The main thing is Margot, A Peter MacAlister Mystery, is published! Phew! I had hoped for a June pub, but you know when stuff just happens? Not the least of it, life reemerging from COVID? What a PITA that was, for all of us, and for many far more so than for my family. Leigh and I came out of it unscathed, for which we are forever thankful. We opted to get become vaccinated and understand that many people still aren’t ready for that. All I know is that we’re okay, and we hope you are too.
So – Margot’s e-book was published on July 16, but I couldn’t get the paperback pubbed until this past weekend. My cover illustrator was out of town when I sent him the dimensions, and then he got back just as Leigh and I took off to Nantucket for a week for a lovely getaway. Blah blah blah. Bottom line, the paperback is now pubbed, and all is right with my world.
So, speaking of the cover, here it is! Like it?
My cover illustrations are designed by John Cardinal, of Tryptic Press. I love the older, retro look and feel he created for this series. A perfect fit with the theme of my good guy, Peter MacAlister, being a Boomer and his novels taking place in the ’80s, when he’s in his 30s.
Part of the challenge to make that work is in researching the locales back then, to depict them as accurately as possible. I put a lot of time in researching Margot’s setting of Manchester, Vermont, including taking a trip there in April for some first hand observations. Leigh lived there for a short time in the ’70s and gave me a lot of insight. We stayed with an old friend, who has lived here and there in Vermont, finally settling in that area, so he also gave me good takes on life there back in the day.
That’s great fun for me, taking deep dives into areas around New England where Peter’s tales take place. He’s based in Fall River, Massachusetts, on New England’s South Coast, where he lives his day job as a small city reporter, but his adventures take him all over the six-state region. While my LGBT Superheroes novels take place in The City, my Peter MacAlister Mysteries are focused right here in the place I call home.
If you are new to my series, I have dropped the e-book price of the first novel in each to just 99 cents. I only make pennies on those sales – that pricing is designed to introduce my characters for cheap, in the hope that readers will enjoy them and choose to get the other books. I am seriously grateful for the sales of my novels so far. You can see them here.
If you enjoy my books, please leave reviews and ratings on their book pages. Those help wonderfully in marketing the books and my indie author brand.
So, my fun reads while writing Margot? A couple of old friends. I read a couple of early Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker. I see a certain metaphysical kinship between Spenser and Peter. I also re-read early Travis McGee stories by John D. MacDonald. Trav is definitely another distant cousin of Peter’s, in that he’s a resourceful fellow who helps people who need a hand dealing with special challenges. For a piece of the pie, of course.
What are you reading? I’d love to hear. Email me at scott@scottcsmithauthor.com. And if you’d like to subscribe to my free occasional email newsletter, just sign up at my website, https://scottcsmithauthor.com. If you do, you can get a free copy of my growing collection of short stories based on my series characters. Your email address will never be sold or given away, and you can easily unsubscribe. I email no more than once a month, so I won’t bombard you. My newsletters are updates on what I’m up to, takes on things going on, notices of book progress, and such. All good!
Thanks for reading – enjoy!