Cover photo by konstantynov © 123RF.com

Just released in paperback and Kindle, Clifford’s Spiral is a comic, psychological literary novel. As you might know, this type of fiction is frustratingly difficult to market. And I fretted so much about this problem that I had intended to wait until later this year to release it, if ever. Instead, I wrote Preacher Finds a Corpse, a mystery-thriller, hoping I could draw fans to a more commercial series (which I still fully intend to continue.)

Well, you know that joke about how to make God laugh? Preacher is all set for an August 12 release date (the Audible audiobook is already available), but then I happened to read about the Amazon Kindle Storyteller competition.

To be eligible for Storyteller, the digital version of the book must be exclusive to Amazon via the Kindle Select program. For that reason, Preacher won’t qualify. The other major rule is, eligible books must be created and distributed using the Kindle Direct Publishing website and released no later than August 31.

So much for my plans to set Clifford free in November. It’s on Amazon now.

Here’s my pitch to you. Although Clifford’s Spiral is not a memoir, it does follow William Goldman’s time-honored advice that everything in an author’s life is material. And, yes, I’ve lived long enough to use it. It’s heavily fictionalized, of course, should you happen to think you see yourself in its pages.

The Kindle version will be available free THIS WEEK from July 1 – 5. Click here to get your copy.

If instead you prefer your summer reading in beach-friendly, sand-resistant format, you can buy the paperback here.

If you then are so kind as to post a gentle review on Amazon, you will 1) give Clifford’s Spiral a boost in the Storyteller competition and 2) incur my never-ending gratitude, along with a promise never to divulge which character you are in the book!

Oh, and here’s the story. Stroke survivor Clifford Klovis tries to piece together the colorful fragments of his memories. He fusses over his lifelong curiosities about astrophysics and metaphysics, Christian faith and New Age philosophy, and why the spiral shape appears in bathtub drains and at the centers of galaxies. He has imaginary conversations and arguments with wives and lovers, as well as with Hypatia of Alexandria, René Descartes, his old mentor Reverend Thurston, and Stephen Hawking. Clifford’s best teacher turns out to be his paraplegic son Jeremy, who has found his father’s old letters and journals.
Jeremy also wonders: Who was Clifford Olmstead Klovis? # # #