Another Book Added To The Pile

Tuesday my friend Wes came by to pick up the first copy of the book he edited to come off the press. It’s called Adventist: The Autobiography Of Joseph Pyram King. That’s his great-grandfather’s autobiography.

Dr. King lived till just days short of his 100^th birthday and his autobiography will be of great interest not only to his many descendents but to genealogists and historians.

This brings to ten the number of books I have published in my on-line book catalogue at www.bluefishbooks.info . (And many, many thanks to those of you who have encouraged me and bought copies of my books)!.

Naturally this benchmark causes me to reevaluate what I’ve been doing.

The King autobiography, along with Rebel Yell: The Civil War Diray of John Thomas Whatley and Letters From Stacy makes the third book I’ve published in my self-appointed role as a preservationist. These three works existed only in manuscript form before being put on line; they would have disappeared forever without someone’s trying to preserve them.

I feel it was worth the effort to put them in circulation.

That gives me great satisfaction.

The other seven books I offer in the Bluefish Books Catalogue are my own works; three of these were once published by commercial publishers but had long been out of print until I revised and republished them myself.

I’m Confused About Prayer and Strangers On The Earth were previously published by Inter-Varsity Press. Both books have been translated into several foreign languages. These two books have sold more copies than any of my other books.

Of all the things I’ve written, my own favorite is Glog: A Dinosaur Novel Of Sorts. That book satisfies me more than any other. This story does exactly what I wanted it to do.

Although the title story is one of my most popular, the book I like least is Gravedigger’s Christmas & Other Tales. It reveals altogether too much of me. Which is an odd thing to say considering that A Dirty Old Man Goes Bad is a published edition of my on-line journal which unveils my life and thoughts on a day by day basis.

Another of my books which has sold well is The Lazarus Projects, a novel in which modern scientists travel back through time to witness the crucifixion of Jesus and determine whether or not he actually rose from the dead.

Then come my history books about my hometown which are hardly of interest to anyone outside Jacksonville, although I’m proud to say that local library reference collections recommend those books to school kids doing Florida history homework.

Thus lots of kids probably hate me.

My current writing project is an expanded and updated edition of my previously-published history of the Jacksonville Fire Department. I feel as though I’m wallowing in waist-deep mud with this project and I’ve reached the point — I do this with every book — where I’m sorry I ever started it.

Oh well. All my work may interest few other people, and it certainly is not making me rich or famous, but at least it keeps me off the street.