the bucket list, even some poetry.

Even though it is very personal, I hope you will enjoy it and be inspired by it. There is an index, a table of contents, (even a few pictures) so you can choose which stories appeal to you most. But I hope you will read them all.

When I saw that the index was thirteen pages long, I knew I had covered a lot of territory, a lot of people. Many of you may find yourselves in that index.

Join us on Tuesday, the 9^th  . If you can’t make it, you can order signed copies from me on my website, from Amazon, by e-mail or phone. Thanks.