On December 1, Huntsville Independent Press will publish a special 10th Anniversary Edition of my first published book, a memoir-in-essays titled Message from a Blue Jay. The original book was published by Buddhapuss Ink, a wonderful independent press that eventually closed its doors due to the retirement of the owner, publishing pro MaryChris Bradley. I’m thrilled the book will have a chance to find new readers with a new, growing independent press. For some reason this blog page is cropping the cover, but the full image is available on my books page on Facebook, here.
Message from a Blue Jay is a highly personal collection of essays that reflect on some of the most challenging years of my life. With each essay, I tried to find meaning in the unexpected events and twists and turns life throws at all of us, drawing inspiration and hope from small moments, the beauty of the natural world, and places ranging from Walden’s Pond to Colorado, Bermuda, London and beyond.
One reviewer of the first edition wrote:
“Faye Rapoport DesPres transports us back to that mysterious realm of what it is to be human in all its grit and beauty, as close to the bone as you can get. She captures that essence in her essays and it unfurls like watching the blaze of a sunrise over the mountains slowly usurp what was considered mundane and pedestrian before we witnessed it. Exceptional and unparalleled.” ~ Meg Tuite, author of Bound by Blue and Domestic Apparition and fiction editor of Connotation Press: An Online Artifact
The new edition includes two essays that weren’t included in the original book, along with a foreword by award-winning novelist Joan Schweighardt and a publisher’s note from HIP.
Pre-orders will begin November 1. I’ll post a link here when it’s available!