I'll be at the Fair Trade Books store in Red Wing, MN (320 Bush St) on Sat, Jan 18th from 11-2 to sign and/or discuss The Wonders of the Peculiar Parasol. If you haven't purchased a book, there will be books available to buy as well. Hope to see you there.
The website, IndieReader, completed a review of The Wonders of The Peculiar Parasol. They called it " a magical fusion of several fairytales into a single plot, with a nice sense of the family and an impressive grasp of childhood interaction and narrative." You can read the entire review at https://indiereader.com/book_review/the-wonder-of-the-peculiar-parasol/
My publisher submitted The Wonders of the Peculiar Parasol to the Midwest Book Review. Here is their review, in its entirety: The Wonders of the Peculiar Parasol is a children's fantasy story about dragons, wizards, and a powerful parasol that lands three cousins in a strange new world, and will appeal to advanced elementary to early middle school readers with its story of magical empowerment and struggle. Mandy is on her way to her grandmother's house. She looks forward to giving her cousin Mickey his belated birthday present and to meeting up with her other cousin Gina. A fun time is planned by all, but when a red flash from a crystal and a family heirloom in the form of a...
My wife and I attended a Thanksgiving gathering hosted by her sister in Iowa. Over 50 people (including kids) attended. Well, the event turned into a book signing as my sister-in-law and some nieces bought a combined 20+ books for the little kids in attendance. It was fun interacting with the kids and I was amazed at how they all gathered around my table to get a signed copy of the Wonders of the Peculiar Parasol.
I went to my hometown of Alton, IA and donated a book to the public library and to the grade-school I attended there. As yesterday was Veteran's Day, the donation to the library was in honor of my parents, Mike & Jane Even. My dad was a veteran of the Korean War and was very active in the American Legion throughout his life. My donation to the school was in remembrance of the Sisters of St. Francis, who taught in Alton for many, many years -- my 5th grade teacher there actually taught my dad in high school! While the school doesn't have a library (the public library is just across the street), they intended to auction the signed copy...
On Sunday, November 3, I had the opportunity to hold a book signing event at the Somerby Golf Club in Byron, MN (where I live). My entire family was present as well, making the event very special. With nearly 40 people present, I gave a little talk and then read a 3 page excerpt from chapter 1. I then autographed and personalized the book for many of the attendees. Additionally, each child was able to take their own "dragonstone" home with them. Here are some of the photos of the event:
The Wonders of the Peculiar Parasol is now officially available to order. Go to the "Buy Books Today" link below to get connected to the Amazon page and order your copy -- the book is available in printed form or for Kindle readers. Here's a link to the November 1 press release announcing the launch of the book (and the projected availability of the 2nd book in the Dragonstone Stories series.) https://www.issuewire.com/former-ibm-manager-pens-childrens-fantasy-series-1648849765693665
The Dragonstone Story Series As you know, the sub-title of The Wonders of the Peculiar Parasol is “A Dragonstone Story”. We added this to the book name to indicate that it was part of a series of books. After writing “Wonders”, my creative juices kept flowing and I plotted and wrote three more stories with the same set of characters. The stories are chronological, with the characters aging and growing from book to book. Each book expands the story and the magic from the previous book(s). The next book, “The Power of the Emerald Ring” introduces more characters and sets Mandy and her extended family onto a new adventure. Hopefully, the second book is well received and the momentum will...
Countdown! – The book is still coming! It has been an interesting and educational journey, going from inception to reality of my first children’s novel. The editorial and publication process since signing the contract to publish The Wonders of the Peculiar Parasol has been much more entailed than I ever realized. While that process is chugging along (and it is moving close to completion each day), I thought I would share how we got here in the first place. One of the most common questions I get asked is: “Where did you get the idea for the book?” After I retired, I had been toying with creating a children’s picture book, aimed at the 3-6 year old market, and had...
Welcome to Dragonstone Stories. This project is now in its second year of development and I am delighted to announce that we have signed a contract to publish our first book, The Wonders of the Peculiar Parasol with a target availability date of October 10, 2019. Additionally, we have also signed a contract to continue the Dragonstone Stories series with a second book to be published as soon as possible. The publisher of our work is Cresting Wave Publishing (gocwpub.com). I intend to use the Blog section of our website to alert you about upcoming book signings and tell you how the stories came about, to explain how I created the names of characters and places, and to provide other...
Visit our publisher's website for other books and information: https://gocwpub.com