Posts Tagged ‘“Ghost Stories of the Long Beach Peninsula”’

On the Patio at Bold tomorrow 2:00-4:00!

Saturday, July 10th, 2021

Cover: Historic Haunts of the Long Beach Peninsula

If you’ve not yet been into BOLD Art Framing and Espresso at 711 Pacific Ave N in Long Beach, by all means drop by tomorrow at 2 p.m. when I’ll be chatting a bit about my new book, Historic Haunts of the Long Beach Peninsula.  After all, it’s not every Art Gallery that hosts a book-talk and book-signing!  But then, it’s not every gallery that calls itself BOLD and ventures into the literary arts as well as the visual arts.  I couldn’t be more pleased to be a little part of it!

For BOLD owners  Greg Holmes and Daneka Ewert, this book-signing venture is a first!  I hope that it is a fun and successful experience for them and that it won’t be the last of such events. And I’m counting on you readers who are old hands at attending book-talks and author-signings to show up to clap and cheer and (of course) to buy a book or two!

From the very first day that they opened their doors, Daneka and Greg have included a display of books by local authors and, though I cannot speak for others, they have done very well by me.  Indeed, I’ve wished more than once that my friend Bob Meadows was still living so I could tell him all about it.  “Old Bob” was an Oysterville handyman who could fix or jerry-rig just about anything — probably would have done well in the arts, himself.  He had a fine sense of humor and one of the things that amused him greatly was seeing “all them arty fellas” setting up their easels around the Oysterville Church on summer afternoons.

I don’t know if Old Bob had ever been in an Art Gallery, but how I would love to have taken him into BOLD so he could see the marvelous creations of some of them arty folks — me included!  I don’t know how he felt about ghosts but he was interested in the history of this area and I think he enjoyed reading.  Maybe my ghost stories would have been just right for him.  And maybe they’ll be just right for you.  Come on over tomorrow afternoon and find out!

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth!

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014
Available NOW!

Available NOW!

There has been some confusion about when my new book, Ghost Stories of the Long Beach Peninsula, officially goes on sale. According to information I received from a friend via a bookseller on the Peninsula, the books could not go on sale until September 30th. Not true!

When I learned that fans were ordering and getting them Amazon.com, my old bookseller’s hat sailed right onto my head. I double-checked the information I was given.  Yes, the bookseller in question (with whom I spoke on the telephone) had to sign “a contract” promising not to sell until the official publication date, September 30th.  So I emailed my contact in the sales department at History Press and made a minor noisy fuss – like why are independent bookstores being discriminated against?

Here is the answer I received: We absolutely do not require booksellers to wait until the official pub date before they sell the book, nor do we ask the booksellers themselves to sign any contract. Only our authors sign contracts.

So all you fans and ghost lovers and Peninsula history buffs, the book should be available ‘as we speak.’ We got that information straight from the horse’s mouth!

Why the confusion? Who knows? Some days are just like that!

Harry Potter and the Ghosts of the Long Beach Peninsula?

Saturday, September 20th, 2014
Delivered Yesterday!

Delivered Yesterday!

Yesterday I got my first look at my new book, Ghost Stories of the Long Beach Peninsula. The twenty-five I ordered arrived neatly packaged in a box delivered by FedEx. Betsy Millard happened to be here just about the time they came and said that the Heritage Museum and Time Enough Books had also received their orders.

“I didn’t even catch a glimpse of them,” she said. “They were whisked away and tucked into a closet somewhere. We can’t put them out on our shelves until September 30th.

”Wow! I felt just like J.K. Rowling! Remember when people waited with baited breath for the release of each Harry Potter book? Booksellers were under dire threat (of what I wonder?) not to put them out until the official release date. Bookstores had lines of people waiting for the doors to open on those long awaited dates.  A marketing ploy, I always figured.  I wonder if the History Press (publisher of this Ghost Stories book) is into that marketing game or if there is another reason.

Front Cover

Front Cover

We owned the Bookvendor in Long Beach when the first Harry Potter book was released  and, like many other places, we ran out of the first book early in the day. I made several runs over to CostCo and bought cartloads of them spending less per book than we paid for copies through our distributor. It was a great lesson into the power of buying in bulk and how we little folk get screwed by the bigger-is-better-especially-if-it’s-a-big-box-store-corporate-entity syndrome. But… I digress.

Back Cover

Back Cover

Although I paid for my twenty-five copies of Ghost Stories of the Long Beach Peninsula at the same rate as booksellers, I’m not sure I’m under the same rules about waiting until September 30th. There were no instructions or warnings that came with my order. But it is probably immaterial. My intent has nothing to do with sales and everything to do with thank yous to the people who so generously told me their ghost stories. And anyway, it will probably take me until the 30th to get all their addresses gathered and the packages ready.

Having said that, though, I did take a peek for myself. I think it looks great! I haven’t perused a copy thoroughly enough to find the obligatory mistake – the one that every author finds, usually upon the initial opening of the book. I’m sure it’s there somewhere… Mrs. Crouch surely saw to that. (She’s the ghost in our house.) Or, maybe, since I dedicated the book to her, she has left well enough alone. I hope so!