What One Might Find on an Author's Website

The New York Times book review section had an interesting "Inside the List" column on the things one might find on an author's website -- beyond the expected stuff, such as biographical information,  a list of titles and various forms of promotional fodder.

The author of the column, Tina Jordan, checked out the websites of half a dozen very well-known authors, such as John Grisham and Ann Patchett, and discovered coffee for sale; letters to readers; music recommendations; news about dogs; movie reviews, and (no surprise) T-shirts for sale.

Which, of course, brings me to my own website -- www.fowlermartin.info -- where you will find, as you might expect, information on my two novellas ("Manhattan Morning" and "Gina/Diane)" plus the latest updates on my ongoing collaborative effort to have music composed for a proposed neo-baroque, one-act operetta called "Patricia," and a retrospective of an exhibition of prints by the British artist Patrick Caulfield.

Jordan mentions that Michael Connelly, an author of popular thrillers, has a photo gallery of real sites mentioned in his books.  So do I.  You can take a pictorial walking tour of the route of my protagonist, Dan, in "Manhattan Morning." Hmmm. Maybe I should offer T-shirts based on the cover of "Gina/Diane."

If you have read either of my books and have any thoughts about them, I would be delighted to post your comments on my website -- good, bad or indifferent.  Just reply to this blog and I will take it from there.

As for a performance of "Patricia," don't hold your breath -- yet.

"Gina/Diane" -- Life After an Abortion

I recently published my second novella, entitled "Gina/Diane."  It is available as an e-book on Amazon and Smashwords, and as a printed paperback at The Book Patch. (Click on the names of those retailers to purchase the book.)

Here is what it is about:

When a younger man named Hartley encounters and older woman named Diane dancing with her dog on a lonely, out-of-season beach in North Carolina, he ends up unexpectedly spending the evening with her.  She's a shape-shifting cougar with a problematic pet, but she also has a poignant and disturbing story to tell about an abortion at age 17, and how that event impacted her subsequent life.

When Hartley inadvertently asks a question that opens Diane's floodgates, he finds that he has no way out of an exquisitely uncomfortable situation.  A bachelor who lives with a cat in Manhattan, empathy isn't Hartley's strongest suit and he has no prior dealing with what Diane has been through.

Thanks in part to a photo that helps him understand more about what Diane lost, he listens with increasing interest to her gritty account of how she clawed herself upward only to have her past rob her of her greatest success. Diane appreciates Hartley's willingness to listen and she's intrigued that he might be able to make good use of her story despite finding him lacking in certain important respects. Can the evening result in a rewarding outcome for them both -- and that pesky dog?