Introducing The Boy in Blue

Over the summer, I wrote and published a short novel--and when I say short, I mean very, very short. More of a glorified short story, really.  This latest book (most likely my last book, because I'm not exactly a spring chicken anymore!) is not nearly meaty enough to be called a true novel and is technically a novella, which is defined as a work of fiction that is between 17,500 and 40,000 words.  My humble little book has a word count of about 20,500 and is only 78 pages long (although for some reason, the publishing site I used, Bookemon, lists it as 80 pages--not sure why).  I mean, it's even a bit on the short side for a novella!  To tell you the truth, I can’t recall ever having heard that term, before I finished up this book and went online to see if I could call it a novel; it sounds like some kind of fancy, made-up word.  But it's a real word, I assure you.  

If you're a fast reader, you could probably knock this slim little volume out in one sitting.

I consider it a YA work, suitable for young readers, maybe 12 and up. It’s part historical fiction, part ghost story, and part time-travel tale, with no inappropriate romantic scenes; there's no bad language, and it’s told from a very Catholic perspective, with a message of hope about the power of prayer.  But because it does include difficult themes of war and war casualties, I would advise reading it first before letting a young reader do so.

I fear it was rather silly of me to bother self-publishing this and making it a "real" book. (They call this "vanity publishing." Mea culpa!)  I probably should have just shared it here at the blog in installments, but I wanted to be able to give hard copies as gifts to my kids and grandkids.

The Boy in Blue is available for purchase in paperback and eBook formats at bookemon.com.   HOWEVER, you can read it for free--without even spending a single penny on it. Just click this link to the book’s page on the website, where right next to the "Add to cart" button you'll find a button that says "Read" or "Preview book," and if you click on that you can “flip” through all the pages on your laptop or tablet.  If you use the QR code below, you can read it on your phone (but the print is pretty tiny).

Loop

Like I said, I probably shouldn't have bothered to publish it...I hope God is not displeased that I did this, even though I wrote the story hoping to give glory to Him, using the gifts He gave me to the best of my limited ability.  I tried to go over this manuscript with a fine-toothed comb before publishing, but I’ve found that when I read something I’ve written, my eyes sometimes see what I meant  to say instead of what I actually typed out.  Knowing this, I enlisted a couple of beta-readers to proofread it as well; but we may have missed a typo or two--although I hope not! And I hope that if you do read The Boy in Blue, you'll find some value in it regardless and enjoy it.

Enough about that!  I wouldn’t want this blog post to be longer than the book itself!  😂

Oh, one last thing: I may have some guest reviewers stopping by here at the blog--four beloved granddaughters who are voracious readers and their Grammy’s biggest fans. (I am inordinately blessed, I tell you.)  They received their copies of the book in the mail and all read it cover to cover that same day!  (I told you it was a quick read!)  So stay tuned; some completely unbiased book reviews might be coming soon…

God bless you, dear readers!