YOUR BEST FRIEND ON A COLD, WINTRY DAY

Okay, it isn't quite winter yet. In fact, Thanksgiving, as of this writing, is two days away. But it sure feels like winter in the Magnolia State! And is there anything better than curling up with a good book on a cold, bleak day? Don't know about you, but I'm absolutely loaded down with great things to read: the new Pat Conroy, the new Scott Turow, and the new Tom Franklin among others. I'm a huge Pat Conroy fan and am reading The Great Santini before delving into his new one.

We're also quite busy with author signings (below) and advance work on the upcoming Randy Pierce novel, Magnolia Mud. He'll have a pre-release party in Richton, MS, on March 31, and our official release date is April 1, at which time Randy signs copies at Lemuria in Jackson. As I've said, the book cover will look nothing like any previous Dogwood Press covers. Here's a sneak preview. Take note of the directional sign:

Leakesville, MS, is one of the towns where significant action in Magnolia Mud takes place!


 

The book cover will be very intriguing, and the novel itself is great fun and well worth your time. We can't wait for it to come out! We're busy loading Randy's calendar with book talks and signings all over Mississippi and well beyond.

In the meantime, Valerie Winn, John Floyd, and I have all been visiting different parts of the state and signing our books. Just made one of my favorite road trips of the year: to Starkville on November 18 for the annual Open House at The Book Mart. It was great to visit with Starkville author Laurie Parker (picked up an autographed copy of her new novel, The Matchstick Cross), and authors Michael Kardos and Michael Ferris Smith were there, as well as Robert St. John and Wyatt Waters with their new book. And it was great to visit with my brother Stuart, who knows Michael Ferris Smith and stopped in to say hello.

I've known this guy over four decades!

 

Valerie Winn will be selling copies of Forsaking Mimosa at the Ocean Springs Holiday Open House on December 6-7. The Open House takes place throughout Ocean Springs, and you'll find Valerie in front of Pink Rooster Art Gallery all day that Friday and half a day Saturday!

Valerie and Linda with Pink Rooster, a couple of days before Forsaking Mimosa debuted. Has it been a year and a half?

 

And be sure to stop by and visit with John Floyd on Monday, December 2 at Main Street Books in Hattiesburg. The annual Christmas Extravaganza book sale will take place that day with over 30 authors, including St. John/Waters, Marshall Ramsey, Laurie Parker, and many others. If you haven't picked up a copy of Deception yet, it's REALLY good! He'll be glad to sign one for you!

You can't go wrong with any of John's short story collections, but this one is absolutely impossible to put down!

 

Upcoming events:

Joe Lee...12/20 @ Books A Million in Meridian, MS - 2pm
Joe Lee...12/23 @ Books A Million in Hattiesburg, MS - 2pm
Joe Lee...12/24 @ Books A Million in Jackson, MS - 10am

John Floyd...12/7 @ Books A Million in Meridian, MS - 12pm
John Floyd...12/14 @ Books A Million in Hattiesburg, MS - 12pm
John Floyd...12/21 @ Books A Million in Jackson, MS - 12pm

Please come by and say hello if you're in there area, and pick up a signed book for the mystery lover on your shopping list!

And if you have a new Kindle (or anticipate getting one for Christmas), be ready to download our Dogwood Press titles:

VALERIE WINN - Forsaking Mimosa
JOHN FLOYD - Deception
JOHN FLOYD - Clockwork
JOE LEE - Last Chance Texaco
JOE LEE - The Long Road Home
JOE LEE - The Magnolia Triangle
JOHN LEE - The Legend of Roger

We'll debut Randy Pierce's Magnolia Mud on Amazon Kindle within a couple of weeks of when we launch the book in hardback.

Have a safe and happy holiday season, and thanks for your time!

NEW AUTHOR ON BOARD...

One thing the new year will bring is a new addition to the Dogwood Press team, and that's Randy Pierce, the Mississippi Supreme Court Justice and the author of Pain Unforgiven, a fine suspense novel released in 2011.

And I'm thrilled to announce that his follow-up, Magnolia Mud, will be unveiled in April 2014! It's about a fictional governor's race in Mississippi and is set in the southern part of our state, although there's action in locations ranging from Leakesville to Jackson to Booneville. This is quality fiction... there's suspense, humor, tragedy, and interesting characters that will get under your skin and stay with you...and you'll get a really fascinating look behind the scenes at what goes on in a high-stakes political race in our state.

Randy's first novel, which is currently out of print but available for download through Amazon Kindle
 

What I can't wait to show you is the Magnolia Mud book cover. It will be totally unique to our Dogwood Press covers, and something that I think will not only be totally appropriate to the subject matter, but an image that will make a strong impression.

John Floyd, Valerie Winn, Randy, and I had a blast this past Saturday (October 12) at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center in Ocean Springs, where we put on a seminar for a group of nice folks. I discussed how I go about putting together the plots in my Oakdale series and bringing characters in and out of the different volumes; John, a short story ace if there ever was one, discussed the different markets out there (print and web) for aspiring writers of short fiction; Valerie described the meticulous--and brilliant--research she did about the city of New Orleans circa WWII for Forsaking Mimosa; Randy touched on some of his own research (and observations) as he put together Magnolia Mud. It was great fun, and the four of us were delighted at the different kinds of questions from the kind folks who attended. We even sold a few books afterward, too!

Some shadowy folks, here...that's Randy, Valerie, John, and me





 

One of my favorites places to speak is my hometown library in Starkville, Mississippi. It was great to see old friends and visit with folks I haven't gotten to see in many years. One of them, Dr. Nancy Hargrove, bought a copy of Last Chance Texaco, and I had to remind her that the very first college course I took (English Composition I) was taught to me by none other than her thirty years ago. As I was quick to remind her, I'm not surprised that I didn't make much of an impression then--last time I checked, Mississippi State University still hasn't named an academic scholarship after me.



I made a B in her class and am proud of it to this day!







 

A couple of schedule reminders: Valerie's appearance at the Zonta festival in Pascagoula was moved to November 16 by Hurricane Karen or Tropical Storm Karen or Cloudy Day Karen or whatever that "storm" turned out to be. (Remember all the damage to your property? You don't? That's because there wasn't any.)

Also, John and Valerie will be part of the annual Christmas Extravaganza at Main Street Books in Hattiesburg, and John and I will visit the public library in the Delta town of Belzoni together on December 5.

If you prefer a download to a hardback these days, here's a complete list of our available titles on Amazon Kindle:

JOE LEE - THE MAGNOLIA TRIANGLE
JOE LEE - THE LONG ROAD HOME
JOE LEE - LAST CHANCE TEXACO
VALERIE WINN - FORSAKING MIMOSA
JOHN FLOYD - CLOCKWORK
JOHN FLOYD - DECEPTION
JOHN LEE - THE LEGEND OF ROGER

Randy's new book will be available through Kindle around the time we start his Magnolia Mud tour in April, too.

We look forward to seeing you at one of our many stops this fall. For updated books signings and complete information about all Dogwood Press titles, please visit www.dogwoodpress.com.

Have a wonderful day, and keep reading!

KIDS SAY THE DARNEDEST THINGS

I was invited to speak at the Young Writer's Conference at Northwest Rankin High School in Brandon, MS, last week. So was John Floyd, and a writer from The Clarion Ledger. Since I was told I would be speaking to a group of about a dozen rising 7th graders, I thought they'd enjoy hearing from my son, John, whose e-book (The Legend of Roger) was published about a year ago. He isn't much older than those kids, and I hoped they would think it was pretty cool that he was an author.

Didn't take long to determine that nearly all those kids enjoy series! Harry Potter? Yep, a whole bunch of those kids had read most (or all) of the books and seen the movies. Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Oh, yes. The kids all laughed when I told them that when my wife and I drove our son to school to start the new year, we were going to roll down the window after he was out of the car and yell, "BYE, SWEETIE!" to him. Several of the kids have read The Hunger Games and the two novels from Suzanne Collins that followed, and others have enjoyed the Percy Jackson series.

John and I had a blast with these kids and their teacher, Cindy Christian! Back row: Cindy, John, and me.

We talked about suspense in writing, too. John talked about how much he enjoyed ending chapters of his novel with cliffhangers, and the kids and I made up a tense situation on the fly: a kid has something in a jar or box that's going to blow up (i.e. a firecracker), and that kid plans to have the firecracker go off and scare someone as a joke. But then a friend of the person who put the box there walks by and is about to open the box...just as the firecracker is about to go off...and could get hurt!!! Then, I told the kids, not only does the scene end--creating the cliffhanger--but we go to another scene with different people. That way we're reading the next chapter while wondering what's going to happen to the person about to open the box with the firecracker. Will that person get hurt? Or is the firecracker a dud and doesn't go off?

What's on the menu in the cafeteria? Corn dogs? Tater tots?

I spoke to the Friends of the Library in Tupelo, MS, on June 26 and really enjoyed meeting Friends president Margaret Gratz and the nice folks that keep that group running. I stopped at The Book Mart in Starkville on my way home and ran into Starkville children's author Laurie Parker, someone I've admired for years. Store manager Carolyn Abadie was kind enough to get a picture of us:

Laurie looks great. The picture of me is slightly better than my new driver's license photo.

And here's a picture of me at Cajun Fest, my church's annual fundraiser, from late May. One thing I've learned over the years about selling books: not everyone comes to the initial launch of a book. There are lots of folks who enjoy buying a book and meeting or visiting with an author at a place that's comfortable for them...and that's absolutely fine with me!

Do you want me to sign my name, or forge the name of another author?

Upcoming author appearances:

John Floyd: the Pearl public library on July 26 at noon
John Floyd: the Mississippi Writer's Guild conference in Meridian on August 3-4
Valerie Winn has several Coast-area signings in August and September
Joe Lee will speak at the Starkville public library on September 12 at noon
Valerie, Joe, and John will be at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center in Ocean Springs on October 12
John will be at Main Street Books in Hattiesburg on December 2 at 4pm
Joe and John will speak and sign books at the Belzoni public library on December 5 at 6:30pm

It's summertime...looking for something to read on your Kindle while poolside or at the beach? Here are some great ideas!!!

VALERIE WINN - Forsaking Mimosa
JOHN FLOYD - Deception
JOHN FLOYD - Clockwork
JOE LEE - The Magnolia Triangle
JOE LEE - The Long Road Home
JOE LEE - Last Chance Texaco
JOHN LEE - The Legend of Roger

If you're interested in having any of the Dogwood Press authors speak to your group, answer an email, or sign an autographed book, give us a shout by visiting www.dogwoodpress.com. See you soon!!!

BACK THE TRUCK UP TO THE DOOR

Know what's very exciting and a little bit scary? Watching the ginormous delivery truck pull up with a shipment of books Dogwood Press is publishing. The trucking company almost always sends a polite driver who expertly unloads the palettes of books from the truck. Those pallets, which are shrink-wrapped and contain as many as 40 cartons of books, are always labeled with DO NOT STACK. Yes, that would seem to be a no-brainer. But I had a really bad moment a few years ago when a pair of (inexperienced/clueless) guys tried to bring two stacked pallets off the truck.

They got as far as the lift gate when the top pallet began to lean...

Disaster was thankfully averted that day, although I was immediately on the phone with the company that shipped and told them I would be having nightmares about a half ton (literally) of books tipping over and landing in the driveway. That led to DO NOT STACK labels being affixed to all shipments.

But busting open the first carton of books is always a little spooky, too. Sure, it's a big thrill, whether it's the debut by one of my authors or one of my own novels. Until we've eyeballed an actual hard copy and held it in our hands, we don't know for sure that it turned out okay. Do the colors pop off the cover like they're supposed to? Any pages printed upside down? Is the copyright page information correct? Is the author's name (and book title) spelled correctly? There are all kinds of stupid mistakes we can make on this end, and there are a variety of problems that can take place where the books are being printed.

I'm happy to report, though, that John Floyd's DECEPTION turned out great, and we had a barn-burner of a launch at Lemuria on May 1!!!

John has some of the most loyal fans anywhere! 

Not pictured: truly nasty weather conditions, making the great attendance all the more remarkable!

This young Floyd fan can't wait to dig into DECEPTION after a heaping spoonful of Gerber!



 

Meantime, I was invited to be part of PITCH FEST at the 2013 Oxford Creative Non Fiction Writers Conference & Workshops this past Saturday. This was an event where prospective authors pitched their works to literary agents, magazine editors, and publishers. Each writer had four minutes to pitch his or her work, and it was truly fascinating to hear the different ideas out there. I talked to 15-16 writers and thoroughly enjoyed it. My thanks to author/publisher Neil White, who worked very hard to put on a very thorough four-day conference and assembled a LOT of talent--anyone who attended all four days received an education you just can't get in a textbook.

That's me with Neil White. In addition to writing the fantastic memoir IN THE SANCTUARY OF OUTCASTS, he runs Nautilus Publishing Company from Oxford and has released a variety of successful titles in recent years.




Listening to a pitch from an author at PITCH FEST...

 



...and pitching books at the Hattiesburg Books A Million. That's old friend Lauren Amburgey Shurden.

Several events this weekend: I'll sign my Oakdale novels at Books A Million of Meridian this Saturday at noon; John will sign DECEPTION at Books A Million of Hattiesburg this Saturday at noon; Valerie Winn will sign FORSAKING MIMOSA in Pascagoula this Saturday at the Live Oak Arts Festival. Come say hello and pick up a signed book! They make great gifts for Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduation presents, and birthdays!

And DECEPTION will be available for Amazon Kindle users in several days. Here's our list of Dogwood Press titles you can grab if you own a Kindle:

JOHN M. FLOYD - DECEPTION (available the week of May 6)
JOHN M. FLOYD - CLOCKWORK
VALERIE WINN - FORSAKING MIMOSA
JOE LEE - THE MAGNOLIA TRIANGLE
JOE LEE - THE LONG ROAD HOME
JOE LEE - LAST CHANCE TEXACO
JOHN LEE - THE LEGEND OF ROGER

While all that's going on, we're knee-deep in our preparations to release the Michael Hewes novel, WATERMARK, in October. Really excited about this one, and here's a sneak peek at the cover.

In addition, John, Valerie, and I will join Michael for a really cool seminar at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center in Ocean Springs on October 12. It's a 10am event that will last about 90 minutes. We'll all discuss different aspects of what we do, take questions, and sign books. WATERMARK will be brand-spanking-new at the time and a REALLY hot item on the Coast!!!

Coming to a bookstore near you this fall!