Category: Books

A burst of gladness

Listen to this post:

At the end of 2020, in the midst of the hysteria over a mysterious infection, I released a little publication called Gladness is Infectious: A Book of Celebrations. On the cover I put a photo of my smiling golden retriever, Willow the Best Dog There Is™. Then I set the book aside and started working on the next one.

I picked up Gladness is Infectious the other day and have been renewed. It seems to be a book for any season of unhappiness or discouragement or uncertainty. 

More than I realized at the time, this book is a fulfillment of my objectives to encourage, enlighten, and/or entertain. I am always reticent to blow my own horn, but if my own words lift me up, maybe I should shine a light on them.

The opening words of the book are:

“Sometimes, when you’re feeling down, the most obvious thing to do escapes you: Look up.

“There is so much sky there. And the Master Painter has produced so many masterpieces in every direction …”

I surprised myself, six years later, to discover that my “Book of Celebrations” is exactly what I declared it to be.

With apologies to Frank Herbert

I must not scroll. Scrolling is the mind-killer. Scrolling is the little-death that brings total obliteration. 

I will face my scrolling. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the scroll has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

For the readers on your gift list

I beat myself up so much for the projects I have not finished after years of fiddling around, I often downplay the fact that I have indeed completed 17 books over the years: Seven works of fiction and 10 non-fiction books are currently in print-on-demand wherever fine books are sold.

I recently did a cover re-design on my two latest full-length stories, and the proof copies arrived in the mail this week. If I may be so bold, your loved ones might be tickled to find them under the Christmas tree in December or in the pumpkin patch when the Great Pumpkin arrives at the end of October.

Dejah & Summer in the Time of Magic (ISBN 979-8-9863331-8-2) is the story of how two golden retrievers and their befuddled owner save the universe one Halloween season with the help of various magical and mystical creatures. The cover originally featured those adorable canines, and the new cover more accurately imparts the message that this book belongs in the fantasy adventure genre. Dragons tend to do that.

Ebenezer (ISBN 979-8-9863331-6-8) is a sequel of sorts to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I always have felt bad for old Mr. Scrooge, who held Christmas in his heart and was one of the good old town’s most generous denizens after one fateful night when he met three ghosts. I wrote this story to rehabilitate his reputation — he stopped being a grumpy old man that night, after all —and to show how he and his supernatural friends might have gone to work helping other souls.

You can find these books in paper and electronic formats at any online store, but I include the ISBN numbers to help you in asking your favorite local independent bookstore to order them for you. And after you’ve placed your order, look around the store to find something to read while you’re waiting for my books to arrive.