Press Release--Evening with the Author

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: David Zwicker, 415-309-5036, davidrzwicker@yahoo.com

Sometimes it takes more than one lifetime.

Pinole, California –Local author Margaret Murray will read from her new book, Sundagger.net, on Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at the Pinole Public Library, 2935 Pinole Valley Road, from 6:30—7:30PM. There will be Indian drumming and a slideshow of the ruins of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Snacks will be served and the admission is free.

“In her Sundagger.net, Margaret Murray gives us a mystery novel in a new dimension moving us from Post 9/11 Silicon Valley to the Ancient Anasazi of the Southwest,” wrote famed mystery writer, Tony Hillerman.

A story of one family, two worlds and many lifetimes, Sundagger.net is independently published by WriteWords Press, which Murray started two years ago. “For me, the journey to the magical world of books began in a library and now I have the chance to read my own work there,” Murray states. The sun dagger refers to an actual occurrence where a ray of light appears during solstices and equinoxes at the top of a butte in Chaco Canyon, piercing a spiral carved in stones centuries ago. “Clearly it had spiritual and religious meaning for the Native Americans,” explains Murray. “It also refers to the technology that powers the internet and drives the telecom industry of Silicon Valley—which leads to a theme of my book—Sometimes It Takes More Than One Lifetime.”

Margaret Murray was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University and Hunter College. She attended the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center on an American Federation of the Arts fellowship and the Squaw Valley Screenwriters Conference on a National Endowment for the Arts grant. A technical writer and teacher, she has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years and in Pinole for the last eight.

photo by shelley buck

For more information: Phone the library: (510) 759-2741.
On the web: www.sundagger.net

Another FREE Event--Pinole Public Library, 7/22/09

Where? Pinole Public Library, 2935 Pinole Valley Rd.
When? Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009, 6:30 - 7:30PM

Who knows where Pinole is?
From Berkeley, CA, take Highway 80 E, ten miles north.

I'll be at the Pinole Library reading from my novel, Sundagger.net, a story of magical realism about the ancient Anasazi and post-9/11 Silicon Valley. One family, two worlds, many lifetimes. There will be Indian drumming, a slide show of Chaco Canyon ruins in New Mexico where my old story takes place, and snacks! You'll have the opportunity to ask questions and buy my book.

Directions from Berkeley: Take I-80 E. (10.1 miles)
Take the Pinole Valley Rd exit
Turn right at Pinole Valley Rd (.3 miles)
The library is on your right:
2935 Pinole Valley Rd
Pinole, CA 94564

Event-- California State Fair--Weird, Wild and Wacky

Where? Author's Booth, California State Fair, Sacramento
When? August 21st & Sepember 3rd


Big Fun!Weird, Wild and Wacky is the theme of the 2009 California State Fair in Sacramento. You can meet me and 38 other California authors in the author's booth.

Ask me about what's weird, wild and wacky in my new book, Sundagger.net, a magical novel of the ancient Anasazi and post-9/11 Silicon Valley. I'll tell you what I know and don't know (is that even possible?)about self-publishing,fiction writing and my research into the ancient Anasazi heritage of the Southwest. You'll have the opportunity to buy my book.


Friday, August, 21st, 4 - 10PM
Thursday, September 3rd, 12 - 5PM

The Author's Booth is located in the public area of the A/B Building at Cal Expo, formerly called the “Counties Building” now often called the California Building. We are in the A Building on the ground floor across from the Cinnamon Buns, very near the annual Channel 10 broadcasting booth, and near the north and west entrances of the building. California Authors will be lettered on the wall.

Directions: See http://bigfun.org/GeneralInfo/MapsDirections.asp

The fair itself is weird, wild and wacky and runs from August 21st through September 7th. See you there. Big Fun, I promise you.

Going on a Vision Quest

To my mind, a vision quest is a Native American term to describe a journey you take alone where you sit and pray in a quiet, secluded place in nature in a proscribed ceremony. You do this in search of a vision for yourself and your life.

I am taking this journey one week from today.

This is my first vision quest and my third attempt. Even though a vision quest is the climax of Sundagger.net, I have never been on one. Last year I got a teaching job and couldn't take time off.The second attempt was to have been in April but I got sick with a really bad chest cold.

I'm going north 3-1/2 hours to private land, a beautiful California countryside. Only four of us will be on the quest this time. We'll have a feast the night before, and then a short sweat next Thursday around 6:30am, and then a supporter will carry our things up Buck Rock mountain to a site we will have already chosen the previous afternoon where we want to have our altar.
The altar will be made when we get there. I will sit or lie inside the altar for the entire time. It will be a rectangle with four corners shown by four flags for the four directions and the "fence" will be prayer ties in red, yellow, black and white which I'm making now--I need to make 49 of each color.

I hope it doesn't get too cold or hot.

The terrain is diverse so I can choose to be in a grove of trees next to a forest or I can be out on the top of the mountain on a rocky area, or in a grassy area with a mixture of trees and sun. I think I will look for the last possibility. I hear it will be cold at night, though not freezing, and it may be very hot during the day. This summer in California has been colder than usual, not that sunny either.

The head of the altar will have a special flag with an eagle feather and an abalone shell, plus some sacred objects that I can choose. I will be given a pipe and pipe mixture to smoke and pray with. I will have all my clothes and bedding and weather gear with me inside the altar. Supporters will check on me during my three nights. If I decide I already have my vision and don't need to be up on the mountain, I can come down, or if I can't take it for any reason, I can come down to the camp ground and house where a young couple live with their son.

I'm committed. I'm going. What am I looking for? What will I find?

The audience--Oh, mysterious connection!

It's a beautiful spring day here in Pinole, CA. and in a few hours I'm driving to San Francisco to Bird & Becket Books & Records to read. What's the best thing about this experience? The questions and comments from my audience! Who is my audience? Ah, a mystery--and that's the whole adventure today--that's what is really exciting to me. After all, I know what chapters I'm going to read from. I've practiced what I'm going to say in my introduction. I know how my drummer, Josh, is going to punctuate my reading selections with his powerful drumming. I know what the introductory music beforehand will sound like as performed by CWIGGZ, my musical artist son. And I have a good idea of what my reading partner, Susan Alcorn, is going to present. But the communication between me and my audience--that's the real adventure! The mysterious connection!

Events: Bird & Becket Books, Sunday, April 19

Journeying in Time and Place

Take a journey with two writers through time and place from your seat at Bird & Becket Books, a vintage San Francisco bookstore.

I will be reading from Sundagger.net, a magical novel of the ancient Anasazi and post-9/11 Silicon Valley. Susan Alcorn will be reading from Camino Chronicle: Walking to Santiago, a travel essay of adventure in Spain.

Sunday, April 19th
2:30-4:00
followed by reggae music by Heartical Roots.

Bird & Beckett Books & Records
653 Chenery Street, in Glen Park
San Francisco
(415) 586-3733
www.birdbeckett.com

One book at a time

"How is your book doing?" is the first question people ask me when my book comes up. I take that to mean, "How well is it selling?"

"One book at a time," is what I answer. Usually the conversation stops at this point. (We all know something about the track record for self-published books by unknown authors.)

For the record, I want to make myself clear. One book at a time is an inspiring thing, like the rose blooming in the snow that Bette Midler sings about.

Here's an example. Last week I went back to my yoga class at the Pinole Senior Center after a long absence and two of the women I sold books to at Christmas came up to me. They were happy to see me, smiling, their eyes lit up, telling me they'd finished reading Sundagger.net and had a lot of questions to ask. There was some discussion about me coming to a book group;maybe it was their book group. Someone mentioned having everyone in the yoga class read the book. I'm not sure what all was said because I was putting out my yoga mat and also, I was so surprised, flustered really. Not by their talk, but by how I felt--full of pure inspiration, flying with it, amazed, and grateful.

This is what "one book at a time" means to me.

Word of Mouth vs Elaborate Websites

Today's Sunday New York Times Book Review has an interesting essay on the power of book websites, Essay: See the Web Site, Buy the Book that poses the question: Do elaborate Web sites and videos really sell books? As in so much of publishing, no one really knows. But, no, there's no verdict in on how they translate to book sales.

I sold 3 copies of my book yesterday to the owner of a tiny bookstore in San Francisco that has been around for quite awhile; the owner told me he would return the books to me in one year if they don't sell. What else could I say but, "Sure." He also said you can never tell what book someone will take off the shelf and buy, unless he individually promotes the book to each person coming into the store.

In my 2 month experience as a promoter of Sundagger.net, I would say I've learned that, while no one really knows why some books sell and some don't, word of mouth from readers makes all the difference. Oh, elaborate websites are cool, but that's all.