Signings On Black Friday and Beyond

Black Friday, November 28, 9:00 AM

The book signing at Magdalena’s Coffee Cafe on the Square in Corydon would have begun in timely fashion if the books had been there. But these books have minds of their own, you know, being as the featured publication was Ghosts On the Square…and Elsewhere. Our latest, and highly successful, collection of ghost stories was published in October 2008 featuring tales of hauntings, not only along Corydon’s square, but other unlikely places in Harrison County, Indiana. We had featured it in the October Ghost Walk in Corydon written about previously in this blog. Anyway, the books arrived simultaneously along with two authors and a display table, ten minutes late, so we got set up pronto.

Magdalena’s was kind enough to offer the writers free coffee and tea, just for being who we are: The Southern Indiana Writers. Five of us showed up, the others went shopping or had family in town since it was the day after Thanksgiving, after all.

Several customers came in that morning, many of them looked over our wares and a few made a purchase or two. We had a fun time, like we always do, and some of us learned some new tricks. Joanna Foreman, for instance, had never played Scrabble. (Why would a writer even publicly admit such a thing?) On top of that, she proclaimed she wasn’t good with words. And she calls herself a writer! She plopped herself on a beautiful leather couch in front of the fireplace and played the game with her granddaughter. I’ll give you one guess who won. The 11-year old!

Another interesting twist that morning: a man who calls himself Butchie was seated in the front window, playing guitar, adding to the genuine cozy atmosphere of the coffee shop. Butchie, with his permission, appears in Marian Allen’s “A Love Song for Pythias”.

After the signing, a few of us shopped in the unique boutiques in downtown Corydon. A couple of days after that, Marian Allen visited the Visitor’s Information Center, where they were thrilled to see her with the books. Seems that many people have stopped by in recent days asking where they could acquire a copy. So it appears that Ghosts on the Square…and Elsewhere will be available there for purchase for quite some time to come.

–Joanna

Saturday, December 13, 1-4

Three of us made it to the signing at the Harrison County Public Library. Everybody else was busy, ill, without transport, and various combinations of the above. We had a good day, nevertheless.  Sold some books and met a local author of gritty noir stories set in this area. I have blurred his features in order to protect him. Of course, it isn’t much protection, since I’m going to give him a shout-out: his name is FRANK BILL! If you like your fiction visceral, you’ll love his stuff. Even if you don’t like your fiction visceral, he’s so good you’ll want to read his prose anyway.

As Joanna said, our GHOSTS book is available at the Corydon Visitor’s Center, and (along with many of our other anthologies) also online from electronic booksellers and by order through independent booksellers, and through our publisher/printer, Lulu.

–MA