Amber Waves Back On Sale

First, the news: AMBER WAVES is back on sale, with a brand new cover designed by my dear friend and nephew Erik Rutgers, a drawing called "Library." I cannot imagine a more appropriate cover. Thank you, Erik!

After 61 years of living and much of it spent with a pen in hand, I have gathered a great deal of material onto sheets of paper, floppy disks, CDRs and DVDRWs. The few times I ventured out into the competitive world of publishing have met with encouraging rejections (with the notable exception of "Shostakovich" -- it remains much harder to get fiction published than non-fiction). Not enjoying rejections, I rarely submitted. Anxious about failure, I rarely risked.

The internet has changed all that. Rejection has become much more objective, not dependent on a slush pile reader having had a good night's sleep or missing their morning coffee or being in the mood for a comedy when picking up a drama. As long as the content of my work is not pornographic or objectionable (sex, violence, religion and politics are fair game as long as they are handled with taste, and that remains a gray area at best), e-publishers tend to let you in the door. Then it's up to the reader to decide.

Consequently, it has been 32 years between my first two books. Book Three, drawn from existing material and based on family experience, may be out in 32 days! It's not that I'm writing formula after formula (anything but), it's that I am revising manuscripts I did not have the courage to send out into the cold, cold world one publisher at a time hoping for one lucky break.

It's time to make my own luck now, and let you decide if I've entertained you or not.