Bob Sloan's Sampler - - Newsletter Archive
Thursday, March 25th, 2004
 home/index newsletters: 2/9/2003 3/4/2003 3/10/2003 4/19/2003 6/8/2003 7/9/2003 9/30/2003 11/9/2003 12/28/2003 2/24/2004 3/25/2004 4/27/2004 6/12/2004 10/29/2004 11/19/2004 columns short fiction poetry humor essays links afterword contact information e-mail Bob e-mail Julie |
a note from Bob... Hey y’all. . . The other evening my publisher brought me some "advance copies" of my novel Home Call, which will be "officially" published July 1st. Charlie assured me though there’d be copies for the "mass book signing" at Coffeetree Books here in Morehead on June 3rd. I started writing Home Call a long time ago, when I was living in New Orleans and was desperately homesick for anything that looked like a hill. N’Awlins is a great old town, but it’s in the middle of a swamp that’s flat as a pool table. And while red beans and rice are good provisions --especially with andouille sausages, they don’t compare to good hillbilly soupbeans. By the way, if any of you head down to New Orleans, e-mail me before you go and I’ll tell you about some things to see and do down there that will get you off the basic tourist track. If you’ve been there and all you brought back in the way of memories was Bourbon Street, you really haven’t see the town. And I know where you can get a room for fifty bucks a night, within three miles of the French Quarter. . . If you belong to a group that will let me get in front of them and talk about Home Call --or anything else-- please let me know about it. I dunno if the following will matter to those of you who don’t have dogs, but it’s rocked me back a bit. If you have a copy of the story collection Bearskin to Holly Fork, you may have noticed the picture of the siberian huskie on the back. That’s Wolf, when he was six or seven. He’s lived with me since he was about a year old, when he ran away from an abusive owner and decided he’d rather be here. Like me he’s gotten older, and for the last year or so has been deaf as a post. That deafness was sort of a milestone, a reminder marvelous animals like Wolf don’t stay with us nearly long enough. The other day there was another milestone, of sorts: for the first time ol’ Wolf declined to go for a ride in the truck. Lately I’d noticed he climbed into the cab with me, rather than using legs like steel springs to leap onto the seat. But he’s always preferred riding to eating, and not wanting to get in the truck is another one of those nasty reminders that time passes way too quickly sometimes. Wolf will be here, I suspect, for a good while longer. His appetite’s good, and he can still go in and out the back door at will. (All the dogs know how to get out but he’s the only one to figure out how to open the door from outside.) But it was sad, watching him turn away from the truck. . . Since I last wrote, Julie and I went spent a Saturday morning with the Clear Creek Writers’ Group in Shelbyville KY. That was a fine way to pass some time. We talked about writing and publishing and other things that frustrate all writers, and then they fed us. I don’t mean a plate of stale store cookies either: those folks had a memorable carry in dinner I’ll not soon forget. And whoever made the coffee did it just right. The reading at the Blue Gator earlier this month was fun, and my buddy Cam Foster says they want us to do it again. And we will. Upcoming stuff: If you come to any of the listed events, please find us and say "Hey." Meeting people for the first time is one of the reasons we go to these events. Mar 27th (Saturday) - East Tennessee State University Celebration of Books and Authors, Johnson City TN (Lots of local writers, as opposed to events loaded with "names" that ignore small press authors) Apr 15th (Thursday) - Julie reads as part of the reading series at the Kentucky Folk Art Center here in Morehead. Starts at 7:00 Apr 16th/17th (Friday/Saturday) - Southern Kentucky Book Fest, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green (Bearskin is nominated for an award here.) Apr 24th (Saturday) - Reading/signing at the Bath County Public Library, Owingsville KY 10:00-1:00 Apr 30th-May 1st (Friday/Saturday) - Ohio River Festival of Books (presentation: one hour on "Don’t Forget to Tell the Story") (I went to this the last time they held it, as a consumer, not as a writer. Thoroughly enjoyed myself.) May 13th (Thursday) - Reading Appreciation event, Lay Elementary School, Barboursville KY. May 21st (Friday) - Clay County Reading Celebration, Manchester KY 5-8PM Come see us. Bob |
Sunday, November 21st, 2004 - Morehead, Kentucky
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