The Official Announcement, Now That You Already Know

This is what I was going to post to get the ball rolling on the release of Slightly Off the Mark: The Unpublished Columns (which are now the published columns). But now it’s up on Amazon, and on the website, and … we just got our delivery of print copies!

“I turned around a few minutes later, walked into the Albion New Era office with the aura of confidence and skill, and said ‘I changed my mind. Pleasssseeeee!!!!!!’”

--Slightly Off the Mark, from “Why I write, or: I hate needles”.

Thus began my career as a humor columnist, which resulted in some 1,150,000 words over the next quarter of a century.  Now, although my column has moved to the monthly Kendallville Mall, I’ve collected all my unpublished earlier columns into one volume.

Because “volume” sounds somehow more official than “book”.

It’s a short book, but my fourteen regular readers have short attention spans, so it’s all good. Now I’m asking you, my other hundred or so readers, to purchase Slightly off the Mark and then actually read it, and then tell all their friends. It’s a lot to ask, but I have no shame.

You can find links to all the ways you can get the Slightly Off the Mark on my website, www.markrhunter.com, or at regular internet places, and soon I hope to have news on such things as book signings and other places where you can get a copy. Or, knock on my door, or stop me in the street. Not in the middle of the street … maybe wait for me on the sidewalk.

To show you what you’ll be treated to—I hope that’s the right word—the book is divided into sections including:

Part One: because someone has to go first

Part Deux: the final second

Part Three: medical stuff, and things

Part Four: the writer’s life for me, or: Brother, can you spare a dime?

Part Five: how do you spell miscellaneous?

Part Six: part two of the writer’s life, or: Six into two makes … something

Part Seven: politics, or: Maybe you shouldn’t read this section—(my editor didn’t)

Part Eight: What’s the sundry word for miscellaneous?

If that’s not enough for you to part with your Starbucks money, at the end of the book you’ll find the first chapter of my upcoming space opera novel, Beowulf: In Harm’s Way. There’s humor there, too. Really, there is. I would recommend you pay particular attention to that part if you’re, say, a publisher, or an agent.

Hope you like it!