After two years of serious writing, my new book, The Slickrock Desert: Journeys of Discovery in an Endangered American Wilderness, is in final production. It uses stories of my own explorations of the canyons and mesas of the Four Corners region of the American Southwest to introduce the reader to its history, natural history, geology, ecology, and what we know of its earliest inhabitants. I've already received welcome testimonials from such notable people as the author Stephen Trimble, whose works include The Capitol Reef Reader and Redrock Stories, and Carolyn Z. Shelton, Assistant Monument Manager (retired) of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Both Stephen and Carolyn read my entire manuscript and gave me welcome feedback on how to make it the best book possible.
I just received printed copies of what is called an "Advance Reader Copy." The "ARC" is very close to the final book but usually needs a little more editing before publication. ARCs go to book reviewers so they have time to review the book and write about it in advance of publication. The publication date for The Slickrock Desert is March 15, and everything is on track for that date. I only needed to edit a few lines of text, adjust a few margins, and optimize some of the photos for best reproduction quality. The final files are off to the printer now, with the first print run to be completed in a couple of weeks. Another couple of weeks to get those copies into distribution and it will be ready to go. Here's what the ARC looks like. The final book will be nearly identical. To learn more, take a look at the Atenera Press website at www.atenera.com.
