It’s official. I’ve signed with Crystal Lake Publishing and they’ll be publishing my first novel, Poe & I, in 2024. It’s been a loooong road to get here, lots of ups and down and setbacks, but no more than any other writer I suppose. The storytelling community kept me going, and my wife Claudia Keel never lost faith that I would find the right home for Edgar. My ideal situation was to have the book be brought into the world by a passionate small press, and Joe Mynhardt & the team at Crystal Lake have now taken up the task. I couldn’t be more grateful or excited. Onwards! More to come!
Jonah Peabody (the author’s unreliable alter ego) takes a job as caretaker and head docent for a historical house in The Bronx that once served as the last home for Edgar Allan Poe, a job that requires him to live on the premises so he can give tours on the weekend. To be more precise, he must live in the basement of Poe’s home—Poe’s Basement—much like the author did himself, many and many a year ago.The author truly did work at Poe’s house for 5 years, and so he’d like you to believe he’s an expert on all things Edgar, but he’s as unreliable as his unbalanced anti-hero, and since this is a novel and not a memoir, it is, in all honesty, a pack of stinking lies. However, it’s also wild, funny, irreverent, terrifying, and soaked in melancholy, a tale of family darkness, sickness, revenge, and weird museums of unholy treasures.