Portfolio: Seattle's Pike Place Market 2009

Images from my research trip to Seattle
while working on Adrift in the Sound
Purchase online at Amazon.com

Free ADRIFT IN THE SOUND ebooks

Adrift in the Sound is now available for eBook readers, as well as in paperback. (Wahoo!) Order the Kindle version online from www.kindle.amazon.com. $6.99.

Kindle Select members can download the ebook free on the following days this summer: June 28 & 29, July 26, August 30 & 31. Download the book, write an Amazon review and let other readers know what you think. Reviews are easy to contribute and help others decide what's hot and what's not.

The debut of an engaging new literary voice offers a gripping, vivid story of sex, drugs and Seattle. Follow the misadventures of homeless artist Lizette Karlson as she struggles to escape the streets and find life’s meaning in the wake of the 1960s Cultural Revolution. Set in 1973, the story unfolds against the rainy backdrop of a tumultuous time in America—it’s a story about fighting the tides of change, swimming for shore – and finding the only thing that really matters.

Lizette—beautiful, talented, and dangerous—shows us her secrets, loves and losses, dreams and disappointments—in a seamless tale that reshapes myths about the “Free Love 60s” and creates new folklore about this tumultuous era in America. The novel opens as Lizette is released from a mental hospital, again. She crashes with the Franklin Street Dogs, a ragtag softball team, and next-door neighbor Sandy Shore, an exotic snake dancer who strips for soldiers coming home at the end of the Vietnam War. It’s a sexual free-for-all until Sandy turns up pregnant and Lizette witnesses a murder. On the run, Lizette takes refuge on beautiful Orcas Island, begins painting again, and crisscrosses Puget Sound while sorting out crippling secrets in her past.

ADRIFT IN THE SOUND is the top finalist for the 2011 Mercer Street Books Literary Prize. The award recognizes emerging writers who have completed a first novel, but have not yet published it. The prize is sponsored by Mercer Street Books & Records in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Rick Rofhie, publisher of www.anderbo.com and a short story contributor to The New Yorker magazine judged the competition.

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n addition, a companion volume to ADRIFT IN THE SOUND has just been published and is available from independent and online booksellers. BETWEEN THE SHEETS: An Intimate Exchange on Writing, Editing, and Publishing, co-authored with novelist and editor Thomas T. Thomas, is a wide ranging electronic conversation that took place during the final editing of the novel. Writer and editor share views on the craft of writing and the state of publishing in today’s digital world. It’s a peek behind the curtain at the work of shaping and selling fiction.

Also available in paper and ereader formats from www.amazon.com.

Writing a Novel is Like Learning to Ride a Bike

Writing Adrift in the Sound was a longer journey than expected and I’m grateful for the friends who’ve gone the distance—Steve Adler, Nancy Barth, Cynthia Cory, Kari Fisher, Dave Kranz, Ching Lee, Elisa Noble, especially Margaret Rodriguez, who spent many hours helping me sort out the story and characters; and Anthony and Carol Rogers, who provided unwavering spiritual support. Artist and author Sara Sheldon and national affairs/crime reporter Christine Souza read numerous versions of the novel in draft.

Gratitude goes to the teachers and writers who’ve helped hone my creative writing skills, particularly Sands Hall, whose encouragement helped me start and then finish this book. The Community of Writers at Squaw Valley continue to provide ongoing inspiration and invaluable support. At Tomales Bay Writers Workshops, novelist Tayari Jones offered insightful guidance during the early stages of the writing, while Ray and Barbara March of the Modoc Writers Forum added confidence in my Western perspective and the value of stories that spring from the environment.

Thanks to Julia O’Connor, gifted teacher and former Sacramento Poet Laureate, for her help with lyrical prose style. Writer and teacher Adair Lara provided guidance for the novel’s structure at a critical juncture. Frank and Maggie Allen of the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources immersed me in environmental issues and introduced me to Pacific Coast tribal leaders who fed me salmon and took me on an expedition to the sacred rock at the center of the world.

Various libraries, online collections and museums were of research assistance, including the University of Washington online digital collections and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, as well as the Washington State Library, and the Seattle City and Seattle Times archives. Thanks to bluesman Taj Mahal for permission to use lyrics from his 1969 album Giant Step/De Ole Folks At Home, which helped rhythmically inform the writing of this book.

And, thanks to friend, writing partner and fellow author Elizabeth Kern of HillHouse Books, who believed Adrift in the Sound should be shared with readers and pushed me to make it happen. Friend and novelist Thomas T. Thomas served as readers’ advocate and provided superb editing that brought out the best in the story. Smart and talented, Sacramento’s Old Soul Writer’s Group, provided much needed moral support and laser-guided critique and copy proofing.

Finally, thanks to my family—my sons, Mark and Mike and granddaughter, Ada—my brothers Richard, Steven, and Robert, and sister Joyce, as well as my grownup niece and nephew, Krista and Justin. They’ve served as a tireless cheering section on the long road to creating this book.

Thanks to the love and support of all these people—and many more—this story is now humbly offered to you, the reader, to enjoy and make of it what you will.

Buy Adrift in the Sound online from Amazon.com

or order from independent booksellers.