After two years of effort, with thanks to my editorial staff and the CALMA Board of Directors, the Anthology Ramas y Raíces: The Best of CALMA is in the rearview. Being me, I kept worst-case-scenario-ing every step along the way. In the final days, I lost sleep worrying about books arriving with the pages completely screwed up, or in boxes that had been run over and left in the rain. However, both IngramSpark and KDP did a great job. The difference between the two: the colors of the covers from IS were deeper, richer. Their cost, about $5.60 a copy, vs KDP, about $4.80, but with faster delivery. The Lakewood United Methodist Church graciously offered a venue for our book launch, which was SRO. To justify that my belief in bad ju-ju was not unfounded, shortly before the event, the air conditioner conked out. Fortunately, we had a spell of cool weather, plus I set up fans throughout the gallery and ran around handing out bottles of chilled water. Such are the chores of the jefe editor.
At the book launch, Manuel "The King of Chicano Noir" Ramos, reads his short story.
Moving forward. I picked up another ghost-writing assignment. Perhaps the last for my writing career. I'm almost done with a short story for a humor-horror anthology on tropes. Working title: Writing Jingles for Genghis Khan. On my next post, I'll be far enough along in my big WIP, a mystery-crime novel, to share some info.
