Signing with a smile.

I’ve mentioned before that I am blessed with an amazing network of friends. On October 26, many of those local friends gathered at Le Petit Marche in downtown Crystal Lake, Illinois, to send Famished: The Farm off with a bang!

The photos here are all courtesy of Joe Hirschmugl, a dear friend whose passion for art, music and the written word too often exceed my own. He is a madman with a camera, and provided a number of excellent shots throughout the evening.

We enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches on fresh-baked brioche buns courtesy of Dawn Gerth, a small business owner and remarkable chef – who is, clearly, a woman with a sense of humor around her events. The sandwiches were amazing, succulent without being oversauced, herbed to perfection and served in precisely the correct portions.

The local theatre, Raue Center for the Arts, was kind enough to let my dear friend Melissa Thomfordha (Marketing Director for the theatre) steal a bit of time from their production of The Rocky Horror Show to make the introductions. It was something I hadn’t thought of before, and I’m very grateful to Melissa for both the idea and the help!

I’m pleased to say that I very nearly sold out of my reserve of books, and was able to sign nearly every one. A number of them were earmarked as holiday gifts – strangely enough, not for Halloween. It’s my deep hope that the recipients enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

In addition, I was able to catch up with two of my alpha readers. Kerry Devine is an accomplished freelance writer in his own right, whose current projects include a screenplay. I’ve been fortunate to return the favor as an alpha reader, and I will happily say that when the film is released, I’ll be the first with a ticket. Kerry was invaluable in helping to craft the final scene of Famished: The Farm, and the book’s far better for his suggestions.

With Dan Steele.

The second is Dan Steele, a very dear old friend whose feedback was directly responsible for the prologue of the book. Without it, of course, there’s little to hint at the horror that is to come later in the novel. Dan’s help also sharpened the relationship between Gordon Velander and the entity (or entities) he interacts with throughout the pages of Famished: The Farm.

Listing everyone present would be a difficult exercise – for such an intimate and comfortable setting, the amount of support, heart and enthusiasm that infected everyone present was the greatest gift a first-time novelist could hope for.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart; to all who were present in body or in spirit. For those who couldn’t attend, your smiles were missed but your love did not go unnoticed. Thank you for everything.

If you’d like to assist with a signing party in your neck of the woods, please contact me at ivan@ivanewert.com! I’m happy to entertain ideas from fans of my work or of writing in general.

All the best –
Ivan