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A most unusual publication party

I just received my first copy of The Most Impor­tant Thing [Can­dlewick Press]. Though it is my sev­en­ty-fifth book, it’s always an excit­ing moment.

Devil's RacePer­haps you have heard of pub­lish­ing par­ties, a cel­e­bra­tion of the pub­li­ca­tion of a book. In all my years of pub­li­ca­tion, I have had only one such par­ty. It was in 1984 and it was for my four­teenth book, Dev­il’s Race, pub­lished by Lip­pin­cott, a pub­lish­er that no longer exists. It may have been my only such par­ty but it was most unusual.

Devil’s Race is a ghost sto­ry, and tells the tale of a boy who has an evil alter-ego who is pur­su­ing him, try­ing to take him over. The boy’s name is John Proud. Ulti­mate­ly, John must embrace his evil half to con­quer him. Sim­ple stuff. But fun.

The idea for the sto­ry came about when I was a mem­ber of a Penn­syl­va­nia back-pack­ing club. One of the places we often camped was a state for­est park called “St. Anthony’s Wilder­ness,” a most won­der­ful name, and a most fas­ci­nat­ing place. In the 18th and 19th cen­tu­ry it had been pop­u­lat­ed. Now, all that remains in the for­est are ruins. And an aban­doned cemetery.

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In that ceme­tery there was a lop­sided stone that caught my atten­tion. It read, “RIP John Proud.”

Hence my idea for the sto­ry (it is set in St. Anthony’s Wilder­ness) and my protagonist’s name.

Some friends in that back­pack­ing group learned that I was pub­lish­ing the book and said we must have a book pub­lish­ing par­ty. So we did, each of us pack­ing in a small bot­tle of cham­pagne. Thus we hiked into St. Anthony’s Wilder­ness, and sat around John Proud’s stone, drank a toast to his soul, and to my new book.

My only book pub­lish­ing par­ty, but a mem­o­rable one. I hope it made John Proud, well, proud.

9 thoughts on “A most unusual publication party”

  1. That’s a great way to toast the book–one I’ve yet to read. (Adding it to my to-read list.) Con­grat­u­la­tions on the sev­en­ty-five book mile­stone. Anoth­er accom­plish­ment in your notable career. Thanks for all the inspiration.

    Reply
  2. Con­grat­u­la­tions on your new work! And pub­lished by Can­dlewick! It just does­n’t get any better!
    Thank you for all of the advice and sto­ries you’ve shared over the years. I’m a grate­ful fan who makes good use of your deep knowlege.
    I’m rewrit­ing a YA and
    your gen­eros­i­ty has often brought me com­fort. Con­grat­u­la­tions, not only for your lat­est work but for all sev­en­ty five!

    Reply
  3. Let me get this straight. Not only are you a writer liv­ing in a log cab­in, but back in the day you would sneak off a lit­tle booze for a cel­e­bra­to­ry back­pack­ing trip with your bud­dies. You tru­ly are a man after my own heart.

    Reply

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