FELLOW TRAVELER News Roundup

Now wrapping up a ten-day break from the editing phase of my three-novel series DIXIANA (the process of which I’ll detail in a forthcoming post), here we have two newsworthy tidbits of note coming in an otherwise sequestered time of authorial diligence and quiet endeavor:

Tidbit 1:

I’m thrilled to announce that an abstract I submitted to the So Many Roads Grateful Dead Conference, to be held at San Jose State this November, has been accepted! The paper I’ll present will be a further refinement of the presentation I made last year to the GD Scholars’ Caucus at the yearly ABQ conference (as part of the larger Pop Culture Association meeting). The title of my talk this time will be FELLOW TRAVELER: A Deadhead’s Literary Journey of Redemption.

A side benefit of this meeting will be seeing many west coast friends, along with driving down to Santa Cruz to visit the Dead Archive there at McHenry Library, where of course the original papers relating to Fellow Traveler were accessioned last year.

Can’t wait for November to roll around—it goes without saying that I’m thrilled to be involved as a presenter at such a high profile event. Also, right at the novel’s two-year birthday we’re giving it a fresh breath of publicity, which seems an apropos and fitting acknowledgement of the book’s ongoing success.

The full, final cover of the novel.

Tidbit 2:

In the same FT vein, many thanks to Susan Levi Wallach and The State newspaper for this profile of my publisher, Muddy Ford Press, and its core team of Cindi Boiter and Bob Jolley.

Here’s the excerpt relating to Fellow Traveler:

The company’s roster includes Kristine Hartvigsen, Debra A. Daniel, Laurie B. McIntosh, Alejandro García-Lemos, and James D. McCallister, whose novel “Fellow Traveler” has become a surprise success.

“‘Fellow Traveler’ has received international recognition,” Boiter said. “That I didn’t expect. The subject matter, a fictionalized account of following the Grateful Dead, has an amazingly far reach.”

Honored for my work not only to have been mentioned here in such a prominent way, but to have served as a foundational plank in the press’s journey to artistic legitimacy, practical success, and a very long book list of worthy titles to come. Congrats, Bob and Cindi!

Cindi Boiter and Bob Jolley, publisher and editor of Muddy Ford Press. (photo credit: thestate.com)

 

On July 1, my break ends, and I go back to editing DIXIANA. A full and detailed report on the status of that project is forthcoming, but for the moment, I’ll let slip that I’m really happy with it so far. But then… I’m really happy with it all, and by ‘it’ I mean much more than merely my writing career. Wishing you all the best; wishing you my kind of success. dmac out!