It started with an idea and one line:
“The bogeyman came early to the Tully Foothills the year they canceled Halloween.”
The idea? To re-invent the werewolf trope through embracing my family’s Irish heritage. The end result is now available for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and through me, here, on my site.
THE GOD PROVIDES.
Writing this book has been a cathartic experience. It’s the fastest I’ve written a book and seen it hit the streets, that’s for sure. The first words were put to page in October of 2020, in the darkness of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Now, less than a year later, you are seeing the end product.
The McEntires may as well be The Clarks. I named the family patriarch after my Dad and grandfather. The book is dedicated to my siblings, Shawn and Allison. I’m sure they’ll get a kick out of how I gender flipped us and included some of our family’s quirks to make the characters real. This is the most personal piece I’ve ever written. Some of the more disturbing events to occur, especially in the May Day portion of the book, are taken from my own experiences. Others are metaphorical. I wrote some of the darker parts during the mid winter, near the time of the anniversary of our father’s passing. My grief shows on the page.
This book has opened a new door for me, it’s my hope that you all hop on for the ride. I want to thank the team behind it, too, because they can’t ever receive enough praise. James Matthew Byers for his poetry contributions, Stephanie Murr and Lynne Hansen for their art, both inside and on the cover, respectively. Lynne also encouraged me to change the title, and it was one of the best decisions I made with this. Tim Murr at St Rooster Books and my mentor Lisa Vasquez for suggesting I expand the story FIREFLIES AND APPLE PIES into something more. Garrett Cook, the magical Fedora Wizard, who has become the perfect storytelling instructor for me, and helped me with the mysterious folkinesss. Rose O’Keefe, who blindly suggested the cottagecore aspect of the narrative. But the one person who deserves the most thanks is my wife, Dawn, for putting up with Irish dirges and jigs as I wrote this.
Those of you who ordered the special bundle packages, we are at the mercy of Barnes & Noble’s printing department for the books. Once they are approved and ship to me, I’ll be sending them out. You’ll be getting more goodies, too, for having patience.
My summer book signing appearances will be in full swing in a couple weeks, starting with Vettes At The Beach in Sylvan Beach, NY, on Sunday, 7/25/21. The weekend after, I will be at the Scares That Care Charity Weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), and the following weekend on August 8th I’ll be in Binghamton, NY at Conklin Con II.
Oh, and one more thing…
Soláthraíonn an dia
Thomas R Clark 