Totally Worthwhile

In the year since RED ASPHALT was published has been filled with both highs and lows, not unlike a makeshift roller coaster in a Kiddeeland amusement park.

I've had a couple of interviews (most recently-BACKSTAGE PASS on Blogtalk Radio). There have been some very decent reviews, including one just last week on The Self Publishing Review, which can be found at:

http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/2009/05/31/red-asphalt-by-scott-cherney/

I've had a lot of excellent feedback on my book, even from a few "celebs". While this hasn't generated a flock of sales or even a a Flock of Seagulls, it has given both my work and me what my friend D.W.Landingham would refer to as "exposure". (Yes, the quotation marks are intentional and appropriate)


Now while I would love nothing better than to have a best-seller and a movie sale (hope reigns eternal in this young man's breast), I can really think of no better reward than the picture I've posted above.

That's my grandson Sebastian holding up a copy of his grandpa's book which he and his dad Matt found on the library shelf in Hillsboro, Oregon. To me, it's the proverbial picture worth a thousand words. My best buddy holding up my book in a library: Priceless.

When you least expect it, life sometimes has ways to remind you of just where stand in the world. When I saw this, I knew immediately where I fit in at this moment in time. It turns out to be a very good place indeed.

RED ASPHALT ON AMAZON

Peeing in the Sand

Portrait of the author at work.

How many blogs must a blogger post

Before they can call you a blogger?

The answer, my friend, is peeing in the sand.

The answer is peeing in the sand.

Yessiree-bob, another analogy to blogging.



The other one had to do with that tree falling in the forest. I'm actually beginning to think it relates to self-publishing my book. Is it making a sound? Is the tide erasing any evidence of it? Are my feet getting wet?

Enough of this shilly-shally. I've got an announcement to make:



At long last, my book, RED ASPHALT is available for sale on the one and only Amazon.com. Those of you holding out for the legitimacy of said goliath conglomerate carrying my first novel can now purchase it from a company with which you feel comfortable. (click on the title of this here blog or I'll bop you with this here lollipop) Everyone else can go to the source, Lulu.com for a copy or to be able to download it for a fraction of the cost. That, of course, is:
http://www.lulu.com/content/1885435

As for the photo above. Well, kids, the year would be maybe 1958. The location is Capitola, California which is just down the road from Santa Cruz. Those of you who have enjoyed sun-bathing on that beach over the years have probably laid your heads right where I was taking a leak.

So much has happened this year as I've been trying like hell to promote this book. I feel like the world's been passing me by.The writers' strike, the Oscars, the end of THE WIRE, Bryan Cranston in BREAKING BAD, the passing of Jules Dassin, Charlton Heston and Richard Widmark-all without a peep outta me...and don't think that didn't hurt. So the next few entries are getting away from RED ASPHALT primarily and back to the business known as show.

In the meantime, here's a YouTube link to something I appeared in back in the early 90s, filmed at Pollardville Ghost Town
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=263wvXvQBow

Thanks to Randy Mann for sharing this with me. It makes me miss the Ville all over again.