Driving Ms. Pamela – Come along with us…

Come along with me on an adventure. Jimmy and I are doing our own version of a book tour–lot’s of fun along the way, and introducing my newest book–Secret of the Shroud–to stores around the country. This part covers Northern and mid-California, all the way to Las Vegas!

 Writing the book is the easy part. But then you have to let readers know it’s there. My novel Secret of the Shroud releases September 1, 2001. So Jimmy and I are going to hit the trail on a new Driving Ms. Pamela book tour to promote Secret. We did this also for the Moon in the Mango Tree two years ago and had a ball!  We’re leaving for the trip on August, 18th, and I’ll be blogging as we go along, hopefully with plenty of pictures, and I hope you’ll join us right here! Since we’ll start in Napa Valley, California on the road trip, and end up at a Sean Hannity concert in Las Vegas, we’re not exactly doing hard time, I have to admit. In Napa we’re going on an old train for a dinner on board as it chugs through the valley, right at sunset. But here’s the truth: location-location-location was my best leverage with Jimmy (okay it was a bribe), because he well remembers the luggage he had to carry around (I’ve never learned how to pack light), and dragging books, and bookmarks, and me around in our car from town to town that long hot summer, city to city, bookstore to bookstore, for TWO MONTHS on the last such tour. That’s why he calls this Driving Ms. Pamela. That’s my Jimmy in the picture with me and that great car–he wanted to wear a chauffeur’s hat (!) but we couldn’t find one.

So here’s what we do on a Driving Ms. Pamela tour. In every town on the route, we stop at every bookstore–small, large, independent, chains (other than specialized stores that don’t carry new fiction) to meet the people that work there. I LOVE people that work in bookstores because they’re there for a reason, bookstores resonate a certain calming spirit. The employees and managers are always nice and they love books. They love to talk about books and speculate and muse on them and Jimmy and I do too if they have time. I tell them about my book and they actually listen, and they tell me about the books they really loved, and the business of selling books, and I learn a lot from them. Which is wonderful if you think about it, because they’re busy and Jimmy and I have just dropped in.  I leave bookmarks at the stores, and if they have my books in stock, I ask if I can sign them. And I leave complimentary books for the store’s employee library.  

Now a heads up. For those of you who have read Walk Back The Cat, this is a new edition of that novel, with updates on information on the Shroud of Turin, and one amazing surprise. Jimmy and I attended a viewing of the Shroud in Turin, along with one of the world’s greatest experts on the cloth, the Shroud’s official documentary photographer, Barrie Schwortz. You’ll find my interview with Barrie in Turin in May of this year at the exhibition under the Faith Blogs in these archives, along with others there on that trip to Italy and the exhibition itself.

Secret of the Shroud is the story of a wealthy, powerful Bishop who is out for revenge. Driven by rage and ambition, he seeks to destroy the church of the God who abandoned him. His motives are well hidden by his smiles, his charismatic personality. But the Shroud of Turin and the woman he loves stand in the way. Time shifts and mysterious characters emerge. Slowly the Shroud forces the Bishop toward a terrible Faustian choice. As clues emerge from the most recent up-to-date discoveries on the ancient cloth, the plot draws the reader toward an explosive conclusion. The Shroud is the key to the mystery.

New evidence that indicates the Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus has generated all of this new interest in the most intriguing artifact of Christianity.  The Shroud has also been restored by officials in Turin (a controversial move, itself).  Here is what Pope Benedict XVI had to say on May 2, 2010 in Turin at his viewing: “The shroud is an icon written in blood: the crucified blood of a man who has been flagellated, crowned with thorns, crucified and wounded in his right rib.”

Is it real? Secret of the Shroud is fast-paced fiction based on the actual scientific research, some of which you won’t find in the main-stream media, but all of it documented.  So you can decide!

Hope you’ll join us on the tour. And remember, September 1st Secret of the Shroud will be available in bookstores and on-line everywhere. My first book signing will be at Barnes & Noble, Mandeville, La. on Saturday September 4, from 2-4 pm. Stop by and say hello if you have a minute!

And check out all the other Driving Ms. Pamela blogs in the August Archives!