Haugenmail

Okay, I'm going to start stepping it up here. Lately I've been busy, distracted and generally unmotivated. But that's about to change. So let's go to the mail bag with questions and comments from actual people who actually interact with me via email, Facebook, phone or at baseball games.

From a guy with too much time on his hands in Faith, SD: "Finished reading Joshua's Ladder this weekend (family travel - so it was also the first book I read on my phone). I'm ready for the next rung on the Ladder! I hope his next love interest has a less hazardous occupation :-) It was great! Good Job!"

My first thought is of my grandpa Clayton Renli and what he would think if I were to flash back 40 years and say to him: "Hey, Grandpa, I just read a book on my phone." He'd probably ask: "Mark, have you been drinking out of the cattle tank again?"

I still remember Grandpa and Grandma's party line phone and the two rings that were theirs. Sometimes I would "accidently" pick up the phone on other rings and listen to others talk until somebody said: "Hey! Is there somebody else on the line?" Then I'd hang up, though I think the guy from NSA stayed on. That was probably the first evidence to suggest I might someday become a nosey journalist.

FYI, my grandma Lydia's best friends were named (and this is not a joke): Alma, Selma, Thelma and Helma. And Selma (this is not a joke) was married to Selmer. More proof that God has a sense of humor.

From an in-law, so doesn't really count as an actual person: "So Joshua's Ladder in ebook is different than Joshua's Ladder in paperback? Wha?"

Yes, those in-laws are easily confused. Here's a publishing update on all things Haugenish. I'm typing slowly so everybody will understand.

Joshua's Ladder ebook - Is available for every kind of ereader known to mankind. You can access them all at smashwords.com (even a Kindle version) but if you are a hard-core Kindle user and cling to your Amazon website like your first teen love, it is also now available at amazon.com. Seems originally Smashwords thought it was close to cutting a deal with Amazon to have their books distributed there, but it fell through. But that doesn't affect you now. All is good.

Amy's Ladder ebook - This is the sequel to Joshua's Ladder. It's been finished for a couple years and I was going to publish it later this year but changed my mind. Two reasons: 1, a few sad-sack weepy readers were so angst-ridden over the ending of JL that I thought I better get AL published for their own mental well-being (compassion is my middle name); 2, see below.

Joshua's Ladder paperback version - The paperback version also contains Amy's Ladder. This will appease the previously mentioned issue of distraught readers and basically gives you old-fashioned book readers a two-fer. This is available at amazon.com for a very reasonable price of $14.95, if I say so myself. You can also ask your favorite brick and mortar bookstore to order it for you, and then when enough people ask they will catch a clue and just stock the dang book. It will also soon be available at the world famous Wall Drug bookstore and some other elite sales outlets across the Rushmore State.

And, lastly, from a Haugen groupie/reader from Rapid City, SD: "Reading this on my vacation in England. Well, when I'm not at the pubs. Loving it so far!"

Keep on drinking, baby. It gets better with every sip.