The official publication date for The Shaman of Turtle Valley was yesterday, May 14, 2019. To celebrate, I reserved the upstairs gallery space at Ox-Eye Vineyards Tasting Room, a beautiful historic building in downtown Staunton, VA. I arranged for Stacks Foods to cater hors d’ oeuvres. I asked Stone Soup Books to handle book sales. And I invited lots of local people and, more or less, the general public. Then I waited to see if anyone would show up. (It’s hard to get people to come out to literary events, I’ve found.)
However, it was a wonderful evening. Many of my local friends came. They had to listen to me read a couple of short sections from the book and talk a little about my inspiration, but fortunately, they had food to eat and wine to drink while that was happening. And then many people bought books, which was extremely gratifying. I was so busy signing and inscribing books I didn’t get to eat until I took the leftovers home!
For my last book, one of my friends had a cake made with an edible book cover for icing. This time, my publicist sent me “bookies”—cookies with book cover icing.
I’ve got more events coming up this month and next, but there’s nothing like the launch party. I had a great time and I really appreciate all my friends who came out.
